Letting Lox In Read online

  She nods. “I just hate this for you. But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

  I give her a genuine smile. “Thanks. I had a great time at the fight. It was intense but I’m glad you made me go.”

  She smiles. “We’ll do it again soon. Plus, we get to start our training with the guys this week.”

  “I know, I’m kind of excited. It’ll be nice to get a workout in. I’ve kind of neglected that the past few years.” I stand up and glance back in the car to her. “See you Monday.”

  She waves. “See you Monday.”

  ~*~*~

  It’s Monday morning, yay. Besides the usual running around to get out the door and get the week started, Sage is running around still on a sugar high from the weekend with my family.

  “Sage, put down GI Joe and get your backpack. We have to go.”

  He slams his toy down and stomps down the hall to his room. I hear him grab his backpack and come running back out of his room. “Okay, I’m ready!” Now he’s happy. I swear all five year olds must be bi-polar.

  Once we get in my car, I look up in my rear view mirror at him. “Hey Bud, don’t forget when I pick up you up this afternoon we are going to the gym.”

  He swings his feet back and forth. “Yeah. Can I work out, too? I wanna work out too and get big muscles like Uncle Jacob.”

  I laugh. “Sure thing, lil’ man.” I pull up to his school to drop him off.

  My heart rate picks up when I pull into the parking lot at work. Lox will be in today for a massage, he set it up after he knew he was fighting Friday night. I’m a little nervous to see him today.

  I left him a note. I know that’s not probably how women normally leave him. They probably leave him after they’ve been overwhelmingly satisfied. He doesn’t see me like that though. He’s got life ahead of him, and a real talent for the sport. My life is wrapped up in a five year old and work. My life is about schedules, bills, snack packs, Santa’s Christmas list and sight words.

  Getting out of my car, I see Lox’s truck pulling in the patient parking area. He must be my first patient this morning. Nothing like ripping off a Band-Aid to get your day started.

  As soon as I walk in the back door, Dr. Beck makes a bee-line for me.

  “Sloan, there is seminar coming up in Jacksonville about some new thoughts and techniques on patient care. I would like for us to go and see what it’s about. I understand if you can’t find someone to watch Sage, but I think you’d really enjoy it.” He hands me a brochure on the seminar.

  I nod and smile. “Yes, sir. Just get me some dates and times and I’ll look into seeing if my parents can watch him. I could just drop him on the way there.”

  “Okay, sounds great. I’ll get the rest of the information and let you know by the end of today,” he says as he turns, walking back to one of his treatment rooms.

  A few minutes later, I’m calling Lox back for his massage. I tap on the door to see if he’s ready and go in.

  “So how is the shoulder after the fight the other night?”

  “Still a little tense, I need to work some of it out. But overall, not as bad as it could be, I guess.”

  “Good, that means we are strengthening it back up. Between the workouts and the massages, I think you’ll be fine.”

  “I’m sorry I fell asleep the other night.”

  A cold chill runs through me. Damn it. Why do I have to care?

  I try to shrug it off. “It’s not a big deal, I fell asleep, too. Kara woke me when she and Sly were…well, when they were done for the night.”

  He tenses a little. “Are you okay? Was that a tender spot?”

  “No, I’m fine. I just hope that you don’t think that is the reason I invited you guys over. I don’t just-. Well, what I mean is-.”

  I have to stop him. “It’s fine, Lox.” I giggle. “I understand what you’re saying. It’s okay, I don’t see you that way either.” I cringe a little, afraid that lightening is going to strike me dead.

  CHAPTER 13

  LOX

  I understand what you’re saying. It’s okay, I don’t see you that way either. Those words replay in my head. Fuck, she doesn’t see me that way either. Furthermore, she thinks I don’t see her that way. She’s fucking gorgeous, but she doesn’t need some amateur fighter in her life like that. From the sounds of things she’s already dealt with one shithead, she doesn’t need another one. I can’t really say much. I’d probably be a dead beat just like my own dad. That’s just what she’d need, a guy who could take one good knock to the head and be a drooling, forgetting, shell of a person.

  I take out my frustrations on the heavy bag. Huck walks in and leans against the weight bench. “So I figured you’d be more, I don’t know, relaxed after your massage. But here you are beating the hell out of the bag.”

  I roll my shoulders. “I’m just working out, man.”

  “No. You are working out some sexual frustration on that bag. Why don’t you just tell the girl that you like her?”

  “It’s not sexual frustration and it’s not like that with her. We are just friends. She’s my massage therapist. She’s professional. She’s a mom. She’s got responsibilities. She’s gorgeous. She’s-.”

  He cuts me off, “She’s sweet, simple and might I add, perfect for you. But you are not going to try to give yourself something you deserve, because you have some fear of being like that douche bag you were stuck with for a sperm donor.”

  I snatch my towel off the weight rack nearby. “Oh and you know so much. Really, Mr. Relationship Guru? I’m pretty sure I caught you fucking a girl in the locker room the other night.”

  He shakes his head. “Look, I’m not a relationship expert but if I found a girl like her that would give me a chance, I’d be stupid as fuck not to take it.”

  “How do you know you haven’t found her? Since I’m pretty sure you barely even catch a name,” I say as I throw my towel at the hamper.

  “The right girl won’t go back to the locker room with me for a quick fuck. She’d probably slap me in the face for suggesting it. Plus, I’d watch her every move like you do Sloan’s.”

  I shoot him a go to hell look. “I’m going to shower and get ready for our class.”

