Page 88 of Breaking the Habit

Everything around him moved in slow motion as the clock ticked inexorably toward the match. All he could think about was that it never felt like this before. Normally, he had a clear head. Normally, he was alive and laser focused andhere.

But not today. The air itself was stuffed with cotton. Travis massaged the tops of his shoulders, feeding him lots of inspirational prefight words. Levi nodded. Something was wrong. He just didn’t know what it was yet.

The dressing room door opened, and Riley appeared in the doorway with five minutes until fight time. He should have been upset, but he was only relieved. He gobbled her up—the last time they’d seen each other was at his practice earlier that week. And that was too much damn time apart.

Her hair hung in dark waves around her face. A tight black skirt hugged her hips, topped with a black lace tank. Her big camera bags hung off one shoulder, and she already had a camera in hand.

“Sorry I’m late,” she mumbled, fiddling with the camera. Levi stared at her, waiting for that electric jolt. Waiting for the warmth in her eyes. The silent communication they’d perfected over the past month and a half.

But she didn’t look at him. Made a point of avoiding his gaze.

An icy wave passed through him.

“All right, dude, it’s almost time,” Lex said after he’d poked his head out of the dressing room.

“Riley, you look amazing,” Levi said, his gaze snagging on the lace of her top. She cleared her throat, hoisting her bags. Her chocolate-brown eyes flicked his ways for the briefest of seconds, but the minimal contact there seared through him. And suddenly, his body was filled with understanding.

Riley wasn’t good. There was something wrong.

Anxiety streaked through him as Travis urged him to stand.

“This is it. The final fucking match. God, it’s gonna feel so good when you win the title. Do you hear me, Levi? You areminutesaway from wearing that belt.”

Levi jerked his attention back to Travis, trying to force the questions and doubts from his mind. This was it. The pinnacle of the league, and he needed to clear his headnow.

“I wonder how much it weighs,” Levi said, cracking a smile. Riley waited in the hallway for them to file out, her lips a thin line. And suddenly he realized that whatever was wrong with her had to do withthem.

“Let’s fuckingdo it,” Travis boomed, herding Levi out into the hallway. Lex sauntered along behind them.

“No pre-fight joke?” Lex asked.

Travis twisted around to look at Levi, a brow arched. “Yeah. Where’s the joke?”

Levi shook his head, cottony confusion and doubts invading him. Nothing made sense. “I’m ready. It’s time.” He took one last look at Riley before he made the effort to file away the confusion for later.

He had no room for doubts and wondering.

The only thing allowed in his head space was unfalteringcertainty.

Levi went through the motions. He hopped from foot to foot as the boom and hiss of the arena grew nearer. When he stepped across the threshold, guided down the narrow aisle by Travis winding toward the octagon, the chants of his name almost knocked him over.

The energy had never been this high. This loud. And Gage was out there somewhere. He pumped his fists into the air and hopped, adrenaline beginning the familiar twisty path through his body in time to the sick hip-hop beats of the music accompanying his walk. Yes. He needed more of this. More of the hype. More of the energy.

Some of his focus returned when he reached the octagon. But he made the mistake of searching for Riley. Couldn’t find her down there and spent too long looking. Pulled himself out of his hype state.

“Here we go,” Travis boomed over the roar of the crowd, bringing him back to center. Across the octagon, his opponent stared him down, a middleweight pro they called Benny the Bulldozer. Levi flexed his hands against the tape as the announcer began his familiar routine. Calling out the stats of each fighter, touting the tension of the final, and then each fighter began his walk around the octagon.

The blank mass of faces bore down on him as he skipped around the octagon, fists held high. He allowed himself one glimpse down at the photographers’ area, caught Riley’s piercing gaze immediately. He pointed at her as he rocketed by. Reminding her. Sending her the words he’d been feeling in his heart for the past couple of weeks, the ones that had been solidified by their recent time apart:I love you, Ri.

The cheers of the arena grew deafening as the fighters took their place in the center. The ref read the rules.

And then the bell rang.

Levi’s body tensed as the ref fell away, and his whole world shrank to Benny the Bulldozer. Benny launched quickly, fists flying, and landing one across Levi’s jaw. Shock popped and fizzled inside him as he scrambled to react. Gasps rippled through the crowd.

Not a good start, not a good start.

Levi had to work double-time to gain the advantage from that piss poor start. Benny was amped and unpredictable—a lethal combination in this sport—and landed more blows than Levi liked to let through.

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