Breaking New Grounds

by Amy DeMeritt

  “That was possibly the worst attempt I’ve ever seen.”

  “You are possibly the toughest person I’ve ever met.”

  “Possibly?”

  “Well, I’m a wolf, and…”

  I quickly make my move, taking her off guard, and I get her on her back. This time, I get my legs positioned to pin her thighs open and locked against the mat, and I get her shoulders pinned with my hands. She inhales deeply and contracts all of her muscles, testing my hold on her, but she can’t get me off of her. She smiles in an approving way and nods once.

  “Very nice. You finally got me. But that doesn’t mean you’re tougher than me.”

  I laugh and crumble on top of her as all of my muscles give out completely. She runs a gloved hand over my head and lays her other on my arm.

  “You did really good today. Have you ever thought about pursuing a higher level of expertise in martial arts?”

  “Many times, but I’ve never had time.”

  I lift my head off of her chest and carefully roll off of her and sit up. She sits up and takes the sparring gloves off of both of us before pulling me up from the mat. She grabs two bottles of water from a cooler and leads me to a nice comfortable couch on the other side of the gym.

  “I want to train you.”

  “Really? But I live halfway across the country. I’m only in California for a couple of weeks to a couple of months at a time.”

  “You’re not going to be training to achieve belts like most people train for. This is going to be a much more meaningful training. I know I don’t need to explain to you why you would benefit from becoming stronger and faster and capable of handling anything. We’ll train as often as you can make it out here. I’d even be willing to fly out to you occasionally, if too many months go between visits.”

  “Why do you want to train me?”

  “I haven’t enjoyed training a new student this much in a long time. You have a drive and an energy that is rare. Most people train for the belts – the titles and glory. You are actually interested in learning and sharpening your skills merely for the sake for bettering yourself. You teach dance, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “The most exciting students to teach – are they the ones looking for fame or the ones trying to be better than they were yesterday?”

  “That’s what I live by – be better than I was yesterday. Ok, Master, what are you going to teach me? What’s our goal?”

  Kelly smiles broadly and takes a few gulps of water. She takes a deep breath through her nose as she looks around her gym in a thoughtful way.

  “I want to teach you everything. I wish you lived closer, but we’ll make it work. Let me think on it tonight to decide how to structure your training. But expect it to be similar to how today went. We’re not going to get into forms or anything like that. I want to turn you into a master in combat. I’m going to teach you how to fight, grapple, and how to fight with weapons, including disarming your opponent.”

  “Sounds like fun. So, I guess I’ll see you the same time tomorrow? Don’t I need to sign some kind of contract with you or something? You know, so I can pay you.”

  “We’ll figure that out later. We’ll probably do a pay as you go kind of thing since you won’t be training on a regular basis. Ok, get your sweaty ass off of my couch and go home. I have another appointment soon.”

  “Ok, thanks for everything. You thoroughly exhausted me, but I had a great time.”

  She laughs and smacks my ass. “I know.”

  I get my shoes on and shoulder my bookbag. “See you tomorrow.”

  “Hey, catch.”

  I turn around and catch my tee shirt with my face. “Oh, thanks.”

  “See you tomorrow. Drive safely.”

  “Thanks.”

  It’s a cool day out and as soon as I step outside and the light breeze catches the sweat coating my body, I immediately start to cool off. I release a small sigh of relief and start walking down the sidewalk to get to my car. Before I pull away, I check my text messages. The first message is from Madison, which makes me smile really big.

  Madison: Hey, sexy. How did your training go today?

  Me: Hey, gorgeous! Really good. My teacher is a master in taekwondo, judo, hapkido, and is a weapons master. She wants to train me for real – not just for the movie. We sparred with long staffs and hand to hand combat for two hours. It was great. I’m so freaking exhausted, but I had a lot of fun.

  Madison: Are you going to train for matches or something?

