Beyond Ecstasy (Beyond #8) Read Online Free

carrying her everywhere.”
    “Of course.” It was adorable how the O'Kane men managed to face down bullets and bloody fights like they were no big deal, but they all melted for their women.
    “Thanks, Jeni.”
    “I got it.” It felt good to stay busy. On some level, it meant she was useful, not just decorative.
    Hawk was standing on the other side of the room, talking to Jasper and watching her, his eyes unreadable. Their gazes held while she thought about what it would take to make him smile or laugh, even cross the room to speak to her. Hell, she even had a good reason to talk to him this time. But she just stared back, and he finally broke the contact, returning his attention to Jas.
    It figured. She was good at working people—it was her most vital, marketable job skill—but when it came to Hawk, she was hopeless.

    One thing Jeni had noticed—Hawk's vices of the flesh were very particular.
    He drank whiskey, straight up—though if you poured him one on the rocks, he wouldn't decline. He hardly ever dressed in anything but T-shirts and jeans worn so soft they clung to him like a lover. He liked manning the rooftop grill with Finn, but his favorite thing ever was when Lili baked. He'd grab slices of bread still hot from the oven, slather them with fresh butter, and eat them on the spot—and the sounds he made, low in the back of his throat, were enough to make Jeni blush.
    And, twice a week, he stripped off his T-shirt, climbed into the cage, and beat the holy living hell out of someone.
    By the time fight night rolled around, he was so tense he was practically vibrating, wound so tight that a lesser man would have already exploded. But if there was one thing Hawk valued, it was his control. His precious control.
    Jeni dug her fingernails into the leather arm of the couch and watched as he entered the cage ahead of his opponent, a bulky blond she'd never seen before. The man rounded the perimeter of the cage, flexing and grunting for the crowd, while Hawk waited with the patience of a saint.
    “Is that another new guy?” Nessa dropped onto the couch beside Jeni with a sigh. “Lex, you're gonna need to add a third night a week at this rate. Bren's been breaking up fights over who gets to go next.”
    “I know.” Her gaze was fixed on the would-be fighters clustered around the cage door.
    Trix paused with her beer bottle halfway to her lips. “We could always lock them all in the courtyard and let them at it.”
    “Brawl night.” Nessa wrinkled her nose. “You know, I should be into the wide-scale violence, but it's not the same.”
    No, it wasn't. Then again, nothing could compare to that first swing, not when Hawk was the one throwing it. He didn't lunge for his opponent so much as he just stepped up into his space, as if he belonged there.
    As if it belonged to him .
    The blond hulk took the hit well, though when he circled around, his lip was bleeding. “This one's going to take a while,” Jeni mused aloud, to no one in particular.
    Lex leaned closer. “How do you figure?”
    “Come on, you see it.” Jeni spared her a glance, though it would have taken something even more seductive than Lex's dark eyes to keep her attention away from the cage. It would have taken a miracle. “Hawk's been waiting for this. He'll make it last.”
    “He's been patrolling with Jas.” Noelle perched on the arm of the couch. “It's rough on both of them.”
    Of course it was. The same desperation that lured prospective fighters through the doors in droves saturated the sectors. For some, waiting for Eden to make their next move was unbearable. Others had just thrown in the towel, straight up—no hope, and no faith.
    Most of them had no reason to believe that anyone could pull them through this mess— this war , she corrected herself silently. Jeni knew better. Dallas himself might insist otherwise if you put him on the spot, but the man didn't know how to fail.
    She reached for her drink and tried not to wince as