Mirage_ A Dark Retelling (The Veiled Love Duet) - C.M. Radcliff Page 0,2

my locker, I head to the bathroom for a shower. The water in my apartment is easily comparable but sharing a place with Rush makes for a lot of awkward shower moments. I’ve seen his dick more times than I’d care to share, and he’s got a different girl in there every night.

With my body clean of the last of the dried blood, I slip out of the shower and quickly get dried and dressed. Glancing down at my swollen knuckles, I take note of the new scabs and the questions they may draw.

An older man dressed in a freshly pressed suit sits on one of the plush benches against the wall as I walk back into the locker room. A young, thin blonde sits next to him, hanging onto his arm. He smirks as I scowl at him and continue to walk past him. Ignoring him, I head to the medical area and grab a roll of gauze and begin wrapping it around my bruised knuckles.

“I heard that you were a hard ass, but that may be an understatement,” the man chuckles from across the room. “I also heard how no one can seem to lock you down.”

I respond with a grunt and roll my eyes as I finish covering my wounds.

Here we go again with another rich bastard who thinks that I can be bought.

“The strong, silent type too,” the man muses as he rises to his feet. “I can appreciate that.”

Appreciating and understanding are two different things. He clearly doesn’t know the meaning of silent.

Turning to face him, I cut my eyes at him as he strides across the room to me. Stopping in front of me, he’s about my height and his frigid blue eyes meet mine. He’s lean and muscular like an athlete, where I’m trimmed and toned like the ruthless fighter that I am.

Challenging him with my eyes, I continue to glare at him as I remain silent.

A sly grin forms on the man’s lips as he nods. “Very well then.” Reaching inside his suit jacket, he grabs a business card and hands it to me. Reluctantly, I grab it and quickly read over it.

Astor Medical Supplies

Jasper Lafar, MD

CEO

Cardiothoracic surgeon

202-555-4422

“13 Waters Edge Drive. Come by tomorrow around noon.” Jasper straightens his suit jacket and motions for the blonde to come over to him. “I can assure you that I have an offer that only a fool would turn down.”

You and every other man who comes to these fights.

With a curt nod, I tuck the business card in my back pocket. The blonde walks over and attaches herself back to Jasper’s arm.

“I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, Axel,” he says with a smirk and turns away, pulling the girl out of the room with him.

I wait a few minutes, letting his words soak in before I head out. Rush is outside waiting for me in his pristine Bentley coupe, like he does after every fight.

We’ve been best friends since we ended up in the group home together. When Rush turned eighteen, he found out that his biological family, who were all dead, left him a large sum of money.

That was six years ago and he’s nowhere close to the bottom of that barrel.

“Dude.” Rush turns toward me as I hop into the car. “What the fuck took you so long? I had to blow off Amy or Audrey, or whatever the fuck her name is, tonight.”

As if pussy isn’t on his daily agenda…

“I think you can go a day without getting your dick wet,” I mumble as I shake my head. “I got caught up with some shit.”

Rush gives me a sideways glance before backing his car out of his parking spot. “Do I even wanna know?”

I shrug. “It wasn’t anything important.”

Rush rolls his eyes. “Sure. It wasn’t important enough to make your knuckles bleed, right?”

Glancing down, I notice my clenched fists and the blood soaking the gauze wrapped around my hands. I must have broken open the newly formed scabs.

“Fuck me.”

“Hard pass.” Rush smirks. “I’m sure we can find someone who will though.”

Rolling my eyes, I settle down into my seat as Rush turns up the stereo and pulls onto the road.

Jasper’s card burns a hole in my back pocket and his address rings in my head.

Many of the men there have fighters on their payroll that they pay to fight for them. I’ve only ever fought for myself and although I’ve been approached before in the past, I never considered fighting for someone else