Page 24 of Green Flag (StormSprint #2)

“Twenty seconds left,” he said, but as I got into the moment, the danger between the two fighters, I felt his gaze on me.

“Rounds over,” he said. “Who do you think won?”

“Red bottoms,” I said. “Definitely not black. He looks like he’s about to pass out.”

“Red bottoms,” he repeated with a laugh. “Why?”

“He just broke the other guy’s nose,” I said in disbelief.

“It was the only hit he landed.”

“And a bloody good one.”

I felt him shrug behind me. “It doesn’t always work that way. Tyler dominated. One nasty jab isn’t enough to win a round. Augustin didn’t do as well as I expected; his aim wasn’t as accurate.”

“Tyler is the one you’re meant to fight at some point?”

He nodded, mouth on my hair. “Next round.”

“Luca!”

But he smirked and I knew then that he was biding his time. The round was just as savage and when I flinched as legs were kicked and thrown out beneath them, Luca squeezed my sides.

“Who won that one?”

“Tyler, AKA Mr Black Shorts,” I said confidently. “He, as you said, dominated.”

“Good girl,” he said and I melted further into his side, unsure if I wanted to use the break to talk or tear his shorts off. “I didn’t think I’d like this. But it’s actually really entertaining.”

“It is.”

“Though I don’t think I’d like to see you fight.”

His attention remained on the coaches talking to their fighters, and then he quietly said, “No, I don’t think you would.”

“I enjoy watching you train, though.”

In the last few weeks, I’d stolen glances at him in the gym, training with his PT, Marco, and Cesari. Some days, I spent way longer than I had time for, just hoping to run into him.

His chest rolled with a chuckle. “Of course you do. My top comes off pretty swiftly. And I know how much you love my top off.”

A burst of defensive laughter escaped me. “What an assumption!” But I ran the lightest touch against the seam of his shorts, along his toned stomach. I couldn’t help myself. “Can we talk now? Or is the next round about to start?”

“They’ll need to look at his eye a bit more,” he told me. When I paused my caress, he held my hand and guided me to continue. “Look at how it’s swelling up.”

He sounded in complete awe of the gross injury.

“I kissed you.”

All joy left his voice. “You did.”

“In front of everyone.”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“Now you’re my girlfriend ,” he said and shuffled to rest his back against the headboard, taking me with him. “And Arabella will be my grid girl again.”

“Didn’t doubt that would happen.” I hated the thought of it. I’d cherished our time on the track together. “Do you think I’ll be good enough to do it without your mighty guidance?”

“You never needed my guidance,” he said. “Never. You just need to remember to smile.”

I stopped stroking him. Instead, I sat up too.

The next round started, and though his eyes were focused on the hits, he said, “You did it because of Pedro, didn’t you? Actually, don’t answer. Let’s just make it clear that I know. He’s the one you were with when you were a teenager, right?”

A simpler time. When I’d been loved by him so ferociously that it felt like my chest could cave in. Even if it seemed wrong to everyone else.

“Right.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed and his eye twitched. “And, let’s just clarify, you’re twenty-four now.”

“Correct.”

A deep inhale. “And how old was he then?”

“Don’t start,” I said, pulling away further, but the damn duvet was under the mattress, keeping me prisoner.

“You look repulsed for someone who wants to make him jealous,” he said and I almost had to stop the angry blink.

“I don’t.”

He pulled his attention away from the screen and gave me an incredulous look, his brows sky high so that his silvery scar winked at me.

“He has something I need.”

“So I’ll get it for you.”

So bloody sweet.

“You can’t.” He looked back at the TV, and I knew I had to explain. “Everyone thinks he’s this bad guy,” I told him. “But he didn’t deal drugs and I was legal when we slept together.”

“Right…” he said, lips pursed in clear disagreement..

“The legal age of consent is sixteen in the UK,” I told him.

“Can’t say I’ve ever had to search that up because I’m not a fucking creep.”

