Saint?! Oh, crap! No wonder he was so strong he could pick me up and carry me as though I weighed no more than a small child. He had to be the reigning MMA champ who my brother had somehow weaseled his way into fighting against. I swiveled my head back to Saint and asked, “You’re fighting Vince Butler tonight?”
His eyebrows lifted as his head jerked back in surprise. “Yeah, I just found out about what happened to Sam. How did you know about the switch before me?”
“That’s an excellent question,” one of the other guys drawled as they all moved to stand next to Saint. I was all by myself, opposite the line of three hot guys in suits and Saint in nothing more than a pair of fighter shorts and a shirt that did nothing to conceal how muscular his chest was.
“I’m Knox Dawson, head of security for the Lennox,” the biggest of the suited-up trio introduced himself before jerking his chin at the other two. “This is Drew Lennox, owner of the Lennox, and Zack Parker, co-owner of The Artemis. Both of whom own this arena. As the hosts of the match, we have too much on the line to tolerate security breaches of any kind.”
Intimidated beyond belief by the three of them, I took a tiny step back and crossed my arms over my chest. A deep growl rumbled up Saint’s chest, and he stalked to my side, wrapping his arm around my waist to pull me close. “Knock it off. You’re scaring her.”
“Relax, Saint. I don’t think she’s the breach. I meant some Joe Blow on the payroll who’s running his mouth when he shouldn’t,” Knox explained. “Sometimes, guys get dumb around pretty girls and say shit they know they should keep quiet because they’re hoping to impress them.”
Saint’s arm tightened around me as I groaned, “Eww! That’s not what happened at all.”
“How’d you find out about the switch, angel eyes?” Saint asked.
“My brother told me,” I admitted softly, turning my head to search behind me for Vince because I knew he wouldn’t like me tattling on him to these guys. He’d already been on edge when I’d talked to him in the locker room, and I didn’t want to give him a reason to aim his anger my way.
Saint shifted his hold on me so I was looking at him instead of Knox, Drew, and Zack. I relaxed a little as I stared up at him. Even though Saint should’ve been the scariest of the bunch, I felt safer with him for some reason. “Who’s your brother?”
“Vince.”
My one-word reply dropped like a bomb into the silence surrounding us as I watched Saint’s dark eyes fill with rage. His nostrils flared as he looked over my shoulder at his friends. He took a few deep breaths before his gaze dropped back to my face, and most of the anger had drained from his eyes. “Did your brother get you the job as a ring girl?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed, thinking about how he’d had to pester me into doing it. I wasn’t comfortable walking around barely dressed, let alone in front of a huge crowd of mostly men when I’d be the focus of a lot of their attention as I carried number signs around the Octagon between rounds. Vince hadn’t cared about what I thought about it, not when I’d pull in five thousand dollars in one night since this was a pay-per-view match against the champion. I still hadn’t wanted to do it and had only caved when he’d warned me that if he didn’t find a way to pay off his gambling debt, then his bookie was going to come looking for me too.
He shifted his focus to Drew. “Pull one of the showgirls and have her take over as the ring girl for the match.”
“Hey, wait!” I cried. “You can’t do that. My brother got me the job, and I really need the money.”
“No way in hell are you going out there. Not when I’m about to kick your brother’s ass for getting you a job that has you walking around practically naked,” Saint growled. “Between what I’m being paid just to be here, sponsorship money, fight bonuses, and pay-per-view points, money isn’t something you’ll ever have to worry about again.”
My brow wrinkled in confusion as I tried to work through how what Saint made led to me not having to worry about money. The other guys were no help as they each nodded as though they totally got it. Drew pulled out his phone, fired off a message, and said, “They’ll have a new ring girl before the end of the first round.”
“Perfect.” I still hadn’t figured it all out when Saint dropped a kiss on the top of my head before pointing at Knox. “Take care of her while I’m up there.”