Chapter Twenty-Four

Rafe

Ezra is practically on top of me as Vic drops to the floor to count. As he reaches the tenth count, I’m in the ring and Shelby is in my arms. There’s blood trickling from her lips, and her skin is slick with sweat as I hoist her up, but I can’t help it. I need this. And judging by the way she wraps her legs around my waist, she’s okay with it.

“You’re fucking amazing,” I smile as she pulls my face in for a kiss. Quickly, she tears her gloves off and digs her fingers in my hair.

“Jesus,” Vic mutters as he taps my shoulder. “Will you get the fuck off of my fighter so I can do this?”

“Oh yeah,” she says as she jumps off my waist.

I back out of the ring to give her her moment when Vic crowns her the winner because I want her to feel that. She deserves it.

After she climbs down and back into my arms, I feel Ezra standing next to us.

“Shelby,” he mumbles. Pulling away from me, she stares at him with a smile.

“Thank you for coming,” she says before she wraps her arms around his neck.

“I’ll give you two a minute.” Then, I walk toward the back lot where the party would normally spill out to after the proper matches. Vic walks up behind me.

“I miss it,” he says as he lights his cigarette.

“Yeah, sometimes, I do too.”

I know what I miss is not the fighting, but the easy way I worked through my pain. It makes me laugh now when I think about how getting punched so hard I would see stars was easier than talking about my feelings, but it was honestly more painless.

“This girl is giving me ideas about this place. Bringing in youth MMA and that bullshit.”

I let out a laugh. “She can be annoying like that.” Then I glance at him, letting out a heavy sigh. “Listen, I’m sorry you got shut down. I’m glad they didn’t take the whole gym.”

He waves his hand at me. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry you got a month’s paid vacation for it.”

“Hey,” I bark in a warning, but he sends me that charming Vic smile, and I just roll my eyes and go back inside to find Shelby.

After she showers and comes out ready to go, she agrees to let me take her home. It’s not hard to bargain with her when I remind her that I brought my bike. With an easy smile, she agrees and latches onto my arm.

We both say goodbye to Ezra who lets his eyes linger on me a moment longer than I expect them to. Everything between us isn’t healed. We still have a lot to recover, but tonight I remembered what it was like to have him as a friend.