I grabbed my plate and Mark’s and stood up, “Mark, how about you help me with the dessert?” I asked through my teeth, trying to keep my face neutral.

He stood up and took the plates out of my hand, smiling sweetly, “Sure thing, baby.”

I stormed off to the kitchen, taking deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. When I heard him come in, I rounded on him. “What the hell was that? Are you not listening to me? It’s over! This needs to stop, I want you to leave, right now. Tell your parents you’re not feeling well or something and leave!” I cried angrily.

He closed the door to the kitchen and shook his head, “You don’t mean that, baby. I love you and you love me,” he said, wrapping his arms around me again.

“If you don’t get off me right now, I’m going to scream,” I warned.

He laughed and shook his head, “No you won’t, you don’t like to make a scene, you hate being centre of attention,” he whispered, kissing my neck. Suddenly he pulled back, his mouth open in shock. “What the f**k is that?” he spat through his teeth.

He sounded so angry that I actually flinched. What’s he talking about? “What?” I asked, confused.

“That! You have a f**king love bite on your neck! I didn’t do that! Where the hell did you get that from?” he growled, pointing accusingly. I had a love bite on my neck? Crap, Jamie must have done it and I didn’t realise! Damn it, I didn’t know what to say. “Well?” he demanded.

“We’re broken up,” I said quietly.

He slammed his hand down on the counter next to me, angrily. “No. We. Are. Not!” he growled, saying each word slowly, “I’m not letting you see someone else Ellie, you’re mine!”

“Screw you, I’ve had enough of your bullshit. What are you gonna do Mark, huh? Nothing, that’s what you’re gonna do. Let’s just go finish dinner, then you can leave, you’re seriously pissing me off right now,” I said angrily.

I turned to walk away but he grabbed my wrist making me stop. “Who was it? I swear I’ll f**king kill him!”

“Dad, can you come and help with the desert?” I shouted, raising my eyebrows at Mark.

As my Dad walked in the kitchen Mark let go of me and stormed out of the room. I breathed a sigh of relief at looked at my Dad gratefully. “Everything ok?” he asked, kissing my forehead gently, grabbing the bowls off of the side.

“Yeah, tonight is going really slow,” I whined, resting my head on his shoulder.

“Come on pumpkin, it’s almost over now,” he encouraged, smiling sympathetically and nodding back to the dining room.

The rest of the night went without incident, but Mark didn’t stop glaring at me the whole time, making me squirm in my seat uncomfortably. When they finally left, just after ten, I flopped down on my bed emotionally exhausted. He was such a stupid ass**le, I wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow at school when he would ask me again about the love bite. I rubbed the side of my neck and laughed, Jamie’s such an ass for not telling me. I got up and went to the mirror looking at it, I couldn’t help but laugh. I grabbed my cell phone and text him, forgetting that I was supposed to be letting him make the first move.

‘Thanx 4 marking me stud, u just got me in trouble! X’ I sent it, then changed into my pajamas and slipped into bed.

~ Jamie ~

“Kid, seriously you still have time to back out,” Ray said, looking at me worriedly.

“Honestly, I’ll be fine, I need to do this.” I pulled out my $25 that I had and handed it to Jensen.

“So, what are my odd’s?” I asked curiously.

He smiled and slipped it into his pocket, “Kurt’s pretty badass so I’ll give you 4 – 1. People won’t bet on you, he’s won the last three competitions he’s entered and no offence Jamie, but you don’t look that tough,” he said, laughing.

I grinned and Ray burst out laughing, shaking his head. “It’s fine, think what you want I don’t care.

So with my bet I’d get $125 at 4 - 1 if I win, right?” I asked excitedly. Damn, that would be awesome, I’d get $50 just for entering then $125 too if I won, all I’d need to do is lose the next round to get another $100 on top of that. Shit, that would pay my rent for over five weeks, even if the scrap yard deal didn’t work out.

I saw Ray pull out what looked like $200 and hand it to Jensen. “I’ll definitely take a piece of that, my money’s firmly on the kid.” He slapped me on the back, grinning.

My fight wasn’t for another half an hour, I was third, so Ray and I went to stand on the sidelines and watch the two other fights. Ray was right, they were brutal, not like what I’d seen here before, this really was going to hurt. I didn’t care though, in a way I welcomed the pain, it gave you something else to think about. I’d learnt to think of it that way and it had helped me out of many a situation.

I watched Kurt discretely, he was so focused, I could see him warming up, stretching. The only thing I would have to my advantage is that he was too confident, because he’d won the last three nights he’d entered, he thought this would be easy. I wouldn’t make it easy for him, I needed this too damn badly. Finally my fight was called, I went to the middle, trying to ignore the people jeering how Kurt was going to kick my ass, and how this was an easy win.

Kurt smirked at me. “I’m going to put you in the hospital. Seriously, I’m going to f**k you up so bad you’re gonna wish you’d never woke up this morning,” he growled, looking at me, trying to be threatening.