Phoenix:

13.

Taken

2005

Massachusetts, USA

The smell of bacon had her eyes flickering open. Ashley shifted on the couch and found herself buried under a warm blanket. She moved, eyeing the clock on her entertainment center.

Just shy of six a.m. She caught sight of cute bare feet and a white t-shirt over jeans as he moved around her kitchen. Her body felt limp and good. She stretched lazily like a cat and was surprised he was still there.

Usually, this is when he'd run.

But he'd stayed on top of her the night before until she'd finished shaking beneath him. He'd held her eyes prisoner until she'd craned her neck back for his questing tongue. He'd kissed her breathless and risen off her. He righted her sweater for her as he went toward the bathroom.

Ashley had stayed on the couch, remembering how to think. It felt fuzzy. She felt fuzzy. She felt so good she didn't even care that everything felt surreal and rose-tinted. She shed her bra and lay back on some pillows, staring at the ceiling.

Her whole body hummed with happiness.

He'd returned from the bathroom and laid his gun on the table. She thought this was where he'd say goodbye. But he didn't do that either. He was missing his boots and put his holster over a chair in her kitchen.

And then?

Well, he climbed back on top of her. She'd been so shocked she didn't even say a word as he pulled that blanket up over them, put his cheek on her chest, and turned his face toward the television. Her legs looped over him. He snuggled against her body, and her fingers slid into his hair as he plucked up the remote and started flipping channels.

When she was sure he was staying, her body relaxed in inches. His weight comforted her. His smell did too. He smelled like Irish Spring and fall leaves. He smelled like something expensive and sexy.

A few minutes into Saturday Night Live, he lifted his head and queried, "You want me to move?"

He'd been lying on her for almost an hour.

Her mouth twitched with a smile, "...do you really care?"

Leon's eyes stayed on hers for so long that her smile faltered. He was clearly thinking deep thoughts she'd never be able to guess at before he answered, "...yeah. I guess I do."

Lord.

That was almost like admitting feelings to her. He cared. But he didn't need to say it for her to understand it. It was all over his face, and it was all over hers too. Softly, she told him, "I don't want you to move."

He bunched up her sweater and pressed a kiss to the center of her belly. She shivered, and he returned, "Good. Because I can't guard your body if I'm too far away."

Ashley laughed, almost whisper soft, "...pretty smart, aren't you?"

And Leon quipped, "Sometimes...for an idiot."

He laid back against her. She curled her body around his and held on. The television droned uselessly across from them.

And she fell asleep safe beneath him.

Now he was in the kitchen puttering around as if he belonged there. She liked it. She watched as he latched his watch onto his wrist and plated the food he was cooking.

Ashley said nothing as he fixed something on the table and picked up his black leather jacket from a chair. He slipped it on, and she feigned sleep as he crossed toward the couch, tucked her blanket around her body, and lingered - just a moment- looking at her. Her breath went in and out easily, but her heart sped up with emotions she wasn't ready to pick apart yet.

His fingers slid some hair off her forehead. His thumb traced down her cheek tenderly.

Lord.

The sweetness of it made her nearly want to weep. Whatever was happening here...it felt amazing.

She let her eyes open. He stood looking down at her. After a moment, he greeted, "Hi."

Her lip rolled under her teeth as she kind of laughed hoarsely, "...hi."

Charmed by her, Leon stated, "Good morning."

Ashley squeaked, "Morning."

"You sleep ok?"

She held his eyes, "The body is safe, Agent Kennedy. You?"

His eyes sparkled, "Not really. My balls are so blue they hurt."

Her face flushed. She covered it with her hands again and giggled. God, he thought, where had she been all his life? She was so fucking adorable. He crouched by the couch as she peaked through her fingers at him and muttered, "Sorry."

"For?"

"I can't stop fucking blushing, " she complained and made him grin, "and for the - ya know -blue balls."

"Why?" He shrugged, "I'll live. I had a good time last night, Ashley."

She met his eyes and whispered, "Me too."

He tilted his head, "We need to talk about ground rules on this though."

She nodded and breathed, "I know. I swear I won't let it interfere at work."

His mouth twitched, "Hmm. If it does, you need to tell me. I will back off."

Her eyes flared, "You think I want you to back off?"

Leon shrugged a shoulder, "I think you need to focus on what you're doing. I don't want to get in the way of that."

Ashley held his eyes, "I won't lose focus. I promise."

