Passing His Guard

And there it was—the confession that shattered the fault line of their relationship, sending it crumbling into the chasm of the great abyss. But he couldn’t do it anymore. He couldn’t lie to her, couldn’t stand here and listen to her false accusations. She’d pushed him too far.

The sob that tore from her throat was horrific. He felt the bone-deep sorrow all the way to his soul as she stared at him as if he were a monster—as if he were his father. It killed him, and in that horrible moment, every last one of his fears was realized, and they were far worse than he’d imagined.

Her tears broke him. And despite his anger, despite his pain, he still wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and make this all go away. “Rya

Sweat poured off Aiden’s brow as he timed his punches with the heavy bag. Fff-fff-fff . . . Fff-fff-ffft . . . Again and again he drove his fist into the bag, on the cusp of exhaustion, but his thoughts would not clear. Fighting had once been his solace, his mental break where he became 100 percent focused—100 percent in control—where his mind would concentrate on nothing but the next combination of strikes, the next sequence of moves that would bring down his opponent. In here, the outside world would fade away. Nothing mattered but the next submission, the next win. But peace would not come—not for him, not tonight, maybe not ever again.

His anger shredded him from the inside out, and no matter how much he pushed and abused his body, nothing could purge his heartache from his soul. It was worse than he’d imagined. When Aiden came home tonight, prepared to tell Rya

How could she . . . After everything he’d done for her? How could she think, for even a second, that he’d use her, that he’d betray her to his father? He’d expected her to be upset when she learned the truth, but never once had he thought she might doubt his intentions or his integrity. The blow was a fatal wound dealt to his pride, one he wasn’t sure he’d recover from anytime soon, not after everything he’d sacrificed for her. And he sure as hell wasn’t about to stand there and defend himself when she’d already judged him guilty. He’d be damned if he was going to hand her his balls as well as his heart.

And what could he really tell her, anyway? Nothing. What Aiden had done, turning the flash drive over to the DA and the FBI, he couldn’t tell her—he couldn’t tell anyone. Not until this was over, and by then it would probably be too late. The damage was already done. The accusations were already made, the hurt and betrayal ran too deep. If Rya

Anger and betrayal surged anew and Aiden slammed his fist into the bag over and over, welcoming the pain as his bare knuckles co

Aiden heard the door open behind him and ignored the intrusion, too caught up in his own head to pay attention to the click of the door. He knew full well who was standing on the other side of it.

“If you don’t give that shoulder a rest, it’s going to be shot for your fight tomorrow.” Nikko closed the door behind him. His sparring partner sauntered over and walked behind the bag, scooping up Aiden’s gloves from the mat and tossing them at him. “Put these on.”

Del Toro pulled off his shirt and tossed it on the metal chair in the corner. He didn’t say anything else as he released the Velcro on his own gloves and slipped his hands inside the open mitts before fastening the straps. His friend moved into the center of the mats and raised his hands, positioning into a fighting stance. “I take it things didn’t go well with Gingersnap.”

“You think? I’d say that’s an understatement.” Aiden circled left and Del Toro countered the movement.

“I warned you she’d be pissed if she found out. You can hardly blame her. It had to be a hell of a shock, discovering your dad snuffed her pops.” Nikko jabbed and Aiden deflected, ranging him with a left-handed punch that just fell short. Aiden was moderately ambidextrous, and since he’d injured his right shoulder, he’d been trying to strengthen his left-handed striking. But Nikko wasn’t here to train—his body lacked its usual guarded tension. That determined glint in his steely eyes wasn’t there.

Fuck . . . he wanted to talk. Well, Aiden had done all the chitchatting he cared to do. He wanted to fight. With a quick feint to the right, Nikko ducked to the left, closing the range and Aiden co

Nikko grunted with the loss of air but used his momentum to send a spi

Fuck this . . . Aiden shot for Del Toro’s waist and took the fighter to the mat. They grappled for several minutes, but Aiden was already exhausted from working out. Nikko was still fresh, giving him the advantage, and he got behind Aiden and slipped his forearm beneath Aiden’s chin, locking him tight in a rear naked choke. Caught in the clinch and unable to speak, he had no choice but to listen to what his friend had to say, or tap—and there was no fucking way he was tapping.

“Have you even stopped to consider how things might look from her perspective?” Nikko growled next to his ear. “She hands you her father’s evidence and you practically ghost on her. What’s she supposed to think when you don’t talk to her and she discovers who really killed her father? I don’t know who’s feeding her the intel, or if it even matters at this point, but you guys had a rocky start and trust issues are bound to come up. You’re both going to have to cut each other a little slack.”

Nikko released the choke hold and shoved Aiden away. Aiden was too exhausted to do anything other than roll on his back and suck air. He canted his head to the side and held Nikko’s gaze, who was doing his own mat recovery.

“I don’t know, man,” Aiden panted. “I’ve never been in love before, what do I know about relationships?”

“Probably more than you think, and a hell of a lot more than I do. But even I can see that woman loves you, and if you let her go over a misunderstanding that you’re too damn stubborn and prideful to work through, then you’re a fool and you don’t deserve her. Not once has a woman ever looked at me the way Rya