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  Again, all I can do is nod at her, hoping she knows with that one nod that I both accept her apology and appreciate her words. The irony of the situation isn’t lost on me though – I’m not that stupid. I’m the big, strong fighter but I can’t even find the damn words to apologize to this petite, beautiful woman who keeps throwing me lifelines even though I’ve done nothing to deserve them. Or her.

  I have to question which one of us has the real strength. That’s not even true – I can already see she has me beat, hands down, no contest, game over.

  I’m with you, Andi. I’m with you.

  CRAZY MAYBE CHAPTER THREE

  ANDI

  After the intensity of the morning, Luke and I settle into a more comfortable routine as we make our way around the gym. He is tireless as we work on weight lifting, noting his max-out weight, before moving to the speedball and the punching bag. After that, we move on to his cardio-max with running sprints, mountain climbers and burpees.

  By early afternoon, Mack has Luke in the ring sparring with one of the other newer guys. What I said to Luke was true – he has skills and he’ll be a good fighter, but he still has a lot to learn before he can get ring time with the more experienced guys. I know he has something to prove but putting him in that situation would do more harm to his confidence than he even realizes. If – or I should say when – he lost to someone more experienced, he wouldn’t even consider that they’d had years more training than he’s had. He would only see failure and defeat.

  Only a few people here at the gym know this, but every week day after work, I volunteer at a youth center. I see people every day with the same look Luke has in his eyes – hunger for his dream but no one to believe in his ability to attain it. Skill, stamina and training are important, but so is having someone believe in you. I see the talent in him, just like I see the talent in the underprivileged teenagers I work with, and I want to help him see it, too. See it and believe it.

  I’m standing back now, just watching him spar. Mack and Tom have taken over with Luke after my initial assessment and having nothing to do gives me way too much time to think. This, working at the gym with the fighters, isn’t my official job. Pop took me under his wing and started teaching me to defend myself when I was sixteen and became legally emancipated from the state. I started hanging out here with him and learned everything I could learn from him. Now I do it just because I like it.

  When I see the sparring match is about to end, I approach Mack at the side of the ring. “Hey Pop, think you can get a couple of the guys in here to spar? Might be good for me to explain to Luke what I’ve been doing ringside.”

  Mack smiles at me knowingly – he knows my word choice is to let Luke save face with the other guys, at least in his mind. Everyone in here knows me and knows how long I’ve been with Mack and they have no problem taking input from me. Luke, however, would see it as a weakness since he doesn’t know me, or any of the guys here for that matter.

  “Good idea, Andi. Come on down here, Luke. That’s enough for one day. Let Andi explain her job to you.” Mack waits for Luke to remove his headgear and gloves then climb out of the ring before he continues.

  “Listen, son,” Mack levels Luke with his dead-on gaze, “Andi’s been with me for a long time now. I’ve personally taught her everything she knows about boxing. She’s helped every guy in here improve his skills – so don’t be shy about asking for her opinion or taking her advice. She wouldn’t steer you wrong.” A couple of the guys standing nearby confirm Mack’s praise of me and I watch as Luke’s face and shoulders visibly relax, just a little.

  Mack calls for a couple of the lighter weight guys to climb in the ring and I explain to Luke what my role is in these matches. I point out how one of the fighters always cocks his right shoulder back, even just slightly, before he throws a right cross. Even that slight movement would give away his intentions and allow the other guy time to block and counter punch. Something as small as that gives the enemy the edge, and no fighter can afford that.

  Then I encourage him to help me watch for other clues. This is part of his training even if he doesn’t realize it. It will help him just as much if he pays close attention to his opponent’s body mechanics when he’s in the ring. It’s not all about brute strength – strategy and intellect plays a big role in who gets to the title fight.

  I’m impressed but not shocked when Luke identifies a couple of key giveaways on his own. I smile at him as I say, “Good eye. Very good eye. Try to remember to watch for this next time you’re in the ring. Every fighter has their own quirk to some degree. It’s hard to keep the next planned move a complete element of surprise. The really good ones keep most of their moves under wraps, but sometimes something as simple as which way they shift their eyes will give them away.”

  Luke nods but has a faraway look in his eyes for a minute. Then he turns and looks at me and I see a newfound understanding in his facial expression. “I think I know why I almost lost my last fight now. Damn, that makes perfect sense.”

  We watch the guys in the ring for a few more minutes before Luke speaks to me again. He doesn’t look at me, but leans over slightly so I know he’s talking to me when he says, “I’d appreciate it you’d watch me next time I spar and tell me what you see.”

  I turn my head and look up at him and, seeing me turn to him, he looks down at me. His expression is genuine – there’s no double entendre meaning to his words. “Ok, I’d be glad to, Luke.” His return smile is warm and appreciative. So I continue with a semi-teasing tone, “But be warned, if you argue with what I say, I will video you and prove it to you.”

  His laugh comes from deep in his chest and he is thoroughly amused. “You’ve got a deal, Andi.” With a blatantly flirtatious wink and his beautiful blue eyes sparkle with mischief as he adds, “Any time you want to video me, you just let me know. Especially if you’re my co-star.”

