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  Holden steps forward, and I know the show is about to start. “This isn’t about her. I’ve accepted what she wants and moved on. This is about me.” He rolls his head around on his neck. “Do you fight for someone or yourself?”

  Okay, so he’s in that mind frame, needing this to help his demons. That’s cool, because that means we’re throwing down.

  The audience is shouting for us to fight. I’m not interested in what they have to say.

  When Holden charges at me, I dodge his fist and move to the side. He comes at me again, and this time, I land my first blow to his face. I’m rather impressed that he hasn’t gone down. I throw a mean punch but he just stares at me, and the violence is thick as he starts to land blow after blow. I block several, and get hit a couple of times. I’m pissed off, but I defend myself while also landing other blows. We’re both ready to fucking kill each other, and then a flash in the crowd causes me to stop, holding Holden’s fist, and with him seeing me distracted, he looks in the same direction.

  Skylar’s in the crowd.

  She looks pissed.

  I watch as she shakes her head, turns on her heel, and walks away with Claire right behind her.

  Shit, I can’t fight when she is running off, the crowd swallowing her up.

  Together, because I think Holden agrees with me, we get swallowed into the crowd as well.

  Holden

  You all think I’m running toward Skylar, and yeah, I’m running in her direction but it’s not her I’m actually chasing. No, I’m rushing toward Claire. When Adrian looked into the crowd, I hadn’t seen Skylar, I’d seen the worry on Claire’s face. Does she have feelings for me? Was she worried about me?

  I don’t know what to do or even what to think as I rush through the crowd. They all start to boo but I don’t give a shit.

  Adrian has already taken the lead, and I can feel the pain in my side as I rush toward the retreating Claire.

  “Claire.” I shout her name.

  She doesn’t stop, and I become aware of the pain in my side. Adrian has a mean right hook.

  Finally we’re outside, and Skylar spins on her heel. Claire looks between all of us, the worry still there, etched in her expression.

  “This is what you were doing, trying to beat at each other? Kill each other? For what?” Skylar says as she slams her hands against Adrian’s chest.

  I ignore their fight, and move toward the car where Claire is standing next to the passenger door. “Are you pissed at me?” I ask.

  She looks toward me, and I’m sure I see pain in her eyes but within a second, she smiles. “Pissed? Why would I be pissed?”

  I don’t know what the hell to say. “The fight … it’s nothing.” But it is something. It’s something that makes me feel alive. I can see the appeal it had for Adrian all along.

  She glances toward Skylar and Adrian, who are now speaking softly.

  Claire’s biting her lip, and her face is flushed.

  I don’t know what it is, or how it happened, but Claire’s stolen my heart. I just don’t know if I can go down that road, not now.

  Chapter 25

  Adrian

  “I didn’t know he’d be there, baby.” Skylar lowers her head and stares at the ground, the long fall of her hair lightly obscuring her face. “But maybe he needs this?” She looks at me then. I watch as she glances to where Holden is speaking with Claire off to the side. It doesn’t take a genius to realize there is something between them, whether they’d admit it or not.

  “He needs it?” she says, kind of void of emotion. I know she doesn’t have feelings for him, knows she loves me with the same intensity with which I love her. This isn’t about anything but her being worried, of her looking out for a friend.

  I move closer to her, wrap my arms around her body, and pull her in close. She’s mine, and I’d do anything for her. Anything. I hate to see her feeling this way, scared, worried, maybe even disappointed.

  “Truth is I hate seeing you in the middle like that, not knowing if you’ll be okay, or if something goes terribly wrong and I’ll lose you.”

  I cup the back of her head, wanting to make things okay for her, wanting to make her see I’m a fighter, and not just in the literal sense. “Baby, as much as I want to give you anything and everything you want, I can’t stop fighting.” I pull back and look in her eyes. “This is who I am. You knew that when you decided to be with my stubborn ass.” I smirk, and love it when she softens a bit.

  “I know, and I’d never ask you to stop. I wouldn’t want that. I know you need this like you need to breathe.”

  God, and that’s why I love her so much. She gets me, knows that even though I’m not perfect in any sense of the word, that above all else she’s my number one. “You’re what’s important to me.” I pull her in for a hug again, not giving a shit I’ve probably pissed off a load of people by rushing out of there. I may have to fight to let my inner demons out, and may need that bloodshed to feel like my life isn’t spiraling out of control, but until Skylar came into my life I hadn’t been living.

