Uncaged Love #4: MMA New Adult Contemporary Romance Read Online Free Page B

asks.
    “That’ll be nice.”
    “Until then.” Colt’s voice is all low, a rumble that goes straight through me, like an earthquake.
    I hang up the phone and press it to my chest. I don’t think life could get any better than this. All my mistakes are about to be rectified. I won’t have to lie about who I am, where I come from. Colt is making all of this possible.
    I’m about to stick the phone in my pocket to go in my apartment when a fist knocks it from my hand.

Chapter Six  

    I act on pure instinct, shoving my elbow into whoever is next to me without waiting to turn to see who it is.
    But the blow is expertly deflected, and a hard kick to my back knocks me into my front door. I spin around, ready to face whoever is attacking me from behind.
    It’s Annabelle.
    “You should pay more attention when you’re walking,” she snarls.
    Panic floods me, not that she’s here, but that she may have listened to my conversation. She could have information that could sink me. But I don’t have time to replay everything I said, because Annabelle throws a jab toward my ribs.
    I block it and step away from the door so I have more room to maneuver. I have no idea how good a fighter she is, or why she’s here.
    I bounce lightly, staying loose to prepare for whatever she might do next.
    But Annabelle leans against the brick wall, all casual. I stay in my stance, my brain making calculations about her height, the distance between us, all the little bits of information I will need to take her down, if I need to.
    She glances at my raised fists and laughs. “Lani was right. You hold your hands too high.”
    I refuse to lower them. “So, you two do know each other.”
    “We do now,” she says.
    “You’re Annie, right? Colt’s ex-girlfriend?”
    “You catch on quick.”
    I just watch her. I’m not giving anything away — that I thought Lani was my friend, that I had no idea she knew Colt’s ex-girlfriend. I need to sort all of this out, but right now I have to focus. “Did Brittany send you?”
    Annie smiles. “That girl was a wily one.”
    A non-answer. “What do you want?” I ask.
    Annie pushes away from the wall. “Just doing a favor for a friend.”
    But which one? Lani or Brittany?
    I assume the favor was to pick a fight. I tense up, ready for her to strike again, but she laughs. “So, did Daddy offer you money to leave too?” Annie asks. She runs her fingers across one of the spindly bushes by my door. “He offered me a lot of money. Fifty thousand smackers.”
    This gets me. I was only worth ten. I’m a little shaken by this but keep my face straight.
    “I guess you took it?” I ask.
    “Colt and I were already on the outs. He’s hard to live with.” She shrugs. “Made sense to cash out.”
    This doesn’t match up to his account. He was wrecked when this girl left him. I make sure I haven’t locked my knees, that I’m ready for whatever’s coming. But I’m not certain anymore that she’s here to fight me, even though she attacked first. With the surprise she had on me, she should have been able to do a lot more damage, if she’s fighter trained.
    “Not willing to say if good old Pops tried to buy you out too?” She plucks a leaf from the bush. “Lani said you were pretty wrecked over your breakup, but you didn’t seem to have any extra cash.”
    So, the two of them have been talking all along.
    I keep my breathing soft and even. I’m not giving her any information about me or Colt. My lack of girlfriend skills may have saved me, since I didn’t tell Lani much either.
    Somewhere in the back of my mind I feel crushed that we weren’t friends after all. I suck at that more than I ever could have guessed.
    “What are you doing here? Why do you care about this now?” I ask.
    Annie tosses the leaf into the dirt. “What I didn’t count on after I left Colt,” she says, “is that I’d be shunned by the entire fighter community.” She jerks at another branch, sending leaves cascading to