Luck was on her side. She passed Andy on his way out, and he gave her a curt salute. However, Hector didn’t let her off the hook so easily. He was leaving the locker room when he saw her.
“Deva! Rusty told us you were gone on personal business for a few days. Is everything alright? Are you well?”
She hesitated, not knowing what the fiery Puerto Rican knew about his friend, so she decided to play it safe.
“All is good, Hector. Everything is under control now. How’s your thigh?”
His smile was back and dazzling. “Good, but I need your hands on me again.”
He winked at her and his playfulness somehow dissipated her dark mood. “If I get my hands on you, you will suffer.”
“Not as much as fighting with the new guy. That dude’s brutal. A machine. I’ll wait until my next fight session with him before booking time with your gentle hands.”
Deva shook her head, a smile tugging at her lips. “Go ice and rest. I’ll think how gentle I can be tomorrow.”
He winked at her again and left. When Deva looked around, the place was deserted, apart from the new guy trying to kill an innocent sandbag.
Why did she come here? Now that she had arrived, her legs felt like jelly. There was no way she was getting on that treadmill and surviving it. Instead, she grabbed the change of clothes that she kept at the gym, and went to Rusty’s private bathroom to shower. All her movements were mechanical, as her mind constantly reverted to Aleksei, on what happened in his apartment and his quick chat with his dad. Gaining his trust would be her biggest challenge now, and that might be impossible. Not with the little time they had together and his suspicions. But there was a part of her that wasn’t quite ready to throw in the towel. A debt was a debt, and somehow, Aleksei had shifted in her mind. There was still something she could do, she could feel it even though she didn’t know quite what it was.
Still playing with possibilities in her head, she shut off the water, dried herself off, and put on clean clothes. Just that simple task soothed her mind enough to calm her down.
Gathering her stuff, she returned to the gym to see it empty again, the lights dim. The new guy must have gotten tired of destroying the punching bag. Making sure everything was in order, she was about to close up when her phone rang in her bag. Gabrielle.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Just got news from my favorite hacker about Aleksei’s phone. He just got an email about the venue for his next fight. I’m texting you the address right now.”
Deva looked at her phone to see the message and frowned. “Hell, it’s one of the most dangerous areas around here. I don’t have my nose to the ground like I used to, but this territory is still being disputed by at least three gangs. No cab will take me there, I’ll have to rent a car, and you will pay for the damages my friend because trust me, if I drive it there, it will never be the same.
“Hey! I don’t want you there. Not alone at least. Let’s plan for someone to go with you. Or maybe I can get an agent to be hooked up with a camera…”
“Oh, I’m going. And I’m not bringing you with me. No way. Two women would stand out like a sore thumb. Even being accompanied by one of your guys could be tricky.”
“Well, that’s the other thing, the fight time has been changed. For today, midnight.”
“Tonight? Shit.” One look at her phone told her that she had an hour to get there and get in.
“Deva, I’ll send an agent, even Sully is willing to accompany you. Wait for him to pick you up.”
“I don’t have time to wait for him, you wanted me to stay close to Aleksei, to protect him if need be, then this is it. I’ll contact you when we both get out, and Rusty may be with us too. I’m supposed to hear from Sasha tomorrow morning, try to see if she can come sooner. I’ll let you know where I’m heading as soon as it’s over. And don’t come close to the area, you’ll put me in more danger than you know.”
Gabrielle growled on the other end. “I don’t like that one bit.”
Deva exhaled, trying to get rid of her discomfort at what was going to happen. “Me neither, but we don’t have any choice if we want to save Aleksei. Trust me, I know how to deal with the devil, it’s a family thing.”
As she disconnected the call, she returned to Rusty’s office and grabbed one of the gym’s hoodies he sold. It was dark enough and oversized to hide most of her to the knees. With a jean and her pair of sneakers, she would be good to go. She pocketed her phone and left everything else in her bag.
She was taming her still wet hair into a ponytail and going for the door when she jumped at a voice behind her.
“You’re not going in there alone, Deva.”
She twisted around to see the new guy behind her, tall, very blond, dressed in black and his handsome face set in stone.
“You’re spying on me now, stranger? And how do you know my name, we haven’t even been introduced yet.”
The man’s blue eyes twinkled. “The guys only talk about you and your magic hands.” But soon he turned dead serious again. “I’m not spying on you. Not really, but I heard you talking and from what I could guess you’re going into a mess. And I’m good at handling a mess.”
Was he for real? “No offense, new guy, but I don’t know you, and you may be built and beautiful, but I need someone who can be cool under fire.”
