Koichi’s eyes never left Jake, and Jake felt as if he had never been so keenly watched in his life. His steel blue eyes stared straight at his opponent, and he drew in a deep breath and told himself that he had to remain focused if he was going to succeed at all. He concentrated on all of his anger; on everything that had made him bitter of the course of his lifetime, over every wrong and unfairness that he felt he had suffered. Gritting his teeth and clenching his jaw, he lowered his position slightly, so that he was head level with Koichi’s chest.
He knew he would have to strike at the other man’s core. Glaring icily at Koichi, he waited as long as he could, until the fire in him was at its hottest, and then he rocketed forward, his closed fists headed straight for the other man’s ribs and stomach.
Koichi simply turned gracefully on the spot and closed both of his hands over Jake’s wrists and arms, flipping him in a circle, using his own momentum against him as he turned him over once and landed him flat on his back.
Jake coughed and wheezed a moment, but he was back on his feet quickly, wheeling on his feet with a growl of frustration. He met the older man’s steady and unwavering gaze, and he felt a rush of incomprehension that the other man could fight so calmly, as though they might be doing nothing more than having a quiet conversation, or looking at the garden outside together, or watching a sunset together in silence.
It was infuriating and confusing to Jake, and he was glad for it, because he took all of that pent up consternation and with every bit of power in him, he leapt into the air with a spinning kick, aiming his foot for the older man’s head.
Koichi ducked and simultaneously shot his fist out, hitting Jake’s inner thigh sharply, and when Jake landed, he stumbled sorely for a moment before standing again. He launched himself at Koichi again, and once again, he never touched him, and Koichi struck without being hit, and Jake fell and stumbled over and over, but every time it happened, he stood up again, sore and in increasing pain, and continued to fight.
He had not managed to touch Koichi, not once, when after a lengthy time, the older man finally stepped backward and stood up straight, holding his hand up and speaking. “Stop now.” He waited as Jake, breathing hard and doubled over, stood up and collected himself.
“Come.” Koichi said simply and calmly, bowing before he turned and walked toward Masahiro and Lisa. Lisa was trying not to stare wide eyed, struggling to hide the hope she had inside of her. She said nothing, and only watched in silence as Jake bowed back to Koichi and followed him to face Masahiro.
Masahiro took a long and deep breath, letting it out slowly as he regarded the young man standing before him. Jake felt like every single cell in his body was about to explode simultaneously. He tried to breathe, though his breathing was ragged and shallow, and his body burned with the strain of the match he had just faced.
Koichi stood near him, his eyes on Masahiro. Jake glanced from one of them to the other, and waited. Masahiro did not speak right away, but instead looked at Jake thoughtfully. Jake’s eyes flitted momentarily to Lisa, but she was watching Masahiro as well, and Jake knew that his fate was in the hands of the old master before him.
Masahiro did not take his eyes off Jake, and when he spoke, Jake could hear the strength in his voice, as well as patience and no end of wisdom. “Why do you want to come and train here?” he asked evenly.
Jake felt like his whole life was hinged on the words that would come from his mouth, and for a moment, there were no words; they were all trapped in his head. All the billions of them he wanted to say, all of them raging through him as his heart jabbed at his rib cage trying to escape. A bead of sweat rolled from his forehead and fell to his chest, landing on the gi he was wearing. The silence in the room was the thickest he had ever known, and the only thing louder than the silence was his own hot blood, crashing and rushing through his ears.
“I didn’t think I would ever see this place, or ever be here… this doesn’t even seem real to me. Maybe it isn’t real, but if it is, it’s the only chance I have at ever making anything with my life, and that’s something I’m willing to work for. This would be the best shot I ever get at changing myself and my life and giving myself some kind of future.” He spoke with a hoarse voice.
Masahiro didn’t even blink; he just watched in silence, listening to every word that Jake spoke, and holding the younger man’s gaze with his.
“Are you willing to be trained as we would train you, and forget everything you think you know about fighting?” Masahiro asked calmly.
