Page 55 of Hear Me Roar

I shook my head, gently pressing on my cheek bone. “Nothingyet.”

“Sit, let me do it,” she offered, whipping out Knox’s pouch from mybag.

Staring at her through the mirror, I hesitated for only a split-second. There was no point in fighting with her or trying to play the independent card. Knox usually did all this for me, and he wasn't here because he was giving me the space I'd asked for. And if the cut on my stubborn brow needed to be stitched, I couldn't handle that alone. Case in point, I neededhelp.

She rose from the bench to give me her seat and unrolled the lid on the salve tin. Starting at my brow, she hit each area gently and skillfully, applying a generous amount to my undereye too. The more she studied my eyebrow, though, the more worried I became. I might be able to take hits to the face like a man, but I hatedstitches.

“How's it look?” I asked, peering up at her concentratedface.

“Ehhh, you'll live. I think it looks worse than it is cause it's your bad brow. No stitches, methinks.”

Thank you, sweet babyJesus.

“She fucked me up, though,huh?’

“Dinged you up a bit, yeah, but fucked you up, naaah. You know we’ve both seen worse andyou’vedefinitely done worse,” she corrected with asmirk.

Yeah, she had a point. Leilani and Lexi are primeexamples.

As she put everything away where it belonged in the duffle, I wrapped a hand around her wrist, offering her a smile. “Thanks for putting up with my stubborn ass,Rey.”

“You put up with me too, remember? I’d say that makes useven.”

“True, but still I want you to know I’m not keeping shit to myself because I don’t wanna tell. I just don’t wanna dwell on it. There’s so much going on right now, I’m overwhelmed, and if I sit here and talk about how I feel like a big ass failure, it’ll only make itworse.”

“Okay, first of all,” she said, swallowing me in a hug, “you arenota big ass failure, and second of all, believe me, I get it. I just wantedyouto know that if you did wanna talk about, I washere.”

I squeezed her back with everything I had, truly thankful to have her in my life. Who knew the woman I’d gone toe to toe with, someone who, at one point, meant essentially nothing to me, could mean the world to menow.

“Come on, let’s get out there before your man starts thinking you have a gash the size ofTexas.”

When Reynaand I rounded the corner to the main lobby of the arena, I caught sight of Knox by the front doors, chatting with a woman. Well really,shewas doing all the talking; he didn’t seem to be entertaining a single word she said, his gruff body language speaking volumes, even from my vantage point across the room. Call it woman’s intuition or whatever you want to call it, but I knew right then and there that the woman standinga little too closeto Knox for my liking wasBrie.

“Oh. Shit,” Reyna exclaimed, jerking our strides to a halt with her hand at myarm.

I swung my eyes to her frozen form, and her semi-annoyed yet equally worried expression confirmed my every suspicion. This girl,this woman,was more than likely a total knockout, and she was my man’s ex ofthreeyears.

“That's Brie, isn't it?” I asked, suddenly feeling insecure, littleeven.

Two things that seemed to be the ongoing theme for the night. I’d about hadit.

Rey nodded, glaring lethally in Brie’s direction. “The one andonly.”

“Wonderful,” Iconceded.

Running my gaze over the offending brunette from head to toe, I noted our height was really all we had in common, and perhaps the length of our hair. Heavily tattooed with glossy dark waves and dangerous curves, she was my absolute polar opposite, and although I couldn't see her face, I knew she was gorgeous. Alright, so I had my own unique qualities and my body held some curves, too, but Brie made me look like an ordinary twig incomparison.

“C’mon, let's go sneak up on them. I can't wait to see her skanky ass flip out when she sees you two together,” Reyna snickered, linking her arm through mine withpurpose.

I laughed at her choice of words and shook my head as we weaved in and out through the throngs of people still lurking about. This was going to be interesting, to say the least. The closer we inched toward Knox and Brie, the more the sight of them together throttled a keen sense of anger through my being. She had some damn nerve chatting him up so casually, after what she'd so idiotically done. But her loss was my gain, and I didn't quite care for her threatening what was rightfullymine.

Grabbing Reyna’s hand, I led us the rest of the way to the front of the lobby and stopped just inches away, walking my fingers up Knox’sback.

“Coach,I'm ready to go,” I purred, raising up on the tips of my toes to kiss hischeek.

Then I acted like I'd just noticed her and turned to face the woman Knox shared three years of his life with. And just as I'd suspected, she was the definition of beautiful. Her eyes were as blue as his, framed by dark lashes and thick edgy glasses that sat on a perfectly upturned nose. Her lips weren't as full as mine, but they were highly defined by a bright red shade of lipstick. Her hourglass figure was a man’s wet dream and her tattoos were undeniably bad ass. Everything about her screamed sexy, and my heart swiftly plummeted to my stomach. How the hell was I supposed to compete withthat?

Despite the insecurity dripping through my veins, I put on my game face and arched my brow. “I'm sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met. Youare?”

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