“The firm,” I suggested. “You were both working for Dad’s firm at the same time.”

  “Laney,” Kellen repeated, still staring at her. Glaring.

  I took Kellen’s elbow gently in my hand. “Maybe we should go outside.”

  “You know, don’t you?” Max asked Kellen. It was the first time all day that I’d seen him without a smile and the transformation was staggering. He looked pale. Afraid but bold as he stepped closer to the man beside me. “You remember her telling you.”

  Kellen sized him up. “It was you?”

  “Yeah.” Max swallowed thickly. “Yeah, it was me. She cheated on you with me.”

  Kellen swiped his hand over his mouth roughly. “Son of a—“

  “It doesn’t matter anymore,” Laney told him scathingly. “Just drop it.”

  Max held up his hand to her, begging her to stop. “No, it does. It matters. Even if you don’t still matter to him, this matters to me.” He looked at Kellen nervously, but he held his ground only three feet away. “I’m not an asshole. I swear. I know you don’t think that’s true because right now all I am to you is the guy who seduced your fiancé, but that’s not like me. I mean, look at me and look at you. How the hell did I manage to get her, right?”

  Kellen glanced at Laney. “I can think of a way.”

  “Kellen,” I mumbled in warning.

  “She came in one afternoon to have lunch with Dan,” Max explained. “He was on the phone, I was in the office waiting for him too, so we sat down and started talking. We have nothing in common. Nothing. I’m a nerd. I like comic books and video games. I own a pair of ten sided dice. I had no business talking to someone like Laney, but we hit it off and it made no sense but I wasn’t dumb enough to fight it.”

  “You made me laugh,” Laney supplied quietly. “I hadn’t laughed in a really long time.”

  Max smiled at her briefly before turning back to Kellen. “I loved her and you didn’t. You had her and you didn’t want anything to do with her and that pissed me off. I saw you around the office and so many times I wanted to tell you how I felt about her and tell you to let her go, but I didn’t exactly have a lot of moral high ground to stand on so I kept my mouth shut. But I didn’t stop loving her and I didn’t stop sleeping with her and I’ve wanted to face you. To admit that I did a dick thing going after another guy’s girl and I wanted to tell you how sorry I am.”

  Kellen looked at him for a long time, his face blank. Finally he shook his head. “Laney’s right. This shit doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “It does, though.”

  “No. If I want her to forgive Jenna, and I do,” he said pointedly, turning his eyes briefly to Laney, “then I gotta let this go. Forget it, man. It’s done.”

  Max looked lost, almost sad. He turned his eyes to the ground, shaking his head. “I can’t forget it. It’s been eating away at me for months.”

  “I know the feeling,” I muttered under my breath.

  Kellen looked at me but I turned my face away, not willing to let him see the hurt that still hid there. The hurt I inflicted on myself every day because of what we’d done. Because of what I had done.

  The same hurt that Max wore now.

  He sighed heavily. “Look, don’t beat yourself up over it, Max. Laney and I weren’t anything worth getting mad over. If we’d been solid you wouldn’t have been able to turn her head. Not easily.”

  “Kellen never cared,” Laney added. “He didn’t even ask your name when I first told him about you. He stayed with me for weeks after I told him I’d cheated on him, and then he only asked who you were so he had a reason to leave me for Jenna.”

  “I didn’t need a reason, Laney. You were reason enough on your own.”

  She glared at him. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means you’re a pain in the ass.”

  “Oh good,” I whispered, glancing around the room. So far no one was paying attention.

  “Hey,” Max warned. “Easy.”

  “You are such a dick, Kellen,” Laney hissed. “You wanted to sleep with my sister the entire time we were together and you’re giving me shit?”

  “I loved her the entire time we were together. Being with you felt more like I was cheating on her than anything else. I hated every goddamn second of it.”

  Laney sneered at him. “That’s not what your orgasms said.”

  “Jesus, Laney,” I snapped.

