When both bikers were huddled together, I scooted closer to Brent and then nudged him toward the door. There was blood dripping from his eyebrow, but he looked like he was ready to go another ten rounds. He was breathing heavy, but his eyes were bright with excitement.

“Go. Now.” I pushed him harder and he finally looked down at me and shook himself.

Shock and then disbelief marked his features before he nodded at me and moved toward the door. “This isn’t over, Coyote.”

It was over. I was over it. It was over me, too, if the big guy’s glare was any answer.

“I’m going to find you, bitch.”

I swallowed. “Great.”

I pushed Brent out of the door and rushed to his car. As soon as my ass was in his leather seat, I started shaking like a leaf. Brent started the car and sped away. He didn’t say anything until we were much farther away.

“I’m so fucking sorry, Raelyn. I had no clue that was going to happen.”

I held up my hand to shut him up and then bent over and threw up on his floorboard. My stomach protested violently against the violence and let me know, under no uncertain circumstances, that it didn’t like what had just happened.

Brent handed me a bottle of water when I came up for air and winced when I glared at him. I tried to wipe my mouth but I had a bloody steak knife in one hand and a gun in the other.

“Oh, god. Oh, god. What the hell, Brent?!” I dropped the knife on the floorboard and tried to put the gun down, but my hands were shaking so badly that I accidentally fired it off into the floor of his very nice car.

I screamed as it went off and then dropped it in the vomit, with the steak knife. My ears were ringing and I was half convinced that I’d never hear again.

Brent was saying something to me, but I couldn’t make sense of it. He’d pulled over and was grabbing my arms. “Are you okay?!”

“I didn’t shoot myself if that’s what you’re asking.”

He leaned back in his seat and then looked over at me. “How are you the same person who just pulled a gun on a biker three times your size?”

“I just did that to save your ass! I did it without thinking. But once I started thinking, I freaked! I’m still freaking! I stabbed a biker!”

He snorted and then started laughing, like a lunatic. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for him to finish.

“I’m sorry, Raelyn. I’m not laughing at you. I’m just laughing. You just saved my ass. I almost didn’t take you there because I thought it would be too run down for you. Then you go and make me look like an idiot. You fought off not just a biker, but the bigger biker of the two!”

I tried not to laugh, but when he put it like that, I couldn’t help it. “Oh, my god. What the hell is wrong with my life?”

“Let’s get you to the office and cleaned up. I’ll have one of the other secretaries run out to get you an extra outfit and shoes. On me. You deserve it.”

I cut my eyes at him. “Your life is just worth an outfit and shoes?”

“My life? Those two fucking idiots couldn’t have killed me if they had an AK-47 and my hands were tied to the ground.” He moved the car back onto the highway with the ease of a man who hadn’t just been attacked. Matter of fact, he seemed more relaxed than ever.

“Something is seriously off with you, Brent.” I leaned back in my seat and tried to even out my breathing. “You need to find a different pastime to make yourself happy.”

“Fine. Not just the outfit and shoes, then. How about self-defense lessons?”

I let my head fall to the side and stared at him. “Self-defense lessons?”

He nodded. “Not just that, but stuff about guns and everything, too. A whole course.”

I loved self-defense courses. “Promise me you’ll up your dosage on whatever you’re supposed to be taking, and we’ll have a deal.”

He pulled the car in to Stone Security and used a side entrance to take the car into an underground garage. “No go on the meds. Imagine if I mellowed out at this point of the game? I’d have two very pissed off bikers after me and my lady friend, and no desire to crack their skulls for even thinking of hurting us.”

I climbed out of the car, leaving my ruined heels behind and surveyed the damage. I was miraculously clean. Barefoot in a concrete garage, but clean. “Whatever. I just want to get inside and start organizing something. I need to calm down.”

Brent slung his arm around my shoulders and led me to the elevator. “I heard you liked to run the course. You want to do that, instead?”

I shook my head. “I just want to be in the quiet.”

“Your wish is my command, hero.”

“And you need to clean yourself up. Your face is bleeding.”

He groaned. “That asshole sucker-punched me.”

I got onto the elevator and leaned against the wall as it ascended. “Wrong. You saw him coming. You just got punched. Maybe you should take those classes with me.”

Brent laughed. “You’re hard on a man’s ego, Raelyn.”

The elevator doors opened and I was suddenly face to face with the only man I wanted to see less than the biker I’d stabbed. Jack. He took in our appearances and then reached out to grab me. I saw his hand coming, though, and ducked away from it.

“No, thanks. I’ll be in your office, Brent. Throwing away everything that isn’t nailed to the damn floor.”

He just laughed happily and stayed next to his brother, watching me go. Crazy son of a bitch.

I slammed his office door behind me and then proceeded to do just what I said I was going to do. With the exception of his notebooks, I threw everything away. I spent my nervous energy on his office, but I was still buzzing by the time I’d finished with the trash. I moved on to the file cabinets, but they didn’t do it for me in those moments.

