Damien didn't win.

He wasn't even remotely close to winning.

The whole thing was as hard to watch as the last time Clarissa had seen him fight.

Well, almost as hard at least.

There was a slight change, so slight she didn't see it. It was Darcy who pointed it out. Damien wasn't as hit as often as usual. He was dodging, weaving, stepping out of range, not all the time, not always successfully, but he was doing something at least, he was reacting. He was seeing the fight through his eyes, at least partially. He was fighting for control against whatever psychological paralysis was choking his confidence and awareness.

The fight was nine rounds.

And Damien landed one solid punch.

Just one, but it was enough to display the pure power he had once had, when he had been a champion, when he had been free from his own inner demons.

The punch had been to his opponent's jaw and it had knocked the man down.

He had slammed to the canvass, dazed and startled, stumbling to his feet as he got his bearings.

Unfortunately that did mean he raised his game and defences, he suddenly turned on Damien as if they were fighting for a title. Whatever had possessed Damien in that one moment fled him and he returned to being a child stood on stage, frozen by fright.

"Like watching a bear fight," Clarissa muttered from her seat at the ring side beside Dante as Darcy, E-Zee and the other men helped Damien down from the ring, the crowd clapping and cheering the boxers as they filtered back out of the hall to return to mingling.

"Well, I'm just glad he hit the guy," Dante said, standing up and gathering the bags.

"Would you like some help?"

"No, you're alright. We're going to go change - monkey suits and such - we'll meet you back out in the main hall, go enjoy the evening."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, tell Damien we'll rework the finer points of our deal then."

"Deal?"

Clarissa smiled at him as he raised an eyebrow before she picked up her clutch and following the crowd out, stopping to chat to various people as she went, keeping an eye out for Brett but really she was looking for Samantha.

"Clarissa?"

A hand at her elbow made her look around and she came face-to-face with Lucinda, who smiled brightly at her, while looking slightly surprised and confused.

"Luci, how are you?" she said, smiling back as they exchanged a hug.

"I'm fine, love, but what are you doing here?"

"Should I not be here?"

Lucinda laughed. "Of course you should be but I thought you weren't coming because of uni stuff."

"Brett told you I assume?"

"Of course else I wouldn't be his replacement date," Lucinda said with a laugh.

Clarissa smile vanished for all of a second before it was back on her face in time for Lucinda to look away and look back again and not notice the change.

"Of course," she said, her fingers tightening on her clutch.

"Honestly, I don't know how to you it. You're probably the most patient girlfriend I've ever met."

"You think?"

"Hell yeah, O.M.G you should have seen the girls in America. Seriously the sorority brats, you look at their guys and they'd try and tear your eyes out."

"Did they really?"

"Really, my god, so annoying. They seriously needed to chill; take a leaf out of your book. Like I was even interested in getting with their guys, jeez. I learned my lesson when it came to cheating and I'm not stupid enough to think everyone's as mature and composed about things as you."

Clarissa raised an eyebrow. "How do you mean?"

"Well the way you handled me and Brett."

Clarissa sighed, closing her eyes for a moment, not really wanting to discuss the topic. Of course, this was the first time Lucinda had breached the topic since she'd come back, she could only assume she was testing the water. "Well yes," she said slowly, "but that was a matter of trust, I chose to trust him. There wasn't anything mature about it."

"Give yourself some credit," Lucinda said with a laugh. "Come on, look at you. You didn't get mad, you didn't confront me, you didn't try and take revenge and you didn't end things with Brett, calmly choosing to work through your relationship then let a few nights together screw things up. Whereas as Brett, he's constantly freaking out about you and your neighbour even though everyone knows you wouldn't do anything and-"

"Stop talking."

Lucinda stopped talking, blinking, startled by the command as she looked at Clarissa, who was looked at her, brow furrowed and lips set in a hard line.

"Go back. Forget Brett and his jealous streak. Explain what you just said to me. A few nights together, explain."

Lucinda shook her head in confusion. "What's to explain that you don't know?"

"This refers to when Brett almost cheated on me with you, correct?"

Lucinda was quiet for a moment, then opened her mouth, paused, ran her tongue back and forth over her top right canine tooth as she thought. "Almost?" she copied.

"Almost," Clarissa repeated. She took a slow breath and folded her arms. "Luci I'm asking you, as a friend, to be honest with me. Do we have different versions of this story?"

"Classy, he said he told you everything."

"I'm not mad at you, it's ok," Clarissa said, her tone light, easy-going. "But I think, above anyone else, I should know exactly what happened... Did you sleep with Brett?"

Lucinda looked down, glanced at her and dropped her gaze, looking away, rubbing one arm. "Yeah... yeah I did."

Clarissa's chest constricted. She was about to have a small panic attack. She took another deep breath, forcing herself to remain in control of the situation. "How many times?"

"Clarissa, it was just..."

"You said a few nights... how many nights?"

"... Ten, overall."

"And what ended it?"

