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When my phone buzzes, my fickle heart shatters my restraint and I rip my eyes from the fight and pull it from my pocket.

All the air rushes from my lungs when I don’t find the name I was hoping for.

Isla: How’s the bloodbath? You feeling any better yet?

Daemon: It’s good. And I’m fine.

Isla: Suuure. You should go and see her.

Daemon: She’s not interested.

Isla: Fine, let her fall asleep thinking about a boring, uneventful life with Jerome then. *shrugging emoji*

Daemon: You’re not funny.

Isla: Nor are you. *winky tongue out emoji*

Tapping out of her conversation, I find the photo that Alex sent me earlier, something the guy in question doesn’t miss.

“Just go see her. Tell her the truth.”

“Fucking hell, are you two ganging up on me or something?”

“Me and Isla? Un-fucking-likely. We just both happen to agree on this one thing.”

“Oh?”

“That you’re a fucking idiot, Bro.”

I blow out a breath, telling myself all the reasons I did what I did yesterday.

“Fuck, yeah. Take him down, X,” Alex screams in my ear, losing himself in the excitement of the fight once more.

With him distracted, I slip away, leaving the roar of the battle behind me.

It takes me a good few minutes to fight my way from our front row position, but when I finally break free, I don’t head for the bar like I told myself I was going to do. Instead, I turn toward the exit.

The temperature plummets long before I get to exit, and I find out why when the two soldiers guarding the door push it open for me and the rain sprays in.

“Everything okay, Daemon?” Jon, one of our older guys asks.

“Yeah, man. I’m just not feeling it.”

“Fair enough. Word has it there’s quite the fight going on down there.” Disappointment laces his tone as longing fills his eyes.

“Yeah, Xander has found a worthy opponent. I don’t think this will be their last fight though, so you should catch them next time.”

“Here’s hoping,” he says, nodding at me as I prepare to step out into the downpour.

In only seconds, my hair is soaked through and my shirt is practically glued to my body, but at no point do I stop to call an Uber or duck down into the tube stations I pass.

In all honesty, I don’t even feel it. I’m in too much of a mess over the one person I never should have got close enough to turn my life upside down.

I knew this would be the result if I were to cave to her. There was never a doubt in my mind that I’d be able to truly give her up if I had a taste.

My hands curl as rainwater drips from my fists, my feet squelching in my shoes.

I have no idea how far or how long I’ve walked for, but when I finally lift my head from the pavement, it becomes obvious instantly that I have no fucking clue where I am.