“While I’m glad it sounds like everything worked out, why are you telling me this, TP?”
“Come to find out, the guy she’d shacked up with was an MMA fighter.” He blew a smoke ring. “Evidently you refereed one of his amateur underground fights.”
“Still not seeing where you’re going with this.”
“Katie discovered you and I are acquaintances. Somewhere along the way, she’s convinced herself she belongs in the MMA fight-promotion business. Specifically building one with Black Arts.”
Ronin couldn’t stop his look of shock.
TP laughed. “Exactly my reaction when my daughter demanded I set up a meeting between the three of us to discuss options.”
He fought the urge to look over his shoulder to see if TP’s kid was joining them.
“Don’t worry. I ain’t gonna foist my ditzy daughter on ya without your permission. I like you too much. But my wife, who is not privy to my business, is riding my ass about this. So I gotta come up with something besides losing a shit ton of money.”
“Jesus. I need another drink.” Ronin walked to the bar in the corner of the room and grabbed the bottle of Chivas, bringing it back to the table. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Like I said, tell me no.” TP refilled both their glasses. “I won’t hold it against you.”
Ronin knocked back the scotch. “Christ, TP. This feels wrong.”
A sheepish look crossed TP’s face. “Look, I don’t want you to get the wrong impression. I adore this kid—she’s sweet and she’s got a damn good heart. It’s the first time I’ve seen her excited about anything besides a man in years. She did manage to finish a two-year community-college degree in administrative business.”
An odd notion occurred to him.
“What? I see the wheels turning. If you’ve got an idea—no matter how damn crazy it sounds—I’d consider it.”
“It is crazy. But do you think she’d buy that being a ring girl for an event is the best way to learn the fight-promotion business from the inside?”
“Possibly. The girl’s got the body and the looks for it.”
Most fathers thought their daughters were beautiful. What if Katie . . . wasn’t? Ronin needed a backup idea. “Would she be willing to enroll in martial arts classes?”
“You could make it a stipulation.” His eyes turned shrewd. “How’d you come up with that?”
“Black Arts is adding on Brazilian jujitsu. I’d like to have a newcomer in the classes as a way to keep an eye on things.”
TP’s eyebrows rose. “Whose idea was that?”
Since TP freely admitted he never took his woman’s advice, Ronin opted to keep Amery’s suggestions out of it. “Makes financial sense to expand. I found an instructor who is qualified and has an established dojo.”
“What’s this guy’s name?”
“Alvares Curacao. He owns the ABC dojo. Oddly enough, your timing is”—suspect, but Ronin soldiered on with—“good because he and I recently decided to combine resources and start a fight-promotion company that focuses on the amateur circuit. Katie could work as a ring girl, and train in the dojo to see firsthand what the MMA fighters do to prepare.”
“Keep going.”
“She’d have to understand she starts on the bottom, doing grunt work like anyone else.” Ronin gave TP a contemplative look. “Will it mean more to her if she thinks she got the job on her own?”
“It’d be a first.” TP poured himself another shot. “I appreciate you doing this, Ronin. And don’t worry; I’m fully prepared to pay her salary.”
Ronin laughed. “Not happening, Daddy Warbucks. She works for me; I pay her. Won’t be much. Nor will it be full-time. I’d put her on probation for the standard six months to see if she’s serious. Because I don’t think you really know how long her interest in this will last.”
“Understood. I’ll tell Katie I talked to you and you have an opening, but she has to apply for the job like everyone else. If she doesn’t follow through, neither of us are out anything.” TP grinned. “Think I oughta tell her to keep it on the down low that she’s my daughter? She kept the last name of the ass**le she married. Hiding your family connections has worked well for you.”
“Not always.” Definitely not with Amery.
“Count yourself lucky you were born with the looks that make it an option for you. An ugly guy like me? No choice but to flash money around.” He put out his cigar. “When do you want Katie to interview?”
“Have her send a résumé to Black and Blue Promotions. Same address as the dojo.”
“Clever name.”
Another one of Amery’s ideas. “I’ll probably sit on it for a week or so before I call her in.”
“Good plan. And just so we’re clear. You do this for me? We’re square. For good. No more favors.”
That right there made it worth doing.
“Deal.”
• • •
THURSDAY afternoon, Ronin was rearranging teaching schedules when his cell phone rang. “Ronin Black.”
“It’s Blue. I don’t know what kind of pull you’ve got, but man, thank you. I spoke to the property rental company on Monday right after our conversation, and the guy pretty much guaranteed it’d be a hefty enough penalty for breaking the lease that I’d end up staying. So today I had a message from him, and he said there’d be no penalty at all for breaking the lease early except for losing first and last month deposits and incurring a cleaning cost.”
Ronin had figured either TP or Max would step in. “I’m glad to hear they saw the light.”
“The kicker is we have to be out of here by Saturday.”
“How much equipment do you have?” Ronin jotted down items as Blue rattled them off. That was less stuff than he’d anticipated. But it’d take a crew to load and unload. “How many guys you got helping make the move?”
“Five.”
“I can add”—he did a quick calculation—“six more. Shouldn’t take too long. When is final inspection?”
“Saturday afternoon at two.” He paused. “But here’s the thing. I worry the protection dudes will vandalize the building before the lease company signs off.”
“They might make an example of you, so protect yourself.”