“Here we go,” Trish says. “It’s show time. Help us watch out for the babies if the game moves this way.”

The referee tosses the ball up into the air. The two biggest men on the teams, Jesse and Rocco, both go for it. Jesse tips it to Toby, who gets off the first shot easily and scores. Half the crowd erupts into cheers and the other half groans.

“Uh oh,” I say. “How does this game end anyway?”

“Whoever reaches twenty points wins,” Kendra answers. “If it were up to me, I would make it ten. The last ten points are always too intense. Look at Flint and Sam’s faces. They are so pissed that Toby got past them. The Steel Infidels are the most competitive group of men I’ve ever seen. Everything is a contest and they all hate to lose. In other words, things are about to get ugly.”

Flint passes Sam the ball and he jumps up to take a shot. Danny leaps up to block it and hits him square in the chest, knocking both Sam and the ball out of bounds.

“Isn’t that unnecessary roughness?” I ask, frowning. “Why didn’t the ref call it?”

“Oh, that was nothing,” Trish answers. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

It turns out she’s right.

As the game goes on, the physical contact between the men increases in intensity. I cringe and hide my face in my hands when Sam goes up for another shot and crashes down hard on the concrete with both Jesse and Toby in a tangle of muscle and limbs. They hit the ground with loud thuds as the breath is knocked out of all three of them.

I’m worried until I see Sam stand up, clap Jesse on the shoulder, and laugh. He’s actually enjoying this. Maybe I’m worrying for nothing. Then I notice the large, nasty red scrape on his back covered in dirt and grit.

“Somebody’s going to get hurt,” I say.

It had better not be Sam.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” Trish says with a casual wave of her hand. “They’ll be fine.”

Trish is sweet, but I’m seriously beginning to wonder if she’s a little off in the head. I don’t know how she can be so nonchalant.

“Easy for you to say. Jesse is built like a semi-truck. It would take a lot to hurt him. The bigger guys are knocking the shit out of Sam out there.”