Chapter 18: How Far i'll go

Kai

Monday was finally here, finally cleared to start training again, and Kai was out the door before 4:45 a.m.

Not loudly. And she wasn’t trying to be sneaky. Just… gone.

Sara would throw a fit when she realized the bed was empty and the car was gone. But Kai didn’t care. Not right now. Not when the air outside was so crisp it made her lungs burn and her skin prickle, not when her body ached for movement.

The gym was empty when she got there. It always was at 5 a.m. Just how she liked it.

She rolled out her mat in the far corner of the yoga studio, back to the mirrored wall, and took a long breath in through her nose. The stretch upward pulled at the skin of her side, a low, angry tug, and her lips twisted in annoyance—but she didn’t push.

The session was slow, gentle. A practice of restraint more than anything. She couldn’t do the deep stretches, couldn’t hold Warrior II without her side screaming, but God, she felt like herself again.

Moving. Breathing. Reclaiming her body from the dull haze of painkillers and forced rest.

Afterward, she limped to the hot tub and sank in with a hiss, the warmth rushing over her sore joints like a balm. The scar tugged again beneath the surface of the water, angry and raw even a week and a half later. But she stayed. She breathed.

By the time she walked into the sauna, towel around her waist and hair tied up messily, her muscles were already turning to jelly. The wood was hot and dry and perfect. She sat in the corner, leaned back against the top bench, and closed her eyes.

Ten minutes in, the door opened with a slow creak.

She cracked an eye open. And immediately groaned.

“Of course it's you.”

Cam grinned as he stepped inside. “Good morning to you too, sunshine.”

He took the bench across from her, towel around his waist, water bottle in hand, like this was just another day at the dojo and not the first time she’d seen him since her impromptu vacation-slash-incarceration.

He eyed her, then the slight wince she made as she shifted.

“You look like hell,” he said lightly.

She gave him the finger. “Thanks. I feel great.”

He leaned back, elbow resting on the bench behind him, expression softening. “I heard it was bad.”

Kai stared at the grain of the wood between them. “Yeah.”

Silence settled.

Then Cam’s voice, quieter. “How bad?”

Kai hesitated, then sighed and tugged her towel down just enough to show the edge of the scar curving up from just above her hip.

Cam blinked. “Shit.”

“It was worse before,” she muttered. “Sutures looked like barbed wire. Still feels like I’m stitched together with cable ties.”

He didn’t joke. Didn’t smile.

Cam, normally the biggest goof in the room, looked genuinely pissed.

“Who was it?”

Kai’s eyes met his, calm and steady. “It’s being handled.”

Another beat. Then Cam nodded. “Okay.”

They sat in silence again, the heat building around them, sweat beading at their temples. It wasn’t awkward. It was Cam. Steady, loyal, never pushing.

After a while, he broke the silence.

“So... you easing back in, or ignoring every rule the doc gave you?”

Kai smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Cam huffed a laugh. “Sara is going to lose her shit if she finds out you snuck out before dawn.”

She closed her eyes again and smiled up at the ceiling. “She’ll live.”

Hopefully.

James

6:32 a.m. – Sara:

Kai’s gone.

Took the car. She’s not answering. Probably gym.

James stared at the message, jaw locking tight as his thumb hovered over the screen. He’d only been in the weight room for thirty minutes, still mid-set, sweat just beginning to run down the back of his neck.

And Kai? Gone.

Sneaking out like a damn teenager skipping school.

Of course she did.

He sighed, racked the barbell, and wiped his hands on his towel before heading toward the lockers.

Virgin Active wasn’t far from her apartment, which was probably the only reason Sara hadn’t already driven over there herself. Still, he could practically hear the fury in her text tone, see her pacing the kitchen in that oversized robe with her hair up and fury burning behind her eyes.

It wasn’t just about the car. Or the disobedience.

It was the risk.

And Kai, goddammit, didn’t take risk seriously. Not when it was her own pain. Not when her pride was on the line.

James hit the main floor, cutting through the cardio section to where the pool, hot tub, and saunas were tucked behind glass. He wasn’t even fully through the doors before he spotted her.

Kai.

Getting out of the hot tub.

Hair tied up in a loose, damp knot. A towel around her hips. Skin flushed from the water, that familiar tightness in her posture that told him she was still sore—still healing.

But she was there. Alive. Upright. Not bleeding.

His breath punched out in relief.

And then Cam walked into the sauna behind her.

James stopped short, hands on his hips, watching from the glass just outside. His first instinct was irritation—because of course Cam got to be the one talking to her. But then logic clicked back in.

Cam was safe. Loyal. Protective.

James knew, because they’d spent enough time in the same dojo to recognize what made a man solid—and Cam had never once let Kai push past her limits in training. The way he’d barked at her last time for overdoing it? That had earned James’s respect.

So James stayed put.

Watching.

Waiting.

Ten minutes passed. Maybe twelve. Then they both emerged from the sauna, laughing softly about something. Cam’s expression eased when he saw James standing by the pool. He shot him a grin and a thumbs-up before disappearing into the men's change rooms.

James didn’t move. He just watched the women’s entrance now, arms folded, foot tapping on the tile.

He hadn’t said a word yet.

But when Kai walked out?

Oh, she’d know.

Kai stepped out of the women’s change room with her gym bag slung over one shoulder, cheeks still flushed from the sauna and damp tendrils of hair sticking to her forehead.

She looked relaxed.

Smug, even.

Until she saw him.

Standing directly across from the door, arms folded, feet shoulder-width apart like he’d been there, waiting this whole time.

She froze. Mid-step. Bag sliding off her shoulder with a soft thud.

His eyes locked onto hers—unflinching, unreadable. And so full of quiet, boiling disappointment that it made her stomach twist.

