Page 182 of His Virgin Romance Series

“Ryder’s right,” Devon said, stepping in. “We can’t afford to be stupid about this. Half of the men have wives and kids. We have more to lose than the Knights. They’re all soulless assholes who live only for themselves.”

Bones grunted in reluctant agreement and headed towards the door. “I’m going for a ride,” he said before disappeared outside.

I turned to Devon. “Keep asking questions,” I said. “Godwin needs to know we’re not scared of him.”

“Where’s Abby?” Devon asked.

“Around,” I said with a shrug. “She doesn’t give me a play by play of what she’s up to.”

“How’s her training going?”

“She’s learning fast,” I replied. “She’s doing well.”

In truth, she was doing more than well. The first few days of training had been slow and difficult. She had been dismissive and uninterested, but then something inside her seemed to have changed. It was like something had lit a fire underneath her, and she was now more determined than ever to be able to defend herself. She was in the training arena more often than I was. She trained with me, by herself, and with anyone else who was willing to give her a few pointers and a little advice.

She had become almost deadly with that dagger of hers. It was a shiny blade with an engraved hilt that my father had given me when I was thirteen. I had never expected her to take to it like she had, and now it felt more like her blade than mine. No one really used real blades or weapons when we fought against each other, but I had wanted Abby to get used to the feel of this particular dagger in her hand. I had wanted it to feel like an extension of her body. Given how good she had become lately, I was thinking of making her switch to a sparring weapon. Either way, there was something incredibly sexy about Abby in the boxing ring, fighting with my men.

She had come a long way in a short time. She looked confident, powerful, and in control. I saw the burn in her eyes, and it was a huge turn on. The only problem was that she refused to give in to me. No matter how fiercely I tried, she would push me away with a word or a look. She was still attracted to me, that much was clear, but she was resisting it and resisting it hard.

I knew it had something to do with her reaction to our close call the other day. My hand had slipped down her pants, and she had freaked out, pushed me off her, and ran without looking back. She tried to explain it away by saying that I was wrong for her and she needed to stay away from dangerous men, but I had recognized it for the excuse it was.

With each passing day, I was growing more and more frustrated. Even jerking off in my room wasn’t helping. My mind was focused on one thing, and that was how best to convince Abby to sleep with me. I hated having her on my mind constantly. I hated waking up thinking of her with a raging hard on that was so stiff it was painful. I hated sparring with her in the training ring, knowing that I couldn’t grab her, throw her down, and have her right then and there.

“She’s enjoying the training,” Devon said.

“I think she has a point to prove to me,” I said.

Devon smirked. “I don’t think she’s trying to prove anything to you,” he said. “She’s trying to prove something to herself.”

“And you know this because?”

“She told me as much,” Devon replied. “It’s not all about you, Ryder.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is that your subtle way of telling me to stay away from your sister again?” I asked, catching on.

“She’s got enough to deal with without having to fend off you as well.”

“Let’s be clear about this,” I said, lowering my tone dangerously. “Your sister’s a big girl. I think she can handle herself. And more importantly, I have the right to fuck whomever I choose… whether she’s your sister or not. Who knows… maybe I’ve already fucked her?”

I saw Devon’s jaw clench, but he stayed calm. “I know you haven’t.”

“Excuse me?”

“You haven’t slept with Abby,” Devon replied. “She told me.”

I kept my expression neutral, but I realized that the siblings were closer than I had initially anticipated.

“She did, did she?”

“Yeah.”

I felt my guard drop for a moment as my curiosity got the best of me. There were questions I needed answered, and since I wasn’t getting them from Abby, maybe Devon was my best remaining option.

“Did she tell you about the time we were rolling around in the boxing ring, ready to fuck each other silly when she freaked out and ran out on me?” I saw his expression freeze for a second, and I realized that Abby hadn’t told him that much. Feeling slightly smugger about it, I continued. “Why do you think she freaked out?”

“How the fuck would I know?” Devon asked uncomfortably. “She probably couldn’t stand the thought of sleeping with you.”

“Trust me, that wasn’t it,” I scoffed. “She wanted me… But something happened. She looked for a second almost like she was… scared.”

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