Girls like me. What does he mean by that? Sitting in that stuffy office, I close my eyes tightly and reopen them. My first reaction is to turn my head and look outside, b
ut I quickly realize there are no windows in here. Howard is waiting for my answer, and much to my surprise, he doesn’t look agitated. If I want to get anywhere and stop this madness then I need to trust someone. Maybe Howard is that someone.
“I’m tired of being the punching bag at home,” I whisper, staring down at my hands. “It’s started recently, but I need to be able to take care of myself until I can get a job and save to move out. I do take kickboxing classes like I told you a minute ago.”
“Shit.” He runs his hands over his hair. “She’d kill me if I told you or any of the guys out there before she does, but Whitney is pregnant and she won’t be fighting anytime soon. I’ll sign you up and we’ll see what you’ve got. If you can handle it, you can take her place. Pays pretty damn well if you win. And if you don’t want to fight, then you can train here with no strings attached for as long as you need.”
My eyes widen as I listen to his offer. The original plan was to learn to defend myself when Dad was in a pissy rage. I never want to feel his boot kicking into my ribs again if I can help it. Suddenly I want to hug this guy, but I figure the shit-eating grin on my face expresses my gratitude.
“Oh God, thank you so much Howard. I won’t let you down, I swear on my life.”
“No problem, Raegan, let’s get you out there and get you started.”
“Wait, Howard. How much a month is this?”
He doesn’t answer me as he opens the door and leads me out into the sweat infested gym. Not knowing what else to do, I just follow him. Mats line the cement walls and my feet sink into the softness as I stand still. In one corner I spot at least two large punching bags. They almost resemble the bags in my kickboxing gym. In the opposite corner there’s a weight bench and a few other machines. Everyone is goofing off in the middle taking cheap shots at each other and laughing.
The laughter stops when Howard’s voice booms across the room, gruff and stern. I can’t help but flinch.
“Listen up, ya’ll. This here is Raegan. She’s joining us as of today so let’s all welcome her.”
There is a little bit of clapping and cheering as Howard walks back into the office for a second. Then I lock eyes with the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen in my life. I need to look away from those strikingly blue eyes, because someone who looks like that will do nothing but distract me from what’s important here.
Whitney runs over and throws her arms around my neck. “I’m so excited! Come meet everyone. Hey guys, this is Raegan. Raegan, this is Jack, Lance, and this is Garrett.”
Jack and Lance come over and shake my hand then turn it into a hug. Jack is about six-foot-one with sandy blond hair and deep brown eyes. His chest and arms are covered in tattoos, like a walking art exhibit. Lance is maybe an inch shorter, with green eyes and light blond hair. He has about as many tattoos as Jack does.
The last to acknowledge me is Garrett, wearing nothing but his shorts and a cocky grin on his face. The first thing I notice is he doesn’t have a single tattoo on him. Tattoos are hot, sexy even, but the fact he has not a single one draws me to him more. His chiseled chest is flawless and I catch myself eying him up. As he clears his throat, I glance back up like nothing happened, and I’m sure I’m blushing.
He has little beads of sweat at the ends of his dark brown hair, and across his body and…oh God, Raegan, get it together before your eyes fall out.
All of a sudden I recognize this guy. I saw him fight that night James and I went out. He’s the one who won and then smirked in my direction. Holy hell.
I roll my eyes as he inches closer, wearing that same ridiculous grin.
“Your name’s Raegan? You aren’t a dyke or anything or you? With an ass like that, I’d pray not.”
I scoff, shocked that he’d have the balls to say such a thing. I’m infuriated, but I refuse to feel insecure anymore. I ball up my fist and before he has a chance to retort, my fist connects with his jaw and Jack and Lance begin laughing and slapping each other on the back.
There, that ought to show him. Shit, my hand hurts right now but I don’t let him see that. Garrett reaches up and touches his jaw in surprise, but then he looks more amused than anything else.
“Damn girl, nice punch.” Garrett steps up and puts his hand out, wanting a truce, but I can’t give him that yet. He’s too cocky and his comment pissed me off. My hands are rigid at my sides, my guard up, tension rolls through my shoulders like a wave and I feel my muscles clench. Wanting to prove to everyone here that I’m not a joke, I kick his legs from under him using a move from my kickboxing class. As he falls to the ground, I pin his arms by his side which is something I wasn’t sure I could even do to a man his size. Here, I feel brave. I know no one in this gym can hurt me like Dad could if I ever tried this on him. I can tell by how everyone’s reacting that this doesn’t happen to Garrett often.
I lean down to where only he can hear me and whisper, “I’m not a dyke, got it?” Then I shove at him, almost letting myself get caught in his eyes. Hell, my body is tingling just being this close to him. Even with me pinning him down, he still doesn’t look pissed. If anything, he looks like he’s enjoying it, and I’m not sure how to take that. I climb to my feet; I’ve earned more hugs, along with congratulations from the guys, but that tingling feeling remains. When Howard comes out of the office hollering my name, I knew I must’ve done something wrong.
“I’m sorry,” I call out, gritting my teeth and cringing. “I shouldn’t have done that. He pissed me off.” An apology is the only thing I can up with. I’d barely been out there five minutes and I was already taking guys down. What happened to the meek little girl who kept getting beat up by her dad? Where’d she go? I couldn’t help but wonder.
At Howard’s beckoning hand, I hurry to the office, clasping my hands before me and feeling like I did in high school when I got sent to the principal’s office.
Whitney is in the office with Howard and neither one of them look irritated. Instead they look happy. I was already to get my ass handed to me; I thought sure they’d throw me out.
“Raegan, you ready to start training? Seriously training?” Howard shakes my hand, explains a few things, then hands me back over to Whitney. She and I step out of the office, and Whitney smiles, giving me a hug.
“I think you’re gonna be fucking awesome,” she exclaims. “My brother deserved that, and you took him down like a pro. I couldn’t have picked someone better to take my place. Your kickboxing lessons will come in handy so you aren’t completely behind in this, you’ll be good in no time.”
I can’t help but convey an attitude of excited amusement as I reflect upon what she said. I am really going to do this; I am going to train to be a fighter. I’ll be able to start saving to get my own place, away from Dad.
A new Raegan Montgomery is born; she’s taken the place of the one who died the night she removed James from her life. I envision my Mom and let out a sigh. I can do this. I’m so excited—until I realize the first thing Whitney said.