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Each punch is solid and quick, not leaving enough time between them for her opponent to both protect herself and return the effort. Tinsley is relentless, fucking ruthless. My heart thunders in my chest as I watch her send Jules rocking backward with an uppercut to the jaw. Arousal floods me, turning my cock rock solid when she repeats the move twice more and finishes the fight.
Her mouthguard goes flying across the ring as she takes two steps back and drops her arms, not bothering to watch Jules drop cold. She’s already waiting when the ref blows his whistle and grabs her by the arm, lifting it into the air. Hunter dives into the ring and screams his congratulations, but she’s ignoring him, looking at me.
I keep my face blank, not trusting how I’ll appear to others around us if I let my true feelings show right now. The darkness inside of me cries out in outrage at the distance between us. It wants to be alone with her, somewhere nobody will hear or find us. I’m tempted to give it what it wants. Far too fucking tempted.
“Knew she’d do it!” Sierra exclaims, clapping above her head. “Seven rounds and a KO!”
“She’s got my uppercut, that’s for sure,” Braden boasts.
Sierra holds his hand, bringing it to her chest. “But thankfully not your giant head.”
Tinsley’s parents are as blatantly in love as my parents are. I don’t know how to be like them. But I think that’s what Tinsley wants from me. She just has to realize that what I have to give her is better. Stronger. Not such a fleeting thing. Anyone can fall out of love. Nobody and nothing can alter the way I feel about her.
“When will she be ready to leave?” I bluntly interrupt their pointless bantering. There are more important things to do.
Easton laughs under his breath and looks expectantly at his parents, his phone clutched in his hand. He’s become addicted to it recently. Whenever I see him, he’s staring at it.
Braden’s the one that answers me. “Half an hour, maybe. She’ll be interviewed first.”
“Where?” I ask.
His eyes narrow on me. “Behind the ring. Maybe outside the locker room. Wherever they want.”
“Who’s doing the interview?”
“What’s with the third degree?”
I ignore his attitude and turn to Sierra, knowing that Tinsley would want me to at least say goodbye to her. “Nice to see you.” The words are weak and stiff.
She pretends not to notice. “It was nice to see you too. Will you please tell Tiny that we’ll catch her before you guys leave?”
“Okay.”
“Bye, Noah,” Easton says, not looking up from his phone.
I turn and leave them. Searching through the crowd, I spot my way out and take off. The next fight is going to start soon, and I want to be with Tinsley before that happens. My show tonight is set to start in two hours, and we have to be gone long before that. I don’t want to get stuck here in the middle of the next match.
Sparks was worried someone would recognize me here, and I didn’t care at the time, too obsessed with getting here as soon as possible. Now, I worry that would only derail my plans even further. I don’t look like the other people here. Maybe I should have tried to blend in. Worn a shirt that covers the tattoos on my throat, at least.
If I believed in any higher power, I would thank them when I make it through the arena unnoticed and, with a flash of the pass around my neck, slip past the guards at the locker room entrance. It’s louder back here than before the fight. The press is swarming, and in the centre of their madness, I find her.
It doesn’t matter how many of them I have to shove my way past or how every random touch from a stranger makes me choke back bile because once I reach her side, I feel complete again. Like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
27
TINSLEY
My toes slapthe floor as I stand in place and bounce my leg, high on adrenaline and the win of my first fight. I’m antsy, my blood singing. The thumping in my chest is scary fast, but I can’t help but grin despite it.I fucking won.
I’m floating too high to care when a recorder is roughly jabbed in my face and a man with a lanyard that tells me his name is Brad fromSports Weeklydemands, “Tinsley, tell me how it feels to win your first professional match.”
My smile doesn’t budge, even when another handful of men and women dressed far too fancy to be fans come bustling into the locker room. Security follows behind them, expressions tight and focused as they ready themselves for anything. Even when I was a bit unsure about giving interviews after the fight, I gave the approval to Hunter. It’s now or never. Dip my toe in slowly now or wind up drowning later on.
I focus on the man in front of me. “It feels like an out-of-body experience. I’m incredibly proud of myself and my team for what happened out there.”
A woman budges past the man and smiles at me. Her recorder is moved toward me with much more grace than his was.
“I’m Tilly from Upper Cuts. How is your face feeling? Do you have anything to say to Jules?”
