Destined to Fight (Destined #1)

1. Chapter 1

1

A s Kelly’s feet made contact with the bright-red concrete floor, a weight seemed to lift from her shoulders. Workouts always gave her a sense of accomplishment and relief, but tonight was more than that; it was the night she’d been training for. She hit the button on the side of her watch and raised her wrist to look at it. Four minutes, thirty-two seconds; a course record for her. She was ready.

Someone walked up behind her and patted her back.

“Damn Kelly, you killed it!” Dom said.

“Thanks, Dom.” She barely breathed out. Her lungs were on fire, and she was still sucking wind.

“What’s your time?” he asked.

She couldn’t help but smile. “Four thirty-two.”

Dom grabbed her wrist to look at her watch. “Holy shit. You realize this is a women’s record for the club, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s not that big of a deal.” At least, she didn’t want it to be. Showing off was not her style. She trained to better herself and to blow off some steam while she was at it.

Dom dropped her wrist and shook his head. “You don’t get it, Kelly. You could make it on Real Ninjas . You could make a living doing this.”

Kelly looked up at him now that she could finally stand up straight. His deep-blue eyes were lit up with excitement. They contrasted his dark hair so well. Dom was just about as handsome as they came. He was tall and well built. Not too stocky, but not thin by any means. Hell, the man owned a ninja training gym, and his body showed it. His beard was clean and shaped his sharp jaw line well, and his hair was always neatly cut with the top gelled and combed to the side. He always wore t-shirts with the sleeves cut off, so his muscular arms were constantly on display. She’d biffed more than once because she was staring at those arms instead of her next obstacle.

“Kelly, you all right?” Dom asked.

Shit, she was busted. “Huh?” she asked, dazed. Way to go, girl, s he thought. You sound sooooo smart now. The reality was, he was way out of her league. Sure, a girl could gawk all she wanted, but he would never be interested in street trash like her.

“I asked if you want to go grab a beer after you wash up.”

“Oh, uh…” She was dazed yet again. “Thanks, Dom, but I have plans tonight.”

“I should have known,” he said. His shoulders slumped a bit as he started to turn away.

“It’s not like that.” She laughed a little at the thought of going on a date. “It’s work stuff. You know I work nights a lot.”

“Yeah, well, you should take a break every now and then. Maybe a rain check?”

“Sure, some other time,” she said turning to head to the showers.

Dom didn’t say anything as she retreated to the back of the gym. Using her shoulder, she pushed the women’s locker room door open and kept her eyes to the ground while walking to her locker. She tried to be courteous to other women at the gym, but she didn’t really like any of them and definitely couldn’t connect with them. All of them had good jobs and supportive families, and none of them knew that the gym was the place where she got her daily shower or that her car doubled as her living quarters.

Kelly opened her locker, grabbed her shower gear and a couple of towels, and changed from her shoes to flip-flops. She walked to the row of showers and chose her usual, all the way back and on the right. No one else ever used the showers, which is why she’d chosen this gym in the first place. They actually had hot water and good shower-heads. What more could a girl want?

She hung her towels on the hook outside the stall. Kelly stepped into the stall and pulled the curtain closed behind her. The spray of the water bounced off the tile floor in front of her and created a cool mist that hugged her body. The flush in her cheeks started to fade, and she felt her body calming as her heart rate continued to slow. As she waited for the hot water, she took her shorts and shirt off and hung them. A sigh escaped her as she tested the water temperature with her fingertips. The hot water welcomed her into its embrace as her feet carried her in of their own accord.

As the warmth cascaded over her tired body and aching muscles, Kelly took a moment to breathe. Focusing on the air entering her lungs, her mind pictured it feeding her cells as the oxygen entered her veins and traveled through her body. When all else failed, she would stop and breathe to center herself. She focused on releasing the tension in her muscles and the chaos of her mind; it was so important that she be able to focus tonight.

Her plan was simple, really; scale the building and enter via the third-floor balcony. When one of them arrived, she’d watch the elevator to see what floor they went to, then take the stairs. She’d follow the next arrival to their meeting place, then eavesdrop.

The night she’d stumbled upon them was clear in her memory, even now. It happened on one of her nightly runs shortly after she’d started living in her car. She’d never been afraid of the night like most women; the dark made her feel alive deep down in her core and it was much cooler than the hot and humid days in Dallas.

That night, Kelly rounded the corner of Elm Street and continued her jog through the business corridor of Dallas. Surprisingly, no one bothered her in the middle of the night, but she stuck to the streets where the homeless were less prevalent just to be safe.

A black SUV passed her. The dark tint on the windows and blank license plate drew her attention. Wondering why anyone would have a completely blank license plate, she watched the SUV closely. It slowed as it approached the Star Plaza and pulled in to the port cochere. A tall, broadly built man got out of the driver’s door and stepped back to open the rear door.

Even from a distance, she could tell the man exiting the back seat was stunning. He wore a perfectly tailored suit, made up of different shades of gray. He stepped out and squared his shoulders, adjusting his suit in the process.

His eyes locked with hers. How she knew that from so far away, she’d never be able to explain, but they did. She was drawn to him. Of their own accord, her legs slowed to a casual walk as the man continued to draw her in.

