C.H.A.O.S.

wists, bucking me off of him, so I roll onto the mat and then flip up onto my feet only to be kicked in the sternum.

”Spill Ashley. No secrets, ” he growls at me.

I kick back him, but it doesn connect. We instead circle each before Ive had enough. I steamroll towards him, attempting to tackle him, but he lands a kick to my solar plexus.

”Carley thinks Ill hurt her, not physically though. She still knows Id never lay a hand on her, ” I wheeze out doubled over.

”You were having public sex with a girl in front of her man. Thats a betrayal, ” Lachlan huffs out.

Sweat is coating both our bodies already.

I grunt in reply to him. I move close enough to kick Lachlan in the thigh, but he brings an elbow down on the back of my neck, driving me to the ground instead.

Lachlan is better at hand-to-hand combat than I am. I prefer to be behind the wheel of the getaway car.

I lay there on the ground huffing for a minute before standing with my hands behind my head to catch my breath.

”I didn know I was hers. She used to ignore me and then lecture me later after getting beat by you guys, ” I groan. The sadistic part of that is, I like the pain. Pain is euphoric to me and a welcome respite to dealing with my emotions.

”Something happened to her enough to change her. I don know what, but that Storm guy has something to do with it, ” Weston pipes up from the sidelines.

Storm. I want to rearrange his face right now instead of fighting with Lachlan.

I grunt again in reply. ”You going to get in with us? ” I ask Weston.

He laughs. ”Yeah right! Im not risking Foxs wrath over pulling my stitches. ”

I flinch because that doctor is the boogie man, I swear. He is one terrifying artic bastard of a man that I wouldn want to be in the crosshairs of either.

”Ill get in, ” he says, ”but Im blaming you if my stitches get pulled out. ”

”Nope. Thats okay, ” I say shaking my head at him. ”Im not getting stabbed with a kunai knife only to get stitched up without anesthetic because I fought you and you pulled your stitches. ”

Weston laughs while Lachlan and I go back to sparring.

While Im distracted by the thought of Fox, Im blindly throwing punches at Lachlan to keep him away from me. I don notice Lachlan ducking away from me and delivering a kick to my rear end that sends me face-first to the mat. I don move just lay on my stomach panting.

Lachlan sits down in front of me, and Weston joins him.

My thoughts circle back to Carley, like always. ”I love seeing this fire in her eyes when she is infuriated with me. I don want to make her cry, ” I groan sitting up to look at my friends while voicing my thoughts.

”Please tell me I didn make her cry when I stormed away. If she did, just break my nose now, ” plead with them.

They exchange a look with one another in silent communication before Lachlan speaks up. ”Nah man, but she was confused, ” he says running his colorful tattooed hand threw his golden blonde hair.

I guess Im going to have to apologize to her for being a jerk at some point.

”We don know where she has been or what she has been through. At the same time, she doesn know the hell weve been through, ” Weston says, always the voice of reason.

”She is different. She proved that at lunch, ” I agree with Weston. None of us are the same boys we were before Carly disappeared from our lives.

One thing that has never changed for any of us is that she is our end game. Weve all been in love with her since junior high. She is our beginning and our end. She is it for us, the only woman any of us has ever wanted. None of us have ever wanted another woman the way we do Carley.