He rose and nodded, "I think if we keep the line between work and this, we'll do ok."

She nodded, "Can you do that?"

"Sure," he glanced back at her as he moved, "Can you?"

She laughed and lifted her hands, "Sure. Why not? I'm super professional after all. Didn't you hear?"

He chuckled. "Go back to sleep. I'll see you out there."

"Leon?"

He paused at the door as she added, "Thank you."

He laughed lightly. "Jesus, Graham. Who thanks a guy for an orgasm?"

She flushed again and covered her face, "Sorry. Shit. I'm such a doofus."

He laughed. He shook his head. "Yeah, you are, but that's ok. I forgive you. Sleep. You need it."

She listened to his footsteps retreat. She heard her door open, close and the lock turn from the outside. She waited and then opened her eyes. She shifted on the couch and frowned.

Lifting the blanket, she found herself naked from the waist down. Her yoga pants were folded on the coffee table. Her panties?

Missing.

Her brows winged up. She looked for them. She looked in the cushions and on the floor. She looked under the couch. But they were gone. Poof. Vanished.

Maybe he'd ripped them or something and thrown them away for her.

Rising from the couch, she entered the kitchen and found a plate with bacon and an egg white omelet. Her nose enjoyed the aroma as she touched the little sunflower tucked into the glass vase beside the plate. Thoughtful.

He finger fucked you, slept with you, and then made you breakfast before he left.

He was the most incredible enigma of a man she'd ever met.

She accepted on the spot he was starting to mean the world to her. Then she enjoyed his thoughtful breakfast and started to miss him. It felt so ordinary that it was almost odd.

But she loved knowing under everything; she was still a woman who wanted to fall in love. And was still trying to figure out what to do about it.

Leon didn't take it easy on her during training. He was a brutal taskmaster. He pushed. He taught. He trained.

When they flagged, he shoved them on without sympathy or pity. They learned martial arts, and they learned every weapon she'd ever heard of or seen in a movie. They fought each other. They fought trainers. They fought punching bags.

They ran and ran and ran. Miles upon miles daily. Running. Running. Running. They road marched. They carried heavy packs for miles until they all nearly collapsed with weakness.

They ran simulations against real infected subjects. Wolves. Lions. At one point, they brought out zombies and made them survive together among them. They put them through mazes. They put them alone for days in the woods with only each other and their wits.

They paired them off and set them up to fail - exploiting weakness and pushing advantage. Ashley swam for almost three hours one day in the lake, where she was dropped from a helicopter trying to reach the shore. She sank when exhaustion took over and thought she was dead in the water.

Dead.

But Kevin put her on his back and made her hold on as he swam them both to shore.

At the shore, Leon demanded, "The mission was clear, Ryman. You lost time and sacrificed your safety for Graham."

Kevin looked him in the face and said, "If you can't save one life, sir, you won't save any."

Leon's words tossed back in his face.

Impressed, Leon had returned, "Excellent. You're starting to understand what we're doing here. It's teaching you to survive, yes, but it's also teaching you that sometimes survival of yourself isn't the most crucial thing."

Ashley remarked, "Survival of your charge is."

He looked at her. She looked back. After a moment, he answered, "Exactly. Nothing else matters. Not you. Not your pain. Not your demons. Your charge. You're there for them. You save them. You do it with everything you learn here. You save who you can when you can."

Shenmei queried, "Even when it compromises the mission?"

Leon met her eyes, "Saving lives is the mission, Shenmei."

She retorted, "With all due respect, sir, sometimes it's the needs of the few versus those of the many."

Leon held her look. "We don't deal with global threats often, Shenmei. In the event you do, you have to trust your best judgment."

Asking the uncomfortable question, Carter queried, "Sir...if Ashley hadn't been able to be saved during your last operation...would you have left her behind?"

Leon glanced between them on the shore and answered, "Ashley was my objective, and her safety was the mission."

Shenmei demanded, "And if she hadn't been salvageable, sir? If she'd been beyond saving?"

Leon glanced at Ashley and answered, "Then I would have followed my secondary protocol."

Kevin filled the silence at the end of his statement, "Destruction of known threats up to and including self-termination."

Leon glanced at him and said, "Yes. That's the mission. That's always the mission. If you cannot complete your objective and are compromised, you will be disavowed and asked to self-terminate."

Carter whispered, "You mean kill ourselves to stop the enemy?"