  “What can I say?” Kellen asked her coldly. “You’re good at pushing buttons and you pushed all of the right ones. Like a pro.”

  Laney gasped. I sighed.

  Max punched Kellen in the face.

  The world screeched to a deafening halt. Laney held her hand over her mouth, her eyes round with shock. Max looked down at his fist as though he didn’t recognize it; didn’t understand his own body. I stared at Kellen, watching his hands, waiting for one to fly. It was instinct for him. It was the fighter inside, the kid from the streets. He didn’t take hits without dishing them out.

  And yet he stood perfectly still, a red welt forming on the side of his face.

  “I—I’m—“ Max stuttered.

  “Don’t,” Kellen commanded.

  I licked my lips nervously. “Kellen?”

  “It’s fine, Jenna. Everything is fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  He looked at me, the animal in his eyes, barely contained.

  That look made me shiver.

  “Okay, I think we should get out of here,” I said quietly. “Congratulations, you two, we’re very happy for—“

  “Hit me back,” Max demanded.

  I shook my head emphatically. “You don’t want that.”

  “Max, no,” Laney pleaded, taking his arm.

  I was surprised when he shrugged her off. He stood in front of Kellen, the warmth in his eyes burning bright. “You have to hit me. I already feel guilty about everything else and now this. I can’t handle that. I need you to hit me back.”

  “Couldn’t hurt,” Kellen growled quietly.

  “Oh, it could.” I tugged on Kellen’s arm, bringing his eyes to mine. “You could seriously mess him up.”

  “It’s only one punch.”

  “You’ve KOed a guy with one hit.”

  “He’s done what?” Max asked.

  Kellen looked Max up and down again before turning back to me. “I’ll go easy on him.”

  “You don’t want to do this,” I protested, but I knew better. I knew he did. I knew the animal did, the kid from the street did, the boxer in the ring did. They all needed to do it because Kellen was not the type to let a hit go unanswered. He wasn’t wired that way.

  “We should go out back,” Max suggested. “People are starting to stare.”

  Kellen nodded, glancing around the room of elegantly dressed party guests and crystal wine glasses. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

  I watched them walk away, out the back door toward the yard and the ocean view. They strode together side by side, only a foot between them like friends. Friends who were going to punch each other’s faces in.

  I sighed, heading for the kitchen. Laney followed close on my heels.

  “You can’t let him hit him,” she insisted angrily.

  “Max hit him first.”

  “Jenna!”

  “Laney, I think you know as well as I do that I can’t make Kellen do or not do anything. No one can. Why don’t you convince Max to ask Kellen not to hit him?”

  “Because he won’t listen.”

  “Lot of that going around.” I yanked open the fridge and pulled out two tall brown bottles. I didn’t care what they tasted like. What mattered was that they were cold.

  I offered one to Laney. She looked down at it like it was dog shit.

  “Not a great time for me to be drinking, Jenna.”

  “It’s not for you. It’s for Max. He’s gonna need it for his face.”

  She took it from me with a frown. “What’s the other one for?”

  “Kellen,” I told her, heading out the door to the backyard. “He’s gonna need it for his hand.”

  Laney and I stood on the patio outside the kitchen watching the boys. The rest of the party stayed inside, oblivious to what was going on.

  The boys talked for a second, no clue what about. At one point Max looked over his shoulder and pointed out to sea. Kellen nodded, his eyes on the distant spot. Then Max squared his shoulders, took two visibly deep breathes, and nodded his head jerkily.

  Kellen swung immediately.

  To the surprise of no one, he used his right hand.

  I sighed with relief when his fist connected, glad it was over, but then I was on the lawn and heading toward him at nearly a sprint.

  “Here,” I said, holding out the ice cold beer. “Put it on your knuckles.”

  He held out his hand to me and I did it for him, pressing his large palm against my smaller one. His skin was already red but I knew the real trouble was invisible. It lay on the inside where no one could see it, not unless you were looking in his eyes. They spoke volumes of the pain going on in his body.

