She humph-chuckles at my statement. "Your father is rather b.i.t.c.hy. By the way, Rachel might come home soon."

Abby gains my full attention and my hands sweat. I want Rachel home. She needs to be home, but... "Her legs?"

"She'll move around again, but with or without a.s.sistance, they don't know."

I rub at the muscles of my neck, somewhat relieved, somewhat devastated. Rachel should be maneuvering around the hood of her car, not constrained. When she's home I'll have no choice but to face her and I've got to find a way to make this up to her.

I watch as a new guy walks in. He has blond hair, like my mom. Blue eyes, too, but he's rough as h.e.l.l. "That one?" I ask.

"Not telling," she mumbles through the food in her mouth.

"You didn't even look."

"Because I wouldn't even answer." She drops her voice to try to mimic me.

"Why would Mom lie? She told us she was an only child and that her parents died."

"You can't get it out of your mind, can you?"

I shake my head.

"Trust me, you don't want to know more. It's the stuff of nightmares. It even gives me cold chills if I think about it at three a.m."

A sickening darkness curls in my gut. "It's my mom, Abby."

"And if she wanted you to know, she would have dropped the bomb during one of your sw.a.n.ky dinners." Abby tears off a piece of a roll and shoves it in her mouth. Is Rachel aware how often Abby goes without food?

"Don't do it," she says to the noodles. "You're in my world because Rachel loves you and I love her. Just 'cause Daddy took you back, it doesn't give you the right."

"The right to what?"

She peeks at me from the corner of her eye. "Feel sorry for me."

The guilt that I pitied her slices through me. "Then I'll go back to hating you."

"Good. Did you do it?" she asks. "Did you give Matt what he wanted?"

"Is it a medical condition that causes you to talk in riddles?"

Abby actually smiles. "Fine. Matt wants the fight next month to be between you and him, not you and Conner, but he doesn't want to be the one to cause it because he's trying to stay on Haley's good side."

"You're making s.h.i.t up now." Because there is no way she can know all this.

"I have super hearing." She pokes me in the head with one finger. "I even have the ability to hear your thoughts. You're thinking about Haley and s.e.x."

I wasn't, but now I am. Jesus, Haley can kiss and her skin is so d.a.m.n smooth... I sigh. And Haley may no longer be mine. "You're full of s.h.i.t."

"Maybe, but I do sleep with one of the guys from Black Fire and he's a talker."

d.a.m.n. That was blunt. "Then aren't you betraying your guy by spilling to me?"

She snorts. "I said I sleep with him, not married to him. What I do for a living-it's better to be a free agent. If he wants to get all sentimental afterwards and talk, that's his problem."

I a.s.sess Abby. "You don't give a f.u.c.k what anyone thinks of you."

"Nope." She sucks up a noodle and it smacks her on the lips. "I take that back. I care what Rachel thinks. She's the only person besides Isaiah to ever like me."

The way she emphasizes the me causes me to look beyond the dark hair, hoodie and lethal. "You're doing it again," she says.

I hold up my hands. "I'm back on the page-you're a heartless b.i.t.c.h."

"That's better. Here's the info dump. Matt wants to fight you because he hates you. He figures if he can kick your a.s.s, Haley will dump you because you're weak or you'll bail on her because you'll hate that she thinks you're weak."

A slurp of spaghetti. "But he wants you to provoke him into taking the fight, so Haley will be all like, 'No, West, no! Stop being mean to Matt. He's harmless in that psychopath way.' If he provokes you, then he's the mean guy and he's campaigning as Mr. Nice Guy. Fallen for it?"

"No." But my intestines twist at how close I was to taking a swing at Matt. I hate being played. "So what if Matt and I go at it instead of me and Conner? I'd rather go against that b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"Good, because you probably will. I'm ready for the spoiler- If it does come down to you and Matt in the cage, if he hands your a.s.s to you, will Matt be right? Can you stand to look the girl you care for in the eye knowing that in public her ex proved he's stronger than you?"

Haley My mouth dries out and a weird pressure compresses my throat, almost as if a ghost cups my neck and squeezes. Sitting on the mats next to the ring, I slowly wrap my hands. Each layer a confirmation of a death sentence. It's strange how I used to love this ritual and how I loved being in the ring. Stepping under the rope, I'd leave behind who I was in my everyday life, and I'd emerge on the other side with a clear mind-every thought and movement calm and precise.

