“Do I?” I asked darkly. I wished that I could believe her, but I wasn’t sure that I’d ever be able to trust her ever again. There was a reason that James had told me about Bobby’s real clout in town. He had no reason to want to screw things up between Lucy and I; he was genuinely looking out for me. “I know Bobby’s in a gang. He’s the one who threatened that if I came near you, he would take care of me away from the ring.”
Lucy gaped at me. “He would never say that,” she said defensively. “And anyway, part of a gang? No fucking way.” She stood up abruptly. “Look, I don’t know what the hell you’re trying to do, push me away or whatever, but you’re an asshole.”
“And you’re the one who’s been playing around this whole time, trying to get me killed,” I said sourly.
But then I noticed the tears at the corner of Lucy’s eyes. I remembered the way she had come in here, looking nothing but scared and upset. Surely even if this was all some sort of ploy made by Bobby, even she wasn’t that good of an actress?
And what about the rest of it? She certainly hadn’t seemed like she was acting when I had her in bed. We had shared something, which couldn’t be faked. I started to doubt myself. Maybe I had it all wrong. Maybe I was just so worried that I was starting to feel something for her that I had just inadvertently messed everything up?
“I hope you lose my number,” Lucy choked out as tears fell down her cheeks. Then, she turned and fled the room.
I stared after her. I wanted to chase her, but I was still waiting for those scans to come back and clear me. I couldn’t risk another injury, and especially not a head injury. That could really put me off my game for a long time. Besides, what was I going to do, run down the hallways of the hospital chasing after Lucy when she wanted nothing to do with me?
Maybe it was for the best that she’d gone. Maybe James was right about Bobby and Lucy just didn’t know anything about it, about her brother’s true identity. I didn’t think that James would lie to me, and he hadn’t said it like those were just rumors either. He’d been dead serious.
Still, I couldn’t help but feel bad for Lucy. I shouldn’t have spoken to her like that. I never should have suspected that she was involved in the first place. She was way too sweet for that.
At the end of the day, I supposed it didn’t matter anymore. I had screwed everything up, like I usually did. How was I supposed to come back from something like that? Bobby meant the world to Lucy; she would never forgive me for accusing him of being some gangster.
Anyway, there was no point in chasing after her or trying to fix things, I told myself. Contrary to what I’d hinted to James, I wasn’t planning on staying in Boston forever, and besides, Lucy wasn’t the only beautiful woman in town if I did stick around. There was plenty of them out there.
I didn’t understand what my attraction to Lucy was, anyway. I could probably chalk it all up to the fact that Bobby had been so adamant that he didn’t want to see me anywhere near her. I had always liked a good challenge.
Well, now I had had her twice, practically underneath Bobby’s nose, and the novelty was wearing off. Time to move on and forget about her and her family. Time to go back to focusing on my training and the tournament. I would lose some points for losing the match, but I wasn’t out of the game yet.
I nodded to myself, my fingers clenching into fists against the sheets. No, I wasn’t out yet. Just like with my previous injury, it had given me the chance to come back stronger.
TWELVE
LUCY
I spent the first couple days after the hospital just sort of... wallowing. I hated to think of it that way. I hated to think of myself as the kind of person who wallowed her way through a breakup.
Not that Dylan and I had technically broken up. You kind of had to be in a relationship before you could break up with someone.
I had a feeling that I was never going to see him again, at least not away from the arena. I tried to tell myself that this was for the best. The hateful things he’d said to me at the hospital had proven to me that he was not the guy that I thought he was.
It was still hard to let go of him. It felt like that night where I had really let myself imagine a future with him, imagine what it would be like to be his. That, of course, was the moment that he had proven himself to be an asshole.
Why do I always seem to end up with guys like that?
I could have groaned out loud as the question flitted through my mind. The trouble was that I already knew the answer. I knew better than to sleep with boxing dudes. They were arrogant and self-centered, almost as a rule. I knew right from the start that things weren’t going to turn out well for us.
At least Bobby hadn’t had to step in. Not that he would have done what Dylan had accused him of, but things could have gotten a little ugly.
I thought about what Dylan had said again. The trouble was, there was a small part of me that... well, didn’t exactly believe him, but made me wonder. I was sure he wasn’t making things up. That
