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At some point, I locked eyes with Serena. I gave her a roguish grin and then really laid into the other Vinduthi.
By the end of the match, my opponent was knocked out cold. I beat him even faster than my last opponent. I raised my arms out to the cheering crowd, and everyone surrounded the ring.
I turned my gaze up to the box to Serena to wink at her, only she wasn’t there. I froze and for a moment, I panicked. Where was she? What happened to her guards? I was going to kill them if they let anything happen to her.
“Jalik?” a voice said.
I whipped around to see Serena coming up from backstage, a wide grin on her face. Instantly, I relaxed. I was glad that even though Draven put her show on hold, she was still allowed to come backstage. She came up to me and handed me a towel.
“You were incredible,” she said. I puffed up my chest a little as I took the towel from her.
“Naturally.”
She rolled her eyes but laughed all the same. We stood there together as the crowd cheered. It felt strangely intimate to have her there by my side at that moment. But it also felt right somehow, too.
When the crowd dissipated to go get their winnings, I rushed Serena backstage with me. She waved me into a chair, and I complied.
Serena wandered off for a moment before coming back with a water canteen. “Drink up, you need it after that fight.”
I huffed but did as I was told. “Are you my medic now?”
“Someone has to take care of you. Besides.” Her voice became a bit sheepish. “After everything you’ve done for me, it’s the least I can do for you.”
I set the canteen down and pulled her close to me. Her eyes went wide, and I cupped her cheek with one hand. She seemed so small, so fragile compared to me. Compared to nearly everyone on this station. It made me want to shield her from the whole universe if I could.
But I had seen that fire in her eyes, that confidence.
“You don’t need to thank me for that,” I murmured.
She put her hand on my chest and I resisted the urge to pull her even closer.
Then, I sensed someone approaching. I spun around, ready for another fight, only to see one of the men I’d sent to investigate.
“I have news,” he said solemnly.
SERENA
“The guy is someone called Erznet. He’s got a clean record, though,” Jalik’s guy informed him.
“What the hell can he be up to?” Jalik mused out loud. I watched the exchange silently. They had to work hard for this information, so I stayed quiet and observant until the guard pulled out a picture for us to look at.
Jalik and I exchanged a look.
“I’ve seen him before hanging around shows at the casino,” I said to Jalik.
He sighed. “Well, now we know who the threat is. Find him and get back to me when you do. It’s getting late, and I’m taking Serena to bed,” he said, looking at me with mischief in his eyes.
With a curt nod, his guy turned and walked away, leaving me under the arousing stare of Jalik’s intensity. The low throb it elicited between my thighs made me blush, but I took his hand, allowing him to take me home.
At his apartment, Jalik pressed me up against the door, stealing a searing kiss before opening it and ushering me inside. The apartment was dimly lit, casting shadows everywhere.
He kicked the door shut behind us, and I heard the soft click of the lock falling into place as he did. My heart pounded with arousal and nervousness about what he had planned.
He led me into the living room. Even though I was more focused on Jalik’s body at the moment, his incredible apartment always took my breath away. His bathroom was probably as big as the hovel in The Under I called my apartment.
He backed me through the house, never breaking contact from the kisses he stroked into me. With one hand wrapped behind my neck and the other gripping a handful of my ass, he walked me backward down the hallway.
We reached the bathroom door, and he pushed me inside without warning, his body heat radiating against mine. We stood there for a moment, just looking at each other in the largest mirror I had ever seen outside of a storefront, our reflections frozen in the glass. His eyes were intense, filled with desire that scared and excited me at the same time.
