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We pulled up to my office and Frank showed his ID to get into the parking garage. Security had been increased since everything had come out about Lyle. He hadn’t specifically come to my office, but he had somehow delivered a dead rat at one point. When I came clean about everything with the President of the company, he was horrified that I had been keeping everything secret.
Part of me was worried they would see me as too much of a risk. But it was the exact opposite. The employees closed ranks around me, being even more careful of calls that came to me or deliveries that came to the front desk. My assistant, Pam, opened all of my mail and packages now. And the President had informed the building owners that increased security was needed on the garage and the front lobby.
My job didn’t allow me to fade into the background, but now I felt even more on display when I walked into the office. Frank walked with me until I was through reception and into my office. He normally stationed himself in the reception area and had created quite a friendship with the receptionist and Pam. It made having him shadowing my every step a bit easier.
Now that everything was out in the open, I no longer felt the need to hide the scar across my throat. I didn’t call attention to it, but I didn’t worry about wearing uncomfortable high collared shirts and large ornate jewelry to hide it. The sense of being comfortable in my own skin had given me more confidence than I could remember having.
I knew a lot of the confidence was also coming from the Knights. The way they wanted me, every piece of me, all thetime, made me feel powerful and sexy. It was something I had only read about in books or seen in romance movies. And I had it times four. The relationships could be a bit overwhelming at times, as I tried to learn to navigate things, but each of them made me feel at ease with whatever decisions I made.
Sitting at my desk, I threw myself into my schedule. I reviewed my to-do list for the day and messages I had received in the evening. We often worked with business people that didn’t find the time to call or return messages until after hours. I sorted through the ones that I needed to return immediately and got to work.
Mid morning rolled around and Pam stuck her head into my office. I was on a call, but I beckoned her in. When she entered, her arms were full of a vase of flowers. I eyed it warily, though I knew Pam would have read the card and ensured it wasn’t anything nefarious. She sat them on the small coffee table and smiled brightly over at me before leaving and closing the office door.
Pam was more adamant on protecting me, after the attack at the small caféshe had insisted we eat lunch at. The woman had inadvertently helped Lyle’s plan by taking a call from a fake friend. The person wanted to surprise Brooklyn. Well, he had surprised me with a knife to the stomach. Pam felt as much, if not more, guilt than Gideon.
I ended my call and went to the flowers. Written on the card in black pen was a quick message.“You’re amazing, babe. - O”My heart fluttered in my chest. I leaned down to smell the roses. They reminded me of fire, with the center of the bud a bright orange, bleeding into the outer petals that were a deep red. They were beautiful, and the gesture was thoughtful coming from Oliver. He liked to play, but his feelings were clearer than any of the others.
Leaving the flowers on the coffee table so I could see them in front of me, I sat back down at my desk. Thinking about Oliver made me think about the morning sex. I closed my eyes and remembered what it was like to be against the wall with Gideon, him fucking me hard, while I looked over his shoulder at Oliver, bringing himself to orgasm under the water spray.
Unconsciously, I squeezed my thighs together, turned on by the memory. Why hadn’t someone told me that watching a man touch himself, while staring at you, was such a turn on? Oliver was always very vocal and physical about his attraction to me. For some reason, watching him finish himself while I was having sex with his brother was climbing my list of turn ons. It was like I found something new to enjoy each day with my guys and I wasn’t complaining.
My phone rang, and I had to pull myself together and get my mind off sex, at least for the rest of the work day. While I spoke with our events manager, my eyes continued to stray to the roses and I couldn’t keep the smile out of my voice. By the time the short call ended, my events manager was just as bubbly and I was sure she thought I was that happy about her ideas.
The rest of the morning went by without incident and when lunch came, I grabbed my gym bag and left my office. Frank was already on his feet, with his normal surly look. I was used to his attitude, which would last until we were back in my office after lunch. I waved at the receptionist, who smiled at us as we went to the elevators.
The drive to the gym was quiet, Frank already knowing his arguments weren’t going to stop the lesson of the day. He walked me to the door of the locker room inside the gym. He always waited right outside while I changed, to ensure nothing happened to me for the moments he couldn’t be right next to me. Once I came out and joined the class, he would settle into the seating area and watch the lesson.
After researching self-defense, I had settled on Muay Thai classes. There were so many options for women in my situation. However, when I pictured how Lyle held me by my throat, I knew I needed techniques for close combat. Muay Thai also had long range combat skills, which made me think about preventing Lyle from ever getting close enough to force a kiss on me again.
I stepped onto the padded mat with the other students of the afternoon class. I was one of three women. When we had to partner up, one of us was always with a man. Today was my day. The man was twice my size but had kind eyes. He smiled at me as the instructor gave us directions on which skills we were to be practicing.
For our warm up, we were working on sparring with only our lead hand. I fell into my stance and began to circle with my partner. We weren’t meant to connect, and each of us threw jabs while the other dodged and ducked to miss the slight impact that might come from the punch. We then rolled into regular boxing and were able to add our second hand to the mix. I had started to feel more confident in my punching, with all the bag work we did during our classes.
We switched into a third drill, where one of us could only throw punches and one could only use kicks. This was one of my favorite warm-ups, because it made you think about how to get close to avoid being kicked if you were the one throwing punches. If you were the one only allowed to kick, you had to dodge back to avoid punches, but also stay close enough to land your own blows.
My partner’s reach was well beyond mine and at first, he was taking it easy on me. I had punches first, so after the first time, I dodged into his space and threw a series of punches, he started to take me a bit more seriously. When we switched and I could only kick, things got a bit more complicated. His reach was waylonger, and I had to get creative with ducking in to land any kicks.
We took time on the bags, which was always something that got my blood pumping. With the same partner, one of us held the bag while the other kicked and hit the bag with more force than we could use on our partners. Our instructor moved from bag to bag, giving tips and motivation.
“Brooklyn, you’re not throwing your hips enough with your kicks. The punches are getting better,”he said as he walked by me.
I nodded and focused on my hips and kicks to ensure I was getting the full power behind each blow. I pictured defending myself against Lyle in the bathroom. There was enough space for me to kick him and take him down before he even got to me. But I didn’t have the skills on how to do it. I landed one strong kick, causing my partner to step back a bit.
“Whoa, getting some aggression out?”He said.
“A bit, I guess,”I replied, as I paused to catch my breath.
The last bit of the lesson was practicing clinching and grappling. We were learning how to counter different holds and I paid attention closely as I followed the steps to escape the holds my partner put on me. He was larger than Lyle would ever be, but knowing I could have the steps to escape an attack made me feel even more confident in my training.
After class, I said goodbye to the people I recognized and our instructor before ducking back into the locker room. This was where I washed away all evidence of the lesson, redid my hair and make-up and walked out as if nothing had happened. The look on Frank’s face always reminded me he knew what I did.
Chapter
Five
Aiden
The figureson the screen started blurring and I rubbed my eyes. It had already been a full day of work and I still had a few hours to go. I leaned back in my office chair and looked around my office that was in Club 4. It was my only office away from home, though there were offices in the back of every location we opened.
