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  As she drives forward, I grab her fist in my palm, the lack of power behind it making it far too easy to take hold and use her own momentum to twist her body around and wrench her arm up behind her back.

  Everly screams and stumbles as I pull it tightly and turn her body, pressing her front against the wall and push my chest up against her back. She’s breathing heavily, her mouth opens in shock and awe. I dip my head, my mouth grazing her ear.

  I push my hips forward holding her body against the wall, and she inhales sharply. “I may joke around a lot of the time, but when it comes to your safety, I take it very fucking seriously. You need to listen and learn before you throw a punch, because next time, it might be the difference between whether you get out of a situation alive or not.”

  She pushes back against me, but even with her strength and agility, I hold her still, and my body is solid and unmoving.

  “Why do you care so much about my so-called safety? Why did you offer to do this?”

  I laugh softly, my breath brushing past her ear. I feel her shiver as it makes my cock tingle, but I force it to the back of my mind.

  Head in the game—play time later.

  “Because I’m good at what I do. I’m fucking good at it actually. And I care about everyone on my team. I’d give my heart, soul, and my life for any one of them. Any day. That’s why.”

  There’s a few moments of silence where the only sound in the entire gym are the deep, intense breaths we’re taking, and they’re completely in sync. She’s surprised, most people are when they catch a glimpse of this side of me, a side where I wear my heart on my sleeve and let the passion take over. It’s something I keep buried deep, not many know it’s there because I keep my circle small.

  Suddenly, Everly lifts her foot and slams it down on top of mine. The pain is minimal, but I decide to give her this win and release her, taking a few steps back. She spins around, her back against the wall, her eyes watching me curiously.

  My stomach stirs, a sarcastic comment bubbling at the surface. I keep it down because, for some unknown reason, I just want this moment with her.

  The real me.

  “Okay, so teach me.”

  There it is.

  I can see the trust in her eyes now. I let her in, and she’s ready to listen.

  She lands each punch with precision, but she’s becoming slow and sloppy. She’s fit, but I’ve put her through her paces over the last couple of hours, and I can see it’s wearing thin now.

  “Keep going,” I growl as she continues to come at me, sweat dripping down the side of her temple. The determination on her face is admirable and sexy as fucking hell. “Too slow. Keep going,” I yell, trying to get that little bit more out of her, trying to really push her to the edge.

  I sweep my pad out, tapping her on the side of the head when she doesn’t move quickly enough. It stuns her for a second, and she bends over, bracing her hands on her knees, her body heavy and gasping for air. “Fuck… you,” she huffs out.

  “I thought you were an athlete?” I taunt with a wide grin. “Thought you had it in you to make it one minute more when everyone else was giving up.”

  I hear a deep growl, and suddenly she’s rushing at me, fists flying. It’s not the best technique, but her energy’s through the roof. Her hand slips from the pad and swings around, grazing my jaw.

  She pulls back, her eyes wide as though she can’t believe she’s hit me. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.”

  I start to laugh and shake my head. “Good left hook. We’ll make a fighter out of you yet. Time’s up.” I begin to pull my pads off my hands and head to the side of the gym to grab a drink of water.

  “I didn’t hurt you?” she asks, jogging up beside me.

  I snort. “You barely grazed me, Everly. If you’re gonna be part of this team, you’ll need to get it in your head that in this world you may need to hurt some people in order to survive, or to get your mission completed.”

  Her nose crinkles, and she purses her lips. I can tell that this is something she’s going to struggle with. Everly is a soft soul. She has a hard exterior, but inside she’s beautiful and untainted. This place has a unique way of pulling people under and destroying that part of you. I hope she’s strong enough to get through, but part of me also doesn’t want her to be changed in that way.

  “Hey, Luca?” I turn to face Everly as I skull water from my bottle, my eyebrow raised. She smiles softly. “Thanks… I mean, I know we’re going to be doing this often. But thanks for taking time out to teach me. I guess I didn’t really realize before how important this will be, but you’ve put it into perspective, and I appreciate that. And you’ve been really patient.” She laughs softly, and it’s like music to my ears.

