REBEL: #4.5 The Beat and The Pulse by Amity Cross

there in the first place.”
    She glanced at me, her blue eyes betraying her worry. “It would’ve made my career.”
    “Would’ve?”
    She shrugged. “Simon was going to kill me. Max let me go.”
    I still didn’t get it. “And what does that mean?”
    “It means that I was in over my head to begin with. It means I still am. It means I’m in it until you get out.”
    I held her tightly. “You—”
    “Will let it fly… For now .”
    “Charlie—”
    “I’m sorry I lied to you,” she interrupted. “Everything else I said to you was the truth. All of it.” She sighed, her fingers beginning to worry the hem of her T-shirt. “I didn’t expect to find you there.”
    Neither did I.
    I began to mull over the last few days and all the things that had happened in such a short amount of time. It only took a split second to turn someone’s world upside down.
    All the stuff she’d said to me about my family, about it not being my fault, about wanting me…she’d meant it all? I could be mad at her, and fuck, was I ever, but not for the reason she was probably thinking. She sat there, looking all teary eyed, waiting for me to get up and leave. I’d had a lot of shit in my life, a lot more than most people deserved, but she’d never been able to find happiness in the chaos that was her job. People held it against her for being a cop and being a strong as fuck woman. I could kinda understand how that felt, even though it was from a different perspective.
    “You’d drop your investigation?” I asked, reaching for her hand.
    Her fingers curled around mine, her thumb stroking my skin. “Until you get what you want. It’s illegal, and I’ve sworn an oath, but you and every other fighter in that place know exactly what you’re in for. Until you’re there under duress…” She shrugged. “It’s a fine line.”
    I smiled. Until I got what I came for, she’d put up with it.
    “And when I win the Championship?”
    She shoved me hard, her tiny hands hardly making a dent. “Then you better get out, Kane Sturgess, because I want to start a new life with you. An honest life.”
    A grin split my face nearly in two. “Fuck, yeah.”

Chapter 14
    Charlotte
    I ’d made a mistake , and I’d almost lost my life because of it.
    I was lucky Rebel and Max had shown up when they did because even though I got the gun from Simon, there were no guarantees I would’ve been able to escape. What got me was the fact that even though I’d blatantly gone against my gut and put Rebel in danger by association, he didn’t seem to give a toss.
    And two weeks later, he still wasn’t done with me.
    The only people at The Underground who knew my real identity were Rebel and Max, and Max had made it clear that if I was found meddling again, there would be consequences. As long as I played the game, the game I should’ve been playing from the moment I fell for Rebel, they’d leave me alone.
    Once Rebel was out, then so was I. I knew when I was in over my head, and that’s what made a good cop—knowing when to bow out.
    He’d texted me that morning asking me to meet up with him for a little bit of training. Knowing him, I was prepared to be put through my paces big time. Standing outside of Pulse Fitness, the newest fighter gym in town, I took a deep breath.
    He’d said it was run by a past Underground Champ, and he’d had starry eyes, so what could I say? Definitely not no, so I changed into my gym clothes and headed down to Abbotsford, in the daylight for once, and wondered how many ways he’d try to torture me. I’d done my fair share of training, including things like self-defense and cardio, but nothing like he did. MMA, boxing, heavy weight training…that stuff was beyond me.
    Stepping inside, I took in the cavernous space filled with all kinds of gym equipment and breathed in the scent of leather and paint. How new was this place exactly?
    “Charlie!”
    I smiled as I heard my name on Rebel’s lips and found him at