Tanya had been watching over the whole event as she sipped a beer. She was starting to feel incredibly nauseous. As she watched Evan emerge from the bathroom, she knew that something was wrong. When she saw the fist-shaped bruise on Evan's back, her worst fears were confirmed.

She turned around and walked right out of that club, and didn't look back. Walking to her car, she pulled her keys out of her little purse, and pressed the button on the fob to unlock her forest green SUV. As she climbed into the car, she slid her heels off, and threw each shoe into the backseat. They landed with a crunch into the carpet of fast food wrappers and old teething toys that none of her children needed anymore.

The car started with a low, quiet rumble, and when she pulled out of the lot, it rolled away nearly silently.

Pulling out her phone, she pressed the home button and ordered the phone to call Isobel. It did as she told it, and Tanya was relieved to hear Isobel's little voice on the phone.

"Hey Tanya, what's up?"

"Where are you? Get dressed, we need to save Evan's life."

"What?" Isobel asked, clearly alarmed.

"Evan is getting in a big fight tonight with Rodney and if we don't stop it, I'm scared of what will happen."

There was a moment of silence on the phone.

Tanya's heart dropped. Isobel might not be able, or even willing, to help her. Evan had tried to use Isobel, and Isobel was not going to tolerate that. But at the same time, Tanya knew there was more to Evan than his grief, than his meat-headed stupidity.

"I'm at my dorm, I'll give you directions."

"Thank you, Isobel, thank you. Text me the address, I’ll find it. I’ll be there soon."

"Okay."

Tanya hung up and pulled over so that she could put in the address once Isobel had texted it to her. It was close by, thank God, because Tanya wasn't sure how much more of this she could take.

Once she got to the dorms, she parked, and went over to the building that Isobel had told her to. Isobel was at the bottom of the stairs. She was wearing a coat, and it was only then that Tanya realized how cold it was. She was just wearing her dress and stockings.

She said, "Hey, Hun, how's it going?"

"I don't know if I want to go rescuing Evan."

Tanya was going to be sick.

"Look, I don't blame you," said Tanya. "He was a dick to you. But I swear, he is sorry. He didn't want me to tell you about this at all. He didn't want you to know. I know though that if you asked him not to fight, he would listen, and we don't have a lot of time."

Isobel looked up at her. "You think he would listen?"

"I know he would listen. He values your opinion."

"I don't know if he really does."

"He's a meat head, but he's got a brain and a heart in there. Really, he does care. He just doesn't know how."

Isobel crossed her arms. Her chest rose as she took a deep breath and lifted her chin proudly. Tanya could see the thoughtful look in her eyes as she considered what to do.

Tanya was going to need to drink a lot to get over the stress of tonight. She felt like she might explode.

Snow began to fall while Isobel thought. Tanya shivered.

"Okay, yeah, I'll help. But first, I'm going to run and grab you a coat, okay? We have time for you not to get sick. Evan did, after all, get himself into this."

"Fine! Yes! Perfect, just hurry, please!" Tanya said, hugging herself and dancing in place. Her feet were frozen. Isobel ran up the stairs to the third floor, where she opened the door, rushed in, and came out just as fast. She went down the stairs more carefully than she had gone up.

Isobel handed her the coat and together they ran to the car.

"We may already be too late, it may have already started," she said.

"Was it like a decided thing?" she asked, before they both paused to climb into the car. Tanya started it, and nodded. "Yeah, it was decided a few days ago. Rodney called him out. Said a whole bunch of nasty shit. Evan has just had enough, I guess. I think he's wanting out, but he can't ever get out as long as Rodney's dogging him."

"I wonder if he'll ever get out at all."

Tanya made a face, and said, "Sometimes, it just takes a push. Evan hasn't had that push yet."

Isobel said, "What push do you think that would be?"

"Honestly, probably getting his ass kicked. Or finding something better that makes him feel better."

Isobel was quiet as they drove. Her college wasn't too far from the warehouses, but it was still a twenty minute drive. Tanya was so terrified that they were too late, that Evan would already be beaten down. She drove like a woman crazed, and Isobel frequently would gasp, or grip the door handle, but she never said anything, or asked Tanya to drive more slowly.

"Would he change for me?"

"Yes. But he has to want it for himself. If a man changes for you specifically, they aren't ever going to make a change that sticks. He won't have wanted it badly enough."

Isobel said, "He told me he loves me."

"I think he does."

Isobel was quiet. There was a heavy tension around her, her aura was all sorts of out of whack. Tanya asked, "Love is stupid, but it's also not as complicated as people think it is. It's really pretty simple. All you have to do is know what you're looking for."

Isobel said, "Oh, like that's easy."

"Yeah, right? Might as well ask you to pat your head and rub your tummy and figure out the meaning of life itself."

As they pulled off the freeway, Tanya realized that this had been an incredibly stupid idea, and that if she had done the wrong thing, there was a very real chance that they could all be badly hurt. A small chance of death, and a relatively high chance of arrest were also possibilities.

* * *

Isobel was pretty worried about what would happen once they got to the club. She was trying to trust Tanya, but given that Tanya was pretty unpredictable, it was kind of difficult. Tanya's green SUV pulled into the club's parking lot.

It was quiet outside, but she could hear and feel the rumble of a lot of people all shouting together.

"The place is low-key soundproofed to make it less likely for all of us to get busted."