  “Same time on Wednesday?” I ask, unable to keep the grin from climbing up my face as I grab my sweatshirt and walk toward her.

  “For sure,” she answers, her head bobbing enthusiastically.

  “Great. Now let’s hit the shower.” I tap her on the ass with my hand, my feet moving a little faster toward the door, expecting an object of some sort to be thrown at my head.

  “Annnddd he’s back,” she chuckles sarcastically behind me, but I can hear the amusement in her voice. “See you on Wednesday, pretty boy.”

  I laugh to myself as I head out and down the hallway, I’m meant to be meeting Kace in twenty minutes to head to the shooting range with the guys, and go over some new weapons with our weapons development team. I’m eager to go and blow up some major shit.

  My phone starts buzzing in the pocket of my sweatshirt, so I pull it out and look down at the screen. It’s an unknown number, but I know exactly who it is. They’ve been trying to get a hold of me for days, I’m not even sure how they got my number to be quite honest. I’ve been avoiding them, though, not wanting to hear the words myself or deal with the situation at hand. I need to suck it up and grow some balls, and right now after spending hours with Everly I’m feeling pretty damn ballsy.

  I hit answer on the phone and hold it to my ear. “Yeah?”

  “Is this Luca Devereaux?” a gruff voice asks on the other end.

  “What’s it to you?” I reply, and the man lets out a huff.

  “I’m Harry Parsons, the estate lawyer for Lee Anna Bellmont.”

  I shudder as my jaw wracks to the side just on hearing her name. I stop in the hall and lean against the wall taking a breath.

  “And?” I reply harshly.

  “Mrs. Bellmont has mentioned you in her will, and I will need to discuss the details with you. If you would like to—”

  “Give it to her other family,” I say coldly. “I don’t want a single fucking thing from the bitch.”

  “Her family has not contested that portion of the will, and her husband has agreed that her wishes for you to have what you’re owed should be honored,” Parsons explains. He sounds older, and it appears he doesn’t want to listen to me.

  I freeze on the spot. This is news to me. I had no idea they knew about me. Does that mean she cared enough to tell them about me? My brows furrow at my confusion as I notice Kace up ahead, waiting for me at the exit. He raises his eyebrow watching me. “They know about me?” I ask softly, almost afraid of the answer.

  “Yes, Mr. Devereaux.”

  My stomach churns as I pull the phone away and hang up, clenching my fist around it tightly in anger. Breathing harshly, I try to wrap my head around the news that her new family knew about me, but haven’t made contact. Rage rushes through me, and I can’t hold it in as I bring my hand up and hurtle my phone at the wall. It hits with a loud thud as Kace barrels down the hall toward me.

  “What the hell is your problem?” Kace asks, looking me up and down then glancing at the phone.

  “They knew about me. They fucking knew, Kace.” My head is spinning.

  Why did they never attempt to find me if I was important enough to leave shit to in a will? Important enough to leave part of her existence to. I lived most of my life without her, she’d
moved on. Got another family, lived another life, and now I find out they knew about me and didn’t bother to contact me for all these years. Sure, I’ve made something of my life, and I became someone despite her. But fuck! They never once reached out to me, never checked in on me, never fucking cared.

  My mother abandoned me and made a life for herself leaving me to rot. I shake my head trying not to think, but memories come on fast and heavy.

  “Lee Anna! I don’t want to have to tell you again. Clean this shit up,” Mommy’s boyfriend Kenneth screamed at her as I hid behind the wall shivering from all the yelling.

  “Sorry baby, you know Luca doesn’t mean it. He’s only eight, he doesn’t know how to clean up after himself.”

  “I don’t care. He’s a little fucking shit, and you’re not much fucking better.”

  A loud thump rang out through the room as I jumped at the noise. Mommy moaned, making me run around the archway of the wall to see Kenneth bending over Mommy as she huddled herself into a ball on the floor while he continued to scream at her. He raised his fist in the air threatening to punch Mommy. My body tensed in fear, so I ran, rushing in between Kenneth and my mommy, pushing Kenneth away.

