The pain is blinding. My mouth opens to help my lungs get enough oxygen so I don’t pass out. Despite it all, I’m looking up in the stands, trying to focus on Cam.
Getting to my feet, adrenaline tearing through my veins and buffering the intensity of the agony long enough for me to focus, I see Nate with his finger in some guy’s face and Cam standing beside him. Watching me.
Movement catches in my peripheral vision and I see my opponent charging in my direction. Knowing I have one good, solid move left in me, I turn my body.
His right arm is pulled back, ready to fire, as he lunges forward. Like a coiled spring, I unleash a left uppercut.
He doesn’t see it coming. Doesn’t expect it. It gives me a bigger opening and I put every bit of power I can muster into the punch. It hits its target—right under his chin—and he falls backwards, his eyes rolling as he hits the mat.
The bell rings and the ref covers him, waving his arms indicating the fight is over.
Cheers from the crowd filter back into my ears as I look up again, trying to find Cam. Tears stream down her cheeks, Nate at her side. My brother gives me a thumbs-up and I fall to my knees, gripping my side, as the pain becomes unbearable.
My body feels like it’s splitting in two, like something inside is definitely wrong. I sway, searching desperately for something to hold on to so I don’t pass out.
My arm is lifted by the ref and I’m declared the winner, but it’s all secondary to staying conscious. My vision goes in and out.
A smile starts spreading across her cheeks, then falls just as quickly.
A pair of hands are on my shoulders, a lock of bright red hair swishes in front of me. “Dom, are you okay? Where do you hurt?”
I angle around Hannah, my heart racing now for another reason altogether.
My gaze meets Cam’s, her smile faltering further as she looks from me, to Hannah, and back to me.
“Move, Hannah,” I growl, shuffling to my feet. I wave off the medic as I watch Nate walk a couple of steps behind as Cam makes her way to the stairs.
Camilla
“Slow down, Miss,” A man with a stethoscope admonishes me as I run by him down the drab hallway. I burst through the door to the locker room, my eyes scanning the rows of lockers until they fall on him.
He’s slumped against the wall, his eyes closed, his skin ashen.
“Dom,” I blurt, rushing to him. I kneel in front of him, touching his cheek. “Are you okay?”
His eyes flutter open. The blues are full of pain, but when they land on me, the corners of his lips struggle to lift. “Cam.” His face twists in pain. “I don’t know whether to kiss you or kill you.”
“I’m so sorry,” I say, my voice at the point of breaking. Seeing him like this, so not like Dom, is something I can barely accept. And to know that my presence helped put him in this situation is unbearable. “I’m so, so sorry.”
I’m not sure if he’s punishing me by not responding or if he doesn’t know what to say. Either way, it hurts my heart. Guilt swamps me as I take him in and my heart shatters into a hundred thousand pieces.
“I shouldn’t have come,” I say, the words toppling from my lips. “I just wanted to show you I cared, that I supported what you were doing.” Tears flow down my cheeks. “I didn’t realize . . .”
“I told you.”
“I know you did,” I sniffle. “I know and I should’ve listened.”
He exhales sharply. “This place is no place for you, Cam. You could’ve gotten killed.”
“Well, you know what? This place isn’t a place for you either.”
“This is what I am, Camilla. This is my version of a charity event.”
The fact that he says my full name, something he very rarely does, is not lost on me. I fall back on my heels and look at him through the hot liquid pouring from my eyes.
There’s a sadness soaked into his eyes, the way he’s sitting, so pitiful, so painful, that I want to break out into a sob right before wrapping him in my arms and taking him home. With me.
“This is not what you are,” I insist. “I understand you love to fight. It’s weird to me, but I get it. What I don’t get is that you would fight for money, that you think it’s okay to put yourself in danger like this.”
I reach out and touch his cheek. His skin is moist, cool, not like I expect.
“Dom, you are worth so much more than whatever prize money you’ll win tonight. Don’t you see? Your life is worth way more than that. Your health, your happiness. I . . . I need you and I need you to be healthy and happy. You deserve that. You are so, so much more than all of this.”
He chuckles and I hear the exhaustion in his voice.
“Let me take you home and put you to bed,” I say, offering him my hand. Instead, he looks over my shoulder. I follow his gaze and see Nate and Red.
“What’s she still doing here?” Red barks.
Dom starts to say something, but I turn and block his line of sight.
“The question is, what are you still doing here?” My hands fly to my hips as I stand as tall as I can. “Get your ass out of this room. You aren’t welcome here.”
“Well, it isn’t your room, is it? Percy paid the fee. I’m an employee. So maybe you need to—”
“Shut the hell up.” I take a step to her, looking at Nate in case I get myself in deeper than I can dig out. “Wasn’t one Hughes brother enough? Sorry, Nate,” I add as an aside, making him chuckle.
Red’s jaw drops. “Excuse me?”
“Let me make this crystal clear for you. Get out. Leave Dominic alone. Find another man to throw yourself at, but this time, try to find one that isn’t taken, okay?”
Her eyes narrow as she comes towards me. Nate puts a hand in between us.
“Hey,” he says, looking at Red. “Time to go.”
“Are you blinded by her money too?”
“Go, Hannah.”
“Y’all are fucking crazy,” she growls.
“Nah, we’re being pretty restrained, I’d say,” Nate tells her. “If you want to be pissed, be pissed. But keep Cam out of it.”
“Oh, protect her,” Red glares. “I don’t get it. I don’t.”
“You don’t have to get it,” Nate tells her. “But that doesn’t change the way it is.”
She leaves with a direct glare at me as she goes.
“Nate, give us a second, okay?” Dom breaks the quiet.
“I’ll grab the car and be around back so we can get you out of here. Sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?”
“If it’s broken ribs, there isn’t shit they can do. I’m not paying that bill.”
Walking to Dom again, I feel a shift in the air. A shiver runs down my spine as I take in the look he’s giving me.
“Sit down with me for a minute,” he says softly.
I do, placing my hand over his. It’s cool and damp and makes my stomach churn. “I feel responsible for this. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s mine.” He heaves a breath, blowing it out slowly. “I should’ve had you watch from the locker room or at least stood in the tunnel. I just . . . I didn’t think clearly.”
“It’s my fault,” I assert. “You told me what this was like and I got you hurt . . .” My eyes leak again, my heart breaking, the force of which almost knocks my breath away.
“Nate should have the car around in a few minutes. I need to go home and get some meds and try to get some sleep.”