Pushing the Limits by Jennifer Snow Page B

sighed. “Yes, okay, he’s gorgeous.” And also kind, sweet, and totally oblivious to the fact she was going to use him to get the story of her career.

Chapter 5
    â€œI’ll be back in a few minutes,” Colby whispered to Ella as she removed the Xtreme Fight blanket from her lap and stood.
    â€œWhere are you going?” the other woman hissed, glancing at the time clock. There were only two minutes left in this first round of the first fight of the night.
    â€œBathroom. You’re up next anyway. I’ll be back before the third round.”
    â€œYou better be. I’m not covering your round. I just started my period and this bloating is not something I want to parade around up there more than once per fight,” she said grumpily.
    Wow. She really suffered from PMS. She’d been irritable all evening. “I’ll be back,” Colby said before hurrying through the crowd, ignoring the catcalls and dodging gropey hands as she made her way to the back of the stadium. A quick glance at the clock on the wall revealed she had six and a half minutes before she had to be up there holding her round card. She wasn’t sure what she could find that quickly, but anywhere was a start.
    Removing her heels, she ran barefoot up the back staircase toward the offices. As expected, Cameron Bennett’s office door was locked, so she went into the fighter reception office, where new fighters filled out their paperwork and waited to see Cameron about signing on to fight with the organization.
    There wasn’t much inside the small space, except for a desk and chair to fill out the contract paperwork, a small sofa, a bar fridge full of water bottles, and a coffeemaker, with day-old coffee still sitting in it. Behind the desk were the application forms and sample contracts.
    Couldn’t hurt to have one of those. She’d never seen the Xtreme Fight contracts. She assumed they were standard across all fighting organizations. Still, she grabbed one, folded it, and tucked it inside her bra top. Looking around, she sighed. There was nothing else in the room. She paused. Except the garbage can . . .
    Rushing to the door, she quickly scanned the hall. No one around. She could hear the bell signaling the end of the first round. She had about four minutes. Bending, she reached under the desk for the can, and started sorting through the paper. Her hand stuck to one and she suppressed a groan. Gum. Gross.
    How many other reporters were ever reduced to sorting through garbage for a story?
    She unfolded one balled-up piece of paper after another. Mostly contracts where the guy had made a spelling mistake and had tossed it out to start over on a new one. She squinted to read most of them. Not the greatest of handwriting amongthe group. Didn’t matter, there was nothing important on them anyway.
    She sighed as she picked up the trash from the floor and started tossing everything back into the can. Of course she’d choose the most tight-lipped organization to try to do a story on. She couldn’t help but wonder if she was going down a dead-end road. Things happened beyond the cage that were definitely newsworthy, but unfortunately, she doubted she was going to be privy to any of it.
    As she gathered the last of the papers, a tiny slip of pink paper fell out of the pile and she picked it up.
    A doctor’s note?
    She read quickly and her eyes widened.
    A note from a doctor of one of the fighters on that evening’s card.
    Risk of repeated tear in left tendon upon repeated overuse.
    Request for fight clearance—denied.
    Holy shit. This guy wasn’t supposed to be fighting that evening. Adrenaline coursed through her at the first real evidence supporting her suspicions. Had the fighter not told anyone? Had he thrown out the doctor’s note and chosen to fight anyway? Or did Bennett know the guy was injured and allowed him to fight anyway?
    Her heart raced as she heard