"Yes," Leon flicked his gaze at them, "You will be trained to resist interrogation, but most of what we do is done with the understanding that the government will not come to your rescue. That's what espionage missions entail, folks. The clear knowledge that you are there on your own. There is no cavalry, and there is no backup. You don't get a rescue flown in. And you're there to finish your mission. Finish it, or die trying."

Ashley said nothing as he walked and talked. But she got it. She'd known then because he'd told her. If she was lost, he was lost too. He failed if she died, and they left him to rot and kill himself or die fighting to avoid falling into enemy hands. There was no worth in the warrior, only in the mission.

She knew that.

So, nothing he said now was a surprise.

But he didn't understand. She wouldn't leave him. If they partnered, she'd bring him home. She wouldn't leave him behind. No matter what the fucking mission parameters said.

She didn't give a damn what the government told her to do.

She'd find the fucking wings to fly them both home. Her. Him. And whoever else she'd been sent there to save. That's how she honored him, Luis, and everyone who'd risked their lives for her, by doing the same for them every time she picked up the gun.

They did knife training. The ring of blades kissed and sang. She wielded Krauser's knife but needed to gain real skill. It was well-balanced. It was a good weapon. But she didn't know how to use it.

She hacked and slashed like an amateur. He knocked her hands away and kicked her to her back. He spun around her like a dancer. He was smooth and supple and quick. He parried, and he wasted no movements.

When her blade finally met his with a spark and scream of battle, he grinned down at her. "Good. You stopped trying to kill me and started defending. Good."

They climbed mountains. They learned to climb ropes and started practicing swinging from one to another. They learned to be swift, use stealth to replace bravado, and sneak instead of assault.

They tried to sneak up on him and kept failing.

He'd outmaneuver them. He'd flank them. He'd trick them with noises and movement. He'd knock them around like bowling pins when they gathered together. He'd command from somewhere in the training ground, "Split up! Stay sharp! When you gather, I can hear you breathe in symphony. Don't stay still for too long. Move!"

They moved.

Leon shouted as Ashley crept through the shadows, "Carter is down! He's out."

She tracked the sound of his voice. She listened, waited, and slid under a burnt-out car as boots splattered in the mud behind her. She watched the boots pace by the car and keep going.

His?

Hard to tell face down in the mud.

The boots veered left, and Ashley heard the sound of fighting. She heard a grunt. She picked up the sounds of a thunk and a splat. And Leon called, "Shenmei is down. And then there were two."

Ashley stayed under the car. She watched boots come back into view. She held her breath.

And a hand snaked under the car.

It grabbed her foot, and it yanked her clear. She let it. She kicked him from the ground and hit him in the chest as she came out. Leon stumbled back as she gained her feet in the rain. He tossed the foam knife from hand to hand and paused.

And then? Then he beckoned her with one free curl of fingers. A grin split his face as she laughed, "No thanks, bro."

"Gotta finish me to win, Graham. Can't do that if you're afraid."

Ashley tilted her head, "Not afraid, Kennedy. Just not stupid either."

"No?"

"Nope. By the way? Boom."

His brow furrowed, and the grenade rolled to thump against his boot. He glanced down, and it went off, throwing confetti and smoke into the air as it sprayed mud around him. He was covered in sticky filth and glitter as Ashley took off running.

She didn't even wait to see what he'd do; she just ran for it.

Kevin had saved her life by throwing a confetti grenade at Leon Kennedy.

It was too funny.

The smoke obscured her flight.

She tucked around a corner and slid between two narrow walls. Hunkering down, she used the wall as cover and waited. She heard Kevin and Leon duking it out and leaned over to peek between two cracks. They hit each other like tanks, hard and steady. Kevin grunted. Leon kicked. Kevin pummeled and tackled. He threw the smaller man, and Leon rolled through it back to his feet.

Kevin threw another confetti grenade, which exploded as Leon laughed and staggered into a car. "Who made these fucking grenades!?"

Kevin chuckled, "Like that, do ya, baby? There's more where that came from. However, Graham vetoed the fart smell I wanted to add- mores the pity."

He threw another, and Leon caught it mid-air, reversed it, and threw it back at him. It exploded three inches to the left of Kevin's head and showered him in smoke and chunky sparkles. They both laughed.

Leon tackled him from behind while Kevin tried to get his bearings, threw the big man up and over his shoulders, and Kevin twisted to avoid a suplex that would have likely killed him if done full force. They grappled, rolling over the ground, and Ashley admitted - it was a hell of a good show.

