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He wrote information on a piece of paper and handed it to her. “These guys are ex-military. They’ll whoop your ass and show you how to whoop somebody else’s. I said what you wanted under the address so they know how you found them. They get a little paranoid.”
Taking it, she winked. “Thanks.”
A few miles away, she got out of her car and coiled her hair at the base of her neck. Taking her dance bag from the back of the car, she walked inside a nondescript building. She smiled at a man covered in tattoos she thought were meant to distract from his many scars.
“Sugar, you lost?”
“Nope.” She held out the paper and he read it with a frown.
“Uh…”
“I pay cash.”
“It’s not every day that a hot little number comes in here to learn how to kick ass.”
“I like being unique.”
Keeping her expression blank, she followed him through a metal door to a well-used gym. It smelled like cleaning agent but there was no getting rid of the undertone of sweat that permeated the place.
“Wait here.”
Nina dropped her bag and taped her hands and feet. She pretended not to notice the way several men huddled together trying to figure her out.
She wished them luck.
One called, “What kind of training do you have?”
“Nothing formal. Low level street-fighting stuff. I want more. I’m self-taught but a quick study.” Bending, she removed a roll of twenties from her bag and set it on one of the weight benches. “Three thousand in cash. I want three hours.”
“You’ll drop before that…”
“I didn’t come here for conversation,” she interrupted him. Going into a fighting stance, she held up her fists and added, “I learn by doing.” They approached her cautiously and it made her smile. “It’s not a game. I’ve never been trained. I come to places like this and fight whoever has the balls to hit a girl. I’m not great but since I don’tliketo be hit, I learn pretty fast how to avoid it.”
Nina’s upper body wasn’t very powerful but her legs were strong and she was fast, flexible. It was important to keep her reflexes sharp and there was only way she knew to do it.
The first half hour she took quite a few hits to her forearms and torso. They were careful not to hit her face. She watched them, learned their weaker sides and which ones were faster than the others.
Forty minutes in, the three men trading off kicking her ass backed rapidly off the mat. Breathing hard, drenched in sweat, and covered in red impact marks, Nina looked over her shoulder.
James stood ten feet away. “What...” He took a deep breath and started again. “Nina. What the fuck are youdoinghere?”
“Are you having someonefollowme?”
“Yes. You refuse to live within a safe perimeter even though you admit to having enemies who haven’t forgotten you. I answered your question. Now answer mine. What are youdoinghere?”
“Improving my reflexes.”
A vein throbbed at his temple. “Nina.”
“Yes?” she asked in a sing-song voice.
“Why didn’t you ask me to train you?”
“Because you alreadyhavea job. This istheirjob.” Hand on her hip, she huffed.
The men around the mat started talking at once and Nina frowned.
“Statton, we didn’tknow, man.”
