Chapter 31 #2
His partner presses in hard. Leo lets him believe he has ground, then takes it back with interest, landing a shot that snaps the other man’s head just enough to make Eden hiss through her teeth.
“Jesus,” she mutters.
Ray doesn’t flinch. “Hands up,” he barks. “Don’t admire your work.”
Leo resets instantly. He adjusts and goes again, like his body belongs to the command as much as it belongs to him.
The round ends. Leo bends forward, hands braced on his thighs, sweat running down the side of his neck while Ray talks to him in that same flat, brutal cadence.
Ray points across the ring.
Lukas ducks through the ropes.
He moves differently from the first guy. Lighter. Faster. Less brute force, more angles. He bounces once, twice, gloves high, eyes focused.
I glance at Eden. “You’re telling me you can make this guy tap?”
Her smile turns smug. “All the time.”
I look back at Lukas. “That’s hard to believe.”
“He calibrates,” she says lightly. “I don’t.”
Leo rolls his neck, lifts his guard, and the bell rings. This round is different from the start. Less damage. More chess.
Lukas comes in quick, probing range, testing openings, and Leo tracks him with unnerving patience. He doesn’t rush. Doesn’t overreach. Just watches, waits, and then cuts him off.
It happens so fast I almost miss it.
One small shift of Leo’s front foot, one shoulder feint, and suddenly Lukas is where Leo wants him instead of where he meant to be.
“Oh, that’s nasty,” Eden says under her breath.
Leo lands a jab, then another. Lukas answers with one of his own. Then Leo catches him with a body shot that sounds thick even through gloves and padding.
And Leo smiles—brief, fierce, not warm in the slightest.
The expression lands harder than any punch because it tells me he likes this—likes pressure, likes resistance, likes the moment another man makes him work for the hurt.
“Oh my God,” I say before I can stop myself.
I should hate the violence. The absurd, deliberate stupidity of refining men into weapons. I should be horrified by how much of it is beautiful.
Leo slips left, fires back, pivots out. Lukas adjusts. They circle. Reset. Go again. Sweat flying in brief bright arcs under the hard overhead lights. Ray calling instructions like commandments. No one in the room wasting a single ounce of attention.
It’s ugly and mesmerizing at once.
A glove lands to Leo’s ribs. Not hard enough to injure. Hard enough to count.
The bell finally cuts through the round.
Leo steps back. Lukas drops his guard at once, breathing hard, and nods once at Leo before ducking through the ropes. Ray is already talking before either man fully stops moving.
Leo drags the hem of his shirt over his face. And this time, when he lowers it, he sees me.
I see the reaction before he buries it. His attention finds me so directly it feels physical. Like being found.
Then his gaze shifts to Eden beside me, and one corner of his mouth lifts because he knows exactly who orchestrated this.
Eden gives him a tiny, innocent wave. He almost rolls his eyes.
“Okay,” I say, because suddenly I’m too aware of myself. My clothes. My face. The fact that I’ve been standing here staring at him like a woman in a nineteenth-century novel about to faint over a cavalry officer. “We can go.”
Eden turns to me. “Already?”
“Yes.”
“You lasted longer than I expected.”
“You’re a bitch.”
She grins. “You’re welcome.”
Ray says something sharp from the ring, and Leo’s focus snaps back at once.
That does it.
I touch Eden’s arm. “Seriously. Let’s go before your brother gets yelled at because of me.”
“Fine.” Laughing, she lets me steer her toward the door.
As we pass the far side of the gym, Lukas is peeling off his gloves. He glances up, and his expression opens—easy warmth, no agenda.
“Hey, ladies.”
Then to Eden, “Tomorrow morning?”
“Seven,” she says.
He looks at me. “You ever want to try, I’m available.”
“I prefer watching,” I say.
“Fair.” He jerks his chin toward the door. “I’ll walk you out. Ray’s got Leo for at least another forty-five.”
Before I can answer, Eden says easily, “We’re good. Thanks.”
“All right.” Lukas is already turning back to his gloves. “See you tomorrow, Carver.”
Outside, the brightness hits hard after the dim, brutal focus of the gym. The whole block looks overexposed.
I stop on the sidewalk and only then notice how tight I’ve been wound. Eden slides her sunglasses back on and looks entirely too pleased with herself.
“Well?”
I stare straight ahead. “I’m not discussing it.”
She laughs. “That bad?”
I think about Leo in the ring. The speed of him. The discipline. The ugly beauty of it.
“No,” I admit finally. “Worse.”
Her laugh gets louder.
She touches my elbow lightly. “Come on. I’ll drop you off.”
I let her steer me toward the approaching car, still feeling seen in a way I don’t know what to do with.
Back at the apartment, the silence feels different.
Not empty.
Charged.
I set the shopping bags down and pull out my phone. One text from Leo, sent twenty minutes ago.
LEO
Saw you
Two words, and I’m done for.
I type back.
LIZ
Eden’s fault
His reply comes almost immediately.
LEO
Good
I stare at that message longer than I should.
Because it doesn’t sound amused.
It sounds satisfied.