Jake’s breath caught. He couldn’t understand what Masahiro had meant, asking him to forget everything he thought he knew, because if there was one thing he did know, it was fighting. He had been doing it all of his life. He thought of the sparring match he had just finished with Koichi, and he knew that he hadn’t even gotten in one hit. He knew he had a lot to learn, and he could tell that the master before him wanted someone who was willing to learn. He was sure that that was the answer the old man was looking for. He wanted to know if Jake was willing to learn.
“Yes.” Jake answered quietly, as everything inside of him whirled in turmoil.
Masahiro tilted his head ever so slightly. “You are angry. Very angry. Anger will tear you down and destroy you.” His words were almost a challenge to Jake. Jake felt the question of it as the words seemed to bind themselves around him. Those words could stop him. Those words could force him right out of the dojo and hold him back from creating a future there.
Jake swallowed hard and lifted his chin. “I can handle the anger. It won’t control me,” he vowed, his eyes locked on Masahiro’s.
Masahiro said nothing at first; he only watched Jake. Jake swallowed again, not allowing himself to hope, not allowing himself to think beyond the moment he was in. Time seemed to slow down until it felt to Jake like it might have just stopped all together. He could feel more beads of sweat rolling down his head to his temples, down the sides of his cheeks, slowly, wending their way over his skin as gravity pulled them persistently to the ground. The sweat at the back of his neck cooled as the air coming through one of the open windows moved over him.
Somewhere in the garden, a bird chirped, and he heard the soft whisper of the breeze moving through the pine boughs of the trees, and the gentle bubbling of the water in the fountains around the garden.
Masahiro remained silent and watched him. Jake did not take his eyes off of the white haired master before him. He had never felt so terrified or frozen in his life. An infinity later, Masahiro finally drew in a long, slow, deep breath, and when it came back out, it was exhaled with a voice that spoke Jake’s fate.
“You will be admitted here. You will train one on one with Koichi. You will be completely obedient to him. When he feels that you are ready for your first competition, you will be entered into a local competition. If you do well, you will move up the ranks to the higher competitions. You will train every day. There will be no break in your training. You will dedicate yourself to this, or you will leave and not return. Do you agree?” the old man asked.
Every cell in Jake’s body exploded simultaneously at the atomic level. At least, he was certain that the feeling that came over him was everything exploding. He felt himself nod, and though it took a moment, he finally heard himself speak.
“Yes, Master Hayashi. I’ll come and train here every day. I’ll do everything that Master Koichi tells me.” He swore, looking over at Koichi, and then back to Masahiro. “Thank you, Sir. I am going to be your best champion.” If it killed him, he was going to be the best they ever saw, he promised it to himself.
Masahiro looked at him thoughtfully again and then spoke without expression. “Good luck.” He turned then and walked from the room. Jake bowed after him as the older man left.
Koichi faced Jake. “Be here at nine in the morning tomorrow. Lisa will give you another gi so that you’ll have two. Get some rest tonight, because you’re going to need it when you come back.”
Jake bowed to Koich
i and Koichi bowed back and then walked from the room. Jake turned to Lisa, who was grinning at him.
“You did it! Congratulations!” she gasped happily. Her smile began to fade a little. She looked at him seriously then. “You better listen to them, and you better get some rest tonight, because I can promise you that you’re going to need it.”
Jake smiled at her and wished that he could wrap his arms around her and hug her, but she turned and headed toward the door, looking back at him with a happy glow. “Let’s go and get your other gi, and you can get changed.”
Walking back to her office, Lisa couldn’t help but feel the excitement coursing through her. She had known that there was no way that Jake could have ever even touched Koichi, but she had allowed herself to hope for Jake that he could be accepted, and she was grateful to Masahiro that he had allowed it, and she was more than a little surprised about it, though she wasn’t going to say anything to Jake about it.
