AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Which was why I threw myself into the work I could do.
I sat at the front desk, the gym's pleasant sounds behind me filtering into my thoughts as I readied everything for the class. The front door opened, and Casey walked in, followed by three other girls.
“Morning,” I told her. “You ready to beat people up?”
They laughed.
“Okay, we won’t be beating anyone up, but go ahead and partner up. I marked out spots in the main open area. There should be two of you in each section.”
Casey gave me a once-over. “What happened to you?”
I touched the bandage, which was soon to be removed, using the hand still in an ugly black brace. “I had a mishap with a tree branch that decided not to hold me any longer.”
“Ouch.” She winced. “You won’t be teaching today then?”
“I’ll be on the mic walking everyone through the moves, but I’ll have some help from our trainers.”
Kelly, Gavin, and Grady were already warming up, along with a couple of others, and I had a feeling Aiden would be helping too, even though he’d yet to come out of his office.
Casey went to join her friends, and I stayed busy, greeting the girls who came through the front door with their smiles and nervous energy. By the time everyone on the list had arrived, we had a full gym, and the vibe was different than a typical class, that I found myself feeling a little nervous.
Aiden stood in the doorway of his office, watching the energetic buzz in the room with a slight smile on his face. But when his eyes met mine, his smile fell. His gaze sharpened, and even with the distance between us, the intensity of it was like a knife blade. Completely lethal if you pressed on it hard enough.
So I looked down and finished hooking the mic up.
“All right, everyone. Welcome to Hennessy’s Gym, for what is hopefully the first of many classes like this.” The girls clapped excitedly. I motioned for Gavin and Kelly to join me in front of them. “These are my helpers. They’ll be demonstrating all the basic self-defense moves we want to teach you today, and I’ll be walking around helping you guys while you practice. So will Grady and Aiden.” I made eye contact with everyone. “If you only want me or Kelly to help you, please just raise your hand at any point if you’re struggling, and we’ll be right over.”
I held up my wrist. “Unfortunately, I won’t be kicking anyone’s ass today because I got in a fight with a tree and lost, but trust me … we’ll be able to inflict some damage together, okay?”
The small ripple of laughter eased some of the excited tension.
Over the next hour, I found my new favorite part of my job. By the time we finished, there was yelling and cheering and more than one male trainer hitting the mat with a thud.
I laughed when Casey managed to push Gavin to his knee. “You guys are savage, I love it.”
Some of them stayed afterward to keep practicing, and it was then I noticed Anya sitting on the edge of the center boxing ring. She waved at me, toothless grin bringing a smile onto my face.
I walked over to her. “When did you get here?”
She kicked her legs back and forth. “About halfway through. My uncle Clark dropped me off. He said I should learn how to beat the boys up for when I get older.”
I laughed. “Well, we only use stuff like this if someone is trying to hurt us or one of our friends.”
Anya’s face pinched up thoughtfully. “Have you ever had to do that to someone?”
“Nope. And I’m very thankful for that.”
Her eyebrows were still lowered.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Are you … gentle?”
My head tilted. “What do you mean, sweetheart?”
Anya’s big blue eyes searched mine, and again, I got the feeling she was trying to figure out something that was much more serious than I could guess. “Do you sing lullabies even though you aren’t a good singer?”
I blew out a breath, glancing over my shoulder to see if Aiden was anywhere in earshot, which he wasn’t. “Not really,” I admitted.
