My hand clenches by my side. “I’m happy with Slim. And he would never forgive me if I abandoned him.”

“Slim is safe,” he says. “His shop is comfortable. You have a pretty good idea who’s going to walk in the door every day. But he’s got no ambition, no drive. Safe is good when you’re starting out, but it won’t let you grow. You need to spread your wings. Take a risk. Grab this opportunity with both hands even though it scares you.”

“So, is this your poaching technique?” I raise an eyebrow and lean back on the comfy leather couch. “Tell your target it’s for her own good and her life will be better if she comes to work for you?”

“I do what it takes,” he says with a laugh. His smile fades. “But it’s not just me. Slim knows it’s time for you to go. He sees how you’ve changed since you’ve come to Redemption. That’s why he’s overreacting.”

Squirming in my seat, I stare at the wall. He’s right. I do feel different since I started working here, but I chalked it up to being in a beautiful shop and knowing most of the clients. And Ray. He has awakened things inside me I thought I’d locked up with my paintings so long ago. Hope. Desire. And a longing to be free.

Torment waits while I lock up and we walk through the gym, toward the ring set up for his match with the Predator. Despite our altercation this afternoon, I would never miss this fight, especially since he’s fighting because of me.

“I’ve known Ray for a few years,” he says, stopping when we reach the ring. “Keeps his personal business to himself. He’s never once asked me for anything.” Torment stares at me and I shiver under the force of his gaze. “He came to see me on Monday. He asked me to take back my ultimatum.”

A ball of emotion wells up in my throat, tightening my chest. “Oh.”

His face softens. “Actually, he didn’t ask. He told me that’s how it was going to be. I thought you should know.”

My heart swells at the thought he tried to make things right. “Thanks.”

Torment smiles an evil Torment smile. “Of course, I said no.”

* * *

“He said no?” Makayla’s voice rises to a shriek when I share Torment’s parting words with her, Jess, Shayla, and Amanda on the bleachers overlooking the fight ring. Soft and curvy, with auburn hair and bright green eyes, Torment’s girlfriend is almost his opposite in every way.

“Oh my God.” Her brow creases in a frown. “Sometimes Torment can be such an ass. Just wait until I get him home. I’ll bet he said no to wind the Predator up. He likes to psych out his opponents before a fight.” She grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. “Don’t worry about anything. You won’t have to leave the studio. I’ll give him a no he won’t forget. One night alone in his bed after he’s all revved up after a fight will teach him a lesson. I’ll have him eating out of my hand by morning.”

Shayla pulls out a bottle of vodka and some Dixie cups and pours us all a shot. As we drink, Torment, Renegade, Blade Saw, and Tag amble over to our bleachers and then stand semi-clustered below us.

“What’s going on?” Jess frowns when Blade Saw looks up over his shoulder and winks.

“They think we’re going to be ravaged by a horde of inebriated, overexcited fighters so they’ve set up a defensive zone.” Amanda twists a strand of her long, blond hair around her finger. When I first met her, I knew right away she was the woman who had broken Jake’s heart. Not from her breathtaking good looks, but from the way he stood, shielding her with his body, protecting her from me.

Jess chokes on her vodka and her smile fades. “Blade Saw isn’t like that. He’s more of a friendly protective type. He’d be like, ‘Hey, guy, you want me to buy you a beer so you have something else to do with your hand than put it on my girl’s ass?’ And then he’d be all cool about it. Become best friends with the dude. Not much gets him riled up. He’s probably down there because he feels he should, not because of some primal protective instinct.”

“So are you with him or not?” Makayla tilts her head to the side and gives Jess a questioning look. “I saw the two of you together at Amanda’s party.”

Jess gives a noncommittal shrug. “We’re sort of together, but it’s pretty casual. I like to leave myself open to options.”

I snort and almost choke on my vodka. Jess looks over and frowns.

“What’s with you and Ray?” Amanda leans back on the bleachers, her lips quivering with a repressed smile. “You guys put on quite a show at my place. Never thought I’d see Ray hook up with someone.”

Now it’s my turn for noncommittal. “We’ve hung out a couple of times. It’s nothing serious. Neither of us wants a relationship.”

Amanda and Makayla share a glance, and then Amanda lifts an eyebrow. “Really?”

My stomach clenches. Ray does PI contract work for Amanda and, according to Tag, they are also good friends. Does she know something I don’t know?

“Really.”

She gestures to the alpha male cluster at the foot of the bleachers. “So why is he switching off with Tag down in the defensive zone?”

Twisting Jess’s ring around my finger, I look down and spot Tag heading to the other side of the gym. Ray is talking to Renegade, just below us, his beautiful body, clad only in fight shorts, gleaming under the overhead lights. In the space of a heartbeat, four days’ worth of longing sweep over me, stealing my breath away, and in that moment, I want him more than any man I’ve ever wanted before. Ray looks up as if he knows I’m watching. We stare at each other for what seems an eternity, and then he turns away without so much as a smile.