David and Anthony locked the door to the upstairs guest room behind them, and then turned and stared at Seth, their arms folded across their thin chests.

"You been leading us on for a while now, Seth." Said David.

"I literally haven't. I've refused every single time you've asked."

"Point is," said Anthony, "we also thought you were dead. So we didn't make that allowance for one grand in tonight's budget, especially since we weren't able to hype up tonight's fight."

"We got new fog machines instead," said David.

"So you do two-fifty tonight and only an exhibition match. You come back, we'll give you a real fight, and that grand we promised, because we're good on our word," said Anthony.

"Always make good on our word," said David.

"What do you say?"

Seth stared back at them. The music thumped loudly in the background. He was already regretting this, but he needed to let out his anger. This was absolutely the wrong way, but he also needed to get a ride back to his house, and he had a feeling Nicole wouldn't give him a ride if he backed out of fighting tonight. He sighed. "Yeah, that works. No promises about coming back, though."

"Pssh," said David. "Once you get a taste, you know you'll be coming back for more."

"You need fighting trunks? We always keep unused extras on hand in case someone in the crowd wants to get in on the action."

"I'll just fight in my jeans."

David and Anthony looked at each other. "Whatever you say, boss," said David. "No socks or shoes, though. And no shirts allowed. Half the appeal is for you to show off your body to the ladies. And some of the dudes, too, I guess."

Seth snorted. "Okay."

"The fight's going out back. You're on in..." Anthony looked at an expensive-looking watch. "An hour exactly. Stay up here and someone will bring you a mouthpiece. Be ready to fight fifteen minutes before your match."

David and Anthony left the room. Seth sat back on the bed and took his tee off, tossing it to the side. He untied his shoes, then took them off and set them under the bed with his shirt and socks. Seth curled his toes in the carpet.

The door opened up and Nicole walked in, wearing black compression shorts and a matching sports bra. She closed the door behind her. "So you're in?"

Seth realized Nicole had abs. Not as defined as his, but they were there enough he could tell she knew what a hard workout was. A strange tattoo ran down the left side of her stomach. Seth couldn’t make out what it was as she leaned back against the door.

"Yeah, I'm in. They said I've got an exhibition match."

"Cool, so you'll probably be going against either Patrick Neberman or Zach Peterson. Either way, they're big dudes, and tough."

"Yeah, I don't do weight class fighting usually, anyway."

"This isn't kickboxing, Seth. Take it seriously."

"I know what this is, Nicole. It's vale tudo. No holds barred. Got it." Seth stood up, then bent over and grabbed behind his knees to stretch out his hamstrings.

"Everyone saw the video of you and Andrew taking down that football player, but this is a whole different game."

"Yeah, and what experience do you have?" Seth raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "Enough."

"No, no, cut it with this bullshit mystery girl act. I know you fight, it's obvious you train. Spill."

She smirked, but it seemed a little less haughty than the other half-smiles she made. "My parents put me into Judo when I was six. A family friend taught me escrima when I turned twelve."

"Stick and knife fighting? Really?"

"Escrima uses empty-handed, too."

"So you're Ronda Rousey with a knife? Don't go trying to take any roundhouses to the face."

Nicole glared at him. "I came in here to give you a pep talk."

"You came in here to be your aggravating self. You won't even tell me what happened in the wreck that apparently killed me."

Her expression softened. "I know you've been through a lot. I'm just trying to push you out of the funk you're in."

"I didn't ask you to."

"The people who really need it never do." Her eyes were almost too intense for him to hold her gaze, but he managed.

"Fine. Can we stop being so hostile toward each other?"

She smirked, and this time it looked happy. "You've earned it, Seth. I'll be nice to you." She glanced at the alarm clock beside the bed. "Shit. That's my time. Come on out and watch me fight."

"Yeah, okay."

Seth followed her out of the room and to the fight out back.