Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“There’s no fair where we’re going,” Kala replied simply. Aidan had a couple of inches on her and a lot of muscle, but her cousin wasn’t afraid of him.
Because she knew damn well she could handle herself. Despite what her cousin had said, her reasoning skills were top-notch, and she knew admiring her most psychotic relative for her cool under pressure probably wasn’t the healthiest thing. Kala had a lot of issues. Being sure of herself in a fight wasn’t one of them.
“Hey, let’s get into the locker room and let Aidan look you over.” Her brother reached for her hand.
“Maybe it would be for the best,” Kenzie said with a wince.
“Yeah, Carys, let the men take care of you,” Kala taunted.
She’d been letting everyone take care of her for the last two and a half years. Poor Carys. Her man left her. Aidan had to take care of her all alone. The sympathy was nauseating when she thought about it.
She’d just taken it.
She wasn’t taking it anymore.
They weren’t playing fair? She sniffled and held a hand out to her cousin. “I get it now. Forgive me.”
Kala frowned as though deeply disappointed in her. “Sure. It’s okay.” She reached out to shake her hand. “Like I said, I’ll watch out for you.”
Carys found her cousin’s radial nerve and pressed her thumb down, causing Kala to gasp. She took the moment to kick her right between the legs, probably hitting whatever piercing she had in there.
The whole room went still.
“That’s right, baby. You give her hell,” a deep voice said.
She looked over and Tristan was standing in the doorway with Zach Reed in tow.
Kala had fallen onto the mat, and every man there took a step back.
All of them except Aidan, who was still trying to protect her. “She’s going to get hurt.”
“Sometimes we need to get hurt to remind us how resilient we can be,” Tristan said. “I’m putting fifty on my baby. She’s mean, and she knows pressure points.”
She’d forgotten how much Tris loved it when she was an arrogant brat. Aidan loved her sweet side, but Tristan craved the bad girl. She hadn’t been a bad girl in far too long.
Kala’s legs came up, and she was suddenly on her feet again. “Nice move. It won’t work again, but you’re right to use my preconceived notions against me. Do it with every fucking man you meet. They will underestimate you, and then you can take them down.”
Cooper moved back. “You’re insane, Tris. I’ll take your bet. Kala, don’t kill her. Deep down you love her.”
Kala looked his way. “Why the hell else would I be doing this?”
“Because you love to fight,” Cooper replied.
Kala shrugged. “Truth. But I do love her, and this is absolutely for her own good. Show me what you got, cos.”
Carys felt a surge of energy go through her, felt Tris watching her and Aidan’s worry.
And then let it all go as Kala threw her next punch and the fight was on.
* * * *
“You could have died.” Aidan put an ice pack on his previously sane girlfriend’s wrist. What the hell was she thinking?
“She wasn’t going to die.” Tris sat across from her in the lounge where everyone had retreated for drinks and snacks after watching two women try to kill each other. “Carys, you handled yourself well out there, but you should know…”
“She took it easy on me,” Carys said with a sigh and a wince as she sat back.
“Easy?” Aidan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It had been brutal. They’d gone at it for more than thirty minutes. Carys had gotten flipped and punched and held down with an elbow in her back. “There was nothing easy about what I just saw.”
And there had been nothing he could do about it because every time he tried to stop it, Tris put a hand on his shoulder and made him sit back down.
She needs this, he’d said.
Needed to get punched? Needed to get put on her belly like she was some kind of wrestler?
Carys sighed. “She totally pulled her punches.”
“She did, and I’m glad you saw that.” Zach Reed handed her a glass. Amber liquid with one large ice cube.
Bourbon. She took it with her free hand. “She was never going to truly hurt me. She wants me to understand what happens if I get into a real fight.”
Zach was six foot four and corded with lean muscle. He sat down across from Carys. “And what do you do if you get into a real fight?”
Zach had come into town to help Tris. Because they’d been working together for a long time now. Had Zach taken his place?
Fuck. He might be jealous of Zach.
“Get out of it as fast as possible and hide so Kala doesn’t have to worry about me,” Carys said and then knocked back the bourbon.