I stand on the steps of my apartment building, chewing my lip and fidgeting like a nervous teenager about to go on her first date. I have been half-expecting a call from my father to tell me I won’t be working with Jax this week, or perhaps a text from Jax himself telling me the same, but I’ve had neither, so I’m standing here waiting for him—a ball of excitement, anxiety and raging hormones.
As soon as I dropped Matthias off at kindergarten this morning, I rushed back home and tried on every single outfit that I own. I want to look professional, obviously, but I also want to look hot enough that Jax can’t look at me without remembering what we did Friday night.
The memory causes a rush of wet heat between my thighs that almost floors me. I grab onto the handrail beside me for balance. How am I supposed to work with him all day and not stare at those lips, those hands, and remember the things they can do my body? Oh fuck! This is going to be torture. Perhaps I’m the one who should have called my father and told him I couldn’t work with Jax anymore.
As I’m considering the viability of that option, Jax’s distinctive Hennessey Goliath pulls up at the curb. His window is rolled down and his tattooed forearm rests on the door because he has the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up. I mean why are rolled up shirt sleeves so freaking hot?
“Good morning,” he says with a slow, sexy smile. I can’t see his eyes because he’s wearing his aviators, but he appears his usual calm and collected self and it annoys the hell out of me. Does he have no nerves at all? Did what we did mean nothing to him?
I plaster on the biggest, fakest smile I can muster. “Morning, cowboy.” I flutter my eyelashes and walk to the other side of the truck, making sure that I give my ass an extra wiggle as I do. Cowboy though? What the hell, Lucia? Since when do you call him cowboy? God, I want to die.
With a racing heart and trembling hands, I open the passenger door and climb inside.
“I thought we could do something a little more interesting today,” he says as soon as I have my seatbelt on.
“Oh, what’s that?”
“You’re going to learn how to fight.” He arches an eyebrow at me.
“I can fight,” I insist. “Hugo taught me.”
“I’m not talking about self-defense. I mean, real dirty, no holds barred fighting,” he replies with a chuckle.
“I’m not exactly dressed for fighting, Jax,” I look down at my pencil skirt and shirt.
“Don’t worry. Toni will have some clothes at the gym for you.”
“Toni?” I frown at him.
“Well, I’m sure as hell not fighting you, Lucia,” he laughs again. “Toni is an MMA champ and she knows every dirty trick in the book, too. A few one-on-one sessions with her and you’ll be able to take down any asshole anywhere.”
“Does that include you?” I ask with a sarcastic smile.
“Even me,” he replies, ignoring the barb.
He turns up the radio and we don’t speak for the remainder of the drive to the gym. I stare out of the window, wondering if I made a huge mistake two nights earlier. How can Jax just sit there and pretend like nothing happened between us? I know he said it was a one night only deal, but how does he just turn his feelings on and off like that? What we did had to have meant something to him, right? I mean it was incredible.
I glance at him and he remains focused on the road ahead. There is nothing in his demeanor to suggest that anything at all has changed between us. But what the hell did I expect? This is Jackson Decker. Women are expendable to him. That was just his regular Friday night, while for me it was the best night of my life.
I blink back the tears and take a deep breath. I will not think about him or that night for one more second of my life. He is a complete and utter jackass and he is not worth even the tiniest sliver of my heart.
By the time we pull up at the gym I’ve managed to convince myself that I can do this. I can have sex with someone and then pretend that it meant nothing. I have to learn to be a woman in a man’s world, right?
I climb out of the car and follow Jax down an alleyway until we reach a brown nondescript door. It certainly doesn’t look like any gym I’ve ever been in before. He opens it and steps inside, beckoning me to follow him. As soon as we’re inside the room the smell of leather, sweat and disinfectant hits me. I look around the windowless space which has a huge boxing ring in the center and various punch bags and equipment dotted around the side.
“Decker!” a voice calls out from nearby and I look around to see a guy with the biggest muscles I have ever seen walking toward us. He is only wearing shorts, revealing a torso absolutely covered in ink—I don’t think he has a spare inch of skin that isn’t tattooed. It covers his rippling abs as well as his chest and shoulders.
“Benji,” Jax replies. “It’s good to see you, man.”
“Good to see you, buddy,” Benji replies and I recognize the same Southern accent that Jax sometimes has, although living in LA for the past twenty years has changed his slightly.
“This is Lucia,” Jax says and smiles at me.
“Ah, Lucia,” Benji extends his hand and I take it. It’s huge and it dwarfs mine as he shakes it gently. “You look just like your father.” He narrows his eyes at me, no doubt wondering how that is possible.
“I get that a lot,” I say with a smile. Although he is my adopted father, he’s actually my biological cousin. Our fathers were brothers and we do actually look alike.
“Where is she?” Jax asks, looking behind Benji.
“Protein shake,” Benji flashes his eyebrows and Jax laughs softly but a few seconds later a tall blonde woman, with the most incredibly toned stomach I have ever seen in my life walks out from the back room.
