Millie's Second Chance (The Town of Pearl 4)

“By the way, the third guy is Marco Lewis. He’s a deputy with my Kenny,” Lena whispered and Millie looked back to see if she noticed the resemblances and caught all three men staring at her.

“Millie, could you stick around please?” Hank asked and both Lena and Sage waved good-bye.

The four women however, stared at her, giving her the once-over. She hated women like that. Millie was feeling pretty good about her body right now after such a great workout. Kickboxing and martial arts wasn’t for the weak or unserious. She took the workout seriously and knew that in just a week’s time she would be in better shape than she was right now. She would feel more energized and healthier.

“If you ladies could excuse us, we need to discuss a few things with Millie,” Hank stated with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Millie watched as Stella and Lisa both touched his arm and ran their hands down his forearms as they winked and swayed away.

“Talk to you later, Hank. Maybe we’ll see you over at Rocky’s,” Stella stated, and Millie noticed how Paula and Melody licked their lips and tried to gain Marco’s and Dalton’s attention, but the other two men looked aggravated.

The four women walked by Millie. She, in return, smiled and wished them a good day, which surprised them and apparently ticked them off.

When she looked back toward the three men, only Hank looked amused.

“So, care to explain why you didn’t come clean yesterday about your experience with your sensei?” Hank asked, and oh, God, the way he said sensei made her belly quiver. My sensei? Oh Lord, does he sound incredible.

Millie shrugged her shoulders and thought she’d get away with a nice conversation about quitting but not getting into the details when Sensei Dalton yelled out, “Attention!”

Immediately, Millie found herself standing up straight at attention and Dalton walked around her.

“We don’t know one another. Understandable. However, I don’t appreciate being lied to, nor does my brother, Hank. Why did you lie about your experience?”

“I didn’t lie, Sensei.”

“No?” Hank chimed in.

She kept her eyes straight ahead and it was difficult, considering that she was standing in a dojo with three very large, capable men. Although she knew nothing about Marco, the man had a major body on him and she noticed his sparring session during her boring class. He now stood in martial arts pants and a tight black T-shirt that stretched across large pectoral muscles. His tattoos were peeking from the sleeves on both arms. The man was definitely attractive, but his facial expression was so very serious.

“Explain,” Hank said, interrupting her ogling ove

r the hunk of man in front of her.

“You asked me my experience and I told you. I started off with self-defense classes and my instructor, my sensei, saw my interest and desire to learn more so he began to introduce different types of martial arts and fighting techniques to me. You never asked me to what intensity.”

“Did you move up in belts?” Dalton asked and she could feel him a few feet behind her in a stance that she knew would be attack mode. He was going to test her abilities, not Hank.

“I had to leave before my final test as a black belt.”

Dalton didn’t just make a move. She knew he wasn’t out to hurt her. She had been around martial artists, MMA fighters, and kickboxers for the past two years. They were always challenging on a moment’s notice, hoping that a student had truly absorbed their trainer’s teachings. Dalton and Hank would be no different, but she wondered how far they would push and whether she could handle it. It had been a few months, after all, and she was a bit rusty.

“Begin!” Hank stated. That was her only warning before Dalton gave a stomp and growl before his first strike. Millie turned, ducked, and counterstruck with a right punch. Her knuckles grazed Dalton’s gi on his wrist. His expression was surprise, but she knew he hadn’t meant to start off hard with her. Now she had the feeling that he would turn up the heat.

They sparred around the matted room. He gave a high kick and she would strike and step toward him in challenge. They did this for some time and the adrenaline began to take over. She loved sparring and felt alive and confident as she did it. Dalton got a little tougher, but he still held back. She wasn’t a fool. This was a test in her training and experience.

“Follow what I do if you can,” he told her and she gave a small, quick nod of her head. He came toward her in one of those wild Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon moves and then jumped into a roll across the mats, pushing up to his feet before standing upright, feet a few inches apart, fists ready to strike. She did the same move with little effort and she thought she saw a small smile on his face. But then he nodded and someone moved in behind her.

Quickly, she jumped to the left and Hank was there. The two of them began to move around her, taking different strikes while she countered two opponents. She had done that in her dojo, too, and wasn’t rusty as expected. In fact, her sensei knew her story and about how Frank attacked her. He prepared her as best he could to fight her fears and so many times she was challenged by four opponents at once. At that exact moment she sensed the third body shift to her right. Oh crap, their brother, Marco, is going to join in, too?

She lowered, and then twisted, striking forward in a punch to Marco’s stomach and he grunted then raised his voice.

“I’m not fighting, I was just moving out of the way.”

She dropped her hands and grabbed on to him.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I totally didn’t mean to hit you. I sensed you move behind me and just assumed.”

Before she finished her sentence, someone swept her feet out from underneath her and she fell right on her ass in front of all three men.