“Come on, get your gear,” I tell Sable, pointing at my locker.
“Gear?” she asks.
“If you’re going to insist on being the target of every weirdo in town, I need you stronger.”
She laughs. “Do you miss when you were the only weirdo in my life?”
“Yes,” I agree, but since she’s not moving fast enough, I do it for her.
“Oh God.” She laughs as I pull out the gloves and headgear. She really isn’t going to like the mouthpiece.
“He’s right, being strong is more important than ever,” Hadrian says. He goes to another locker, and I’m surprised whenhe opens it and starts pulling out his own clothes. “What, Park?” he asks. “Do you think I stay this fit by playing piano and violin?”
I roll my eyes at him and change myself. “We need to keep you safe, baby,” I say.
She sighs. “I know. It’s obvious at this point that someone wants to hurt me, and I can’t always depend on the dumb luck of putting a stiletto through someone’s eye.” She laughs, and I’m eternally proud of her for handling everything so well. Another person would be catatonic after everything she’s been through.
“Dumb luck is an interesting way to describe a gruesome murder, but sure.” Hadrian laughs, and Sable blushes. What I wouldn’t have given to be there the day they got her back. I slam the door to my locker a little too hard. Sable jumps, but Hadrian just looks at me with a little shit-eating grin.
We all head out into the gym together. It’s so damn cold today there’s no way I would make her train outside. She seems relieved when we approach the weight rack. I pick up one she should be awfully familiar with, seeing as she once had it inside her.
“What do you think about another round with this?” I smirk at her.
“Oh God, no! Our enemies don’t need my pussy trained. I’m not going to defeat them with my pussy grip.” She laughs as she says it, but the idea has me ready to kill someone.
I put the weight away, inching closer to her. “You’re damn right they don’t. That’s just for me.”
“And four of your closest friends,” she quips.
“We’re not actually that close,” Hadrian corrects from behind me, and I can’t help but laugh too.
“Where do you want me?” she asks.
“Right there will do. Hadrian and I are going to take turns attacking you, and you’re going to do your best to stop us. I’ll give you pointers as we go.”
I move on her and quickly knock her to her ass. “Hey!” she complains.
“This is going to take a while,” I say.
“That’s fine.” Hadrian laughs. “Gives us more of an excuse to tackle her.” He jumps on top of her and kisses her as she giggles on the ground.
“Get up, you two. We have work to do.”
I teach Sable a few moves and adjust her form. Hadrian proves to be a lot more useful than I imagined, and in no time at all, we’ve worked up a sweat. Sable giggles beneath me as I’ve got her pinned, and Hadrian is undoing his zipper to turn this into a different type of wrestling match when someone clears their throat behind us. I look to see who it is, but don’t move from my position because it would take a lot to get me to stop touching Sable right now.
“Are you Sable Briarwick?” a young police officer with dark hair asks.
I squeeze her a little harder to tell her not to answer.
“Why do you want to know?” I ask.
“We need to speak to her about the disappearance of Carl Briarwick,” he says, trying to look anywhere but at the place where my hips meet hers. That’s wise of him.
“She’s not available. You’ll need to make an appointment later.”
I groan as I stretch, my hips pin her to the mat, and I stare him down, waiting for him to do something or leave. I recognize his face, but I can’t place exactly where I’ve seen him. Is he here right now at the behest of the four families?
“Who are you, her legal counsel?” he asks.
