by Nikki Ash
Since she signed the papers, Marco has practically lived at the gym. When there aren’t classes I let him clean and sweep just like Diego did for me. It keeps him off the streets and out of trouble. Before he started coming to the gym he used to hang out down at the skate park. He enjoys skateboarding but says he loves fighting.
“What’s up?” I say, fist bumping him.
“Wanna join us?” Kaden asks. The guys know all about Marco’s situation and treat him like he’s one of us.
Marco looks conflicted for a second, but shakes his head no. “No, I can’t. I have stuff I have to do today, but just wanted to let you know I won’t be able to make the training camp today.”
A red flag immediately goes up. Marco has never missed a class. Ever. That kid is the first one here and doesn’t leave until he has no choice. For him to miss a class, something is up.
“I’m gonna miss you in class. What’s going on that you can’t make it?” I ask nonchalantly trying to get him to open up. He reminds me a lot of myself. He keeps to himself and doesn’t speak more than necessary.
His refusal to look me in the eyes tells me whatever he is about to say will be a lie.
“I have to help take care of Chloe. I just wanted to tell you.”
Chloe is Marco’s little sister. She’s only a few months old. I know he helps watch her, but he’s never missed a class to watch her. I let it go for now. Calling him out on this won’t help the situation.
“Okay, buddy. If anything changes, come back, okay?”
“Okay,” he says with a frown marring his face. It breaks my heart what this kid goes through. Yeah, my situation was shitty as a teenager, but I never had to worry about when I would eat next. I had name brand clothes, the newest cellphone, and was given a new car almost every birthday. I chose to walk away from it all the day I left, but for Marco, he doesn’t get a choice. He’s never been given a choice.
He leaves out the door and I rip my headgear and gloves off, throwing them to the side.
“Where are you going?” Kaden asks.
“I’m following him. Something is up. That kid doesn’t miss class.”
Not waiting for a response from Kaden, I run to the locker room to grab my wallet and keys and run out the door to find out where Marco is really going.
Chapter Two
Hayley
I’m running so late this morning and I hate running late. The water heater in my house broke last night, so I was forced to take an ice cold shower this morning. I tried to call around to find someone to fix it, but with Christmas so close these people want to charge an arm and a leg. So much for the holiday spirit! I still need to buy a couple more presents. I have no idea what to buy my sister, Hannah. She is seriously the hardest person to shop for.
On my way to the gym I received a call from Cooper letting me know one of the fighters thinks he might have sprained or possibly broken a couple of fingers and would like me to check it out before he goes to the hospital. His text throws me off and I completely forget to go through the drive thru to grab a coffee. Oh well! I’ll have to run back out later when I have time.
I make it to the gym in record time, run straight to the locker room to throw my purse and keys into a locker, fill up my water bottle with cold water, and head back out to find Stephen, the fighter with the possibly broken fingers. I barely make it out of the locker room when I run into a wall. Okay, not a wall, a solid man whose body feels like a wall. Warmth spreads across my chest and it’s not from the unrequited lust I feel for this man. Nope, it’s from the warm coffee that just spilled all over my blouse. Coffee, that isn’t even mine. Coffee, that I almost want to lick off my blouse in hope I will get even a little bit of caffeine running through my exhausted body.
I look up from the stain covering my chest and into the most beautiful blue-grey eyes of Caleb Michaels, the man who I have a huge crush on. I know what you’re thinking. What woman in her thirties has a crush? Well, most women in her thirties are married with kids, so they don’t have to crush like a damn teenager. Not me, though. After spending my teenage years studying my ass off to get into a good college, I then studied my ass off to get into a good medical program. It has always been my dream to get a degree in sports medicine. I love sports and I love healing people so it just made sense. I did make the mistake of dating once in college. I was so busy with school, the guy ended up cheating on me with my roommate. I told myself I wouldn’t date again until I could devote the right amount of time to a man.