  “Luca, go back to your room,” Mommy screamed, but I turned to Kenneth and glared at him.

  “Leave my mommy alone,” I yelled at him.

  Kenneth laughed a loud belly laugh. It sent a shudder down my spine as his hard, dark eyes looked down at me. “You’re a stupid little shit,” he grumbled as his hand reached out and slapped me hard across the face. The sting causing a pain so fierce to rip through my head that I fell to the ground, putting my arms out to break my fall. My wrist caught on the floor, and it snapped as I catapulted to the ground.

  I wailed out in pain at my obvious broken wrist as my mommy cried out moving toward me, but Kenneth lunged forward wrapping his hands around her neck. She fell against the wall and cried while clawing at his hands, as I cowered on the floor scrambling under the table.

  Kenneth finally let go of Mommy once she’d turned blue then he punched her in the eye, dropping her to the floor and laying a kick into her stomach.

  “You’re not even worth the jail time,” he spat in her face and walked off, storming out of the house as Mommy looked over at me seeming distant and cold.

  I felt bad that Mommy was angry at me for leaving my toy on the ground as I looked over at the one teddy on the floor as Kenneth slammed the door shut. I couldn’t help but wonder if Mommy would ever forgive me for making Kenneth do this to us.

  I knew Mommy was angry at me, she was avoiding me as she sat on the floor. My wrist really hurt. But I felt bad for leaving my teddy on the ground. It was the only one I had, but I didn’t mean to be messy. I moved out from under the table as I went to pick up the teddy and suddenly Mommy rushed to me, cuddling me tight. Her warmth embraced me, surrounded me with motherly love. I nuzzled into her as she wrapped her arms around me and she clasped at my wrist.

  “I’m so sorry, baby. Mommy didn’t mean for this to happen. It will get better. I promise. Mommy will make it better.”

  “Hey man, are you okay?” Kace asks, causing me to jump. I’m staring down where my hand is encasing my wrist, the one I broke. It’s aching, the pain surging through me as though the break is fresh. “Luca?” I look up into the eyes of my best friend, there’s concern there as he examines me.

  I clear my throat and shake out both my hands as I move to pick up my cell phone from the floor. It seems to be in one piece. “Yeah,” I answer. “Just had a moment... you know how it goes.”

  “Seemed like that was more than just a damn moment,” he huffs, unconvinced with my excuse.

  “Just leave it… okay?” I tell him, bumping his shoulder as I pass by. “Can we go blow some shit up now? I’m in the fucking mood.”

  Even as I walk away, I feel his worried gaze burning holes in my back. I want to tell him what’s going on, to share with him the depths of everything. We learned a long time ago that working as a team meant supporting each other, the weight always much easier to carry when it’s spread across all of our shoulders. But this isn’t their pain to bear, and I refuse to let any of them, even Kace, who knows a lot of what I’ve been through, shoulder my issues.

  I’ll sort it out.

  And I’ll do it my way.

  Tossing my bag against the wall, I make my way toward Hannah and the other girls. Cheerleading is my favorite thing in the entire world, I’ve been doing it since I was in kindergarten. I fell in love with the team atmosphere, the athleticism, and the fact that it pushed me to my limits even on the best days.

  I like to be pushed, it makes me feel uncomfortable and often like I want to be sick, but it gives me the most satisfaction. Success is not success unless you’ve earned it by giving everything you have, and that’s what cheerleading is for me.

  It’s pushing my body to its limits and then going that little bit further.

  It’s also what Luca has drawn out of me. He doesn’t let me get away with giving him average effort or bowing out when I feel like I can’t breathe. He keeps pushing, and afterward, I feel damn amazing.

  “Hey girl,” Hannah says excitedly as I sit down on the mat beside her, groaning when my muscles protest against the small movement. Hannah stops her stretch and looks at me in surprise. “Girl, are you getting old or something? It’s only been a couple days since we were here. You can’t be that out of shape.”

