I slump to the floor outside Kayden's apartment, bumping my head against the wall in defeat.

Well, that went well.

I don't think I've ever met anyone who treated me this shitty upon first meeting before. It was like he was repulsed by me. Or maybe he just took one look at me and assumed the absolute worst of me. Whichever the case, I'm not in the mood to stick around to find out.

Swallowing my pride, I collect myself and head out. I guess another night at a crappy hotel it is.

Finding another place to stay will take me weeks. Even then there's no guarantee. Maybe I can hold out until spring break, when there will be more availability, but I doubt I'll be able to endure even a couple more days of my paycheck getting eaten up by the cost of living in budget hotels. Brent might be willing to let me crash at his place for a while, but I'm not sure how I feel about asking for help from someone I'm not that well acquainted with yet.

I'll just have to keep myself busy on rental apps and hounding college officers. It'll be all right. I'm sure it will be.

***

It's not.

It's been three days and I've had zero leads. My nights since my encounter with Kayden have been spent eating out of noodle cups and scrolling endlessly on the college website, filling out applications for every listed accommodation offered. So far most of them have not gotten back to me, and when they do, it's usually doomed with the email opener "We regret to inform you . . . " Other off-campus places I've checked out are either too far away from the city or way out of my budget.

Deciding that a small break is in order to take my mind off this, I decide to pay a visit to UFG. When I arrive, the gym is unexpectedly sparse for a Saturday evening. Apart from the two guys sparring in the cage and the trainer who has just started their metabolic conditioning class, yelling at his three students to speed up their push-up burpees, the space feels somewhat empty.

My attention lingers on the class being held because it's the only thing that seems riveting to watch. I don't usually run big classes here, instead preferring one-on-one training because I like to give my full attention to whomever I'm training. Most of the people who come for my training sessions are beginners—usually guys who went down the YouTube rabbit hole watching UFC fights and decide that it's easy enough to get into the competitive sport. But while the sport is fun to watch, there are very few people with an appetite for getting punched in the face. And once they do, they usually don't stick around very long.

And unlike other kinds of sports, you don't have anyone to rely on but yourself. The fight falls completely on your shoulders, which usually comes with its own psychological and physical barriers that can be difficult to overcome. When I first started with Jax, it was incredibly overwhelming. The endless hours of conditioning, strength work, and martial arts training packed into a crazy six days a week schedule completely shattered my body for the first month until I finally built up my tolerance. The only reason I didn't give up was because I craved the emotional release I got from those sessions. I sought it like a miracle stimulant drug, dissolving all the pent-up anger of the week from my body once I got my boost of adrenaline and power.

I adored every minute of training with Jax. I could watch him in that cage for hours and never get tired of it. He's merciless when he fights, like a king cobra with its imposing size and deadly bite, looming over his prey, only to strike a viciously fatal blow that knocks them out for good. I love the way he moves so fluidly around the cage, bred with boldness and strength as he keeps pushing himself—both mentally and physically—until he's toeing the precipice of his limits yet still remaining fearlessly on top.

I particularly looked forward to him kissing the hell out of me afterward, claiming me wildly with his mouth, hands, and body. For a moment, it felt like I was the only prize that he ever needed.

Goddammit, Sienna. I mentally slap myself for letting my thoughts catapult to Jax again. He's not worth it. He cheated on you. He's not worth loving anymore.

Banishing thoughts of him from my head, I set my gym bag down, then aim for Julian's office. He's a burly, middle-aged man with a shaved head and ink running down the sides of his arms. When I walk in, I find him perched behind his desk, his huge hands cupping a pink doughnut with sprinkles on it. I like that he just eats whatever the hell he wants. Since leaving the UFC several years back and opening this gym, he keeps up with a training regimen from time to time but can't be bothered with the strict diet.

He's still one of the best MMA fighters I know. Legendary, in fact. Everyone who fights in the area knows who he is: UFC Middleweight Champion for five consecutive years. He was known for having a dynamic fighting style and was skilled at exploiting the gaps in his opponent's game. A truly unique fighter. But to the shock of many, he decided to leave the UFC before he could make it to a double hat trick win. Said he wanted to quit while he was still ahead and leave a legacy that wasn't tarnished by the slow decline of age and sustained injuries. It was a move that invited a lot of controversy, and most people give him shit for it, but I respect his decision. It's the reason why Universal Fighter's Gym exists today, so I'm grateful.

Julian licks his icing-coated fingers and gives me a curt nod when I pop my head into his office.

"Hey." He acknowledges me, raising a perplexed brow as he straightens in his seat. "What are you doing here? I told you your evening class with Parker got postponed. Said he injured his leg hiking a few days ago."

"Yeah, I know. But I just can't seem to stay away from my favorite trainer," I say cheekily, and he makes a big show of rolling his eyes and scoffing his irritation. He hates that I still call him that even though he doesn't do training sessions anymore, preferring to focus on gym operations instead. My head whirls around to see the nearly empty gym. "Where is everyone?"

Julian looks disappointed when I remark about the turnout.

"You know where." He shrugs, his attention falling back to his half-eaten doughnut. "Watching the fight."

My lips pucker into a frown. Usually around this time of the year, Breaking Point, a rival MMA gym, holds the biggest underground fighting event in Boston. It's a no-holds-barred tournament where the stakes are high and one wrong move can quite possibly cripple you for life. This isn't just regular MMA shit. It's MMA on crack, where all the standard rules are thrown out of the window.