I finally graduated and was fortunate to get a job working at Cooper’s training facility right away. The hours are great and I’m able to work with athletes every day doing what I love. I get to travel to fights and it’s seriously amazing. I couldn’t ask for a better job. The only downside is that between all my years of school and now work, I’m thirty years old and still single with no kids. And if that isn’t enough, the guy I like doesn’t even know I exist. Well, I think he knows I exist, but he definitely doesn’t reciprocate my feelings.
Although, there was that time at the club when he was dared to kiss me… Hol-y shit! It had to have been the most intense kiss of my life! I thought maybe he felt something as well, but after the kiss was over, he walked away without looking back.
Caleb looks around for a moment and grabs a towel, bringing it right to my chest. He starts dabbing my boob with it and I’m shocked he’s actually touching me. My memory flashes back to the time we were all over Cooper and Liz’s place. The guys had stayed home to watch Bella and Tristan—our friend Ashley’s son—while the women all got drunk and had a girls’ night at my place. Somehow we ended up back at Liz’s place, and Caleb was there, looking sexy as hell in his own brooding way, sitting on the couch watching a UFC fight. In my intoxicated state I walked over to sit down next to him and patted his leg…
“Sorry, to ruin your little fight party.” I sit next to Caleb and pat him on his leg. He stiffen slightly before he jumps up from his spot on the couch like he’s on fire.
“I have to get to work,” he says, and without saying goodbye to anybody, he hauls ass out the door.
Then there was the ski trip where he didn’t want to even sleep in the same room as me…
We had just arrived at Bentley’s amazing vacation home in Breckenridge. Caleb asked where everyone was sleeping and within seconds rooms were called. Bentley and Kayla went to the master suite, Cooper and Liz went off to another room and even though Ashley and Kaden are just friends, they’re really close, so they had no problem sharing a room. That left Caleb and me and unfortunately only one room left.
“I don’t mind sharing if you don’t,” I said.
Caleb looked around the room and saw there was only one bed, which meant sharing a room also meant sharing a bed.
“Sorry, I can’t do this.” He grimaced.
“I promise not to attack you in my sleep.” It was my attempt to make light of the situation. He wasn’t having it though.
“No, I’m not going to be forced to share a room with you. Sorry.”
Geez. I get he doesn’t want to share a room with me, but damn. I’m not forcing him to do anything…
Needless to say, he ended up sleeping on the couch during our stay and has pretty much avoided me since then.
I glance at him, embarrassed. One, for realizing how ridiculous I must look for hitting on him when he’s made it clear he doesn’t want me, and two, for being completely turned on by his touch.
He must suddenly realize he’s rubbing all over my breasts, because he pulls back and begins to apologize profusely. I can’t help but nervously laugh. The guy who doesn’t want to touch me is not only touching me but also unintentionally feeling me up like we’re back in high school.
“It’s okay,” I say, unable to make eye contact with him. This is so embarrassing.
“I wasn’t expecting you to do that,” I add, referring to him feeling me up. I grab my water bottle and try to blot the stained area, hoping to make it a little easier to
get out later. The stain doesn’t seem to be coming out at all so I give up and remove the towel from my chest. When I notice Caleb hasn’t said a word I finally get the courage to look at him and when I do I see what looks like lust in his eyes… but it can’t be. This guy has made it clear he doesn’t want me.
I follow his gaze to find my traitorous nipples are poking through my soaking wet blouse! Jesus, I don’t think this situation could get any more embarrassing… until I look back at Caleb and see him adjusting what now looks like an erection in his boxing shorts. I can feel my face heating up and then Caleb laughs. He. Fucking. Laughs. I don’t know what he thinks is so funny, but it’s definitely not any of this.
Kaden comes over just in time and asks why Caleb is laughing. He says something about me making Caleb laugh, and before Caleb can explain and further embarrass me, I mumble about needing a new shirt and get the hell out of there.
“Can I borrow a shirt?” I blurt out when I find Liz in her office.