He wasn’t a creep, I wanted to argue. He hadn’t planned it. He’d tried to fight it. We’d waited until I was legal. It wasn’t like that. But if it wasn’t like that… why was I still trying to convince people? Even myself?

Luca’s face stiffened, and then he glanced down at me before his eyes drifted, deep in thought.

“What is it?”

He cleared his throat and sat up, completely ignoring the fight now. “Would you say we slept together?”

I laughed, but it felt like more of a defensive reflex. “I mean we slept beside each other.”

“You know I don’t mean that.”

My swallow made his eyes soften slightly. “No.”

He was quiet, his attention no longer on me or the screen. For the first time in his presence, it didn’t feel like a comfortable silence. There was too much going on in his head.

“Did he touch you today?”

The question seemed to come from nowhere.

My startled attempt at lying only made him breathe in deeply.

“Where?”

“Just my arm,” I said, eyes unfocused when I tried to look at Luca’s comforting hand on my thigh. “It didn’t hurt.”

His posture didn’t soften. “Do you think you could defend yourself?”

Me? I might have thrown a good cowboy boot in my time, and I’d definitely spiked someone’s eye with a shot of tequila before, but physical violence? One to one?

“So that’s a no.”

“I had you there, didn’t I?” I asked, voice whimsical. “My knight in shining armor. A hero.”

“So you appreciate he’s the villain?”

“He’s done his time,” I defended and our attention was taken by the gasp from the TV. Red shorts had black shorts on the floor, straddling his back, holding his arm captive at an awkward angle.

The referee got down beside them, bashing his fist on the floor. Somehow, black shorts managed to twist his way out and gave a nasty elbow to the ribs before the round was up.

“I don’t like the thought of him touching you.”

I turned in the restrictive sheets to lie on my front, facing him. “That’s the energy I want.”

“The energy…?” He looked down with narrowed, suspicious eyes. “What?”

“For our fake relationship,” I said cheerfully. “You want to piss off my dad, and, hey, so do I.”

“And you want Pedro’s attention,” he guessed. “And this is a way you want to do it.”

“I don’t want his attention. I want his… information. His mind works in odd ways. Seeing I’ve moved on would make him more likely to give me what I want. And it would mean we get to spend time together. You have to admit, we have chemistry, Luca Mendes.”

“I’m not encouraging your toxic relationship,” he muttered.

“Who said I want to be in a relationship with him?” I asked. “Not at all.”

His head was spinning. He nearly broke it clean off with how his head flew back. “Everly, you make no sense.”

I shrugged. “You don’t have to worry about me. I want nothing from him but information. I’m not the same girl I was. Especially not when it comes to relationships.”

“I’m not really a relationship kind of guy,” he confessed. “I’ve never had one and never seen one that’s been healthy or worked out or…”

“It won’t be real,” I said, brushing his shoulder as his thoughts seemed to spiral. “And we’ll be in it together. Open communication all the way.”

He didn’t react, glassy eyes looking at the fight.

“I can ensure all your needs are met if that’s what you’re worried about,” I laughed. God, I wanted to fulfill those needs now as I shuffled closer to him, hand back on his stomach. “My deal still stands.”

There was a silence while I held my breath, ready to tear his clothes off, prepared for rejection.

“Other women aren’t the worry,” he said and shook his head. “And this is already complicated. I don’t think adding sex into the equation would be helpful.”

I tried not to let that sting but chewed on my bottom lip as I nodded.

He raised his hands in defence. “You want this to happen; I have some conditions myself.”

“Okay…”

“Absolutely no kissing. Not like what we just did. No declarations of love. Nothing that is too obvious unless it’s prearranged between us and Livie. Less is more. And you will not meet up with that piece of fucking scum alone for your information.”

“Is that all?”

“No,” he said as his focus went back to the TV. “You get some self-defence classes too. If he touches you without your permission and I’m not there… I want him on the ground before I do get there.”