Page 11 of Deviant Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 4)

EMMIE

“Harder,” Xander barks.

My chest heaves as I stand before him, taking orders like a little bitch. Although, if I’m going to take orders from anyone, then I’m happy for it to be him, because, man, he is fucking fine.

After fight night, I thought he’d laugh me out of the compound when I asked if he’d train me. I’d heard rumours around the clubhouse that he was a hotshot in The Circuit, but seeing as my pops and uncle had flat-out banned any of their brothers from inviting me to a fight, I was yet to see him in action.

The second I did, I knew I would do whatever it took to get myself in a ring with him. To fight, of course. Although, I’d be hard-pressed to say no to any other kind of training he might be up for.

Shame he friend-zoned me from the moment he discovered who I was related to.

Apparently, fucking your prez’s granddaughter comes with a life sentence, and Xander is taking that threat seriously, goddamn it.

Pulling my arm back, I try again, slamming my fists into the foam pad things he holds up for me.

My entire body is covered in a sheen of sweat and I bounce on the balls of my feet, throwing punch after punch, imagining the red thing before me is Theo’s face.Images of him flirting with Sloane in the library at lunch fill my mind. She was lapping up his attention, running her hand up his arm, brushing his hair back from his brow just like I’d imagined doing myself in the car park this morning.

Damn it.

“One more. Give it to me.”

“Argh,” I scream. Putting my entire weight behind it, I launch myself at Xander.

“Yes, Emmie,” he praises. “You’ll be taking my space in the ring in no time,” he says, dropping the pads and grabbing the bottles of water beside us. But before his fingers even reach them, a round of applause sounds out from behind me.

Spinning around, I come face to face with two guys who make me groan out loud.

“Looking good, Princess Emmie,” Nico says as both he and Alex take a leisurely stroll around my body.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

Alex chuckles, finally finding my eyes once more.

“I think the bigger question is what are you doing here, shorty?”

“What the fuck does it look like?” I hiss, holding my hands out to my sides, and as if I’ve given them permission to perv on me, their eyes drop once more, taking in my sports bra and shorts.

Great.

“Thanks,” I mutter to Xander when the bottle of water he was getting for me hits my fingers.

“Did you guys need anything?” he sneers at Nico and Alex over my shoulder. “We’re in the middle of something.”

Raising his arm, Nico scrubs his hand down his face.

“We gotta go talk to Mick. Please continue.”

The smug as fuck look on his face should really have clued me in to what he was going to do, but as they walk off toward the office at the back of the boxing gym where all the guys train, my only reaction is to breathe a sigh of relief. A mistake, I realise not thirty minutes later.

“Oh, give me fucking strength,” I mutter as I watch a familiar figure stalk in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of one-way glass that looks out over the car park.

Xander uses my moment of distraction to his benefit, and only a second later, my feet disappear from beneath me and all the breath rips from my lungs as my back collides with the soft mat.

He straddles me, pinning my arms above my head. I’m not entirely sure it’s an official move, but it sure gets the attention of our new spectator.

“See what happens when you get distracted.” Xander winks, although the annoying fuck makes no move to get off me.

I thrash beneath him, but his hold only gets tighter.