She slipped out of hiding and snuck around the far side of them as they punched and grunted.

Leon flipped Kevin beneath him on the ground, jerked him to his knees with the big man's back to his front, and swiftly pretended to snap Kevin's neck, calling, "Done!"

Kevin grumbled, "Not exactly."

And Ashley leaped around Leon's back like a monkey, put her foam knife to his throat, and sliced it across.

"You're dead, Kennedy! I'm the girl who killed the Executioner!"

She whooped happily. Leon shook his head with a snort. Kevin grunted, "This is the worst three-way I've ever been in."

Leon told him, "You? I'm the one in the middle here."

Ashley teased, "You make a pretty good Leon sandwich."

And they all laughed.

She climbed off his back. She offered him a hand up, and Leon grinned and took it, rising. He looked at them as Carter and Shenmei wandered over and remarked, "This was good. But without backup, none of you could have taken me. Remember you're often alone. Remember that you're often outclassed. And hiding, though effective," he winked at Ashley, "won't stop something that can track you by smell."

Covered in glitter and mud, he looked ridiculous, like a stripper at a mud wrestling match or something. But he lectured and taught. He showed them moves to counteract an attacker from the back who was bigger and stronger.

Ashley emerged into the locker room after training and moved to her locker. Everyone else was gone for the day, and she'd kept beating up bags and dummies when they left until all the aggression was out. Aggression was her biggest problem here. When the day was done, when the training was over, she dwelled on old trauma that made her swell with rage.

To avoid it on the field, she fed it like a hungry beast at the end of the day.

It was the only way she knew to deal with it, so it didn't swallow her whole.

Leon's leather jacket was hanging on a peg outside of the shower area. She shifted toward it and sniffed it. It smelled liked him -that sexy scent of something decidedly male and expensive. Glancing around, she snuck it off the hangar and slid it on. It was way too big, of course, but draped nicely as she stuck her hands in the pockets and studied herself in the mirror of the locker room.

Her fingers brushed something in the left pocket, and she pulled it free.

It took a moment for her brain to make sense of what she was holding: her panties. Her missing panties. He'd kept them in his pocket.

He'd kept her panties.

The sheer dirty truth of it left her feeling like the most wanted woman in the world. It was amazing. It was like flying and fighting and watching his face when he touched her. He wanted her so much he kept her panties.

She was rapidly becoming so smitten with him it was nearly killing her. Ashley hung up the leather jacket and poked her panties back in the pocket.

She moved into the shower area and heard the splash of water. Curious, Ashley poked her head around to find Leon under the spray. She froze. Her eyes devoured each inch of naked flesh and dewy delight. It slid over the swell of his shoulders, his corrugated sides, and his delicious ass. It fed along his legs and the tops of his feet, surrounded by swirling soap.

He had scars along his back and shoulders - old and white, curling and scattered. There was a badge tattooed over the back of his left shoulder, and she didn't need to be closer to know it would be his R.P.D. badge. Of course, he was a man who wore something like that like to honor what he'd always felt like he'd failed.

Soap slid curling fingers down his spine and over his hips. She watched it go and envied it. Old her would have turned away and resisted the urge.

But old her was dead, and all that was left was something that wanted to feel whatever was rising in her for him.

So, she watched him in the shower and forgot everything else but the hunger. The hunger is what made her fight so hard on that field. It made her kill the demons with evil faces on the dummies. It made her thrive and thrill for battle. It made her ache and quake with needs.

She slid a hand into her panties to touch herself as she watched him. The greed fed into the red want and made her breath catch. She stroked herself swiftly and desperately.

And it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough. She was still starving.

Completely clothed, she came up behind him. He heard her feet in the water, and he had to have known she was there; he could have stopped her.

He didn't, and she curled against his back. Her hands slid up his chest. Her cheek lay between his shoulder blades. She petted his slick, wet body. Her lips and tongue traced and tasted.

He started to turn, and she commanded harshly, "...don't. Don't."

Leon let her command him. She wondered if there were a handful of people in the world who had the power to do so.

Her hand slid down his belly and hooked over his dick. His breath inhaled sharply, and his body tightened against her. He was hard, thick, and somehow silky smooth in her palm. Whatever she'd thought a dick would feel like, it wasn't this. This was steely at the same time; it was warm and slick. It was a contradiction almost as wonderfully appealing as the man who bore it.

