Chapter Two
Nate
“Have a good day, Sunshine. I love you.”
My daughter climbed out of the passenger seat of my truck and hoisted her backpack onto her back. It looked as big as she was.
“Love you too.” She slammed the door, and I watched until she made it through the front door of the school.
She was six already, but it was hard to think of her as anything but the baby I used to rock to sleep.
I glanced at the glowing time on the dash.
I was running late. I pulled out of the school parking lot and headed to work.
Even though my ex-wife and I had been separated for a year and divorced for six months, I was still getting used to the new schedule involved with our custody agreement.
“Morning, Dani.” I walked in the front door of Malice MMA.
As far as gyms went, it wasn’t the high ceiling, bright light type of facility I wish it was.
Real estate downtown was expensive, so Malice was in a strip mall between a mom-and-pop breakfast place and a used bookstore.
Parking wasn’t great and we were too small to host giant classes but we boasted the best training program in town.
She smiled, handed me a printout of my schedule for the day, and continued to talk into her headset.
I’d be sunk without this girl. She was an MMA fighter working towards her 1st amateur fight.
Training wasn’t cheap, so she worked off her fight tuition at the front desk.
She was terrifyingly efficient and without her, this place would have sunk when I bought my business partner, Kevin, out last year.
It was a quick take-over. I didn’t have much time to prepare, but when my wife left me, and I found out the man she left me for was my business partner… the partnership was definitely over.
I used to mostly teach classes and private lessons while Kevin ran the business side. These days, I taught less and spent more time stuck behind a computer. I missed my clients. I missed spending the day sparring. I missed my old, stable life.
Dani was still talking someone through our class schedule on the phone.
I reluctantly started to move towards my office but stopped when I heard the front door open.
A little bubble of excitement formed in my chest. I didn’t consider myself an extrovert but since I’d spent time behind the scenes, I’d discovered I missed talking about my biggest passion: martial arts.
The bubble grew as recognition flashed through my brain.
Bright blonde hair tied in a knot at the back of her neck.
Petite frame enfolded in a layer of toned muscles.
Then there were those eyes. They were a stunning shade of stormy blue I had thought of often since our short interaction the weekend before.
Leading up to the Trades Expo, Paisley had been excited.
Once we got there, she’d said she didn’t want to drive the big machine.
When I pointed out that the driver was a woman, she reluctantly got in line.
But to make it happen, I ended up hip-to-hip with the blonde beauty; her forearm rested against my thigh as she helped my daughter manoeuvre the bucket.
It wasn’t just her looks that had kept her on my mind.
She was small but strong. Working in an industry that was mostly men had to mean she was tough, but when she interacted with Paisley, she was gentle and sweet.
She was a combination of hard and soft. I could relate to that.
I was a retired pro MMA fighter, with the scars to prove it, but the biggest marshmallow when it came to my kid.
Her eyes fell on me and widened in recognition.
“Hello again.” I smiled. The motion felt foreign on my face given the last year.
She returned my smile easily. “I didn’t expect to run into you again.”
“Are you glad you did?” The words surprised me even though they came out of my mouth. I was almost flirting.
She took a step forward, and I welcomed the closeness. I towered over her, but where I was all long limbs and lean muscle, she was petite and compact. “That depends. What can you tell me about martial arts?”
“Everything.” I wasn’t being cocky. I had been training in martial arts in one way or another since my mom put me in karate when I was four.
I had competed at a high level for a few years before Paisley was born, then moved on to training and opening the gym.
If she had a question, I could answer it.
I just hoped whatever she needed resulted in me seeing her again.
She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
She glanced towards Dani who nodded in agreement. “He’s like an annoying encyclopedia, answering questions you didn’t even ask.”
I frowned. “Remind me to add more burpees to your training.”
Dani stuck out her tongue and turned back to her computer.
“What are you interested in?”
She tucked her hair behind her ear. “I want to learn basic self-defence but I think branching out into learning martial arts in general would be really fun.”
I nodded. “We can do all of that here. Come on, I’ll show you the gym before our first class starts, and you can ask me anything you want.”
“Aren’t you a little young to be running a place like this?”
“I’m twenty-eight, not that young.”
She snorted. “Well, I’m forty so if you aren’t young, what does that make me?”
I paused to look at her. Forty had seemed so old when I was a teenager. Now, forty looked pretty damn sexy. “With all your jokes about levers and big equipment, I’d have guessed you weren’t a day over thirteen.”
