That explains all the men in suits and coaches that have been hanging around Seth in the gym, taking notes.

“Come with me.”

A gust of air fell from my mouth. I’m shocked he’d ask such a thing. Why does he want me there? I can’t watch him fight. I can’t even stomach watching it on T.V. “I can’t. I don’t like fighting...”

“You were boxing a bag at the gym last week.”

“That’s different. A bag is an inanimate object. A human is real... they feel everything.”

He rolls me back a little and leans his face right over mine. Traumatized by Brent or not, my body reacts to him immediately. My breathing becomes shallow and my hands move to play nervously with the string of my shorts.

“I want you where I can keep an eye on you.”

“I’m a big girl. I’ll be fine.”

“Olivia, the last two times I’ve seen you, you’ve managed to get yourself into some kind of trouble. First it was the roofie and now tonight... I won’t be able to fight my best unless I know you’re safe.” His index finger glides along my jaw and his eyes turn dark and serious. “And that is directly in my line of sight.”

“Why do you care?”

“I told you. You fall into the small portion of shit I care about.”

But why?! I want to demand. There’s so much going on in Seth’s head that I need to understand, but he’s making it difficult for me.

“You’re confusing.”

He sighs and rolls backwards onto the pillow pinning me to his side. “I know.”

“I don’t want to go to your fight.” And that’s final.

“Your dad is coming.”

I groan, closing my eyes briefly. “Really?”

Seth nods. “And I told him you were coming so he’s really excited about the whole daddy-daughter thing.”

I push myself up on my elbows. “Seth! Why’d you do that?”

“I had to have a back-up plan in case you said no.”

I thrust away from him. “You don’t understand. I don’t like to watch people fight. It’s... barbaric and inhumane.” Bruised flesh. Blood. Broken bones. Who enjoys that?

“It’s fun.” He counters, pulling me back into him. “I can tell your dad you cancelled. I’m sure he won’t be too upset.”

I know he’s playing a game with me. Dad will be devastated if I don’t go. My whole life he has tried to rope me into watching MMA with him and going to little events here and there. I don’t think Seth realizes how high he’s gotten my Dad’s hopes.

“Fine...” I sigh. “I’ll go, but don’t be upset if my eyes are shut the whole time.”

Seth holds me tightly and kisses my forehead, rendering me breathless. I close my eyes. I don’t know much about Seth Marc, but I do know he isn’t what he seems. I know he puts on a hard front, but if tonight is anything to go off, I’d say he’s not what he wants people to think. There’s a kind of gentleness to him... and I like it. I can’t have good... because I don’t deserve good. I smile to myself as his words play through my mind.

He deserves good.

Chapter Nine

When I leave work the next day, I feel nauseous and worried. In three hours I’ll be attending my very first fight and I’m not sure how it’s going to go. Do it for dad. Do it for Seth. I told myself all day, but it still didn’t help shake my nerves.

Seth ended up staying the night last night and the look on his face in the morning when he realized we’d snuggled all night was priceless. He left early and then came back with my car. Thankfully, the window wasn’t cracked.

After that, he left to go to his training session. I learned that he trains twice a day for three hours each time. When he makes it to the professionals he’ll train three times a day to his maximum limit to be able to keep up with everyone else. How horrendous. I offered him a breakfast bar, but he laughed and said he needed something a little more sustaining before rushing out the door.

***

I drive home from work, chewing my nails the entire way. When I pull up, Selena is sitting on my front steps. I begged Seth to let me bring Selena tonight. At first he was a little frustrated because he blames her entirely for what happened last night, but he eventually caved. Trepidation fills my stomach when I realize I haven’t told Selena about last night. I need to. She needs to warn her friend that Brent is not the kind of guy she should be hanging out with. I step out of the car and straighten my skirt. Selena’s eyebrows draw together and her lips purse into a pout. Uh-oh. I know that look.

“I know I’m not late.” I say, climbing the steps. “So you can wipe that pout off your face.” She doesn’t move as I unlock the door. When it’s open, she follows me inside.

“What the hell happened last night?” She snaps, slamming my door behind her.

My chest tightens as a large ball forms in my throat. “I need to talk to you about that.” I manage to say.

“Seth beat up Brent because he walked you to your car? What the fuck, Olivia?”

I’m taken back by her interesting, yet completely vague take on the story. “Okay, first of all—”

“Why was Seth there in the first place? My friend assures me that Brent is a kind soul who wouldn’t do anything to provoke anyone. Seth is a fucking psycho!”

I snap. I don’t know what happened, but suddenly my anger flew off the charts.

“How dare you! You’re my best friend! You’re supposed to ask for my side of the story, not come around slinging accusations!” I yell and Selena’s face drains of color. She takes a step back and a tear spills down her cheek. “Seth saved me from that grabby piece of shit who was practically mauling me in the car park!”

Her lips quiver and her green eyes widen.

“Yep, that’s right.” My voice is still loud and angry. “Brent—the not-so-kind soul—got overly wasted at dinner and walked me to my car. Then he thought it appropriate to put his hands and his mouth all over me!”

“Olivia, I’m sorry...”

I subconsciously count to ten. …eight…nine…ten. “It’s not your fault. You warned me... after bribing me, but still. You can tell your friend that Seth wasn’t the problem.”

Selena launches at me and pulls me into a hug. I tell her the whole story. I tell her that he was a little too full on at dinner and that I texted Seth instead of her.

“O... I’m sorry that happened to you. I didn’t think he’d be so aggressive...”

“Tell your friend she shouldn’t be hanging around with him.” I shake my head. “He kept saying he wasn’t going to hurt me, but you can never be too certain.”

She pulls a hundred dollars from her back pocket and hands it to me, but I refuse to take it. Something doesn’t sit right. Taking money for what happened... it feels wrong.

