No muscle in his face reacts to my question. He’s immobile, swimming in his own thoughts.

Eventually, he lets out a slow, long exhale.

“Yes.”

“Good.” I sigh in relief. An idea rings through my head.

An idea that might cost me my job but I have to at least give it a shot. “I have an idea. But it’s gonna take some convincing.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You need someone who has fought Jax before. And won,” I say, pressing a hand against his back to guide him toward the truck. “Let’s go.”

***

“No.” Julian roars, hitting a fist on the table. “Absolutely fucking not.”

“Come on. Just hear me out.” I plead with him.

I have to admit, this is probably not the best time to have this conversation. It’s past midnight and Julian was in the midst of locking up the gym when I dragged him back into his office and caught him up with what’s been happening with Jax. I told Kayden to wait outside while I tried to reason with my boss.

So far, it’s not going as well as I’d hoped.

“I did hear you out, Sienna.” Julian shakes his head. “And I’m not doing it.”

“Why not?”

“Why?” He echoes sharply. “For starters, I don’t train anymore. It’s not worth it. Not after Jax when he bailed. Two, I have a gym to run, so I’ve got my hands full already. And three: I don’t fuck with the underground. If I get caught training someone associated with it, we could lose the gym.

And you can say good-bye to you running it in the future.”

He snaps his chair back under the table and tries to leave the office but I block his path, holding my hands out in front of me.

“Okay, I get all that, Julian, but I really do think it’s worth the risk.” I plead with him. “It’s only an hour or two every day. You can train Kayden after hours if you don’t want anyone knowing that he’s training here. It’s worth it, Jules.

He’s one of the best fighters around and you know that. And he can take down Jax. Don’t you want that?”

Julian sucks in a breath through his teeth. I can tell I’ve hit a nerve. “Why the hell would I want that?”

“Because you’re still angry that he bailed on you,” I tell him. “I know how that feels like. And I know it hurts like hell.”

“Oh no. You don’t get to play that card with me. I’m not like you,” he shoots back, and his words dig into me, twisting my insides. “I don’t like to hold grudges. And . . . I’ve let it go.”

There’s a slight falter in his words that I cling to, using it as ammunition. It’s the only thing I’ve got.

“Come on. You’ve always been salty about Jax. And I get it. He was your golden boy. You trained him in hopes he would go pro and bring recognition to UFG, but instead he abandoned you and threw it in your face by going under too,” I say, and Julian grows quiet. Contemplative. For a second there I think I might just convince him, but as he releases a sigh and opens his mouth to answer, I can tell I’m about to lose him. “Okay, fine. Don’t do it for revenge. Do it for me. Do it for my sister. I don’t know what he’s doing to Beth but I know he’s still with her. And I can only imagine the damage. I don’t want her to end up like me. He needs to be stopped, Julian. Please.”

Julian senses my distress. His eyes soften with sympathy.

“And what are you gonna do if I don’t agree to help you?” He asks pointedly.

“I guess I’ll continue training him at Point.”

That stirs up his temper again.

“That’s where you’ve been this month? Are you kidding?”

His eyes flare with contained fury. He starts pacing back and forth behind his table, then grips the back of his chair hard. “Look, the last thing I want to do is to dictate what you do during your free time but you do realize you training an underground fighter there could potentially get people talking about you and your ethics, right?” He mutters a string of curse words before hissing, “You’re fucking killing me, Sienna.”

Tags: Claudia Tan Perfect Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net