“Yeah, but it still feels weird,” I said. “And the last thing I need is for Bobby to freak out and ask all the bartenders to keep an eye on me.”
Jen giggled. “Would he really do that?” she asked.
“He did it once before. I was dating this guy who admittedly was kind of an asshole, and Bobby didn’t like the dude. So, he asked everyone to basically just keep an eye on me, which turned out to be useful when I later found out that he’d been cheating on me.” I rolled my eyes, remembering how mad I had been.
“Huh, I guess I can see why Bobby’s protective of you,” Jen said, looking faintly amused.
“Yeah,” I sighed. As much as I wanted Bobby to quit trying to look out for me in his own misguided ways, I knew that he meant well. Anyway, there were things that I was more worried about than what Bobby might do to Dylan. Or rather…
“Can you imagine what it’ll be like later in the tournament to watch them go up against one another?” I was already worried just thinking about it.
“Are they scheduled to?” Jen asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, not for a little while, but it’s definitely coming, and I think both of them know it.” I shuddered. “I wouldn’t want to see either one of them get hurt, but someone’s got to win that match. And of course, I’d be rooting for Bobby, but...”
“It sounds like you already know your answer,” Jen pointed out, unhelpfully.
I sighed. “Yeah, I guess I do,” I replied. I couldn’t help feeling disappointed, and I wondered if I had really expected her to try to talk me out of my funk. Ultimately, it was my choice whether to text Dylan or not, and she couldn’t make that decision for me.
I pulled out my phone, scrolling through my contacts list once again. My finger hovered over Dylan’s number. After a moment, I deleted it.
I knew that wouldn’t be the end of it. I was bound to run into him again, especially given the way that things had been going lately. We kept meeting in the most random of places. Still, it removed the temptation of contacting him for a midnight booty call. It was a step in the right direction.
Surely now that I’d decided that I couldn’t even trust myself to hang on to his number, then the next time I’d see him I could remind myself of all the reasons not to let him get close to me again. I wouldn’t forget, like I had last time.
I sure hoped that was true, anyway. If we got too close again, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to hold myself back a second time.
SEVEN
DYLAN
I didn’t make a habit of watching my competitors fight. It wasn’t particularly interesting for one thing and I felt like my time was better spent training in the gym to get stronger rather than trying to find out their weaknesses.
Today, I was only half watching the match. I was actually keeping an eye out for Lucy.
I couldn’t believe she hadn’t called me yet and I didn’t know how to take it. I had thought that the sex was just as mind-blowing for her as it had been for me, but now I couldn’t help but wonder if I had read the signs wrong. Maybe it was just always that good for her and what we had shared had been no big deal.
I didn’t know why I was trying to find her somewhere in the crowd. I wasn’t usually that desperate. I knew I could easily find a bunch of girls in town who would want to sleep with me, with a boxer, and who wouldn’t give me half of the headaches that Lucy was giving me. Girls who weren’t the younger sisters of my competitors.
There was something about Lucy that intrigued me, made me want to come back for more. It wasn’t just the fact that she had curves in all the right places, or the sound of her laugh sent shivers down my spine, or the way she had looked while moaning my name as I fucked her in the closet. It was something more.
Maybe it was the fact that she hadn’t called me that made me want her, or her brother’s threats were messing up with my head. Things just felt comfortable with her. Chatting with her was easy. I didn’t usually have that with women. She was down to earth, and I liked that.
I finally spotted her, standing on the other side of the ring, laughing at something the guy next to her said. Surely, she wasn’t on a date? Maybe I had totally misread the situation. Maybe she had a boyfriend and it was why she had seemed less than interested in me. It would certainly explain why she hadn’t called me back.
But the more I watched them, carefully analyzing every one of their gestures, the more confident I felt that they weren’t on a date. There was no touching, and they hardly spoke to one another. They might not even be friends, but strangers sitting next to one another. I felt a surprising sense of relief, if this was the case.
It wasn’t long before Lucy noticed me staring at her. She gazed at me in return for a moment, biting her lip and wondering what to do. I wished that we were closer so that I could say something to her. The last thing I wanted was for her to rush out of here before I had the chance to speak to her, but at the same time, I
