The Imperishable Flame⎪✓

❨11❩

♂︎

The referee blows his whistle and I surge my energy from the crowd's screaming, my eyes scan the people in the front again and my heart suddenly roars in my chest when I spot a familiar person sitting dangerously close to some douchebag. Clenching my fists, she looks up at me and her beautiful eyes widen in surprise. What the hell is she even doing here? This scene isn't for her, everyone in here has some dangerous past, and having her in here makes me fucking anxious. 

"What's up, Bullet?" My opponent says and pushes at my shoulder, I take a step by the blow and realize that the fight is ongoing. "Is that your girl down there? Must say she looks delicious in her tight leather skirt."

Delivering a rough uppercut to him, he falls to the ground by the suddenness of my actions. It feels wrong to beat him up in front of Dakota, but it surely wasn't a part of my plan to see her down here. My sweaty palms clench in anger when he gives me a bloodied smirk from his spot on the floor, "So she is a sore subject. You see, Bullet, I know the guy she's here with and I only have to blink twice then he'll hurt he-" His eyes carry in her direction and before I know what I'm doing, my body straddles his and I deliver punch after punch. The skin on my hand rips apart by every blow and I have no sense of what is his blood and what is mine, his eyes close and suddenly I'm roughly ripped away from him by my arms. 

Two guards stand defensively in front of me and cross their arms, they only appear when a fighter loses his mind. My breathing comes out in harsh and heavy breaths, the anger burns me up from the inside, churning my organs. My body is on fire and the excruciating pounding in my head feels never-ending.

The referee steps into my line of sight and grabs my shoulders, "Snap out of it, kid!"

"Deliver the money to my room later, I'm getting out of here," I tell him and he nods at me in understanding. Being an angry person can be so fucking difficult, the anger can swallow a person completely and it scares me. 

Stepping out of the ring, the crowd is going absolutely mad over me losing my mind up there. They wanted a fucking show and I gave it to them. Before I know what I'm doing, I walk over to Dakota and her grey eyes find me instantly. There is a certain shock or fear in her gaze, something I haven't seen before. Grabbing her hand, I pull her with me and ignore her protests. The feeling of her hand in mine is marvelous, but right now the priority is to get her away from that prick. 

Pulling her down the hallways and into my room in the back, letting go of her hand I close the door behind us. She stopped fighting me during our walk here and now she is standing with her arms crossed, the anger is written all over her face, and mine hasn't diminished either. The leather skirt is torturing me, the way her curves are perfectly accentuated. My eyes want to wander over every single crevice of her divine body but now isn't the time. 

"You have lost your mind, what the hell do you think you're doing?" She yells at me. 

"Don't start with me."

"I'm not starting shit, Elijah! This was supposed to be a night out and then you come along, you ruin everything!" The anger on her voice isn't lost on me, I've never heard her this mad before and she is dangerously attractive with the wild look in her eyes and slightly open mouth. 

"You shouldn't even be here! What the fuck do you mean a night out, have you gone insane?" I raise my voice unintentionally and she looks even more crazed than she did before. 

"That's rich, coming from the jerk who almost killed a guy minutes ago!" 

She points an accusing finger in my direction and I swear I want to remove it from my line of sight, "He's fine. Tell me why you're here, Dakota."

"I don't owe you an explanation! You forced me in here with you, do you know how messed up that is?"

Taking a step closer to her, the heat emitting from her body swallows mine and I try to remain sane in the familiarity of her, "Oh yeah? What did you miss, huh? A fucking insane date with ill intentions!"

She crosses her arms in front of her chest and stares into my eyes, the silver in her grey eyes very apparent up close, "He wasn't my date, not that it's any of your business."

"Your constant ability to be nice to everyone within reach will backfire one day, love. Stop believing everything these people feed you!" My fingers itch to reach out to her, her full lips are so close and I've thought about having her for too long now. 

"Sure, because your intentions are any better," She scoffs in anger. 

"What are you on about?"

"Why are you suddenly a part of my life again, Elijah? We stopped talking, cut off all ties, why the hell do you grab me like that today then? You need me to approve your mental stability, that's why! This attempt at wavering my professionalism with provoking my feelings for you, it's fucking low."

My heart pounds in my chest, "That's what you think of me?"

She pushes against my chest roughly, the fire from the skin on skin awakes me and her widened eyes look at me, "Don't act like you're hurt, this has you written all over it. Well guess what, no part of me wants any part of this game, you will attend our sessions and act professional, as will I. My boyfriend wouldn't like it if he knew my client was trying to win me over anyway, so let's leave it at that."

Her words slice at my heart and I stare her down, hoping for a slight waver in her expression. She must be lying, Tilly never mentioned anything about a boyfriend. When seconds pass and she looks at me with the same amount of disregard, my heart sinks completely and I step away from her, "Leave, Dakota."

"Elija-"

I cut her off without looking in her direction, "Please go away, love. See you on Monday."

The door slams behind her and I tug at the roots of my hair, the frustration washes over me in a constant state of torture. I fucking allowed myself to feel a little for her and here she is crushing those hopes, but she's right, I shouldn't be pursuing her if she's taken. Even though it hurts and feels unfair because I was the first one to have her attention, she felt something for me and those feelings are gone now. I need to get myself together and move past it.