Underground 4 (23 page)

“Trent?”

Instead of answering, he pressed her pants into her hands. She could hear him dressing so she followed suit, confused why things had suddenly gone cold between them. Was it something she’d said?

When she was done, Phoenix turned and opened the door, blinking against the bright lights of the hall. She turned to finally look at him but he avoided her eyes, his mouth pressed into a firm line.

“Let's go,” he grunted, heading toward the gym.

Phoenix watched him walk away for a second before following. Men, she thought with an exasperated huff. She would never understand them.

As they neared the doors his phone rang. They both stopped as he pulled it out to look at the caller ID.

“It's Seamus or Garrett,” he said, still not looking at her. “I'm going to take it outside. The reception down here sucks.”

He was high-tailing it back down the hall before she could say a word. She watched until he disappeared from sight.

What the hell had she done? Going over everything that had happened in that closet, she couldn't think of anything. Strange creatures, she thought with a shake of her head.

Fun.

He was beginning to hate that word

More over, he was beginning to kick himself for even suggesting it to Phoenix in the first place. The one night he hadn’t slept with her after having been together the night before, he'd woken up miserable and alone. He'd looked for his smart ass little red headed spitfire, and she hadn't been there.

He couldn't go back to that. Wouldn't. But all Phoenix ever cared about was having fun - and that included him. Well he was going to change that. He just wasn't sure how.

Trent had never felt as confused and helpless as he did when it came to Phoenix. He just wasn't used to having to deal with women and relationships, having avoided them for as long as he could remember. And this was exactly why.

Making his way through the tunnels, he headed to the exit, not looking back to see if Phoenix still had that adorable crease between her eyes that she got whenever she was confused about something.

He could still smell her on him, his body humming from having her again. He could have her a hundred times a day and still never get tired. She did that to him, made him insatiable.

The phone in his hand rang again. “Give me one second,” he said, answering it. Hopefully they heard him. The reception was shite underground. Running the last bit, he gave the two guys at the doors a quick nod as he stepped out into the crisp morning air.

“You still there?”

“Yeah,” Seamus said on the other end.

“Are you guys headed out this way?”

Seamus hesitated. “About that...we've got a bit of a problem.”

Trent froze. “What kind of problem?” he asked slowly.

“Well, there's two actually.”

Of course there is, he thought.

“One, Lake hasn't returned from her aunt's.”

“Why not?” Trent asked. “Is she hurt? Did the soldiers get her?”

“I don't think so,” Seamus answered. “I would have heard if she had.”

“Great,” he said with a sigh. Why couldn't these Archers just do what they said? “What else?”

Seamus paused. “It's Garrett.”

Trent stood straighter. “What about him?”

“He's inside the Community Center.”

Trent pulled the phone away from his ear, pinching the bridge of his nose. Why couldn't
anyone
do what they were supposed to? “Why the bloody hell is he in there?”

“He went in to get Mr. Samson.”

“And why the fuck did you let him?” Trent all but growled.

“What was I supposed to do? He insisted!”

“You should have been the voice of reason, damn it.”

“I tried. He wouldn't listen.”

Trent cursed. “So now what?”

“I'm going to stay here to make sure he gets out. And I have to look for Lake.”

“Why weren't one of you with her to begin with?”

“We figured it would be faster if we split up.”

“Brilliant,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face. He was tired. Not just because he'd gone to bed late the night before, feasting on Phoenix's body. He was tired, bone tired. Mentally, emotionally, you name it. He was sick of all the fighting and worrying. Why couldn't things be easier in his life?

“Call me as soon as you have an update,” he said, knowing there wasn't much he could do at this point.

“Will do,” Seamus said. “Sorry, Trent. I told him you'd be pissed.”

Trent snorted. “That probably made him want to do it all the more, not dissuade him.”

“Tell McKay I say sorry too.”

“It's not your fault, don't worry. Talk soon.”

“Yeah.”

They hung up. Now he had to go explain this to the others. With a resolved sigh, he headed in.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“
You
want to fight
me
? Why?” Phoenix stood looking at the same girl who had landed her on her ass not too long ago.

She was smiling at Phoenix like the Cheshire cat - and it was pissing Phoenix off.

“Why not?” she replied smugly. “We're supposed to be training, aren't we?”

This bitch actually thought she could take her, Phoenix thought with a twitch of her eye. Just because she’d landed a couple of cheap blows, did not mean that she was a better fighter! Her eyes kept sweeping over to Bastian and back, her cheeks flushing, and Phoenix knew she was trying to impress the man.

That just made her even madder. Bastian was Pixie’s man now, and no woman was going to ogle him if Phoenix had anything to say about it! It was official. The bitch was going down.

“Fine, let’s do this,” Phoenix replied with a sweet smile. Walking over to the ring, she started putting on the sparring equipment just as Pixie appeared beside her.

“You’d better break her nose,” she said in her soft voice. “Or at least hit her really hard in the boob.”

Phoenix chuckled. “Settle down there, tiger. I’ll show her who she’s messing with.”

“She’s been eye-fucking Sebastian since he got in here. If you weren’t going to fight her, I was. He literally had to hold my arm to keep me from challenging her.”

Phoenix looked her up and down as if she were a stranger. “Who are you, and what have you done with my Pix?”

She shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed. “Bastian is a bad influence on me.”

“Remind me to thank him.”

Hopping up, she ducked beneath the ropes and started to bounce on the balls of her feet to warm up her muscles. Pixie popped up in her corner, her eyes focused on the other side. If looks could kill…

“I really don’t think this is necessary,” Bastian said, coming up beside them. He looked between the three of them as if they were children misbehaving, and he had no idea what to do about it.

“The girl wants to fight, so let’s fight,” Phoenix said easily.

“We’re all supposed to be on the same team now,” he pointed out.

“We are,” the other girl said, flashing him a smile as she took off her shirt to reveal a tiny sports bra.

Phoenix stopped bouncing and looked over her shoulder at Pixie. She mouthed, “the boob”, pointing at her own with narrowed eyes. Phoenix nodded, biting back her smile. The girl was adorable when she was angry. It was a rare thing to see. Normally Pix was so quiet and calm, you hardly even noticed she was there. She always assumed the girl got her aggression out by exploding things.

“No one is to really hurt the other,” he ordered.

“No promises,” Phoenix said, winking at him.

“Red, I’m serious,” he said, aiming his daddy voice at her. She just rolled her eyes.

“What’s going on?”

Trent appeared beside him, looking less than happy.

“Ah, you’re just in time hot-shot,” she said happily. “I’m about to show this biaatch just how good I really am. No more cheap shots, sweetheart.”

The other girl scoffed, clearly not realizing that the shit was about to go down.

“Get out of there, Phoenix. We have more important things to do than this.”

Ugh, another daddy voice. What was wrong with these men?

“I won’t have you getting hurt just so you can prove a point,” he went on.

Phoenix stopped moving to look at him with her mouth dropped open. Yee of little faith! How dare he! “I don’t know what pisses me off more, that you’re acting like I’m suddenly your property to boss around, or that you think I’m going to get hurt again by this skank-bag.”

The other girl gasped. “Excuse me! I’m not –”

Phoenix didn’t bother looking at her. Holding up a finger she said, “shhh, SB. The adults are talking.”

Trent’s jaw ticked like it always did when he was pissed. Like she cared. “We all need to be in our best shape right now. This is stupid. You’re not even wearing your headgear.”

“I’ll be fine. But thanks for the concern,” she said, dismissing him as she turned to face her opponent.

“Damn it, Phoenix. I said get out of there. Now.”

She could sense Pixie stiffen behind her. The other girl didn’t look too sure about this match-up anymore either. Just great. Now he’d gone and ruined all her fun, just like always. Mr. Square and boring had decided to show up this morning. Just when she thought he was learning to relax. Especially after their romp in the closet.

Phoenix walked over to stand above him, looking down with as much calmness as she could muster right then. “Are you seriously trying to boss me around right now? Because I’m pretty sure I made myself very clear about you being an asshole.”

He huffed. His hand reached out to wrap around her ankle possessively. That little touch made staying mad harder. Damn it. Even the slightest of contact from him seemed to be screwing with her brain.

“I’m not being an asshole. Something important has come up, and I need everyone together to talk. I also don’t want you fighting like this anymore. It’s not necessary.”

“Exactly what I said,” Bastian murmured.

“Shut it, Jesus,” Phoenix said, never looking away from Trent. “You can tell me whatever it is after my fight. I’m sure it can wait.”

“Damn it, Phoenix. I don’t want you fighting.”

“Too bad! It’s what I do. Get used to it.”

“Not anymore!”

A tense silence fell over them. She sensed Pixie move closer, but didn’t say anything.

Phoenix crouched down so they were eye level through the ropes. “Listen to me very carefully, hot shot. I do what I want, when I want. And
no one
gets to take that away from me. If I want to fight every bloody person in this room, I will. So you can go take your Neanderthal ass somewhere else and club some other woman over the head. I’m done.”

Not waiting for his reply, she turned, dropping the gloves in the middle of the ring as she hopped over the other side, landing on the floor with a jar. Walking out of the room without a look back, she went in search of her sister. Or food. Or both. Because right now, she needed to eat her emotions like every other sane woman out there. Just when she’d thought they were good, he went and showed her how impossible it was that things would ever work out between them.

Trent watched Phoenix leave, even more confused than he’d been before. What the hell did he do wrong? Was it so bad that he wanted to keep her safe and uninjured? He couldn’t keep track of her damn moods. It seemed like no matter what he said, it was wrong.

“I don’t understand women,” he said, shaking his head.

“Don’t look at me,” Bastian said from beside him. “I’ve never made sense of them. You could always try locking her in a room and fucking her until she gave in.”

A loud smack sounded as Bastian’s head whipped forward.

“Ow!” he said, holding the back of his head.

“You’re an idiot,” Pixie said, walking away from them.

He looked at Trent. “See? I just don’t get them.”

The group sat around the table set up in the gym as Trent recapped his phone call with Seamus.

“I’m going to kill him when he gets here,” Pete said furiously.

“If he gets back here,” Roman said.

“What do we do?” Phoenix asked. She wouldn’t even look in his direction, which was pissing him off even more. He needed to get her alone to talk, but he knew that when he went to find her later her door would be locked – again. Didn’t she realize he needed to sleep with her in his arms now? Didn’t she feel
anything
of what he did?