"What happens if you do?"

"We get arrested, ding-dong."

"Even you?"

"Yes, even me."

Isobel followed her with wide, terrified eyes.

"Even me?" she asked.

"Even you. Unless you're smart, then you get the hell out of Dodge, you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am."

A bouncer stood outside the door. Isobel thought privately that it was obvious that there was no way anyone could mistake Evan for a bouncer, and realized it had been terribly naive of her to buy that story. This guy was a walking giant.

"Hey, Bobby," said Tanya.

"Who's this?" Bobby asked, all business.

"Friend of the fighter. Here to give him a little pre-fight good luck," Tanya said, winking.

The bouncer looked at Isobel's big brown sweater, no makeup, and messy bun, and said, "I don't buy it. No newbies tonight. Fight’s already started."

Tanya rolled her eyes, and Isobel huffed in frustration. She was suddenly terrified. What if Evan was already hurt—what if he had already lost? She could hear the snarl of a crowd of men ready for bloodshed.

"Would you let me in for ten dollars?" she asked.

This seemed to change Bobby's tune.

"Maybe."

Isobel reached into her back pocket, and pulled out a ten dollar bill. "Now would you do it for a ten dollar bill?"

"I could get fired."

"You could also get a burrito."

Bobby considered this.

"How old are you?"

"All you know is that I'm over twenty-one."

"Good enough for me," he said, snatching the ten dollar bill. He looked at Tanya, and pointed a stubby sausage finger at her. "You're in charge of her. If she does something stupid, I'm not gonna get my ass kicked."

"Deal," said Tanya as she snatched Isobel's hand and dragged her into the club. They passed through a blacked-out set of glass doors, and then through a quiet bar. Red lights made Tanya look dangerous as a knife, and made Isobel feel like she was in some kind of brothel. Looking around, she realized she might have been. She kept her mouth shut, letting Tanya lead her. She could hear the sounds of the crowd better now.

Tanya turned to her before taking her through a set of double doors. "Are you sure you want to see this, Isobel?"

"I've seen him fight before."

"You haven't seen him fight Rodney. It's different."

"Like, how?"

Tanya made a face, pulling the corner of her bloody red mouth down. "It's . . . It's violent. Like really violent. Evan and Rodney hate each other. It's like . . . I don't know, just be ready, okay?"

Isobel nodded. Suddenly, she was terrified. Tanya reached up and pulled the hood of Isobel's sweater up over her head. "Keep that low. And don't talk to anyone."

"Got it," Isobel said with an affirmative nod.

Tanya turned and opened one of the doors. The light changed dramatically. This light was white, bright, and clean. Isobel put the sleeve of her sweater up to her nose—it stank like sweat and testosterone. There were men and some women, but mostly men, shouting and cheering, jeering and crying out like dogs. Only instead of dogs fighting in the middle of the ring, it was Evan and the blond guy, Rodney, from before.

It was obscene, watching them. They were practically dancing.

On one side of a makeshift ring, right down in the thick of things, was Evan. He was bleeding from his nose, dripping red down his bare chest. He was wearing black athletic shorts and he was barefoot. His knuckles were wrapped in black bandages. The other guy didn't look great either, with blood dripping from a busted lip and black bruises in the shape of Evan's knuckles on his arms and chest.

Something deep in Isobel snarled. It was right down inside her deepest layers, where the fear had been when those men had broken into the house, where the lust had been when her and Evan had last spent the night together.

Evan's eyes were trained on Rodney and nowhere else. Their fists were up. They were on their toes.

Isobel looked at Tanya. Her heart was beating uncontrollably. She said, "Is it always like this?"

"No," Tanya said, looking over the crowd since she was taller. With her heels, she was taller than most of the men in the room. "No, definitely not. They're trying to end it."

The phrase "end it" sounded horrifying the way Tanya said it.

"Like, knock each other out? So they don't have to fight anymore?"

"No. No, Isobel, I think we . . . I think they're trying to . . . Oh Christ . . . We have to call someone."

Isobel looked into the ring. There was an audible sound as the two fighters collided, throwing each other down to the ground. Isobel gasped. There was a tussle, and which ended up with Evan on top, punching Rodney's arms, his chest, and one shot at his head. The punch to his head hit his ear, and that was the one that made Rodney shout.

A surge of strength meant that Rodney easily threw Evan off, literally. Evan hit the ground on his back, and within a second had rolled onto his feet again. He was bleeding a little from a circular wound on his shoulder. That bastard had bitten him. The crowd loved it. In their blood lust, they shouted and screamed, and Isobel watched a river of green cash flow to a bald man with several ear piercings.

Isobel tugged Tanya down to her level.

"We need to call the police."

"You'll damn half the people in this room!" hissed Tanya.

"I don't care."

"Evan could get arrested," she said. "He probably will."

Isobel looked at the drip of blood down Evan's chest. She looked at his tired, sweating face. In her heart, she knew it was true. She also knew that she had no choice.

Rodney was going to kill him.

Evan glanced in their direction, and somehow the crowd opened for just a split second. He saw her. They locked eyes for less than the span of a blink. But it was all either of them needed.

Evan turned and went for Rodney. And Isobel turned to run out the door. She was reaching for her phone even before she had gotten all the way outside. She dialed 9-1-1, hoping this was the last time this month she would have to do so.