"I'll return to the gym and train." Swallowing prevents dry heaves, but the tingling in my head indicates I probably went green. Just the thought of fighting makes me ill.

John pulls on his bottom ear as if that will help him correctly hear what I uttered. When he accepts that h.e.l.l hasn't invested in snow-removal trucks and that pigs haven't taken to air, he speaks. "Sit down."

With my foot, I push a boxful of paperwork to the side and drop into the seat across from my grandfather. He resumes his angry typing and ignores me. On the filing cabinet behind him is a picture of me and him after my last fight. He has his arm around me and both of us hold up an end of the belt I won. I barely remember what that type of smile feels like on my face.

Since there was a lack of female kickboxers in the area, I trained with the guys in the gym and we had to travel to find tournaments for me, which meant a ton of one-on-one time with my grandfather. The two of us were close, very close. Now we're as far apart as strangers.

John clicks the mouse. "What's this about?"

I weigh whose truth I should tell. "I've got a friend who's going to be in a fight in two months and he needs someone to train him."

John's seat squeaks as he relaxes back and links his fingers together across his stomach. The smirk informs me I'm in trouble, but it's the chuckle that grates against my nerves. "Are we talking about your new boyfriend that jumped Conner?"

I officially hate Jax and Kaden. "Yes."

He chuckles again and the smile fades. "Fight for me, Haley."

I'm shaking my head before the final word leaves his mouth. "No."

"I want more than you gracing us with your presence in my gym. You remain the best talent I've seen in years-"

I interrupt, "You have Kaden and Jax."

"In years," he repeats. "And you threw it away. You want that college scholarship? You'll get more than a recommendation from me. You'll have current t.i.tles. What more do you need?"

"No."

"Haley..." John runs his hands through his gray-and-white-peppered hair.

"No!"

"At least tell me why! Tell me the truth. Tell me why you walked away."

I lean forward with the urge to bolt from the cramped office. My breathing picks up and I rub the sweat off my palms onto my jeans. "Because."

"Dammit." Both of his hands land on his desk and I jump with the impact. "What the h.e.l.l happened to you?"

My pulse pounds in my ears. Did Jax and Kaden snitch about the night they found me in the garage? I wipe my palms against my jeans again, except this time I'm not attempting to expel sweat but the memory of the blood that caked my hands. "I'll train here again, but no sparring. I can't spar, okay? It's my offer. Take it or leave it."

It's silent as he stares at me. I try to count my heartbeats, but it's next to impossible.

"Then we've got nothing to discuss." John pretends he's in his office alone and writes on a piece of paper.

"He needs help." I need help, but I can't admit it. There's always been a part of me that has craved to rest my head on my father's or grandfather's shoulders and tell them the truth, but then they'd see me for who I am and how can that help? They already hate who they believe me to be. No reason to make them despise me more.

"You know my asking price."

I prop my elbow on the arm of the chair and cover my eyes with my hand. "Then I'll train him. At least let me use the gym to do it."

The scratching of pen against paper ceases. I can't look at him. I just can't.

"If you train at my gym again, then you can use the facility, but he only spars or trains with me or the others if I get you as a fighter."

I part two fingers and peek at the evil old man across from me. "I won't spar."

"I wouldn't throw you immediately back into your old training regimen even if you asked. I'll ease you in, but if you agree to spar when I say, then I'll help you train him."

I straighten. "I'm not sparring, old man. Get it through your thick skull."

Totally unaffected by my outburst, he continues, "How are you going to train him without sparring? In fact, how are you going to work your job, train in my gym, then find extra time to train someone else? Agree to one fight for me and I'll take him off your hands."

My heart beats manically and a cold clamminess blankets my skin. I can't spar. I can't fight. Not even for West. "I'll train him when I get off work."

He throws his hands in the air. "You'll be here until midnight."

Now I'm the one to pound the desk. "That's my choice!"

"You're right. It always has been."

We stare at each other and I suck in air to calm the adrenaline shooting through my veins. "I want to start training him tonight."

"You can start Friday. I want to see you in my gym every morning by five. Sat.u.r.days included. I also own Sunday afternoons."

"Friday! That's-"

John stop signs me with his palm. "Consider it an act of good faith. I had to cancel fights because you walked away. I want to see commitment on your part."

I'm up against the ropes and John knows it. I nod and start to wonder when I'll ever complete my homework, but like John agreed-this is my choice. "What about my uncle and his obsessive curfew?"

John resumes writing. "I'll take care of it." There's only one person my uncle fears and that's my grandfather. None of us know why and n.o.body asks. Jax and his brothers have trained with John since they were small and my uncle allows it.

"And the extra time I need to train West?" I ask.

He a.s.sesses me with cold eyes. "What type of name is West?"

"The extra time? What happens when Jax and Kaden walk in his door and I don't?"

"I said I'd take care of it."

All righty. I stand to leave and John nails a final blow. "Our deal starts this morning. I want your a.s.s in the changing room now and on my floor in two minutes. Your stuff is still in your old locker."

Nerves create a dizziness as I walk out of his office and head to the locker room. Every single fighter watches me. What have I done?

West d.a.m.n, this school is crowded and if I didn't have a pretend girlfriend, I could definitely work this place. Like the blonde, Jessica, who's been twisting her hair around her finger and staring at me from across the hallway. The girl is contemplating something and I'd bet it's not calculus.

If it'd been two weeks ago, she and I would have already found a secluded corner in this dump and gone to town. I got suspended twice at my old school for being caught with a girl and it was worth the time served.

I rub at the crick in my neck. It's Friday and I've been living in my car for almost a week. I've tried sleeping with the seat reclined and by lying across the backseat. Regardless, sleeping in a car is uncomfortable and cold...and lonely.

