35. Daire

THIRTY-FIVE

daire

“WEST JUST SENT us a few texts.” Gavin rubbed a towel over his wet hair as he walked out of his room later that night, chuckling at whatever was on his phone.

Fresh from his shower, probably to get off all the dust from those antique shops, he looked relaxed and sexy in a t-shirt and loose jeans that hung off his hips.

“Yeah?” I said absently as my gaze trailed over him. I’d heard the alert of our group message thread on my phone, but I’d ignored it. Why did I give a shit what they wanted when this was my view tonight?

Gavin dropped onto the couch beside me and curled his legs underneath him. “It started with ‘Where the hell are you two? You’re not answering’ and has now progressed to ‘I swear to God if we have to break into your apartment to see you two have axed each other to pieces, I’ll make sure you both have dicks tattooed on your remaining body parts.’” Gavin looked up and grinned. “Isn’t that nice?”

“Or disturbing.”

“Which means you approve?”

“Of them breaking in? Hell no. Text him back and tell him to fuck off.”

“Then they’ll know we’re together.” Gavin went suddenly still and then started to backtrack. “I mean, not, like, together together, just in the same room⁠—”

“Gavin?” He snapped his mouth shut, and I grabbed his phone and tossed it to the other side of the couch. “You think I give a shit if they know? Come on now.”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, it occurred to me that maybe he was the one who didn’t want that info out there. But the second a shy smile curved his lips, I knew that wasn’t the case.

“Yeah?” He picked at the frayed hem of my jeans, and I put my hand over his, recognizing the nervous habit.

“Yeah,” I said. “But on second thought, text his ass back so he doesn’t come over.”

Gavin laughed and snatched up his phone, keeping his other hand beneath mine. He shot off a text and then angled his body to face me.

“I take it you don’t want to go out tonight?” he said.

“Not with them.”

“Oh yeah? What did you have in mind instead?”

Even being shit at flirting or dating, I could tell what he was thinking about, and I was definitely on board—but later.

“Something I don’t think you’ll be excited about.”

“That doesn’t sound promising.” Gavin tilted his head to the side, studying my face. “You’re going to fight? Is that it?”

No point in hiding it. I nodded.

“Really? You don’t wanna burn off calories in a different way?” He gave a flirty smile, and had I not already promised a couple rounds tonight, I would’ve said fuck it and stripped Gavin naked.

“Kinda tied in tonight.”

He nodded slowly. “And is this something you…like to do?”

“Meaning?”

“You’re not being forced to go fight or anything, right? Like, you do it ’cause you want to?”

I almost snorted, but Gavin was serious. “I don’t do it for anyone but myself. Do I make people a lot of money? Sure. But it’s on my terms.”

“But aren’t you worried you’ll get hurt?”

“No.”

“But…” He tugged his lower lip between his teeth. “What if I’m worried?”

“You shouldn’t be. I don’t lose.”

“Ever?”

“Nope.”

“But I saw the bruises on you the night I followed you. They looked bad, D. Someone landed a few hits on you.”

“’Cause I let him. Same with Joey. I let him get in one good punch before I laid in on him.”

Gavin visibly cringed at the mention of his asshole ex. “He deserved it. You didn’t.”

“Finally admitting that now?”

“Maybe.”

“I wasn’t going to let him fuck around with you. And I’m still not sorry.”

“I’m not either.” He swallowed and moved his fingers to trace over my knuckles. “Can I ask…why? All these fights… Why do you do it?”

I’d never given a lot of thought to that. Fighting always felt like something I had to do if I didn’t want to end up in jail from knocking random assholes out on the street. I was sure there was a therapist out there who’d wanna diagnose the nitty-gritty of why, all my abandonment and rage, blah blah fuckin’ blah. It didn’t matter.

“I need to,” I said.

“Okay.” He seemed content with that answer, at least for now. “Why underground?”

I shrugged. “No rules?”

“And more money? Nah. I bet you could make a killing doing it professionally. Ever thought about that?”

“Nope.”

He seemed amused by my clipped answers and tapped his lips. “Have you even given a thought to what you’d like to do after college? I don’t even know your major.”

“No clue, and my major is whatever my advisor put down.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I’ll end up where I need to.”

“Just go with the flow with no plan, huh?” Gavin shook his head. “We’re gonna have to circle back to that one when you’re not about to go pummel a few people to death.”

My lips quirked. “I never let it get that far. Too much mess.”

“Oh God. I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

“Joke? What’s that?”

Gavin shoved me in the arm, and I grabbed his wrist and yanked him on top of me.

“I’m being serious,” he said, positioning himself so his legs flanked my hips. “You should think about it.”

“You think I can think about anything while you’re grinding your dick against mine?”

“You’re the one that pulled me over here.”

“Ah, my mistake—get off.”

Gavin looped his arms around my neck and batted his lashes. “I thought you didn’t want me to grind my dick all over you.”

“The fuck you get that idea from? I said I couldn’t think when you did. But now that you’ve stopped, I remember I gotta go.”

Gavin reluctantly climbed off me, and as I got to my feet, he announced, “I’m coming with you.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m going to grab my jacket and come with you.”

He went to walk by me, and I took hold of his arm. My heart thumped wildly at the thought of him anywhere near the assholes I’d be going up against tonight.

“You’re not coming with me.”

“Yes. I am.”

“No, you’re fucking not.”

Gavin gently pulled his arm out my grip. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Watch me.”

I turned on my heel, about to head for the door without him, but Gavin followed close behind.

“Thought you were getting your jacket.”

“Giving you a chance to ditch me? Psh. How stupid do you think I am?”

I opened my mouth to respond, and he quickly shoved a finger up against my lips.

“I can either walk through the tunnels with you and show up at the fight by your side, or I can sneak down there alone and⁠—”

“Okay, you fucking win.” Because there was no way I would let him go trekking down there again, alone, in the dark. And he would, too, the stubborn little shit.

Gavin grinned, pleased with himself for winning this round, but I had some stipulations if he planned to be a reckless fool.

“You can’t go down there looking like that.”

Gavin glanced down at his t-shirt and jeans that barely clung to his hips and shrugged. “I told you I would get a jacket⁠—”

“It’s not just that.” I frowned. “It’s everything. Your hair, that face… Jesus, it’s like you’re a beacon of holy light or some shit. Those heathens will sniff you out in a second.”

Gavin pouted, and fuck, if there hadn’t been money riding on tonight, I would’ve taken him right then on the closest flat surface and showed him what a heathen I could be. “Well, I can’t really change my face.”

“Thank God for that. All I’m sayin’ is”—I grabbed my leather jacket off the coat rack and then snatched up the ball cap I’d tossed on the entry table the other day—“you gotta hide all that pretty. It’s distracting.”

Gavin’s pout turned to a grin as he pulled the cap on and slid his arms into the jacket. “Better?”

“It’ll have to do.”

I shook my head and pulled open our front door, and when we stopped by the elevator and Gavin sniffed the collar of the jacket and moaned that it smelled like me, I wanted to kick myself in the ass.

Tonight was going to be a long fucking night.