Family...

Decisions.

In life, making them is inevitable. Some are good, but there is a higher possibility of them turning out bad. For Tony Gamble, even good decisions can end up turning out bad – usually for someone else. Let's be honest though, it's been a very long time since The Grin has made a good decision.

Until today.

Today, Gamble was able to make a decision that not only turned out to be a good one…it was one that he felt should be considered a great one.

“This spaghetti is awesome,” Olivia told her father as soon as she swallowed the mouthful of food she had in her mouth. With a yellow floral patterned sundress and her hair styled in a pair of Dutch braided pigtails, the daughter that Tony Gamble had been keeping a secret to a majority of the PRIME roster stared up at him with an air of innocence in light brown eyes that someone could get lost in.

“You've never had chicken carbonara before,” Tony asked her, flashing the pearly whites as a toothy grin parted his lips. He had on a white ‘Tony Two Books’ tee shirt – available in a variety of colors now at the PRIMEporium – and a pair of khaki pants, a very casual look for a man that usually sported custom tailored suits that he would get from a friend of his in Vegas.

“Nope,” she answered quickly, as she proceeded to stuff her mouth with another fork full of pasta.

“What have you been feeding this girl,” Tony turned his attention to the woman in a white button up blouse and navy blue pencil skirt that had approached the table. “Spaghetti O's and Bagel Bites?”

“Hey, it isn't my fault all she wants to order at Olive Garden is the ravioli,” Victoria took a seat across from Tony. The Permascar Superstar was careful not to let his gaze linger for too long, since she almost took his head off the last time she caught him. Thing is, she was still just as attractive as the day she first walked into his life, so it was a very difficult task.

“Olive Garden…” Gamble scoffed, practically offended by the mention of the restaurant chain's name. “That's like going to Taco Bell for Mexican food.”

“I hope you're not going to spend the rest of the night criticizing my food choices,” Victoria did not expect an answer to her question, but the quizzical look on Tony's face made it appear as if he was contemplating how to properly respond. Truth be told, the PRIME hall of famer was not interested in spending his last few days stateside in an argument with the mother of his child, even if it was something as small and insignificant as her taste in food.

“Can we go get Boba,” the question managed to break up the silence that had built up between her parents.

“Sure,” Tony answered without hesitation as he turned his head to face her – to see the smile on her face, wide and genuine.

His daughter had his smile.

The smile he had before it was replaced with the permanent one everyone sees now.

It was nice to see it again.

=-=-=-=-=

“What did you see?”

“Not sure really,” I replied as I continued to stare out at the ocean that surrounded us. “Thought I saw something sparkling, but it was probably just the sun's reflection.”

“What kind of idiot thinks riding a jet ski across the ocean is a good idea?”

“You didn't meet him,” I finally turned my attention to the teenage girl that stood at my side. She looked annoyed, arms folded across her chest as she stared out in the same direction I just had. I had seen her earlier, asked her how she felt about her father being a member of the Bandits and if she ever felt like she wanted him to change.

She had said no, that he was just being himself and she was okay with that. He was good to her, so she didn't care how he treated others. We had started to talk about Cancer, but that's when we heard that one of Winters’ choir kids had gone missing. Our conversation was cut short, and while it had crossed my mind to continue that conversation with Bobby’s daughter…Annabelle was nothing like Olivia. My daughter had not grown up with someone like me in her life, did not have an attitude the size of Texas, and a mouth that would make a sailor blush. Her view of the World was different from Olivia's, but I wasn't sure if it was due to her being older or the environment that she had been raised in…the people she had been exposed to. Either way, it was probably better if I focused on the task at hand.

We needed to find Daytona.

Not because we gave a damn about the bedazzled bastard, but because the last thing we needed was to show up to Cardiff a man down before the War Games match even started. We were already at a disadvantage with him and Winters on the team, but if they could find a way to put their personal bullshit aside…they would serve their purpose.

Do what they were asked to do – sacrifice themselves if needed – to make sure the Bandits are the only team left standing at the end.

We all had our little part to play…roles we were given.

I received mine a few months ago, before I even joined the Bandits officially. I was sure no one other than Cancer knew about it. Certain that even Hessian's earlier comment about me being the guy everyone overlooks, was just something he knew from personal experience.

I honestly don't know whether I am still overlooked, but loss after loss for the last few months should keep the focus off the type of threat I could be in a match like this. Odds are they were going to focus on the wild cards, the new guys that had slowly begun to make a name for themselves every single ReVival.

“Are you okay?”

“What,” I realized that I had just been staring at Annabelle, lost in my thoughts for who knew how long. Not sure why, but I doubted that it made her feel uncomfortable…she didn't seem like the type to get flustered easily.

“I told you I didn't get a chance to meet Daytona, and you didn't say anything…just had a weird look on your face for a few seconds.” She paused. “Thought you had a stroke or something.”

Or something.

“Sorry,” I stared back out into the ocean, out at nothing. “Just worried about Diamonds, idiot or not he's still part of this team.”

I lied.

“Isn't everyone on the team some sort of idiot,” her comment made me chuckle.

She was right.

That's why Captain Coral had chosen who he had, to watch chaos ensue. To watch the World burn.

More importantly, to see who we could take down with us when we lit the match.

“Yeah,” I wanted to kick myself, because I suddenly realized something that had been pretty obvious to everyone but myself. “And I'm probably the biggest one of the bunch.”

