♦𝕭𝖑𝖆𝖐𝖊♦

Was I nervous for the fight tonight? Absolutely not. Was I worried about what Conway might do after?

Hell yeah. I don't know what or who Conway has up his sleeve. I'll protect Rose with all I have, but that protection doesn't mean shit if I'm not there with her.

One of these days this is going to have to stop, I won't be able to deal with his bull shit for much longer.

When I got into fighting I knew the dangers, but I never thought about how dangerous it would be for the person I would fall for.

Hell, I never thought I'd find my someone. But I did, and this world I've brought her into is dangerous, it eats me alive everyday. The fact that no matter how hard I train, how strong I am or how hard I hit. That none of that means shit if they get to her while I'm not around.

They could kill me without even touching me, it's the most bizarre and fucked up realization I've had so far.

I have to end this tonight, for Rose's protection and my sanity. Speaking of Rose, what's taking her so long? Bella dragged her off to the bedroom so they could get ready for tonight.

"We need to leave in ten minutes." I shout down the hall. Ace left an hour ago so he could run home, but he's meeting us back here in ten minutes with Isaiah so we can all ride together.

"Ok!" Rose's sweet voice travels down the hall, just the sound of her voice warms my insides. A strange feeling when I'm icing over like I do before a fight.

Rose skips out of the bedroom a minute later wearing the most jaw dropping outfit.

Her feet are covered in a pair of black workout shoes paired with red crew socks. A tight pair of shorts reach her mid thigh and her hair is styled in loose curls.

But what makes my heart skip a fucking beat is the loose t-shirt that hangs from her shoulders. In big bold red letters my name is written across it. How and when she got that shirt is beyond me but I fucking love it.

She stands there with an innocent smile on her face. Little does she know she's making it extremely difficult for me to have innocent thoughts though.

Bella knows it too, she's got a devilish look plastered on her face. My middle finger twitches with the need to flick her off, but Rose would chew me out and I don't want that to happen right now.

"Do you like her outfit?" Bella taunts. "Show it off, Rose. Give us a couple spins." Fucking hell, I'm having a hard enough time controlling myself. I don't need Rose spinning around looking all cute and showing off her body to me.

My hands are already in tight fists, it's all I can do to control myself. I want to rush over to her and run my hands through her hair, down her body and, shut the fuck up brain. Now is not the time.

I just need to calm dow- oh God, she's spinning. Her hair floats around her body as she twirls, I wanna do things to her that I shouldn't.

When Rose's back is turned to me I flip Bella off for putting me in the situation, quickly returning my hand to my side before Rose can catch anything.

"What do you think?" Rose giggles, she stops spinning but her body sways to the side a little. Instinctively my hand holds her elbow making sure she doesn't fall.

"I really fucking like it." I growl, to my surprise it makes her giggle again and my brain is about to fry.

"Lets go kick some Conway ass!" Ace barges through the front door, saving me from embarrassing myself any farther.

"Yeah!" Bella screams, she grabs Rose and drags her out of the house.

That's supposed to be my job.

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"Why are you so grumpy?" Ace asks as we walk along the side of the building heading towards the VIP entrance.

Oh I don't know, maybe because Bella made Rose sit next to her. She also snatched her hand before I could and is chatting with her as they walk a few feet in front of us.

I don't answer Ace, instead I just glare at the back of Bella's head hoping to burn a hole through it.

"Oh, got it. I forgot you're completely whipped." He laughs. I push my leg in front of him, my plan works and he trips and goes flying forward.

I let my anger get the best of me and acted before I thought about it. Because now Ace is falling and Rose is right in front of him about to get flattened like a pancake.

Fucking hell.

I reach my hand out and grab the back of Ace's shirt, with one hard tug and the sound of ripping fabric he's able to regain his footing and not crush my girl.

"That was close." He whispers. "You ripped my shirt, you asshole." He adds as he inspects the fairly large rip on his white shirt.

