“Noah Jackson, what are you doing here?”
“I’m fighting here tonight. Against Rickers.”
Dreadlocks shook his head, the tail ends of his hair swinging slightly. “That’s bad news. What about the UFC?”
“If everyone keeps their traps locked down, it will be fine. Deke, this is my girl, Grace. Keep an eye out for her. She’s precious cargo,” Noah gestured for me to enter. I stepped forward and felt my hand engulfed in Deke’s giant paw. Noah handed Deke a few bills.
“Nice to meet you, Grace,” Deke grunted. After I returned the pleasantry, he pointed down a dark hallway. “Go to the back room. No one wants you to get in trouble. You’re our hometown boy.” Before Deke could close the door, Finn rushed in.
“Great, I caught you. I can never remember the stupid knock,” he panted, clearly having run quickly to make it through before the door was closed. Finn and Deke exchanged greetings and money, and then we all left Deke at the door to venture down the dark hallway.
“I feel like I’m in some bad Halloween movie, and Freddie is going to jump out with his chainsaw at any moment.” I shivered under Noah’s arm.
“I thought the chainsaw guy was Jason.” Finn draped his arm around my back and patted my head.
“Finn, make sure no one mauls Grace tonight, okay?” Noah ordered, pushing Finn’s arm away and drawing me closer to his side.
“Will do,” he replied, unperturbed that Noah seemed to be creating a pocket of space between Finn and me—as if even his friends were not allowed within a certain distance.
At the end of the hallway, a tiny bit of light seeped out underneath a nearly hidden doorway. Noah didn’t bother to knock this time. He just opened the door. Inside were the remnants of an office. Filing cabinets were stacked on top of each other, some perpendicular to the floor, and there was a battered desk with its drawers open and askew, like a lady of the night with her heels kicked off and her pantyhose around her ankles. It was somewhat obscene. Two sofas, with cushions that were nearly flattened by use or age, were positioned opposite the desk. Next to the sofa stood Bo, Mal, and Adam. Bo held out his hand for the bag Noah carried.
He dug in and pulled out the wraps while Noah emptied the contents of his pants pockets and handed my phone to Finn. Noah held out his hands, and Bo wrapped him. “I saw Rickers earlier. He looks like he has trimmed down some, off the ‘roids.”
Noah gave a short nod. “Have you heard where he’s been training?”
“No. Maybe out of town.”
“Strategy?”
“Don’t let him punch you in the face. He was weak in the stomach before. A good kick should level him. I don’t think he’s a good grappler, but you’re on sand and cement here, not the Octagon, so you don’t want to spend too much time on the floor. If I think the fight is getting out of hand, I’m throwing in the towel,” Bo said.
“I don’t need a motherfucking babysitter,” Noah snarled.
“Yes, you do,” Bo shot back, “or you wouldn’t even be here.”
Noah didn’t respond to this taunt. After Bo finished wrapping his hands, we went back into the hallway, and as we got close to the entrance, I saw another door that I had missed when I first walked into the building. Bo threw it open. The warehouse smelled of old wood and dust. A cluster of people maybe five or six deep stood in the center. Many held bottles or cans of beer. As we approached, the sea of people parted, and I realized it was more like ten deep.
The center wasn’t a boxing ring at all, just a crudely chalked out square. Whether from the traffic of feet or the oppression of machinery that once stood here, there was slight bowl in the dirt floor of the warehouse, creating a miniature amphitheater. It was a good setting for a fight—there were no chairs and the dip in the floor made it easier for the people in the rear to see the action.
The sea of people closed in behind us. A barrel-chested man covered in tattoos stood to one side inside the square, shifting from foot to foot and lightly punching one side of his chest and then the other with alternating hands. He looked huge. If this was trimmed down some, I wouldn’t want to see him all ‘roided up.
I stood at the very