“Did you have to get me ones with such a bright pattern on them?” I swear Sage had found the most outrageous and annoying leggings, and decided my legs not only need to be lumpy and bumpy, they needed to be so bright you would see me from across the room. The neon green and light blue swirling pattern was ridiculous, and I seriously questioned Sage’s sanity.
“I didn’t pick them out, Sam did. Those are his favorite colors.” Sam was sitting on the couch playing with Mr. Mittens.
My anger deflated, and I knew I couldn’t be mad at the kid. I turned around and looked at my butt in the mirror. “Please tell me you at least bought me a black shirt.” Hopefully, I could pull the shirt down far enough to cover my butt. Damn, hopefully, it was long enough it touched the floor. I could start a new craze by working out in a dress.
Sage pulled out a black shirt, and I thanked the clothing gods. “Sam was over shopping by the time it came to get a shirt. You lucked out. I’m sure he would have insisted on the matching skin-tight shirt.”
I grabbed the shirt out of her hand and shut the bathroom door. “He’s still my favorite five year old,” I mumbled.
“He damn well better be,” Sage called.
I rolled my eyes, tugged my shirt off, and pulled on the new one. I had called Sage panicked an hour ago, telling her I had nothing to wear to class tonight. I had ripped apart my closet and had a breakdown thinking I was going to have to go to class in khaki capris and a Java Spot shirt.
Thank God for small miracles that Sage hadn’t bought a shirt that was as tight as the leggings. “What do you think?” I opened the door and stood there waiting for the verdict. If you only looked at me from the waist up, I didn’t look half bad.
“Hot. Totally hot.”
I looked down at my legs and stuck one out. “I think we need to talk about what you think is hot.” My legs encased in stretchy color vomit was not hot.
Sage grabbed my arm and pulled me into the kitchen. She thrust a water bottle into my hand. “Take this, it helps you look the part.”
“What part?” I mumbled.
“You know. The athletic type.”
I shook the bottle and gave it a squeeze. “Well, then I better just stand there with the bottle in my hand all night, because as soon as I try to kick or punch, the jig will be up.” Athletic was the one word that I would never use to describe me.
Sage giggled and handed me my keys. “Go, or you’re going to be late because I know you are going to sit in your car for fifteen minutes to talk yourself into actually getting out.”
I sighed. “You know me so well, Sage.” I glanced at the clock and saw it was already twenty to six. If I didn’t get my ass in gear, I wouldn’t have time for my mental pep talk. “Lock up when you leave?”
“We are right behind you. I promised Sam we would go to Pizza Ranch tonight.”
“Pizza!” Sam yelled as he sprung from the couch, and Mr. Mittens jumped down. “Let’s go, Mom!” Sam tugged on his mom’s arm and pushed us all to the door.
I grabbed my wallet and managed to get out before Sam slammed the door shut. The kid really had a thing for pizza.
“Have fun, and be yourself!” Sage called as she drove away.
That was easy for her to say. Besides, if I were truly myself, I wouldn't be anywhere near a karate studio.
I slid into the car and cranked the engine.
Before I knew it, I was sitting in front of the karate studio, ready to start hyperventilating.
“You can do this, Molly. Just go in there, kick some ass, and leave. Totally easy. Just go…ACK!” I jumped as someone pounded on my window and scared the living shit out of me. Gavin was standing beside my car looking down at me. What did he want?
I hit the button to roll down the window and realized I didn’t have the car started for it actually roll down. “Dammit,” I mumbled as I opened my door and grabbed the water bottle Sage had given me.
“You doing a class tonight?” Gavin asked.
I slammed my door and pushed my glasses up my nose. Did people do karate with their glasses on? If I had to take them off, I was going to be blind as a bat and liable to punch Kellan right in the balls. Gavin cleared his throat, and I spun around. “Hey! Fancy meeting you here?” I was losing it. Absolutely losing it.
Gavin chuckled and pointed to the building. “I’m here every Wednesday. Adult class at six. Are you here to see Kellan?”
