Page 18

It had been a few days since Cruz had fucked me on the couch, but thanks to my platinum pussy as Gina would put it, I had convinced Cruz to teach me at least three self-defense classes. Today was the second one.

As usual, the gym that Cruz co-owned with Mekhi smelled like sweat and rubber, the air thick with the scent of iron and adrenaline.

The fluorescent lights were buzzing overhead, and the place was pretty quiet.

The gym was closing down and almost everyone had gone home except the two of us.

Titan and Storm were on their way since Cruz teased them that they were missin’ out.

While Storm had taken the bait, it didn’t take long for Titan to say he was coming, too.

I hadn’t fucked all three of them yet, but I liked that they watched us.

They’d did so again last night.

I swallowed hard as Cruz circled me, his predatory gaze tracking my every move.

Hell, knowing Cruz, he was tracking my every breath, too.

He was stripped down to a short-sleeved black compression shirt and black basketball shorts, his arms and legs inked with dark, intricate tattoos, with the ones on his neck being what stood out most without the collar of a dress shirt or suit jacket covering him up.

With years of knowing him, I understood that his body was a map of his life, with some tattoos representing his family, others violence, a couple for his brotherhood, and one that I had never seen before and hadn’t gotten the chance to ask him about.

They were all beautifully intense, each one unique in its design.

And right now, all that intensity was focused on me.

“Feet apart. Shoulders loose,” he instructed, his deep voice edged with danger. “If you hesitate, you die. Stay focused, and you’ll get a reward.”

His words sent a shiver down my spine, but I obeyed. He moved in at lightning speed, gripping my wrist before I could react. A gasp ripped from my throat as he wrenched my arm behind me, pressing my body against his.

“You’re too slow,” he murmured, his breath hot against my ear. “ Again .”

I hated how my body reacted to him, but only because it gave him the upper hand. The fire he lit in my veins, and the way my stomach clenched whenever he was in my vicinity.

Then, whenever I thought about him fucking me to sleep, the sharp ache between my thighs was undeniable.

This was supposed to be a self-defense lesson, but nothing about this felt safe.

Not when his fingers lingered on my skin.

Not when he kept me pinned for just a second too long.

And definitely not when his voice dared me to fight back.

“You’re enjoying this a little too much” I accused, my voice shaking as I twisted free from his grasp.

Cruz wiggled his eyebrows. “Maybe.”

Asshole.

I lunged for him, aiming for his throat like he’d taught me. He deflected effortlessly, his grip closing around my throat instead as his body pressed mine into the nearest wall, my pulse pounding against his hand.

“You want to be stronger?” His gruff voice dropped to an intimate mutter. “Then stop being afraid to really fight me.”

My breath hitched at the truth of his accusation. He’s right . But fear could be a good thing, and right now, it wasn’t the only thing swarming in my stomach.

His rich brown eyes flicked down to my parted lips like he already owned me. The scary thing was, I didn’t hate that he might be right.

“Try again,” he whispered.

I grabbed his wrist, using his own weight to pivot and twist him off me. But the second I broke free, he retaliated, shoving me back until my spine collided with the mirror this time as it shook on the wall, but didn’t fall.

The air between us was thick with lust, my focus no longer on fighting and only on Cruz.

“Did you sign the consent form?” he asked, flicking his tongue over my earlobe, the silver of his tongue clanking with silver stubs in my ear.

“I read your terms,” I admitted, although he knew damn well I had since I asked him a few questions the next day after I got it. “But I wonder how bad you’ll punish me if I take too long to sign.” My tone was teasing, and the way he grunted in my ear let me know that he liked it.

“Eres peligrosa, mujer,” he said in Spanish, licking my neck as he did so. It was like he couldn’t get enough of dragging his tongue over my skin.

My brain short-circuited for a minute because it wasn’t often that he spoke to me in Spanish. But when he did, the floodgates opened.

“What does that mean?”

“You’re dangerous, woman.” Then he grabbed my throat, pulled me to him, and kissed any response from my lips.

It wasn’t soft.

Was far from sweet.

And hungrier than our last kiss.

But just as delicious as it always was with him when he took my mouth raw with unhinged passion that was full of the same brutal energy that he put into everything he did. His hands fisted in my hair, tilting my head back as our tongues collided, prompting me to claw at his shirt desperately.

