“Or maybe you want to talk about what an asshole you are for hurting her?” Bobby continued, still sneering at me.
I looked over at Lucy, wondering if that was true. Had she talked to her brother about me? Had she told him that I had hurt her? I instantly felt bad. This whole encounter was making me think twice about getting involved with Bobby’s family... but on the other hand, I couldn’t help but think that if Bobby really was as bad a guy, then he wouldn’t be doing this here, in the middle of a bar full of witnesses.
Bobby lunged at me again, but suddenly Lucy appeared at our sides. “Stop!” she said loudly, grabbing her brother’s arm. “Bobby, come on. I told you not to interfere.”
That didn’t seem to help the situation much. Bobby tried to shake his sister’s hands off of him without being too rough about it. “Lucy,” he growled.
“No. Bobby, come on!” Lucy said, shaking her head. “You can’t do this here. Save it for the ring.” She directed the last words at me, a disgusted look on her face as though I had had any part in starting this. Unless she too thought that the whole thing with the brunette was my fault? God damn it.
As I watched the two of them leave, arguing loudly while heading for the door, I couldn’t help but feel totally amped up. I needed… something. A fight, a fuck, I didn’t know what. My scheduled fight against Bobby was still a couple nights away, but it felt like an eternity.
My hands were clenched into fists, I could feel the adrenaline pumping through me, and I tried to relax, forcing myself to take a deep breath.
The truth was, I knew that the fight wasn’t going to solve anything. Fighting Bobby was only going to widen the divide already there between Lucy and me. But maybe it would make me feel better to give him a little comeuppance for screwing up what Lucy and I had.
I knew that wasn’t fair, though. I had been the one to screw things up. Where the hell had it all gone so wrong?
I turned back to the bar. If nothing else, I needed a few shots of whiskey to soothe my nerves and calm down. But the bartender was shaking his head as soon as I made eye contact with him. “Oh no,” he said. “I don’t think so. We don’t need that kind of shit in here. I want you out now, before I call the cops.”
I stared at him. “I didn’t do anything wrong, though!” I protested, feeling outraged. It was all too much. “He was the one who came after me.” I looked around the bar for backup, suddenly realizing that it was still pretty quiet. And much less crowded than it had been earlier in the night, before Bobby lunged at me. I was bad for business.
I grumbled under my breath. Bunch of pansies probably fled the scene when it started going south, thinking that they’d get tangled up in the mess. Now the bartender was mad that he’d lost his tipping customers and he’d decided to take it out on me. Fucking figures.
I stalked towards the door, brushing off the bouncer that only then came to try and get me out. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fucking going,” I growled. “Next time, why don’t you get the guy who’s actually causing problems? Oh right, you probably can’t, can you? He’s paying you off?”
I didn’t stop to hear an answer. Instead, I headed for the liquor store up the block and grabbed a bottle to take with me back to my hotel suite. I knew better than to get too drunk. I’d regret it in the morning, and I needed to keep my wits sharp for a final couple rounds of training before I met Bobby in the ring. But at the same time, I knew that if I didn’t take the edge off, I would spend the whole night pacing a hole in the carpet.
I closed the door of my suite, pulled my phone out of my pants and chucked it onto the bed. I walked to the other room for a glass, but then stopped in my tracks, reconsidering my options. I had Lucy’s number. She didn’t have mine, but I had hers. I had almost forgotten about that.
I walked slowly back to my bed and grabbed my phone. I started a new message, typing out a half dozen different things before deleting everything. My finger hovered over the call button, and I punched it before I could change my mind.
“Dylan?” Lucy said, answering after the first ring.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I said, surprised at how hoarse my voice sounded.
She was silent for a long time, and I was as well, still unsure what to say to her exactly. I wanted to do this, the serious stuff face to face. Logically, that meant that we had to meet.
But did she even want that? And would Bobby even allow it? I asked her.
Lucy sighed before replying. “After the match,” she said quietly. “Once things are settled between you and Bobby.”
“Okay,” I said quietly, even though I hated the idea of waiting even another night before talking things over with her. Still, at least she’d agreed to talk to me.
Or at least to maybe talk to me. That was a hell of a lot more than I had had before, either way.
We both stood there for a long moment with our phones pressed against our ears, just listening to each other breathe. I almost wanted to ask her what she wanted or expected me to do about the match. Did I have to forfeit in order for her to talk to me again?
But I couldn’t ask her that. I wasn’t
