Page 41 of Montana Mystery
He took my arm again and pulled me away from the bar, guiding me with a hand on the small of my back all the way around the pit to a back corner. There was a small elevated platform with a table and what looked like a comfortable restaurant booth.
This was VIP, I guessed.
A sound of pain came from the pit, and there was a visceral reaction in the crowd. I didn’t look. Didn’t want to look. If an animal had just died—
I focused on the ground in front of me and climbing the stairs to that platform. Settling on the couch. Taking a small sip of beer. Anything to keep from looking into that pit and seeing something I wouldn’t be able to unsee.
“Don’t be shy,” Max said, pulling me up off the couch and over to the railing that overlooked the fighting pit. I couldn’t look afraid. Couldn’t be afraid. I still didn’t look directly into the dip in the ground, instead looking at the surrounding crowd and trying to focus on what Brandon had said. That he’d felt alive.
His hand was still on me, around my arm, but now he stretched it out around my shoulder. It was a casual movement, but possessive. I wouldn’t easily be able to shrug him off without giving offense or letting him know all of this—all of it—was an act.
“Any interest in making a bet?” he asked.
I laughed. “Already have one debt to take care of. I’ll think about that after.”
“If you’re sure. We have some good candidates for the next fight.” He pointed with the hand that wasn’t pulling me into his body.
Following his gesture, I saw two dogs in cages. Neither of them looked healthy. But one was obviously angrier than the other, snarling at anyone who came close. The other dog looked small and weak. It was pressed to the back of the cage, trying to sleep.
Tears pressed at the backs of my eyes. I had to get it together. I couldn’t cry right now. I blinked them back. “Are you going to bet on one of them?”
Max thought about it. “The house odds are on the dog on the right.”
The angry one.
“But what are your odds on?”
One side of his mouth went up, and his hold loosened as he turned toward me and leaned on the railing. “I usually bet on the quiet ones. They tend to surprise you.”
“Good to know.”
He was looking at me too closely. “We never got to discuss your debt last night. My original offer is still on the table.”
Hell no. “You mentioned there were opportunities to reduce it for people who came here. Are there?”
“There are. But that involves betting against your debt.”
Of course. In my ear, Noah swore. So the options he was giving me were to sleep with him, or to bet on a fight that had no guarantees and possibly dig myself deeper into trouble. Neither of those were good options. “I’ll be here for a bit.” I sipped my beer. That was probably the last time that I could. No part of me wanted my senses impaired in this place. “If I see a bet I like, I’ll think about it.”
“And the other thing,” he insisted. “Think about the other one. I promise you your debt will evaporate. Give me three nights.”
I raised an eyebrow, but I looked at him. Really looked at him like I was considering it. I wasn’t, but he didn’t have to know about it. “It’s early. I’ll think about it.”
Max grinned like I’d just given him a cookie and pulled me back against his side. It took everything in me not to push him off. As long as his hands stayed neutral, I could handle it.
Across the room, there was a shuffle of bodies and a voice. Someone asking to see who was in charge.
There he was. But he looked different. Dangerous. There was a predator on the loose now, and it was coming straight toward me.
Noah.
Chapter 14
Noah
I’d been to places like this before. Not for a long time. Never so close to home. I hadn’t had the pleasure in years, and I wished that my streak had been longer.
The fact that this place was even closer to Resting Warrior than last night was shocking. It made me question what else we might be missing, if an operation that ran so diametrically opposed to our mission could get away with it. But that was a question for another day, when I wasn’t in the middle of this.