I woke up the next morning to find Ryan gone, but he had left a note on his pillow. I opened it and smiled as I read it. Last night was amazing. I love you more than you will ever know. I am training this morning, but I will see you tonight at the beat down. Love, Ryan. My heat was soaring as I crawled out of bed and went to take a shower. By the time I was done it was already almost noon. As I was getting dressed my phone rang, it was Ryan.

"Hey baby" I said as I answered.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked me.

"Of course, I actually just got up. What are you doing?"

"Nothing much just hanging out with the guys right now, we're taking a break from training. Hey baby listen I have to go I'll see you tonight okay." He said.

"Yeah, okay. I love you."

"I love you too" he ended the call then but the weird thing was that I could have sworn that I heard him say Max's name before he hung up. I sat my phone down and finished getting ready. When I was done I grabbed my phone and called Jake.

"Hello" he answered.

"Hey it's me what are you up to today?" I asked as I grabbed my keys and headed downstairs.

"Nothing much just hanging out with Baja and Charlie, you want to come over?" he asked.

"Sure I'll see you in a few." I said before hanging up.

I headed outside and climbed into my car, driving off in the direction of Jake's apartment. I was truly happy for the first time in my life, but for some reason I couldn't get the thought of Ryan saying Max's name out of my head.

"How do you win every time?" Jake asked Charlie, laughing as he tossed his card down on the table.

"Well it is a thinking man's game." Charlie told him smiling as he gathered his chips. Baja and I laughed as well. We had been playing cards for a while now and it was almost time for me to leave to head to club zero for the beat down.

There was a knock on the door then and Jake got up to answer it. When he didn't come back I got up and followed him. I heard someone running and when I looked over the railing to see what had happened I felt like I would be sick. Jake was on the ground crouching over a severely beaten Max. I heard tires screeching and I looked up just in time to see Ryan's suv pull out of the parking lot at full speed.

"Baja call 911!" I yelled before running down the stairs and falling to my knees next to Max's unconscious form.

"Ryan did this." Jake said through clenched teeth.

"I know" I said, still trying to wrap my head around the idea.

"The ambulance will be here in five minutes." Baja shouted down to us, her eyes frozen on Max's bruised face. The ambulance arrived and took Max to the hospital while the rest of us, except for Charlie, piled into my truck and followed them. The doctor told us that Max had several broken ribs, a broken nose, and needed a couple of stitches but that he would make a full recovery. As we were standing there next to Max's bed I saw Jake come to a decision about something.

"I'm going to need to borrow your car." he told Max before grabbing his keys and leaving the room.

"Jake!" Baja yelled as she ran after him. I stood there a moment longer and then followed them.

"You're giving him exactly what he wants." I heard Baja say as I made it outside where they were standing.

"Who's next huh? You, Amanda, Charlie?" Jake asked.

"Jake walking away and giving up are not the same thing." She said.

"Good because I'm not doing either one." Jake told her before turning and heading towards the bus stop.

"Baja take my keys, I'm going with him. You stay with Max." I said as I tossed her my keys and then ran after Jake. By the time I caught up to him he was already getting on the bus. We sat down next to each other and waited for our stop. I didn't dare try and start a conversation right now because I knew how Jake was feeling, and honestly I didn't really feel like talking.

When we reached our stop I followed Jake off the bus and across the street. I could see Max's car parked in front of the gym they both train at. We were about to get in when a man came over to Jake. He asked were Max was, and Jake told him. I zoned out on the rest of their conversation and instead of standing there climbed into the passenger seat of the car.

I saw Jake chase the man inside and then after a few minutes he came back outside. We drove to his apartment and I waited in the car for him to grab everything he needed. It didn't take him long and soon we were on our way to the club.

"Ryan's not going to like you showing up with me." Jake said. His jaw set and his eyes locked on the road.

"Right now I really don't care" I said as I watched the rain streaking down my window. When we reached the club Jake stopped me before we went inside.

"You don't have to go in with me, just hang back then go in alone." He said but I reached out and took his hand in mine.

"This isn't about me and Ryan, this is about you and Ryan. Tonight I'm on your side." I told him before he turned and led us inside. The club was packed to the brim and there was barely enough room to move.

"You go check in there is something I need to do first." I told Jake. I watched him turn towards the announcers stand on the back side of the room and give them his name. I pulled my phone out then, and typed a quick message to Ryan.

