The Fake Zone: A Fake Dating Sports Romance (Oleander Springs Series Book 3)

Mila’s look of surprise is quickly replaced with a look of determination before she turns her glacial eyes to Cole.

He dismissively rolls a shoulder. “Did you really think we weren’t going to call him?”

“I can find another gym,” she says.

Abe’s brows arch, surprised by her response. I wish I were.

“We’ll give you a minute,” Mackey says, whistling to catch everyone’s attention before directing them to the opposite end of the gym.

I return my focus to Mila. “Did you bring a bag?”

“I’m not leaving.”

I glance around, looking for something that might be hers.

“This isn’t part of our deal. I told you, if you want to do this, we do it my way.”

“Then the deal’s off.” She throws her cup in the garbage and turns on her heel.

I shift, intercepting her before she can make it more than a foot. Animosity shines in her gaze. “You’re not working out here.”

“Why not?”

“Because one or more of these assholes isn’t going to hesitate to punch you, and likely it’s going to be fucking Abe.”

“They already told me I’m not allowed in the ring.”

Thank God Cole was here. I have a sneaking suspicion that Abe would have led her into the ring like the mother fucking Gingerbread Hag. When Cole texted me she had shown up, I was heading to the facility for a weightlifting session. I skipped it and drove straight here, fearing all the ways this could have gone wrong.

“Let’s go.” I point at the door.

Mila glances at the others, who aren’t even trying to hide the fact that they’re listening. Her shoulders fall, recognizing they’re not going to come to her defense before she pivots and passes me, shoving the door so hard the bells swing and clang violently against the door.

I follow her, though my reflex is to stay.

“Why did you come? Why didn’t you call me?” I ask.

Mila refuses to look at me, continuing to her car.

Shit like this, drama and the silent treatment are two factors that make avoiding relationships so goddamn easy. But my anger is too concentrated, and my list of questions is too damn long, directing me to follow her. I press my hand against the driver’s side door of her car before she can reach for it.

“Mila, why in the hell did you come here?”

Her gaze pierces mine, offense and anger on full display, but my attention quickly shifts to her mouth, noting she’s biting the inside of her bottom lip again.

“What happened?” I ask.

Her eyes bounce between mine, and through the veil of her anger, I see the vulnerability she’s working to hide.

“Talk to me,” I implore, taking a step closer to her.

“I…” She shakes her head, eyes glittering with tears. “I didn’t come here to cause issues or to piss anyone off.” She swallows. “I know you’re about to get a hell of a lot busier, and I don’t want to put the weight of my impatience on you.”

I blow out a breath, searching for level ground. It feels like I’m dangling from a peak, the same damn peak I’ve been suspended from for weeks—longer. “I’ll still work with you every day. You have my word. But this place isn’t safe for you to—”

“I need to learn how to hit, Grey. Today. Now.”

A tear slips from her eye, eliciting an ache in my chest that nearly brings me to my knees. She hastily brushes her fingers across her cheek, trying to rid the signs of her emotions.

“You don’t have to hide from me,” I tell her.

She looks away as two more tears slip down her cheeks.

I wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her against me, her face meeting the crook of my neck. She’s rigid but doesn’t make a sound or movement to object as I hold her, my palms pressed to her back as I feel the frantic race of her heart and stilted breaths.

Minutes pass before her muscles loosen fractionally. She doesn’t melt into me, doesn’t even lean her weight on me, but the slight shift is enough to tell me that she needs this contact.

“I saw the guy who broke into my apartment yesterday.”

I try not to let her words reflect in my posture, feeling regret wash over me for not being there. “Where? What happened?” I want to ask a dozen more clarifying questions but force myself to stop.

She shakes her head and for a second, I think she doesn’t want to answer, but then she shudders, and I realize she’s trying to keep her shit together. “He was waiting for me.”

“What?” The word explodes from me as I step back, needing to look at her again to verify I didn’t overlook any bruises or injuries.

Mila stares at me with so much naked fear it disarms me.

“Did he touch you? Hurt you?”

She shakes her head.

“I think he’s crazy. He claims I’ve been ignoring him for years. Letters or … something. And how I made him miss his mother’s funeral…” She shakes her head. “I don’t know. I can’t remember.” She wets her lips.

My breathing stops as my thoughts tumble down a hill of dread as the number of questions I want to ask her triples. This scenario has become so much bigger than needing to learn to strike someone, bigger than self-defense, but I know firsthand how imperative it is to have control over your future. I can’t take away her past or erase these fears, but I can give her this ounce of control. “We’ll set up a schedule. Cole, Dustin, Mackey, and I will train you, but I want to be clear, this isn’t for you to engage with him. If this guy approaches you again, you get as far away from him as you can. Do you understand?”

Mila stares at me with so much hope, she could ask for the world right now, and I’d find a way to give it to her.

She nods.

“I have two rules: no training with Abe, and no getting in the ring with anyone else.”

Mila’s appreciation and relief are tangible, reflected in her bright eyes as she nods. “Deal.”

I tip my head back toward the gym, considering the rules I’ll be setting for my friends as we walk across the parking lot. Mila’s eyes are wide, her nerves still visible as I reach for the door.

