Fighting for Keeps (Rocky River Fighters 2)

“Yeah, yeah. We just got lucky,” she replied with a soft laugh as he helped her off the shelf.

Convinced there was a permanent mark on her bum from the edge of the shelf, she quickly pulled her panties and jeans back on as Seth righted his own clothing. Straightening her shirt and bra best she could, she smoothed her hair from her face.

“How do I look?” she asked.

Running his dark eyes over her, he replied, “Beautiful, as always.”

“I mean, do I look like I just got done having sex?” She watched as his eyes glazed over, no doubt imagining round two, and shook her head. “Never mind. I’ll just run to the loo when we leave here, make sure everything’s in order.”

“Loo. I’ll never get tired of hearing you say that,” Seth replied with a laugh as he opened the door.

Peeking out, relieved when she found the kitchen empty, she walked out and turned to leave the room just as Ian and Jax walked in. Cheeks burning, she watched as the fighters took them in, and by their raised eyebrows, she knew they knew exactly what she and Seth had just gotten up to.

“It’s obvious what you two were doing, and I just hope you kept that far away from any open food containers,” Ian said, laughter in his voice.

Closing her eyes in mortification, Amelia prayed for a hole to open up and swallow her whole. Dear God in Heaven, this was more embarrassing than anything she’d done so far. So much for making a better impression with the fighters.

Seth walked into Amelia’s house, calling her name. Voice muffled, she answered that she’d be down in a moment, and he looked around before plopping wearily on the new couch.

She’d spent one night at his house, and then they came back here bright and early this morning. They’d been back for a couple hours, but he’d been tromping all around the house, making notes of everything that needed fixed. It was only around noon, but he was exhausted. Stretching out on the couch, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, hoping to recharge a bit.

“What are you doing, Seth?”

“I’m tired, Trey. I was up half the night trying to catch up on schoolwork. Mother was having a fit because I was behind. I’m

just going to rest for a little bit.”

Reclining all the way onto the grass in the field, Seth looked up at Trey’s torn face.

“We’ll get in trouble—”

“Go on back,” Seth told him. “I don’t expect you to stay with me.”

“But you’re never supposed to be left alone.”

“I’m seven now. I can handle myself. Besides, I’m only in the fields behind my house. Nothing is going to happen.”

Watching as Trey reluctantly left, Seth got comfortable in the grass, just wanting to close his eyes for a while before he had to meet his father.

He dozed off, and the next thing he knew, he was waking to a large hand covering his mouth.

“Don’t scream, boy. We don’t want to hurt you, but we will if you draw attention to us.”

Seth’s eyes popped open and he gasped as he sat up on the couch, rubbing his fingers over his eyes. Fuck. He hadn’t thought of that day in a long time. The day he was kidnapped, and his whole world changed.

It was all your fault. If you hadn’t taken a nap, if you hadn’t disobeyed orders to never be alone, you wouldn’t have been taken.

Seth took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, acknowledging for the first time that his leopard was right. For the past twenty years he’d blamed everything on how his family and clan had reacted. Blamed the strict and ridiculous rules of his clan for the way he was treated.

All those thoughts were true. It was archaic to shun someone for leaving clan lands, especially when it wasn’t their choice. And that’s what happened to him. He was kidnapped by a rival clan, and carted off clan lands, and it made him tainted in their eyes. Made him less than the dirt on the bottom of their shoes. To them all, family included.

He knew they didn’t want to do what clan law demanded. He’d seen it in his father’s eyes, and heard it in his mother’s sobs as they ordered him out of the house. But they were the ruling family, and they couldn’t make an exception for their son when they never made exceptions for others. But sometimes, that knowledge didn’t make him feel better. It only made him feel worse.

How the mighty fell. Even at seven years old, he was just as pompous as Zane. He liked to pretend tigers and leopards were different, but they weren’t so much, not really. There was still a hierarchy, and Seth had been at the top of his clan’s. Destined to be alpha one day, already in training for it.

He went from being at the very top, to less than nothing, in the space of a few days. And his leopard was right. It was no one’s fault but Seth’s. Ridiculous and unreasonable rules aside, it was he who broke them. He who took a nap when he should have been studying, he who sent away the person who was always supposed to be with him.

Finally. I was beginning to think you would never become smart enough to figure that out.