'Hey I'm here, where are you?' it only took him a second to respond.

'Next to DJ's booth' I glanced around the room and spotted the DJ after only a second.

It took me a few minutes to reach it but once I had it didn't take long to get to Ryan. He was dressed in his black shorts and had his tan jacket zipped up over his upper body. When he saw me he smiled and walked over to me taking my hands in his. He smiled widely and then spoke.

"Just in time for a good luck kiss." He said as he leaned in, but I turned my face away from him. I felt his hands tense around mine and when I looked at him I saw that his eyes were shut and his jaw was clenched.

"What's wrong babe?" he asked his voice just as tense as his body. My eyes met his then.

"I saw what you did Ryan."

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I was at Jake's tonight. I was there when you and your buddies dropped Max off, he's going to be fine by the way just in case you were wondering."

"Baby I…" Ryan started but I cut him off.

"Ryan listen to me" I said as I placed on of my hands over his heart and the other on the side of his face. "I love you Ryan, more than anything in this world, but tonight I'm not here to support you." I said. I pressed my lips to his in a feather light kiss that was over in a second, and then turned around and walked away.

I found Jake back near where I had left him. He opened his mouth to say something but just as he did the announcer started up the fights. The first one didn't take very long and when it was time for the next fight Jake's name was called, and then so was Ryan's.

When the announcer said Ryan's name he cued the music and I watched from the edge of the matt as Ryan made his entrance. Of course he had to put on a show so when he walked out onto the matt he high fived everyone on one side and then grabbed one of the many girls standing there and hugged her.

After he let her go he turned and spotted me standing next to Jake. He looked at me for a second before smiling at the crowd again. He started unzipping his jacket then but he did it slowly and when he had it undone he pulled it off his body quickly, like he was unwrapping a present for every girl in the audience.

I had to admit the sight of Ryan's bare chest was very appealing and the fact that he was all mine made it even more appealing, but for some reason tonight I really didn't care. I wanted Jake to win, and I wanted Ryan to lose. At one point just as the ref was about to start the fight one of the guys running the fight stopped him.

Apparently the DJ had read the names wrong and it wasn't Jake fighting Ryan, not yet at least. Ryan said something to Jake but I couldn't hear what it was. Jake just looked at Ryan with a blank face and then walked off the matt and came to stand by me again. It seemed like all the fights flew by after that and next thing I knew Jake was fighting in one of the final fights of the tournament. I was standing close to where Jake was fighting when I saw the guy kick him hard in the ribs. Jake yelled out in pain, the guy had hurt him. I'm not sure how but Jake came back and won the fight even though I could tell he was in allot of pain.

I watched him as he walked off the matt his arm clutching his side in pain. He walked back into the kitchen of the club letting the door swing closed behind him. I saw the ref go after him but he came back out only seconds later. I was still watching the door he had disappeared through when I saw Baja walk through them, no doubt going to look for Jake.

I hadn't been paying attention to Ryan or the fight he was currently participating in but I did turn around when I heard them announce his disqualification for an illegal move. I saw Jake come back out then, Baja close beside him. I wasn't close enough to where they were to get his attention so I just had to wait, and hope that he noticed that Ryan was no longer in the competition.

Of course he finally did notice and right after the ref started the fight between Jake and some guy who definitely wasn't Ryan Jake reached down and tapped out without even throwing a single punch. I smiled and then headed towards the exit to meet up with him and Baja. We left the club but we hadn't made it out into the parking lot very far before Ryan burst out through the doors behind us.

"What the hell was that?" Ryan asked Jake, his temper rising.

"This was about me and you. I don't care about some tournament." Jake said before turning around. Ryan, not liking his answer, jumped him throwing him down onto the ground in the middle of a small group of cars. The fight moved quickly, of course that might be because the only bits of it I watched was from between my fingers. Near the end Ryan had Jake in a headlock and everyone could tell that Jake was starting to lose consciousness.

"Ryan stop it!" I heard Baja scream, tears pouring down her face. It was no use though he wasn't going to stop until Jake either passed out or tapped out and I knew that Jake would never give Ryan the satisfaction of him giving up. Then all of a sudden Jakes arm came up and pulled Ryan to the ground. They fought for a few more seconds before Jake delivered a round kick that hit Ryan square in the jaw.

Ryan dropped like a rock.