  Me: No, just to improve my skills, strength, and speed. Wait till you see this woman. She’s incredible. She whooped my ass over and over again. It was great.

  Madison: You have us laughing really hard. You had fun getting your ass kicked by a martial arts master?

  Me: Yeah, I did because it showed me how much better I can be.

  Madison: That’s great, baby. I’m glad you had fun and have something exciting to look forward to. I can’t wait to see you kicking ass in the gym. Will we get to see you spar?

  Me: Yeah, we should be able to arrange that. She said she would even come out there to train me when there’s too many months between visits to CA.

  Madison: That’s cool.

  Me: I miss all of you so much. What are you doing today?

  Madison: Homework. We miss you too. Aura and the babies are really missing you. When you get home, you should video chat with us so they can see you and talk to you. Helaku and Malana have been screaming “Mom Ayla” every day and are very fussy and have been having a hard time sleeping. You need to come home this weekend to see them.

  Me: I’m in tears. Ok, I’m pulling off the curb and heading back to the house so I can video chat with all of you. I have off Saturday and Sunday – can you make the arrangements for us to come home? I love all of you!

  Madison: Already done, baby. All of you are set to leave very early Saturday and return very early on Monday morning.

  Me: You’re amazing. Thank you!

  Chapter Six

  I sit parked in the driveway trying to get my muscles to work so I can go inside, but my body is completely fatigued. A light tapping on my window jerks me awake. Sorina is bent over next to the window smiling at me. She opens my door and waves a hand, motioning for me to get out.

  “You look beat.”

  “I can’t move.”

  Sorina releases a small laugh and leans in across me to unbuckle me and take my keys out of the ignition. She grabs my bookbag off of the passenger seat, then lifts my arm over her shoulder, offering me support to climb out.

  I’ve been training with Kelly for two weeks now in between filming non-action scenes for the movie and I’m completely run down.

  Sorina helps me lay down on the couch and pats my hip, saying, “Turn over on your stomach and I’ll massage your back.”

  “Really? Thanks.”

  I roll over and she straddles my ass. She pushes my tank top up, which I quickly pull off completely so it’s not in her way.

  “Where is everyone else? Oh, damn that feels good. Oh, yeah, right there.”

  Sorina laughs and bends down to kiss my cheek. “They’re out picking up dinner. How was your day?”

  “Really good. We got a lot done. Oh, that feels so good. We filmed six different scenes – twice as many as planned. Kelly thoroughly kicked my ass tonight. That was good.” Sorina moves down to my lower back, eliciting a long deep moan from me. “You have no idea how much I need this. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “How was your day?”

  “It was good. I finished the last errand on Hayley’s to-do list she gave me.”

  “Oh, really? That’s good. I’m sorry I couldn’t go with you for most of that. Did those artists we met with decide to accept our offer?”

  “This is my job, Kayla. I don’t expect you to be able to do anything. But it was nice having you and others with me for some of it. It was fun exploring the art galleries and rock yards together.
The prop artist has signed a contract with us and will get started right away. The painter is still on the fence. She’s hesitant to agree to so many paintings because she won’t be able to take on other clients for a while if she does.”

  “Couldn’t we…? Oh, damn, right there. Couldn’t we put an offer out to college or high school art programs on the reservations to get the totem paintings? We could tell the school the ones we need and give a donation to the art program in exchange for the artwork.”

  The tribal council wants the gift shop to have an assortment of postcard size cards with art work of various totems with an explanation of their characteristics on them. Awenasa is going to provide the text for each totem, and Hayley has been trying to find a Native artist willing to take on the task of creating at least twenty original paintings. Thus far, none have been able to promise that they can meet the deadline for that many pieces.

  “That’s a great idea. Hang on, let me text Hayley to see what she thinks.”

  Sorina sits up on my ass and my back immediately feels the absence of her hands. I close my eyes and feel a calm fall over me, like a soft pillow. Soft pillows. Sleep. Sleep is good.

