"And you're sure he's doing okay?" I asked Brandon, for probably the twentieth time just that day.

"Jules, he's recovering fine. Just like I told you," he huffed.

"Sorry," I muttered, switching the shoulder that I had the phone tucked between as I engaged the security system.

"Is that Juliette?" I heard Vincent's voice in the background, but it was muffled. "Give me the phone."

"No," Brandon said, sounding like he had turned his head. "You're supposed to be resting. I'm tired of reminding you that you can't fuck her brains out until those stiches come out."

I grumbled as my cheeks heated. Brandon had ordered Vincent to finish recovery at his apartment after he had busted a couple of stitches Sunday night. Maybe we had been trying to ignore the no sex rule and when he started bleeding again maybe we got in trouble. And both of us put on house arrest. Separately.

"Thank you, Brandon," I said, stepping out of the apartment building and hiking my gym bag higher on my shoulder.

"For what?"

"For taking care of him."

"Me?" he asked, his voice pitching higher. "Juliette, you saved his life. All of us should be thanking you. The entire gang is in your debt. If Vincent would have died, whoever shoved that knife into him would've been the one that laid claim to everything we do. Sure, Lucas or I could've challenged it, but it would've caused an upheaval. But Vincent is alive. And that is because of you. No one else."

My heart swelled, and I had to blink back tears. "Don't let him give you too much hell."

Brandon scoffed, and I could picture the eye roll he was certainly giving me. "It's his favorite past time."

I laughed, hearing Vincent's indignation in the background as Brandon and I hung up. A smile tugged at my lips as I made my way to training. And for the first time in what felt like ages, I was alone. With Vincent down for the count until he was healed, the boys were working overtime to make sure everything was still running smoothly. When Vincent asked me if I wanted someone else to play bodyguard, I had told him no. While I did have a better understanding of why Vincent felt better if I had one of the guys with me, I didn't want someone I didn't know taking over the spot. If it couldn't be one of the men I knew and trusted, I could take care of myself.

It had taken some convincing, and quite a few promises that I would have everyone on speed-dial in case anything went wrong, but I inevitably won.

I took my time getting to the gym, and when I swept into the lobby, I was pleased to see Sherry sitting behind the desk. She hadn't been around as much – something about classes picking back up for fall semester – and I had missed her bubbling personality greeting me at the door.

True to form, she beamed at me when her crystal blue eyes met mine. "Hey, Jules!" she chirped, spinning her chair so that she faced me more than her computer.

"Hey," I paused next to the desk. From my vantage point, I could see the door to the studio Jack and I usually used was cracked open, with light pouring out of it. At least I knew he was ready to go. "How's school?"

"The usual," she huffed, eyes rolling as she pulled a nail file out of her desk drawer. "A pain in my ass. But, it'll be worth it once I graduate and can actually start helping kids."

"You're going to be an amazing teacher."

Her eyes sparkled as she raised them to mine. "You think so?"

"I don't doubt it for a second."

"You don't know how much I needed to hear that. This clinical placement is hell."

"Sherry, if you're done chatting, can I steal my client from you?"

Sherry and I both jumped as Jack appeared behind me. I hadn't seen him approach, let alone heard him. My heart was beating double time, and I pressed my palm against it like that would make it settle any quicker. Sherry just blinked at Jack for a moment. With a playful scowl, she stuck her tongue out at him and swiveled back to the computer.

Whipping around, I punched him in the shoulder. His gaze dropped to me, laughter dancing in his tawny eyes as I hissed. It was like hitting a damn boulder. Why was every man I hung around as solid as stone?

Because half of them do illegal shit as their main source of income.

"Jackass," I muttered, not sparing him another moment as I headed back toward our studio. He chuckled, but his footsteps sounded behind me as he followed.

So now he could announce his approach. Wonderful.

Jack closed the door behind us, and I pitched my bag into the far corner of the room. Without a word, we met on the mat. For a moment, we just stood across from one another; both of us sizing the other up. I wasn't sure what Jack's motivation behind having me train more often was, but I did know my reasoning. And if he was feeling nice enough to not charge me for it, I wasn't going to fight him on it. Not anymore.

His eyes sparkled, giving him away as he lunged for me. A grin spread across my face as I spun away from him with ease.

"So, it's going to be like that today?" he asked, twisting to face me again.

"Like what?" I widened my eyes just a bit before blinking a few times. "I was just doing what you taught me."

"That innocent act is not going to fly here."

My grin turned wicked. "Fine."

And before he could figure out what I was doing, I feinted left. When he moved to dodge, I was already sinking low to knock his legs out from under him. There was a resounding thwack as his back met the mat.

It was about damn time it was him going down instead of me.

Something dark flickered across Jack's face as he bounded back into a standing position. The light in his eyes was still there, but there was something different about it. Playful as always, yes, but darker. More predatory. I was so caught up trying to decipher what the change was that I didn't notice the maneuver until it was too late. Jack had my arms twisted behind me and my back plastered to him before I could even let out a sound of distress.

Forcing my brain to function, I jammed my heel into his instep as hard as I could – just like he had shown me all those months ago. He hissed, his hold reflexively loosening. It was just enough for me to spin out of his grasp, and then we were circling each other again. Jack's tawny gaze ran over me. Cataloguing. Assessing. For the first time, I could tell he wasn't holding back. Maybe I was actually getting decent at this.

