A Fighter's Desire (Gloves Off 0.5 & 0.6)(16)

Bradley had caramel-colored hair and the eyes to match with the cutest set of dimples in his cheeks. I didn’t let those dimples fool me, though; he may look innocent, but he wasn’t.

I sat down next to Colin while Gabriella sat beside Bradley, trying her best to hide her smile. “Are you okay, Ash?” Colin asked, stealing one of my chips after I pulled them out. “You look like something’s wrong.”

“Nope, I’m fine.”

In my bag, I fetched the ham sandwich I’d made earlier this morning and broke it in half, eating only a couple bites of it. “Did something happen at the party?” he asked, his jaw clenched tight, waiting on my answer.

Sighing, I handed him the rest of my chips and the last half of my ham sandwich; food was the last thing on my mind.

“Oh, she’s fine,” Gabriella cut in with a smirk on her face. “She’s just a little … um … frustrated. She hung out with some of my friends this weekend, and it was very interesting might I say. Why don’t you give them the story, Ash?”

Groaning, I leaned my head against the tree and looked up at the crisp, green leaves gracing the branches. “Trust me, they don’t want to hear the story. There’s nothing to tell anyway.”

Colin tensed beside of me. “Ash, what did you do? You didn’t—”

“No,” I blurted out, glancing over at him. “I didn’t do what you think I did.”

“Nope, she didn’t,” Gabriella chimed. “In fact, she blew them off and it was so freaking funny. She made history last night.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed while throwing a potato chip at her. “I wouldn’t exactly call it that, but it was kind of epic.”

Colin smiled, but before I could return the gesture, something over his shoulder caught my attention. “Holy shit,” I growled, reaching for his baseball cap.

His eyes went wide and he turned his head to peer behind him. “What is it?”

Slipping his hat over my head, I pulled my ponytail through the back and grabbed one of my textbooks so I could hold it in front of my face. Ryley and Camden were on the opposite side of the quad, walking around the campus.

I had no idea know how I spotted them so quickly with such a large crowd, but it was them … they were there. What the hell were they doing on campus?

One of them was in a pair of navy Adidas gym shorts and a white tank top; the other was in a pair of jeans, red T-shirt, and navy blue baseball cap. Camden wore that same hat the other night, but there was no way I could tell them apart being so far away.

I did know that Ryley was the one with the jagged scar at his hairline and that they both smelled completely different. However, I wasn’t planning on getting that close to tell them apart.

“Gabriella, don’t you dare turn around. I don’t want them to see me,” I snapped, peering at her over the top of my book before glaring at the twins.

She froze in place, but Bradley and Colin glanced in the direction of my glare. “Surely you’re not talking about the douche bag look-alike motherf*ckers, right?” Bradley asked incredulously.

Gasping, Gabriella put a hand over her mouth and quickly turned her head. “Oh my God, they’re here?” She swiveled back around and smacked Bradley in the arm. “And don’t talk about them like that. They’re my friends, and professional UFC fighters. I definitely wouldn’t call them douche bag look-alike motherf*ckers to their faces.”

Bradley scoffed, “I’m not worried about that, sweetheart. I can hold my own.”

And he probably could, but that was the last thing we needed.

“Why would they be looking for you?” Colin asked. “Didn’t you say you turned them down?”

I groaned and hid behind my book. “Yeah, I did.”

He sighed and tilted the book away from my face. “Are you sure about that?”

“She did, Colin,” Gabriella chimed, smirking at me. “Although, I did tell her that since she turned them down they’d only try harder to get her. They’re not the type to give up.”

Colin moved closer to me, his arms touching mine. “Do you need me to help you get rid of them?”

“I’ll help, too,” Bradley stated excitedly.

Eyes wide, I quickly shook my head. “No, don’t do that. They’re probably not looking for me anyway.”

Yeah, right. You know they are.

Ryley and Camden hadn’t seen me yet and I hoped that they wouldn’t. I had no makeup on, and was dressed in a pair of denim shorts, a green tank top, and a pair of brown Rainbow sandals. I didn’t exactly look glamorous at the moment.

“Uh … I think they are because they’re headed straight this way, Ash,” Colin whispered, putting his arm around my shoulders. “I don’t think they’ve seen you, but they recognized Gabriella. Just play along with me, okay?”

“Okay,” I whispered back, keeping the book in front of my face.

“Hey guys,” Gabriella squealed. “What brings you over here? I figured you would be training right now.”

“We were,” one of them said, “but we wanted to find Ashleigh and we figured she’d be with you. Do you know where she is?”

Please don’t tell them, I repeated over and over in my mind. My palms began to sweat, but I kept hold of the book in front of my face.