She walked into her office with him and went to the wooden cabinet again, opening it and pulling out a gi. For a split second she moved to hand it to him, but remembering the way he had touched her before his match, she turned and set it on the desk before her. He saw her as she did it, and they shared a knowing glance. A grin spread over his face and she walked around him and headed for the door. Looking back over her shoulder, she spoke seriously to him, though the hint of a smile still stayed at the corners of her mouth.
“I’ll wait for you in the front courtyard.” She told him with a businesslike tone. “Just close this door when you leave, please.” With that she turned and left him.
As she waited for him, she told herself over and again that the excitement she felt was for his success that day, and for the possibility of a strong future for him, and that none of it was because he was going to be around in the dojo every day. She almost had herself convinced of that when he strode out toward her, looking confident and excited. She looked away from the strong body that seemed to prowl as he moved, and she breathed deep, telling herself that she was making a difference in the life of someone who might not otherwise have ever had an opportunity like the one she had empowered him with.
Lisa and Jake got into her car and she followed his directions as she drove him home. He didn’t say anything to her on the drive to his house; he was too overwhelmed with emotion, but as they neared it, his gaze drifted back to her legs and the hem of her skirt, and he made no secret of it. When she parked in front of his house, he turned in his seat to look at her.
“This was a big day. Definitely the biggest day of my life,” he said in a quiet and velvety tone. His eyes met hers and her breath caught in her chest as she saw a fire glowing in his gaze. “This never would have happened without you. Come inside with me. Come and… celebrate.”
She shook her head and tried to glance away from him, tried to remember how to breathe. “I can’t. I’m… I never have interactions of any kind with the fighters at the dojo. It’s… this is just business. You have to understand that.” She looked back at him seriously. There was far too much at stake for her to even consider letting anything happen with him.
His voice dropped slightly and took on a seductive tone. He leaned closer to her and his nearness sent electric waves through her stomach. “Lisa… come in with me. Listen… we’re both going back to the dojo in the morning. I can see that you’re feeling just like I am…” his mouth curved into a smile as his eyes moved to her breasts and she realized how hard her nipples had become, pressing against the thin fabric of her blouse. She closed her eyes in frustration and looked away from him.
“Come in with me. Let me… thank you for what you gave to me today. I promise you’ll enjoy every moment of my… gratitude. Then we can both go in together tomorrow.” He spoke each word evenly, his voice sultry as he lifted his hand and ran his fingertip down the side of her arm, his eyes intent on her body and her face as he spoke.
She didn’t know how his finger was able to trace fire across her skin the way that it did, but she knew that she couldn’t possibly let herself feel any kind of heat for him at all. She had an obligation and a duty to herself, and to the dojo, and she had to put all of that first before anything.
Taking in an unsteady breath, she turned sharply to face him. “Jake, you can’t touch me like that. I’m here to help you, not to sleep with you, or whatever else you might have had in mind, now get out of my car, get some rest tonight, and get to the dojo first thing in the morning…. And Jake, you absolutely cannot come on to me like this again.
There’s no way this is going to be okay and there’s no way it’s ever going to happen. You come to the dojo, you train, and you fight. That’s it. That’s all there is. You need to understand that right now.” She hoped that she sounded as serious as she meant to, because her body didn’t feel half as certain about her words as her mind did.
He hesitated a moment and then smiled and shook his head. “Okay. I’ll see you in the morning, but I’ll be dreaming of you tonight.” He winked at her and stepped from the car, watching her as he closed the door and stepped back. He kept his gaze on her as she pulled away from the curb and drove away down the street until she was gone.
He adjusted himself a little, shaking his head at having to go to bed alone as hard as he was for her. He’d have to step up his game with her, he promised himself that she was going to wind up in his bed sooner, rather than later.
Lisa rolled her window down and wished she could drown herself in fresh cool evening air, trying to still her body and temper the heat that had risen in her. She cursed her physiological reaction to his come-one, wishing with everything in her that she could have hidden the telltale arousal of her breasts, and she wished with everything in her that he hadn’t seen it.