  Skylar

  I lie in Adrian’s arms, the sound of students right outside my dorm room loud, but not loud enough to drown out the emotions going through me. We are both naked, and the feel of his warm body pressed to mine, and the sound of his heart beating the same easy rhythm as mine, lulls me to sleep.

  I spoke to Claire just this morning, right before she was off to her classes. I wanted to ask her about Holden, because whether they knew it or not, the chemistry between them is serious. It is intense. But I haven’t asked her anything, because if she wants to talk about it then I am here.

  She knows that, and I hope she confides in me, because even if I’ve crushed on Holden back in the day, Adrian is the love of my life. He always will be.

  “I love you,” I whisper, and I feel his hands on me tighten, as if he is afraid to let go, or maybe he thinks I’ll leave.

  “I love you more than those three words could ever mean, baby.”

  My heart swells even more at those words, at the emotion and truth I feel in them. Adrian is everything good and right in my world, but I also know that I could stand on my own two feet. I could make my life whole, healed. But having Adrian giving me the strength, the love that I know I deserve makes life seem pretty bright.

  Epilogue

  Skylar

  A year later

  “You’re celebrating a year together, that is a huge achievement,” Claire says as I finish curling my hair. I smile as I think about the past year with Adrian.

  My brother and Holden have finally accepted him, and I am so happy about that. Alex had said it wouldn’t last longer than three months with Adrian. Not only has it lasted but we are both stronger together.

  “What about you and Holden, anything happening between the two of you? It’s been a long time.” I watch as Claire’s shoulders slump, and I hate that she seems so dejected by the question. Holden hasn’t stopped coming around to see her. It is really sweet but Claire seems happier to keep him at arm’s length. She isn’t convinced that he actually wants anything from her, which for some reason, I do find really sad.

  “Nothing is going on with Holden and I. He’s always around but I wouldn’t see anything else in it.” She shrugs, and I see how sad she looks.

  “He likes you, Claire.”

  “I’m happy the way I am. I don’t need a man or anything.”

  I laugh at this.

  She wants love and romance, I can see it in her eyes, and I know all about it.

  Someone knocks on our door, and I just know it’s Adrian. Opening it up, I throw myself into his arms and kiss him.

  He grabs me, holding me tightly, and I moan as his hand goes to my ass, pulling me up into his arms.

  “Fuck, baby, I miss you so much.”

  “It has only been a couple of hours.” He hangs out around our dorm as long as possible. I’m moving in with him at the end of the semester but I don’t want to tell Claire because I kn
ow it will upset her. For now, Adrian seems more than happy to hang out with me.

  “Happy anniversary, baby,” he says.

  I chuckle. “Our first one. I wonder if you’ll still remember when it’s our fifth, tenth, or even longer.”

  “I’ll remember for the rest of our lives, Skylar. You’re mine, and we belong with each other. Forever, and for always.”

  Pressing my lips against his, I know that I have finally found the one, and I am never going to let him go.

  Holden

  Claire stands in the corner, holding a drink she probably won’t even taste, and my nerves are completely fucking shot. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, and my heart is pounding. For the past year I have been making as many excuses as possible to go over to her dorm, and it has all been a waste, but I’ve always stayed back and not gone there with her.

  Even if I wanted to.

  But I don’t want to wait, don’t want to see if she’ll show signs of wanting me as much as I want her. With school, work, and me heavy in the underground fighting circuit, I’ve held my emotions in check.

  Not anymore.

  With a drink in hand, I head on over.

  “Hey,” I say, and cringe at how fucking lame I must look and sound.

  “Hey,” she says, smiling. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” I’m just feeling like a total asshole right now because I don’t have a clue what to say. “Who would have thought they would make it?” I point toward Skylar and Adrian, who haven’t let each other go from the moment they got to the party. Everyone is fucking happy, and when I look at Claire, I know why.

  I can’t have her. She doesn’t seem to get that I want her, and each time I go to see her, she talks about Skylar or other shit.

  Taking a drink of my beer, I’m determined to ask her out. This is it. This is my moment. “So, Claire …”

  * * *

  The End

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