Page 24 of Keep Your Guard Up
“There shouldn’t be blood in sparring,” I growled. Again, Rat opened his mouth to speak, but Sunny beat him there.
“Accidents happen.” She shrugged.
“So do beatdowns,” JJ countered.
Sunny shot him a look, strong enough to make him hold his hands up in surrender.
“Time’s up,” I told her as the loud beep went off. “Start running.”
~
“C’mon, Lynnie! Just let me pound on him a little bit? Please?” JJ begged.
I stood in the office doorway, arms folded tightly over my chest as I stared at Sunny, sitting on the couch between our desks. Her curly hair was pulled into a knot on top of her head, with loose stray curls dropping all around her face, and her white trainingshirt had red blotches pattered all down it. And her face? She’d refused to let me or JJ assess the damage, but she held firm a wad of paper towel and an ice pack to her fat nose.
Yeah, that one is gonna be sore in the morning.
“No need, JJ,” she mumbled, sucking a breath in past her teeth as she readjusted the ice pack. “It was an accident. No punishment necessary.”
“Bullshit,” I growled, stalking over to where she and JJ were on the couch. “Let me look.”
“I’m fine, Riordan—”
“Let. Me. Look. Sunny.”
She hesitated, and I contemplated just ripping the damn thing off her if I didn’t know how much it would hurt. Her brown eyes met mine, still clouded over with that hazel that left me with nothing but unease. Sighing in defeat, she dropped both hands away from her face.
It was an effort not to grind down on my teeth at the sight of her. Bruising was already starting to form over her nose and between her eyes, meaning it would be ten times worse tomorrow. Her cheekbones had a slight puff to them too, where Jayden must have landed some of those ground-and-pound shots.
My back teeth burned, a raging ache that demanded I fix this. Not the responsible way— with words and warnings. But theirresponsibleway—with fists and blood. Lots of it.
“You’ll have one hell of a headache tomorrow,” I managed to grind out. “Feel like telling the truth yet?”
She scowled at me, immediately cringing at how the expression hurt her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve told you the truth four times now. I got my ass beat in sparring.No biggie.”
“C’mon, Lynnie. Spill your guts. This isn’t the first time Jayden’s roughed you up in sparring.”
My eyebrows flew to the ceiling.
This isn’t the first time? He’s hurt her before? He put hands on her before?
“And I’ve roughed him up plenty. We’re even.”
“This, compared to the blood nose you gave him the other week, is not ‘even’.” I don’t know how I could even get the words out; I was clenching my jaw so tight. “I’m kicking him out. I’m not having men who hurt women in my classes.”
“No! You can’t kick him out!” Those hazel-filled eyes were wild, frantic, panicked.
My blood stilled for a beat.
What does she know that I don’t?
“Why the hell can’t I?”
Another conflicted sigh, another internal argument she was having with herself.
Her hand rose to pinch the bridge of her nose before she thought better of it and ran it over her hair instead. “Because”—she sighed a shaky breath—“if we lose Jayden, we lose the gym.”
Chapter 12
