Acquired Tastes

Chapter Nineteen

That afternoon, Neil was at Bingham, stretching for their fight, when Roman strode over and sank to the ground beside him. "Hey."

"Hey," Neil replied, grinning at Roman without meaning to. "How's your head?"

"It's better," Roman said, pulling one leg up to stretch it. "I've been drinking a truly disturbing amount of water."

Neil smirked, eyes accidentally drifting down to Roman's lips as they always seemed to do these days. His heart skipped a beat. "Why are you chewing gum?"

Roman gave him a sidelong glance, switching to his other leg. "I can do what I want, Martin."

Neil looked away, not sure what to say to that. He pushed himself to his feet and stretched his arms, then grabbed some tape and began to wrap his knuckles. They didn't speak as Roman did the same, taking the roll when Neil was done with it. Neil glanced around the room, that icy but familiar mix of dread and anticipation washing over him as he waited to see who their opponents would be. When his eyes met Alexis's, across the room, his breath caught in his chest. Alexis didn't pay attention to him, just went back to stretching and talking to Jacey, but Neil found himself frozen, anger shooting through his veins. He watched Alexis laugh, and somehow, that was too much. Absentmindedly tucking the end of the tape in, he turned and was about to take off toward Alexis when Roman jerked him back, two fingers catching one of Neil's belt loops. Neil looked over at him, heart racing, cheeks warm.

"Don't," was all Roman said.

"Come on, man, I have to-"

"No," Roman said, voice low and commanding. He regarded Neil through narrowed eyes. "I said no."

Neil stood, just watching him, until Roman seemed to think it was safe to let go of Neil's belt loop and go back to wrapping his knuckles. One more glance at Alexis stirred up all the anger again, so Neil turned his back to him, fighting to push all these feelings back down.

Before he could make much progress, Marshall and his partner (Neil had recently learned 39's name was Jack) strode over, and Neil's stomach sank. Marshall smirked at him. "Twelve," he said, voice somewhere between amused and antagonizing. "I've been waiting for this to come around again."

Neil glared at him from across the ring. "You never fucking learn, do you?" He stretched one arm across his chest. "You're still not gonna beat me."

Marshall gave him a sickening grin. "Ah, don't worry, Twelve." He cracked his knuckles, eyes shifting to Roman. "I'm not fighting you."

Everything inside Neil came grinding to a stop as Marshall's words hit him. For a second, he stood, frozen, arm still stretched across his chest, icy fear running down his spine. He glanced over at Roman, who just gave him a helpless grin, and at once, Neil was afraid he would vomit. He swallowed hard, trying to get these emotions off his face and shove them deep down inside himself where Marshall couldn't see them, even though a laugh from Marshall let him know it was already too late.

Grant blew his whistle from across the room. "First fighters in."

Neil watched helplessly as Roman pushed his hair out of his face and ducked between the ropes, eyeing Marshall with an unreadable expression. Seeing the two of them standing close together, Neil's stomach dropped; Marshall had several inches on Neil, and Roman was even smaller. Neil stood just outside the ring, watching as Roman pushed his sleeves up to his elbows. Neil had never seen him do that before a fight; the concession to expose his forearms just for a bit more room to move inside his clothing felt like a desperate plea to god, and seeing it sent chills down Neil's spine.