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Tina

I t’s official, I’ve gone and lost my damn mind. The sex at the UFC fight and office was one thing, but this time we had an audience.

Dustin enters the shower gloriously naked. He steps in close, smashing my chest with his until my back hits the tile. He leans under the spray of water over my shoulder, hissing as it hits his brutalized face.

Because I’m having trouble coming to grips with what happened and my part in it, I lay the blame at his feet. “I can’t believe you made me do that.” I regret saying it when his body turns to stone.

“ Made you—?” He cuts himself off with a shake of his head, jaw ticking.

“I know we have a deal, but…”

“Right,” he says, scoffing. “The deal .” He fills his mouth with water and spits at our feet. “You’ve gotten too good at this.” With a detachment I haven’t seen since the beginning of all of this, he moves me aside. He grabs the soap from the built-in dish and begins to wash himself with quick, efficient swipes of his hands.

It’s not my nakedness making me feel exposed, it’s the accusation in his tone that hits its target. “Good at what?”

“Lying to yourself, mouse .”

I’m “mouse” again, I notice with a pinch in my chest.

He shuts off the water and starts toweling off. “You and I both know I didn’t do anything you didn’t want.” The towel gets tossed into a bin. Coming towards me with a clean one, he begins drying me next, his jerking movements rocking me back and forth. I almost lose my balance a few times, but he doesn’t seem to care. His touch is miles apart from earlier. This is cold, a means to an end.

My towel joins his before he walks off, tight butt flexing with each step. I’m reminded of our flight together, how I imagined what he’d look like under his clothes. I never would’ve thought we’d be here. Has it only been weeks? Why does everything with Dustin seem like a lifetime ago?

With nothing else to do, I follow.

Dustin’s back at his locker, pulling on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. Tucker is nowhere in sight, thank God, because like my part in all of this, I’m not ready to face him yet either.

Dustin doesn’t speak again until I’m fully dressed. He stands in front of me, eyes hard and locked on mine. “I’ve fucked a lot of women… no, look at me,” he says when I drop my gaze. He holds me prisoner with a thumb and forefinger on my chin. “None of them have come as hard as you just did. I’m good at reading cues, and you, my little mouse, loved every fucking minute of what we did.” He storms out, leaving me standing there with his words echoing in the room.

He’s right. I did love it. I’m dangerously close to loving him . It’s easy to admit the truth to myself, but can I risk opening up to someone again?

You’d never know an hour ago the gym was packed with people. Now, only a skeleton clean-up crew remains. They’re hard at work sweeping up trash and breaking down the bleachers. When I don’t see Dustin or Rosa, I head for the office.

Through the crack in the door, I can see Christian facing off with Lucius. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

“The same thing I’ve been thinking for the past six years,” Lucius says, calm and controlled, which seems to piss Christian off even more.

“Which is what exactly?”

Lucius shrugs. “Protect Rosa.”

“How?” Christian throws his hands out. “By bringing the lamb to slaughter with a big fucking white bow around her neck?”

“Look, man, you’re going to have to trust I know what I’m doing.”

“Do I have a choice?”

Lucius moves out of view and I strain forward to hear his reply. “Not in this.”

“If you’re looking for Dustin, I saw him leave a few minutes ago,” a man says behind me.

Caught spying, I spin around to find the one person I was hoping to avoid. Preferably for the rest of my life.

Tucker is leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the door. His casual pose is like the one he struck in the locker room earlier. It’s worse now, though, because I’m not in a sex fog and my skirt isn’t covering my face. Nope, I’m totally lucid.

He hasn’t moved, but he seems closer when he says, “It’s okay, Tina. It wasn’t anything I haven’t seen before. Anytime you want a repeat, let me know.”

“Okay.” Okay? Flustered, I turn on my heel and scurry away with his soft chuckle chasing me. Ugh. I need a drink, and I know who’d be happy to join me.

I’m exiting the gym just as Rosa’s sultry laugh reaches my ears. Some guy has her pressed against the building’s exterior with an arm braced above her head. His hair shields his face, but her expression is flirty, not fearful, so I hang back and study the guy. His hand flexes by his side like he’s struggling to not pounce on his prey. Under his white T-shirt, his muscles look hard-earned, less indulging and more “fighting for his next meal” kind of strength. One thing I’ve learned about Rosa is she’s good at playing the damsel when it suits her. She’s no lamb, though. She’s the one usually pulling the wool over your eyes. If this is one of her test subjects, though, the guy is failing miserably. He looks two seconds from lunging at her.

Torn between being impressed and a little nervous for her, I watch as she runs one of her fingernails down the center of his chest. He tucks his chin, watching the digit’s descent. His voice when he speaks is rough, like he’s smoked four packs a day for years, and it’s laced with the same accent as Lucius, Rosa, and Raul. “Come home with me, hermosa .”

“What for?” Rosa’s smirk is flirty. Confident.

He hums and in a bold move runs his knuckles down her white top, pausing over her nipple before dropping away. “One of these days, I’m gonna dirty you up, angel face.”

Rosa still seems completely relaxed, but something about the guy makes me nervous. This may be one wall she can’t climb. Just as I’m thinking the thought, two things happen—he reaches back and adjusts what looks like a weapon at the small of his back, and the gym’s door swings open behind me.

Lucius steps out of the gym looking like a storm cloud ready to rain hellfire. When the other man straightens but stays close to Rosa, Lucius growls low in his throat and takes a menacing step closer.

The two men seem to have a conversation without one word being uttered.

I’m questioning everything when a gold Chevy Impala rolls into the lot. A man I don’t recognize winks at me through the windshield and I shiver. He starts to exit the vehicle but halts when Rosa’s guy holds up a hand. Backing away from Rosa, he climbs into the passenger side. Her body deflates, like the energy between them was the only thing holding her up.

He eyes Lucius through the open window. “Clock’s ticking.” Turning his focus to Rosa again, he says, “See you soon, angel face.”