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The only tragedy he was aware of in her family was the death of her brother, Dylan, two years before. But he’d been killed by a drunk driver, and Shayna had been hurt in the accident, too. Billy and Ryan had been on deployment when it happened, and Ry had been gutted by the news but relieved as all hell that Shayna had survived, especially when his parents told him the cops said it was a miracle she hadn’t been hurt worse.
Of course, there was a lot about Shayna’s life Billy didn’t know. He really hoped she gave him the chance to change that.
“Hi,” Shayna mouthed as she rounded the hood of his car and reached to shake Mo’s hand.
Billy hauled himself out of the car. God only knew what his friends might say to her.
“So, this is the famous Shayna,” Mo was saying. Case in point. Billy wanted to beat him about the head and shoulders.
“Uh oh. Why am I famous?” she asked with a hesitant smile as her gaze swung from his asshole friend to him.
“Because you broke into his house,” Sean said, grinning like a shithead. “And he pulled his gun on you.”
Her eyes went wide, and he saw the question there. Did you tell them you saw me naked? Billy gave a single head shake and willed her to understand that he hadn’t told them anything else.
Finally, she grinned, and he hoped that meant the message got through. “That was me,” she said. “He was late, though, so I didn’t have much of a choice. Did he recount that part of the story?”
The guys laughed, and suddenly it was as if the three of them had known each other forever with how easily they fell in and got along. Billy followed them inside, not minding being the odd man out so much when he heard Shayna laugh at his friends’ antics.
The three men signed in on the clipboard on the counter, and then Billy made arrangements for Shayna’s seven-day visitor’s pass. When she was done filling out her paperwork, they went down one level to a large rectangular gym space. Blue mats covered the open part of the floor, and two eight-sided cages dominated the far end of the space. A few people had already arrived and were spread out on the mats, stretching and talking. Tara and Dani waved, and Billy threw a wave back.
Sean winked at them. Well, probably mostly at Dani. No doubt because it would irritate her and, sure enough, she flipped him the bird. It’d been that way between the two of them the whole time Billy had belonged to WFC. He wasn’t sure if it was actual hatred or foreplay.
“Don’t be an asshole,” Mo said to Sean as he eyeballed the exchange.
“I gotta be me,” Sean said, winking at Shayna.
She chuckled. “Oh, I see. So you’re the one who lives to get under other people’s skin.”
Sean’s expression went total who me?
“She’s got your number, Riddick,” Billy said.
“Uh huh,” Mo said, chuckling.
“I thought we were friends, Shayna,” the guy said, making her laugh again.
They dumped their belongings onto the benches at the side of the room, and Billy took the opportunity to introduce Shayna to a few more people as they arrived—Coach Mack, Leo, Colby, and Noah among them.
“Heard a lot about you, Shayna. Nice to meet you,” Noah said.
“Have you now?” Shayna said, giving Noah a sweet smile that turned suspicious as she directed it at Billy.
Noah laughed—and it was a helluva different look on the guy. The former Marine had worked his ass off to get better, and seeing him had Billy thinking of the conversation he and Shayna had nearly had in his car. A conversation about grief and shame and survivor’s guilt. Well, at least, that was the source of his own guilt.
Now, seeing how much Noah had changed held a mirror up in front of Billy, making him face the reality that he hadn’t done all the hard work he had to do on himself yet, had he?
Which made him more than a little bit of a hypocrite, given how Billy had once pushed Noah to confront his demons.
“Don’t worry,” Noah said. “Everything I heard was great.”
Shayna grinned. “Well that’s good. Nice to meet you, too, Noah.”
“Okay, let’s warm up,” Colby was saying from the front of the room.
Billy turned to Shay. “That’s my cue. We’ll be done in about 90 minutes or so.”
She nodded and hiked her small gym bag up on her shoulder. “Sounds good. I saw the cardio machines on our way in.” She retraced her steps across the training space, and Billy watched her go as he found a spot out on the mats.