She gave me little smack on the arm. “I knew you were laughing at me.”
Laughing wasn’t my only reaction.
Liz was fun to be around. Such a novelty compared to the tense end to my marriage.
I gave her a quick tour of the gym and change rooms as I would with any other prospective customer.
The difference was that my palms were sweaty the entire time and my skin felt too tight.
I knew I was babbling like a nervous teen, and I’d be lucky if she didn’t run out the front door never to be seen again.
I hadn’t been with anyone since my ex and I separated.
Hadn’t even wanted to. The idea of getting to know someone new, building trust and showing someone the real me felt exhausting.
I thought I’d never have to do it again after I said I do.
I wasn’t social anymore, except in the circles I had been in for years.
The idea of heading outside my routine and my comfort zone wasn’t appealing.
Maybe I wasn’t over Regina yet. My lack of interest in any other woman supported the idea.
Or maybe I was just too lazy to try. Then I saw Liz.
Just a few minutes of interaction had left an impression on me that I hadn’t forgotten even days later.
Now here she was, stepping through the front door of my business as if fate had directed her little white sneakers right to me.
“So, what’s your story Liz? Husband? Kids? Dog? Secretly the leader of a mafia empire?”
She snorted. “Single, no dependents, human or otherwise. Starting over in Kamloops after a bad breakup last year. No affiliations to any organized crime.” It was the first question that I wanted to know the answer to most.
“What makes you want to learn to fight anyway?”
Now it was her turn to fidget. We stood in the doorway between the change room and the main lobby. My tour was done, and I wasn’t ready for her to go yet.
“Just, you know, exercise, learning a new skill, challenging myself. That kind of thing.” Her eyes never once looked in my direction.
I didn’t push the issue. I saw plenty of people who had once been in a position where they couldn’t defend themselves.
Anyone who’s felt that never wanted to again.
I always let the person bring the subject up if they wanted to and left it alone if they didn’t.
When someone felt vulnerable and reached out to learn a new skill, the last thing they needed was me peppering them with questions.
Still, the idea that someone had done something to Liz had my hands clenching by my sides.
******
This far into my career, I wasn’t even sure how many people I had trained.
My gym hosted group classes and one-on-one lessons.
I had done one-off training events for the cops; security guards and I trained a few amateur athletes like Dani.
Never had I felt the way I did, watching Liz walk into her first lesson.
I knew she was fit but seeing her in a pair of tight-fitting black shorts and a tank that barely reached her hips, I was struck dumb.
She was defined from head to toe. Toned arms, an ass that would overflow my hands if I grabbed it, and those thighs.
She could crush my skull like a watermelon, and I would let her.
Gladly.
I’d been around the fitness world long enough to see the kind of activities marketed to women.
It used to be women were encouraged to shrink—all about cardio, losing weight, getting smaller.
Now, we were in the muscle-mommy era, the weight room wasn’t just for men anymore.
Women were bicep-curling and hip-thrusting their way to goddess status.
I’m here for it.
Fuck am I ever here for it.
I realized I was staring but couldn’t do anything about it except smile. If she had a reason to want to defend herself, the last thing she needed was me being a creep. I’d train her just like I would anyone else even if it killed me.
“Hi.” She flashed me a tight smile.
The way she carried herself, with her shoulder’s back, screamed confidence but I knew nerves when I saw them. There was a wideness to her eyes, a tightness to her jaw. First-time students were nervous all the time, but with Liz, I suspected more.
I refocused on what I was here to do and got to work.
I started with my usual spiel about the different types of martial arts, before moving into situational awareness and avoiding confrontation as a first defense.
Did I usually go over all of this with new students?
Yes. Was I stretching it out because the idea of putting my hands on her threatened to make me hard as stone?
Also, yes. She was an attentive student, asking questions and listening to me ramble about one of my favorite subjects.
When I finally got myself to shut up, we moved on to basic striking.
She was a natural at it. Likely from years in the gym, her body was strong and well-balanced.
Her strikes had power, accuracy, and intent behind them.
Whoever it was that had scared this girl might want to rethink it.
The instructor part of me made a mental note that we didn’t need to spend much time on it.
Another part of me, the part that was jealous of the little drop of sweat running down her cleavage, was dreading the next lesson.
The one where I played the part of the attacker desperate to get my arms around her and she practiced getting away.