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Defying the Odds(46)

By:Kele Moon




“Wellings is cocky.” Wyatt shrugged. “If he underestimated Clay, that was his poor strategy and it ain’t got nothing to do with us. There’s no trickery. Clay saw a weakness, and he capitalized on it.”



“Hey,” Clay said, coming up behind her.



Melody turned from watching Wyatt talk to the cameras. Having witnessed the fight without having a clue what was going on, she was genuinely interested in Wyatt’s breakdown. But Clay clasped her hand in his, heedless of one camera still following his every move, and pulled her through the crowd.



“Come on.”



He found the bathroom in the back of the room, ushered her in, then shut the door in the cameraman’s face while Melody stood there gawking at him.



“They’ll think we’re being inappropriate,” Melody whispered as Clay locked everyone out. “Is this allowed?”



“I don’t really care.” Clay sighed, turning away from the door to step into her personal space. His large hand slid to the back of her neck, his thumb caressing her jawline. His dark eyes studied her in concern. His scowl etched a deep impression on his forehead beneath the brim of his black cap. “Are you okay?”



“Are you okay?” she countered with a look of incredulousness. She reached up to delicately touch one of the cuts beneath his left eye. “Your face is sticky.”



“It’s Vaseline.”



Melody frowned. “Why?”



“It keeps the skin from tearing.”



Melody winced. “And, um, what’s grappling?”



“It’s ground fighting, like wrestling and jujitsu.”



“And you’re good at that?”



The first smirk of the evening tugged at Clay’s lips. “Yeah, I’m pretty good at it.”



Melody couldn’t help but smile back, her cheeks hurting from the effort. She could hear the chaos outside, but all she knew was Clay’s big body filled up the little bathroom and it felt so good to be surrounded by him again. She leaned into him, wrapped her arms around his bare back, and hugged Clay without a care for the sweat dripping off him.



She laid her cheek against his smooth chest and closed her eyes. “I don’t like your chest all shaved.”



“Me neither.” Clay rested his chin against the top of her head. One hand caressed her long ponytail; the other rubbed her back soothingly. “And it itches like hell when it grows back.”



Clay was sweaty and sticky and still humming with an obvious adrenaline rush. There was a whole room of people probably thinking they were doing something really inappropriate, to say nothing of the viewers across America watching the after-fight footage.



Melody was tired. She’d flown for the first time in her life today. She’d sat front row and watched a championship fight. She’d decided she was going to take self-defense classes if it killed her, because she wanted that raw self-confidence Jules had. It was a very eventful day filled with many things to think about, but all Melody could recognize was the low hum of happiness that filled up the bathroom because she was in Clay’s arms again.



“Mel.”



“Hmm?”



“Don’t leave me again, okay?” Clay whispered in a voice choked with emotion as he pulled her tighter against him and tilted his head to rest his cheek on top of her head. “’Cause that ’bout killed me.”



“I think Justin knows where I’m at. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna come after me.” She breathed a sigh of relief. Letting out the secret felt like breathing out the poison eating at her soul since she’d gotten the letter. “I don’t wanna ruin your life too, but I’m so tired of being alone. ’S not fair, ya know?”



“So we’ll deal with it together,” Clay said simply, not sounding at all surprised by Melody’s confession. “And if he comes after you, then I’ll have finally found a good use for over twenty years of martial arts training. Good thing too, ’cause it was starting to feel like a massive waste of my time.”



Melody squeezed her eyes shut tighter and laughed. There was a gaudy championship belt digging into her hip that said he’d already found a pretty good use for those skills, but the crazy thing was, Melody knew he meant what he said.





Chapter Eight





Melody had forgotten her toothbrush. The hotel gave her a new one. She’d packed all wrong for Las Vegas. Jules told her they’d go shopping while Clay and Wyatt played nice for the promoters. When she realized she’d forgotten a spare change of underwear, Clay suggested she go without, and she agreed that was a good plan.