match me up against next. “How about this?” He patted me
on the shoulder. “You pick out your next opponent. Anyone
you want. Completely your choice.”
“I think I know who I want to fight.” I turned my
gaze to Chance. “Chance Cutter, you ready for a fight?”
Chance looked up at me with surprise, a look of
shock that turned swiftly into a subtle glare. “Very well,
Evers.” He sprang onto the floor. When he was close enough
to me, he muttered into my ear. “Just what do you think
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you're doing?”
“Just seeing what you've got, Cutter!” I put my hand
on my hips. “A girl's just curious, that's all.”
“Don't push me, Mac.”
So that's what it took to get him to call me by my first
name, I noticed with a wry smile. A challenge. I curled my
lips. I was going to make sure Chance stopped calling me by
my last name if it was the last thing I did
“Ready?” Coach Matthews called out affably from
the sidelines. “One, two, three...”
Chance simply stood staring at me, immobile and
dark, his muscles well-defined beneath his tight sports shirt.
His brilliant blue eyes seemed to floor me of their own
accord.
For a moment I was weak. I wanted to rush to him,
to love him, to kiss him.
But the moment passed. I saw Misty out of the corner
of my eye, and jealousy and rage flooded through me. I
wasn't about to give up my dignity, my self-respect, to a jerk
who'd played around on his girlfriend and didn't even have
the decency to be upfront about it.
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I rushed him, knocking him to the ground. His eyes
flew wide open with surprise – he hadn't expected me to be
so strong. But he grabbed me back, tumbling over me. I
could feel his hot breath on my body; I could feel our sweat-
soaked frames twining together, our hearts beating faster
with anger and desire. He tried to push me off him, but I held
on tight, raising his wrists to try to push them over his head.
Now he fought back. He grabbed my wrists, his
rough grip driving me wild as he pulled me to him, flipping
me onto my front so that he was lying atop my back, his lips
so close to my ear. He'd won, I noticed bitterly – now all he
had to do was pin me down. But he held on – so tight – as if
he didn't want to let go.
“What are you waiting for?” I snarled. “Throw me
down, Chance. Isn't that more your style?”
“Don't tempt me,” he whispered, his grip growing
even tighter.
“Manly man and all? The great god? I don't know,
Chance, I've been awfully cold lately. Maybe you should
take me to your secret lair and make me your goddess!”
Outside the mountain, the words sounded foolish, even
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ridiculous – some stupid game we had both played.
“Don't you ever say those words to me again.” Now
he was angry.
“I forgot – you're afraid...”
“I'm never afraid, Evers. And don't you dare believe
I'm the sort of man who would let myself be a coward.”
Evers. The formality was back.
He thrust my face into the mat and raised his hand
into the air. Five seconds I lay, wriggling and furious in my
defeat.
A routine wrestling move. One I'd done ten or twenty
times that very hour. But with Chance on the mat with me,
our simple game felt like so much more. I felt as if lightning
had pierced through my skin. My heart was racing.
At Coach Matthews' “match!” Chance released me,
and I clambered to my feet. As I turned to face him, I saw
that his eyes were once again filled with deep pain alongside
his anger. Those weren't the eyes of a jerk out for a laugh, I
knew – those weren't the eyes of someone who would cheat
on his girlfriend as a game. There was something more going
on, as if he were fighting within himself.
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I stumbled as I rose, but Chance did nothing to help
me up. “Don't let your emotions distract you so much,” he
said. “Or else you'll never make the kill. Then it'll be you that
gets killed, Evers.”
He strode off, leaving me utterly confused. What did
Chance mean by all these strange words – these esoteric
hints at a danger I did not understand, but could nevertheless
sense deep within myself?
Was it him I was in danger from?
Chance strode over to the door by the exit. Misty was
waiting for him, her blue hair even more shocking in the
harsh yellow lights. Chance put his arm around Misty's
shoulders and the two walked out together, leaving me
standing on the mat. Alone.
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Chapter 11
I passed through the locker room in a haze, most
confused than ever. As I changed back into my day dress, I
did my best to ignore Misty, who was changing into a
thoroughly school-inappropriate outfit of black leather
pants, knee-high boots, and studded
