Free Torn - Part Two (The Torn Series) by Ellen Callahan

enough.
     
    ○●○●○●○●○
     
    Tony was gone by the time I reached the girls after the last two fights. Surly’s hadn’t gone as smoothly as mine - he’d taken a few rough blows to the head early on and nearly went down right there. Of course afterward he refused medical assistance but I was sure he at least had a concussion. That meant making the poor bastard stay awake for most of the rest of the night.
     
    What did he care, though? He’d won in the end with a vicious uppercut that I’d never seen him throw before. He was usually much more conservative, letting the fight drag out, taking few risks, going all three rounds. Maybe his opponent had shaken the caution out of his thick skull.
     
    I found the girls huddled together near the cage as the crowd slowly dispersed. People were encouraged to leave in small shifts to avoid bringing too much attention to the warehouse but not many were listening. Riley broke away from Jen and Robin when she spotted me.
     
    “You’re okay?” she asked immediately, resting a hand on my elbow.
     
    “I’m great,” I said, “I won, didn’t I?”
     
    “You did.” She smiled shyly.
     
    “Want to get out of here?”
     
    She cast a glance back over her shoulder. “I guess. We’re not practicing anymore tonight but we need to get together pretty early tomorrow. We’ve only got two days.”
     
    I shrugged. “So I’ll come to your place.” I glared around us. “Where’d Tony run off to?”
     
    “He had to go.” She sighed. Great. He said something to upset her. Of course. “He left me alone, pretty much, thank goodness,” she said. “He seemed more interested in hitting on Jen.” She eyed me warily. “He said you wouldn’t be happy if you saw them together like that.”
     
    The question hung in the air - why would he say that? I should have just told her the truth and I knew it even as the words were coming out of my mouth, but my inner bastard had taken over like it always did when Tony was involved. Like it always did, period. “Surly’s the one who wouldn’t be happy.” And I shrugged, and smirked, hiding from the truth - he knew about Jen and me. And he was going to use it.
     
    Truth was, he was welcome to hit on her all he liked, I had no real feelings either way about the girl. Not since Riley. But would she understand that? Or would she just fixate on the fact that Jen had lied to her and I’d said nothing to set her straight?
     
    I was too tired to sort it out in my head just then. “Come on,” I said, “I’ll take you home. You can kick me out as early as you’d like tomorrow.”
     
    She smiled as I wrapped an arm around her waist, but it didn’t touch the little creases of concern around her eyes.

CHAPTER 9
     
    “Which ones are the judges?” Riley was nervous. Well, Riley was always nervous, but she was extra nervous as she stood on her toes and observed the room. The venue was bigger than any they’d played before and had its own security, which meant I was off the hook. Surly and I had dragged along Lockett and a few other guys from the gym to cheer the girls on.
     
    “No clue,” I said. I wasn’t even looking; I couldn’t peel my eyes off of her. Sure, the stage makeup was pretty thick, but she looked more like herself than she had in a while - she was bouncing on her toes in her high-heeled boots, tugging the hem of her skirt, biting her dark red lips. These were normal anxious Riley habits, without the frightened concern she’d been wearing.
     
    Things were better - she’d seen me win my fight without losing my cool. And she’d gotten over whatever worries Tony had planted in her head. From what I’d heard, he was more interested in flirting with Jen, anyway. Fine by me. I supposed I’d have to come clean about our past relationship eventually but that night was not the night. Riley needed to focus on the show.
     
    And I wasn’t ready to deal with the fallout yet myself. Maybe I never would be. Maybe