"Don’t move," he said. Low. Commanding.

Her thighs clenched on instinct.

"You're going to give me a damn good reason, Kai,” James continued, his tone razor-sharp, “for why the fuck you're here. Alone. After everything you promised. After everything Sara and I have done to keep you from being reckless with that wound."

She didn’t answer.

Couldn’t, really.

Her tongue felt stuck to the roof of her mouth and her pulse was climbing faster than it should for someone who just got out of a hot tub.

"Did you think sneaking out before dawn was cute? That it wouldn’t count if no one saw you?"

“I didn’t overdo it,” she said, defensively. Too quick. Too small.

“That’s not the point and you know it.” His voice was steady but lethal, like a knife pressed flat against her throat. “You lied. You hid this. Again.”

“I didn’t lie.”

“You knew we’d try to stop you, and you did it anyway.”

Her arms crossed, more out of instinct than defiance. “I needed to move. I needed space. You don’t get it—”

“No, I do get it, Kai.” He stepped closer, slow and deliberate. “You’re hurting. You're stubborn. You’re clinging to control because you think it’s all you’ve got right now.”

His jaw tensed as his eyes roamed over her. Not hungry but assessing. Tracking the way she flinched when she adjusted the strap on her shoulder. The way her back subtly arched to protect her ribs.

“You are not healed. That doctor cleared you for light movement. You don’t get to define what that looks like.”

“I didn’t push—”

“I saw you come out of the hot tub. I watched you walk into that sauna. You think Cam would’ve let you in there if he knew what Sara told me about how bad it really was?”

That shut her up.

"Deep knife laceration," James said softly, reciting the details dangerously slowly. "From just below your hip to just under your fucking rib, Kai. Five days in the hospital. You weren’t even lucid enough to speak until halfway through it, thanks to the pain meds. You think that kind of wound is healed in ten days?”

Kai’s chest rose, breath sharp and uneven.

“That’s not fair,” she said, voice trembling. “I needed something to feel normal.”

James stared at her for a long moment, then took a breath. Not calmer. Just quieter.

“God what i would do…” he said, stepping in close—too close. Kai’s whole body responded to that sentence like a match to gasoline. Her core tightened. Breath stalled. She barely managed to keep her knees locked. But when she looked up—chin tilted just enough to meet his gaze—her voice was barely steady.

“But I’m not yours,” she whispered.

“I’m taking you home now,” James hissed walking away without another word to get his bag from the change rooms before returning to Kai still standing where he left her. She didn’t say anything after that. Didn’t flinch. Didn’t retreat.

But the tension in her spine didn’t ease until he turned and started walking toward the exit. Good. Let her squirm a little.

He didn’t trust himself to look back at her. Not when his own body was still humming from the image of her flushed and dripping from the hot tub. God she was stunning but after that mouthy little “I’m not yours” which landed more like a dare than a boundary. He wanted to do nothing more than show her just how much he could make her his.

Fuck.

By the time he unlocked the car, she seemed to have lost some of the flush from her face, silently following him, and sliding into the passenger seat without protest. Not one bratty comment. No “you’re not the boss of me” speech. That alone was suspicious.

The drive started in silence. The kind that made his knuckles tighten around the wheel. Her arms were crossed again—same way they had been when she got caught, as if that thin layer of defensiveness could protect her from the heat still pulsing between them.

"You left before sunrise," he said after a few minutes. “Didn’t even leave a note.”

She shrugged. “Didn’t think anyone would care that much. Only a couple places i would be at that hour of the morning.”

He shot her a sharp glance. “Don’t pull that shit, Kai. You knew Sara would panic. You knew I’d find out. You wanted to be caught.”

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?” he asked, voice like smoke. “Because here we are. Me driving you home. Again.”

He could see her jaw working, the words pressing behind her teeth, trying not to come out. Good. He hoped it ate at her. He needed it to sink in how dangerous this kind of behavior was.

“I didn’t do anything intense,” she muttered. “It was just yoga. Then hot tub and quick heat in the sauna.”

“You don’t get to make that call.”

“I do get to decide what I can handle—”

“No,” he snapped, sharp enough to make her jump, barely keeping a lid on his anger. “Not when your judgment in this is fucked. You lied to me. To Sara. You put yourself at risk and then acted like it was no big deal.”

She turned her face toward the window, but not before he saw the emotion brimming in her eyes. Not tears. Frustration. Shame. Something rawer than she wanted to admit.

James exhaled slowly and reached deep inside himself to regain his control.

This wasn’t just about today. This was about the tension between them, coiled so tight it was a wonder it hadn’t already snapped.

“You’re pushing boundaries,” he said more quietly. “Testing me.”

No answer.

“You want to know how far I’ll go.”

Still nothing.

“You really want to find out?”

She turned slowly to look at him. Lips parted. Breathing shallow.

And he didn’t wait for an answer. Pulling up to a red light, his hand left the gearshift and reached over, gripping her thigh just above the knee, pulling her leg closer towards the center console —firm enough to hold her still, soft enough to remind her exactly how much more he could take. Her breath hitched audibly.

"You want to be a brat?" he asked, voice like gravel. "Fine. But don’t pretend you don’t know what its going to get you."

She swallowed. Hard. And didn’t look away. This was new. This was dangerous. He let go just before pulling into her apartment complex, the tension between them thick and buzzing like live wire. When he parked and cut the engine, she still hadn’t moved, except to look out the passenger window.

"Inside," he said, voice low. “And Kai…”

She glanced at him from under her lashes, eyes wide.

“Don’t ever sneak out again.”

She nodded, slow. Then stepped out of the car, legs slightly shaky but head held high.

He watched her go.

And for the first time since she got hurt, James wasn’t sure if he wanted to punish her… or claim her. Maybe both.