She looks up at me with a confused expression. I shake my head not wanting to get into it, but of course she isn’t having it.
“Everything okay?”
I let out a frustrated breath. “My shower almost froze me to death, Caleb spilled coffee on me and then felt me up, and then saw me turned on, and I might be wrong, but I think my getting turned on, turned him on.”
She bursts out laughing, grabs a gym shirt, and throws it to me. “Well, I guess you got your wish.”
“Oh, shut up! I need to go change and find Stephen to check out his hand.”
I turn to leave and can hear her continuing to laugh from her office. She is getting entirely too much pleasure out of this situation.
As I exit the locker room, I spot Stephen and check out his hand. I don’t think his fingers are broken but I’ll need to take an x-ray to make sure. We go back to my office, and after running the x-rays, my suspicions are confirmed. Not broken, just significantly bruised. I put a splint on his fingers and tell him to take a couple of days off to let them heal.
As I’m walking back out, I see Caleb rushing out of the locker room. Kaden is watching him with a worried look. As Caleb exits the gym, Ashley enters. Ashley and I have become good friends over the past several months. We met through Liz a couple years ago. She’s a single mom, an elementary school teacher, and just an all-around good person. With Kayla and Liz both having new babies at home, and both happily taken, we’ve started hanging out together since her son is no longer a baby and neither of us are taken.
“Hey sexy momma,” I say, waggling my eyebrows at her. She laughs and shakes her head, walking over to me with Tristan following behind. Kaden comes over to say hi as well, giving her a one armed hug and a kiss to her temple. It’s completely innocent, but I see the look in Ashley’s eyes. It’s the look of a woman who wants more. Since Kaden is single and has become good friends with Ashley we all hang out quite often. I’ve asked Ashley on more than one occasion why she and Kaden aren’t dating, but she always says the same thing—she doesn’t want to lose him as a friend. It’s rumored Kaden isn’t the settling down type, and over the years I’ve been working here, I’ve seen him with various women, but since he started hanging out with Ashley, I haven’t seen him around any other woman but her.
Caleb is single as well, but is more of a loner. I haven’t seen him hanging around a single woman in the time I’ve been working at the gym. Whenever Kaden, Ashley, and I hang out, we invite Caleb to join us, but he always says no. I try not to take it too personal.
“What’s up with Caleb?” Ashley asks Kaden. “He almost plowed through me on his way out.”
Kaden leaves his arm dangling over Ashley’s shoulder and pulls her in closer to him, not noticing—or ignoring—the blush that creeps up Ashley’s face. We’ll definitely be talking later. “He’s worried about Marco. He told him he couldn’t make it to class today, so he’s following him to see where he’s going.”
Poor Marco. It’s no secret the type of home he comes from. When he first started coming here he was so shy and quiet, but several months later and he has grown on all of us, especially Caleb. If you didn’t know better you would think Marco was a mini-Caleb. He follows him around and copies everything he does. They are both so serious all the time. It really is adorable.
“Oh, well, Tristan is here for the MMA boot camp. With school out for the holidays Cooper and Caleb are doing a mini-training camp for the kids. My parents are going to take him afterward and keep him for the rest of winter break.”
“Let’s go see what’s going on with the camp,” Kaden says, leading her to the backroom where the kids classes are all held.
“Hey, Hayley,” Ashley calls back to me. “Dinner tonight?”
“Sure! I’ll bring dessert.”
“Sounds good!”
Chapter Three
Caleb
I find Marco as soon as I walk out the door, only he isn’t walking anywhere—he’s standing in the parking lot talking to some shady-looking motherfuckers. There are two of them and both are covered in ink. Now, I’m not by any means against tattoos. I have several of my own, and because of that, I know ninety percent of the time they have meaning behind them. Staring at these guys talking to Marco, I can tell right away they’re in a gang. They both have the same tattoo of what looks like a local gang symbol going up their neck and, when I look closer, I can see the tear drop tattoos on their cheeks, the universal code for how many people they’ve killed.
