Maybe This Time(28)

“Come on, I’ll take you,” Ryan says, walking over to me. He tries to take my arm but I pull away.

“Don’t be like that, babe,” he says sadly, his brow furrowing.

“You guys all lied to me. What, you don’t trust me?”

“Of course we trust you, this isn’t exactly the place for a woman,” he says in a gentle tone that grates on my nerves.

“I’m not fragile, Ryan.” He opens the exit for me and I walk out.

I see Reid leaning against the wall, wiping blood from his nose. He throws the towel over his shoulder, and then the blonde leans up and kisses him on his mouth.

I turn away, as fast as I can, tears forming in my eyes. Ryan mutters a curse behind me, and then I hear him yelling Reid’s name. I let myself fall into the crowd, until I find the entrance we came in from. I run out, into the car park, and look around, wondering what the hell I’m supposed to do now. My phone keeps ringing and I see Reid, Ryan, Xander, Dash and my dad’s numbers pop up. When I see Lyle leaning against his car, I grin. What an unlikely saviour.

“Lyle, I need a ride somewhere and you aren’t getting any action tonight,” I notify him when I approach his car.

He scowls. “Fine. Only cos your dad will probably kill me otherwise.” I get into his car, exhaling in relief when we get onto the main road. I put my phone on silent, not wanting to talk to anyone right now.

“Why did you bring me there?” I ask him.

“I always come to the fights when I can, and I didn’t wanna miss it over a date. Then when I found out who your dad was I figured you'd wanna go anyway,” he explains.

“Why? What does it have to do with my dad?”

“Your dad runs the fights, Summer,” he says, looking at me like I'm insane. I take a minute to absorb this information. Dad organizes these fights.

Well, that's fucking news to me.

“Where are we going?” he asks, his eyes on the road.

“I don’t wanna go home,” I sulk.

“You can come crash at my dorm room,” he offers.

I must look suspicious because he laughs at my expression. “My roommate is away, you can sleep in his bed.”

“You sure?”

He nods, his eyes darting to me, then back on the road. "Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you. I actually like my balls.”

“Where was that line of thought when you left me alone in the middle of the chaos?”

“I lost you, I tried to find you. I texted you, too,” he says.

I check my phone and there's indeed a message from him asking where I am. I ignore the twenty six missed calls and check my messages. Five from Reid, which I don’t bother to read. Instead I text Xander and tell him I’m safe, and I'll be home tomorrow. He replies instantly, saying to call him and he'll come and get me, but I ignore it.

“So they fight for money?” I assume.

“Yep. Entrance is two hundred each, and that goes into the prize money for the winners,” he explains.

“What do you know about Reid Knox?” I ask.

“Besides that I wouldn’t wanna mess with him?”

I roll my eyes. “He wins a lot?”

“Undefeated,” he answers, and I’m not surprised one bit.

“Anything else you can tell me?”

“That’s pretty much all there is to it. They follow MMA rules, they fight, and someone wins. That about sums it up.” He parks the car and we walk to his dorm room. I’m surprised to find it fairly tidy.

“I’ll order us some pizza, you can relax,” he says, pushing me gently towards the couch.

Turns out Lyle isn’t so bad after all.





Chapter Ten


I wave bye to Lyle, after thanking him for letting me crash the night before. Shoes in hand, I walk barefoot to the front door, digging in my clutch for the house key. Before I can find it, the door opens and a furious looking Reid stands there, watching Lyle’s car drive off. I feel a twinge of guilt when I take in his appearance. Dark shadows under his eyes, his face slightly pale, and his hair sticking up at all angles, he looks like he could use a good night’s rest. His nose is also red and swollen, where he must have been hit last night at the fight. He's shirtless, and barefoot. I walk past him, gritting my teeth when he doesn’t move aside, so I have to slide my body against his. He grabs a tight hold on my wrist before I can move out of reach.

“Where were you?” he asks hoarsely, his eyes full of pain.

“Out.”

He curses and lets go of me, but follows me to my room.

“Where is everyone?” I ask, placing my bag on my bed.

“Bed, they only went to sleep an hour ago. We were all worried, Summer.”