Page 41 of Fighting the Darkness

“Hmmm... they’re kind of ridiculous.”

“You’re going to have to take that one up with the man himself. I kind of like it.” He grins, dragging me toward the bar. “It looks like Vicki’s here. I’m sure you want to say hi.”

“I do, thank you.” I allow him to lead me over to where my new friend is working.

As soon as she’s free, she smiles and moves over to us. “So he did bring you. I was a little afraid that it was all a ploy and he was going to kidnap you. Bring you somewhere far away so you couldn’t ever come to The Guillotine ever again.”

“Dramatic much?” Wilder scoffs and turns to me. “Do you want a drink?”

I wrinkle my nose. “Just a water for now.”

He orders two waters, and Vicki makes quick work of getting them for us. “Sorry, babe. It’s a little busy right now. Will you be in VIP again tonight?”

I glance up at Wilder, as I never did ask him about that. Obviously, I want to watch his and Soren’s fight, and he won’t be able to be with me then.

“That’s up to you, cupcake.” Wilder runs his finger down the tip of my nose. “The plan is to give you a backstage tour of how things at The Guillotine work. We can totally hang out with Quinn in VIP if there’s time before my fight. You’re welcome to stay up there, or you can watch from cage-side.”

“It didn’t look super safe down by the cage,” I admit, reeling from the fact that he called me cupcake. I glance at Vicki, who mouths ‘what the fuck’ at me. I answer with a shrug.

Wilder nods. “Watching cage-side with the crowd definitely isn’t safe. You could get seriously injured. I thought you’d like to watch it with Griffin. Since he trains both of us, there’s a free spot where a second trainer would go. It’ll be the best seat in the house.”

“Oh, yeah. I want to do that.”

“We’ll head back to VIP after that, Vicki, so I’m sure you’ll be able to find us easily enough.”

Vicki grins. “Awesome! I’ll see you later, girl! Have fun!”

Wilder keeps his arm around my waist as he leads me away from the bar. “You know, you didn’t have to order water just because I did. I have no problems with you drinking as long as you’re sober when it’s time for us to head home.”

“I don’t drink when I’m fighting,” he tells me with a wink, and I flush. That makes sense. Drinking lowers inhibitions, which is the last thing you want to do when fighting.

“Right,” I mumble, ducking my head as he leads me through the crowd.

There are already a ton of people here, but they all seem to move out of the way when they see Wilder coming. It’s kind of awesome and so much better than having to fight our way through the crowd. He leads me toward a door on the far side of the cages. There’s a man standing there, but he doesn’t say anything as he opens the door for us. As it falls shut behind us, I marvel at how much quieter it is.

“Where are we going?”

“The locker rooms are back here, but Quinn also has other rooms set up for the fighters.” He gestures to the door on our right. “That’s the quiet room. There’s no talking or anything in there, and it’s soundproofed. Some people need the quiet to center themselves before a fight. It’s got a couple of couches in there. It’s pretty cozy—not that I ever use it.”

We laugh together as he points to the door just down the hall on the left. “That’s a sauna. After a rough fight, it feels amazing.”

He continues to lead me further into the building, and I’m surprised by just how much is back here. There’s a small gym, a kitchen, a yoga room, and two locker rooms. When he begins to lead me into the men’s locker room, I pull back with a frown.

“Ummm... did you forget how to read, Wilder?” I point at the sign indicating it’s for men, and he just laughs as he tugs me through the door.

“Hey, dickheads. We have a lady entering. Cover up your shit. She has no interest in your dicks, and frankly, neither do I.”

“Seriously, Wilder?” I hiss, sure my face is the shade of a tomato at this point.

He just winks over his shoulder as he drags me further in. There are a couple of guys hanging out in the first row of lockers, and all of their important bits are covered. Besides them, there don’t seem to be many people in the locker room. I’m honestly beginning to think there’s no one else at all when Griffin steps out of the last row of lockers.

“Freya? What are you doing in the men’s locker room?”

I point at Wilder. “Ask him. He’s the one who insisted I join him.”

“Freya’s here?” Soren steps out beside Griffin, naked as the day he was born, with water beading along his god-like body.

“What the fuck, Soren?” Wilder snaps, trying to step in front of me, but I’m not having any of it.

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