Page 69 of Lock Up the Darkness

Oh shit.

He snagged her sports bra and jerked her down to him. His nostrils flared as he breathed in that strawberry and tobacco scent that was hitting me too because he’d pulled her so close.

“You have courage where you should have fear. A gung-ho attitude when you should be exercising caution. Pushing when you should be listening. These are all reckless approaches. Desperate approaches. And that’s because emotion is driving you with your dad being involved. To do what needs to be done here, careful steps need to be taken. We can’t make mistakes.” He released her sports bra and shoved her back. “We can’t have wildcards,” he said.

“What the—” she looked down at her hand now empty of her smoke.

I followed her gaze to see it was now in Asher’s hand.

“Magic, firecracker,” I told her.

Asher grinned. “Sleight of hand. Proves useful every now and then.”

He took the last drag of her smoke, making a show of savoring it, before he stubbed it out.

Glaring at him, she fixed her bra, then gritted out, “You don’t think I can back it up.”

“That’s what I brought you here to determine.”

“Then get to it,” she challenged. “Haven’t we been waiting around for long enough?”

“More recklessness. In the form of impatience this time.”

“You’re being a real dick.”

“That I am.” He smiled and rose to his feet. “Seeing as though you’re so eager, let’s get started, shall we?”

I shook my head to myself.

She had no idea what she was in for.

And somehow he’d just managed to have her basically pushing him for what was coming.

He was another fucking level.

I pushed off the couch, adrenaline and excitement thrumming through me in equal measure at what he had planned.

The kind of savagery that heated my blood.

17

~Aurora~

I could feel them watching me.

Regardless, I took my time scanning the large space they’d taken me to.

For the most part, it was a regular-looking home gym in the finished basement of their mansion complete with a couple of treadmills, weight benches, rowing machines, boxing equipment and a punching bag. Benches lined one half of the room with clean folded white cotton towels positioned every couple of feet, hooks above with workout gear hanging off them. There was even a fridge in the corner beside a water cooler.

But then there was the other side beyond all that.

An MMA cage sat there, complete with the octagonal shape and the chain-link sides.

The floor seemed to be different from the standard, though, especially the UFC one, looking to just be hard, unforgiving concrete. And as I drew closer, blood stains all over it became apparent.

“I see you guys work out your many frustrations in here,” I said, turning to face them. “Kind of along the lines of what went down in that salon.”

Jonah grinned and nudged Asher. “Finally, she mentions it.”

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