With one hit, Matt stole my joy and made me terrified of the few things in life I enjoyed.

There's a shift in the gym-a jovial mood among everyone else. The guys I've known a good portion of my life are eager to see my return to the ring and the new guys that have heard of me from rumors or have possibly seen one of my fights in person or on YouTube seem to be excited, too. Not too long ago, I held a national t.i.tle. Now I'm a fraud.

Jax crouches in front of me, swiping my boxing gloves off the floor. "Me or Kaden?"

I lift my eyebrows, confused as to what he's asking.

"Who do you want to spar with? Me or Kaden?"

He undoes the Velcro and holds out the hole for me to sink my hand into. I remain silent, too stunned by the offer. I love him and my brother. There's nothing I wouldn't do for them.

I shove my hand in and Jax secures the glove. "You've avoided sparring, so I'm guessing you've got a mental block. We'll go easy. A few hit series, a couple of low kicks for s.h.i.ts and giggles. Nothing fancy."

I slip on my headgear, then let Jax help me with the other glove. "That's not what John had in mind. He wants me to spar."

"You're wrong. He wants you back."

Jax stands and I place a glove on his arm. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For Matt." For betraying my family. "For everything."

Jax glances over his shoulder and I'm startled to see Kaden on the other side of the ropes. He nods and Jax playfully mocks a two-one combo in his direction. "Water under the bridge, but this doesn't mean we're good with West. If he's with you, he's got to earn our respect."

I go to rip off the gloves. If they aren't going to help me train West, then I'm not sparring. Jax plants his hand over the Velcro. "You go into the ring-we help you. The kid is bad news, but at least now we'll be there to have your back."

"You've always had my back," I say with a grin to lighten the mood.

He shakes his head. "It's hard to help someone when they're d.a.m.ned insistent on doing all their own fighting."

Jax offers a hand off the floor and I accept. "West's a good guy and I care about him." Possibly more than care.

"He's an unknown and he's got a temper. Remember, I saw him lose it last night."

My heart plunges because Jax is right. West permits his emotions to rule him and that will be a problem in the cage.

John slams the door to his office. "If I wanted an audience, I would have sold tickets. Back to work!"

The smack of punches on the bags and the tap of fighters knocking out combinations against each other fill the gym, but it doesn't take much to notice it's halfhearted.

John grabs a pair of punch mitts, bends under the ropes and enters the ring.

"I thought I was sparring." I motion toward the mitts on his hands.

"You will, but I told you we're starting slow."

I follow him into the ring. Since returning to the gym, I've only done bag work with John. I've used the mitts with West, but I've yet to really throw a punch at anyone. John holds the mitts near his head. I inhale deeply and my guard goes up. One second. Another.

I hit Matt in anger, but he struck me first and it hurt. If I didn't fight back, would it have gone as far as it did? If I weren't trained, would he have even hit me? Where do Matt's choices end and mine begin? I drop my guard. "What if I can't do it?"

John widens his arms so that the targets are at arm's length. "Then we'll ease you in slower. Jab, cross." He shakes his right hand. "Then jab, cross." And shakes his left. "Let's warm you up."

"Okay." Some of the tightness unfurls. No punches toward the head. I can do this. "Okay."

My gloves slide back to my temples and my feet rock into position. Okay.

West With Abby's words fresh on my mind and Haley's decision to be made, I head straight to the gym. If she's going to butcher my heart, she can do it now, not at school.

The bags near the front door are empty, but a crowd gathers around the boxing ring. A roar of approval ripples from the guys watching the show. In the corner of the ring, Kaden slips on his headgear and gloves, then says something to Jax, who stands on the other side of the ropes. The two of them confer like a coach instructing a student.

I work through the BO-laden crowd, bobbing my head to find Haley. The guys decked out in workout clothes yell again and I discover her in the last spot I'd thought to look-the ring.

John and Haley dance around each other, a demented tango. With mitts on his hands, John aims for her head. Haley ducks and fires back with machine-gun punches to the mitts near his face: double jab, right hook to the head. John grunts with each punch, just like Haley does with me-keeping up the tempo, rewarding her for the hit.

Haley is lean and gorgeous with a sheen of sweat over her body. Her long hair is gathered together at the nape of her neck and her face is barely visible from the headgear and with her held guard. There's a lethalness about Haley. It's more than the way her shoulders roll forward and how fast she strikes. It's the serious gleam in her eye. Haley in that ring means business.

