My heart plunges because Jax is right. West permits his emotions to rule him and that will be a problem in the cage.

John slams the door to his office. “If I wanted an audience, I would have sold tickets. Back to work!”

The smack of punches on the bags and the tap of fighters knocking out combinations against each other fill the gym, but it doesn’t take much to notice it’s halfhearted.

John grabs a pair of punch mitts, bends under the ropes and enters the ring.

“I thought I was sparring.” I motion toward the mitts on his hands.

“You will, but I told you we’re starting slow.”

I follow him into the ring. Since returning to the gym, I’ve only done bag work with John. I’ve used the mitts with West, but I’ve yet to really throw a punch at anyone. John holds the mitts near his head. I inhale deeply and my guard goes up. One second. Another.

I hit Matt in anger, but he struck me first and it hurt. If I didn’t fight back, would it have gone as far as it did? If I weren’t trained, would he have even hit me? Where do Matt’s choices end and mine begin? I drop my guard. “What if I can’t do it?”

John widens his arms so that the targets are at arm’s length. “Then we’ll ease you in slower. Jab, cross.” He shakes his right hand. “Then jab, cross.” And shakes his left. “Let’s warm you up.”

“Okay.” Some of the tightness unfurls. No punches toward the head. I can do this. “Okay.”

My gloves slide back to my temples and my feet rock into position. Okay.

Chapter 54

West

With Abby’s words fresh on my mind and Haley’s decision to be made, I head straight to the gym. If she’s going to butcher my heart, she can do it now, not at school.

The bags near the front door are empty, but a crowd gathers around the boxing ring. A roar of approval ripples from the guys watching the show. In the corner of the ring, Kaden slips on his headgear and gloves, then says something to Jax, who stands on the other side of the ropes. The two of them confer like a coach instructing a student.

I work through the BO-laden crowd, bobbing my head to find Haley. The guys decked out in workout clothes yell again and I discover her in the last spot I’d thought to look—the ring.

John and Haley dance around each other, a demented tango. With mitts on his hands, John aims for her head. Haley ducks and fires back with machine-gun punches to the mitts near his face: double jab, right hook to the head. John grunts with each punch, just like Haley does with me—keeping up the tempo, rewarding her for the hit.

Haley is lean and gorgeous with a sheen of sweat over her body. Her long hair is gathered together at the nape of her neck and her face is barely visible from the headgear and with her held guard. There’s a lethalness about Haley. It’s more than the way her shoulders roll forward and how fast she strikes. It’s the serious gleam in her eye. Haley in that ring means business.

“Never forget she can kick your ass.” Jax saddles up beside me. “And if she doesn’t, I will.”

I ignore him as John combines both mitts and lifts them in the air. Haley nails a double high kick with a power that could kill a man. My eyes widen as the crowd shouts for more. John slams his mitts together and continues to dance around Haley. “That’s right, Hays. That’s right!”

John turns and shouts for Kaden. The guys clap as John whispers instructions into Kaden’s ear.

“What’s the big deal?” I ask.

Jax surveys me, head to toe, then back up. “You really don’t know, do you?”

I scratch my jaw, pride preventing me from giving an answer.

He grins at my nonresponse. “Haley’s a national titleholder.”

Shit. I never asked and she never told. I shift and Jax chuckles.

“Beyond that? This is the first time Haley’s honest to God trained here in over a year and in a few seconds this will be the first time she’s sparred in over six months.”

My head snaps to Jax, the shock registering an earthquake in my system. “She trains here all the time.”

“When she left Black Fire, she left fighting. She agreed to come back to the gym, but she refuses to engage. What you’re witnessing is her resurrection.”

“Last time I checked, you and I aren’t friends. So why the feel-good moment?”

“She’s more than you and better than you and I’m fine with you seeing it. Haley’s already been through hell and neither Kaden nor I will permit a return visit. Got it, amigo?”

I turn my attention to the ring, trying to sort through Jax’s words. Haley left fighting when she left Matt. I run a hand through my hair to shake out the mental cobwebs. She didn’t stop just dating fighters; she stopped fighting. The image of her nursing her hand the night we met, the fight we had in my car and how angry she was that she hit someone and was hit in return—it all flashes in my mind.

In the middle of the ring, Kaden nods his chin and lifts his arm, glove out. Haley’s hesitant on her side of the ring as she leans against the post. The crowd yells at Haley to accept and I step forward. Jax throws out his arm like a railway gate. “She made a deal with John over this. Don’t embarrass her.”

“What deal?”

“Like you don’t know, and if you don’t, figure it out.”

I roll on the balls of my feet, gravity begging to rush the ring. “He’s bigger than her.”

“And Haley can drop his ass. This isn’t a real fight and she knows it. A few hit series. That’s it. If she’s going to be worth a damn again, inside or outside of that ring, Haley’s got to engage.”

I straighten and go toe-to-toe with Jax. “She doesn’t have to.”

His green eyes harden as he invades my space. “She does if she wants to save your ass like she says she does. Haven’t you wondered why you aren’t training with the rest of us?”

Fuck this. I round away from Jax and fight through the crowd right as Haley pushes off the post. Before I can reach the ropes, Haley taps her glove against Kaden’s and the two immediately slam their guards against their heads and begin to circle.

She’s smaller than him, possibly a hundred pounds lighter, and every instinct screams to slide in front of her. If he wasn’t her brother, I’d be in between them in a heartbeat. Kaden turns his guard, hiding his face and exposing his wrists. Haley answers with a jab, cross into his gloves. With their guards still in check, they move again and Haley turns her wrists to Kaden and he throws the same jab, cross.