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"Yeah," I gave her a short nod and hoped my brusque response would deter any ht"

This surprisedfan He was thrilled when they started showing theh pay per view But atched your Thanksgiving fight It was pretty awesoent of MMA fans that o with a fighter in hopes that we could drag theirl, however, wouldn't need soeons to choose froreat opportunity for ?"

"Only for a few years, although we had some mock matches when I was enlisted"

"A soldier?" she asked

"No, Marine"

"That's right I think I reht" She was closer now, and I could smell her floral perfuht it was I let ainst the wall a little

"Most folks don't watch undercards" I had fought on the bottoht would be the second fight on the card I orkingbut even that movement caused the strap on her shoulder to slide over the side to dangle on her arm

"What can I say? My ex-boyfriend was crazy like that" She gave htly painful Another movement of her shoulder, and the strap slid lower I stared at it, worried that it would drop lower still Should I ? Would Grace want to be told if her dress was slipping? I decided yes

"Your dress" I gestured toward the strap that was now hanging loosely under her bicep

"Uave me a crooked smile "Oops" Then she took her hand and it seemed like she pulled down the top of her dress She wasn't wearing a bra and for a moment I saw a bare breast, the tip of a nipple before her hand covered it all and swept the errant strap back onto her shoulder Was it an accident? I couldn't tell Suddenly I was acutely aware ofin a dark corner of a rooirl I didn't know had bared her breast to me

Panicked, I looked for Grace and then noticed Josh eyeing me frolass to him If Bo was here, he’d have swept away the woman in a heartbeat, but even frohingI could tell that I wasn’t coirl curtly "I see so not to notice that her hand reached out to stay ht ere going to get blood on that white shirt of yours" Josh took a healthy s of his own drink but didn’t hand over the refill he’d retrieved for me

"I don’t think Grace would like that"

"Grace wouldn’t like a lot of things, including you enjoying a boob show from some tho dissed her when they were juniors"

I gri conversation She mentioned that her boyfriend was a fan"

"Doubtful" Josh finally handed over the second glass, and I tucked the empty underneath it "Come on" Josh headed out the back toward a stone patio with heaters Standing outside in the dead of winter without a coat on because there were enough heaters to keep us as some kind of luxury

"You knohen Grace first started writing to you when she was fourteen, I thought it was cute When she kept writing to you when she was sixteen, seventeen, and then eighteen, I figured it kept her away fros in school But then you broke her heart" Josh looked ready to swing at me, and I was prepared to take it My actions toward Grace after four years of devoted letter writing while I was deployed deserved at least one good throat punch

"You’re right," I said

"Da You calued back the pieces, and I’ as Grace is a happy ca to be distracted by every sweet piece that kisses up to you, then you should leave right now"

"I’m not interested in anyone but Grace, and I never will be," I said

"What was that about in there?"

I looked back at the crowd "That was ed a hand throughassailant surrounded by ar conversation with the only person who see to talk to me"

"You were in a dark corner The only person willing to talk to you was so in the dark corner"

"I get that now"

"What if it had been Grace that had seen you and notabout what all these people have that you don’t have, because the only person who cares about that shit is you Grace is always going to have ht havedick size based on the fat of your wallet, then you’re always going to come up short Is that how you want Grace to feel? Like you’reeveryone’s value based upon their net worth?"

"No!" I exclaimed "That’s not how I view Grace at all"

"But that’s how you think Grace views you"

"I…" I started to make excuses forI’d been feeling sorry forto leave ht she wanted

Myon the floor, her hands on her legs just waiting for me When I was deployed, Grace had sent me a copy of The Odyssey by Hoot separated from his wife Penelope for years and years He was distracted by sirens and set upon by monsters, but he eventually found his way back

When he arrived at his ho for Penelope’s hand But she’d refused the to believe that her Odysseus would someday return And he did

Grace had waited forfor etlike a little baby about everything she had that I didn’t Over and over she’d told h

"Thanks, htly in appreciation "You knoe’re going to be brothers-in-law, right?"

Josh snorted and downed the rest of his glass "Figured So you popped the question?"