Free Unknown (Hooked Book 3) by Charity Parkerson Page A

still drove Malik batshit, and he thought it was mostly goading, there was a small part of Malik that was still over-the-top insecure in his relationship with Logan. They never felt completely on solid ground. Not to mention, it was hard to argue with Ryan’s looks. The man was gorgeous. If Logan could be stolen, Ryan would be the person most likely to succeed.
    At Malik’s silence, Ryan growled. “Fine. Again!”
    With Ryan’s barked order still reverberating off the walls of the sparring room, Malik put his gloved hands up and closed the distance between them. The harder he tried predicting Ryan’s next move, the more Ryan thwarted him. Malik threw a punch. Ryan ducked. The mat smacked Malik between the shoulder blades. He stared up at the ceiling. It took him a minute to figure out why. Ryan had swept his legs out from underneath him. Malik shot to his feet.
    “What the fuck, Ryan? That’s cheating.”
    Ryan’s green eyes flashed with rage. “Not in my world.”
    Malik growled. “We’re not training for your world. We’re training for mine, and it’s cheating.”
    Ryan paced the length of the ring, eyeing Malik without bothering to hide his anger. Malik had never trained with anyone with such a hot temper before. In this instance, Malik didn’t think Ryan’s rage had anything to do with him. “Did it ever occur to you that I’m taking away from my training to work with you?”
    He didn’t give Malik time to answer.
    “No. I’m sure it hasn’t. Yet, you keep letting your guard down. I know this isn’t your world, but you need to face off against every opponent with the mindset that he’ll do anything to make you bleed.”
    Malik set his gloved hands on his hips. He was glad they had the entire sparring area to themselves because something was up with Ryan. Malik couldn’t figure out what. “Look, I’m sorry I’m taking away from your training. How can I help?”
    Ryan threw a punch. Malik automatically blocked it and jumped back into fighting mode. Ryan laughed. “Good. That’s what I want.”
    “What’s up with you today?” Malik asked between ducking and throwing a jab. “You’re always strange as hell, but not this bad.”
    Malik easily avoided his every attempt at landing a hit. “Maybe I’m just sick of you somehow hanging onto that sexy husband of yours when you’re obviously a pansy-ass.” As if emphasizing his point, Ryan threw out a series of punches almost too quick for Malik to track. His avoidance attempts caused him to lose his balance. When he stumbled, Ryan snagged both Malik’s wrists and pulled him forward. With his attention on trying to stay upright, he didn’t see the kiss coming. Ryan’s mouth landed hard against his. He nipped at Malik’s bottom lip before Malik shoved him away.
    Fury raced through Malik’s veins. “What the fuck are you doing?”
    Ryan’s eyes shone bright with laughter. “If you don’t like it when unwanted things to happen to your face, keep your fucking hands up.”
    “Well, this is getting interesting.”
    At the sound of Logan’s voice, Malik died a little inside. Ryan’s expression was priceless. A mixture of pure shock and horror etched his features. Logan stood with his shoulder holding up the ring post and watching the whole scene. He looked mildly amused. There was nothing for it. Malik had to salvage this situation any way he could. While Ryan stuttered, openly scrambling for an excuse for his actions, Malik snuck in a short jab to the man’s ribs before landing a punch to the center of Ryan’s face. He didn’t hold back, giving it everything he had. Without waiting to see if Ryan survived the blow, Malik rushed to Logan’s side, and leaned down between the ropes.
    “Oh my God. It burns. Make it stop.” Malik made sure to keep his tone as obnoxious and over the top as possible. Nothing won Logan like ridiculousness did.
    Logan’s eyes shone bright with barely suppressed laughter. He cupped Malik’s face. “Poor baby.