"Maybe keep your mouth shut then." I grumble. I'm very thin on patience today, and having Rose stolen from me is not helping.

Cash stands at the VIP holding the door open for us. It's then that I realize that somethings off. There isn't a line of people waiting to get in or anyone wandering around. This place seems abandoned other than us and Cash.

Bella enters the door first, she deviously smirks at me as she pulls Rose behind her, the little fucker loves getting on my nerves.

I quickly grab Rose's other hand so they don't go all the way in until I figure out what's going on.

I don't even have to say anything to Cash, only give him a questioning look and he's filling me in. "Boss is waiting by the cage, there's been a change of plans." Interesting.

"So you guys did sign Rose and I up to fight!" Bella gasps and I'm a quarter inch away from taping her mouth shut.

"Move." I instruct the infuriating woman blocking the doorway. I don't let go of Rose's hand, I need it to hold me back from doing anything stupid.

When we make it through the door and Rose lets go of Bella's hand so she can put both arms around my left arm I suddenly forget why I was even upset.

"Hold on, why is Cash suddenly so nice? I thought he hated us?"

"No, he just hated you because you suck at magic tricks." Rose snickers. That's my girl.

"Whatever! You try pulling a trick out of nowhere in front of security with massive muscles who want to ring your neck." Isaiah yells, flinging his arms around like an orangutan.

"I wouldn't have to because they love me. And Blake would beat them up if they wouldn't let me through." I mean she's definitely not wrong.

"You know this is really unfair. I've been friends with him for years and he throws me to the dust as soon as you come prancing into his life." He fake scoffs.

"Not my fault I'm more awesome than you are." She teases back.

"Blake, if Rose and I were in danger. Who would you save?" A dumb ass question that he already knows the answer to.

"Rose, obviously." I deadpan.

"Gosh, you could have at least pretend to think about it for a minute."

"No need, I'm good."

I'd save Rose even if she wasn't the one in direct danger.

"Sullivan!" Dean's gruff voice shouts from the Bar.

The fight is supposed to start in half an hour and the venue is empty. Besides us, and Cash who is now standing off to the side by the cage, no clue how he got there so fast.

"What's going on Dean?" My eyes flick to the briefcase set to the side of him on the bar top.

"Good news for you. You're the winner by default." He grumbles, then chugs the last of his beer.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Conway wouldn't have gone through all that trouble just to back out.

"Conway's in jail. Cops caught him this morning all drugged up with a few pounds of illegal substances on him."

Fucking hell, your joking. How is everyone getting themselves caught lately?

"Damn it." Ace mumbles beside me. "Can't beat the shit out of him if he's in jail."

Fuck, he's right. Damn it, I was really looking forward to bashing his face in.

"Here's your prize money." Dean slides the case filled with cash over to me.

"Shouldn't I be fighting the runner up?" This isn't like Dean, Dean likes fights. And the money that people bet on fights, spend on admittance and alcohol.

"Well apparently that fucker and his few friends got in the habit of selling drugs here. So now the cops are asking questions and getting nosy. Best to shut down the fights for a while, as you know what we do isn't exactly legal either."

The cops just never cared, but if that changed and they started to care because of this drug bust then we'd all end up in trouble.

"So you called off the fights tonight?" That explains the lack of people.

"Yeah, security is walking the area and telling everyone to go home. Cash was assigned to make sure you got in to talk to me. Man never fails at his job." He is the best guard Dean has ever managed to hire.

"I'm getting out of town, I have family I haven't seen in forever and this is the perfect opportunity to do so. You're a great fighter kid," Dean wraps his hand around my shoulder giving it a tight squeeze. "I'll see ya next season." He drops his hand and grabs one last beer from the bar.

"Maybe." I reply. Now I have Rose to think about, I'm not sure if I want to continue fighting when that can put her in danger. I never had to worry about getting hurt or dying before, but now I have someone that wants me to come home everyday.