A tingling feeling started at her fingertips, working its way up her arms as their eyes remained on each other. She felt the pull of him drawing her closer, so much so that she nearly tripped over an uneven spot in the sidewalk. The misstep pulled her from the trance through, and she picked up her jog again.

No matter how hard she tried, Kelly couldn’t pull her gaze from the man. His red hair stood out under the lights of the plaza, and she would swear she could see the color of his eyes, gray as his suit. As she passed, he turned and entered the building and his driver pulled the car out so another could pull in to its place.

As the man disappeared, he took the tingling in her fingers with him. The trance she had been in faded and her mind returned to normal, bringing up so many questions with it. What were these people doing going into a business building in the middle of the night? Why did the sensation in her hands feel exactly like it had the day her mother slapped her? She’d never forget that day. But what did this have to do with it?

Curiosity brought Kelly back to the Star Plaza building almost daily over the next few weeks. During the day, it was business as usual. People came and went just like they did at any other building in the district. At night, it remained quiet with no occupants.

Finally, exactly a month after she’d first seen the man enter, the black SUV pulled up again as she jogged by around midnight. It wasn’t the same make or model, but it had the tinted windows and blank license plate. A red-haired man got out of this one without the help of his driver. Just as the man before him hadtrg87, this one locked eyes with her. His pull was not as strong, and the sensation in her hands was not nearly as noticeable, but she felt it all the same.

This man cocked his head at her as she passed. He pulled his phone from his pocket and seemed to dial without looking at it. She couldn’t hear what he said from across the street, but it felt like he was speaking of her. She slowed to a stop and played like she was tying her shoe, watching him as she undid the laces and retied them. He never took his eyes off her.

Not wanting to draw too much attention, she stood and carried on with her jog, the tingling in her fingertips dwindling as she put distance between herself and the building.

The next evening, Kelly read the local news on her laptop.

“Dallas Council Votes to Offer Assistance to the Homeless in Hopes of Cleaning Up Neighborhoods.”

The city council was not known for providing anything to those in need. The headline interested her, but the story proved to be a dead end. A close vote, blah blah, government grant, blah.

She continued her evening runs by the Star Plaza each night for the next few months. Every thirty days, she caught sight of the first man she’d seen entering the building. Her fingers would tingle, they’d lock eyes, and after a few awkward moments, he’d break eye contact and go inside as she jogged by.

Then, the following day, the city council would meet and make some decision that would improve the well-being of the people. They met twice weekly, and most meetings did not end in anything beneficial, except when it followed an evening when those people met in the Star Plaza.

Something was going on in that tower. Those people had an influence on the city, and a good one at that. She wanted to know more. She wanted to be a part of it.

Nothing about the building or the people made sense. Who drove cars with the lights off in the middle of the night? Who entered a dark building at midnight and left at 4 a.m.? And why? They were up to something and her gut told her to find out what it was at any cost. Her old bosses would have called her insane and, hell, maybe she was. Kelly couldn’t bring herself to care though, because she’d never needed answers to anything like she needed them now.

Suddenly the lights in the locker room went off, snapping Kelly out of her thoughts.

“Aww, come on!” she yelled, but nothing happened and no one responded. The lights in the locker rooms were motion-activated, and apparently, everyone else had left while she’d been lost inside her head. The dark didn’t bother her—it was just slightly inconvenient. Her vision was good enough in the dark after her eyes adjusted.

A sudden sense of urgency had Kelly washing her hair quickly and then scrubbing herself with a loofa and body wash. After rinsing off, she wrapped one towel around her body and put her hair up in another. A quick flick of her arm pulled the shower curtain aside, and suddenly the lights in the locker room came to life.

“Fuck!” She raised her free hand to block her eyes as they adjusted to the light. The drawback to her comfort in the dark was that her eyes were sometimes overly sensitive to light.

Kelly reached back into the shower stall and grabbed her soap, loofa, and shampoo and dried them all off with the corner of her towel as she went back to her locker and stowed them in her bag. She quickly put on the black leggings and black turtleneck. She never bothered with underwear or a bra because it cost money and was and more to wash at the laundromat. Besides, they were unnecessary. Kelly had been gifted with small breasts that didn’t require support and she thanked the powers that be almost daily for that. She brushed out her long brunette hair and put it back in a tight bun. Normally she was the ponytail type, but she needed her hair out of the way tonight.

Kelly put on her shoes and packed her bag. She threw the towels in the bin as she walked out of the locker room. No one was left in the gym now, and Dom was closing things down.

“Good night, Dom. Thanks.”

“No problem, Kel…” He stopped talking as she walked by and did a double take. “I thought you said you had plans tonight.”

“I do,” she said coolly.

“What, robbing a bank?” he joked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know. See you tomorrow, Dom,” she said as she continued to the door.

“Hey, Kelly.” He looked at her seriously and she stopped for a moment, “whatever you’re doing, please be careful.”

That made her laugh. “Oh Dom, you know me. I’m never good or careful.”

With that, she went out into the night. She unlocked her trusty Excursion and tossed her bag in the passenger seat before climbing in. The engine sputtered a bit before it came to life, just like it always had. Few things in life had never failed her, but this truck was one of them. She patted the dashboard as she put it in drive. “Let’s go, big girl.”

Bishop Briggs’s “White Flag” came on the radio as she pulled away. Just what she needed to pump her up for the evening’s excitement.