  I jerk awake as lips press against my cheek, and Sorina giggles. She kisses my cheek again and rubs my head.

  “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were falling asleep. Hayley loves the idea. She’s going to work up the proposal and will send it to you in a couple of days to review.”

  “Ok.”

  Sorina resumes massaging my back and I release a long quiet moan from how good it feels. Her fingers and the heels of her palms are digging in all of the right places.

  “Wake up, Kayla.” I open my eyes and glance at her over my shoulder. She smiles and playfully tugs on my earlobe. “Do you need anything else massaged? My hands are starting to get tired, so if you need them somewhere else, you should tell me now.” I laugh and Sorina gently slaps my shoulder with a giggle. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “I know. Do you think you can do my feet and calves?”

  “Sure, turn over and scoot up some.”

  We get positioned with my legs on her lap, and she takes my sneakers and socks off. She dramatically waves a hand over my feet and scrunches her face.

  “Oh, man, those are ripe.”

  I laugh and dig my toes in her side to tickle her, making her laugh. “I showered before I came home. I’m all fresh and clean, thank you very much.”

  She tentatively lifts my foot to her nose and sniffs it with a cautiously scrunched face, like she’s expecting to be knocked out by my stink. I laugh and she smiles broadly as she lowers my foot and presses her thumb into the arch, causing me to close my eyes and moan.

  “Oh, man, you are seriously earning some major best friend points right now.”

  “How do I get to use my best friend points?”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want to go on a friend date.”

  “Ok, we can do that, but you don’t need friend points for that. You can save the points for something major – like a house or a car or an exotic vacation or fine jewelry – you know, something really nice.”

  “You’re crazy. You have nice feet. You should let me paint your toenails.”

  I laugh hard and Sorina pinches my big toe with a smile before she resumes massaging them. “Why do you want to paint my toenails?”

  “Because I think it will look nice. Stay right there.”

  “Wait. What are you doing? You’re not serious.”

  Sorina grins at me as she leaves the room. I groan and roll over on my side to pretend to be asleep. She comes back and smacks my ass hard.

  “Turn over.”

  I groan again as she slides under my legs. She holds up two bottles – one is a light gray blue and one is a bright red orange. I point to the gray, and she tosses it to me and starts shaking the orange.

  “Hey, I didn’t pick that one.”

  As she grabs my left foot, she says, “I know, but this is the color I want to use on you.”

  “Brat. When are you going home?”

  Sorina laughs hard and reaches up to smack my stomach. “Trying to get rid of me?”

  “Well, if you’re going to try to paint my nails and do my makeup to occupy your time now that you finished your errand list, then yeah.”

  She smiles as she opens the bottle of nail polish. I start wiggling my toes and moving my feet side to side so she can’t grab them. Sorina bends down and playfully bites my leg.

  “Ok, fine, brat.”

  She grabs my foot and starts painting my toes with a very happy smile on her face. Sorina is really beautiful. She has a cinnamon chocolate complexion, dark brown hair, light caramel brown eyes, and she’s built very similar to Shannon – she’s curvy but fit.

  “Do you really want me to go home?”

  “No, I was only messing with you. You can stay here for as long as you want. My other wives, the babies, and Aura will be here in a couple of days for spring break. They’ll stay for a week, then I have another month I have to be here. You have to be in Cherokee in May, right?”

  “Wake up.” My eyes jolt open at her command and the light smack on my abs. “Hayley wants us to be in Cherokee a couple of weeks before construction is supposed to start to make sure everything is all set. So, yeah, we’ll be heading there the middle of May.”

  “We won’t be there till after Maddi and Sam graduate. So, probably early June.”

  “You better be there on ground breaking day. This is a huge moment for your family and your tribe.”

  “We’ll be there.”

