He left me… the entire year to fend for myself at Walter House.
I haven't seen his face, heard the sound of his voice or smelled him, and I guess in a sense I had a vision of us reuniting one day and that day didn’t go as I had dreamed. My brother left me in the past and moved on.
I’m jarred from my thoughts when Xaden brings the car to a stop. I peer out the windshield and screw my face up at the sight of a rundown… gym.
I snap my head toward him and narrow my eyes. “You think I need to work out?” I hiss.
He snorts and slowly lolls his head to the side to pin me with a look that I can’t decipher. “Tink, you have the best set of tits I have seen on any girl in town.” A blush instantly stains mycheeks and I feel warm. “Not to mention your ass is ripe enough to take a bite out of.”
“That’s…” I try to think of the right words but nothing comes to mind.
“Get the fuck out of your head and get out of my car. We’re about to box.”
My face slackens. “What?” I screech, earning a glare from him. My injuries are healed enough for me to not be in pain every second of the day but, I still don’t want to be here.
“I got two hours to kill before the party tonight, so I’m gonna spend that time helping you work out your frustrations in the ring. I need this and so do you.”
“Why do you need it?” I blurt.
“I either get in that ring with you or I drag your ass out of this car and bend it over my hood and fuck you. Which option do you want?”
“Option one!” I shriek, earning a scowl from him as I shove my door open and leap out of the car like it’s on fire.
“Bitch,” I hear him hiss as he follows me out of the car. I ignore his insult and follow him inside the gym. The place is rundown and looks like a strong gust of wind would blow it over and the smell… Oh, the smell is horrendous. It reminds me of wet socks and boys not showering for a week.
“What is this place?” I breathe out as I spin around and look at all the framed photos that line the walls. It’s clear this place has been around foryears.
“Stormsend’s pride and joy is what this place is.”
Fear grips me. “We’re in Stormsend?”
He looks down at me with a dumbfounded look. “And?”
“Is it safe for me here?” I blurt without thinking.
Xaden rolls his eyes. “No one is going to touch you.”
“How the hell can you be so sure?” I snap.
He stalks away from me toward the ring in the middle of the old gym and looks back over his shoulder as he answers. “Because they know I would kill them for touching what’s mine.”
Over an hour later, with a bruised ego and a wounded pride, Xaden finally announces we can stop. I’m forever grateful that the gym is empty, apparently this time of day is always booked out just for him. Sweat is dripping off me and I can barely breathe. My lungs feel like they are on fire. But, Xaden, the devil in the fucking flesh, barely looks winded and the vagina ruiner hasn’t even broken a sweat. I open my mouth ready to curse the son of a bitch out, but then he does the unthinkable and yanks his shirt off.
My face slackens as I drink in the sight of him. Lord have mercy on my ovaries. This man is like none I have ever seen before. I’ve seen plenty of Mase’s teammates shirtless but none of them hold a candle to Xaden Devlin. The outline of his abs looks like it’s sculpted by God himself, but the ink that covers his skin captures me. In the center of his chest is a large cherry blossom tree with two koi fish in front of it, one black and one white as if they represent Yin and Yang. A Japanese Samurai mask is covering his abs. The entire piece is dedicated to Japanese culture and it is absolutely breathtaking.
“Want to see the ink on my cock?” I spin away from him and mentally facepalm myself for getting caught checking him out. Now, I’m hot for an entirely different reason and the fact I can feel myself chafing, because I refused to strip my jeans off like Xaden requested, only annoys me further. “Here,” he saysa second before his shirt hits me in the side of the head. I grab the freaking thing, then glare at him. “It will cover your modesty, princess, so you can take those vagina strangling denim things off.”
I balk at him. “My jeans are not tight!”
His brows raise mocking me. “Show me a roundhouse kick again?” I stomp my foot and growl. “Hmmm.”
That condescending sound has me snapping. I close the space between us and poke a single finger into his chest, ready to let my train of thought loose on him but the asshole is too quick, he spins us around so I’m pressed into the corner of the ring with nowhere to run. The only sound that can be heard is our labored breathing. The feeling of his naked skin against me has my mouth drying.
He bends down until we are eye level, so close if I puckered my lips we would be kissing.
“Don’t push me, Tink. I told you what happens to fairies when people stop believing in them. This is a lesson for you but a game to me. Never underestimate me and what I can do.”
I search his eyes for a clue as to what he means but he’s unreadable. “Why did you bring me here?” I ask instead.