  “You okay?” I asked quietly.

  “It hurts like hell,” he breathed through gritted teeth. “I haven’t hit bare knuckles with it since the accident.”

  “Why’d you do it? Why didn’t you use your left hand? It wouldn’t have hurt as much.”

  “Because it was going to hurt him.”

  “That was the point, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah, but it doesn’t feel right putting a hurt on someone that you’re not willing to take. Everything comes with consequences.”

  I grinned despite my disgust with the entire thing. “You get so Yoda sometimes.”

  “You’re a freaking animal, Kellen!” Laney shouted at him.

  I turned to see her wrap her arms around Max where he’d fallen back on his ass on the grass, his face a swelling mass of red on the left side. He touched it gingerly, flexing his jaw.

  “I went easy on him,” Kellen promised her.

  “Jesus, if that was easy I don’t want to know what hard feels like,” Max joked with a weak chuckle.

  “You’ve never taken a punch before?”

  “Never had a reason to. Never thrown one before either. Usually everybody loves me.”

  Kellen took hold of the beer to step around me and offer his left hand to Max. “I’m never going to love you but I hope that’s the last time I have a reason to hit you. I feel a little bad about it.”

  “Don’t,” Max grunted, taking Kellen’s hand and letting him help him up. He turned and helped Laney up in return. “I asked for it. Literally and metaphorically.” He flexed his jaw again. “You’re going to have to show me how to throw a hit like that, though. I won’t be so scared the next time I’m walking through the parking garage in the middle of the night.”

  Kellen grinned. “It’s like golfing. It’s all in the hips.”

  “Is it really?”

  “No. It’s in your head. It’s what’s in your gut. I’ll show you, man. You’ll see.”

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  Kellen clapped him on the shoulder and they walked back toward the house, one with a cold beer pressed to his face and the other with a bottle cooling his knuckles. They left Laney and I behind, and we stood there on the lawn staring after them in amazement.

  “I guess that’s one way to deal with it,” I muttered.

  “And here I spent months resenting you. I didn’t know punching you was an option.”

  “If only we’d known. I would have taken it. Better to get hit in the face than live with a year of guilt.”

  “I could do it now if you want.”

  I held up my hand, warding her off. “I’m good. Maybe next time we have a huge fight.”

  “God, I hope we don’t have a next time,” she groaned.

  I smiled wrapping my arm around her shoulder and leaning my head against hers. “We’re sisters, Laney. There will always be a next time.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Kellen

  I prowled the outside of the ring, circling him slowly. He was tired. I could see it in his arms. Too many hits thrown but unconnected. I could see it in his legs. Too many twists and turns, pivots and spins trying to follow me around. He wasn’t fit enough for this and the fact that he made it this far surprised me. It kind of annoyed me. I wouldn’t be facing off with a powderpuff in Las Vegas. I needed the practice with tough fighters, practice that this guy was supposed to supply, but here he was letting me down. Letting me win.

  The animal growled in my chest, thrashing against my ribs. He begged to be let out. To run. To chase and kill, but there was no prey to be found. Not in the ring.

  I was acutely aware of Jenna standing in jeans and a tank top, the warmth of spring bringing her skin out to see. To touch. To taste. To chase. I remembered what it was like to love her on the cliff in Ireland. On the couch in her apartment. The bathroom of mine. We had sex more frequently now and it wasn’t always perfect, sometimes I couldn’t quite make it work, but the majority of the time I was in it. I was with her and present and it was the sexiest thing I’d ever known. Looking down into her eyes and throwing myself into the moment head first, diving into her body and soul were the best moments of my life. I craved them like an addict. I craved her like a starved beast. Sweet, soft skin, mewling cries, long neck and throbbing pulse.

  And just like that I was semi-hard in the ring.

  That was new.

