Page 213 of Repairing the Wreckage

People bet on me at The Castle all the time. It’s nothing new. Just a different location. Bigger stakes. Large pool of gamblers.

No big deal.

We work through a few moves together. I pull him into a standing choke but don’t apply pressure. Remy twists away and comes at me with a side kick grazing my leg.

Underhill supervises us and eyes Remy like a bull he wants to take to market.

“Magic is big.” Remy runs his hand from the center of his chest to his shoulders. “Heavy. He’ll be tough to take down. But I think once you do, you’ve got him.”

“That’s my plan.”

He shrugs and gives me a sheepish look. “I know you have a plan.”

“I always appreciate the advice.” I slap his arm so he knows I’m not annoyed and return to the bench with Molly.

She’s busy flipping through the pictures she took. I tap one of me with my head down, watching as my hands get taped. “You can post that to my Insta if you want.”

“Yeah?” She pulls my phone out of her purse and hands it to me.

“You know the code.” I have nothing to hide from her.

“But you’re sitting right here.”

I flash my taped hands at her.

She sends the photo to my phone and then loads it to Instagram. “How should I caption it?”

“No tricks tonight. Just fists of steel?” I suggest.

She squints. “I’ll work on it.”

Laughing, I watch her hands swiping over my phone, especially her bare ring fingers. “Hey, you have that selfie of us from the room?”

She flicks to the photo gallery and shows it to me.

“Post that too.”

Her thumb hesitates over the image. “But tonight’s about you.”

“And I want you to post both pics.”

She posts the pictures, then shuts off the screen and tucks my phone away.

“Would you rather hang with Shelby ringside?” I ask.

“I’m right where I want to be.” She tugs on the sleeve of her oversized purple hoodie that’s covering that smoking hot silver dress. “Thank you for this. I would’ve been freezing without it.”

I drop my gaze to her bare legs, silky and gleaming with some kind of body oil she used after she got out of the shower. “Are your legs cold? I’ll give you some sweats.”

“I’m okay.” She tilts her head. “How do you stand all this…anticipation?”

“It’s only the second time I’ve had to do it. Last time was much worse. I really didn’t know what to expect.” I lower my voice. “I didn’t have you.”

“I’m here now. And I’ll be here tomorrow and the next day.”

I lean close to her ear, really not wanting anyone to overhear this. “Thank you for helping me add the new training session to my afternoons this week.”

The corners of her mouth twitch and she slides a coy glance my way. “Oh, it was definitely my pleasure.”

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