Before I dart away, he rushes forward and uses his body to cage me in, gripping the shelves on either side of my head and using his body to keep me pinned in place. I keep my gaze on his chest not wanting to meet his eyes. The feeling of his body pressed against mine has memories of last night slamming into me and pain exploding inside my chest.
“How many fucking times do I have to tell you to stay the fuck away from Meekan Di-Leo?” he roars, making me recoil into the shelf hard enough that I knock my head and grunt. He growls, then grips my hair and uses it to yank my head back. I cry out in pain.
“Let me go!” I snap.
His other hand comes up to grip my chin in a punishing hold that has me wincing. The look in those gray eyes is pure malice. “Stay the fuck away from him,” he hisses.
“Go to hell, Xaden,” I grit out.
“I don’t fear going to hell because it can’t be worse than being with you!” he spits. His words steal the air from my lungs and have pain lancing my chest. Tears prick the backs of my eyes but I refuse to let them fall, I won’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me break. “Last warning,” he snarls, then releases me with a shove. I crumple to the floor in a heap. I slam my eyes closed and take in some steadying breaths through my nose.
Take it, Toren. You can’t fight it.
To teach is to learn. To learn is to excel. To excel is to thrive. To thrive is to live.
I itch to reach up and clasp my pendant from Em, but I chose not to wear it today because I don’t want to dwell on the past. Not that she will ever be my past, but that pendant reminds me of the memories I lost and I need to learn to live without it. Ican’t rely on anyone or a pendant to save me from this hell I am being forced to live in.
No one is coming to save me. If I’m to survive, then I need to learn to save myself.
I push to my feet slowly, then lift my head to meet his storming gaze. Xaden wears darkness like a cloak. It clings to him and shrouds him in its clutches, marking him. He doesn’t shy away from it, he embraces it.
“You want to fight, then let’s fight.” His brows bunch but he says nothing as he stands there like a fucking statue. “Take me to the boxing ring and let’s go a few rounds.”
I wait for him to laugh, deny me or just turn and stalk out of the room, but he does none of that. He pushes forward until there is a sliver of space between us and bends down until his lips brush the shell of my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.
“Get ready to have your ass beat, Tink. I’m already going to destroy one Kellar on Friday, so I may as well get rid of the other one now.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
XADEN
I wanted to snap her fucking neck in that office!
The urge was so strong I had to release her and step back or else I would have done it and said fuck it to the consequences. Seeing her with Meekan again had me seeing red. I planned to come to the library after practice, fuck with her a bit, then take her home and make her suck my cock so I could snap a picture and send it to her brother, just to fuck with his head some more. Instead, she had to taunt the beast inside me and give him a challenge. My body is already aching from the brutal training coach put us through, but the burning hunger inside me to break her down makes the pain worth it.
When we walk inside the gym, she looks around and purses her lips, this time the gym isn’t empty and she’ll have an audience watching her get her ass kicked. I move toward the locker rooms in the back to change, but the bitch grips my arm and yanks me to a stop. I glare down at her and lift my upper lip in a snarl or warning that she fucking ignores.
“Can I borrow your shirt?” I scoff and yank my arm free of her hold.
“Fuck no.” A look enters her eyes that I’ve never seen before, which just annoys the shit out of me because I don’t know what the hell she is thinking.
“Don’t moan when you get back out here,” she mutters as she turns away from me and heads for the ring. I growl in anger as I storm into the locker room to change into my basketball shorts. When I finish changing, I come back into the gym to find three of the guys I know staring at the ring. I follow their gaze only to have red hot anger boiling inside me.
I run toward the ring and when I’m two steps away, I jump and slide under the last rope and roll to my feet in the middle of the ring, drawing her attention to me. I stalk forward until I have backed her into the corner. I open my mouth ready to bite her fucking head off, but the bitch beats me to speak.
“I told you not to moan when you came back. I had these on under my work clothes.” I scrunch my face causing her to roll her fucking eyes at me.
“Do that shit again, Tink,” I warn.
She pushes against my chest. I back up a step and stare down at her in a pair of shorts so tiny her ass cheeks hang out the bottom and a sports bra. Her hair is tied back in a ponytail. The fact my cock is liking the sight of her dressed like this isn’t fucking good, so I take another step back.
“Are we using gloves again?” Her question pulls me out of my head and brings me back to the moment. I roll my shoulders and bend my head side to side to try and ease some of the tension riding me. I nod and point to the gloves in the corner for her while I move across the ring to get my own. I’m not wasting time taping mine or her hands, this is gonna be quick and I plan to leave a mark on her.
When I turn back to face her, she has one glove on and is securing the other. The strap is in her mouth as she pulls it tight to secure the Velcro. The beast inside me wants to rush her andcatch her off guard, but I manage to restrain myself… just. When she is set, she turns to me, there isn’t a smile or even a glint of weariness in her blue eyes, just pure aggression. That look has me grinning, maybe baby Kellar does have some fucking balls on her after all, either that or I fucked some of the devil into her.
“How do you want to do this—” The words die in my mouth as she runs at me. I could be a nice guy and let her get a hit in but I’m not. Rather than using my hands, I drop my shoulder and send her sailing to her ass. She bares her teeth up at me. Just to be a prick I shoot her a wink that has her grunting in anger.
I don’t offer her a hand, she gets her ass up and comes at me again. I want to roll my eyes at how predictable she is, but refrain. I slam my shoulder into her harder and drop her to her ass. She grunts and gasps but doesn’t cry. We do this another six times before I start to get bored. I stare down at her sitting there on her ass.
