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I want her. 
    But as I watch her draw a shaky breath, I realize I can’t do this to her. She isn’t cut out to date a fighter. Every time I get in this ring she’ll worry that it’s going to be like her brother’s last match all over again.
    The only decent thing to do is let her go. We’ll both have memories from the one night we spent together. Those will have to be enough to sustain us as we part ways for good.

Chapter 7
    Lily
     
    The heels I decided to wear tonight are already hurting my feet when I get to the bar. I stopped at my place before I came here to fix up my face. I made a mess of my makeup in my panic when I saw Cage take those hits.
    My hands have finally stopped shaking. He took that punch and it had looked exactly like the punch my brother took before he never fought again. My heart almost broke in that instant.
    I overreacted. I get that now that I’m calmer. Fighters take hits. They get injured. Mostly they don’t end up as bad off as my brother, especially when they’re only semi-pros like Cage and Tripp.
    Besides, Cage won the match. I need to be happy for him. That’s why I decided to head to the bar I know the fighters hang out at when they’re celebrating a victory. The place is a dive, but all the guys from the gym go there. I made the mistake of asking why they go to this bar once, and they all looked at me blankly. “Because it’s our bar,” they said.
    I smile to myself. Sometimes it really is just that simple. Things with Cage definitely aren’t simple, but I’m hoping some alcohol will cure that.
    When I walk in I see Cage sitting at the bar. He’s showered and his hair is still damp. He laughs at something Tripp says, and I can see a bruise forming on his jawline. I want to check on him to make sure he’s okay, but he hasn’t even glanced in my direction.
    I slide into a seat at a booth. After that conversation earlier with my dad, I was ready to talk to Cage. To try and understand what last night meant, if I mean anything to him at all. But the reality of the situation slams into me. He’s ignored me all day, and even though he saw me walk in, he turned his back, like he wanted nothing to do with me.
    A waitress swaggers over to me. “What’ll you have, sweetie?”
    “The strongest drink you have.”
    She rolls her eyes but leaves to get me a drink. Hopefully she doesn’t decide to get snarky and bring me a lemonade.
    Tripp slides into the seat across from me. I don’t want to talk to Tripp. I stare a hole through the table.
    “You okay?” he asks.
    “Not really.” The waitress slams down a shot in front of me. I take it without looking then grimace. Tequila. It’ll do.
    Tripp’s eyebrows climb his forehead. “Take it easy, tiger.”
    “Don’t want to.” I wave the empty glass at the waitress. “One more.”
    “Hey.” Tripp catches my hand. “Have you talked to Cage yet?”
    “No. We don’t have anything to talk about.”
    The waitress brings me another shot but Tripp pushes it out of my reach before I can down it.
    “I think you should talk to Cage. And you shouldn’t be drunk when you do it.”
    “Talk to Cage,” I say in a nasally whine. “That’s what you sound like.”
    Tripp rolls his eyes. “Real mature, Lily. Between you thinking the solution to your problems is pushing people away and Cage running from everything, it’s a wonder you two ever crashed into each other at all.”
    “We didn’t. We both crashed into you. Or maybe you guys crashed into me? I’m never having a three way again. The semantics get too confusing.”
    Tripp smiles and suspicion begins to rise in my mind.
    “Wait. Did you crash us into each other? Is this whole thing a set up?” I can’t believe it, but now that I’ve thought of it, it makes sense. The whole three way thing was a set up. Which officially made it the weirdest set up ever. “You had sex with me to try to get me to date your brother? Couldn’t you just have sent me a text message?”
    Tripp