Evan rummaged around in his locker. His heart was pounding. Alcohol and energy drinks coursed through his veins. He wished he'd had the good sense to stay properly sober. He slammed the locker door, and sighed. The last fight he'd had, Isobel had been there. He felt a pang of regret. That sex had been great, and the giddy laughter she'd had about the whole thing had been kind of charming.

He missed Isobel.

He missed her desperately.

Walking to the bathroom, he wondered what she was doing right now. He wondered if she had a project or if she was working on a paper. He wondered how her classes were going. He missed her voice and her smart-mouth comments. He missed her quiet moments of not-quite wisdom.

He went to the bathroom and found himself aching, mentally and physically. He missed that last time they had been together without complications, without mental and emotional labor. When he had forced things to be easy and simple, and she had gone along with it because they were in . . . No. He didn't miss her enough to name what it had been. It was lust. It was friendship. It was worry, and it was grief, and it was loneliness.

He relieved himself, and as he was turning toward the sink, several guys walked in all at once.

They stood looking menacing, and Evan realized they were trying to menace him specifically. He would have killed for a life without other men trying to look tough in front of him. It was three guys, all in black, all tough fellas, two of whom he had fought before.

There was no chance he was getting out of here without punching someone. What a pity, his knuckles had finally fully healed.

"Rodney says hi."

"Oh, good, more thugs. At least I actually get to kick your asses unlike the guys that tried to break into my grandma's house."

"That was me," said the bald one.

"Oh. Then I'm gonna just kill you."

They trio lunged. Evan slipped out of the way, but there were three of them and one of him, so he wasn't able to stay out of the way for long. One of them snagged his arm, but even as he backed away and ducked, he still got a hit in. The guy’s fist collided with Evan's back, and Evan didn't miss a beat, but turned and decked the guy right in the mouth. His grip on Evan's arm broke, and Evan managed to move out of the way just before another guy could tackle him to the ground. If he hit his head on the tile floor, it would be over.

The trash can exploded and paper towels spilled all over the floor when the second guy hit it. The man Evan had just punched was sitting on the floor nursing a bleeding nose. Evan wasn't tiring just yet, but he knew he needed to end this quickly.

The last man had come up behind him. Evan turned with a fist flying already, and nailed the guy in the head, sending him flying into the tile wall. His head smacked against it with a rather sickening thump. Blood was left behind. Evan hurried and ran out of the bathroom before any of them could get back up again.

Once he was out, he glanced over his shoulder. No one followed him.

KC. He had to find KC.

He breathed—hard—as he wandered through the crowd trying to find the bald man. His back ached. He wondered how hard he'd been hit. He wasn't wearing a shirt, so he knew that the lump that was forming was visible to everyone. Someone hissed as he walked by and said, "That's gnarly!"

Evan was so sick of this shit.

He was hyper aware and jumpy. He flinched every time someone moved too fast, or got too close. His heart was beating hard and fast.

On the other side of the club was Rodney. He was twitchy too, bouncy and antsy. He pulled a girl over against his hip, and snagged a kiss from her. She laughed, before twisting out of his grip and ordering a drink.

Evan finally found KC and hurried over to him. KC was hedging bets, and chatting about who he thought would win. As usual, he was advising that Evan's chances weren't great. When he turned around and saw Evan, suddenly he looked like he wasn't lying.

Evan grabbed the guy's arm and said, "KC, we've got a problem."

"I'll say, you look like you've been spooked already. You freaking out on me, kid?"

"No, it's—" he paused. He looked at all the people. Tonight's profits depended on them. They were all pretty wasted already, and his adrenaline shot up as he realized they might actually be just as dangerous as Rodney tonight. Once, the crowd had run in while he was in a fight, and he had nearly been trampled. Back to KC, he took in the man's questioning stare. He ended up saying, "It's an emergency. I need to talk to you about the boss man."

KC nodded in a way that said he completely understood.

Evan walked back to the locker room as KC gently and genially extricated himself from his guests. He followed Evan.

There was a heavy, loud thump when the door closed, and Evan winced as he remembered the sound in the bathroom. KC said, "What's—Jesus! What's that on your back?"

"Rodney. He hired some thugs again to rough me up before the fight."

"What? That can't be it. Rodney has been looking forward to this fight."

"You said yourself that you thought Rodney might pull something, and then he had those guys rough up my grandma's house. This is the same thing. He'd rather let others do his dirty work so he doesn't have to fight me fair."

"He's bouncy, wound up. I think he's doping. I mean, that's business as usual, but you don't usually fight dopers. He could be as fast as you."

"He is already as fast as me. He's not as smart as me. He fights with his balls instead of his brains."

KC snorted. He was wearing a proper coat, and Evan gave some consideration to how dangerous this was for KC too. He knew that KC was sticking his neck out for him with the boss.

"What do you want to do?"

Evan sighed. "I don't know. There's nothing to do. I'm gonna have to kick his ass."

"That's not gonna stop the thugs."

"No, but it will at least put him out of commission for a minute so I can leave."

"Leave? For real?"

"Yeah."

Evan nodded. It felt like a real decision. He hadn't meant to say it, but now that he had . . . He couldn't imagine it any other way.

"Yes. If I walk out of here tonight, I am not coming back."

Someone banged on the door. KC raised his arm and looked at the time. "Well, it's time to get out there either way."

Evan took a breath.