♥ ♥ ♥

THIRTY MINUTES LATER, I knock again. He opens the door, with the same bloodshot eye at the crack.

“You,” he says in disgust.

“That’s right. Me.”

I turn around and jerk my hoodie off over my head. He might as well know now before he asks for a little private show. I wait, letting him get an eyeful of my tattoo, then I turn around to find the bloodshot eye wide open, regarding me.

“I need a trainer,” I repeat, and I lift the vodka bottle I bought.

The door shuts.

Then I hear the sound of chains. And for the first time—for real—the door of opportunity swings open for me.

♥ ♥ ♥

BY THE NEXT morning I’ve figured out the love of Oz’s life—before the booze replaced all his other loves—was named Wendy. When he calls people cowards, he calls them Wendys. “They’re fucking Wendys, the whole lot of them. Wendy’s my ex-wife. She couldn’t take me.”

“Maybe she had her reasons,” I said.

“Yeah. I worked too hard, and now I don’t work at all!”

I was prepping up my gloves, but he came over and yanked them away from me.

“We’re signing you up to the Underground today. No training.”

He stalked into his bathroom to change, and now he takes a swig of vodka, straight up, and tucks the flask into the inside pocket of his blazer as he readies himself to leave.

Exasperated, I drop my head on the back of the couch I’ve been sitting on while the lady readies herself. “Oz, it’s seven in the morning,” I groan.

He hunts through the mess for his key card until he finds it and pockets that too. “I’m an all-around-the-clock kind of man. Morning’s just an extension of evening.”

Oz guzzles alcohol like a regular person breathes.

“How come you were in town?” I ask him as we head down in the rickety elevator.

“Habit dies hard. I’ve always been in the city for the Underground inaugurals; I wanted to go watch and feel sorry for myself.”

Guess Oz is as unwanted as I am.

When we reach the Underground sign-up location—an old warehouse building set up with a pair of tables—he notices the silence. It catches like wildfire the moment we step into the room.

I start toward the lines for the sign-up tables when Oz’s voice stops me. “Hang back. We don’t know if there are any nukes hidden anywhere.”

Giving everyone in the line a lethal look, I lean against the wall and watch as Oz dutifully stands in the back. I’ve seen most of these fighters in videos, though the big ones—like Tate—sign up later in the day. Their spots are guaranteed anyway.

We’re the early birds, so we manage to get signed up in a half hour.

“If it isn’t the Wizard of Oz, this kid’s ticket home,” a group of three older fighters cackles.

I walk next to Oz, toward the exit, ignoring them. “They’re not making fun of you, they’re making fun of me.”

“Oh, they’re making fun of me all right.” He eyes me sideways. “I know who you are. Some of my competition might be looking for their golden boy. But my golden boy found me ’cause those dickheads were too scared to take him on.”

“Why did you?” He was drunk and I could see that. But still. I did let him get a fucking eyeful of my tattoo.

“Nothing to lose. Nothing left to lose.” He slaps my back and gives me my schedule. “That’s your first night. How do you feel about that?”

I scan the paper, verify that I fight at the inaugural. And I see what he’s dubbed me.

I laugh. “You’re so fucking dramatic,” I say, smacking him on the back of the head.

He smacks me back. “Really. Now live up to the name. Let’s bring some excitement around here. Show them what happens when two nobodies pair up—two nobodies against the world.”

“Hey,” I growl, taking exception, “we’re not nobodies. We’re somebodies. Everybody’s somebody.”

He takes a long swig from his flask as we step out into the sun. “Somebody’s not enough. Let’s be the champions.”

SEVEN

PARK

Reese

It’s midweek already, and I’m halfway through my workout when I get a text from Brooke:

Hey! Huge line at the Underground registration, might pick up lunch on our way back home. Don’t wait for us - lunch home w/Diane

Got it Will take Racer to park and meet you home ltr

I set my phone aside and scan the gym again. Some otherworldly impulse has me walking past the weights section. I cross the treadmills, bicycles, toward the mats at the end and the boxing bags. I scan the area where Maverick always works out. There are several guys at the bags now. None of them are as big, or mysterious. Or hot.

He’s gone.

Disappointment washes over me. I wait a bit, checking the time. Five minutes to leave for Racer.

Reese, you’re acting stupid.

“You’re looking for your friend? The one you come in with?”

“I . . . ah . . . yeah.”

“He hasn’t come in.”

“Right. Thanks.”

I head to pick up Racer from day care, meet Pete there with the stroller and our snacks, then sit Racer inside and push him to the park. There’s this spot I like under the shadow of a tree. I head there. “How was day care, Racer?”

“Okay.”

He’s scanning the park for dogs, I know.

“This is nice, isn’t it?”

I pull out his fruit bears and open them. He dives in.

“Racer, I ran extra hard today and I’m suddenly hungry. If I tell you an extra story tonight, would you give me one of your fruit bears?”

“Two stowies,” he negotiates.

“Okay, two stories, for two bears?” I shoot back.

He hesitates, then nods and lets me pull out two bears, examining my hand thoroughly. I let him open my palm.

“See? Two?”

He grins a dimpled grin that I could eat up, and then continues eating.

I shove them in my mouth and start to set up my blanket and stop in my tracks when I spot the figure doing pull-ups on the tree.

His T-shirt is riding upward due to the lifted position of his arms, and I can see the concrete-like squares of his abs perfectly.

His extraordinary eyes blaze and glow when he spots me a few feet away, not far from the tree. He drops himself to the ground, lithe as a cat and surprisingly quiet, and as he stretches to his feet from the crouched position he landed in, his eyes are direct and interested and warm. No, not warm. More.