Chapter 559 FALLEN FROM GRACE (BONUS - 6)

CELESTE’S POV

The human experience is made up of embarrassing moments.

Running into someone while wearing the same outfit as last time. Waving enthusiastically at a stranger who was actually waving at someone behind you. Asking “what?” for the third time.

Getting so startled by someone’s sudden appearance that you stumble into a brochure rack, sending it crashing as you flail for balance.

But of course—of-fucking-course—he reaches out and grabs you just in time, and when he steadies you, says, “Are we going to make this a habit—me saving you?”

This time, I didn’t stop my body from obeying the instinct to put as much distance between us as possible.

I also didn’t hold back a hiss, sharp and serpentine. “What the fuck, are you following me?”

The man from last night raised his hands in the same mock-surrender gesture.

“Hey, you’re the one in my gym.”

“Your...” I faltered, my lips parted.

“Hey, it’s our gym, dumbass.”

I whirled around to face the blonde, and my jaw dropped further.

“Our?” I squeaked.

“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “People think having a twin is cool, but you have to share everything: birthdays, friends, even fucking businesses.”

My head swiveled between the two strangers.

“Twin?” I sounded like I’d inhaled helium.

Eve nodded. “Wait—how do you know my brother?”

Maybe I had indeed inhaled helium, because I was suddenly lightheaded. Too much information was coming at me too fast; it felt like someone had cranked a golf-ball machine to maximum speed and aimed it straight at my head.

“I—” I began to retreat. “I should go—”

“Here’s your coffee, Madison—”

I spun around just as Nadia appeared behind me with my drink, which splashed all over me the moment I collided with her.

I hissed as the hot liquid soaked through my shirt, scalding my torso.

Her eyes widened in horror as the cup and tray clattered to the floor. “I’m so sorry!”

A wild, borderline maniacal laugh burst out of me as I stared at my second stained shirt in as many days.

“Don’t be. This is actually very on par with my life in general, thank you.”

I sidestepped her and continued my hurried retreat out of the gym.

“Madison, wait!” Eve called out, but I did no such thing.

When I stepped out, I turned left—away from the gym, away from the alley.

I had no clue where I was headed, but I knew I needed to get away from whatever the fuck I’d stumbled into.

This was what I got for being a little bitch. If I’d sucked it up and braved the damn alley, I’d be in bed by now, throwing back sleeping pills and waiting for oblivion to take me.

Directionless, I barreled forward until a tall, broad figure materialized in front of me and I—you guessed it—slammed right into him, and he—yep—grabbed my arms to steady me.

“For fuck’s sake!” I snapped, pulling myself out of his grip.

“I know, I know.” He raised his hands. “Don’t touch you. It’s not my fault you keep trying to acquaint yourself with the ground.”

I glowered at him. “Because you keep popping up out of nowhere like a fucked-up game of whack-a-mole.”

“Again, you walked into my gym.” He folded his arms. “How am I sure you aren’t following me?”

“What the fuck would I do that for?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe you fell in love with me when I saved you last night, and you became obsessed with finding me, so you did a little sleuthing and, oh! Just your luck, I happen to own the gym right under your nose. Fate, huh?”

“Fucking hell, do you and your sister ever shut the fuck up?”

“Which buttresses my point—how do you know my sister?”

“I’ll give you one guess. Hint: both of you seem intent on mowing me to the fucking ground.”

He cocked his head. “Do you know you cuss a lot?”

My lips parted with another barbed retort, but the words stalled in my throat.

Once again, my internal filter had vanished. I’d cursed more in two run-ins with this guy than in every conversation I’d had since moving to Seattle.

I didn’t know what it was about this stranger that shredded my self-control and barbed my tongue. He dragged out the old Celeste in me, and I loathed it.

“Look.” He sighed. “This is all just a laughable coincidence. Why don’t we start afresh?”

He stretched out a hand. “I’m Adam.”

I scoffed, ignoring the hand. “You’re Adam, your sister’s Eve, and you own a gym named Eden. Is your dad’s name God?”

“It’s Jesús, actually,” he deadpanned.

I couldn’t tell if he was joking, and quite frankly, I didn’t care. I wanted nothing to do with him and his bizarre family.

“Whatever. Leave me alone.”

I sidestepped him and continued walking down the path to nowhere.

“Why are you always running?”

I screeched to a halt so hard that, if the ground hadn’t been wet from earlier rain, I would’ve left skid marks.

I whipped back, skewering Adam with an iconic Celeste glare that would have made a mere mortal wither.

As it was, he simply crossed his arms, his muscles bulging against his broad chest.

“Twice now we’ve met, and you’re always running from something.”

I scoffed incredulously. “What would you rather I do next time I’m being chased by rapists?”

“Next time,” he said, holding out a familiar-looking document, “don’t run. Fight.”

I snatched the brochure out of his hand. I flipped it open, skimming it, and when I got to the section I was looking for, I let out a derisive snort.

“Thirty dollars for a class. Three classes a week. Oh look! It’s free for members, and the membership is a mere two hundred dollars a month!”

Back when I was Celeste Lockwood, those figures would’ve meant nothing. Two hundred dollars wouldn’t have bought me a decent pair of shoes.

But when I shed that identity, I shed every aspect of it, including the financial perks. Sure, I could walk into any bank today and access my accounts, but I would traipse through that dark alley butt naked before I did that.

As it were, if Madison Brenner coughed out two hundred dollars for a gym membership, she’d be sleeping on the streets.

Adam shrugged. “For you, the classes will be free.”

I scrunched up the brochure and tossed it back at him. It bounced off his chest and harmlessly dropped to the ground.

“Oh, how altruistic of you. How can I repay such staggering generosity? Would you like my kidney? My eggs?”

He threw his hands up in exasperation. “Jesus Christ, talking to you is like hugging a cactus.”

“Then stop it!” I snapped. “Leave me the fuck alone.”

“No.”

His answer was so firm, a little vehement, it made me pause.

“Excuse me?”

Adam took a step forward, and I ignored the instinct to back away, planting my feet firmly.

“Take the class, cactus.”

I grit my teeth. “Don’t call me that.”

He cocked his head. “Would you rather I call you damsel?”

My teeth clenched harder as I bit out, “No.”

“Because that’s what you were yesterday, and that’s what you’ll be the next time you find yourself in a situation like that. What happens when there isn’t a conveniently qualified and rightly positioned stranger to help you?”

I had no answer. I dropped my gaze, and it landed on the crumpled brochure.

Learn to protect yourself...

‘One day I might not be there. Your guards may not be there. You have to learn to protect yourself.’

Ethan had begged me to. Kieran had begged me to. Now, this stranger who shouldn’t give a fuck about me, especially with how rude I’d been, was begging me to.

Inadvertently, he’d joined the list of people who’d saved me.

I wasn’t on that list.

“Come on,” Adam urged. “I’m not even going to be the one teaching you, so you never have to see me again if you don’t want to. What do you have to lose?”

What did I have to lose?

Celeste Lockwood had had many, many things. But they’d all been material, superficial; they’d all been lost so easily.

But if I tried this, maybe I could gain something that would stay with me forever.

Maybe then I could become the kind of person who didn’t run from danger. Someone who braved the dark. Someone worth saving.

I lifted my head. Adam’s gaze was disconcertingly earnest as he waited for an answer.

“Okay,” I said, my voice so soft I doubt he heard me.

But I heard myself, and that one word sparked something fierce inside me, my whole body humming with anticipation.

“Teach me to fight.”