It’s Thursday afternoon and I’ve been staring at myself in the bathroom mirror for the past hour. Wednesday’s training was partially uneventful because I ended up staying awake until four in the morning texting Penn, but it wasn’t too bad considering it was meant to be an easy day anyway.

Aiden did everything I told her to with a fire burning in her belly that I had never noticed before, then I treated her to dinner. We didn’t talk much because we knew at that point today was inevitable. She still hasn’t shown any signs of regretting her rematch and I’ve done my best to stop trying to get her to at least postpone the fucking thing.

In a way, I don’t want to go tonight. I don’t want to see what could potentially become of Aiden if she doesn’t take this as seriously as she should. Sometimes, when she realizes that she has the upper hand, she’ll start fucking around with her opponent, but Max Boothe is the one person that almost took her fucking head off when she got too cocky with him.

“Goddammit,” I whisper to my reflection, as I finally get my ass into gear. I turn around and turn on the shower, testing the water to make sure that it’s just above what I can handle. Whenever Aiden has a fight, I tend to scald myself a bit so that I’m numb to whatever injuries she sustains, if any.

I spend another hour under the hot water, meticulously washing myself until I can’t take the heat any longer. The more time I spend doing things that shouldn’t take as long as I’m making them take, the sooner I’ll get to going to pick up Aiden and drive her to the forum.

I have her mouthpiece and even though I know it may not entirely be within regulations, if it’s not allowed, I’ll pull her out of that fucking fight before it even begins. The organizer likes bare-knuckle blood and I like not having to pay for expensive dental surgery. Worse case scenario, I’ll just take him inside and suck his dick to change his mind, but I refuse to let Aiden’s teeth get knocked out again.

I step out of the shower and wrap my towel around my waist as I go back to the sink again.

I take a moment to compose myself. My nerves are fucking shot, and I haven’t even left yet.

I let out a heavy sigh as undo my towel and wipe myself off thoroughly. I go through my daily ritual of rubbing lotion on my body, towel drying my hair and making sure it’s neatly brushed, then walk to my bedroom to get dressed.

I’ve decided on a loose pair of black jeans and a white tank top. The reason I choose to dress like this is in case I decide to step in for Aiden at the last moment, I need to be comfortable and relaxed.

When I’m dressed and ready, I sit on the edge of my bed, head in my hands, wondering how the hell tonight is going to play out.

Will Aiden win again, or will Max be her undoing? Will Penn acknowledge me, or will he decide I don’t exist again?

I know I shouldn’t think of anything other than Aiden’s well-being, but goddammit it. My mind has been so fucked lately that it’s hard for me to understand what’s important and what’s not anymore.

"Are you praying?”

I jump and gasp in shock.

As I pull my hands away from my face, I see Aiden standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, her arms crossed and watching me with an amused smile.

Sometimes I forget that she has keys to this place because she barely ever uses them.

“Jesus Christ—you almost gave me a fucking heart attack,” I grumble at her, trying to regain my composure.

“That would be counterproductive,” she replies, sticking her tongue out at me.

“What are you doing here, anyway? I thought I was going to pick you up?” I ask her, raising an eyebrow curiously.

“Yeah, I know,” she replies with a heavy sigh. Aiden comes over and sits next to me on the bed and gives me a nudge. “But I haven’t forgotten how you get before one of my fights and I want to make sure you’re okay.”

I chuckle quietly and smile at her. She worries about me more than she should, but that’s just the sign of an amazing friend and I feel like I don’t deserve her sometimes.

“I’ll be okay when it’s over,” I tell her softly.

“Good,” she says with a nod. “Now show me my fighting gear.”

I laugh and get up from the bed and walk over to the closet. I have it on the top shelf where I left it to set after I was able to pry the mold out of the rest of the plaster.

I retrieve the small box and walk back over to Aiden. I decide to be playful in the moment because I think it’s something we can both use, so as I stop in front of her, I drop down on one knee and open the top.

“Aiden James, will you do me the honor of keeping all of your teeth in your mouth?” I ask with a grin. She laughs and swats my shoulder, then reaches for the mouthpiece.

“Wow, Gray. This is bad ass,” she exclaims in appreciation. I grin proudly as I sit back onto my ass and cross my legs in front of me. They’re not as stylish as I would have hoped, but they’ll get the job done. Aiden takes out the top part and slides it into her mouth, securing it in place, then does the same with the bottom half.

She sucks her teeth—more than likely to get used to the subtle, metallic taste, then gives me a toothy smile.

“These are more comfortable than I thought they would be,” she manages to say. I laugh as she wipes the saliva from her mouth and chin and shake my head.

“As you can see, they’re not exactly great for talking with though,” I explain with a grin.

She reaches up and pulls the guard out of her mouth then places it back into the box.

“Well, I’m ready when you are, Gray,” she says brightly, but I can see the sudden glimmer of nervousness in her eyes and it kills the smile on my face.

I get to my feet and look down at Aiden who’s also standing now and sigh.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”