Hours drag by. Every decision I've made, good and bad, haunts me. For the first time in my life, I look forward to school and now, because I fixed a toilet, I look forward to my job.

Jessica slithers across the hallway and, feeling twitchy, I once again survey the ma.s.s of students for Haley. I like Haley, and truth be told if my hands are going to roam any girl's curves, I'd prefer they be hers, but I won't do Haley wrong. I won't ruin her rep by cheating and I won't ruin her by luring her down that hallway for a quick, cheap thrill.

"You held out on me Monday." Jessica runs a finger along my biceps. "Rumor has it you're dating Haley."

"Who's spreading that rumor?"

"Matt Spencer. Actually, he was asking me if it was true. He said that Haley said the two of you were an item, but I told him I thought it was a lie."

I pop my head to the right. d.a.m.n. Not what Haley and I need.

Since Tuesday, Haley and I walk to cla.s.s together and I sit with her at lunch, but the other girls at the table talk to me more than she does. We're not a couple, so we're not acting like a couple. No touching. No hugging. In fact, we've hardly talked. Every time I press her for more info on training and this upcoming fight with Conner, she says she's working on it.

To make matters worse, Matt watches her like a hawk and I don't like it. "Why would I lie?"

"Why do you want to keep it secret that you're a Young?"

Jessica waits to see if I accept the bait, and, when she figures out I'm not biting, she continues, "Everyone knows you got into a fight with Conner last Friday. Matt thinks Haley is protecting Jax and Kaden and that you two are faking this relationship to throw him off course."

Matt's smarter than he looks. "Why would I get involved in Haley's world if we weren't an item?" Because Haley defended me, because Conner hit Haley, because I won't go through the rest of my senior year with anyone believing I'm weak...because I can't fail again.

Her lips compress into a flat line. "That I don't know."

"Haley and I are the real deal. If you talk to Matt again, tell him he can kiss my a.s.s."

"I still think you're lying." Jessica trails a finger along my arm again and surprising myself, I inch away and wipe my biceps as if to get the dirt off. Wildfires don't work as fast as this girl.

"Haley and I are dating and you're supposed to be her friend."

"Haley doesn't do attachments. She floats. By the way, I saw your Escalade in the parking lot. It looks like a sweet ride."

"It is." Come on, Haley, where the h.e.l.l are you?

She leans against me, pushing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s against my arm. "I like sweet rides."

Meaning she gives sweet rides. "I'm taken."

"Please." She rolls her eyes and pulls the hem of her shirt down so that she exposes more of her cleavage and part of her bra. d.a.m.n. She's selling hard. "You're not taken. If you were, you would have confessed your undying love for her Monday or Tuesday or any day this week during science, but you never did."

True. "I was curious what people said about Haley." Truer.

"You kept quiet because you liked what you saw in me."

"Let me guess, your favorite position in basketball is forward?"

s.h.i.t, the way she just smiled says she eats anything she f.u.c.ks for breakfast. "I heard you liked forward."

Normally, I do. Guess a lot has changed in a few days. "As I said, I'm taken."

"Besides," she continues as if I hadn't spoken. "Haley doesn't do guys."

That grabs my attention. "What?"

Her smile widens and she juts out a hip. "Haley's a fighter."

"So?"

Her voice indicates the "duh" is implied. "Fighting is a guy thing."

And cars are also considered a guy thing, but my sister is in love with the inside of a popped open hood. I can't stomach people like the chick in front of me. "I've gotta go."

She slides to block my exit. "Okay fine, she's interested in guys, but she's Matt's property."

My muscles tense. "A girl is no one's property." And Haley sure as h.e.l.l doesn't belong to that a.s.shole.

"You're all girl-power. That's awesome in a weird way. Look, I agree with you, but here's the thing-Matt doesn't give a c.r.a.p about equal rights or that we earned the right to vote a couple hundred years ago. Haley and Matt may have broken up, but he makes it clear that no one sniffs around her. He'll hit you the moment you touch her."

"Let him." I've agreed to this showcase in two months for Haley's sake, but if Matt and his crew want to go at it now, then I'm game. Maybe it would be better if we did. I wouldn't have rumors floating around that I'm weak and it would take the burden off Haley.

"Matt's bad news," she says.

"So am I," I snap, p.i.s.sed everyone thinks this guy is stronger than me. "Why are you even interested?"

Her eyes light up. "Because you're West Young."

Because she thinks I have money. This is the first time I've itched to tell anyone I've been disowned. Is she still going to be pushing up on me then?

With her fingers typing intently into a cell, Abby, the queen of not giving a s.h.i.t whether or not I want her around, sidles up beside me. "You should listen to her about Matt." She glances up at me. "I was eavesdropping."

"Rude much?" says Jessica.

"Jessica," responds Abby.

She widens her eyes as a "what do you want?"

"I bite."

And the blonde scurries down the hallway like a squirrel darting through traffic. If I didn't hate Abby, I'd be impressed. "You do go to school here." Haven't seen her once.

"Yep." She slips her phone into her back pocket. "Do you watch soap operas?"

What the h.e.l.l type of question is that? "No."

"Curious." Her eyebrows furrow. "Because I would have thought you reenacted the c.r.a.p with what you've accomplished in a week."

Not caring for anything else Abby has to say, I head to my first period cla.s.s. Maybe I missed Haley and she's already there.

"You're a soap opera writer's wet dream." Abby keeps step beside me. "The funny part is, I've never seen one, but, holy s.h.i.t, has this been fascinating. In a span of seven days you've managed to p.i.s.s off Isaiah, Jax and Kaden Williams, and Matt and Conner Spencer.