Playing with Fire

I was about to correct him in saying that Grace wasn’t my girl—not anymore, anyway—but held back. It was part of the reason why Grace had always had her doubts. I never owned up to our relationship. Never held her hand in public. Kissed her when everyone was watching. Showed the world how I felt about this girl.

I also knew that Kade Appleton wasn’t going to leave Grace alone. That sooner or later, he was going to get to her, because she was linked to me, and I was a sore subject for him.

Unless …

Unless I lost. Monumentally. Unless I had my ass handed to me in the ring. Unless I threw the fight. It was all clear now.

Everyone had a phoenix moment.

This one was mine.

I started for the stairs, breezing past Appleton.

“C’mon. Let’s get this shit show over with.”

He chased me, leaving a trail of scarlet drops in his wake. I stormed into the makeshift ring, pushing through the dense, rabid crowd. Appleton followed closely. Behind us, Shaun, Max, East, Reign, and Tess were trying to keep up with our pace.

I turned around to face him. “Come at me.”

I knew I wasn’t going to win.

Wasn’t going to let myself win.

I’d never thrown a fight in my life, but for Grace Shaw, I was willing to bite the bullet.

Max looked between us, uncertain. I was still far from the realm of sober, but dangerous nonetheless.

“Ready?” Max asked.

“Hell yeah.”

I zeroed in on Appleton, pretending to give a shit about what was going to happen next.

It was showtime.

I only remembered fragments of the fight.

Appleton throwing a sucker punch to my jaw, sending me flying and crashing over a pile of wooden boxes.

Pretending to try to dodge him as he directed a roundhouse kick straight to my abs.

Appleton elbowing my side. The sudden gush of pain when I realized he’d managed to fracture a rib or two.

Me, twisting on the floor, gargling on my own blood like it was mouthwash.

I kept telling myself that if I lost, I wouldn’t have to go to bed every night worrying about what Kade Appleton and his asshole friends may or may not do to Grace. She was my Achilles’ heel. No matter how I turned it around, Kade needed his pride restored, and me? My ego wasn’t worth half as much as Grace meant to me.

Everything had moved in slow motion. The excited chants around us had dissolved to panicky cries for Max to end the fight. But no matter how much I prayed to a god I wasn’t sure was even up there for Kade to throw a knockout and put me out of my misery, the final blow never came.

At some point, I considered manufacturing a KO, but I didn’t trust my own abilities to look passed out. Still, I didn’t fight back. Didn’t pretend to try. It wasn’t a fight. It was me letting Appleton have his way, my punishment for defeating him.

Kade shoved me to the mat and wrestled me, trying some Jiu-Jitsu move that made it look like he wanted to eat my ass. There, when we were flush against each other, I finally grated through a bloody mouth.

“Just finish the job. You know I threw this shit before I walked in the ring, why are you dragging it?”

“I’m well aware of that, St. Claire.” He threw me back a partly toothless grin. “But winning is not enough, see. First, I’m going to humiliate you.”

I woke up in the ICU the following day.

I glanced around, gradually coming to, and found that I’d been hooked up to an IV drip, with my pulse monitored, and was wrapped in bandages with a casted hand …

My eyes shifted downwards. I was wearing a hospital gown. I’d never worn one before. Let’s just say I didn’t think powder blue was my fucking color.

“Good mornin’, sunshine!” Easton’s voice sounded way too loud and cheerful for the occasion. The door flapped open, and he sauntered in. I closed my eyes, refusing to deal with his bullshit before I had a strong cup of Joe.

“Fancy seeing you awake. You gave us quite the scare last night.”

“Why are you talking like you’re eighty?” I croaked, trying to swallow some of my saliva. Bad idea. I had no saliva whatsoever. My throat was drier than Max’s hookups. I grunted.

East sat beside me on a nearby stool, and I heard more shuffling around the room. He wasn’t the only one here, but opening my eyes to see who entered the room wasn’t on my agenda.

“You almost died last night,” East pointed out.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious. Don’t you have any other places to be? Maybe stand next to the Hudson and let tourists know that it’s wet, or go to Alaska and point out the chilly weather?”

“Oh my God, he didn’t only lose a tooth. His sense of humor got whacked, too.” Reign exhaled dramatically from the other side of the room.

My heart sank at his voice. Who the hell was I expecting to be here?

Grace. I’d been expecting Grace.

“Your parents are on their way, and I don’t want any goddamn lip about it,” East warned. “They dropped a kebab when they heard what happened to you.”

My first instinct was to bite his head off for telling them. Then again, he didn’t have much choice. How else would he explain my taking a lengthy trip to the hospital?

Which brought me to my next question.

“What did you tell the hospital staff?”

“Bike stunt.” Reign plopped on the bed beside me. “Which was easy to believe, seeing as poor Christina was trashed by Kade and his minions shortly after the fight.” He tsked. “Hope you weren’t counting on a joyride, because your bike ain’t feeling very joyful right now.”

I grumbled, my eyes still closed.

“According to Max, Appleton is a happy camper now, so at least we know he’s not out and about trying to cause more shit,” East offered me the glass-half-full. Of piss.

“Hunky-dory.”

“Who is being eighty now, eh?” East cracked a can of Coke and brought it to my lips, not bothering with a straw. Asshole. I took a slow sip, letting the liquid burn a path down my throat. It felt good.

“What’s the verdict?” I finally opened my eyes and motioned to my face.

“Broken nose, three broken fingers from before the fight, two cracked ribs, and an indefinite amount of bruises.” East counted with his fingers.

“Isn’t that against the HIPAA rules to give non-family members personal info?” I frowned.