I had never been a fan of boxing.

I've never really seen the appeal. Two men get into a confined area and punch each other until they're bruised and battered. Why would I spend my time watching that?

But as I was taking in the fight between Samuel and his opponent, I began to understand what was so fascinating. Samuels opponent was bigger than him, in height and in stature, but he wasn't winning. It wasn't even close, because Samuel wouldn't let him get a hit in. He bobbed and weaved his head out of danger, and hit perfectly timed punches in between.

"He totally won, right? He had to of won." Clara whispered to me, while the referee held both of the fighters hands, waiting for the final verdict.

"I think so." I told her, but truthfully I had no idea.

"And, for the winner of this match, by unanimous decision." The announcer paused for effect, I'm sure. "Samuel Park."

The referee raised Samuel's hand, causing cheers to fill my ears as the fans around us roared. When they erupted into a chant of his name, I turned to look at Clara again, ready to give a look that said interesting. Clara didn't see that look, however, because she had made eye contact with Samuel. She was looking up at him, biting down on her lip. He looked back at her, and gave her a distinct flick of his chin. A huge grin broke out on his face, and even from my position of an observer, I could feel the sexual tension oozing between them.

"Get a room." I laughed at her, but she didn't seem phased. She simply flicked her eyes over to me, just for a second before moving them back to him. He walked backwards, staring at her, before ducking under the ropes.

"Maybe he will come over here." I said, as if I was confirming her hopes.

"He better. He invited us, remember?" She said to me, but her voice faltered just short of the confidence I think she was hoping to project.

He didn't come over to us, however, because the announcer began speaking again.

"Now, our main event tonight, the one I'm sure you've all been waiting for." He began, causing a silence to fall over the room. "Weighing in at 189, a height of 6'2.... Taylor Tiggens!"

I watched as a well built guy confidently strode into the ring, thumping on his chest as the cheers at his name began. Even though he wore this huge smile on his face, he looked lethal. He had muscles for days and his face tattoos could be seen from across the room.

"And, weighing in at 190 pounds, a height of 6'2.... Roman Richardson!" The announcer bellowed, and I don't know why my stomach flipped when I heard his name.

Roman stalked into the ring, and he didn't smile like his opponent. His face was stone cold serious, he looked straight ahead of him as he walked. He didn't react to the people in the crowd. His eyes didn't sweep across us, and he didn't look towards me.

As the first round began, I felt a pit in my stomach that I hadn't felt when I was watching Samuel. Every time Taylor's glove neared Roman's face I had to fight the urge to look away. They danced together, each of their movements perfectly coordinated. When one swung their fist, the other one ducked. When the round ended, I wasn't even sure if either of the fighters had actually hit the other one. The bell rang, and each of them retreated to their corners.

Samuel was talking to Roman, his signature smirk on his face as if he wasn't concerned at all. I had no idea if he should be or shouldn't be, like I said before, I have no idea what the rules of boxing are. I had no idea who had the upper hand. It wasn't until Clara elbowed me in the side that I dragged my eyes away from them.

She pointed in the direction of the other corner, where to my surprise, Roman's opponent was standing up, the microphone in his hand. The most peculiar thing was, however, that he was pointing to me.

"I don't know who you are, baby girl, 'cause I know for a fact I ain't never seen you here before. Just know, when I knock this fool out," he pointed to Roman, "I'll be right beside you all night."

I heard Clara laugh, clutching her hand to her mouth like she was trying to hide it. I didn't know how to react, especially since everyone in the crowd was now staring at me. I shook my head, partly in embarrassment, and partly because I was trying to outwardly display my immediate dismissal of the idea.

I glanced back over to Roman, and felt a jolt in my chest as his eyes stared right back at me. He didn't smile, or wave, or perform any sort of greeting. His eyes just poured into mine, and I couldn't help but notice that they were smouldering.

The bell rang again, signalling the start of the second round. I tried to keep my eyes away from Taylor, who darted his eyes to me repeatedly. I looked at Roman instead. He seemed different than he had in the last round, like the calmness was radiating off of him.

If I would have blinked, I'd have missed it.

The moment the round began, Roman raised his right glove, driving it upwards with a deadly force into Taylor's chin. Taylor's eyes glazed over immediately, the force of the blow sending him flying backwards. I could tell he was knocked out by the way he hit the mat.

I could barely hear the announcer screaming into the microphone from the cheers that completely shook the building. I could only faintly hear the words KO and knockout peaking through the noise. I watched as Roman didn't seem to pay attention to his win at all, he simply walked off the mat, Samuel walking beside him.

I looked over to Clara, who was apparently still taking in what just happened. Her mouth was open, still observing the knocked out fighter left in the ring. I had to nudge her to get her attention.

"What now?" I asked her, looking around at the people who were now dispersing from the ring.

"I don't know." She said, and she sounded disappointed. "A drink?"

I nodded, grabbing her hand and walking over to the bar. People were staring at us again, but specifically me this time. No doubt due the the annoying proclamation of the guy who just got his ass laid out. We just barely made it to the bar when I felt a hand on my arm.

"Come on." Samuel said, gesturing with his head that he wanted us to follow him. I pulled on Clara, who was surprisingly silent, as I followed him in the direction that the two of them had walked in after Roman's fight.