=-=-=-=-=

“You're an idiot.”

She wasn't lying.

“Why do you say that?”

I knew why.

“I know why you haven't wanted her around you at the shows, but if you're not planning to quit anytime soon…people are going to find out about her.”

She didn't say us.

“No sense in rushing it.”

I was hoping that if I gave her time, she would start to see what we had between us the same way that I did.

“Maybe you're more worried about the type of people you're going to have her around.”

Something else she was right about, but it wasn't just her I was worried about…it was them.

“Well yeah,” I said as nonchalantly as I could. “Can you imagine her telling Cancer that she told me I should turn on him at War Games.”

She laughed, and I saw that smile that made me fall in love with her all those years ago. The one I had wished for every night to see again, since the night I found out I would never – the night I was lied to.

“We've had this conversation before.”

Many times, and it always ended the same.

“Nothings changed,” I told her, because nothing had. Being good just wasn't in me, it wasn't who I was.

“What are you scared of?”

Losing them again.

“I'm not scared of anything,” but I was, and I'm not sure why I didn't just tell her.

“Could've fooled me.”

She brushed her hair back with her fingers, and tucked a few strands behind her ear to keep them away from the front of her face. I hated that she still had this effect on me, because when I found out that everything had been a lie – that she wasn't dead – I wanted to hate her. I wanted to be angry at her for making me hurt all those years, for making me miss out on all those years with Olivia. I just couldn't, and as I looked at her seated across from me I knew why. I still loved her.

All of these years later and nothing had changed.

“Did I now,” more of a comment than a question, so I wasn't expecting an answer. I just watched in admiration as she scanned the room for our daughter, who had just walked over to the counter to grab her strawberry blended milk tea with extra crystal Boba.

“What are y’all talking about?” Olivia placed her cup on the table before she adjusted her chair and took a seat. Her eyes shifted back and forth from her mother then to me, but neither of us rushed to give her an immediate answer. “Oh, so you were talking about me then.”

“No, honey, we weren't.”

“You don't have to lie to me,” Olivia stirred her straw around the cup before she took a sip.

“Okay, you caught us, Liv,” I put my hand on her shoulder, and stared into her eyes as the right side of my lip curled into a smile. “Your mom was telling me how lucky I am, and I told her that she was right and that I was going to miss you while I'm gone.”

She chewed on a chunk of boba for a bit, allowing my comment to hang there for a moment – to linger longer than I felt comfortable with as I watched the wheels turn in the back of her mind. I swear I saw her smile before her lips parted and she asked a question I didn't expect.

“Just me?”

I'm sure I blushed.

“What?”

=-=-=-=-=

“I want you to lose your next few matches.”

Even when Cancer Jiles repeated what he said, I couldn't believe that he said it.

“You want me to lose,” I was confused, it didn't make any sense. “Why?”

“Because you're already on a losing streak.”

He laughed without laughing, just said the word HA with a cool as hell smile on his face.

He was right though, I couldn't find a way to win, and every time I saw my name at the bottom of the rankings it just hurt my ego even more. What's a few more going to do to an already tarnished legacy. It was just until War Games, just long enough for that to be fresh on the other teams minds when they think of who is on our team.

It was not a full proof plan, because there was still a chance that people would disregard the losing streak and focus on my history of being an underdog. Still, we agreed that if this was fresh on their mind, my history and what I was capable of may be the last thing on it. If there was one thing Jiles and I had in common – apart from the ability to get under our opponent's skin and being able to piss someone off with a single word – it was an ability to think ahead and put plans into motion that no one would expect.

It was something I had in common with Devin.

Shakur and I did what we needed to in order to climb the ladder in PRIME, and I planned to do that again with Cancer’s help. Me becoming a part of the Bandits was something my friends – and my family – did not understand, because they could not see the long term benefits. They couldn't see what I saw, what Cancer could see, because I couldn't even see it a few months ago.

I saw failure.

Failure to move up the card.

Failure to be the man my daughter wanted me to be.

Failure to hold the Gamble Championship until it was taken away.

Failure to defeat Brandon Youngblood…to topple the Tower of Babble.

Once I was blind, but now I see.

Jiles helped me see what could be, and together we are going to succeed.

All I needed to do was lose.

Ha!

=-=-=-=-=

I reached up and shook Daytona’s hand, grateful for his help with the Octane. Bastard took a knee, like me extending my arm wasn't enough to reach his hand.

I looked over at Hessian as he made his way back to his bus, a long time foe that had agreed to leave our history in the past in order to focus on our future – to focus on a victory at War Games.

I had avoided playing Twister with Bobby, but we ended up playing Candyland instead. After a few hours of trying to convince him that the game pieces weren't edible, as expected I lost.

No one on my volleyball team was happy when my losing streak trickled into our game, since of course…we lost.

I wasn't certain, but it seemed as if all eyes were on me when the Octane started having trouble. It was as if no one expected us to even make it to Cardiff on time, that we'd be late to Culture Shock and end up losing.

It had been an eventful few days, but our journey was far from over.

What we had assembled here wasn't anything like a family, but it made me miss mine.

Seeing Bobby with his daughter.

Winters with his flock.

But especially Coral with one arm around his wife, and the other cradling his daughter.

I needed to make a phone call.

Hopefully it's not too late.