“Keep your head up and your shoulders back. If it becomes too much, let me know.”

Mila looks at me and then tilts her chin up, eyes becoming walls of indifference, oozing confidence.

I pull the door open wide and follow her inside. Cole meets my gaze with a grin. Abe snickers. “She has a good stance,” Cole remarks. “Dustin was planning to work the bags with her.” He nods toward the heavy bags.

I glance at Dustin, who gives a nearly imperceptible nod of assurance, and then at Mila.

“Let’s get you wrapped,” I say.

She maintains an air of indifference as she follows me to the pole where screws are drilled into the concrete, holding rolls of gauze and tape. I grab the gauze as Mila holds out both hands.

“Wrists straight,” I say, pinching the joint to raise the palm on her right hand.

“Do you guys always wrap your hands?” Mila asks, watching me wrap the gauze around her wrist several times.

I nod. “It keeps your wrists from getting hurt, your knuckles from splitting, and the small bones in your hands from breaking.”

When I finish, Mila stares at her hands, and though she doesn’t voice how strange they feel, I know that’s what she’s thinking.

I grab a roll of red tape and rip off a large piece that I gently slap just below the neckline of her shirt.

She looks at it. “What’s this?”

“It means you’re not allowed in the ring.”

She frowns. “So you’ve just marked me as the sacrificial lamb. Awesome.”

That red tape means she is off-limits, and anyone who dares to engage with her will get kicked out of the gym. “Sit tight for a minute,” I say. “I need a word with Dustin before you begin.”

Mila shakes her head, cutting me off before I can move.

“He’s already taking it easy on me.”

“I need to make sure he’s on the same page and—”

“This falls within your two rules.”

“Those are the rules I have for you. I have an entirely different set of rules for them.”

She maims me with a glare. “I need to do this, Grey.”

It goes against every damn instinct in me. Still, I manage to nod. “I have to get to practice. Tomorrow, we’ll meet here at six instead of at your apartment.”

This time, anticipation glitters in her gaze rather than tears before she agrees and goes to where Dustin waits for her.

I head to where Mackey and Cole are reviewing notes on a clipboard. They stop talking, looking at me with matching expressions of humor and know-how.

“She’s got spunk,” Mackey says.

Cole smirks. “Is this what all the girls at Camden are like?”

I scoff. “No.”

His grin grows. “I didn’t think so. What’s her story?”

I glance over my shoulder to see Mila following Dustin’s instruction, her gaze focused on him alone. I turn back to Cole. “You’ll have to ask her.”

He raises an inquiring brow. “Does it involve you?”

Mackey taps his clipboard and walks away.

“You’ve caught feelings for her,” Cole says.

“We’re friends.”

“How long have you been telling yourself that line?”

Too long.

Cole winces like he hears my thought. “I’ll keep my eye on her.”

“Just so we’re clear, I expect her to leave here in the same condition she’s in now.”

Amusement has him cocking his head. “Sixteen fucking years.”

I lower my brow.

“It took sixteen fucking years to find your weakness.” He grins, but it’s not predatory or cruel. Instead, he looks joyful. “This will be interesting.”

I scratch my brow, unamused. “She’s going through some shit. Keep an eye out for anyone who doesn’t belong here, and if she starts acting cagey or nervous, don’t let her leave. Get her in Mackey’s office and call me.”

The humor drains from Cole’s face, and his gaze flicks to the glass door before returning to me. “What kind of shit? An ex?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know all the details yet.”

Cole’s cheeks round before he blows out a breath. “Shit. Okay. Yeah.” He nods, running a thumb across his chin. “I’ll talk with Mackey. For her build, she’s going to have the most strength in her legs. We can teach her the Triangle Choke and—”

I shake my head before he can finish his thought. “No fucking way. If someone bothers her, I want her to run like hell and call me and then the cops.”

“You want her to be able to defend herself.”

“A Triangle Choke puts her on her back. If she doesn’t have him positioned right, it puts her at risk.”

“She doesn’t have the upper body strength to use her arms. Not yet.”

I shake my head again, my discomfort for leaving her here growing by the second. “This is to build her confidence and teach her how to strike and stun someone as a last resort, not to actually fight.”

Cole raises his brow. “If you’re worried that someone’s going to show up here looking for her, it sounds like he’s already started the fight.”

My blood runs cold. “I have to go figure out what’s going on.”

He nods. “Want Abe to go with you?”

I almost take him up on the offer just to keep Abe away from Mila. “Can I trust him to be here?”

Cole grins. “He’ll only taunt her.”

I want to believe him. Hell, I do believe him. I’ve known Abe my entire goddamn life, but I also know what a hothead he can be and how callous his words can be. “She’ll swing at him.”

He laughs. “I’m sure he’ll deserve it.”

“I didn’t say he won’t.” I glance over at where Abe is running a private session. He’s been pulling shifts here for Mackey since last year.

“I’ll keep her safe. Including from Abe.”

I tamp down my words of concern and doubt and extend my fist to his. “I owe you.”

Cole winks.

I take a final glance at Mila before heading back to Oleander Springs.