Free Burning Attraction by Ashley Beale

pleased by what he sees and I'm extremely excited deep down. "Hey Aubrey."
                  Avery laughs out loud when he takes notice. "Aww, little Ducky has a crush on my main man."
                  Aubrey, me and Mason all turn and glare at Avery at the same time, which causes him to lose it with laughter. Then we all sort of laugh in our own awkward way. "So you ladies coming tonight?" Mason asks, looking first at Aubrey then me, then Avery, who looks annoyed all of a sudden.
                  "To?" I ask cautiously.
                  "Oh," Mason states. Avery shrugs at Mason and looks at me and smiles.
                  "Got a fight tonight, at nine. You two should come out. Same place as before, I can leave your names with Porkchop if you want to come."
                  I do. I want to go so freakin bad, last time was amazing. I just don't know if I could go without Carson. But I can't just ask Avery if Carson is invited, because that is rude. Then again, not asking is rude towards Carson, even if deep down I would rather him not go. Not that I don't want him there, I just like having this thing to myself. We spend almost every day together. I don't ever see Avery, and I'd love to support him. Here I am all over again, and now I realize how thankful I should have been the last five weeks. I look towards Aubrey, trying to get a reaction out of her and she seems like she wants to go just as bad. She had mentioned over and over how jealous she was of me. I press my lips together before looking back at Avery, "yeah, we'd love to."
                  "Awesome." He says it so nonchalant, you would think he didn't care either way, but his facial expression says differently. It lights right up the second I say yes. I feel a strange bubble of emotion in my gut, but I try to ignore it because there is nothing I can do it about it right now. "Oh, and this is a low key fight. It usually isn't known until an hour or two before the fight starts, but we found out this morning because there is four rounds. It's a first, but ever since the KO with Danielson, there hasn't been much going on, and now others want to become champ. He is going to be in it too, and I want you two to stay the fuck away from each other."
                  I'm a little taken back, but I understand where he is coming from. "That's okay, you don't have to worry about me. I would rather not talk with him."
                  His smile is smug, "good. And sorry to break your heart but no boyfriend. Mason will keep an eye on you two."
                  Shit. I bite down on my lip and nod. "Um," I start to stutter, "just this time can we not tell him I'm there?" I swallow hard, scared of how that will make me sound.
                  Avery doesn't even try to contain his smile. "He won't be hearing it from me Angel." He elbows Mason, who is now in quiet conversation with Aubrey, which has me so excited for her. "Come on man, we got shit to do. Let's let the ladies finish eating."
                  We all say our good-byes to one another and I'm having a minor heart attack thinking about tonight. And also I'm praying to God that Carson doesn't find out about the fight, before or after. I don't want him to know I'm going and not inviting him. I feel sick to my stomach. "You okay Cassie? Your face is pale white!" Aubrey announces.
                  I shake my head no. "What do I do?"
                  She gives me an understanding smile. "Go have fun. You tell him about the fight tomorrow and tell him that it was a last minute call in from Avery, and you felt bad missing it. And that it was invite only. Either he will understand or he won’t, but he is so good to you, I have a feeling even if he is upset, he won't let you know."
                  I feel better already. "Yeah, you're right Aubrey. You always are.