Page 181 of Alessio

Nope.

He wasn’t falling down that rabbit hole.

Alessio grinned, removing his own shirt and enjoying the way Corrado’s gaze drifted over the ink on his arms, and the Bible passage written in script down his rib cage. His stare lingered a beat too long, but he wasn’t going to point it out to the man, not when he still wasn’t sure. He waved two fingers at Corrado as if to tell him let’s go. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.”

“No need. I have four brothers. If you think you’re the first person who thought they could kick my ass because you had a problem with me, you’re not even the fourth.”

“Do you annoy your brothers just by being there as much as you do me?”

Corrado smirked and cocked his head to the side. “Do I annoy you, or unsettle you?”

That irked Alessio like nothing else.

Because the asshole wasn’t wrong.

Back to the sparring, he figured. It was better than where his mind was trying to go, not to mention the way he was sure Corrado was looking at him. Like maybe he didn’t need to wonder if the guy swung both ways like Alessio did …

“No cheap shots,” Alessio warned.

“But your face is fair game, right?”

“Just like yours, Corrado.”

Corrado nodded. “Fair enough.”

Alessio intended for this little sparring match to be a quick thing for him—a way for him to knock Corrado down a few pegs, and nothing more. Yet, when the two young men met at the middle of the ring and tapped fingerless gloves together, he knew this wasn’t going to be easy or clean between them at all.

They’d barely even moved their hands apart before Corrado came in with a jab to Alessio’s right kidney. Who the fuck knew, but maybe he thought Corrado wouldn’t know how to throw a half decent punch to save his life.

Ha.

He’d been so wrong.

That knocked the wind out of him.

“Shit,” he grunted, backing up a quick step.

Corrado laughed, his tongue coming up in his sneer to touch his upper lip as he stepped back and forth from foot to foot.

He just looked too arrogant.

Too confident.

Too good.

It all looked too damn good to Alessio.

A challenge, even.

And fuck him, he liked those.

“Just one cheap shot,” Corrado said, “don’t fault me for doing it. You deserved it.”

Alessio nodded and pointed his fist at his opponent. “You’re going to regret that when I fuck up your face, asshole.”

“But then what would you stare at when you think I’m not looking, Alessio?”

Yep.