A third guy approaches from an expensive Mercedes, looking out of place. He’s dressed much nicer than the other two guys in a suit, but peeking out from under the collar is the same tattoo as the other guys, telling me he is some type of leader. He hands Marco a brown package, and before Marco can leave, he grabs him by his shirt and pulls him closer whispering something to him. Marco nods nervously and then walks away.
The three guys stay in the parking lot discussing something but I don’t wait around to see what they are doing. I’m about to jump in my car but think it might be more discreet to follow by foot. Without letting Marco know, I follow him, staying close enough to see him but far enough back he doesn’t catch on. He walks several blocks to his neighborhood looking around. I can tell by his body language he’s scared. He’s gripping the bag in both hands and when he looks around, it’s like he wants to make sure nobody’s going to steal the package from him.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on. I seriously hope my suspicions are wrong, but when he stops walking at a house a couple streets over from his and pulls a cell phone out of his pocket, one I know damn well he can’t afford, I have a sinking feeling in my gut.
My suspicions are confirmed about two minutes later when a guy walks over to Marco, looks around, and then takes the package from him. He opens it up, takes something out, dabs it on his wrist, and then licks his wrist. Fuck. Marco just handed this guy cocaine.
The guy nods once and then hands Marco an envelope, which I’m sure contains money. He says something to him I can’t hear and then walks away. Marco opens the envelope and then calls someone. He starts walking down the street and ends up in front of an old warehouse a street over from his house. A few minutes later, the two guys from earlier pull up, take the envelope from Marco and hand him some money. Marco pockets the money, takes another brown envelope from the guys, and then they part ways. I follow Marco until he’s at his house and wait until he’s inside before leaving. The only reason I can think of why these guys aren’t dealing themselves is they are under surveillance, so instead of handling the exchange themselves, they’re using Marco, a twelve-year-old fucking kids, as a middleman.
I head back to the gym in a daze. I always knew there was a possibility of something like this happening. The kid lives in a neighborhood surrounded by druggies and those who deal the drugs to them. His own mom is a fucking druggie. I just hoped him hanging out with me would keep him away from that shit as long as possible. I join Kaden and Cooper in the kids’ class.
The boot camp is a blast. The kids have fun and learn a lot about self-defense, but the entire time I can’t take my mind off Marco. I don’t know how to handle this situation. I don’t even know who to talk to about any of this.
After all the kids’ parents pick them up I head to the mall to pick up a couple last minute Christmas gifts. I purchase a couple new Disney movies for Bella that Liz mentioned she wanted, some light-up musical toy for Nathan since he’s five months old, and a shirt that reads, “My uncle is better than yours” for Faith. Since Kayla and Bentley live in the same apartment as me I know Faith has way too many toys, and Kayla will get a kick out of the shirt.
I take them to the wrapping station in the middle of the mall and make a donation to the school’s local band for them to wrap them for me. As I am heading out, my phone dings with a text from Kaden.
Kaden: Going to Ashley’s for dinner. Hayley will be there… Wanna go?
My thoughts go back to her this morning—her reaction to me touching her, her nipples getting hard, her face turning red, and then her cute-as-fuck embarrassed giggle over it all. Every time he asks me to join, I always say no. I don’t want to give her any reason to think there’s a chance with us, but for some reason I find myself wanting to go, wanting to see her giggle some more, wanting to see if I can bring the same smile to her face Stephen did.
Me: Sure. What time? Need me to bring anything?
I get ready for his smart-ass remark, but it doesn’t come.
Kaden: 5 p.m. Just bring you.
After taking a shower and getting dressed, I search the kitchen to see if we have a bottle of wine I can bring with me. I don’t want to show up empty handed. I find red wine in the cabinet and then walk out to the living room. Kayla is sitting on the couch bouncing Faith on her legs and singing the ABCs to her while Faith makes noises she thinks are mimicking her mom.
