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“Good. We’re almost there. Just a few more days and we’ll have this taken care of.”

“We’ve just opened the new building for Haven. I think now’s the perfect time to put the new security measures in place.” Knuckles exchanged a look with Gunnar who nodded.

“Haven’s currently empty.” Hannah tapped her finger absently on the table as she spoke. “I don’t have anyone in need at the moment. We can treat the next ten days as a dry run, of sorts, to see if there are any holes or blind spots in our security plans.”

“Sounds like you’ve got it all taken care of on your end,” Ethan said. “I’ll be in touch. Same as before, don’t leave the compound unless it’s absolutely necessary, Brielle. You either, Dane.”

Knuckles and Ethan exchanged a few more bits of information, but my attention was focused on Brielle. She sat with head down, and I wasn’t sure if she was sad, scared, or just so enraged that Sutton had terrorized her as much as he had from behind the scenes. I kind of thought, maybe, it was all of the above.

Chapter Thirteen

Brielle

I really thought the Kiss of Death clubhouse gym would smell like sweat and dirty socks and be grungy and more… male. Instead, the large room inside the finished warehouse had big windows along two sides, professionally installed mats, and a few exercise machines. The only thing not a surprise was the abundance of free weights. Guys loved their free weights.

Hannah had me on the mat early in the afternoon, her own sweats hanging loose on her tight, compact frame, hair pulled back so tight it had to hurt. “I always tell the women I teach, the first thing you do is assess if you can run. Always run if you have the choice. Also, if you have to fight, you don’t need to win. You need to get free. Then you run.”

Once the lesson started in earnest, I realized why Hannah was the one giving me lessons. The woman was a mini drill sergeant you enjoyed working for.

Hannah demonstrated on her own wrist, gripping it with the other hand. “Twist to your arm to put pressure against the thumb instead of the other four fingers.”

I made the same move she did and my wrist broke through the hand holding it. Right away, I noticed that, by doing the move on myself, I could see how to put pressure on someone’s thumb with just the force of my movement. Not effective by itself -- as Hannah proved when she was the one grabbing my wrist -- but it definitely helped me learn how to get the maximum desired effect with the least amount of effort.

“Good. Again.” When I said Hannah’s a drill sergeant, I wasn’t kidding. She had a way of making you want to continue even when you were worn the fuck out. She took me through several different arm and body grabs and how to break free until she was satisfied.

Then she called Dane over. He’d been leaning against the wall since we walked in, arms crossed, watching us intently. He stepped onto the mat. Six-four and solid muscle, the sleeves of his T-shirt strained over his powerful biceps. It struck me how much bigger than me he was, and how easy it would be for him to hurt me if he chose. Suddenly, all the reasons he should hate me flowed through my mind and I shivered.

“You practice on what you’re gonna face,” Hannah said. “Dane’s larger than Sutton, but Sutton is much larger than me.”

“Oh, boy.” I stared up at Dane, and he grinned back.

“Don’t worry,” he said with a wink. “I’ll take it easy on you. For a while.”

Hannah had me and Dane going through the same things she and I had. Of course, she’d been right. Practicing with Dane was way the fuck different than practicing on Hannah.

We worked for a couple of hours, breaking twice for water and for me to catch my breath. Dane seemed more amused at my attempts than anything, but, honestly, how the hell was I supposed to want to get away from a strong, sweaty man? Great. Now I was thinking about rough, sweaty man sex.

It didn’t take long for my body to turn to jelly. Not from the sexual tension either. Hannah refused to let us ease up. By the time we finished for the afternoon, I was exhausted. I’d also come to the conclusion that whoever came up with the phrase, “I hurt, but it’s a good hurt,” was a complete and utter moron. Pain is pain. It fucking hurts.

Dane had just helped me to my feet from a brief rest when Knight’s voice cut through from the doorway. “Guys, Sutton’s plane landed at eleven. Checked into the Omni downtown about an hour ago.”

I sucked in a breath, stepping closer to Dane. He reached for me, pulling me close but kept his gaze on Knight.

“What’s he doing?” Hannah moved to a bench along the wall where her gear sat. She pulled out her phone as she spoke.

Knight shook his head. “Not sure yet. I’m working on piecing together his itinerary. He’s not particularly careful about what he puts into his devices. I’ve got some contacts in that area I’m trying to get close enough to clone his phone.” He glanced at me. “It might be best if you stayed inside the compound until I can track him at least semi-reliably.”

Immediately, I shook my head. “No. I’m going Thursday.”

“Honey --” Dane shook his head, but I cut him off.

“No, Dane. I’ll do anything Knuckles, and Ethan and Lana tell me to, but I want my grandmother’s things. I won’t compromise on that.”

“I’ve already texted Knuckles,” Hannah said. “He wants us in Knight’s office in fifteen minutes.”

Dane stared hard at me. His jaw worked, but he said nothing. Instead, he tossed me a towel to dry off the sweat and a bottle of water.

After we’d both run through the shower and changed, we met Hannah and Knuckles outside the office. Hannah smiled and came with me inside, sitting on one side of me while Dane sat on the other.