Free 12 Rounds by Lauren Hammond Page A

of the head with his palm. “Easy Casanova,” he walks to the other side of the ring and stands next to my sparring partner, “ keep that dick in your pants.”
    I groan and glare at Joe from over my shoulder. “Cock blocking bastard.”
    His eyes narrow. “What’s the first b?”
    I let out a deep breath and stare at the girl standing in front of me. “No broads.” My eyes sweep over the girl and I give her a devilish grin. “Until after my title fight, that is.”
    “All right lover boy!” Joe shouts. “Get back over here! We’re not finished yet!”
    I wink at the brunette and she smiles excitedly. And just before I make my way over to Joe, I see the door to the classroom open and the girl I recognized from earlier creeps out. She keeps her head down and shuffles to the waiting room, not making eye contact with a single person in her path. She’s got mahogany colored hair, but I remember her being a blonde.
    Maybe she colored it.
    Or is wearing a wig.
    I shrug. I don’t know why I care.
    She obviously looks upset about something and there’s a part of me that’s curious to what it is. But I push that thought aside because something else makes me feel like her and the feds showing up at the same time is anything but a coincidence.

 
    Chapter Ten
    ~Hadlee~
    The gym is quiet.
    A few people are still using some of the machines, but other than that it appears the crowd that was in here 45 minutes ago has dispersed. My eyes wander over to the empty boxing ring and a flood of relief washes through me. After the moment  I had in class just now the last thing I want is to see Sean Reilly's beautiful, yet menacing eyes full of hatred.
    Swallowing, my throat feels raw and irritated from my incessant screaming so I make my way over to a vending machine in the corner of the waiting area and pull out a dollar from the pocket of my sweatpants. I've calmed down since being out of the class and all I can think about is ice cold water sliding down the back of my throat.
    At the vending machine, I insert my dollar and press the bottled water button. The bottle is released from its claw and drops into the bottom of the vending machine and at the same time the sound of something thudding against the floor rings out behind me and I spin around, clutching my chest. My heart starts pounding. Hard. So hard, that I swear I can almost feel it blasting through my skin.
    Sean Reilly is standing there.
    In front of me.
    He's staring.
    His full, pouty lips turned down into a frown, his angular jaw-line clenched, just staring.
    I can't move or speak. My insides are like birds threatening to take flight and fly south for the spring, almost flapping out of my skin. At least he isn't looking at me the way he was earlier. His gaze is still dark, menacing, but I can't see the full-blown hatred in his eyes.
    He strolls toward me, his eyes never leaving mine and when he's only a few inches away, I bend my knees, dip down, and snatch my bottle of water from the vending machine. I grip it tightly, hugging it to my chest as Sean's eyes sweep over me in one fluid movement. I'm fascinated yet terrified at the same time, and as he hovers over me, propping an arm on top of the vending machine. I close my eyes and inhale deeply. He smells musky, a mixture of sweat and whatever cologne he wore this morning. When I open my eyes I focus on his lips and his profound, chiseled jaw that isn't clenched anymore, but now relaxed. Then I look up into his eyes. They are the  lightest blue-green eyes I've ever seen, reminding me of leaves on tropical trees in a rainforest. But it doesn’t matter how light and how gorgeous they are because they  still have a hard edge to them.
    It's like I can see his life in his eyes and somehow I know it was a difficult one. He leans in lower, his lips a breath away from mine, and my breath hitches. I'm excited, scared, yet captivated at the same time. And just when I think he might do something crazy like kiss me he says,