I kissed him again. This time his mouth brushed mine, then my jaw, then back again, and by the time I rocked against him, both of us were breathing a little harder.
“Go to sleep,” I told him.
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “You first.”
We didn’t.
Instead, he slid down my body, taking my pants with him.
One MonthLater
By the timeCoach Luis finished wrapping my hands and pulled my open-finger gloves on, I already had my headphones on and my elbows braced on my knees, blocking out as much of the room as I could. I didn’t want to start a conversation. I didn’t want to listen to other people talking. I didn’t want to think about scouts, agents, or what this night might become if I won.
I just wanted to get in the cage.
The music in my ears drowned out most of the noise around me as I kept my head down and focused on my breathing,letting everything fade away until only the fight in front of me remained.
Across the room, Keaton was also getting ready, but we each knew the other needed to get in the zone so we kept our distance.
Luis tapped my knee when he finished.
I pulled one side of my headphones off.
“You good?”
“Yeah.”
That was all I needed.
I put the headphones back on and sat there for another minute, with my pulse steady instead of racing.
When Mason appeared at the edge of the room and pointed toward the curtain, I finally took off the headphones and handed them to Luis.
The second I got to my feet, everything in me clicked into place.
Luis gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Stay sharp and smart.”
Devon touched my glove. “One round at a time.”
I nodded.
Then the announcer called my name, and I walked out.
None of it felt new. Not the lights. Not the noise. Not the walk to the cage. I’d done this before in some form or another.
What felt different was knowing who was watching.
My opponent was already waiting, bouncing on his feet and throwing a few practice punches in the air as if he was trying to stay loose.
The ref brought us to the center, explained the rules, and then we took a step back and got into position.
The bell rang.
He came at me fast right away, trying to take control before I could get comfortable. A jab. A kick. Then another punch. I blocked the jab, checked the kick, and dodged away instead ofstaying in his reach. When he stepped in again, I shot my jab into his face hard enough to make him take a moment to reset.
Good.
He stepped forward again, but something more was driving him now—too much urgency. He wanted something big, early, and that made him careless.
