She gave me a long look, like she was trying to decide if I was worth talking to or not. Finally, she said, “You’re not winning any points by comparing me to other women.”
I tried not to laugh. “You’re right,” I said. “It’s just that your beauty has me flustered. It’s hard to think of what I should say to you.”
She snorted in response. “You’ve called me beautiful twice now,” she pointed out. “But beautiful is a pretty empty word. It’s subjective, for one. And for another, it’s so general and non-specific that it’s the kind of thing that a guy can easily say to compliment a girl without him actually saying anything.”
“Well, then perhaps I should say something about all the things I’d like to do to your body?” I asked, trying not to sound too lewd. I had to admit, I appreciated the back and forth. She was acting like there was still a question in her mind about whether or not she was going home with me. It was cute. I knew she was going to.
At least, that’s what I thought—until she said why she was here.
“My brother should be up soon,” she said, confusing me for a moment until she continued. “You won’t fight him until later in the month, but when he does, I’ll make sure he knows that he should kick your ass for suggesting that I’d ever sleep with you.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Who’s your brother?” I asked.
The woman nodded towards the stage. “That’s him right there,” she said.
The guy was scowling at me from the stage, flexing his muscles and cracking his knuckles. He was so ticked to see me standing beside his sister that he wasn’t even paying attention to his opponent in the lead-up to their fight.
It wasn’t that I was afraid of him. I had to admit to myself, however, that the last thing I needed was drama right at the start of a month-long tournament. Especially when I had just returned to the ring after an injury and when things had started off on such a high note. I needed to keep my head in the game.
I held up both of my hands and backed away from the curvy vixen who was probably only there to do just that—distract her brother’s opponents and cause drama. “All right, all right,” I said. “Watch the match.”
Her laughter rang in my ears as I walked away.
TWO
LUCY
I could feel the bass beat in the soles of my shoes as it resonated through the club. Around me, people were swaying to the beat, some sloshing drinks while others were already sloshed. It was that late hour on a Friday night when you knew you should probably be heading home but maybe weren’t ready to break away from your friends just yet. Although I was pretty tired and ready to crawl into bed, it was Angelina’s birthday and I didn’t want to be the party-pooper who headed back home first.
Of course, with the late hour came the obnoxious dudes and their arrogant attitudes. One guy in particular just wouldn’t seem to leave Lisa alone. As the night went on, he got more cocky—boisterous and handsy. And he was not the type of guy that she would ever have shown the slightest bit of interest in to begin with, sober or not.
To be honest, I half wished that Bobby were here. I usually didn’t like going out to clubs with him because I knew that he would have some choice comments about my outfit. He was my older brother and didn’t want to see that much of my skin showing. He was overprotective and there was nothing I could do about it.
Sometimes, I appreciated it. I knew that he would have made sure that this asshole never went anywhere near Lisa or otherwise disrespected women again.
He would have taken care of the situation in a heartbeat. But he wasn’t here, and there wasn’t much that I could do to help her. The guy was drunk, and I wasn’t strong enough to put up much of a fight.
I was surprised when someone else finally stepped in, pushing between Lisa and the dude trying to feel her up on the dance floor. “Dude, she isn’t interested,” the new guy said heatedly to the creep. “Get the fuck away from her!”
The creep said something back, but I couldn’t hear what.
“I don’t fucking care,” the new guy said. “Go home. You’re fucking drunk.”
The creep drew himself up like he was going to hit the other guy, but their standoff had already drawn the attention of the bouncers who swooped in. They were obviously glad to have a reason to throw out the asshole from the club.
With a start, I realized that I recognized the other guy. Something about his posture was undeniably familiar, from his broad shoulders to his chiseled jawline. He was guy who’d been flirting with me the other night at Bobby’s match. Not that I knew him exactly, I didn’t even know his name.
I rolled my eyes. He was probably only challenging the other creep because he was, himself, just as much of a creep. Maybe he wanted Lisa, or maybe he believed that fighting him off would be enough to convince me to sleep with him. Either way, it was a doomed plan.
Bobby would kill me if he knew that I’d slept with one of his competitors. He tended to think the worst of boxers in general, and he wanted better for me. As much as I didn’t like my brother’s meddling in my personal life, even