Dean doesn't say anything, he doesn't look at me or acknowledge my words. I suppose he can't, it would be bad business to accept your best money maker's resignation. This way he can at least hope that I'll be back next year.

"Dang, that's a lot of money." Isaiah whistles. He opened the briefcase to show it completely full of cash.

"What an anticlimactic night. I wanted to hear cries of agony." Ace grumbles. Yeah, me too bud.

"Fight!" I hear the familiar recording that plays before a match begins and then the bell that signals the start.

Confused, I turn to look at the ring. At first glance I think my eyes are betraying me, but then I see my last name bouncing around the cage. Oh fuck no.

"Ok, I take it back. No cries of agony are fine with me. You get your girl, I'll get the demon child." Ace huffs.

Bella runs circles around the cage as Rose continues to bounce around with her fists up. Ace and I are at the cage just in time, because Bella starts to climb up the walls for whatever reason.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I question the bouncing goddess as I stand just outside the cage next to Cash.

"Getting ready to fight Bella." She says sweetly, too sweetly for being in a fighting cage where people have lost their lives.

"Why did you let them in here?" My voice turns hard as I direct the question to Cash. He should have never let them step foot in the cage.

"The bigger one threatened me." You have to be kidding me, he points his finger over to Bella who is only a few inches taller than Rose.

Ace is yelling at her trying to get her to get off the wall, but Bella is having none of it.

Every time Ace's hand reaches out to grab her she kicks it away. "I'm losing my patience, Bella! Off the wall now!" Ace says in a low growl.

Rose on the other hand is completely ignoring them as she continues to punch the air around her.

"Rose, let's go." I want her out of that cage, I don't like her being in there with all the things that happened in it.

"No thank you." She hums, bouncing further into the cage and closer to Bella. The fuck? Did she just outright say no to me?

"Cash! Dig the starting bell again!" Bella yells. She managed to climb up higher and is crouched like she's about to pounce on Rose.

"Don't you fucking dare!" I bellow at Cash and barge my way into the cage.

"Ding ding!" Rose and Bella yell when they know Cash won't sound the bell for them. Bella leeps of the wall heading straight for Rose. A move I haven't seen anyone do in real life because it's highly unlikely your opponent would ever let you make it a foot up that wall.

But Rose let her of course, probably encouraged it by the looks of it, she stands there with a huge ass smile on her face as Bella comes hurtling towards her.

Ace and I both have the same Idea as we go rushing into the middle of this "fight". I grab Rose and toss her over my shoulder the same time that Ace snatches Bella out of the air and does the same with her.

"Interference!" Bella screams, her hands are on Ace's back so she can prop herself up to look at Rose and I. "I demand a rematch!"

Rose just giggles into my back. Apparently almost getting taken out by a flying demon child is amusing to her.

"No fighting! We said no fighting. Not to fight each other!" Ace hollers over his shoulder, his face goes red when he gets an up close look at Bella's ass. That reminds me, I should take advantage of this as well. Ah yes, what a fine ass my girl has.

"Oh is that what you said? I forgot." Bella says dramatically.

"Are you staring at my butt?" Rose giggles. What the fuck? How did she know?

"You better not be looking at my ass, Ace!" He quickly looks away.

"I'm not! Why would I do that?" Ace stammers in defense.

"He is!" Rose giggles.

"What the fuck Rose? I thought we were friends!"

"Hey, no cursing at my girl!"

"Don't move so fast Ace! You're gonna smack my head on the cage!"

"Don't hurt my friend or I'll hurt you!"

"Ow! I said watch it!"

"Fuck, I didn't mean to!"

"Oh now it's on!" Rose yells, trying her very hardest to get out of my grip.

"Let go Blake! I have to go beat up your friend because he hurt mine!"

"I thought we were all friends!"

"In your dreams!" Rose hollers.

She really wants to fight, doesn't she?

"What the fuck happened to nice Rose?" Ace mutters, he gently places Bella on the ground so he can check her head for anything serious.

