Page 26 of Caged

But Brian was fast and was soon dancing circles around me. The fight turned one-sided as fatigue got the best of me and all I could do was duck and block.

Brian stepped back and dropped his hands, signaling the match was over.

“Nice effort.” He held his glove up for a fist-pump. “You good?” he asked, with a laugh. He’d just kicked my ass without breaking a sweat. Meanwhile, I was bent over, panting like dog left in a car on a hot day.

“Yeah. That was exactly what I needed,” I said, wiping sweat from my forehead with my equally sweaty forearm. “Thanks.”

“Glad I could help.”

We chatted for a few minutes while we chugged water and cooled down. It wasn’t always easy finding a new coach, but I lucked out finding Brian when I moved to Weatherford. He was a good guy and a great coach. And he’d hooked me up with a friend of his when I wanted to add Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, or BJJ, to my training schedule.

“Our normal time Saturday?” he asked as we packed up.

“Yeah.” I held my fist up. “Thanks again, Bri. I owe you one.”

“You owe me double, but who’s counting?” he laughed, knowing I was good for it.

“Cash okay?” He’d bill me for the hour at the gym, so I only owed him for the extra amount.

“Cash is always okay.”

On the way home, I grabbed a salad with extra chicken so I wouldn’t have to cook. That way I could start working right after my shower.

Combining our notes into a coherent document was easier than I expected thanks to Jaden’s notes being clear, concise, and neatly organized.

Nothing like the chaos of his hand written notes.

I quit researching around midnight. Before crawling into bed, I put eye drops in my tired eyes to soothe them and reminded myself that tomorrow would be a fresh start.

And come hell or high water, I won’t let Jaden Sheppard get to me ever again.

Chapter 11

Jay

Ideclined Emily’s offer for dinner, earning an undeserved scowl from Jamie. My answer was polite and appreciative, so I figured it had more to do with me depriving him of an opportunity to lecture me than being rude to his fiancée.

“It smells delicious.” I asked, “Can you save me some leftovers?”

“Of course.” Emily was all smiles. She was good for Jamie, her love helping him heal after the devastating loss of his first wife.

Jamie was born to be a family man, so getting a second chance at love was exactly what he needed. Emily, too. Her abusive ex was six feet under after being dumb enough to point a gun at Dad.

Dude got what he deserved.Karma’s abitch.

I wondered if karma would serve my ex-girlfriend, Sara, and my ex best friend, Henderson, what they deserved. I hoped so.

I need to burn off some energy. I changed into my running clothes, put on my weighted vest, and ran until everything hurt.

The run was supposed to be therapeutic, clearing my mind of the memories of Sara’s betrayal and my fight with Maxwell.

Instead, I couldn’t stop thinking about how incredibly fucking sexy Maxwell looked when she was angry. Or how she accepted full responsibility for our scuffle, and defended me when given the chance. She may have done it to save face, given the circumstances, but I didn’t think so. Maxwell was a lot of things, but I’d never seen her kiss ass or lie.

I wasn’t proud of myself for pushing her that far, but I couldn’t deny how much I enjoyed watching her lose control. Or how my body reacted to having her in my arms, the scent of her sweet strawberry shampoo filling my nose. Even if she was only there so I could prevent her from hitting me again.

I bet she’s a hellcat in bed.

Oh hell no! No way was I letting my mind wander down that path. Maxwell and I were like fire and ice, bring us together and we’d destroy each other.

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