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flashed in delight.
    “So Rasheen here is my star fighter,” he grinned at Hannibal. “Twelve fights, undefeated. One of these days we’re gonna get him in a legitimate league, and then y’all better watch your ass.” Red winked. “Be careful, Baller. He’ll be after you.”
    Rasheen snorted at the introduction.
    “And this here…” Red began, but Rasheen cut him off.
    “I know who this is.” Jackson crossed his beefy arms. “Baller Alexander. Watched all your fights. Up until that white boy busted your ass in that hotel lobby.”
    Hannibal tensed up when he heard that.
    The fight with James MacDonald – the one that had led to Hannibal’s three month suspension – was still a hot-button topic for him.
    “You fightin’ tonight?” Rasheen asked. He turned to Red. “I reckon I could take him, Boss.”
    Red grinned, clapping his hands together.
    “I reckon too, son,” he grinned. “But Baller’s just here to watch tonight. His lil’ brother’s in the cage.”
    Rasheen snorted.
    “Well, if you ever find the balls to get in the octagon with me,” he sneered, “tell Red here. He’ll hook us up good.”
    Hannibal’s eyes were narrow slits.
    “I’m a real fighter,” he growled at Rashaan. “I fight in real leagues.”
    Rashaan wasn’t impressed.
    “Sounds like that’s your excuse for chicken-shitting out of fighting me.”
    Kristen felt Hannibal’s grip tighten around her fingers.
    “Now, now boys,” Red grinned. “Save that shit for the octagon. We’re all friends here.” He offered Rasheen a Miller Lite. “Take a seat. The fights are about to begin.”
    Rasheen growled, and refused the beer.
    “I’m fightin’ tonight,” he reminded his boss. Instead he grabbed a bottle of water and nodded at his boss. “I’m gonna go and get ready.”
    And then, giving Hannibal one last sneer, the fighter wheeled around and headed for the stairs.
    A moment later he was gone – disappearing into the crowd at the exact moment the lights started fading and the music died.
    Kristen and Hannibal turned towards the makeshift octagon.
    It looked like the entertainment was about to begin.

Chapter Twelve
     
    Kristen
     
    Kristen blinked and shielded her eyes as spotlights suddenly lit up the makeshift ‘VIP’ trailer.
    From somewhere, Red had found a microphone – and with hundreds of faces looking up at them, the cowboy-hatted fight promoter stood up behind Hannibal and Kristen, and roared: “Welcome, y’all!”
    The crowd screamed and hollered.
    “We’ve got one hell of a night planned for you good people,” the redneck grinned, roaring into the microphone. “We’ve got six fights lined up, all culminating in my boy Rasheen ‘Hungry’ Jackson squaring off against last month’s champion. Y’all ready for some of that?”
    The crowd went wild.
    “Hell yeah, you are!” Red grinned. He was clearly loving being the center of attention. “Now before we begin, I’d like y’all to look up here and see who we got watchin’ tonight’s fights.” The spotlights centered in Hannibal, who shielded his eyes from the light. “It’s none other than Las Vegas’ legend Hannibal ‘Baller’ Alexander!”
    The crowd went crazy, roaring and hollering as they recognized the famous fighter.
    Kristen watched as Hannibal cringed at the attention. She didn’t need the inside track on the MMA circuit to know why he was upset. Being seen at an illegal fight circuit like this could get him in a lot of trouble with the MMA authorities – and less than a month into his suspension, that was the sort of heat Hannibal didn’t need.
    Ignoring Hannibal’s reaction, Red kept talking.
    “Y’all think that’s good? Wait ‘til our fourth fight. You’re gonna see Baller’s lil’ brother, Julius, take to the cage! Fresh off last month’s victory, he’s gonna be facing off against Manny ‘Cannibal’ Mendoza tonight.”
    The crowd screamed and hollered again.
    Red grinned, but gestured for the crowd to