"Hang on, I need to get her out of the cage. She's a different person when she's in a ring." I laugh, I don't understand how her personality changes so quickly and drastically when she's in a ring.

Stepping out of the cage I notice that Cash is gone. Probably took off the moment he realized Dean was gone and he could go home too.

"Oh, hey Isaiah. What's in the briefcase?" Rose asks chipperly, she completely forgot about wanting to fight Ace in a second after I got her out of there.

Weirdo, I love her though.

"Blake's money." The two girls must have instantly taken off into the cage if she didn't even know that much, probably took off right after they heard that Conway is in jail.

"Come on, Bella. I said I'm sorry and I didn't mean to." Ace pleads as they make their way out of the cage. Bella is giving Ace a hard glare as she rubs the side of her head.

"Whatever, come on Rose. Let's blow this joint and get some ice cream." Bella ignores that Ace is genuinely eating himself away with guilt and grabs Rose's hand who I just placed on the ground.

"Celebration ice cream because Blake won this year?" She squeals excitingly, grabbing my hand too.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you want to call it." Bella laughs. "All is forgiven if you buy me ice cream." She adds, looking over her shoulder at Ace.

"You got it." I can see the tension leave his shoulders as the guilt starts to fade. He just needed to know that she didn't hate him, I completely understand why.

When I think Rose is upset with me, or I did something wrong. It's like my insides start fighting each other and nothing feels right until I fix it.

"Want to go to Dream cones? I heard they just released a new menu that's crazy looking but also delicious." Isaiah says. He's always up to date on the restaurants in this town.

Everyone nods in approval.

"Ok. Let's roll!" Bella and Rose take off towards the exit. Whether they realize it or not, that's the best way to get us guys moving. I follow Rose around like a lost puppy most of the time, I can't help it.

When she's gone, she's all I think about, when she's with me I feel whole. So wherever she goes I follow.

⇼♢⇼♢⇼♢⇼♢⇼

We ate our crazy Ice-cream cones and said goodbye to everyone. Bella went home too, now that Conway is in jail she felt comfortable with it.

I hired someone to fix the door today, and by the time we got back to the apartment it was finished. Rose was sad to see her go, even though she's just a few doors down.

I was happy she left because she kept stealing Rose from me, I didn't even get to sit by her when we ate our Ice-cream because Bella had her off looking at the huge saltwater fish tank they had as a wall.

"So that's it?" Rose snaps me out of my thoughts.

"What's it?" I question.

"My brothers in jail, Conway is in jail and you scared Max off." Yeah, maybe that's why I feel a little lighter tonight.

"Yeah, anyone else you know of that I need to go beat the shit out of?" A lighthearted smile spreads across her gorgeous lips.

"Not right now." She teases. "Thank you, for everything." Her eyes start to water as she looks up at me gratefully.

"Hey now, no crying. I should be the one thanking you." My palms rest against her cheeks, my thumbs brush just under her eyes.

"For what? All I did was cause you trouble." Is that what she really thinks?

"You gave me something to live for. Before you, I didn't really care if I made it to the next day. Before you, my house didn't feel like a home. Before you, there was a part of me that was missing. You gave me all of that, baby. And so much more." I didn't really have a plan for my life, I didn't care enough.

Then she came along and she makes me want to do great things, makes me want to stick around for as long as my body will let me just so I can see her face and that beautiful smile each day.

I see her bottom lip start to quiver, I sigh quietly as my heart squeezes. I hate seeing her cry, but I also understand that sometimes she just needs to let it out.

"I love you." She whimpers out between sniffles.

"And I love you." I kiss her forehead once, then twice. Then capture her lips in mine. They're salty from the tears that just fell, but I plan to kiss that all away.

If I had one wish, I would use it on us. I'd wish for us to have a happy ever after.

But wishes aren't granted, they are made. So I plan on making that wish become a reality.

I just wanted to add that while having someone like Blake by your side is incredible. The most powerful person to have by your side is you. Be kind to yourself.