I scoffed and screwed up my face. “Kellan, phfft. Never. I’m here to get my kick ass on?” I cringed, unsure if that even made sense.
“Get your kick ass on, huh? I guess I can get behind that?” Gavin opened the door and motioned for me to go in first.
“Oh hell,” I mumbled as I pushed off the car and shuffled through the door. I scanned the large space and saw it was crowded with parents and a shit ton of kids. There was no way I was going to do this with all of these people watching.
Gavin put his hand on the small of my back. “No need to look like you’re ready to run. They just finished up the kid's classes. Everyone is leaving.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and stood off to the side of the door, waiting for everyone to get out so I could make a right and proper fool of myself.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Molly.” Dante stood in front of me and crossed his arms over his chest. “Bring me any cookies?”
I rolled my eyes. “Sorry, no. I guess you’re just gonna have to break into the cafe and steal them again,” I growled. I was still a bit salty about the fact they had the key to the cafe.
A smirk spread across his lips. “I think that’s doable.”
“You made it!” Bess came breezing through the front door, and not only did my jaw drop, but so did Gavin’s and Dante’s.
She was dressed head-to-toe in a bright-ass, blinding pink leotard, and had a lime green swimsuit over the top. She had pink wrist and headbands on, and to top it all off, leg warmers. Bess had time-traveled back to the eighties, and decided the fashion needed to come back to twenty seventeen. “Holy shit,” Dante whispered under his breath.
I tried to pick my jaw off the floor. “Ah, um, Bess. What are you doing here?”
“Thought I’d get some kick ass in tonight. I signed up for adult classes after Kellan gave us the free class. He sure is a sweetheart.” Bess winked at me and fluffed her hair. “Although, Tate is what keeps bringing me back.”
Dante choked and sputtered. Gavin clapped him on the back, and they both tried not to laugh. “Unfortunately, Tate isn’t here yet.”
Bess’ shoulders sagged. “Well, I guess I’ll have to get my gawk on with you two hunks.” Bess hooked her arms through Dante and Gavin and pulled them towards the mat. “I need help getting my shoes off, you two fine strapping men can give me a hand, right?”
Dante looked over his shoulder at me, his eyes begging for help. There wasn’t much you could do to get out of Bess’ grasp.
“Hey, you made it.” Kellan walked out of the office and leaned against the front desk.
I rocked back on my heels. “Yup, totally made it. Ready to kick some ass.” I pumped my fist in the air and gave a battle cry.
Kellan smirked. “You might want to reel it in a bit Xena, Warrior Princess. There won’t be an unnecessary ass kicking tonight.”
I really needed to tone it down on the ass kicking. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “No ass kicking, got it.” I mentally cringed, wondering if I was ever going to say something that made sense around Kellan.
“Take off your socks and shoes, Cookie, and meet me out on the mat.” Kellan pushed off the counter and sauntered over to the mat, bowed, and started talking.
I hastily kicked off my shoes and stuffed my socks in them. Tate hastily ducked through the front door, and kicked his shoes off next to me. A smile lit his face when he looked at me. “Glad to see you made it, Molly.” He patted me on the shoulder, and slipped into the office. Great, now I could make a fool of myself in front of Tate, too.
Dante was standing at
the side of the mat waiting for me. “Bow,” he instructed me. “Shows respect.”
I bowed, feeling awkward, but I didn’t want to offend the karate gods.
Kellan stood in the front of a wall of mirrors and clapped his hands. “We got a pretty big class tonight. Let’s bow, and get things going.” Kellan bowed, and I watched as everyone bowed back to him. I half-assed bowed back because I was only thirty seconds in, and already confused. Didn’t I just bow to the karate gods?
“Okay, everyone spread out on two lines. Make sure your arm's length apart.” Kellan stretched out his arms, and I looked around trying to find the nearest corner I could hide in.
“Molly.”
