It was the third match now and Eli won the second by a landslide. Up next against him was a strong guy covered in tattoos. He looks like he frightens babies as a career.

"Let's go, kid." Eli stated and the bell rang for their fight to begin.

"Hey." said a man next to me.

"Yo! Charlie!" someone called and I assumed it was to the man that was speaking to me since he turned around.

"Can you not fucking cockblock me right now?!" Charlie shouted back.

"That's the boss's girlfriend. You might wanna move." The guy continued.

Charlie looked back at me like he'd had fear struck into him. "Oh, shit. I'm sorry, ma'am," he said and backed away.

'Ma'am?' I wondered.

Charlie and his friends hurried out of there and moved to the other side of the rings.

'The Boss's girlfriend?' I thought.

'I'm not-...am I? No...' I was trying to think why they'd assume that.

Maybe because I'd apparently been the only woman he'd brought to the ring. 'Should I be proud? Technically it was an accident.' I was completely ignoring the fight and thinking heavily on this.

'Also why did me, maybe, possibly, being his girlfriend make them run away from me?' While I was thinking this I looked up at Eli and watched him knockout his opponent with a left hook. He's right handed.

'Never mind. I get it now.' I thought.

____________________________________

I was sitting in the same office with the same men from last night while Eli was in the shower. For some reason he trusted these men to not let anything happen to me even though they stared at me like I was an enemy.

"So you and the boss huh?" said Greasy.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Y'all fuckin?" he asked.

"Dude!" intruded the tatted man.

"What?!" asked Greasy. "Babygirl keeps entering in here like she owns a share of the property, I'm gonna have some fuckin questions!" he stated.

"No, Greasy, we aren't fucking."

"Damn, she called you greasy." Teddy said and he and the tatted man started laughing.

"Shut up!" Greasy demanded. "And what do you mean you aren't fucking?" he asked.

"Exactly what I said."

"Damn. He's missing out. I would've been hit that." he claimed to the other men.

"Watch your mouth, oil spill." I demanded and Teddy and tats laughed some more.

"What's going on in here?" Eli said as he walked into the room, his hair still wet from the shower.

"I like this one!" Teddy shouted at Eli while pointing at me.

"Yea, she's entertaining." Tats agreed.

"She's okay." Greasy stated.

"Was I just 'okay' when you said you wanted to fuck me, grease fire?" I asked and Tats fell out of his chair laughing and Teddy sunk into his seat while doing the same.

Eli chuckled as he sat down to put his shoes on.

"I still would. I don't have to find you funny to want you in my sheets." The laughter stopped and the boys stared at him.

"I'm kidding." he claimed to them.

"Watch your mouth, bitch." Eli demanded.

Greasy rolled his eyes.

"It's time to go." Eli told me and we stood up.

"Can she come back?" Teddy asked.

Eli looked at me.

"Do you want to come back?" he asked.

I nodded.

"She'll be back." he told them.

"Welcome to the team, shorty," Tats smiled and it made me giggle. Eli opened the door for me and we left the office room.

____________________________________

"What'd you do?" Eli asked as we walked to the car. "What do you mean?" I wondered.

"Teddy's always sad and stiff like a British guard and Jason hates people he doesn't know." Eli explained. "Yet you managed to get them to like you in a little under thirty minutes." he said as we hopped into the car. Whatever soap he used in the shower smelled amazing.

"I don't know. I didn't say much." I explained as he started to drive off.

"Greasy started a conversation with me and it just went from there." I told him.

"And what did you two talk about?"

"..."

"Ummm...He asked a personal question," I began.

"You personal or me personal?" he asked.

"Both."

"..."

"He asked if we were sleeping together." I blurted.

Eli took a deep breath and used his right to comb his hair back while he kept his left on the steering wheel.

"I'm gonna kill him." I heard him mumble.

...

Eli pulled into a partially empty diner parking lot.

"What're we doing?" I asked.

"I won all three," he stated. "You owe me."

I looked at him with my mouth agape as he got out of the car. I got out after him and watched him walk into the diner.

"This asshole-..." I said and walked in behind him.

We sat down at a table and someone took our orders. After a few minutes we received our food and drinks.

"I have a question." I stated.

"Of course you do." he said and ate a fry.

"Would you pay me to work there?" I asked in reference to the fight ring.

"To work where?" he asked and took a sip of water.

"You know where." I claimed and ate a fry.

"No." he answered and took a bite of his burger.

"Why not?"

"Well for one, you'd be the only woman. For two, you could get severely injured, and for three, no." he explained.

"That's not fair. This is sexist." I lied.

"That's not sexist," he laughed.

"It kind of is. You won't hire me because I'm a woman."

"I won't hire you for your own safety. I'm not completely sure I want you to go back but at least then I'd constantly have my eye on you and you'd only be there for an hour or so," he claimed.

I looked at him agitatedly.

"Don't pout at me. This is for your own good. Eat." he stated.

I rolled my eyes and took a bite of my burger.

"You'll still train me though, right?" I asked.

"So you can fight?" he wondered and took a sip of water.

I nodded and ate another fry.

"Mhm." he agreed.

"That doesn't sound sincere."

"How?"

"I don't trust 'mhm's."

"It's all I can give you right now. I'll train you, but I can't promise I'll let you fight."

"Whyyy?"

"Because they're fucking crazy."

"So? You're crazier than they are, I doubt they'd even go all out against me. Did you know some guy tried to hit on me today and when his friend said that I was 'your girl' he fucking called me ma'am and then scurried off."

For some reason that made him laugh.

"I didn't tell them that." he swore and ate a fry.

"Why didn't you? You don't like me?" I said jokingly and gave a fake pout.

"No, that's definitely not it."

"I wonder why they assumed that," I thought aloud.

"You're the only woman they've seen me with." he claimed.

"Have you never been with-..."

"I didn't say that," he chuckled. "They just haven't seen them. No other woman has been down those stairs."

That made me feel special.

"I have a question for you now." he stated.

"Shoot."

"Are you busy next weekend?"

"Not that I know of."

"I have to go to a dinner party in my father's absence. It'd be a shame to go alone." he claimed.

"Would you like me to ask Kendall if she wants to join you?" I asked jokingly.

"No, I was thinking Cameron."

"You're hilarious." I said straight faced and he chuckled while eating another fry.