Zoe held my stare. My intensity won, and in the end, she crumbled and escaped my grasp. My hands fell to my hips, clenching uneasily.

“Okay,” she said, raspy. “Some parts of my debt do affect you.” Looking up at me through her thick lashes, she frowned. “I owe a lot of money. If you stay, and fight every single fight, I think it will take us... a very long time to pay Nehro.”

I tilted my head. “How long?”

Defeat stained her features. Pretty blue eyes went dark, flashing from me, to the far wall, then back again. “Years. Fucking years, Huck.”

Years. My stomach dropped, tangling my feet up. I couldn't walk, but I wanted to go to her and hold her so badly. Instead, my own self-preservation was taking over. I asked, “How many years?”

“I don't know.” She flinched. “No, sorry. I have an idea... I'm just terrified if I say, you'll walk away. You'll open your eyes and realize how crazy this is.” Laughing bitterly, she hugged herself tight. “I have to tell you, don't I? It's only right. I don't want you to hate me the way I hate Reese for misleading me.”

When she cursed his name, it reignited the fire in my belly.

The corner of her mouth lifted, nearly a snarl. Zoe muttered, “Taking half of my fucking winnings, god dammit.” Palming her forehead, she tried to run her fingers in her hair, forgetting it was tied back. The result was her freeing some strands, creating a disheveled, delicious look.

Breathing in, slow and deep, I took a step towards her. She didn't retreat. “Tell me how long.”

Shame swam from her wide eyes, settling in her soft voice. “Ten years.”

Light surged through my skull. I was doing math, adding the numbers and seeing no other logical results. But the answer was too much.

If each fight netted her a grand... and she'd said there were two or three fights a month...

Even at a glance, the number was astounding.

She has to owe Nehro over three hundred and sixty thousand dollars.

Holy fucking hell.

Zoe was waiting, expectation strong in her face—in her stance. She knew I'd added it all up. Even if I hadn't, just learning it was ten years of fist-fights ahead of me... how could I promise I would be here for her? Who could commit to such a stretch of time?

Ten years of adjusting my schedule, turning down high paying clients just to guarantee I could be at Zoe's side for every single match. If I missed one, she would default.

Wait. That was what I needed to know. “You never told me what happens if I don't show up for a fight,” I said.

Standing tall, she tightened her arms, almost choking herself. I swear, she was holding herself together. I was digging too deep, too fast, and we both knew it. But it had to be done.

She whispered, “Did you plan to test the waters and find out?”

Another step, I was so close I just had to reach out. I could hold her close and stop her shivering. I didn't. God, why didn't I? “Zoe, please. I need to know. Were you hoping I'd fight blindly? Ten years of ignorance?”

“I—I don't know.”

“That much money... and with all your constant panic over it...” Gazing at the hollow pits of her eyes, eyes that had twinkled at me just minutes ago, I grit my teeth. “Keep the source of the debt to yourself, for now. But tell me what Nehro gets if you default. What scares you so much?”

“Saying it out loud makes me feel sick.”

“Then be sick.”

Zoe examined our surroundings. No one was in ear-shot, the kid at the desk was playing on his phone. Even so, she dropped her voice so low I had to strain. “If I default... Nehro will make me sell my body. I'll become his whore to pay off the rest of my debt.”

Acid rumbled up from my guts, filling my mouth. I didn't dare speak, I didn't know what would spill out. Sell her body.

Suddenly, so much made sense to me. The comments she'd made to me in her bedroom, when I'd tried to suggest she pay me back without money. I'd meant to flirt, to tease. Instead, I'd hit a sensitive nerve.

Sweat slid down my back. I noticed my arms were knotting up, I was crushing my fists together so tight. “That kind of a contract—he can't enforce it, Zoe.”

“I wish he couldn't. Believe me, he has his ways.”

I jerked my chin side to side. “So much of this just makes no sense.”

Cocking her head, she put on a sad smile. “I've told myself that so many times. So, now what?”

I stared at her.

Zoe studied my stance. My growing rage was clear as day. Bluntly, she said, “Will you walk away? You know the details, or enough of them. Ten years of fighting, all to make sure I don't have to fall to my knees and suck whatever cock Nehro puts in front of me.” She made a rude gesture with her hand in the air.

Stunned, my eyebrows flew to my hairline. This was what Zoe had struggled with. I grasped her anger, because if I felt this furious, how could she not be enraged? Somehow, Nehro had a way to ensure she'd follow the letter of his perverse contract.

The part of her that had glowered when Reese had shown up last night... proving that he was willing to fight, just not for her... I got it. I really did.

Zoe had been desperate when she'd first called me, a man she barely knew, for help. But who could blame her? She'd been faced with no other alternative. Either I came and fought, or she would be forced into something she was clearly terrified of.

Sex for money.

The thing I luxuriated in.

How could I have berated her so harshly, when I was hiding something like that from her?

Fuck. I was a god damn hypocrite.

“Huxton.” I had a dreadful feeling, like that was the last time she would ever whisper my name. “You can go. I won't even blame you. Ten years of risking your health—your life—for me?” Laughing dryly, her mask of false sincerity was fraying. “I'll find someone else. If I give them a cut of the winnings, even if it means I have to keep doing this for longer, maybe they'll be fine with it. Maybe they'll—”

Catching her in my arms, I pushed her backwards. We bounced off one of the punching-bags, stumbling against the boxing ring. The ropes swayed under her weight, but I kept pressing, arching her down and holding her steady.

I couldn't handle one more word about me abandoning her. Not now... and maybe never.

No one fights for free.

Gripping her hair, I kissed her roughly. My voice was guttural, raw with my rattling emotions. “How dare you?”

“Wh—how dare I what?” Zoe's eyes were so huge, I could fall into them.

“How dare you suggest that I walk away?” Biting her lower lip, I rolled my tongue over hers, massaging it. She tasted amazing, and it reminded me of what we'd done. What I'd done.

Zoe was messing up my world, and I... I just didn't care.

My eyes flashed, boring into hers. I said with a grin, “Your twenty bucks belongs to me. Got it?”

Her mouth trembled. Zoe sank into my stare, judging me—seeking some proof that I was fucking with her. I was scared she might find some. I was acting on impulse, still unsure of what I was doing or why. I couldn't promise one year, never mind ten.

But when she smiled, god. I stopped thinking about the future. I had a beautiful present right here, and wasn't that good enough?

“I owe you forty, now,” she said. “It sounds so pathetic, doesn't it?”

“It's not even enough for a date with me.” Pushing my nose to her temple, I closed my eyes. Her skin was humming against mine. “I'm not cheap. Don't get the wrong idea, doll.”

She kissed me once, then darted away. “Good to know. I don't like cheap men.”

With that, the mood shifted.

The rest of the afternoon, we juggled kickboxing and cardio. Zoe pushed me, and when I didn't break, she pushed me harder. She thought I had insane stamina, but it was more than that.

As long as I was moving—struggling... I didn't have to think.