“Oh, Harley.” He sighs, the sound full of disappointment. My chest aches and I press a hand to my sternum to ease the discomfort. It’s like I’ve breathed in dry ice. I can’t stand the way he’s looking at me like he doesn’t even know who I am. “I can’t train both of you. Don’t you get that? What if something happens and you break up? Then the drama spills over into the gym and affects everyone else. It’s too messy. I’ve seen it before, and it doesn’t work.”
Doubt rolls over me like a wave, drenching me from head to toe. Maybe we didn’t think this through as much as we should have. Perhaps my brother has a point. But no, I steel myself. I can’t write us off like that when we’re only just beginning.
“What if it’s the best thing that ever happens for either of us?” I ask. “Don’t we deserve to figure that out?”
He drags a padded hand down his face and groans. “Yeah, maybe, but you’ve put me in a shitty position. I can’t train both of you. There’s zero room for drama in my gym. One of you has to go, and you’re my baby sister…” His eyes gleam with emotion, and he touches my shoulder the same way he used to when he needed to reassure me as a kid. God, I hate how it fills me with warmth and dread at the same time. “I abandoned you once, and left you to fend for yourself. I won’t do that again. It has to be him.”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I fight the storm of emotions threatening to overwhelm me. My throat is tight and I can hardly speak. Dozens of thoughts fly through my mind. Seth thinks he’s doing the right thing, but he can’t kick Devon out of the gym. MMA is his life. It would break him. He doesn’t deserve that.
A sudden burst of anger heats my gut, and I get up in Seth’s face. Never mind that he’s twice my size. I know he won’t lay a finger on me.
“For fuck’s sake, you can’t be serious. I won’t let you get rid of him because he had the audacity to date me.”
His jaw firms. “It’s my gym, and the rules are there for a reason.”
At that moment, the door swings open and Devon strides in. The grin falls from his face as he catches sight of our expressions. Seth crosses his arms over his chest, glaring at Devon the same way he eyed every guy I ever so much as mentioned during high school—despite the fact I never actually dated any of them. I gulp as a montage of all the knockout punches I’ve seen him throw plays through my mind in slow motion.
“Do you usually let your girlfriends do the heavy lifting for you?” he snaps across the space.
Devon drops his bag and makes his way toward us. “She wanted to talk to you first.” He scans me as though checking I’m all right, then slings his arm around my waist and stands staunchly beside me. “You good, babe?”
I nod. “I was just explaining to Seth why he doesn’t need to kick either of us out.”
Devon’s face blanches. “Come on, man, we’re all professionals here. Surely, there’s no need for that.”
I hate this. Hate the tension between them that never used to exist. I put it there.
“You broke the fucking rules.” Seth’s voice rises and his nostrils flare. “I warned all of you not to touch my sister.”
Devon’s arm tightens around me, but I resist the urge to melt into him and let him take care of this mess for me. It’s every bit as much my fault as his, if not more. I’m the one who’s new here, after all.
“She means everything to me,” Devon says.
I glance at him, the words taking me by surprise. “I do?”
He smiles softly. “Yeah, you do.”
I turn back in time to see my brother’s lips pinch together. He looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, but you must remember what it feels like to be with someone and have it just click. You and Ashlin were inseparable from the start.”
Bad idea. At the mention of his failed marriage, his eyes narrow, his jaw clenches, then he pinches the bridge of his nose and exhales slowly.
“You both need to leave.”
Shit. This just got real. “But—”
“No buts.” He gestures at the exit. “I need to think, and you need to give me space to get my head around this. In the meantime, figure out if whatever this is”—he waves his hand back and forth between us—“is worth losing your place here.”
I want to argue, but I can tell from the set of his jaw that he isn’t willing to hear it, so Devon and I collect our things and leave, because we don’t really have a choice.
But he’ll calm down and come around. Won’t he?
ChapterSeventeen
Devon
Holy fuck. My life just imploded.
