Free A Fighting Chance by Shannon Stacey

terrifying, but Del wasn’t sure she had a choice. It wasn’t a matter of falling in love with him again. She’d never really stopped loving him at all. “I do know I want to put these pajamas on.”
    “They’re cute, with the monkeys. They’re very you.”
    “Don’t text Kate while I’m in the bathroom. I’m not in the mood fora pile-on tonight, so you can tell her all about it when she gets here in the morning.”
    Brittany smiled and held up her phone. “It says it’s been two hours since the last time she was on Facebook, which means she already went to bed.”
    “Good.” Gathering up her cute pajamas, Del headed for the bathroom. Tomorrow she would have to say goodbye to Brendan while trying to figure out what—ifanything—would happen next. She’d thought a quick fling with him would bring her closure and some great sex and then she’d move on with her life. Instead, she feared her life would feel even more incomplete without him than it had before. She thought he felt the same, but they needed time to sit and talk about it and that they hadn’t had.
    Meanwhile, tomorrow was also going to bring her twobest friends asking her a lot of hard questions she didn’t know the answers to. So much for a carefree, fun-filled weekend.
    As the bathroom door swung closed with a thump , she remembered the feel of Brendan’s door against her back and smiled.
    So maybe it had been a little fun-filled after all.
    * * *
    The adrenaline rush was definitely long gone by morning and everything hurt.Brendan raised his hand in the direction of the bottle of ibuprofen on the dresser, but it didn’t magically levitate its way to him. It hadn’t worked when he was a dumb kid in a Darth Vader mask and it didn’t work now.
    Chuckling at his own stupidity, he took his time rolling to a sitting position on the edge of the bed. His face was sore. His head ached a little. His ribs hurt like hell,though none enough to be cracked or broken. And he didn’t even have words for his left thigh, other than being thankful his truck was an automatic, because there was no way he could have pushed in a clutch enough times to even get him out of Connecticut, never mind to the family camp in Maine.
    He knew from experience the ibuprofen and a hot shower would make him feel human enough to get moving.And once he was moving, the muscles and tendons would warm up and not feel so tight. His truck had heated seats, so as long as he didn’t go too long without stopping to stretch, the drive to the cabin shouldn’t be so bad.
    Wincing, he pushed himself to his feet and made his way to the coffeemaker. The thigh was pretty bad and he had a definite limp, but he’d live. Especially once the coffeefinished brewing. After glancing at the clock and seeing it was almost nine, he checked his phone to make sure he hadn’t missed a text from Del.
    Nothing.
    Checkout was at eleven, so hopefully she’d text soon. Although, at the rate he was moving, he’d be lucky if he was out of the shower by then. If it came right down to it, he could have them bring his truck out so he could throw hisbag in it, and then he could move it to one of the casino’s day lots. He wasn’t leaving without saying goodbye to Del.
    After letting the hottest water the system allowed beat on his body for ten minutes and downing a second cup of coffee, Brendan mustered up the ambition to throw everything in his oversized duffel bag. There was still no text from Del, though one had come through from Jonathanwhile he was in the shower.
    I’d like to sit down with you after the holidays. Keep it in mind.
    That was Jonathan-speak for Brendan had won a big fight he wasn’t expected to and it would be a great time to rededicate himself to his MMA career. It wasn’t going to happen. Not only because of his parents, but because Brendan knew his tolerance for having the crap beat out of him—win or lose—waswaning.
    Sure. We can touch base in January and talk. Whether they talked