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She loved her friends more than anything, but her little brother was her heart. They knew her well enough to know that she would never allow anyone to bad mouth him in front of her. Friends and family included.

“Don’t get her started,” Lorren said to Avery, snickering. “You know how she is about Koh—”

Avery quickly threw a hand into the air. “First of all, act like you know that man is the Voldemort to my Harry Potter and address him as such. He is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-Know-Who, or that nigga over there.”

Sevyn rolled her eyes. “Your age is showing, Ave.”

Avery was the youngest of the trio, and sometimes her behavior was evidence of it.

“I don’t care.”

“It’s one night,” Lorren chimed in with a pout.

“Then you should be able to survive it without me.”

“Okay,” Sevyn sighed. “Before you two get too deep into this, I’m going to go before I’m late. I’ll text y’all later. Bye.”

“Wait! You—”

Quickly hanging up, she turned off her location before placing her phone on a do not disturb feature with a specific personal setting so that no other calls could come through. As much of a brave front as she put on, Sevyn was nervous enough without her friends planting more doubts.

Though very adventurous, she’d never done something as daring as she was about to do. After her last attempt at building a relationship crashed and burned, Sevyn had taken her focus off of men. For two years straight, she ate, slept, and breathed boxing.

But, something about the holiday season this go around had her feeling lonelier than ever. Sitting through a Thanksgiving meal with a family full of married or dating couples, and a group of aunts asking when she was going to join the fold had left her with a bitter taste in her mouth that she’d yet to get rid of.

For the most part, Sevyn had been content with her single life. But, those dark moments where she craved companionship led her to sign up for a dating app to get a feel for what was out there.

For the most part, the option of the majority of the dating scene was right. The pool was full of pee. The sheer audacity of some of the men she’d found herself matched with was enough to give up entirely. Until she’d come across the last one.

The random, generic photo of a sports team that he’d used as a profile picture nearly sent her running for the hills. A bit hypocritical, since she used a photo of one of the companies that sponsored her as a profile picture to help keep her identity shielded. However, as she was a semi-professional athlete, she felt it necessary.

To that day, Sevyn still wasn’t sure what made her respond to his polite message instead of deleting the app completely. But, there was an unyielding pull she’d felt to the stranger that she’d become hopelessly smitten by, despite having never seen his face. To be fair, he also didn’t know what she looked like, or her real name. Which Sevyn considered to be a fair trade.

Tapping her phone screen to check the time, she sighed heavily. It was now or never. Her eyes darted to the mirror, and the corners of her lips raised as she took in how beautiful she was.

Her toasted-chestnut face was beat to perfection, and her stylist had transformed her dark hair into a mass of silky perfection. The ruched red dress clinging to her body boasted a plunging neckline that had nearly all of her goodies on display. Wearing it felt risqué, but as she was already toeing the line of danger, she didn’t see the harm in going all the way.

In the ring, she was always in control. It was where she was the most confident and celebrated. Outside of it, she was just plain ole Sevyn. She wasn’t insecure by any means, but the transition from her sports life back to regular life always gave her a jolt. She had a hard time finding a balance, and as hard as it was to admit it, it played a role in her dating life.

Staring at herself in the mirror was the confidence boost she didn’t know she needed. It was a reminder that even outside of her world, she was still extraordinary. Even if things with Maverick didn’t work out the way she anticipated, there were other fish in the sea. In the words of Denzel Washington, she was leaving out of the popular restaurant and bar with something.