The whole drive back to Cascade Falls was spent turning this new information over and over in a search for meaning. It was too much of a coincidence to not have something to do with my own talents. There surely couldn’t be too many other orphans running around with superhuman abilities. Not that I had ever considered my strength or speed to be superhuman, just… extra. The one part of that memo that my mind kept tripping on was the total absence of anything healing related. The way I healed? That definitely leaned more towards the super side of human. So it didn’t make sense. If that was how I’d come to be enhanced, wouldn’t they have also been trying to replicate my healing?

My head was beginning to pound, and my hands shook as I arrived in town. The sun was rising, so rather than head straight to the school, I went to the gym. Need to burn off the extra adrenaline overrode everything else. An old boxer named Rusty owned the gym, and he was always up, with the gym open before dawn.

At the gym, I parked and grabbed my bag. Once inside, I called out to Rusty so he’d know I was there. He grunted a response from his little office in the corner of the large, open space. It only took me a couple of minutes to change in the ladies’ locker room. Hands still trembling, I settled in to work with my favorite punching bag, Old Betsy.

I loved coming in early when I had the entire gym to myself. I didn’t feel the same level of pressure to hold back my punches, so it allowed me to burn through my excess energy much quicker. Rusty never mentioned anything, but I’d noticed not long after I began coming here that Old Betsy had been reinforced with an extra skin and the chains were heavier than on all the other bags.

An hour later, my mind had quieted and sweat coated me. Taking a step back from my bag, I noticed the gym had begun to fill with people doing their workouts.

Being a small town, I recognized most of the gym regulars. Yet the tall, muscular man chatting with Rusty just outside his office was a complete stranger. I would have noticed him before. He was taller than Rusty, so probably around six foot four, and broad across the shoulders with heavily muscled arms wrapped in brightly colored tattoos. The stranger’s dark hair was shaved short. Dressed in a black singlet, which hugged his sculpted body, he seemed to ooze violence and danger as he prowled towards me.

Wait, what? Why was he coming towards me? Rusty was bringing that lethal Adonis with a smug smile over to my corner of the gym. Too late to pretend I wasn’t ogling him; he’d already noticed. Crap. I used to be so smooth; what had happened to me? Face flaming, I looked away while stripping off my gloves. A long drink of water could give me a moment to fake composure until I could make it.

“Mornin’ Kit,” Rusty rumbled. “This here is Cole Bennett; he’s new in town.”

New guy had deep, slate gray eyes—seemingly bottomless but intense was nowhere near adequate to describe them. They were cold and hard, adding to the air of danger around him even more than his powerful frame.

“Hi. Kit Davenport.” I smiled introducing myself, but my voice cracked, making me cringe. I held out my hand for him to shake, and when he grasped it in his massive mitt, I had to suppress an icy shiver of fear.

“Cole here used to be semi pro in the MMA scene. I was just saying to him that you might be looking for some lessons in that area. Perhaps you can also show him around town a bit, seeing as he’s new? Maybe take him for a drink at Pete’s Place?” Rusty waggled his eyebrows at me. Was the old goat trying to play matchmaker?

Amusement vied with embarrassment, so I said, “I’m sure Cole has better things to do than get the tour of our postage-stamp town with a high school student, Rusty. And as a high school student, it would be highly illegal for me to drink at Pete’s Place.”

Cole raised his brows, and Rusty let out a loud snort. “Girl, you’re nearly nineteen; you ain’t no normal high school student. Everyone knows that old drunkard will turn a blind eye to anyone over eighteen so long as no one causes trouble!”

At the mention of my actual age, Cole regained his predatory look. Biting my lip, I looked him over slowly. Fuck me, where do these guys keep turning up from? First the twins, now the hulk.

Nope, this one scares the crap out of me. I had more than enough on my plate dealing with Caleb and his dickhead brother. “Thanks, but no thanks,” I said with a firm shake of my head.

Cole shrugged, then tilted his head as he spoke for the first time. “Let me know if you change your mind. I could do with a local guide.”

Was it too much to have hoped he had an unattractive, girly voice? Instead, his voice was like rough, smoky scotch with a menacing undertone that frightened the pants off of me. And not in a good way.

“Sure thing,” I said with a tight nod. “Excuse me, I was just leaving.”

Then I headed to the locker room. I wasn’t running, at least not on the outside. Pace steady, I took a quick shower before dressing. On my way out, I refused to look in Cole’s direction, and almost instantly my mind was back on the stolen memo.

Did it have anything more useful in it? I had read it three times while in the server room, so I practically had the whole thing memorized, but maybe I had missed something. I would need to get Lucy to take a look at it soon.