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enough." Razi picked up Sanchez up by the back of his shirt. "You will be civil or you will all leave my home."
    Sanchez snorted and spit a wad of watery blood onto the grass near a twinkling solar light. "I have nothing to be civil to him about. That son of a rattlesnake owes me big time, and I plan to collect any way I can."
    Gilda clutched Mick's arm. "What's going on? What does Charlie owe him?"
    Mick sighed. "Money. Lots of money. Go find Marion. I'd feel a lot better if you were out of harm's way in case things get any uglier."
    "What the hell is going on out here?" Marion stormed out of the house with a platter of watermelon. "Can't a girl even refill party platters without missing all the excitement?"
    Sanchez stood and brushed the dirt off his clothing. "Who's she?"
    "Someone who doesn't need the displeasure of meeting you." Kane snorted then steered Gilda away from the melee toward Marion. "It's all a show, love. A little male posturing before the fights begin tomorrow morning. Go keep your friend company."
    Gilda winced. "Actually, it looks like the fights are already well underway."
    "Mick and I have things under control." Kane gritted his teeth.
    She touched his chin where Sanchez had kicked him. "Obviously."
    Kane winked and leaned his forehead toward her. "You can kiss it better for me later, love. Maybe after I cook you breakfast."
    "Mick, do you want me to—?" Gilda peered around Kane to where Mick held Gomes back from putting his hands on anyone else.
    Mick, his hands still pushing against Gomes' chest, glanced back over his shoulder. "Don't worry about a thing, babe. You and Marion go have some fun. I'll deal with these clowns. Once the fights are done tomorrow, the heated tempers will die down."
    Gilda glanced at the red-faced fighters surrounding him and hoped he was right.

CHAPTER THREE
     
    Uneasiness formed a knot in her stomach as Gilda unlocked the front door of the karate school at eight the next morning. After all the action at the meet and greet, her stomach churned with anticipation of what would happen when everyone arrived for the main events. She hoped Mick was right and last night was just everyone letting off steam.
    Mick arrived five minutes later with two trays of full coffee cups and a box of doughnuts. A cut above his right eye peeked out from beneath a small skin-toned bandage. "Hey, babe, I brought your favorite—vanilla latte with chocolate curls. I thought you might need the extra sugar and caffeine today."
    "Definitely." She winced. What she could use was a good run to shake off the nervous energy. "What happened after Marion and I left last night? It looks like things got a little out of hand. Are you okay?"
    "Nothing we couldn't handle." He kissed her cheek. "I'm fine. Don't worry. You look a little on edge though, are you okay?"
    "Yeah. I guess I'm just nervous. I hope everything goes smoothly today." Gilda sipped her latte. "How'd you get the cut?"
    "That's hard to say. It was either from Sanchez going psycho on Charlie, Kane losing it on Gomes, or Mena flipping out on everyone and trying to scratch out eyeballs."
    She stared. "What? Are you serious? What happened?"
    "I'll fill you in later when things settle down." Mick kissed her forehead then sauntered into the school to take care of last minute preparations. "Let me know when Charlie gets here. I need to go over a couple things with him."
    Henry and Marion both showed up by quarter after eight. Mick tossed them event staff T-shirts then took Henry and disappeared behind the octagon.
    "Gorgeous day out, isn't it?" Kane was one of the first fighters to arrive that morning. He tried to hide his face from Gilda, but there was no mistaking the pale blue bruise on his jaw from Sanchez's foot, as well as a white gauze bandage that covered his left hand. He winked in Gilda's direction on his way to the changing rooms. For the first time since she'd met him on the beach, Gilda had actually wanted to talk to Kane, but he walked past