  I look up startled by the voice, and my eyes tear up and my chest tightens with emotion. All of my wives smile at me as they walk over with our babies on their hips. Aura reaches me first and jumps on top of me as I’m trying to sit up. I laugh between my happy tears as she licks my face and neck while lying on top of me.

  “I missed you too. Ok, Aura, let me get to my wives.”

  I pet her head and give her a firm kiss between her eyes. She looks like she’s smiling and her tail is wagging in Sorina’s face, making all of us laugh. Awenasa calls her off of me and she and Jaime put Malana and Helaku on my chest. Both of them shriek with a giant smile and attack my face with slobbery kisses.

  “Oh, my babies, I missed you so much.” I nuzzle in their necks to kiss and nibble them, making them squeal with laughter. “I missed your smell and laugh and slobbery kisses. I missed those little ears and hands and toes. Let me see your eyes.” I pull both of them up and smile really big. “Beautiful.”

  “Mom Ayla!” Malana laughs and smacks my cheek, adding, “Love.”

  I laugh and kiss her lips. “I love you too, Malana. And I love you, Helaku. Come here.”

  I pull them back down in a hug and they bounce and squirm on my chest with cute giggles and garbled speech with “Mom Ayla” mixed in.

  It has been two weeks since we went home to see them, but it feels more like two months. I missed them so much.

  “You’re letting Sorina paint your toes? Did Kelly hit you on the head today?”

  I laugh and look up at Sam’s beautiful smiling face. “She took advantage of my extreme exhaustion and tricked me into this.”

  “Hey, I earned this. I massaged your back and your feet to try to keep you awake while we waited for your family.”

  “And here I thought you were just being a good friend. Silly me.”

  Sorina smacks my leg, saying, “Brat. Keep your feet still. I need to finish.”

  “But my family is here now. You can’t hold me hostage on the couch anymore.”

  “You have babies on your chest. You’re just fine right where you are.”

  “Behave, puppy.” Awenasa sits down on the floor next to me with a loving smile and kisses my lips while placing a hand on my stomach. While she traces my abs, she asks, “How was your day?”

  All of our wives take turns bending down to give me a kiss on my lips, then sit down around us.

/>   “Wait, where’s the rest of the squad? Jaime and Symone left with them but came home with all of you.”

  “They stopped to pick up dinner so we don’t have to cook tonight. They’ll be home soon. You look really tired.”

  “I am. I can’t believe you’re here early. Can I have Montana too?” Shannon kisses Montana before standing up to set her between Malana and Helaku. I kiss her little smiling mouth and rub the top of her head. “Hello, baby girl. I missed you like crazy. Let me see those wolf fangs.”

  While holding the babies with one arm, I gently tug Montana’s bottom lip down. She has two teeth halfway out on the bottom and one coming in on the top.

  “Oh, my poor baby. You must be screaming your little head off. Are you keeping everyone up at night?”

  “She actually hasn’t been too bad at night. It’s mostly in the middle of the day that they bother her the most.”

  “Whoa! What are you doing?”

  I jump as I feel a hand between my thighs. Sorina laughs and holds up the gray nail polish.

  “Relax. I’m not trying to cop a feel. I’m going to make designs now.”

  “Designs? Hold up, this is getting out of control.”

  All of them laugh and Sorina starts shaking the bottle without even humoring me with a response to my protest. I groan and smoosh my face against the babies, giving them kisses.

  “Sorina is making your Mommy Kayla look weird.”

  “Weird.” I laugh hard and kiss Malana. She smiles really big and giggles. “Weird. Mom Ayla, weird.”

  All of us laugh hard and Malana giggles and smooshes her slobbery mouth against my cheek.

  “I love you so much.”

  “Love Mom Ayla.”

  While I love on the babies, Sorina continues to paint my toenails and I tell my wives about my day. I’m really tired, but I’m really happy right now. I wasn’t expecting to see all of them for three more days. All of them look beautiful as always and look really happy. I wish I had enough arms for a moment to be able to embrace all of them at once.