  Damn, the man is sexy. He makes me rethink my self-imposed “no-dating fighters” rule for a minute. But I mentally shake some sense back into my head. I’m sure he’s a complete player and I’m not interested in the whole friends with benefits thing. Still, I enjoy spending time with him way too much and I feel drawn to him more than I want to admit, especially to myself.

  Being in a gym full of testosterone-laden alpha males, there isn’t much I haven’t heard before so it’s pretty hard to offend me in that aspect. His retort was pretty tame in comparison, so I just laugh and gently shake my head in response. The clock on the wall grabs my attention, though, as I note how late it is and I have things to do before meeting my girlfriends at The Beta Room, our favorite watering hole, nightclub and general hang-out spot.

  “Hey Pop, I’m taking off now. Need anything before I leave?” I call to Mack across the room. He turns and smiles at me, “No, darlin’, you go ahead and have fun with your girls tonight. Call if you need me.”

  Suddenly my feet leave the ground and I’m being hoisted up in the air by a pair of big, muscular arms that have encircled me from behind. I let out a squeal of laughter while playfully yelling, “Put me down, you lunatic!” Of course, he doesn’t. He turns me upside and keeps walking toward Mack, completely ignoring the choice names I lovingly call him.

  I know exactly who it is because this is how he greets me every time he returns from one of his trips. I met him soon after I met Pop and he’s the guy who’s slated to be the next light-heavyweight champion. He’s a phenomenal fighter and an all-around great guy who’s been like a brother to me since we first met.

  When my head is finally right side up and my feet are back on the ground, I quickly turn and jump in his arms for a big bear hug. “Shane! ‘Bout time you came home!” He’s been away at a special conditioning camp a friend of Mack’s owns in Las Vegas for the past couple of weeks and I’ve really missed him. He’s the one person I can talk to about anything and one of the only two men I trust implicitly.

  As my arms go around his neck and my cheek is close to his, I catch a glimpse of
Luke’s face over Shane’s shoulder. He doesn’t look happy at all. In fact, he looks downright pissed off and possessive – like he wants to throttle Shane for touching me. I don’t know why I suddenly feel a twinge of guilt for being so excited to see Shane but I’m not about to examine that right now. Luke is making his way over to us and I suddenly feel the need to diffuse the situation before it gets out of hand.

  * * *

  LUKE

  I love the way Andi’s face flushes red with embarrassment when I compliment her or flirt with her. It tells me that I’m getting to her like she does me. She wouldn’t respond this way if she didn’t feel at least some attraction toward me. She tries to play it off like she isn’t affected when I offer to let her co-star in a video with me.

  But what really impresses me is how giving she is – even though she just met me and I’ve even been an ass toward her more than I’ve been nice today. I’m trying to make up to her for that now. I was out of line and I know it. After Mack and a couple of the other guys openly praised her about how she helps improve our skills, there’s no way I would even think of refusing her help.

  That’s why I asked her to watch my next sparring match and give me some tips. That, and because she’s the first person who has genuinely believed in me and my dream. I appreciate her more for that than she will ever know. Being looked down on by the rest of my family because I don’t meet their definition of “success” is getting old but I don’t get the sense she’d ever make anyone feel that way. It’s just not in her nature.

  I’m more than a little concerned at how quickly I’m becoming enamored of her. She has a way of just pulling people to her. That’s obvious as I watch how the other guys in here interact with her. They’re protective of her and they respect her, but they also include her in conversations that would embarrass lesser women. She just takes it in stride and gives just as good as she gets. It’s obvious she’s earned their trust and a lot of these guys don’t seem to give that up easily.

  In one day with Mack and Andi, I’ve learned more about best practices, techniques and strategies than in all my years of street fighting combined. The exercise program she designed for me is pure genius. I’m already pretty damn buff, if I do say so myself, but her regimen just amped up my routine to the max. I can’t wait to see what else I learn from this great group of people who just openly took me in today.

  Even Will the Giant seems to be warming up to me, but that may be because I’ve kept more than three inches distance from Andi for the last several hours. But now I’m watching some pretty-boy manhandle her and I don’t like it one bit. He wrapped his arms around her from behind as she was saying goodbye to Mack. She didn’t even know he’d come up behind her. I looked around at a couple of the other guys and they had an amused smirk on their face but no one looked surprised.

  Pretty-boy flipped her upside down and just walked off across the damn gym with her laughing, screaming and calling him every name in the book. When he put her down, she turned on him and I half expected her to lay into him for touching her like that. But imagine my surprise when she flew into his arms instead. His arms wrapped around her waist and crushed her to him and there’s no doubt she liked it.

  The sight of Andi in Pretty-boy’s embrace has me seeing red. I don’t even realize my feet are moving fast in their direction, my strides quickly eating up the space between us, the space where Pretty-boy carried her away from me. My eyes never leave them as they continue their embrace and her bright, honest smile aimed at him is like a dagger in my chest. Andi meets my gaze and I see a flicker of something that looks like a mixture of guilt and a brief glint of fear.

