The crowd roared, stamping their feet as the cage rattled.“Grimm! Grimm! Grimm!” they chanted, voices rising like thunder in the underground pit.He stepped into the ring like a predator that had been caged too long, shoulders loose, grin sharp and empty. It had been years since he fought here officially, but the place remembered him and tonight, he reminded them why.The bell clanged. His opponent rushed him. Grimm didn’t flinch. One brutal hook snapped the man’s head sideways, blood spraying across the ropes. A tooth flew out, bouncing on the filthy floor. The crowd screamed louder.Grimm stalked forward, every move ruthless. He slammed a fist into ribs, crack. Another uppercut split the man’s lip, red pouring like water.Blood hit the mat before the crowd even blinked. Grimm’s fist slammed into the man’s jaw, teeth flying out like white chips, swallowed by the dirt and sweat of the pit. The roar was deafening.“Grimm! Grimm! Grimm!”He didn’t fight clean—he fought like a beast tor
JUNO HAYESA week later“For someone with such a fine ass, man, you don't look as happy as you should,” Nina murmured as she came to stand beside me, reclining against a pool seat.I pulled my glasses down and looked at her. She had one brow — the left — lifted in that way I’d learned to read: spit whatever's eating you out.Of course it was me.“What do you mean? I’m happy. Do you want me to grin like an idiot so you’ll believe me?” I said. It probably sounded defensive, but I was telling the truth. Right? I was happy.“Hmmm.” She pursed her lips and sat up, curling her legs together like she was getting ready for yoga. Then she glanced toward Adrian at the grill with Cassie. I turned to look and my lips twitched. Watching Cassie warm up to a guy I’d brought home was new — and kind of funny.Ever since she was little I’d avoided dating men just to give her a steady home. Cassie didn’t need a father figure, per se — that was her line, not mine — but I feared she’d come home someday cr
RHETT VOSSImmediately the door closed shut behind Juno, I slowly turned to Natalie, pulling her hand away from mine with as much patience I could give. “Why are you here?”She pouted, tilting her head, that practiced model-girlfriend face sliding on. “Baby, you haven’t called me. Not once. What was I supposed to think? You disappear into rehab, no texts, no nothing. I thought maybe you forgot about me.”My jaw flexed, not from guilt, but from the sheer noise of it. She always spoke like she was on camera. Always performing. I let her talk, let her eyes dart to the door Juno had just slipped through. She caught herself staring and then forced a little laugh.“She’s… really pretty,” Natalie said, pretending it was casual, but her nails dug into my arm just enough to betray her. “That was your trainer, huh? What was her name again? Professor Hayes? I swear I’ve seen her at campus events.” Her smile tightened. “She’s your rehab specialist too? Multitasking, I guess.” She dragged her hand
Emma stared at the pictures plastered across her wall. Every inch of the room was his Rhett frozen in time, caught in stolen frames: lacing his skates, laughing with teammates, sweat plastering his shirt to the hard lines of his chest. Not one corner of the wallpaper showed anymore; it was all Rhett. Only him.Candles burned low around the room, the air thick with melted wax and smoke. The floor was littered with scorched photos of women she had crossed out, their eyes slashed through with sharp red ink, black X’s carved across their faces. No one else belonged here. No one but Rhett.Her hand trembled as she pressed her knuckles to her lips, a feverish smile curving her face. “Baby, I’m back,” she whispered to the sea of images. Her chest rose and fell too fast, her eyes glazed, drinking in his picture like water.One shot drew her in — Rhett mid-game, his shirt soaked, his chest visible through the fabric, his jaw set hard in focus. She tore it from the wall with shaking fingers and
“What have I done?” I muttered to myself, practically speed-walking down the hall toward the rink. My chest still heaved, and my brain wouldn’t shut up: You just had sex with Rhett in the lounge. You’re insane. Absolutely insane.I was so wrapped up in my own head that the tap on my shoulder made me yelp. I spun around, ready to swing, only to freeze when I saw Adrian.“Whoa, easy,” he said, both brows lifting. “It’s just me.” His gaze swept me up and down, concerned. “You okay? You look… flushed.”“I’m fine!” I blurted too quickly, way too high-pitched. My hand flailed in the air like it could wave away his suspicion. “Totally fine. Just… really hot.”Adrian blinked, then glanced around at the sheets of ice stretching across the rink. “Hot? Juno, it’s like… fifteen degrees in here.”“Sixteen,” I corrected without thinking, then immediately winced at myself. “I mean—I just run warm, you know?”He gave a slow nod, his lips twitching like he was fighting back a laugh. “Right. Warm. In a
Juno gasped, the door press cold against her belly as Rhett drove into her again and again. Heat and pain tangled in a blur; each thrust hit so hard it felt like the world narrowed to the meeting of their bodies.“You keep making me lose my mind,” Rhett growled. His fingers constricted in her hair, hauling her head back so her throat opened to him. She clung to the wood for purchase, nails biting into the surface as his hips pistoned without mercy.Thwop. Thwop.Her sound split the small room, raw and desperate. Tears bled from the corners of her eyes — but they were half-pleasure, half-overwhelm. “Slow,” she tried to whisper, voice high and broken, and Rhett stalled for a breath, chest heaving. For a second his expression flickered — the line between fury and worship.Then he spoke low, in that dangerous hush that had always made her knees go weak. “You asked me to show you what happens when you tease the world and come back to me,” he rasped. “You wanted me feral. You wanted to be w