“It’ll make me feel better if you take it.”

“I don’t want it... I can’t take it off you.”

We argue about the money until she stuffs it back into her jeans. “What do we do? Do we tell the police?”

I shake my head. “I can’t. Seth hurt him...he’d lose everything.” I swallowed hard. “Last night is over. Let’s never speak of it again and get ready for the fight.”

Selena rushes from my lounge room and out to her car. She drags in the same suitcase she brought when we went clubbing. “I’ll do your make-up.”

“I don’t want to overdo it tonight so I’ll do my own.”

She looks at me like I’m crazy. “You are aware that we’re going to a fight, right?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s going to be recorded and plastered all over the internet.”

“Yes.”

She shrugs. “Suit yourself, but I’m going to look good.”

I slide into a pair of black skinny jeans, pull on a white tank top and a cream sweater on top of that. I slither into a pair of small, white heels and as I’m about to put my brush through my hair, there’s a knock at the door. Selena sticks her head into the bathroom. Her hair is tied up in a ball of mess at the top of her head and half of her face is covered in make-up. I shrug my shoulders as I walk past her and I open the door. My eyes meet a familiar stop watch. It’s Seth’s coach—Darryl. He’s wearing a black t-shirt with the word ‘coach’ sewn into the breast of it and his pants are a strange khaki color.

“Hello?” I ask cautiously.

“Miss James, here are your tickets for tonight. The venue is on the back.”

“The coach does personal errands?” I question him, accepting the tickets.

He scoffs and his hands find his hips. “Yep. He better get a personal assistant when he makes it to pro because I didn’t sign up for this.” There’s a smile on his lips as he speaks. “I’ll see you at the fight.” He turns from me and heads down the stairs. On the back of his shirt is Seth’s last name in big white letters and I smile. How did I get so entangled in his world? Just last week I would’ve claimed we’re enemies.

“Who was it?” Selena shouts from the room. I close the door and go into her. I flash the two tickets and she makes a high-pitched noise from her throat. “I knew being friends with you would pay off one day.” She winks at me and I stick my tongue out at her.

I place the tickets safely in my bedside table and I go back to the bathroom. I stare at my appearance. My hair is down and hangs by my breasts. It seems so... plain and lifeless. I need volume tonight. I grab my curling iron out of a drawer and I curl my hair. I didn’t do it too crazy, just enough to give it some body and a little twist. I clip the front pieces of my hair back and apply minimal make-up. I step back to admire my work. I look simple. I look good and that’s exactly what I’m going for.

Selena takes a little longer than I expected to get ready. We’re meant to leave two hours before the fight to avoid the traffic and masses of people. Instead, we leave an hour before the fight. Luckily, there is no weigh in for tonight’s amateur qualifier otherwise we’d definitely miss it. I drive over the speed limit to get to the exhibition center as quickly as possible. Beside me, Selena slams back tiny bottles of wine. She claims to be really nervous, but I see the wide smile on her face and she can hardly keep her legs still. She’s beyond excited and is mistaking the adrenaline coursing through her veins as nervousness. I’m nervous. I feel sick and the steering wheel is damp from the sweat that seeps from my palms. Every inter-section I pass through I contemplate doing a u-turn and heading back home. I drive underneath the exhibition center and find a park just as someone else is backing out. I love when that happens!

I pull into the parking space and shut the car off. I take a little while to pull the keys out of the ignition.

“Olivia, fights aren’t that big of a deal. It’s like sex—it’s between two consenting adults. It’s animalistic and it’s fun! Relax a little.”

Fights aren’t a big deal? Am I the only weirdo that finds it appalling? Selena falls over herself as she drags herself from my car, flashing me her white underwear.

“How can you be tipsy already?” I laugh after her. “You only had two wine coolers.”

“I haven’t eaten today.” She straightens her short, white dress and flicks her blonde curls over her shoulder. “Let’s do this.”

I suck in a huge breath of air and let it out. “Let’s do this.”

***

I’m fine when we give our tickets to the girls in the short shorts and bikinis and I’m fine when we enter the room Seth will be fighting in. It’s huge—almost like a stadium. When I was last here, it was for a book fair and it was flat and empty, filled with only tables and cheap books. Now, it has a temporary grandstand around the whole room, providing plenty of seating. The thunderous noise of laughter and chatter fills my ears and I can barely hear myself think. I feel the blood drain from my face when my gaze falls onto a roofless cage in the middle of the room—it’s circular and covered in ads and sponsor logos. Selena hooks her elbow through mine and drags me down the aisle to the front of the stand.

“Olivia!” I barely make out my dad’s voice.

I turn my attention to the left and see his happy face and wide smile. He waves me over and we squeeze past a few men in suits. I recognize them from the training room at the gym. Behind me, I hear Selena giggle and say hi. As I draw nearer to Dad, he grabs my wrist and tugs me the rest of the way. He can barely contain his excitement. He’s wearing a black T-shirt with ‘SETH’ written across the front and a pair of denim jeans tucked into a pair of brown work boots.

“This is the closest I’ve ever been to an MMA ring.” He shouts in my ear.

I glance up at the intimidating structure. This is where Seth will fight and I’m right here. I’m close enough to get blood and sweat on me and I don’t like it. Not one bit.

Dad’s thumb runs over the top of my hand. “I’m really proud of you.”

“Me? What’d I do?”

“You’re here and I know how much of a big deal fighting is for you.” His thin lips curl into a warm smile. “He must be really special to you.”

“Dad, Seth and I aren’t—”

Someone taps my shoulder and I turn to see Darryl, Seth’s coach. There’s a crease carved into his forehead and his full, dark lips are pressed tightly together. “Seth wants to see you.” He calls over the chatter of the spectators.