Page 36 of Hard Bargain

He dragged a hand through his hair. “Cassian doesn’t exactly go easy.”

“I told him not to.”

Knox stilled at that.

“I don’t need you getting lucky once,” Dominic added, his tone controlled. “That’s not useful to me. I need you to be able to handle yourself every time, in every room. You learn quickly, or you become a liability.”

Knox’s jaw clenched, anger flaring in his chest. “I’m not a liability.”

“Then prove it,” Dominic said. No softness or room to argue.

Knox’s grip tightened around the phone. “I will.” He was leaning against the wall now. “You could’ve just asked Cassian how it went.”

“I did.”

That made him frown. “Then why call me?”

A pause. Long enough that Knox noticed.

“I expect progress,” Dominic said, dodging the question.

Knox let out a deep breath. “Right.”

The line went dead.

Knox stood there for a moment, staring at the dark screen before letting his arm drop to the side.

He shouldn’t have cared that Dominic called.

But he did.

It wasn’t like the conversation had been a good one. Dominic had barely given him anything.

And yet he’d called. He could’ve left it at Cassian’s report. Could’ve moved on to the next problem without wasting a minute on Knox. Instead, he’d picked up the phone.

Fuck.

When had that started to matter?

Chapter 11

Knox

By the end of the week, Knox wasn’t sure whether his body had adapted or simply given up complaining. He sat on the edge of a bench, elbows braced on his knees, sweat sliding down the side of his face. His breathing had slowed from ragged to merely heavy, but his pulse still thudded beneath his skin.

Cassian dropped down beside him with a grunt, tossing a towel over his shoulder. “You didn’t get dropped today,” he said, sounding faintly surprised by the fact.

Knox unscrewed his water bottle and took a long pull before answering. “Came close.”

“Yeah,” Cassian said, stretching his long legs out in front of him. “But you didn’t.”

Knox wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, noticing the sting from his scraped knuckles. “So that’s it?”

“For the week.” Cassian sounded entirely too relaxed for someone who’d spent the last few hours trading blows with Knox. “You’re still shit,” he added. “Just… less catastrophically so.”

A tired laugh escaped Knox, too drained to be offended. “I’ll take it.”

Cassian tapped his bottle against his knee. “We’ll keep it going.”