“Hey, handsome,” she says to Jax as she reaches us and then wraps her arms around him.
“Hey,” he replies and at least he has the good grace to appear slightly awkward as he stands there hugging her.
“And this must be Lucia,” she says when she finally lets him go. She turns to me and smiles and I notice her eyes are the most beautiful shade of blue I have ever seen. She is absolutely stunning.
“Yes. Lucia, this is Toni,” Jax replies while I stand there staring at her, wondering if he’s had sex with her too.
She smiles at me. “Jax has told me all about you. I can’t wait to teach you some moves.”
I want to like her. I really do. I mean it’s not her fault she’s beautiful and tough and that Jax is looking at her like that, is it? “Can’t wait,” I say with a forced smile.
“If you head into the back, there are some things for to change into. They’re all new, don’t worry,” she says with a wink.
“Thanks,” I force another smile before I leave the three of them talking like old friends. When I walk into the changing room, there is a pair of sweatpants, a sports bra and some sneakers waiting for me. They are pink and grey, two of my favorite colors and I wonder if that’s coincidence or they were chosen specifically. No! That would require Jax to actually know that and for him to tell her my favorite colors. Why do I assume that he thinks about me as much as I think about him?
When I’m changed, I go back out into the gym to find Toni in the ring and Jax and Benji sitting on the bench beside it.
“Come on up,” Toni signals to me.
I look to Jax. So, he’s just going to sit there and watch his MMA champion girlfriend beat the crap out of me, is that it? He nods his head to the ring, indicating I should do as she says. I roll my eyes and climb in.
“Jax says you know a little boxing and Krav Maga?” Toni asks.
I shrug. “A little.”
“Let’s see what you got then, princess.” She arches an eyebrow at me and I’m filled with a burning desire to punch her in the face.
She edges closer to me, her guard up as she bounces on her toes. I stand there staring at her. I’m about to get my ass kicked here. And for what? So Jax can teach me a lesson? Put me in my place and remind me that this is the kind of woman he usually fucks?
“I don’t want to do this,” I say, turning around and walking to the ropes.
Jax is up off his seat. “Lucia!” he growls quietly. “Toni and Benji have given up their entire day to do this.”
“I don’t care. I never asked them to,” I hiss.
“You want to work with me and your father?” He narrows his eyes at me. “Then you need to learn to take care of yourself. Now stop acting like a spoiled brat and get your ass back over there.”
I glare at him. I hate it when he calls me a spoiled brat. I hate him. I hate Toni and her perfect everything. I want to go home.
But I stand straight and roll my shoulders back. I am Lucia fucking Montoya. I am my father’s daughter and I will never back down from a fight.
I turn back to Toni and raise my guard. “Let’s see what you got, bitch.”
She laughs and flashes her eyebrows at me.
“There’s my little wildcat,” Jax says as he takes a seat.
“Don’t worry, I won’t mark that pretty face.” Toni winks at me.
I edge toward her, trying to remember everything that Hugo taught me. Keep my guard up. Get a feel for your opponent. Toni strikes first, catching me with a light tap to the side of my head. I shake it off and move forward. When her lightning fast left arm darts out again, I manage to duck it, but she catches me with a right instead.
“Come on, princess, show me what you’re really made of,” Toni taunts me. “Jax doesn’t usually bring me such weak-ass opponents.”
Bitch! I lunge for her but she dodges me easily and laughs while she does it.
“Hmm. Pushed a button there, have I?” she says quietly.
“Fuck you!” I hiss.
“Oh, there we go. Use that anger, princess. Come on, hit me.”
I go for her again, managing to graze her this time but making no real impact.
She hits me again, this time it stings a little and I snarl at her.
“Come on, princess, you know you want to hit me,” she snarls. “Stop all of this dancing around.”
I aim a half-hearted punch at her head but she dodges it, grabs my arm and twists me around, wrapping her free arm around my neck until I’m completely subdued.
“You think that people will fight you nicely because of your daddy, princess?” she whispers in my ear. “They won’t—in fact they’ll make it hurt even more because of who he is.” She twists my arm even more and I wince in pain. “They won’t play nice, so why are you?”
She pushes me away and I stumble to the floor.
“Get up,” she snarls at me. “Get the fuck up and fight me, princess.”
“No,” I shake my head. I’ve had enough. I don’t have to do this. “I’m done.”
“Done?” she laughs. “You haven’t even started.”
I push myself up and glare at her and she walks toward me. She glances at Jax before she turns back to me. “Is this about him? Don’t think you’re special, sweetheart—he fucks every woman he meets.” She winks at me and anger surges through my chest. I jump on her, my nails clawing at her neck. She throws me off and stands before putting her guard up again. “There you are.” She grins at me. “Let’s do this.”