The soap slid around her fingers, and she tugged gently, drawing a small grunt from him. She slid her other hand back into her panties. She played with herself as he'd done. She used his moves, his carefully taught touches, and repeated them on her body.

And her wonderfully unsure hand echoed that need on his.

Sweetly, she begged, "...show me...teach me..."

He was her teacher, after all. It was a harder man than him that would say no.

After a long moment, his hand slid down to join hers on his body. He showed her. He helped her. He stroked himself with her. The second he did, Ashley whined against his back. She bit into the muscle beside his neck and shoulder like a vampire, feeding on his clean skin, and the music of their hands working together on his body and hers was enough.

She came while she sucked his skin into her mouth and hummed her pleasure into the hunk of his body she feasted on. Her body humped his back, and her hand curled tighter inside herself and around him. Slick, sexy, smooth, and greedy - he guided her palm until he turned his head over his shoulder, and she craned up to take the kiss he offered.

The second her tongue quested into his mouth; he leaned back against her. He surrendered to her and stole her breath with it.

In her mouth, he cursed with need. The filthy sound of his surrender made her ache for more.

And his body answered the mating call of hers.

Ashley slid around the front of him. He watched the water drip off her lashes and chin. Everything about him was hers. In this moment, everything about him was hers. It was heady.

And she wanted more of it.

When she went to her knees in the water, he let her.

He dropped the shields he tried to hold in place and let her. Because he was done resisting any of it. Hell, he'd never been good at saying no to her anyway. He didn't even bother now.

When her amorous and inexperienced little mouth slid over his dick, he cupped all her hair back to hold it and guided her. She licked. She looked unsure, and he encouraged roughly, "Don't over think it. Just do what you want."

Ashley stared up the line of his body and told him, "I want all of it."

And she tried to take it all in one move.

Leon's legs tried to give out. It was a curious moment. The spear of lust went from groin to ground as she gagged and kept on trying. She sucked. She swiveled. She went at his cock as she'd gone at everything else in her life - unflappable determination to take it all.

And she watched his body for signals. When she flicked her tongue, he groaned. When she curled it and sucked at the same time, his dick went rock hard in her mouth. When she palmed his balls and drove her mouth up and down, his thighs quaked, and he cursed desperately. She felt like a goddess.

When he couldn't take it anymore without cumming in her mouth, his hands caught her armpits, and he lifted her. Her hands kept on playing with his body. He made a move as if he might stop her, and Ashley slid around his back again. She pressed herself against his body and clung like a parasite to him. He could have stopped that too. They both knew it.

But neither wanted him to.

She slid one of her arms though his and pinned those to her chest. He was a captive, but he was a willing one. She worked his dick just like he'd shown her. A fast learner, she was as quick on his stick as she'd been at the range. She jerked him off like he'd paid her to do it.

When he stumbled in the water like he'd collapse against the wall, she kept against his back like a leach. Her slippery hand sliding over his shaft. Her mouth sucking at his like she take his soul through his mouth and free it from his cock at the same time.

She finally let go of his arms, and they flew up to land against the wall as he leaned there to keep from falling her. But she didn't stop. She licked all over his goddamn back and pulled hard enough that his eyes crossed as he cursed in three languages and let go. He just...let go.

The warmth of his sticky release spilled over their hands. Ashley had never felt sexier in her whole life, and she'd never felt more incredible. She jerked on his hair with one hand to bring his mouth down to kiss him and slid it over his chest, pinning him against her front as they finished him off.

It was, without a doubt, the most power she'd ever had.

Maybe she couldn't take him on the field, but she could take him here. He'd poured pleasure over her in her apartment a few weeks before, and she did the same now, dumping it down on him until they were both quivering with the release. Her bones felt golden and covered in grace.

It was beautiful.

She let go of his mouth to have him gasp raggedly, "...Jesus..."

And she returned hoarsely, "Nope...just Ashley..."

His left hand slid off the wall and caught the side of her face over his shoulder. He turned his head entirely until their foreheads pressed together. And that was nearly as good as the orgasm.

It fed something else inside of her that was starting to stir. She'd taken back another piece of herself here and found some power she was beginning to understand. It was part of her that wanted to take him. Take him again and again. Take him and keep him and never let go.

Because it was a powerful woman who would own a guy like this. A powerful woman who could take him and keep him forever. And make him love her for it.

Was that it? Did she want him to love her?