"I asked Brett to break up with you... he said he loved you more than me so I told him to tell you. You handled the news so perfectly I... I guess I felt ashamed. It's one of the reasons I decided to spend time in the U.S."

"It seems I wasn't told the whole truth though, was it? I was told you almost slept together - once."

"Oh God, Clarissa, please, I'm so sorry. It was months ago though. Ages ago. Don't let this ruin things, don't ruin your relationship."

Lucinda reached for Clarissa and Clarissa held up a hand, stopping her, eyebrow raised. "You'll excuse me but what makes you think I'll be the one to ruin our relationship?"

"If you break up with him. Come on, you'll break his heart, not to mention humiliate him."

"Lucinda," Clarissa cut in, "Listen to me, very clearly, because I'm going to say something you may hate me for. I'm not mad at you for sleeping with my boyfriend... but my god woman, you are stupid."

Lucinda's hand stopped as she gaped at Clarissa.

"How dare y-"

"Be quiet, I'm still talking. Brett ruined our relationship the second he gave himself the option to or to not sleep with you. The fact that he decided to sleep with you takes the ruining of the relationship that much further. The fact that he not only slept with you once but ten times; dear, that's called an affair. That - that right there - is what ruined this relationship. Not me. In no way is this my fault. You want to know who's to blame. Brett and yourself, because you knew he was dating me and you went with it. That's cold hard fact talking, not anger, as I said, I'm not angry at you."

She shook her head, taking a step back.

"I don't care enough to be mad anymore."

"Clarissa-"

"Do you want to date him?"

"What?"

The question was so sudden, any annoyance in Lucinda's face drained away.

"Do you want to date him?" Clarissa repeated, her voice slow.

Lucinda was quiet, eyeing Clarissa expression, looking for the trap. Clarissa just looked back at her, waiting for her answer. Lucinda looked down. "Yes," she muttered, her voice barely a breath.

"Yeah, I figured," Clarissa said. "Lucinda, you can do better."

Lucinda looked up in surprise.

"You can do better than the guy who said you weren't worth leaving his girlfriend for. Why be second best?"

Lucinda jaw shifted as she looked down. "You could be second best to me... you were the one who was cheated on," she muttered.

"Lucinda, don't say stupid things that will make me your enemy," Clarissa said calmly, "Besides, I am second to none."

Lucinda looked up, shocked. She had never heard Clarissa speak like that... not for a long time at least, not since before she'd known Brett. Someone who could strut around with so much self-confidence she was particularly untouchable.

"You're-" she started when someone approached Clarissa from behind and she stopped.

"Hey," Damien said, a hand resting on her waist.

Clarissa turned to him, catching his hand and walking away from Lucinda, dragging Damien with her.

"Are you ok?" Damien asked, following her.

"No, I'm not ok," Clarissa said, "I'm going home... I need to think."

"Why? What happened?" Damien asked, forcing them to stop.

Clarissa gripped his hand tightly, surprisingly tightly as she turned towards him, looking at the floor. "You know how I said Brett wasn't always as bad as he is now. That he has a nice side, an honest side, a good side really. He had a temper and a jealous streak but he wouldn't do something like cheat on me."

"Yeah?" Damien said, frowning, gently wrapping his fingers around hers.

"Yeah, turns out I'm a bad judge of character."

Damien was quiet for a while as he looked down at the top of her head, waiting for her to look up. She didn't and he eventually sighed. "I'm sorry, a ghrá," he muttered gently.

"And here was me being such a dutiful girlfriend, defending him and his honesty for telling me he'd 'almost' slept with a girl. Hey guess what, Damien? He slept with her ten times. Doesn't that make me look the fool?"

Damien didn't say anything, just held her hand as she stared at the floor, her shoulders starting to tremble.

"God damn it," she hissed.

"Clarissa," he started when a voice, loud and mocking, cut through the din of the hall.

"There he is! The big man himself! The fallen champ! Cillian!"

Clarissa looked up as Damien looked around. His hand tightened on hers as they spotted a man coming towards them, his swagger telling Clarissa this man thought he was king of the world. He was similar to Damien in build and height, with tightly cropped blonde hair and brown eyes.

Damien turned towards the newcomer and in a second, Darcy was between them, appearing out of nowhere, blocking the guy's path.

The man stopped, blinking before letting out a soft laugh. "Well well, look who it is. Wait, which one were you again? The man-whore or the fag?"

"Go fuck yourself, Tyson."

"Ah, I'm guessing you're the whore since your brother would offer to do it himself."

"Who the hel-" Clarissa started, before Damien caught her shoulders and gently turned her away, stirring them away from the guy.

"Where are you off to, Cillian?" the man, Tyson, shouted, drawing people's attention. "We haven't seen each other in ages. Well, since you hit your peak and crash landed so spectacularly. I came all this way just to see you fight tonight, don't you want to say hello?"

"Hello Tyson," Damien shouted back without looking over his shoulder.