I act on instinct, forgetting that Jax and Benji are watching, forgetting that she is a woman who Jax has obviously fucked. This isn’t about any of them. This is about me proving that I am good enough. That I am worthy enough. She is a freaking MMA champion for fuck’s sake. There is no glory for her being able to beat me up, but there is plenty of glory for me when I knock her on her ass, because I will.
For the next twenty minutes we fight. My lip is bleeding but so is her eye where I caught her with a right hook. She has put me on my ass at least half a dozen times but each time I have got back up and held my ground. At one point we were rolling around the canvas and I managed to pin her until she threw me off.
Every muscle in my body is aching but I won’t give up until her ass is on that mat.
“Come on, princess. Jax is watching,” she snarls and I lose my shit, bringing my arm back and hitting her with everything single thing I have left. My right hook connects with her jaw and she staggers backward before she stumbles and falls flat on her ass.
I stare down at her, smiling, as I wipe the sweat from my eyes. I vaguely hear Jax cheering from the sidelines but I don’t care.
That was for me. I feel like I just won the heavyweight title as I stand there looking at her sprawled on the canvas. I raise my guard though, expecting her to bounce back up and knock me out, but she smiles at me and I blink in shock.
She pushes herself up holds her hands up in surrender. I drop my guard and she wraps an arm around my shoulder. “You did good,” she whispers.
“I did?” I blink at her.
“You know how many people have ever knocked me on my ass?” she laughs. “Not many. A few more sessions with me and you’ll be able to hold your own with anyone.”
I look up at her. “But…” I stammer and she laughs. “You called me princess. You were horrible to me.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “You know how many people I train like this?”
“No.”
“None. Zero. But when your father asked me to do this—”
“My father?”
“Yes.” She nods. “I wouldn’t waste my own, or your, time by taking it easy on you, Lucia. No one out there is ever going to take it easy on you. You want to learn to fight then I’ll teach you, but I won’t hold back, and I’ll say anything I need to say to push you. So maybe next week, you come ready for a fight and I won’t have to tease you so much.” She nudges me playfully before she walks away and climbs out of the ring. “Someone see to that cut before Alana sees it and kicks my ass.”
I climb through the ropes and Jax walks toward me. “Let’s get that cut looked at,” he says as he puts a hand on my shoulder.
I shrug him off and lick the blood on my lip. “I’m fine.”
“I got some iodine in my office,” Benji offers. “You don’t want it to get infected now, do you? No one will want to kiss those pretty lips if they’re oozing green pus.”
I can’t help laughing at the face he pulls when he says that.
“Okay. Thanks,” I say and follow him to his office.
I shower and change back into my regular clothes before I leave the gym. Toni is sparring with Benji and they both stop to say goodbye to me as I leave.
“Thank you, both,” I say, aware I wasn’t exactly pleasant when I first got here.
“My pleasure, princess,” Toni replies with a wink. “Can’t wait for next week.”
“Take care of that lip,” Benji adds.
Jax is leaning against his truck waiting for me when I get outside.
“You did good in there, Rocky,” he says with a smile.
I ignore him and start to walk around to the passenger door but he steps out and stops me in my tracks. “Lucia!” he frowns at me.
“Please get out of my way,” I snap as I glare at him.
“I will when you tell me why you’re so pissed at me.”
“You don’t know?” I shake my head in disbelief.
His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat as he swallows.
“You enjoy watching your girlfriend beat me up in there, did you?”
“What?” He narrows his eyes at me.
“You heard me.”
“Well, I assume I misheard you because she is not my girlfriend and you honestly think I enjoy watching you get hurt?”
“You seemed pretty happy in there when I was getting my ass handed to me,” I snarl.
He takes a deep breath in through his nose and then he steps out of my way. “Just get in the truck,” he snaps.
“Maybe I’ll just walk.”
“You’re going to walk ten miles to get home?” He arches an eyebrow at me.
“It’s preferable to spending time with you.”
He grabs hold of my arm as I go to walk away, pulling my body close to his. “Get in the fucking truck. Now!” he hisses.
“I can’t do this, Jax,” I shake my head. “I can’t pretend like what we did never happened.”
He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “I’m sorry, Luce. I shouldn’t have—”
“Shouldn’t have what?” I glare at him. “Brought me here?”
“No. Toni’s methods might be unconventional but she’s the best.”
“She insinuated that you and she…” I don’t finish the sentence.
“I told you that she fought dirty.”
“So you haven’t?”
“No. She’s not my type and I’m definitely not hers. You’re much more her style.”
“Oh.” I blush remembering the fire in her eyes when I was straddling her earlier.
“Friday night shouldn’t have happened though, Luce. I’m sorry,” he whispers, taking a step closer to me until his breath dusts my cheek.
“Do you regret it, Jax?” I blink at him.
He brushes the hair back from my face. “Yes.”
The word is like a sliver of ice slicing through my heart. I step back from him, pulling out of his embrace. “Oh.”
“Luce.”
“We’d better get going,” I say, tossing my hair over my shoulder as I walk around the truck to the passenger side. Jackson Decker can go to hell.