It wasn't that simple. Not exactly. She wasn't sure this was love she felt when she was around him, but it was nearly as desperate. It felt wild. It felt like what she thought addiction must be like - an almost insatiable need that never quite abated.

Touching him, tasting him, it made her feel so good. Was it the same for him? It must be because he kept doing it too. They seemed to come together like magnets that kept attracting greedily.

She didn't know how it ended but knew she'd take it for as long as possible.

Ashley's left hand stroked his softening dick like a curious plaything. Her right hand slid up his chest; it cupped his collarbone and held his body against her as Ashley murmured, "...thanks for breakfast the other day. Nice showering with you...sir."

She kissed him with a lazy tongue and lips. He grunted as she leaned back and released him. He heard her wet feet leave the shower.

His hands slid forward to brace on the wall. His skin hummed. His legs were weak.

Ashley's stroking had been so utterly sincere and innocent. Her lack of skill was so intoxicating that it nearly left him starving for more. Because every flick of her tongue or slide of her hand had been nothing but sheer desire.

That was so refreshing. Like a cool drink of water on a hot day- he drank it down and let it quench the thirst for purity he hadn't even known he had. Guileless, she disarmed him with her simple want of him. Even her mouth tasted like sweet beginnings.

She couldn't keep her hands off him; somehow, he felt the same.

It felt really good to indulge in it. He was a man who rarely did or could. He did now, standing in hot water and thinking of her. And already knowing he'd give in and touch her again soon. She'd taken something from him in the damn shower - he wasn't sure what yet, but he was never happier to have it gone.

Some level of control he'd been so reluctant to give up was missing. It swirled down the drain at his feet with his need to resist her. For the first time in a long time, he was just a man who liked a woman and couldn't wait to see her again.

As he finished showering and headed toward the locker room with a towel drying his hair, a voice warned, "Damnit, Kennedy, you know how this ends."

He turned to find Nero watching him. She shook her head, and neither of them cared that he was stark naked. It hadn't meant a damn to any other woman in his life before Ashley had started putting her hands all over him. Because he hadn't let it.

He didn't know what it meant that it did with Ashley, but it wasn't something he was ready to give up on. Not yet. Not. Yet.

Leon met her eyes and said nothing. Nero gave him a pointed look, "You know how this ends for her if you keep letting it happen."

Again, he said nothing.

He wasn't known for his conversational skills on a good day. Today, clearly, wasn't a good day. Gertie snapped, "You will make her a fucking pariah. You get that, right? You will make her a joke. Is that what you want?"

Leon finally spoke around the flexing of a muscle in his jaw, "I know what I'm doing."

She laughed angrily, "Do you? You fucking genius - you don't know shit about women. That girl? She's in love with you."

Leon snorted, "That's not love. That's sex."

Nero sighed, "Sure, it is. For you. She probably even thinks it is too. But you know what, Kennedy? Girls don't jerk guys off in the shower where they work and risk their goddamn reputation unless they matter."

They held flashing angry blue eyes until he demanded, "Why the fuck do you care so much?"

She gave him a sad look, "Because...once upon a time, this adorable young rookie gave me the same kind of advice about my trainer. Remember?"

Right. Jack. Nero and Jack had been all hands-on, in more ways than one, when they'd all started training. After a few drinks, Leon had offered her some unsolicited advice about not shitting where you eat. It was good advice. She'd listened. She'd backed off pursuing Jack Krauser and focused on being the best in her field. It had probably spared her heart and her career.

Leon held her look now and stated gruffly, "It's different, Gertie. It's not the same."

She eyed him levelly, "You're right, Leon. It's different. Because Jack didn't love me back."

And there it was. She urged softly, "Don't do it, Leon. Unless you're willing to take it all the way. Unless you're willing to give that girl what she deserves and love her as she needs. Don't burn down her career and her life with yours. Don't."

He said nothing. He held her eyes. Finally, he grumbled, "...I know what I'm doing."

Even to him, it sounded too defensive. Nero gave him that sad look again. She shook her head, "You're gonna break her fucking heart...and your own too...you stupid bastard."

She left him in the locker room.

He closed his eyes and breathed. He was hoping she was wrong. He was hoping the sliver of regret in his chest was wrong too. Because he didn't want to hurt Ashley. He didn't want to hurt her.

He was going to try like hell to make sure he didn't. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best he had. And that was really all you could do anyway - try like hell to insulate someone from the hurt. He was going to do his best to protect her.

It was all he knew how to do.