  I lunged at my opponent, yanking my focus back to the bout. He stumbled sideways trying to dodge me and I took full advantage, laying into him with my left hand. I saved my right. I’d need it as healed as it could be in Vegas, because make no mistake, I was going to the championship in Las Vegas. The last three hits I landed on the guy at the end of the bout solidified that fact.

  They also drained the energy in my limbs.

  All of them.

  “Yes!” Jenna shouted, jumping up and down at the edge of the ring.

  She still showed the same excitement at my matches that she did the first time she came to watch me fight when she was only thirteen. When she’d stood with her dad by the ropes, her hands pressed to her lips holding in screams of joy and anger depending on my state. She’d lost her shit when I won, so proud and so happy, spurring a new joy in me that I hadn’t had since I was a kid. A love of the sport lost in the anger that’d settled in my soul. She shook the anger up, blew it away, and nestled in its place. Peaceful and perfect.

  “And that’s Vegas,” she sang, celebrating before the results were announced.

  I didn’t care. It was unsportsmanlike but Tim and I both ignored protocol, smiling at her as she enjoyed the win. Callum was behind her, his arms crossed over his chest, a grin on his face and Sam by his side. She didn’t look as impressed by all of this as they did, but she waved and gave me a thumbs up with a semblance of enthusiasm.

  “The winner of the bout and moving on to the championship match in Las Vegas, Nevada by five points…” the announcer bellowed to the entire gym, “Kellen Coulter! Congratulations!”

  I didn’t bother telling them they’d miscounted. Instead I nodded, bumped gloves with the loser, waved to the room, and jumped down from the ring, my arms in search of Jenna.

  She threw herself against me the second my feet landed, ready and always waiting. I whispered in her ear all the things I’d been thinking during the fight and she giggled against my neck, burying her face in the sweat and heat of my body. Her skin against mine and her voice in my ear begging me to tell her more nearly made me indecent. I put distance between us, gave her a promising kiss, and headed for the showers.

  The other guy must have left after the bout without a shower because I was alone in the echoing tile room. Just me and the still unfamiliar feel of a smile on my face for no other reason than I was happy. Simply and comfortably happy.

  “I think I’m in love.”

  I didn’t turn. In fact I didn’t move. It was bad enough that Callum was seeing my wet, naked ass. I wasn’t about to show him my dick too.

  “Why are you in here?” I asked tiredly, my smile fading.

  “Because I need to talk to you about this.”

  “Can’t we talk about it when I’m not naked?”

  “What does it matter?”

  “Because you just came in here professing your love to your very nude friend in the men’s shower. I’m kind of scared right now.”

  “I’m not talking about you,” he spat. “Get over yourself, pretty boy. Not everything is about you.”

  “I didn’t say it was and I—you know what? Never mind. I’ll talk to you when I get out.”

  “I’m in love with Sam.”

  I let my head fall against the tile wall. I lifted it and banged it again gently. And again. “Why? Why are you doing this now?”

  “Because she’s out there and I can’t talk about it in front of her.”

  “Why not?” I asked, standing up straight. “Go tell her. She’d love to hear it.”

  He hesitated. “Do you really think so?”

  No. No, I did not think so because Jenna had told me repeatedly that what Sam wanted was a fling. Something fun and light, something Callum should have been able to deliver on considering he took absolutely nothing seriously, but now here we were in the most uncomfortable of places talking about his feelings. Deep, reverent feelings.

  I hated him so damn much right then.

  “I wouldn’t tell her that, man,” I told him evasively. I could have gone into the why but I didn’t because it wasn’t my business. None of this was my business, just like my shower and my naked body wasn’t Callum’s business.

  “You don’t think I should?”

  “No.”

  He paused. I waited, still motionless. Still annoyed as hell. “I think I’m gonna tell her.”

  “That’s a choice.”

  “We haven’t had sex yet.”

  “That’s… okay. Great. Sorry to hear it. Can you go now?”

  “Do you think it’s too soon to be in love with her if we’ve only been dating a month?”

  “Yes.”

  He paused again. “Seriously?”