on her hand. "You know, I'm not surprised. Not even a little."
"She wanted a prince," Lex agreed softly. And who better than a man who'd given up his life in Eden to bring a sniper to justice, to avenge attempted murder? "All the more reason to be a bit gentle with Ace right now, yes?"
Sympathy narrowed Noelle's eyes. "I thought he was into Rachel, but I can never tell with him. Sometimes I think he's just half in love with everyone."
Lex knew better. She and Ace were more alike than either of them let on, and maybe that was ninety percent of the problem--that they never let on.
She sat up with a sigh and rubbed her hands on her jeans. "I've got to get going if I'm going to find someone to cover my shift tonight. If I go on stage and flash this goddamn tattoo, there'll be fireworks. The wrong kind."
Noelle leaned up and kissed Lex's cheek. "We'll have a girl's day soon, okay? Next week, after Jasper comes down from the high of seeing his ink on me."
"You know it." If things went south with Dallas, Lex would need them more than ever.
Cruz
It wasn't the first time he'd had to fight for his place, but it had to be the most honest.
Cruz easily avoided a telegraphed punch and used his opponent's momentum to swing him toward the edge of the cage, face first. Dominic slammed into the steel bars with a grunt of pain before staggering back.
Out of respect to the O'Kane logo wrapped around the other mans' wrists, Cruz didn't press the advantage. There was a delicate balance to this sort of battle, a line to walk between scorn-worthy weakness and too-dangerous strength. If he wanted to find a place among the O'Kanes, he had to prove he could hold his own, but he couldn't humiliate them.
Not even this one, who whirled around with eyes brimming with cruelty and rage. He swiped the back of his hand across his mouth, streaking blood across his cheek. "Cheap shot, city boy."
The jab didn't sting like it had at the start, if only because Cruz had heard it so many times. Sometimes fond, sometimes suspicious, and sometimes--like now--practically an expletive, but always the same. City boy.
Cruz didn't let his irritation show. Bland would piss the man off worse, but it might bring the fight to a close. "I thought there were no rules in the sectors."
"Not a rule. Just shows what a pussy you are."
"No rules means no such thing as a cheap shot."
Dom grinned blood. "So you're stupid and ugly."
It was so sad an attempt, Cruz almost felt bad for him. Stock insults, spit out in fear and desperation, but it was the hot anticipation in Dom's eyes that wiped away any pity. He wasn't like the other O'Kanes, fighting for fun or glory or competition or even just for the hell of it. Dom wanted to hurt someone. Physically, mentally, it didn't matter.
And with that realization, Cruz had had enough of playing and verbal banter. He struck, lashing out so quickly his opponent didn't have a hope of blocking. A fist to the solar plexus, a blow to the face, and a swift kick to the side of Dom's knee, and the bastard crumpled into a heap.
The warehouse went silent, except for Dom's pained groan.
Cruz had moved too fast. Usually there were cheers when one of the fighters went down, but the onlookers hadn't caught up with what had happened yet. The people in the sectors were used to street brawlers and cage fighters, hard, hungry men who'd grown up malnourished and scraping to get by. Not men who had been taken from their cradles, handed over to soldiers and given perfectly calibrated nutrition, carefully planned training...
Eden had spent twenty years turning him into a lethal weapon and another ten honing his edges. Now he was fighting in cages. It didn't seem fair. To anyone.
The silence broke on a female cheer, swiftly joined by two more. The O'Kane women, making their appreciation known from the couches where they held court. As if they'd popped a bubble, sound rose all around him, shouts and cries and dozens of people fighting over bets placed and lost.
The cage door rattled, and Cruz turned in time to see Rachel pull it open. She carried two bottles between the fingers of one hand with an ease that spoke of practice, and a pleased smile curved her lips. "I came to rescue you."