I couldn’t wait for him to see that I had pushed my fears and anxiety aside and finally stopped overthinking when I signed the consent form and placed it on his dresser earlier today.

My right leg was already lifting for him to grab it when a loud, shattering crack caused us to look out into the hall, noticing that the mirror in the space across from the room we were in had exploded.

Cruz’s energy shifted instantly as he shoved me behind him when another sound echoed through the building, that one more noticeable than the first one.

A gunshot.

“Don’t let go of me,” he ordered. “We’re too out in the open.”

The room we were in faced the front of the street, so the shots coming through the back room were coming from the alley.

My breath hitched and my heart slammed against my ribs as panic coiled in my throat.

The gym doors burst open, and there was more gunfire when two masked men wearing dark green started opening fire, chaos erupting around us.

It took a minute before I realized that Cruz had been joined by Mekhi, who still had his bookbag on his shoulders like he was headed out right when shit popped off.

In the cracked mirror, I watched as Cruz and Mekhi moved in unison taking out one man after the next, each shot a kill shot in the head.

Bodies were falling all around us, but it was like Cruz and Mekhi were tag-teaming who would take out which target without even using their words, proof that they did shit like this all the time.

After eight men were eliminated, Mekhi and Cruz gathered the guns of those they took out for more ammo, then Mekhi commanded that Cruz and I follow him into the room where the nutrition workshops were held.

I still felt like we were out in the open since both entrance doors into the room had been destroyed, but Cruz motioned for me to hide in a corner as he flipped several metal rectangular tables onto their sides to create a barricade between us and the doorways.

“Three more to your left,” Cruz alerted, as Mekhi started shooting at three gunmen from one doorway, while Cruz shot at four others through the opposite door.

My ears were ringing from the gunshots, as my vision split between watching both men and the glaring reality of what was happening around me.

My adrenaline and fear were on the guys at the moment, with Cruz and Mekhi being the soldiers who I hoped won this war because they were drastically outnumbered.

“Stay low!” Cruz yelled, tossing the gun he’d emptied to the side to use another one with more bullets as he and Mekhi continued to shoot. When I heard a familiar shout, I wanted to get up from my crouched position, but I didn’t want to distract Cruz and Mekhi.

Once the sound of gunshots stopped, I finally stood, relieved to see that Cruz and Mekhi were fine, and that Titan and Storm had indeed joined us.

“About fuckin’ time,” Cruz snarled, his voice a cross between relief and focus.

“Didn’t realize you were throwing a shoot-out party,” Storm teased. “Who’s crashing it?”

“Doesn’t fuckin’ matter,” Cruz growled. “They all die.”

“Damn,” Storm huffed. “I was really hoping I didn’t have to condone violence today.”

“He on his no-violence bullshit,” Titan explained. “Storm ain’t kill any of the muthafuckas we crossed paths with on the way in.”

“’Cause you had it,” Storm defended. “If you didn’t, I would have stepped in.”

Titan ignored him, telling us that, “There are more coming down the alley. Storm and I came through the side entrance when we heard everything pop off.”

“Some of them are coming from the second level too,” Mekhi added. “I took out three on the outdoor roof deck, but only after dem muthafuckas took out Phil.” His face flickered with sadness before he quickly masked it, his hardened look back in place.

“Fuck,” Cruz spat, tossing his hands up, his gun pointing to the ceiling as he did so. “Shit. Fuck.”

Mekhi briefly clasped one of Cruz’s shoulders, while Titan placed his hand on the other and Storm placed his on top of Titan’s.

I whimpered before I could help myself, rushing to hug Cruz’s waist. I had only just met Phil when I started coming with Cruz to the gym. But I knew Phil was close to Cruz and Mekhi and worked overnight security here and at the club.

Just as Titan had warned, the gym lights flickered and dimmed to almost darkness as a few more men stormed into the room across the hall, armed, masked, and moving with the kind of precision that didn’t seem like amateurs based off all the action movies I had watched.

Titan stepped in front of me, pointing his gun over Cruz’s shoulders since he had him by a couple inches, both men making me a Cruz & Titan sandwich that I would have enjoyed had I not been praying none of our people died.

My throat was dry as I took in the scene for what it was. This wasn’t a fair fight. This was a planned execution.

“Just breathe,” Titan encouraged. “We got you.”