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tone of his voice slide, but he turned around before I could say anything. I arched an eyebrow in his direction as he sauntered away.
    “Don’t worry about him,” Ripp said.
    I didn’t want it to, but it bothered me that Kelsey didn’t seem to like me. I shook it off and fixed my excited eyes on Ripp. “How’d I look?”
    “You looked like a champion,” he said, his voice filled with excitement. He lowered his tone to a more demanding one and motioned with his eyes toward the other corner of the ring. “Now act like one.”
    I shot him a confused stare.
    “Go tell that girl she fought a good fight.”
    I rushed to the far corner, congratulated my opponent, and climbed out of the ring. Ethan and Ripp stood off to the side talking. I felt like I was on top of the world and wanted to share my joy with anyone who cared to listen, but the first thing I needed to do was eat.
    “I haven’t eaten anything but a protein bar since 3:00. I’m starving,” I said. “If you guys want to come over to my apartment, we can celebrate. I’ll make some chicken.”
    “Chicken? Women after my own fuckin’ heart right there,” Ripp said, slapping his hand against Ethan’s shoulder. “How ‘bout we all go out to eat and celebrate? I’m buying.”
    “I can cook,” I assured him.
    “You beat that girl like she stole somethin’ from ya.” Ripp chuckled. “We need to go out and celebrate.”
    If the severity of the beatings I gave my opponents assured me a free meal after each fight, I’d beat the brakes off of every girl who stepped in the ring with me. I remembered what Ripp said about arrogance, however, and dropped my gaze to the floor. “I got in a couple of lucky punches.”
    “Lucky punches my ass.” He tossed his head toward the locker room. “Go wash the stink off your ass so we can go.”
    Ethan had remained quiet since the end of the fight, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he felt somewhat jealous about my win. His amateur record wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t fantastic either. Six wins and seven losses wasn’t anything to be ashamed of, but it wasn’t a record a typical fighter would brag about, either.
    I glanced at Ethan. “Are you going to go?”
    Ripp slapped his hand against Ethan’s shoulder. “Fuck yeah he’s goin’.”
    Ethan nodded and smiled a shallow smile. “You looked great. And yeah, if you want me to, I’ll go.”
    “If I want you to?” I shot him a look. “If you don’t go, maybe I’ll give you some of what I gave her.”
    His eyes went wide and he chuckled, although I could tell he was just being theatrical. “Fighting with you? I might like that.”
    The thought of fighting and fucking at the same time made my pussy tingle. I tried to refrain from being my natural self and making a sexual comment, especially in front of Ripp. I kept my response simple, but somewhat expressive of my thoughts on the subject.
    “Not near as much as I would,” I said with a wink of my eye.
    And I walked away.

SIX
    Jaz
    Day seventeen.
    “No, it wasn’t over a piece of fuckin’ ass. And it damned sure wasn’t in the parking lot of the old gym,” Ripp complained. “God damned rumors. I’ll tell you how the deal went down if you’ll just sit still for a fuckin’ minute, you nervous actin’ fucker.”
    Sitting on the other side of the booth, across from Ethan and me, Ripp was telling the story of how he met the heavyweight boxing champion. I pressed my right hand against Ethan’s chest as if to eliminate him from the conversation, and made eye contact with Ripp. “I don’t care if he wants to hear it or not. I do. So tell me.”
    He leaned forward and playfully arched an eyebrow. “We’ll need a refill. This’ll take a minute.”
    I raised my hand and got the attention of our waitress. “Another round, please.”
    She smiled and nodded.
    Ripp drank what was left of his beer and slid the empty bottle to the side. “So, they told me this undefeated boxer was comin’ in from