Page 12 of Cruel Start

Wow.My gaze snapped back to the fight. He didn’t stop. The other guy never stood a chance, and with a final punch to the jaw, his opponent’s eyes rolled back in his head. He crumpled to the mat, and Phoenix was announced the winner by knockout.

He stood in the middle of the stage, his silvery gaze roving over the crowd, snagging on me for half a second, then in dismissal, he faced the crowd on the opposite side. My pulse leaped at the intensity of his godlike presence.Holy hell.I was not prepared to see him like that.

Phoenix didn’t stay there long, and another two guys got ready to fight. Rage continued to roll off him as he exited the ring and headed down an aisle roped off for the fighters. I did a quick calculation and figured out the best way to get back there then set off to intercept him. I wasn’t fast enough to head him off, but I could see the door he went through.

A few guys occupied the back hallway. I avoided eye contact and paced in front of the door, uncaring if I looked like a deranged fangirl. Ten minutes passed. My nerves threatened to get out of control, and I was over it. We had things to discuss.

Yanking the door open, I let myself in.

CHAPTER SEVEN

PHOENIX

Istepped into sweatpants just as the door to the locker room burst open. After pulling them up, I grabbed my sweatshirt then glanced toward the door, expecting to see Shane since he couldn’t fight with his arm still healing. But it wasn’t him. It was the girl from the cove. She braced her back against the door.

The hoodie dangled from my hand, and I stood frozen, taking in every sexy inch of her. Just like the first time, she stunned me, and I felt like I’d been sucker punched by her beauty and that damn undeniable connection that sizzled between us like a live wire.

What the hell is she doing here?Not that I minded. I was fresh out of the shower, and she was looking. Besides, it’d been a while since I’d gotten laid, and I could use a good postfight poke, so long as she knew it was a one-night thing—despite having slept together before. But that would be it.

“Couldn’t stay away?” I leered at her, remembering the soft feel of her skin, the way she’d moaned and writhed beneath me. I hungered for another taste.

Her face scrunched in anger, and she turned to leave. I couldn’t have that. I closed the distance between us in two long strides. My palm hit the door, and it slammed shut, trapping her inside with us only inches apart.

She flattened herself against the door, her eyes wide. I didn’t like how nervous she was, but one kiss, and I knew she would melt in my arms.

“Don’t go.”

“Can you put on some clothes?” Her voice trembled. “I was hoping to go somewhere and talk.”

That defeated the purpose. Confused by her conflicting signals and surprised I was still holding the sweatshirt, I pulled it over my head. It didn’t matter why that was what she wanted. I was all for whatever game she wanted to play. Undressing was part of foreplay, and the way she’d checked me out told me she was very interested. I couldn’t deny how excited I was to see all of her again.

“Where do you want to go?” Back to the cove wouldn’t suck, or even the football house.

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear with shaky fingers.Why is she so nervous?

“I… uh. Maybe the, um…”

Her face lost some color. I didn’t remember her being so jittery, but I’d been heavily buzzed when we got together at the cove. I waited, not bothering to ease her nerves as I tried to puzzle out why she was falling apart.

I backed her out of the locker room and into the hallway. I didn’t ask her if she drove. I guided her through the crowd and out to the lot where I’d parked, my hand resting against her back as I ignored the people who tried to talk to me. She babbled, still in those broken sentences but quiet enough that I could barely hear her. Coffee was the one word that made sense, so I drove us to the place near campus. When I shut off the car, walked around to her side, and helped her out, she stopped short just before I opened the door to the Coffee Cabana.

“I don’t want to go in.” She turned to me, her expression more anxious than before.

“Okay.”What is going on with her?

Movement caught my eye, and I looked over her shoulder at Tracey strolling arm in arm with Dominick Reynolds—a senior and MLB hopeful. The gold digger, that would annihilate Shane. Since she’d dumped him, he’d been sleeping his way through one of the sororities when he wasn’t moping around. I should say something to her.

Aspen stumbled over some words, her hand tightening on my forearm. An alarm went off in some part of my brain because it sounded an awful like she said she was pregnant.But that can’t be right. It abso-fucking-lutely can’t be right.

* * *

Aspen

Phoenix wasn’t taking it well. We’d moved away from the coffee shop and closer to his SUV as a couple I couldn’t quite see entered the building. I leaned against the vehicle as he paced back and forth, hands tangled in his hair as he shook his head. I stiffened, waiting for his denial while my gut tensed painfully. It didn’t take long.

“We were drunk.”

I scowled. “Not that drunk. And booze doesn’t dilute sperm.”

---