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Glancing over at him, I find his brows pinched, regret etched into each crease.
“I was drunk that night, Em. I didn’t mean it quite like it came out.”
“Sure you didn’t,” I mutter, looking away once more, tipping my head back to stare at the ceiling.
“I want to be your friend, Em. I just… I can’t give you any more than that,” he says quietly, and I swear I hear pain in his voice.
I nod, taking a sip of water.
“Sounds good to me.”
“And anyway, I’m pretty sure I don’t stand a chance.”
“W-what are you—”
I glance at him as he nods in the direction of the office, and sure as shit, Theo’s paying zero attention to whatever is happening inside the room and is instead standing at the window, watching us.
“O-oh no. There is nothing going on there,” I argue.
“Yet,” Xander helpfully adds. “There’s nothing going on there yet.”
My lips part to argue, but when I finally manage to drag my eyes away from Theo’s angry ones as he glares at me, I find that Xander is ducking out of the ring.
“Good practice today, Em. Few more sessions and you’ll be able to take any of those motherfuckers down.”
That’s the plan, I think to myself.
“X,” I call before he gets too far away. “Does he know we can see him?”
“Probably not. Mickey has that fancy glass that can be switched to one way. You’re at an advantage right now, so make the most of it.”
“Get the fuck back in here then,” I demand. “I suddenly feel like doing another couple of rounds.”
He laughs, and for a second, I expect him to turn me down, but then he pushes his light hair back from his brow and rejoins me in the ring—only he ups the ante this time by dragging his sweaty shirt over his head and fighting me shirtless.
It pains me not to shoot a wicked smile in Theo’s direction, especially when I do glance over Xander’s shoulder and find his face hard with anger, his eyes searing through Xander’s back as if he can see through him to me.
“Come on, Princess Emmie. You can take him,” Alex says a while later while Xander and I are still going.
My body aches and my stomach grumbles with its need for food, but my desire to torture Theo is stronger.
“We’re done,” I finally say, now that Alex and Nico have emerged from the office, although Theo has vanished.
“You know what you should do?” Nico offers.
“Don’t tell me, it involves fewer clothes,” I mutter, catching a cloth that Xander throws at me, using it to wipe my face.
“Well… that wasn’t what I was going to say, but now you mention— Ow,” he complains when Xander walks behind him and slaps him upside the head.
“You wanna fucking start something?” Nico asks, turning around and squaring up to him.
Xander just flips him off and disappears to the other side of the gym, clearly not thinking that Nico is any kind of threat.
“You and Stella,” Alex says thoughtfully.
“Yes,” Nico adds. “That’s what I was thinking.”
“She’d have me tapping out in seconds,” I admit.
