Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“Look,” I told Marco, trying to dial the animosity back a notch. “I’m not going to distract him in any way other than keeping his spirits up for this weight cut. If you don’t want me to put on a suit, fine. Come to think of it, you’re right about that. I don’t need to wear a suit to go in with him. But I can’t get my clothes wet with sweat, because the airline lost my luggage, and I have nothing to change into. So I’ll just sit in there in my underwear.”
“Oh. My. God,” Marco sneered. “If you think I’m letting you go anywhere with my fighter in nothing but your underwear, you’re dumber than I thought.” He stomped over to the duffel bag, retrieved a pair of swimming trunks. Then he threw them at me, not even bothering to act contrite when they smacked me in the face.
“I was going to wear these if I went in with him. Wash them before you give them back to me.”
I wanted to say, Wow, Marco, you sure are being a dick. Instead, I thanked him. Then I stepped into the sauna to change, leaving the door cracked.
“Thank you, Marco,” I heard Kage say quietly. “You know I need someone in there, and you need to be out here and at your best in case anything goes wrong. It only makes sense, you know? And besides, I want him in there with me.”
“I don’t know how you think a journalism student is going to help you—”
“He’s my friend,” Kage interrupted. “He’s going in there as my friend, not as my publicist. You’re not the one who has to go through this, okay? Just give me a break.”
It sounded like Marco gave a derisive snort, but I couldn’t be sure. I pushed out of the sauna and tried to act like I hadn’t heard their exchange. “Ready?” I asked, setting my folded clothes on the floor.
“Yeah, let’s do this.” Kage pushed me back into the sauna. Marco closed the door behind us and peered in through the small window, and right then I decided I didn’t like that window.
“Here comes the fun,” Kage said. “You ready for this, Jamie? They say it’s grueling sitting in a sauna during a weight cut. I’ve sat in them before, and it didn’t seem bad at all, but I guess it all has to do with the fact that you’re purposely dehydrating during a cut. I was already feeling kind of weak today.”
“I wish you didn’t have to do this,” I admitted quietly.
Kage shrugged. “You just tell me if it gets too much for you, okay? You should have gotten enough water over the past two days, but you still look undernourished. I don’t need to miss my fight because I had to take you to the hospital.”
I followed Kage to the bench that ran along the wall. I tried to stay positive, but providing Kage moral support while he sweated out the final eleven pounds of water didn’t sound like fun at all. He was already looking a little weakened, and the thought of him going through such a harrowing experience made me a little sick to my stomach.
“Are you sure this is the best way to do it?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Marco has never steered me wrong before. Besides, he got tips from Ray Roberts, the man who ran my camp. My uncle hired Ray, and you know he only hires the best.”
“Only the best? I think that’s wishful thinking on your part. He hired me, remember? I’m about as far from the best as it gets.”
“You are the best, Jamie.” He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. Then his mouth stretched into one of those devious little cat grins. “The best at sucking my dick.”
I didn’t think it could get much hotter in the sauna, but after that comment it felt twice as hot. If Kage wanted to keep things professional, he was going to have to stop making dirty jokes and randomly ordering me to feel his hard-ons. Talk about mixed signals.
“Um… yeah. I don’t think that’s what Mr. Santori has in mind when he scribbles out my stipend checks. What do you think he’d do if he knew?”
“Knew what, that I’m sticking it to my intern?” Kage asked, still leaning back, eyes still closed. “What makes you think he doesn’t know?”
My heart skipped a beat. I’d been going on the assumption that Kage and I had been as sly as a couple of international double agents, or at the very least that no one was paying us any attention. But some part of me knew that was naive. First of all, Kage was an attention magnet. Whether people hated him or loved him, he always commanded attention. Secondly, this was Peter Santori we were talking about— the shrewd businessman who supported Kage, arranged fights for him, and had goons watching his every move. How could he not know who his nephew was fucking? The thought made me shudder.