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Which got him a look, because he hadn’t really warmed himself up, only loosened his muscles, but Liam didn’t argue. Obviously he had some idea of how much inner turmoil Adam had to work off this evening.
“Weapons or hand?”
“Hand.” He wanted the feel of actual physical contact, the meaty satisfaction that came when a hit landed and the flash of pain when he received one in turn.
Smiling ruefully, looking more boyish than ever as he bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, Liam raised an eyebrow at him. “You know Hilary’s going to be upset if you send me home with bruises.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t mar your pretty face,” Adam retorted.
Since there was no one to referee they needed to be slightly more careful anyway. Adam craved a reaffirmation of his self-control and a reassertion of his mental peace.
Grinning, Liam bounced toward him, his lower body tensing as if he was going for a kick when suddenly his weight and movement changed and a fist went flashing towards Adam’s chest. It caught in a glancing blow as Adam barely managed to pull himself out of the way, thrown off-balance enough so he wasn’t able to return the hit before Liam followed up with the kick he’d been expecting.
Pain exploded as Liam’s heel hit squarely on the meaty part of his thigh, and focused concentration as adrenaline and endorphins rushed through him. Ignoring the throbbing in his leg, Adam swung around, his foot snaking out in a move designed to take Liam down. As usual, the move didn’t work but it did force Liam back, giving Adam enough time to recover and renew his stance. They circled for a moment before Liam came at him in a flash of movement aimed at his shoulder.
Catching Liam’s arm, Adam used the other man’s momentum to pull him forward, jutting out his hip and throwing Liam over it. The move was one of his favorites, something he could do in his sleep, and he’d practiced it enough that he managed to use it against Liam about fifty percent of the time. Against his other friends the percentage was much higher.
He went down on one knee, twisting around to follow up on his advantage, but Liam was already breaking his hold and grabbing his wrist. Momentum diverted, Adam flew head over heels to land with a soft thunk on the mat. Growling, he kipped up to his feet and spun to face Liam again.
Fifteen minutes later they both sat, panting, and nursing their wounds. Adam had managed to keep from marring Liam’s pretty face, as he’d promised, but now had an ice pack pressed against his shoulder. Adam had one against his thigh. But he felt great.
“Angel said she’d be back this weekend.”
Adam eyed his friend. He’d already heard that opening line to a conversation several times over the course of the past week.
“I’ve heard.”
“Are you going to scene with her?”
It was stupid to be reluctant to answering, considering everyone would be able to see anyway. But it made him feel strangely vulnerable, not exactly something he enjoyed. “I’m going to ask her if she wants to.”
“She’ll say yes.”
For a moment Adam hesitated, and then he asked the question he hadn’t quite dared to ask anyone else. Not even Justin. But here, in the dojo, where they were all alone, he knew Liam wouldn’t tease him. Not his style. “Did she talk about me at all?”
“No,” Liam replied with a sympathetic smile. His grey eyes glinted. “I can just tell.”
Angel
“Angel!” Mark’s voice was strangely strangled and high-pitched. Kind of panicky. It wasn’t the first time her roommate had freaked out over something and expected her to come running to the rescue.
“What?”
“COME HERE!”
Yep, panicked.
Rolling her eyes, Angel started down the stairs, frowning when the soft sound of crying reached her. Picking up her pace she peered around the corner of the stairwell as she came down.
“Leigh!”
It sounded like thunder as she pounded down the rest of the stairs and Leigh turned, her face streaked with tears and pulled away from Mark’s arms to throw herself into Angel’s. Relief and concern warred on Mark’s face as he hesitated, obviously wanting to run away from the crying woman but also unable to ignore the instinct to try and fix whatever was making her cry. Mark was a sweetheart. Angel jerked her head at him, indicating permission to flee. While Leigh knew all of her roommates, she wasn’t particularly close to them, and whatever had made her this upset called for girl time.
“Come on sweetheart,” she said, pulling her around to the front of the couch in the main room.
Tugging her stumbling friend over to one of the couches, Angel pulled her down and held on tightly. Mark flitted into the room with a box of Kleenex in his hand and Angel mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to him before he fled again. Pushing a tissue into Leigh’s hand, she wrapped both of her arms back around the shaking woman as she let her cry it out.
Impatient as she was to know what had upset her friend, she was sure it had something to do with Michael. Anger and upset surged through her as she imagined the various scenarios which could have reduced Leigh to this.
