Free Rise of Hope by Kaily Hart Page A

of his element with this, with all of it. The expression in her eyes made him wish he knew what the hell to do, to say, to make it better. For her. As it was, he didn’t even know where to start.
    He cleared his throat. “It’s probably no consolation, but he’s been like that since I’ve known him.”
    Actually, Noah had probably been born that way—arrogant, demanding and a pain in the ass.
    “Yeah?”
    “Yeah. Even at twenty he was wheeling and dealing, flipping houses, buying and selling stocks.” His mouth tightened at the memory.
    Who the hell knew what Noah’d really been into? All Seth had known was that he’d been rolling in the cash.
    She smiled. It was slight, but still a smile. “That long, huh?”
    “He followed me for days. Said he’d heard about my rep and wanted me to work for him doing ‘special projects.’ Man, the guy defined relentless, even back then.”
    “Your…rep?”
    “On the streets I was known as ‘Ghost.’”
    She frowned. “Streets?”
    “It was a hell of a lot better than my foster home at the time.”
    At the look on her face, he could have kicked himself. Pity was something he had no time for, had no idea what to do with and flat out didn’t want, especially not from her. But at least she didn’t have that lost, tortured look anymore.
    “Let’s say I was an expert at getting into places I wasn’t supposed to be.”
    “You mean…”
    “Yeah, B and E.” He smiled at the horrified look. “Not exactly legal.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t about the stealing, not really. It was the challenge, the rush.”
    And finding a safe place to sleep most of the time.
    Seth might have been only a few months off eighteen, but he’d been conditioned well and hard. Good fortune didn’t happen to someone like him. He’d brushed Noah off as crazy, but the guy had pushed Seth to the limit with his bullshit offers and promises.
    They’d fought. Or rather Seth had. He’d beaten the crap out of Noah until he’d realized it hadn’t been any kind of competition to begin with. But even bleeding and battered, Noah wasn’t giving up.
    “He gave me a place to stay and money I didn’t have to deal with my conscience over.” Well, not as much anyway. “And the work was easy.”
    Sometimes he delivered stuff, but most of the time he did what he did best. Used his ability to gather information for Noah. No stealing, no going hungry and no wondering where the fuck he could crash each night.
    “In return, I taught him how to fight.”
    “Fight?” Her eyes went wide at that and he felt a smile tug at his lips.
    “Street style,” he added. And they’d kept at it, day after day, week after week, month after grueling month, until the bloody sparring sessions didn’t have a clear winner anymore.
    Seth couldn’t count how many times he’d hit Noah over those months, how many times he’d knocked him down. Noah had kept getting up.
    “Noah took his shirt off after he’d knocked me on my ass the first time.” He swallowed at the memory. “He showed me his marks.”
    Yeah. Real agenda time. Before then, he’d never even considered there could be others like him. And he couldn’t lie to himself. He’d been intrigued, maybe even relieved. Back then, anyway.
    “What happened?”
    Seth shook his head. “He already knew about me somehow. Said we were the same. He had this grand plan of finding others like us. Of having us all band together. Said he was looking for something. That he wanted my help.”
    “And?”
    He looked down at her, felt the intensity of her gaze. The hunger that was never far away surged through him whenever her eyes were on him, whenever she was near. He pushed it back, fought for control of it.
    “I joined the Marines,” he rasped. “Noah’s been the thorn in my side ever since.”
    * * *
    Devon could barely comprehend what he’d described. If he’d been trying to take her mind off her own issues, he succeeded. Perhaps too well. She may have been kept