Samuel lead us through a metal door, and I was thankful that the noise from the other area died down once he shut it. We walked into what looked like a makeshift dressing room. There was a couch one side, a table on the other. Towels, bottles of water and gym bags littered the room.

"You came." Roman's voice entered my ears, and I looked around to find him. He was entering through another door. His brown hair was wet like he had just rinsed off, it fell over his forehead. He was wearing a black hoodie and matching track pants. I had to take a breath at how good he looked.

"Which means you owe me 10 bucks." Samuel said, and I watched as he walked close to Clara. They smiled at each other like they shared an inside joke no one else was apart of.

"Roman," Clara said, "you didn't think we would come? I'm hurt."

"Well, I knew you would. This one," Roman flicked his eyes towards me, and we made eye contact, "I was less sure of."

I broke our line of sight quickly, and I wasn't exactly sure why I felt intimidated by him.

"Look, you were wrong." Clara breathed out.

"What did you think?" Samuel asked us. I watched as he looped his hand around Clara's waist, and I knew by the way she began whispering into his ear that he wasn't interested in my opinion.

I walked around the room awkwardly. I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I knew anything would be better than standing there idly. I felt the energy as Roman came up behind me, and I jumped when I heard his voice in my ear.

"Looks like it's just us." He said, his voice reeking of amusement, like he knew exactly what I was doing. I spun my head around the room, quickly realizing that Samuel and Clara were no where to be found.

"Of course." I muttered. I knew what Clara was really after tonight, of course. I just didn't think she would leave me stranded so quickly.

"So," Roman began, forcing me to look at him again. "What did you think?"

I let out a breath as I tried to gather my thoughts. I was having trouble doing so because he looked so fucking hot and for some reason the image of him knocking his opponent out was replaying in my head.

"I don't know anything about boxing." I said after a minute. I shrugged at him, turning on my heel. I didn't know where I was going as I walked towards the other end of the room.

"I figured." Roman's voice followed me. "Did you like it?"

I could tell from his footsteps that he was trailing behind me, far enough that he wasn't right behind me, but close enough that I could still feel his presence.

"What's there to like?" I lied, pretending to be above it all. The truth was that I really liked it.

Roman chuckled, a low one that sounded from his chest. "You didn't like anything about it?"

I ran out of places to walk in this small room, so I stopped when I hit the wall. I turned, my back leaning against it.

"Maybe." I said when my eyes met his.

Roman closed the distance between us, until he was standing right in front of me. I had to actively stop my eyes from running up and down his body. But he didn't stop his, and I felt nerves in my stomach as he scanned me. When he looked back up at me, a dark smile on his lips and his eyes screaming trouble, I didn't look away. I locked my eyes on his blue ones, and I raised one of my eyebrows.

"What? You can't blame me." He said, as if he was knew what I was thinking about his less than subtle method of checking me out.

"I can." I told him, pressing my back against the wall as he inched closer to me. I had this feeling in my stomach that I didn't know how to describe. All I knew is that I've never felt it before, and it felt really fucking good.

"You look good." Roman told me.

"I know." I responded, and I just couldn't help it. I let my eyes travel down his body.

"You're telling me you don't feel this?" Roman surprised me by asking. He was looking at me in a way that me feel like I was already naked.

"Feel what?" I asked him, even though I knew exactly what he was talking about. The air between us was so thick, it was almost suffocating. Like we were made of two completely different ingredients that were begging to be mixed together.

"This attraction between us, Lilac." Rome whispered out, placing his hands on either side of my head against the wall, trapping me from escaping him. Not that I wanted to.

When I didn't answer, Roman continued, "I think you can feel it."

I took a breath at his words, feeling the way was body was reaching out to touch him. I had to fight against his pull. This couldn't happen.

"Roman, there's nothing between us." I murmured, as if I was trying to remind myself.

"Why not?" He asked me, and I could smell his breath and I wasn't surprised it smelled like mint.

"There's a lot of reasons why not. I don't know you. You don't know me." I told him, though my mind was in such flutter I had to struggle to find the words.

"I know you, Lilac." Rome said, sending a flurry of energy through me. "It's funny though..."

"What's funny?" I asked him, surprised at his words. I certainly couldn't think of anything that would be considered funny right now.

"You would think the first of your reasons why there's nothing between is that you have a boyfriend, yet you haven't mentioned it. Not once." Roman said, his eyes searching my face.

I felt the wave of unease in my stomach at his words, clearly I wasn't doing a good job of keeping my story straight. Roman had seen right through me.

"It's almost like..." Roman started, and I felt my breath hitch at the possibility that he had seen through my charade. Mine and Clara's, Brett and Jesse's.

"It's almost like you realize how wrong he is for you." Roman said, and he reached towards me. I felt my heart rate increase as I felt his fingers graze against my collar bone. The way my skin was set on fire was not normal, I thought. Jesse had never set me aflame like this.

"Lilly." I heard the voice at the same time Roman ripped his fingers away from my skin.

I looked towards the doorway at the voice. Clara was standing there with Samuel right behind her, the panic in her eyes was easy to read, the words in large print.

"We have to go."