Free Takedown by Sierra Riley Page A

no.
    That was a stupid hope. He couldn’t start stringing together stupid hopes into some fantasy about winning Mitchell over as his own. Not now. He had a fight to focus on, and a gym to buy, and Hugh to keep taunting him into training harder.
    “He never said,” Luke said at last, pulling his gloves back on. “What next?”
    Hugh accepted the subject change. “Chin-ups, and I’m making sure your core’s tight. He goes for the ribs and the stomach a lot.”
    “Yeah, I know.” Luke had studied Pascal’s fighting style in a couple of shitty YouTube videos. He’d watched him fight live just once—last year, at a West Coast championship where they’d both been in very minor fights. He’d been impressed by Pascal’s cold savagery, even if it was far from the way he fought.
    He hadn’t known then they’d get matched up, but the MMA world was small. Sooner or later he was bound to fight everyone within a weight class or so.
    And whether he was forced to be brutal or not, Luke intended to win.

15
Mitchell
    A s he stood on Emily’s front porch listening to the doorbell chime, Mitchell shifted from foot to foot. Should he have brought flowers? Was it an appropriate time to call? Emily had said to come on over this morning, but did something else lie in wait?
    No matter. He had to try.
    “Hi!” Emily beamed at him, pausing for a moment on the other side of the screen door once she’d opened her front door. They got a few seconds to look each other over.
    It felt as if the last three years had come and gone in a flash. Emily still had short, dark hair, but it was curled around her ears. Her smile was warm and genuine, and those gorgeous blue eyes were still bright and happy to see him.
    That alone made Mitchell’s shoulders sink with relief as he offered a smile back. “Hey. Thanks for inviting me over.”
    “Of course! Come on in.” She leaned forward to open the screen door for him, then stood back to let him into the house.
    It was a beautiful little spot—light, airy, full of green things. The multiple crosses hanging on the wall in the front hallway and living room were a little obnoxious, but Mitchell could overlook them.
    “It’s been so long. How have you been?” Emily asked first, her gaze on him. She seemed genuinely interested in the answer.
    For the first time since getting to Nebraska, Mitchell felt totally relaxed. He didn’t think it could be a trap by the Millers anymore—it just took one look at Emily to see that. She knew pretty much all his dirty secrets, and she still seemed to want to see him.
    It was so nice not to have any sexual tension in the air. There was just tentative emotional closeness from the fears and dreams they’d once shared with each other.
    Mitchell realized his mind was wandering. “Oh, I’ve been good. Um, overall. One or two ugly moments.”
    “I heard about Bobby and—were the twins there, too?”
    “Yep.” Mitchell’s jaw tightened as he wondered exactly what she’d heard.
    “I’m so sorry.” She picked at a thread on her dress with nerves as she spoke, then gestured to the kitchen. “Want a glass of water? Iced tea?”
    “Iced tea would be wonderful, thanks. It’s okay. It’s not your fault—I’m assuming.”
    “No,” Emily said quickly. “Of course not. I had no idea they were going to do that, the assholes.”
    Mitchell relaxed again and laughed. “Yeah, I figured. They always thought they were the vigilante heroes of the town or something.”
    “I don’t remember them busting any crimes,” Emily drawled, rolling her eyes. She poured two glasses of iced tea and handed one over, then led him to the couch to sit down. She patted the couch next to her. “I yelled at Greg—that’s my new fiancé—and he said he’d talk to them. I don’t even know why he’s friends with them.”
    “Greg,” Mitchell said, his mind wandering. He couldn’t remember a Greg in their peer group.
    “Oh, he moved here from Lincoln for work. He’s an