Page 71 of Declan

“Thanks, brother,” I mutter, keeping my eyes on the empty dance floor.

“What are you doing here so early?” he asks, scanning the club. Only a few staff are milling about, prepping for the night ahead.

I shrug. “Just waiting for the fight.”

Lex follows my gaze to the floor, and I know he sees what I see. Lena. Spinning, laughing, dancing like the world doesn’t weigh on her shoulders. I used to watch from the sidelines, aching for something I thought I couldn’t have. Now? Now I get to take her home. I get to touch her, taste her, lose myself in her, but only in the shadows.

“The one happening downstairs,” Lex says, “or the one that’ll go nuclear when Wesley finds out you’re fucking his little sister?”

My head snaps toward him, heart jerking in my chest. “Fuck. Do you think he knows?”

“Nah,” Lex replies evenly, sipping his beer. “That’s only because he trusts you not to go there.”

The words hit harder than a punch to the ribs. Wesley trusts me. That’s the worst part.

I scrub a hand down my face and let out a groan. “What the hell am I supposed to do? If I tell him, I lose my best friend. If I don’t, I lose the woman I love.”

Lex doesn’t flinch. “Come on. You know what you need to do. You’re scared, but don’t pretend you don’t know.”

“How’d you do it?” I ask quietly. “You were in love with Hux’s sister. How the hell did you tell him?”

His eyes darken, and for a second, he doesn’t answer. Then, quietly, he says, “It wasn’t the same. Hux wanted me to be with Sarah. He pushed us together. And when we lost her…” He swallows, and his jaw tightens. “Now it’s a pain we carry together. It’s what binds us. But it’s also the thing that shreds me a little more every day.”

My chest tightens with guilt and empathy. Lex is one of the strongest men I know, and still, that kind of loss has changed him.

He rests a hand on my shoulder, his grip firm. “If you love Lena, and I know you do, don’t make the same mistake I did. I lost Sarah to something I couldn’t fight. You’ve got a chance to fight for yours. Don’t waste it hiding in the shadows.”

“I’m not punishing her?—”

“No?” he cuts in. “Then why is she still your secret? Why are you acting like loving her is some goddamn crime?”

I flinch. Because maybe it is. At least to Wesley.

“She deserves better than being a secret,” Lex says, standing. “You both do. I’m not saying confess everything tonight, but you need to figure out how much longer you’re willing to lie to your best friend to keep your truth buried.”

His footsteps echo as he walks away, leaving me with his words rattling in my head.

He’s right. But that doesn’t make it easier.

Because no matter how much I love Lena, I’m still scared. Scared of losing Wesley. Scared of breaking this brotherhood. Scared that when it all comes out, I won’t be strong enough to defend the one thing that’s ever really mattered to me.

Her.

And when Lena finally says, “It’s time,” I honestly don’t know what I’ll do.

The crowd roarsas the first punch lands, a sharp crack echoing through the underground fight room like a gunshot. The sound of skin splitting, the grunts of pain, the wet slap of knuckles meeting flesh. It’s all happening right in front of me. A brutal ballet. Blood hits the mat in the second round, and the crowd surges forward, rabid for more.

I don’t move.

I’m here, physically. Standing near the edge of the cage with Lex on one side and Wesley on the other, but my head is somewhere else. Somewhere softer. Somewhere warmer. Somewhere, wrapped in tangled sheets and the scent of her skin.

She’s all I can fucking think about.

Even now, as fists fly and sweat pours, my mind drifts back to how she looked this morning. Curled up next to me, her fingers tracing the ink on my chest like she was memorizing it.

“You good?” Wesley leans in and says it loud enough for me to hear over the noise.

I nod. “Yeah.”

---