Fight For You

Chapter 19

"This gym is even more in the ghetto than ours." Dominic stared out the front window when the GPS told us to turn down a narrow, one-way street on the south side. I kept my focus on the road.

"Yeah, I never said El Lobo was a fancy guy, but at least we won't stick out in this POS." The car was one of the usual pieces of shit that Larry sold us at Larry's Imports, which wasn't really an import shop at all, but where he sold and bought totaled cars. This one looked like shit but ran, and we'd get rid of it when we were done with the job.

"And this guy said he's gonna meet us there?" Dominic glanced at me.

"Yeah, the dude is looking for his next fix. He was willing to sell us anything."

Dominic shook his head. "How'd you get away with talking to him without Jackie noticing?"

I shrugged. "One of my guys said Twitch was outside having a smoke when he pulled up to the gym, so he said his boss wanted to know where he could score and made arrangements to meet here."

"Aren't you afraid that he's going to tell her?"

I shook my head. "Tweakers like that aren't going to blab shit. Especially not when he wants money."

Dominic exhaled. "Hopefully you're right and it's not just one big fucking trap."

"I know what I'm doing. Do you not trust me or something?" I snapped.

Dominic put his hands up for a second then put them back on the wheel. "Hey, calm down, cuz. I was just saying that I don't want to get caught. I've never done one of these without some backup and I'm fucking scared, okay? Is that what you want to hear? That I'm being a big fucking pussy right now?"

I laughed slightly, shaking my head. "It's fine to be scared. It's not like our line of work is easy."

"No, it's fucking not. Sometimes I wish I could just be like my dad and be one of the guys that hangs out at the restaurant whose only job is helping with alibis."

I stared at him full-on. That didn't sound like the Dominic I knew, the kid who always worshipped my dad and me and acted like he wanted to be the next Don. "Are you fucking kidding me right now? I thought this was what you wanted."

He licked his lips. "I always thought it was. I did. It sounds fun to have all this action in theory, but in actual practice it's a fucking nightmare. I'd rather have my fights in the cage and leave it there."

I nodded. "Now you know how I feel."

He glanced over at me before turning down another street into a warehouse district. "Then how do we get out of it?"

"We don't."

"I was afraid that was what you were going to say."

I sighed. "These are the demons we just have to live with. I've been fighting them for years. All I've ever wanted to do was be a fighter. Just keep the fight in the cage and away from all this family bullshit. But now this shit directly involves us and we have to deal with it the only way we know how, and make sure that we end it for good so it doesn't come back."

"Hopefully this works and they don't come back."

I looked out the window as the sign for El Matador came into view. El Lobo and his gang's gym. It was just a small warehouse with some bags and a ring, but a fighter didn't need much more. We'd been staking it out for the past two days, making sure we knew exactly what we were dealing with. I had two of my guys sign up to train under El Lobo so they could learn the ins and outs of the layout of the gym and plant everything we needed.