Page 44 of Only You

‘I suggest you don’t see Nora tonight,’ she told him, her gaze as steady as her hand.

‘It’s gonna hurt like a bitch to breathe, much less do anything else.

’ She held a rag to his face, pressing down to soak up the pooling blood.

He gripped her knee tightly, breathing through the pain.

She rubbed circles into his wrist with her free hand to try and soothe him, but there was little she could do.

The only way to fix him was to cause more pain.

‘The answer to your question is yes,’ he said suddenly.

‘I ask you a lot of questions.’ Selene checked the wound, throwing the towel down and grabbing more bandages. ‘This wouldn’t be so confusing if you answered more of them.’

‘The question you asked when we were walking,’ he told her. She paused before looking at him. He met her eyes bravely, even though he had to fight past his busted lip to speak. ‘Pick any time in my life, and there was always something that I wanted… something everyone else had but me.’

Selene gaped at him before forcing herself to focus on patching his cut, though she was suddenly more aware of the hand on her knee and every struggling breath he took. Once finished, she clasped her fingers together.

‘Tonight,’ she said softly. ‘What did you want tonight?’

‘To give up,’ he revealed quietly.

Selene nodded slowly before taking his hand, leaning her forehead gently against his as she closed her eyes. It was the safest way to comfort him. She didn’t care if it was inappropriate; she needed to be reassured that yes, he was still there. That he would be okay.

‘Make me a stupid promise.’ ‘What?’

‘Don’t scare me like that again,’ she pleaded.

Demir laughed a little but stopped short, his breathing becoming laboured for a moment. ‘Okay,’ he promised. ‘I’ll try.’

‘Good.’ Selene pulled back and helped him stand. ‘Let’s get you to Jack’s because there is no way you are spending the night by yourself.’

A couple of hours later, after the niceties and ride home, Selene was throwing a blanket over Demir, who had practically passed out once his head hit the couch.

She set a glass of water on the table in front of him before putting the back of her hand to his forehead, not feeling a fever.

She checked his pulse next. It was slow and steady, comforting.

She pulled away before she could wake him.

That was too close.

Walking into the room she shared with Jack, her hatred of fighting returned, renewed.

All the fears she once had for Jack came rushing back.

Walking on the edge of death like that… she couldn’t understand the appeal or the drive it took.

Jack was lucky enough to get away with only a bad knee, but she doubted Demir would be so fortunate.

Jack had been fierce, but Demir was brutal. The calibre of fighters that he would entice would be dangerous, and Selene couldn’t just watch him get hurt. As reluctantly as their relationship had formed, Demir was her friend now, and he needed her help.

So, she made sure to wipe the worry from her face as she stepped inside the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Jack paced the room, grumbling under his breath as he looked through the newspaper. ‘What’cha looking for?’ Selene asked casually.

‘Seeing if there are any fights happening tomorrow,’ he explained. ‘How’s D?’

‘He’s gonna be sore in the morning but okay. He’ll have to skip a couple of practices though.’ Jack cursed under his breath before sitting on the bed.

‘Mackie wants to bring Johnny back soon,’ he said, tapping his foot nervously. ‘He’s not telling me who we’re fighting next, but if it’s anything like tonight, we may be out in a couple of months. I gotta double D’s workouts.’

‘Hmm.’ Her mind churned with ideas as she changed for bed, feeling Jack’s eyes lingering on her as she did so.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Jack asked, his voice suddenly raspy.

She looked over her bare shoulder at him. ‘Don’t worry about that.’ She quickly changed into her nightgown and climbed into bed. ‘And don’t worry about Mackie. We’ll figure something out.’

‘Sel, I don’t know—’

‘Shhh…’ She grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. ‘No more fighting tonight.’

The last place Selene expected to be the next day was back at Mackie’s club.

It had a different atmosphere during the day.

Warm and lazy, it begged you to take it easy before the chaos of the night rushed in.

It wasn’t a bad place to play hooky but unfortunately, that wasn’t her plan as she sipped her sidecar.

‘My, my,’ Nora said as she walked up to the bar. ‘I must say this was the last thing I ever expected.’

The feeling was mutual for Selene. She couldn’t explain why but the girl stayed under her skin. Maybe it was Nora’s brazen demeanour, the cockiness that she carried around, but Selene pushed that aside. She was going to need that for her plan to work.

‘Life is better with surprises,’ Selene said dryly. She motioned to the seat next to her.

Nora sat delicately, her caramel legs revealing themselves through her deep green dress’s high slit. ‘And what surprise do you have for me?’ She waved the bartender down, smirking as she ordered. ‘A martini, please.’

She waited for the bartender to walk away before speaking. ‘I need your help fixing Mackie’s line-up.’

Nora’s smirk fell, and she was silent as the bartender placed her drink on the counter before returning to his tasks. ‘I see you’ve gone mad,’ Nora took a long sip from her glass before standing up. ‘No, thank you. See you around.’ Selene’s arm shot out, blocking her path.

‘The fighters Mackie is picking are too tough. At this rate, Demir’s gonna get knocked out of the game too soon.’

‘Knocked out?’ Nora snorted before looking her up and down. She lifted her chin, daring the dancer to continue with the insinuation. Nora pursed her lips, backing down. ‘I can’t tell Mackie how to run his club.’

‘But you can convince him to book the new hotshot fighter you heard about. One that’s a little easier than what Demir is used to,’ Selene urged. ‘It’s smart, and you know it. Not to mention it keeps him around longer.’

‘D’s gonna hate it when he finds out. He doesn’t want to be babysat.’

Selene rolled her eyes. ‘D needs to focus on practice, especially after last night.’

‘Watch it,’ Nora warned, an edge to her smile.

Selene’s gut twisted uncomfortably. So, Nora really did like him. She pushed down a sudden flare of annoyance and focused on the task at hand.

‘Look, men don’t know what they want. They just act like they do,’ Selene reasoned. ‘We on the other hand, see a lot more than they ever will.’ Nora hummed in contemplation, taking a sultry sip. Selene held back a scowl. Not everything had to be a show.

‘You know, we’d have to go and find them,’ Nora pointed out.

‘I love a chance to get dressed up.’ She smirked, channelling the dancer’s confidence. ‘I’ll pass along the names. All you have to do is get them to Mackie.’ Nora looked at her up and down and Selene dared to venture she was impressed.

‘You really wanna do this?’

Selene shrugged. ‘We’re already here.’ She took another sip of her drink, staring into the amber liquid. ‘Why not go all the way?’

‘All the way, huh,’ Nora murmured, running her fingers around the rim of her martini. She waved, catching the bartender’s attention. ‘Two champagne cocktails, please!’ A minute later, he returned with the drinks. She held one of the glasses out to Selene.

‘We’ll have to talk about my cut but,’ Nora’s trademark sultry smirk returned, ‘let’s do it.’

They clinked glasses, and Selene downed the cocktail quickly, hoping she hadn’t made a terrible mistake.