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Before she could answer him, Catriona had felt the need to take it up for her and said, “Because he made my cousin cry, that’s why. So what are you two mouth-breathers badgering her for? Go talk to your brother and leave us to the ring.”
She hadn’t told Catriona much about what happened with Keenan. She wouldn’t break his trust and tell others about what happened with his ex. But she told her cousin that they had an argument about her passion for fighting.
Aiden didn’t respond to Catriona, instead he said, “Is this true? Did he make you cry?”
She figured pretending wouldn’t be of any use now, so she opened up to Aiden. “I’ll tell you this; your brother hurt my feelings today. I wanted to be there for him, but he wouldn’t let me and got angry with me.”
Ronan snorted, “He does the same with us. Don’t take it personal. I never do.”
“Okay, well for me things are different. I take things personal. You don’t know me all that well, but I have a past that has left scars on the inside. For me to be even telling you this is a victory.”
Before he could react, she continued, “And with any other man, I would have packed up my things and left him to deal with all his muddy feelings about his past.”
“What did he do, Ry?” Ronan had jumped up to her level, resting his elbows on the ropes.
“He told me I had to choose between fighting underground or having a life with Tommy and him.”
Catriona gasped and said, “Oh, no, he didn’t.”
Ronan said, “Okay. I respect that,” like it was a normal thing to do for his cousin.
“Hello… Aren’t you on my side? What about ‘fighters stick together’ and all that bullshit you threw in my face weeks ago?”
“I agree. So let me give it to you straight. I see the same fire in you I feel whenever I get up there. I know it’s a part of us. And I wouldn’t want you to pretend you’re someone else or deny a part of you. But how about trying regular fights? Or fixing better sparring partners so you can—”
“Excuse me, I happen to win every time we go head-to-head.”
Aiden laughed at Catriona’s interruption. “Such a firecracker…”
Ronan took a spot next to Aiden and like a coach in the ring, he took her shoulders in his hand and practically shouted in her face, “Come on, Ry. Tell us what yer fightin’ for.”
There was something disarming about his pep talk, and she opened up to him. “I fight to forget my demons. To channel my build-up anger and to let go of the hurt.”
Ronan nodded like he knew like no other what she’d meant. “Right. And all the things you’ve mentioned… they are all things of your past. I want you to focus on your future. What do you see?”
Closing her eyes, she said, “I don’t know.”
His hands gently shook her back and forward once again. “Yeah, you do. Who or what is most important for you right now?”
Her voice broke as she tried to hide her inner thoughts from him. “I don’t know…”
“Bullshit. What is more important? Holding on to your anger and pain of the past by knocking some Plower to the ground every now and then? Or being a family with Blondie and my cousin?”
She opened her eyes and met his straight on. “Being a family with my boys.”
“There. You’ll work things out with Keen. I’m sure that if you’d switch to legal fights, he wouldn’t make such a deal out of it. Hell, if you’d really want to, I’ll even spar with you.”
“You would?” Aiden said before Ryleigh had the chance.
“Sure. Ry’s a pro, so that’s cool. And I can make Keenan insanely jealous. You all know how I love razzing our guy.”
She snorted at his plans for Keenan. But the opportunity of sparring with an MMA fighter champion was too good to pass up on. “Thanks, Ro. It really means a lot to me.”
Maybe it was time for her to finally let go completely of her past. It wasn’t until Ronan just confronted her about it; she realized she was still holding on to a lot of pain and anger. She always figured fighting was the only thing that made her deal with her past. But she’d been mistaken.
Fighting had turned into a coping mechanism where every once in a while she would let off steam at an underground fight. But she hadn’t actually dealt with her emotions and with the reasons why she felt the need to put herself in dangerous situations and fight her way out of them.
“I’m going home, Cat. I need to talk to Keenan.”
Catriona stunned her by not arguing her decision. “Finally. You go home, talk to your man. Let me know how things went, okay?”
She hugged her cousin and jumped through the ropes. “Thanks, Ro.”
“No problem, Ry.”
On her way to the locker room, she overheard Catriona say, “Okay, which one of you guys is going to stand in for Ry? We have ten minutes before I need to drive her over to Keenan’s.”
“I’ll stand in for Ry, and Ro can drive your cousin to Keenan. I think we’ll be needing longer than ten minutes,” Aiden said.
Ryleigh hurried inside the locker room to change. Normally, she would give her cousin shit for even considering sparring with Aiden. But not tonight. She needed to go talk to her own Mills man.