"What? That anxious to fuck the girl you can't even handle manners?" Tyson said, annoyed.

Clarissa slammed her heels into the floor and forced Damien to stop. "Excuse me?" she started before Dante appeared, catching her hands, shaking his head.

"Ah! The third of the trio appears," Tyson announced.

"Hello Tyson," Dante said, calm as ever. "Clarissa, we should be off."

"Who is that man?" Clarissa snapped, loud enough to be heard.

"You won't even introduce us?" Tyson asked, a whine to his tone, "You're so rude, Cillian. Why don't you show her off?"

Clarissa pushed away from Damien, turning to see and Tyson's mocking smile faded.

"Clarissa Sinclair," he said, shocked.

"Yes, it is, do we know each other?" Clarissa said calmly, stepping past Damien, stopping his hands when he reached for her.

"No, but I do know your boyfriend," Tyson said, folding his arms.

"Do you now, he didn't mention you," Clarissa said, walking forwards, passed Darcy.

"Well I'll introduce myself then, Tyson Beaumont."

"As you said, Clarissa Sinclair. Who are you?"

Tyson's smile returned, ugly and snide as he looked back to Damien. "I'm the current World Champion of Cillian's weight division."

Clarissa looked over her shoulder. Damien looked away, shoving his fists into the pockets of his trousers. "How nice for you," she said, "Well if you'll excuse me, I was just heading home."

"Should I tell Brett you were here with Cillian?"

Clarissa stopped at the question then looked over her shoulder.

"Brett's upstairs in the games room, playing a mean hand of poker. He doesn't think you're here tonight - in fact, I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be since he didn't invite you and he's been planning this date with Luci-locks for a week. I'm guessing you don't want me telling him you're here with another man."

Clarissa looked for him for a moment, turning towards him, folding her arms. "You sound like you're threatening me, Mr. Beaumont."

"Oh I am."

"How rude, and what exactly are you threatening me with? Careful what you say now."

"Oh I don't know, whatever I feel like. I won't get in your way of course, you go spend the night with Cillian, or the easy one, or all three of them for all I care, but I'm sure we can have a talk the next time we see each other. You surprise me though, I didn't think you were the cheating type, you always seemed so prim and proper but hey, guess it means I can spend the night with you as we-"

Tyson's words cut off so suddenly it was like the yelp that leapt from his mouth had guillotined his last word as he grabbed Clarissa's shoulder, his knees buckling from utter shock and pain as everyone in view let out gasps of equal shock, hands flying to mouths as men cringed away.

"I don't like being threatened, Mr. Beaumont," Clarissa said calmly, her hand clamped so hard onto Tyson's crotch he was struggling to breath. "Men like to talk big yet they all have a weakness, cover yours before you irritate a lady. Poor you, you caught me on a very, very bad day. Really this should be for Brett, shame he wasn't expecting me."

She released him and he stumbled backwards, holding himself, eyes red.

"If you know anything about my family, you know we don't take well to being threatened. Besides that, I don't like how you talked about my neighbours. Go ahead, tell Brett what you saw, I'm sure everyone here will corroborate with you, even to the point where you were brought to your knees by his girlfriend. Shame you didn't meet the prim, proper, meek and mild Clarissa. Next time I'm sure we'll get along swimmingly."

She took the clutch from under her arm, holding it neatly in her hands in front of her, ever prim and proper.

"I'm going home for tonight. I'll be sleeping alone. I don't care what else you say to Brett. But do tell him something from me. His time is running out and my patience is worn thin. That man tried to scare the fight out of me, since we first met he did and he almost succeeded. However, today I learned he crossed the line and are some things I do not forgive. He knows what they are."

She paused a moment, everyone listening, the hall silent. Then she smiled.

"Why don't you tell him that the next time we meet, we're going to have a chat? But it will be on my terms, I'll tell him when we're going to meet. I've played things his way long enough, now it's my turn."

She nodded her head to him then and turned away.

"Feel free to pass what I did to you onto Brett; it was for him really - though you didn't exactly give me the best first impression. Now, Goodnight, Mr. Beaumont," she said, and walked away, passing the triplets, smiling at Samantha as she passed, who gave her a raised eyebrow and a suppressed smile.

Damien and Dante followed soon after and the stunned silence of the hall was broken by the howl of laughter from Darcy as everyone started talking again.

~~~~~

Next up: Tuesday

Art/Music By: Fight Song by Rachel Platten

Yeeeeah, sorry guys... i know you were hoping for a win and a date but... i was angling for something else in this chapter lol.

But hey, who thought Clarissa had that side to her? lol She was.... ur... rather intense... in her own way.

And we have a new character. isn't Tyson just charming

Also! I just realised this is the second time i've used the name Lucinda for a character who's less then nice. I have nothing against the name Lucinda yet it seems to be the 'baddie' name - frankly i think i prefer the name to Clarissa - Sorry any Lucinda's out there lol