"Never forget she can kick your a.s.s." Jax saddles up beside me. "And if she doesn't, I will."

I ignore him as John combines both mitts and lifts them in the air. Haley nails a double high kick with a power that could kill a man. My eyes widen as the crowd shouts for more. John slams his mitts together and continues to dance around Haley. "That's right, Hays. That's right!"

John turns and shouts for Kaden. The guys clap as John whispers instructions into Kaden's ear.

"What's the big deal?" I ask.

Jax surveys me, head to toe, then back up. "You really don't know, do you?"

I scratch my jaw, pride preventing me from giving an answer.

He grins at my nonresponse. "Haley's a national t.i.tleholder."

s.h.i.t. I never asked and she never told. I shift and Jax chuckles.

"Beyond that? This is the first time Haley's honest to G.o.d trained here in over a year and in a few seconds this will be the first time she's sparred in over six months."

My head snaps to Jax, the shock registering an earthquake in my system. "She trains here all the time."

"When she left Black Fire, she left fighting. She agreed to come back to the gym, but she refuses to engage. What you're witnessing is her resurrection."

"Last time I checked, you and I aren't friends. So why the feel-good moment?"

"She's more than you and better than you and I'm fine with you seeing it. Haley's already been through h.e.l.l and neither Kaden nor I will permit a return visit. Got it, amigo?"

I turn my attention to the ring, trying to sort through Jax's words. Haley left fighting when she left Matt. I run a hand through my hair to shake out the mental cobwebs. She didn't stop just dating fighters; she stopped fighting. The image of her nursing her hand the night we met, the fight we had in my car and how angry she was that she hit someone and was. .h.i.t in return-it all flashes in my mind.

In the middle of the ring, Kaden nods his chin and lifts his arm, glove out. Haley's hesitant on her side of the ring as she leans against the post. The crowd yells at Haley to accept and I step forward. Jax throws out his arm like a railway gate. "She made a deal with John over this. Don't embarra.s.s her."

"What deal?"

"Like you don't know, and if you don't, figure it out."

I roll on the b.a.l.l.s of my feet, gravity begging to rush the ring. "He's bigger than her."

"And Haley can drop his a.s.s. This isn't a real fight and she knows it. A few hit series. That's it. If she's going to be worth a d.a.m.n again, inside or outside of that ring, Haley's got to engage."

I straighten and go toe-to-toe with Jax. "She doesn't have to."

His green eyes harden as he invades my s.p.a.ce. "She does if she wants to save your a.s.s like she says she does. Haven't you wondered why you aren't training with the rest of us?"

f.u.c.k this. I round away from Jax and fight through the crowd right as Haley pushes off the post. Before I can reach the ropes, Haley taps her glove against Kaden's and the two immediately slam their guards against their heads and begin to circle.

She's smaller than him, possibly a hundred pounds lighter, and every instinct screams to slide in front of her. If he wasn't her brother, I'd be in between them in a heartbeat. Kaden turns his guard, hiding his face and exposing his wrists. Haley answers with a jab, cross into his gloves. With their guards still in check, they move again and Haley turns her wrists to Kaden and he throws the same jab, cross.

Haley slips back and lowers her guard. Color drains from her face. "I can't."

"Come on, Hays. Don't give in. Just a few hits." Kaden turns his wrists out to Haley again.

She sucks in a breath and my pulse pounds in my ears. There's fear in her eyes. With the release of air, she rejoins the dance. They continue to hit each other's wrists, the punches increase in frequency, adding low kicks to the thighs, all of it methodical.

My grip on the rope tightens as the round continues and each strike grows in intensity. Kaden throws a jab and Haley fumbles with her guard right as Kaden goes for the hook. His glove connects against her headgear behind her ear. Her head snaps to the left with the blow.

Kaden's hands drop and he reaches for Haley. "I'm sorry-"

The answering cross comes hard and fast, too fast for Kaden to raise his guard, and she lands the punch on his jaw. He reacts by tossing out an arm to block the jab, but Haley throws another cross, following up with a cut kick behind the knees. Kaden's body pounds to the floor and the gym vibrates.

A flash of blond breezes past me and, following Jax's lead, I'm under the ropes. Haley is already turned away, tearing her gloves off with her teeth, her breath coming out hard and fast. John's in front of her, mumbling s.h.i.t, and she screams at him, "Get away!"