  Gently, Andi pulls back from his embrace and keeps that sweet smile on her face. His back is to me and he doesn’t know I’m coming up behind him. Andi takes a step to the side and extends her hand toward me, “Shane, let me introduce you to someone.”

  Pretty-boy Shane follows Andi’s gaze and outstretched arm as he turns fully to face me. Andi’s voice still sounds happy as she introduces us, “Shane, this is Luke Woods. He just started with us today but he has an impressive background of fights. Luke, this is Shane Fowler. Shane is in line to be the next light-heavyweight champion, and for all intents and purposes, he’s my brother. Pop pretty much adopted us both when we were teenagers.”

  Shane extends his hand to shake mine as he smiles, “How ya doing, Luke? Welcome to the family, bro!”

  If he noticed how I was charging toward him and Andi, or how red with fury my face must be, he has the good nature of not mentioning it. I extend my hand and shake his, noting a firm grip but nothing in it is threatening.

  “Thanks, Shane. I appreciate that. Good to meet you.”

  My eyes flick to Andi and I see her visibly exhale a really long breath. She must have been holding it while she waited to see what I’d do. Shit, I feel like such a dumbass right now. The guy’s like a brother to her and I just made a complete fool of myself over a girl who isn’t even mine. What the fuck is wrong with me? Maybe I need to go back to the club tonight and find a hot barfly to ease some of my tension before I go off on the wrong person. Like Shane – the guy who’s favored to be the next light-heavyweight champion.

  I can feel Andi staring at me, and she expects me to look at her, but I just can’t make myself do it. I know she deserves better than this from me but I can barely keep myself in control around her. That’s pretty obvious from everything’s that went down today. The vision of her in another man’s arms is still fresh in my mind and I can’t seem to shake how much I hated seeing that.

  I’m cool with Shane now after she said he’s basically her brother, but this jealousy thing is new to me. I don’t get jealous over girls. They get jealous over me. They cry, beg, threaten-hell, even fight each other over me. But I’ve never reacted to any of them like I just did with Andi. And I don’t like it at all. I don’t like someone else having that kind of control over me so it’s best to stop this attraction now before it gets out of hand.

  After another half-hour of getting to know Shane and hearing all about the intense conditioning camp he just finished, Andi finally says goodbye to everyone again. She gave up on trying to get my attention a while ago. When she turns to pick up her stuff, I finally look at her again and I feel like such a dick.

  From her profile, I can see her confusion etched in her beautiful face and she has a sad look about her that wasn’t there at any other point during the day. I silently swear at myself because I know I did that to her.

  She saw me coming for Shane and she moved quickly to save me from my own actions again. She’s almost to the door when I finally call out to her, “Andi!” But she keeps going like she didn’t hear me.

  Shane’s big hand claps me on the shoulder, “Hey man–why don’t you come out with us tonight? Several of us guys are going to The Beta Room. Andi will be there, too.”

  “Sure–sounds fun. She go there with her boyfriend?” I incline my chin toward the door Andi just left, indicating I’m asking about her. I’m trying to be as nonchalant as possible, but I know I’m transparent as hell.

  “Nah, man, she doesn’t have a boyfriend. She’ll be there with her girlfriends. If you’re looking to hook up with someone for the night, most of her friends are pretty hot.” Shane sounds casual but his eyes are hard as steel. The message is loud and clear – hook up with her friends but don’t even think about Andi.

  “You got something going on with Andi, man?” I give my best smile and keep any emotion out of my voice. Just two guys chatting here–nothing to see.

  Shane’s laugh has no humor in it, “No, Luke, nothing like that. She really is like my sister. We practically grew up together under Mack’s guidance. And as her only brother, there’s absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do to protect her. From anyone.”

  Shane’s hard eyes pin me to the wall and he knows it. He knows I’m somewhat interested and he’s letting me know we will have no problems as long as I leave Andi alone.

  “Plenty of
guys try to pick her up every weekend at the club. She goes to have fun with her friends, have a few drinks and laughs, and she loves to sing karaoke. She’s great at it, too. But she’s not a one-night stand kind of girl and I’m not about to let anyone take advantage of her. She’s too good of a person for that. She deserves better.”

  “What if that’s what she wants? A one-night, no strings attached, good fuck?”

  Shane’s scowl increases as the timbre of his voice deepens. “She doesn’t want that. At all. And anyone who wants that with her will have to get through me first. And I can guarantee you one thing–no man who would treat her like that will ever get through me.”

  I give him a single nod and say, “You’re a good brother, Shane.”

  And I am a complete shithead.

  About the Author

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  A.D. Justice is happily married to her husband of more than 25 years. They have two sons together and enjoy a wide variety of outdoor activities. A.D. has a full-time job by day, with a BS degree in Organizational Management and an MBA in Health Care Administration. Writing gives her the outlet she needs to live in the fantasy world that is a constant in her mind.

  Thank you for reading and supporting A.D.’s books! Please take a moment to leave a review of this work.

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