“No, I told her I had to go to the bathroom.” Any signs of a grin vanished.
“You are an ass.” Ella laughed. “Go make up with the girl you brought and stop drooling over the one you want. It makes some of us uncomfortable.” She glanced at the ceiling and tilted her head. “Actually, no. It brings me amusement in my life.”
“Uh… Connor?” A girl with long black hair walked toward us. She wore a tank top with a low neckline, and she crossed her arms right under her breasts. “What’s going on here?”
Thank God. This was going to be our saving grace. “He was just telling us he needed to get back to you.” I forced a smile that I hoped wasn’t as awkward as it felt. “He saved me from some drunken asshole.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders relaxed, and she dropped her hands by her sides. “That was nice of him. Are you guys friends or something?”
“Uh…” His mouth dropped open, and his eyes glanced everywhere.
“Kinda.” The idiot thought I was going to tell her we slept together. That had to be what it was. Otherwise, he was acting more awkward than I was, and that was saying something.
“We all three have a class together.” Ella stepped forward and held her hand out. “I’m Ella, and this here is Elena.” She turned back to Connor. “Thanks so much. We don’t want to keep you away from your date any longer.” She grabbed my arm and nodded toward a table for two. “We’re here.”
Not saying anything else to him, I turned and took my place at the table. There were already chips and salsa waiting for us. “I’m starving.”
“Girl, me too.” She sat on the other side and chuckled. “He’s got it bad for you.”
“Worst mistake of my life.” I grabbed a tortilla chip and dipped it in the chunky salsa. “And we had absolutely no chemistry, so it makes it that much worse.”
“He obviously disagrees.” She rolled her eyes and took a sip of water. “If you’d asked him to sit with us, he would’ve dropped her like a bad habit.”
“Well, good thing I didn’t offer then.” If I could’ve gone back in time to change the decision I made the night of the party, I would have. It wasn’t long until we ordered and the waitress brought our food.
The entire way to the fight, I was torn between anxiety and intrigue. I’d always enjoyed a good fight, but I had never seen one unless it had been on television. Before I knew it, we’d arrived.
It was a standalone building off a back road. The parking lot was huge in the back and couldn’t be seen from the road. Almost every spot was taken, but Ella made herself a spot near the front, blocking in two cars.
“Don’t you think you should move?” Someone might try to leave before we got out of there.
“God no. We’ll probably leave before everyone else does.” She shrugged and locked her door. “Come on, let’s go get a seat.”
I couldn’t believe that the parking lot was so full. We headed toward the back, and I turned around to glance at everything one more time. “It’s dark back here.”
“Because they don’t want the cops to see.” She pushed the door open and walked in with little regard to all the bodies that were in our way. “Once we get closer to the ring, you’ll be able to see better.”
Apparently, I’d thrown my whole life plan to stay off the radar into the wind tonight. “It looks like there is a line.”
“Girl, no.” She took my hand and kept weaving through the bodies that were piled inside. “They’re making bets on who’ll win.”
Finally, we entered a huge room that had a ring in the center of the floor. People were lined up, and there weren't any chairs in sight.
“Come on.” She took my hand so we didn’t get parted in the crowd.
I wasn’t quite sure how she did it, but we wound up in the front, and the two guys were already going at it.
One was a tall, thick guy with a scar down his cheek, who was dancing around the hottest guy I’d ever seen.
My eyes landed on Mason as he grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head. Each movement showed the definition in his hard, muscular body as his shirt was pulled over his short, dark hair. He tossed the material on the ground, and his huge-ass paw print became clear on his upper arm.
Done wasting Mason’s time, the scarred guy attacked running full-force at him in the center.
“Kick his ass, Mason,” Ella yelled next to me.
My eyes immediately went back to the fight as Mason lowered his body so that the other guy would land on his back. Once the guy was positioned the way Mason wanted him, he stood fast, throwing the guy off his back and onto the ground.
“Ow.” The guy groaned as he slowly climbed to his feet. Before he was solid on the ground, Mason reared his arm back and punched the guy square in the nose.
Blood splattered as the guy stumbled in our direction. When he was only a few feet away from us, he hit the ground.
The crowd went wild. The screams and chants were so loud my ears rang.
“Hey, are you okay?” Ella’s concerned eyes fell on me.
“Yeah.” I didn’t need to make a scene.
“If you wanna be concerned about anyone, I wouldn’t mind the attention.” A guy threw his arm around Ella, and he lowered his face to hers. “You’re hot.”
“Uh… Thanks.” She removed his arm from her shoulders and nodded. “But you’re drunk, and we know we don’t make the best decisions like that. You might wake up in the morning to find out I’m actually toothless and fat.”
“Are you making fun of me?” The guy stood straight and glared at her.
This wasn’t