I looked over my shoulder and saw Gavin standing behind me. He motioned to the spot next to him, and I scurried over there, thankful someone had taken pity on me. I gave him a small smile and pulled off the hair tie I had on my wrist. I piled my hair on top of my head and rolled my shoulders back and forth. I could do this. I hope.
Kellan turned around, faced the mirror, and his eyes connected with mine. A smirk spread across his lips, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to kiss him or punch him. It was a toss-up ninety percent of the time. “Fifty jumping jacks total. Ten to the mirror, turn to the window, ten, and so on. Everyone ready?”
I panicked, trying to remember the last time I had done jumping jacks. It had to have been sophomore year in high school. Well, this was going to be interesting. At least I had worn a sports bra and strapped the girls in.
The first ten jumping jacks weren’t bad. I managed to stay with the rest of the class, even through the twenties. It was when we approached thirty when I started to struggle.
“You okay?” Gavin huffed out as he continued to jump up and down.
“Yeah, totally,” I wheezed. This was when my jumping jacks became just jumping in the air with the occasional arm flail. Graceful, I was not. The huge mirrors put that on display for everyone to see. Even Bess wasn’t having a problem.
“Forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty!” How were these people able to talk while they jumped all over? I was out of breath and wondering if this was the way I was going to die.
I bent over and braced my hands on my knees. “Damn,” I gasped.
“Ten burpees, and then we can get to kicking ass,” Kellan called.
I couldn’t see him since I was bent over trying not to die, but I was sure the damn man had a huge smile on his face.
“What is a burpee?” I whispered. Kellan was speaking a whole new language that I had no idea how to translate. I raised my hand and looked toward Kellan.
He made his way over to me and crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s up, Cookie?”
“What is that?”
“What?”
“A burpee. What is it?” I finally stood up straight and didn’t feel like I was going to keel over.
“It’s that.” Kellan pointed to Gavin who was throwing his arms in the air, then threw himself on the ground, did a push-up and jumped up to do it all over again.
I turned back to Kellan and crossed my arms over my chest. “I thought this was a class to kick ass, not my ass.”
“Gotta warm up. Just try to do a couple of burpees. I’m sure you’ll have no problem doing them.”
I rolled my eyes. “You apparently missed my transition into the thirties with the jumping jacks.”
Kellan shook his head. “No, I saw it, Cookie. You can’t get much by me with these mirrors.” He winked at me, sauntered to the front of the class and watched everyone finish up their burpees.
I watched Bess do two burpees and knew I had to at least try one. I couldn't be outdone by a woman who was almost in her seventies.
My eyes watched Kellan, waiting for him to look away. As soon as his eyes traveled to the other side of the class, I tossed my arms in the air and dropped to the mats. Hard. Like a ton of bricks.
Gavin squatted next to me. “Try putting your arms down to catch you next time.”
I groaned and closed my eyes. “That advice would have been much better thirty seconds ago before I threw myself down like a rag doll.”
Gavin held out his hand to help me up. “I’m going to guess this is your first time trying to kick ass, huh, Molly?”
Gavin hoisted me off the mat, and I resumed my position of being hunched over with my hands on my knees. “What was your first clue, Gavin?”
“Don’t worry, babe, you’ll get it eventually.”
Babe? Huh? Where had that come from? What was it with people giving me nicknames all of the time? I was Cookie to Kellan, and now I was babe. Just great. I had to say I liked Cookie better. It was much more original than babe.
“How are ya doing, hon?” Bess hollered from the other side of the room.
Everyone turned to look at me, and I was back to wanting to find the nearest corner to disappear into. “Peachy,” I gasped. I rubbed my chest, and silently apologized to my boobs for the body slam they had just endured.
“Okay,” Kellan called. “I want everyone to form two lines behind the punching bags. We’re going to work on our combos tonight.”
I moved to the back of a line and propped my hands on my hips. The only thing I thought of when he said combos was the delicious little pretzels filled with cheese. I definitely should have eaten before I came to class.
“Let’s start with left, right, dropkick.” Kellan punched the bag with each hand, then landed a kick that rocked the bag back and forth.
“Holy crap,” I mumbled.
