“So she can trust you?” Noah asked.
“You both can.”
Another flicker of Noah’s brows before he quickly shuffled forward and threw a jab and an uppercut.
The two of them continued in the ring for a while. And fuck, it felt good
This is why he’d gotten into the UFC. Not for money or notoriety. Because being in the ring made the noise in his head quiet. And now, just for a moment, he forgot about the ache in his chest, the one that had been there since leaving Bonnie’s apartment.
When they finally stopped, both their chests heaved. Noah was good in the ring. Especially for a soldier who hadn’t done the specific training Zane had.
They both began to unstrap their hands. “Did I pass?” Zane asked, knowing this entire thing had been a test.
Noah’s gaze shot up. “Maybe.” He tossed the wraps to Zane. “But you hurt her, and I’ll kill you myself.”
“I hurt her, and I hope you do.”
CHAPTER 17
Bonnie pulled into her apartment complex. But she didn’t get straight out of the car. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, blowing out a long breath.
What a long, horrible day. She hadn’t been able to take the women to the self-defense session at The Pit because Shelley had dumped three other time-sensitive jobs on her. Then she’d blasted Bonnie for doing two of those jobs incorrectly—or more accurately, not how Shelley would have done them.
Two new women had also arrived at the shelter, and both had come from awful circumstances. Bonnie had almost cried when she’d read their files.
And now, she had a blazing headache.
With a long sigh, she undid her seat belt and climbed out of the car, immediately pulling her cell phone from her pocket and ordering a pizza.
Tonight was definitely a pizza kind of night. The question was, had Burt’s Pizza improved over the last thirteen years? Because back in high school, the stuff was terrible. Barely edible kind of terrible.
She ordered a ham and pineapple with extra cheese. She wasn’t sure how much she’d eat, because of her headache, but she had to eat something before she died in her bed.
She hung up and crossed the remaining distance to her apartment building, her hand close to the pepper spray in her bag the entire time. Since the attack, she hadn’t been able to step into the building without feeling an uncomfortable tightness in her chest. Without her heart beating at a million miles a minute.
The one good thing about this last week was that no one had threatened her. No one had so much as looked at her the wrong way.
Maybe everything going on with Zane had taken the attention off her. Not exactly a good thing though.
Inside, she climbed the stairs two at a time. When she reached her floor, she’d just stepped into the hall when she stopped. Her throat dried.
Zane.
He sat in front of her apartment door, head tilted back against the wall, eyes closed.
For a moment she didn’t move. Just stood there, a million questions in her head. The top one—how long had he been there?
His eyes opened and he turned his head, his gaze meeting hers. She felt his gaze like a gut punch.That’swhat he did to her.
Slowly, he rose, and the second he was upright, he took up all the space in the hallway.
She forced herself to move, one foot in front of the other.
“Hey, Bon. I missed you today.”
She stopped in front of him, really having to work hard to get words out. “I had to stay back at work. I wasn’t avoiding you.”
One side of his mouth lifted like he didn’t quite believe her. If she were him, she probably wouldn’t believe her either.
