Always With You - A Best Friends To Lovers Novel

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

Bowie

I yet had to get used to seeing River fight. He was good at it, but he still got some pretty nasty punches from his opponent. This Saturday night, he was fighting against George Millard. He was a junior, just like River, but he had a few tricks up his sleeve that made River find a new tactic to win the fight.

I was standing in the crowd next to Aiden and Whitley, but unlike me, they were cheering River on. I was covering my eyes most of the time, trying not to get another glimpse of River being hit in the face.

George seemed to slowly give up, but he still got some punches in before he got pushed down to the floor by River and tapped out. River won, but I wasn't as happy as he was. He had blood streaming down from his nose, and from where I was standing, I could tell his upper lip was busted too.

"Fuck, yeah!" Aiden roared, grinning at River as he stepped out of the cage. "Go clean up. We'll wait for you at the 81," Aidan said, and I immediately reached for River's hand to pull him back to his dressing room. This was our routine. Aiden and Whitley hurried over to the bar to make sure we had a booth before everyone else stormed over there, and I helped River clean up and get all his things packed.

As we entered the dressing room, I made him sit down next to the sink and tilted his head down so the blood wouldn't stream back up his nose. I knew how dangerous it could be if someone was bleeding that bad and didn't let the blood flow out.

"Aren't you going to congratulate me, baby?" he said, his tone amused. After wetting a small cloth, I held it to his nose and carefully cleaned off the blood on his face.

"Congrats. On another busted lip and maybe broken nose. Well done," I muttered. I did support him, but I hated seeing him like this.

"Aw, come on, Bow. I thought by now you'd gotten used to this." I laughed, kneeling in front of him and lifting his head a little.

"I got used to seeing you fight another guy in just shorts. I'll admit that's hot, but I'm not used to seeing you all bloody and hurt." I gently tapped the blood off his lips, holding on to his jaw with my other hand.

"I'm not hurting, Bowie," he said in a low voice.

"Sure," I replied, knowing that there must be something he was feeling other than adrenalin. His blood got all over my hand, and oddly enough, I got used to that.

A sigh escaped him, and he touched my waist with one hand while the other grabbed my hand with the cloth in it. "Look at me, Bowie."

I looked into his eyes, stopping my hand from cleaning his face. "I need you to stop worrying so much. I'm fine. And no matter how many more times I'll fight, I promise you I'll never let it go too far."

I frowned, looking down at his red nose again. "How far is too far?" I asked.

"A broken nose. A broken bone. Maybe a knock-out. Believe it or not, I do have my limits. I once tapped out even before the opponent could get me on the floor because I was scared he would crack my skull with just his foot. Trust me, Bowie. I know what I'm doing."

I studied his face for a moment, then nodded and decided that I had to back off a little. This was his way of dealing with his past, and I wasn't going to mess it up by acting as if I were his mother. He was old enough to make his own decisions.

"Okay," I whispered. I smiled at him, trying to lighten up the mood. "Here, turn your head," I said, and he looked to the side so I could get a better look at his lip. The wound was already starting to dry up, but the blood from his nose was still running out.

"We'll have to wait until the bleeding stops," I told him.

He nodded, pulling me up on my feet and then onto his lap. I held the cloth to his nose, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. I put my arm around his shoulders, scratching the back of his head, mostly to calm myself down.

"By the way...Mom and Dad want us to go home for Christmas. I was thinking of getting them tickets to a concert. Maybe a nice dinner before that," I suggested.

"Sounds good. Will it be just the four of us, or is your hot cousin also going to be there?"

I laughed and shook my head. "I don't know what Mom has planned. But last time I checked; Zoe went to France to attend some tech-school. Not sure if she'll be coming home for Christmas," I told him.

"Dammit," he muttered, trying to act sad about that information. Zoe was our age, but she lived in Aspen and only came to visit on holidays. The first time River saw her, he was head over heels for her. He was twelve, I think. I had to give it to her...she was beautiful. But for some strange reason, Zoe was never interested in River. She called him a weirdo multiple times, but then, she called every guy that. She just wasn't interested in men at all. I once figured she was into girls, which I would've been very supportive of, but Zoe liked being alone. She had a thing for computers and other electronics, and although one would think she hung out with the most popular kids in school, she liked to spend time with the nerdy ones, talking about the mechanics of a computer for hours.

We sat like that for a while until the bleeding stopped, and I kissed his temple before getting back up and washing out the cloth. "Thank you," he said, standing up himself and washing his face in the sink.

"Always. Do you wanna head straight to the bar?" He liked to shower before meeting the others. He shook his head. "Actually, I was hoping we could go straight home. I'm tired. And I'd much rather watch a movie with you instead of getting drunk at the bar."

I couldn't argue withthat. And while I texted Whitley to let her know we were headed home, River puton his sweatpants and sweater and packed the rest of his things into hisduffle bag.