Gavin looked over his shoulder and smirked at me. “Pretty impressive, huh, babe? It’s amazing what these guys can do.”
“These guys?”
“Kellan, Tate, Dante, and Roman. I haven’t really been to many classes with Roman, but the other three are amazing. Dante kicks my ass every time in sparring.” Gavin smiled like getting his ass kicked was one of the best things that have ever happened to him.
“You’re really into this, huh?” Here I thought Gavin was going to kind of be a helping hand to me.
Gavin bounced back and forth and threw a punch in the air. “It’s a great workout.”
I pasted a fake ass smile on my face and tried to calm my breathing. I was definitely on my own.
The line slowly progressed, and I was finally standing behind Gavin, watching him kick the shit out the punching bag. He was impressive, but he didn’t have the same smoothness as when Kellan had done it. When Kellan did anything karate-ish, he looked like he was doing it effortlessly.
Gavin strutted to the back of the line, and I eyed up the punching bag. What were the odds I was going to break my hand or foot?
“Hands up. Protect your face.” Kellan put his hands up and spread his legs apart. I tried to mimic his stance and felt like a fool.
“Now, just jab left, put your hand back in front of your face, and then jab right.” Kellan deftly punched the bag, sending it rocking. “Your turn, Cookie.”
Oh damn, here we go. I clenched my fists and said a prayer to the karate gods. I needed all the help I could get.
I swung my left arm and missed the bag. “Shit.”
Kellan shook his head and smirked. “Step a little closer to the bag, Molly.”
I scooted a half a foot forward, afraid I would be too close now.
“Just hold your arm out,” he instructed.
I stuck out my left arm and was five inches away from the bag. “How the heck am I supposed to hit the bag?”
Kellan moved behind me and put his hands on my hips. “Move forward more,” he whispered in my ear.
A sweet chill ran down my spine. “Um…okay.” I clumsily shuffled forward ‘til my fist touched the bag. “This okay?”
Kellan tapped my arm. “This one first.” He stepped back, but I could still feel him behind me.
I punched my left fist, ignoring the sting, put it back up by my face, and then swung my right.
“Now dropkick.”
I had no idea what a dropkick was. My
leg connected with the bag as I kicked and it hurt like a son of a bitch. “Holy mother of God.” I grabbed my foot and hopped up and down. “You could have warned me that it was going to hurt.” I hobbled off to the side and leaned against the barrier they had between the mats and the chairs.
“It shouldn’t hurt, at least not as much as it does now.” Kellan grabbed my foot, and I braced my arms on the half wall. “You should have hit with the bottom of your foot and heel. That’s what a dropkick is.”
“That wasn’t explained to me. I thought a kick was a kick.”
Kellan rubbed my foot. “My bad, Cookie. Next time, just hit with the bottom of your foot.”
“This kicking ass is much more complicated than I imagined.”
Kellan gently set my foot down and looked up at me. “You’re doing good. Just try not to hurt yourself anymore.”
I scoffed. “That might be easier said than done. As I like to tell people, I have the grace of a newborn giraffe.”
Kellan chuckled and stood up. “Hop back in line, and I promise to explain stuff better.”
I gave him a mock salute and managed to make it back in line without falling on my ass.
Gavin fell back in line next to me. “Doing okay?”
“Never better. Just figuring out the bag isn’t as cushy as it looks.”
Gavin made small talk, mostly of which I listened to half-heartedly, because my eyes kept finding Kellan, and my brain refused to think of anything except what he looked like with his shirt off.
I needed to focus, or I was going to make an even bigger fool of myself.
**********
Kellan
I tried to focus on Bess working on the combo, but my eyes kept straying to Molly at the back of the line talking to Gavin. I noticed when she had gotten back in line that he had purposely sought her out.
“Can I try it one more time?” Bess asked.
I nodded my head and forced myself to watch her. “That was good. Next time, try to land your punches at one target. Right in the center.”
Dropkick My Heart: Powerhouse M.A. Series Page 12