“High heel delivery for one pissed off redhead.” Brent swept into the office, carrying a shoebox with him. “They’re not the exact same ones from yesterday, but I think you’ll like them. I had Kim, Jack’s secretary, get them for you.”

I didn’t look up from where I was bent over, scrubbing at a watermark with tissues and antibacterial gel. “Don’t say that name in here.”

“What do you have against my secretary?” Jack’s voice asked from the doorway.

I stood up and tossed the useless tissue in the trash. “Wasn’t Kim I was talking about.”

“Want to talk about your case?”

“Want to keep your tongue in your own mouth?”

Brent snorted and backed out of his doorway. “I’ll leave you two to it, then. I’ve got a meeting, so the room is free for an hour or so.”

I cast a worried look at him. “A normal meeting?”

He grinned. “Normal for me.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Jack shook his head. “No fucking way. You got lucky this morning. You could’ve been killed.”

I glared at him. “You’re not my keeper. If I want to chance it, it’s my choice.”

“Then go back to Jackson. At least then, I won’t have to worry about where my tongue is.”

I balled my fists up. “Like my mouth is the only possible threat around here. Or, am I supposed to believe you’re picky, and I’m just oh, so special?”

Jack growled and knocked over a stack of notebooks that I’d stacked neatly on the coffee table. “I’m starting to understand why Snake tried to choke the life out of you! You’re infuriating!”

I mocked his growl and knocked another stack off the table. “I’m nothing compared to you! You’re the most aggravating, frustrating, stupid man I’ve ever at the misfortune of meeting!”

“This is why I’ve never dated redheads. You’re insane. You’d rather scream at me than actually talk to me.”

“Oh, I’m insane? You’re insane!”

“Nice comeback.”

“I wish I could kick your ass. You deserve to be brought down a peg or six.”

“Do it, then. If you think you’re so tough, do it. Kick my ass. Let’s go to the gym right now and have it out.”

I stepped away from him and nodded. “Fine. Let’s do it.”

Brent waved to get our attention. “Wow. So, this escalated. Are you really going to wrestle this out like a bunch of high school meatheads?”

I nodded. “Sounds perfect to me.”

Jack shrugged. “If Red here wants to get her ass handed to her, then that’s her problem.”

I poked him in the chest. “Don’t call me Red, and don’t even mention my ass.”

He poked me back. “I’ll mention whatever I want, Red.”

“Oh, yeah. Real mature, Jacky.”

His eyes narrowed at the nickname Stacey called him. “Come on. Let’s get this over with. Then, maybe we can handle some real business.”

I followed after him without hesitating. I wanted to get my energy out, and if he was willing to get hit in the process, I was game. I knew I should be ashamed of fighting with him like we were kids, but he got under my skin more than anyone in my life ever had. Being around him made me want to hit him. And the idiot was giving me a chance to do just that.

Brent waved us out of his office and shut the door. “Good luck. Try not to kill my brother, Raelyn.”

I waved absently at him and rushed to keep up with Jack’s long strides. “In a hurry to get beat up?”

Jack looked back at me and rolled his eyes. “Have you ever wrestled, Red?”

Not even once. I’d seen some of the fake wrestling programs that Snake used to watch, though. I had to believe that I could do some of the moves. I had the willpower to kick his ass, so I was choosing to believe that I could. “Sure.”

“Great. Then, I won’t have to explain any rules to you, huh?”

Before I could help myself, I’d reached my foot out and tapped the back of his knee. It was the leg that was straightened, so the slight bump made it buckle and he nearly went down. I smiled sweetly at him. “What happened? You okay?”

Jack grunted and refused to look over me as we walked the rest of the way to the gym in silence.

I was wearing my skirt, but I needed to try to handle the stress with Jack. If I didn’t get around my anger at him, then his helping me with Snake was going to be a hell of a lot harder. I couldn’t seem to put my frustration aside and forget about the stolen kisses we’d shared. I was all mixed up. So, I was hoping a non-sexual altercation would help.

There were several other guys in the gym when we walked in, but Jack immediately ordered them out. I refused to let his dominance affect me. I had no right to find it attractive.

He headed over to the mat and kicked his shoes off. The suit jacket, tie, and button-down shirt followed. Before I could protest, he was facing me in just his pants and socks. Then, he rethought the socks and pulled them off, too.

His bare chest was a lot to take in. There were tattoos and lines of muscles that rippled and it was all just…a lot.

I looked down at my outfit and sighed. “I thought you’d have more workout clothes for me.”

Jack laughed and shook his head. “No special equipment, Red. Just the two of us.”

I blew out a breath and grabbed at the stretchy material of my skirt. I hiked it up around my thighs, so I’d have more range of movement. “Fine.”