She told herself that it was only because it had been so long since a man had touched her or been close to her. She promised herself that things would be fine at the dojo. She would be in her office or off premises working, and Koichi would have Jake in training all the time, so there was no chance of them having to meet and her feeling so flustered again. It wasn’t going to happen. She had far too much at stake to let a hot and wild man weave his way into her arms and risk destroying any of it.
She picked up her phone and was thankful that Bonnie answered it so quickly. “Hey Lisa, what are you up to?” she asked cheerfully.
Lisa couldn’t hold back the frustrated sigh that gushed from her. “Ugh!” she groaned, “I just need to vent! I found this guy; he’s a fighter. He’s a street fighter. He’s good, but he doesn’t really know much, and I thought that maybe he could come to the dojo to train and fight for us. I took him in and he sparred with Koichi, and he was accepted.”
Bonnie spoke with a confused voice. “So… what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that he keeps coming on to me, and I mean in a huge way, like he’s just bent on it, and I can’t… I can’t have that!” Lisa frowned and gripped her steering wheel a little tighter.
Bonnie giggled. “Is he hot?”
“Bonnie!” Lisa snapped at her best friend.
“What? Is he hot? He must be. You never get worked up over any of the guys there. That’s always been a mystery to me. I don’t understand that. Rooms full of hot, fit, martial arts fighters, and you never ever go for them.” Bonnie wasn’t going to let it go.
“Bonnie! I can’t do that! You know better than anyone that I have an obligation and duty to that place, and to my family! I have no business doing anything… other than business there! I can’t do that! Plus…” she shook her head, not allowing herself to even think of it, “plus this guy is trouble. Or at least… he seems like he could be.
I have this gut feeling that I should just back off and let him train and fight and just not… ever… never. Never! It wouldn’t be good. He just… god, he comes on so strong! I’m going to have to just make it very clear to him that there’s no chance, no way at all, ever, that anything can happen between us.” She nodded her head resolutely. Th
at was exactly what she was going to do.
“So, are you trying to convince me, or yourself? Because… I think he must be pretty hot, and I think that you wouldn’t be so upset if you didn’t feel something back for him. He must have flipped your switch, honey, or you’d never be so worked up. In fact, I can’t remember the last time you got so worked up over a guy just after meeting him.” She chuckled softly. “Can’t you just… play around a little with him? Can’t you just… have a good time and leave it at that? Friends with benefits or something? Come on… girl, it’s been so long for you, I wonder if you’ve forgotten how to-” Bonnie was cut short.
“I have not forgotten anything, I just have a good head on my shoulders and I never get involved with the guys at the dojo, and I have to stay focused. I’m not interested in him, not at all. I’m just mad because he wouldn’t quit hitting on me. That’s all it is. That’s it.” Lisa waved her hand in the air and shook her head emphatically, promising herself that she wasn’t at all interested in Jake. No matter what he looked like and no matter how he made her feel.
“Uh huh.” Bonnie teased her. “Well, you do whatever you have to do. Just… don’t wipe him completely off the chart if there’s a spark there, okay? Don’t take that away from yourself.”
“I’m not going to mix business and pleasure, Bonnie. No way,” she vowed with a sigh.
She pulled into her driveway and up to the large home at the end of it. As she got out of her car, she changed the subject, asking Bonnie how she was, and listening to her friend tell her all about things that had nothing in the world to do with Jake. By the time they got off the phone, she was in her pajamas and sipping wine on her bed with a book cradled in her hand.
Setting the phone down, she opened the book and tried to read where she had left off, but she couldn’t get Jake from her mind, and she couldn’t get past the page she had been on. After fifteen minutes, she gave up and put the book back on her nightstand with an aggravated sigh. Turning off the light, she curled up against her pillow, and her last thought was the sound of Jake’s voice, telling her that he was going to dream of her that night.
Brooklyn's Baddest: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance Page 5