There's a strict no gloves and padding rule to maximize the carnage in the cage. The refs don't care about safety, and the fighters aren't insured, which makes watching someone snap a leg or break a rib much more difficult to watch. Every time I go to one of those matches it feels like being in a butcher's shop, the smell of sweat and blood and savagery making my stomach churn with discomfort.

The underground is illegal and circulates a lot of money, but they have a tight relationship with the Boston Police Department, so the force usually turns a blind eye to the gym's affairs.

Julian has a love-hate relationship with Breaking Point. While he doesn't mind watching the occasional fight there, he has a strict no illegal shit rule when it comes to training fighters at his own gym. At UFG, he only breeds fighters he knows are clean—from both steroids and the underground—and those he's hopeful will be able to go pro someday. UFG has a stellar reputation because of this, but unfortunately, a stellar reputation doesn't always equate with profitability, driving some of the most promising fighters who are looking to dabble with the dark side from UFG to Breaking Point.

I only put up with the underground because Jax loved to fight there. He had been trained by Julian and was supposed to go pro before ultimately deciding he was too good for any of the big promotions and settling for fighting in underground circuits instead. He's so skilled at it that he's expected to win the championship title at Breaking Point for the third time without even breaking a sweat.

"Point's holding a fight tonight?" I ask.

Julian gives lazy nod. "The usual. Knockout rounds for the titles are starting in two weeks, so everyone wants to dip their toes in before jumping into the deep end."

Two weeks? That's sooner than I thought.

"Who's fighting tonight?" I can't stop myself from inquiring.

"Some Murphy guy, I think. And that other dude who's been turning heads since last year—Kayden Williams."

"No way." I breathe. "Kayden's an underground fighter?"

"Yeah. You remember him, right?" When I shake my head no, his eyebrows rise in confusion. "Come on. Jax went up against him during the finals last season. It was a pretty brutal and long fight. Lasted about twenty minutes, and it took Jax putting Kayden into a rear naked choke to get him to concede."

As soon as he mentions that, the memories rush back to me. I recall trying to soothe Jax's nerves right before he went into the cage against Kayden. It was weeks of intense training and preparation leading up to the big fight but he still felt on edge. It was a big deal because Jax rarely ever gets nervous. He can usually predict the outcome of a fight even before it starts, so the fact that Kayden shook him up means that this guy is a real threat.

"He's one hell of a fighter, though," Julian explains. "Apparently, just started getting into all this shit last season. You rarely ever get to see a rookie make it that far in the finals."

"That's quite impressive," I admit, despite my initial distaste for the guy.

I guess I should have put two and two together when I met Kayden earlier. It makes sense, since he's extremely athletic looking, his body strong-packed with lean, tough muscle but not bulky or overly defined in a way that a gym enthusiast's or a bodybuilder's would be.

There is also a certain kind of rigidness to him, an unyielding sense of determination in his eyes, which makes me wonder what happened during their last fight. Jax tends to leave all of his opponents in much worse shape than they were before they entered the cage, so I'm sure there's a lot of animosity there.

"Why are you so interested in Kayden, anyway?" Julian asks, the side of his lips tilting into a sneaky side-smirk. "Unless you're looking for a side dude? I'm not sure about his sexual history, but hell, you've dated Jax. And I assume that these fighters are incredibly freaky and unhinged in bed."

"First off, I will not confirm nor deny anything," I tell him with a hint of a knowing smile. "Second of all, I'm not interested in him. Not in that way, anyway. I went over to check out his apartment a few days ago and he was incredibly rude to me."

"Maybe the world hasn't been kind to him," Julian suggests.

"The world hasn't been kind to me, either, and I'm such a ball of sunshine."

"Sure, you are," he says flatly, and I pretend to be unfazed by his sarcasm. "Anyway, I have a feeling this season's gonna get competitive if Kayden is in the roster." He pauses for a while before adding, "Jax will probably be joining, too, you know."

"I know. He's been training for the past few months. Or that's what he told me he was doing anyway. Maybe half of those were excuses so he could sneak off to fuck my sister."

Julian merely blinks back at me, unsure of whether to laugh to diffuse the tension or offer some sympathy. I think I'd rather him do the former. I'm aware that the entire situation is shitty, and I'd rather be snickered at than be pitied.

My thoughts drift back to Kayden. I wonder how he felt after his fight against Jax. It must have been a hard loss to swallow. I understand the feeling of being so close to having everything you ever wanted, only to have it ripped away from you at the last second. Surely he's looking forward to a rematch this year.

A plan begins to take shape in my mind, and I get so excited I start to jump up and down on the balls of my feet. "Oh my God. Oh my God."

Julian gives me a weird stare. "What?"

"Are you going?"

"Nah, I'm done trying to keep up with that shit. It's exhausting." He releases a sigh. But his eyebrows lift when he notices the knowing smile on my face. "You're thinking of going."

"Of course I am."

"To see Jax?"

"To see Kayden."

His dark eyebrows knit in confusion. "I thought you weren't interested in seeing him again?"

"Well, I've got a new plan now." I tug on the strap of my gym bag and blow him a kiss with my other hand. "See ya."

"But you just got here—" Julian protests.

"I'm a genius." I raise both middle fingers and kiss them before lifting them to the air. "A fucking genius!"

I know exactly how to get my revenge on Jax.