Page 338 of Dark Love

I Get To Pick

Dahlia

Vex hesitates a moment. “What condition?” There’s a wary edge to his voice.

“We don’t watch any boxing. I don’t mind any other sports, but boxing…” A little ick shiver runs down my spine. “It’s just too violent for me.”

“MMA is out too then.”

“MMA?” Do I even want to know what that is?

“Mixed Martial Arts. It’s like boxing except you can kick a person, too.”

“Ouch. Why would people do that?”

He shrugs. “It’s not as bad as it seems.”

Wait… that means. “You boxed?” It shouldn’t surprise me. A person can hardly crush people with their bare hands if they don’t know how to fight.

“As a kid, I boxed. When I was older, I got into MMA.”

“Why boxing?” I mean, other than the fact you’re built for it. And you’ve developed this super scary persona.

“There was a free boxing gym.”

“Free?”

“Yeah. I thought it was strange too. But this place was legit. Some bored old military types had too much time on their hands, so they opened a gym and taught wayward teenagers how to defend themselves.” He almost smiles. It’s a little crack in his hard exterior.

“You, a wayward teenager?” Was he as scary looking when he was younger? “That’s hard to imagine.”

“Don’t be cute.” The corner of his lip tips up just a tiny bit more.

Me cute? That’s never a term anyone uses to describe me, nerdy or boring maybe, but never cute.

How did my life get so twisted upside down? Nothing makes sense right now.

“Wanna watch some television?”

“Um, sure.” I try to pull the blanket away again, but noodles formerly known as arms don’t cooperate.

“You don’t need to go anywhere.” Vex walks over to the bedside table and picks up a tablet.

In seconds, a screen drops down from the ceiling, and all the windows are blacked out.

“You have your own little movie theater in here.”

“Wait until you hear the surround sound.”

In that moment, he looks like a little boy describing his new toy.

“I think there’s a game on.”

Is there ever a time where there isn’t a game on?

“You can handle baseball, right?”

“Sure.” Play it cool. This guy doesn’t want to know what a nut you are.

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