  I shake my head as I bend forward, pressing my forehead to my knee and chewing on my bottom lip as my quad muscles scream at me to stop. I can’t stop, though. I might be sore, but our coach is only going to ride me harder if she catches me slacking, so I just need to push through the pain. “I have this new…” I pause for a moment, trying to find the right words, “… personal trainer. And he’s a bit of a hardass,” I grumble, rolling my eyes to myself as I hear Luca’s voice in the back of my head, teasing and taunting me for thinking about his ass.

  “Ooo…” Hannah says, perking up and sitting taller. “He you say? What does he look like? Is he cute?”

  I snort, it’s super unladylike, but I don’t even care at this point. “Something like that…”

  Luca’s more than cute. He’s handsome, he’s sexy and those freaking muscles—I was pretty sure men like that only appeared on book covers and spent eight hours a day in the gym. Luca’s built, even more so than the guys on our cheerleading team, and they have to throw people in the air every other day. If I saw him walking down the street, there’s no doubt in my mind I’d look twice, probably even three times. Okay, who am I kidding, I’d be batting my eyelashes in hopes that he would come my way and ask me out.

  But with Luca, it isn’t quite like that, even though I’m sure he wishes it was.

  It’s his sarcasm and joking around that throws me off—it makes me bite back. I can’t stand it when people don’t take me seriously, whether it’s because I’m a girl, or because I don’t look like a ‘normal nerd,’ people are consistently judging me and making jokes about my abilities.

  That’s what I expected from Luca. But today I got to see more of who he really is, a different side of him. He’s passionate and strong, and he managed to push me harder in one lesson than any coach has managed to before.

  And I fucking loved it.

  “Um… earth to Everly.” Hannah laughs, pushing my shoulder and throwing me off balance. “What are you thinking about?”

  “Nothing,” I quickly answer but she raises her brows at me, apparently knowing better. I try to avoid eye contact but unfortunately for me, Hannah and I have been friends since pre-K, and she knows all my tells.

  “Don’t think you can fool me, sister,” she teases, looking obnoxiously delighted at this latest information. “You like him, don’t you.”

  I roll my body forward, ignoring the blatant accusation. “The personal trainer?” I scoff. “No. He’s an asshole.”

  “Sure. Maybe I should enroll with him,” she says casually blowing on her na
ils with a smirk. “I could use a good workout.”

  My body freezes, she’s got me, and she knows it. Even though I know there’s no way for her to actually get in touch with Luca, let alone get a training session with him, I can’t help but feel that little green monster creep up on me. “I will cut you.”

  Hannah laughs loud, knowing she’s caught me out.

  “Less chatting, more stretching,” our assistant coach, Peter, sings as he passes by, and we both instantly focus. The last thing I need is to be here late, running laps, because I haven’t hit a single tumble. And that’s precisely what will happen if I don’t focus.

  Some might say we were too old for cheerleading, or that it’s just one of those things you do in high school as some kind of extra-curricular sport, but there’s so much more to it than people realize. There’s competitions, huge competitions all over the world, where there’s no cut off in age.

  To me, cheerleading has always been more than just standing on the sideline of a sports game, yelling and screaming for the home team, or pumping up the crowd. Cheerleading is about being a member of a team, one single cog in a more substantial machine. Every single one of you has your part to play, and we all have to move in perfect sync with each other, or the machine breaks down.

  I have to rely on others, and others depend on me. We work together.

  That’s also one of the reasons I made the decision to join The Agency. It’s intense, it’s scary, and there are going to be times when I may have to stare danger in the face and smile, but I’ll have people beside me, people who’ll support me and believe in what I have to offer. And just like in cheerleading, they will be there to catch me when I fall.

  I’m a flyer. That means I’m the one they toss in the air. I’m the one who’s the most likely to get injured and trust me, I’ve seen some horrendous accidents.

  I’ve seen girls being carried off stage, not knowing if they will ever walk again.