We played a game of cat and mouse for another thirty minutes before I finally tapped out. He had me pinned, the full brunt of his weight centered on my back to keep me down. His laughter reverberated through me as he moved off of me. My chest was heaving as I tried to draw air back into my lungs. A heavy groan escaped me, and I rolled over onto my back, letting my arms splay out at my sides.

"Ow."

"You were out for blood today," he commented, sitting cross-legged beside me.

"Sorry," I muttered, blowing my hair out of my face.

"Don't be," he chuckled. "It's been a long time since someone gave me a run for my money like that."

"You mean that?" I asked, tilting my head so I could meet his eyes.

A grin brightened his face, making him look years younger. "I do. You've come a long way these past few months."

"I had a pretty good teacher."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," he said, shaking his head before hoisting himself up. He held a hand down for me, and I allowed him to yank me to my feet as well. "How are you feeling about your progress?"

"Good," I admitted, stretching out my arms. "Definitely feel stronger than I ever thought I would, so thank you."

"It's what you pay me for."

"True," I said, trying not to roll my eyes at him. "So now what?"

"That's up to you. We can up the strength training or add in martial arts during your extra days."

"How about both?"

His eyebrows arched. "Something I should know about?"

"No."

I spoke too quickly, and from the narrowing of his eyes, he thought so too. But this was Jack, and he had known me long enough to know that pushing wasn't going to get him anywhere. He blew out a sigh through his nose and pointed me in the direction of the free weights.

A grin twitched at the corner of my lips as I saluted him and flounced off.

* * * * *

Devyn kicked my knee. I nearly spat out my burger from surprise, and I glared at her before wiping my mouth with my napkin. "The hell was that for?"

"I want details."

"What do you want me to do? Tell you how big his dick is?" She batted her eyes slowly, looking more like a cat with every blink. "Devyn."

She cackled. "I'm kidding, mostly. But it's not every day your best friend becomes queen of the roughest, toughest gang in the city."

"Have you been watching westerns again?" She chucked one of the throw pillows at me. "What? You might as well have said rootin' tootin'."

"You're deflecting."

"I'm not queen of anything."

"Except this city."

"Please tell me how you figure that."

Devyn took a huge bite of her own burger, looking contemplative as she chewed. Letting a sigh fall from my mouth, I continued eating as well. She'd get to it eventually.

After my session with Jack, Devyn had called to ask what I was doing. Since my day was open, she had suggested ordering in and lazing around on the couch for the rest of the day. It hadn't taken much to convince me. After everything that had been happening lately, I needed a day to just breathe.

It took her about five minutes to start on her interrogation when she got here. I had thought I had covered everything she wanted to know when we had gone out last weekend, but apparently the time apart had given her time to figure out more questions. And wild theories.

"The gang runs a lot of the underground crime in this city, right?"

"Yes," I said, arching my brows at her. God knew where this was going.

"So, then Vincent runs most of this city, right?'

"I mean to a point, but –"

"Aht, aht," she tsked, holding up a finger. "I mean, I would even argue that he was the king of the underground." A deep groan heaved from me as I slumped back against the couch. "Which would make you the queen."

"You are absolutely ridiculous."

"But you love me."

"That I do."

She grinned from ear to ear, launching herself at me in a hug. We dissolved into a fit of laughter that caused Dexter to chuff at us in annoyance. That only made us laugh harder, and I squeezed her tighter for a moment before nudging her back to her side of the couch. We settled in to watch a movie, and Dexter hopped up in between us. He placed his head in Devyn's lap, and I shoved my feet underneath him to steal some warmth. It was just the night I needed.

My phone vibrated against my hip somewhere around the start of the second rom-com we had put on. When I squinted at the bright screen, I had to stop the grin from overtaking my face.

I miss you.

That was all Vincent had written, but my heart was swelling inside my chest. Deciding to just let the dopey smile win, I shot him back the same message in response.

"It's nice to see you this happy," Devyn said. Jerking my head around, I met her warm brown gaze. There was a soft smile on her face, and her eyes looked a little glassy.

"What do you mean?"

"Just that I haven't seen you smile like that since your mom died."

"Dev."

"I know, I know," she muttered, swiping underneath her eyes. "And I know I talked about how bad he was for you. How dangerous. But Jules," she reached over and grasped my hand. "Anyone who can put that smile back on your face, must not be all bad. And they're definitely not had for you. So, I'm sorry."

"The mighty Devyn Greene, apologizing. The world must be ending."

"Don't make me take it back."

"Thank you," I told her, squeezing the hand that I still held.

"Anytime, bitch."

________________________________________________________________________

Okay, so I know Sherry is relatively new to you all, but in the draft I'm working off of, she gets introduced way earlier as a side character. Just pretend she's been there all along. I didn't feel like just deleting or editing that whole part :')

As for this Chapter, I felt like Jules needed a breather before we ramp up for the third act.

Buckle up lovelies, we're in the home stretch.

Thank you all for everything. Your continued support, and the love you have given this story. Hopefully, by this time next year, you can have it in your hands - in print.

As always, let me know what you think!

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Erin