  An hour later, we are setting up our room for instruction. Sly looks over at me. “Dude, what has you in a roid rage mood?”

  Huck glances over at me and then to Sly. “He won’t tell Sloan how he feels so he’s dealing with blue balls.”

  I march over to him. “Shut the fuck up. You know nothing about it.”

  He’s actually speaking nothing but the truth.

  A few seconds later, we hear the front door. Sly steps out in the hall and in comes Kara, Sloan and a little boy with olive skin and almost black hair.

  He’s cute and he’s in a wind suit. When he unzips the jacket, it’s almost too funny. He has on a little wife beater. Kara and Sloan talk about how cute he is as we make our way over to him.

  “Hey, I’m Lox and these are my buddies, Sly and Huck.”

  He grins, missing his front teeth. He sticks his hand out to shake like a man. “I’m Sage Foster. Nice to meet you.” He also shakes hands with Sly and Huck.

  Huck gives a deep chuckle. “Nice grip you got there, Slick.”

  He shrugs it off like it’s nothing. “Yeah. I wanna be strong like my Uncle Jacob.”

  The three of us nod with our arms crossed. He looks up at us through his big brown eyes. “Can I work out to get muscles while my mom and Ms. Kara take your class? I asked my mom but she said we’d have to ask you guys.”

  Huck grins and puts his big paw on the kid’s shoulder. “Yeah, Slick, come on and we’ll get you set up. It doesn’t look like I’ll have someone to practice with anyway.”

  Kara speaks up. “Yeah, I was wondering. Do you think it would be okay to bring my sister Jade? She’s 17 and off to college next fall. I’d love for her to learn some stuff.”

  I nod. “Sure, that’ll even us up. Bring her next time.”
r />   Sage speaks up. “Yeah, Jade is cool. She helps me make s’mores and she brought the movie Frozen for me to watch.”

  Sly laughs. “Well there’s a glowing recommendation right there.”

  Huck has set Sage up with a couple of 3lb weights to lift while we are working with the girls. “All right, Slick, I want you to curl these. Like this,” he shows him, “then do this,” he shows him how to lift them above his head. “Then I want you to do ten push-ups.”

  Sage overly nods. “I got it, Mr. Huck.”

  Huck chuckles. “It’s just Huck, Slick.” Sage grins and nods.

  “Why do you keep calling me Slick?”

  Huck tips his head up. “All guys who work out have a nickname. Slick is yours.”

  Sage grabs his weights. “Awesome. Thanks, Huck.”

  Marco comes in with Elizabeth. “You guys recruiting from the elementary school?”

  We all laugh, knowing he’s kidding, but Sage walks over to him and sticks his hand out. “I’m Sage Foster, or Slick. I’m working out while my mommy learns how to beat up bad guys.”

  Marco lets out a deep belly laugh. “Well, Slick, I know your mommy from her work. This is my daughter, Elizabeth, and she is going to do the class with your mommy. While she trains with the boys, how about I come spot you. You know everyone needs a spotter when they work out?”

  Sage nods quickly. “Yes, Mr.-, I mean Huck told me what my workout needs to be. I’m ready to get big muscles like you guys,” he says as he claps his hands together.

  I motion for everyone else to come in the classroom. “All right, let’s have you girls sit down first. I want to try and run this just like we will the classes with people we don’t know.”

  They all nod. I go through how our training works and what all it will entail. I have Huck and Sly go through a few moves and then I ask the girls to stand up and pick a partner. Sloan automatically walks towards me as Kara walks towards Sly, while Elizabeth and Huck just stare at each other like they are going to combust with anger, shooting fire from their noses.

  Huck still doesn’t trust her. I can’t say as I blame him, we are all a little protective of Marco. When the DNA came back though she was his, and he wants a relationship with her. I can’t blame him, I wish I could find out he was my dad. I could only be so lucky. But I know who my dad is and I know what a piece of shit he is. I know where he lives, I know what he does. He’s never wanted anything to do with me so I don’t care to have anything to do with him.

  I start going through the motions with Sloan, showing her the first basics of self-defense. Eyes, ears, mouth and nose, throat, groin, fingers and toes.

  After a little while of going through basics, we move to some more physical moves. We start sweating and the feminine scent of Sloan comes through the air. It’s like coconut.

  Closing my eyes, I inhale deeply and I feel her stiffen against me and shudder.

  I am so fucked.

  CHAPTER 14

  SLOAN

  I hear him take a deep breath like he’s smelling me. A shiver runs through my body and I feel my panties getting wet. I smell his musky manly smell, it’s like mint and leather. I wonder what cologne he wears, it’s intoxicating.

  A roar erupts next to us. “Fuck! What the hell was that for?”

  Huck is holding his nose as the guys laugh. Elizabeth smirks at him. “That’s for underestimating me and calling me honey. I should let you know I used to mix it up in the gym on base growing up. Don’t think you can pussy foot your way around me.”

  Huck steps towards her, causing Sly and Lox to walk that way. He stands in front of her. “I wasn’t pussy footing around on you, but the next time you hit me in the fucking nose, expect to get it back.” They are both breathing heavily.

  She steps closer to his chest. “I dare you to fucking try.” Shoving her hands against his chest, she turns and walks away while Huck storms in the opposite direction to what I’m assuming is the men’s locker room.

  Sly claps his hands together. “All right, let’s call it a night. I think we’ve all worked out some frustrations.”

  Kara rolls her eyes at him. “Speak for yourself.”

  He rolls his eyes back at her and grits his teeth. “I will spank that plump little ass of yours if you don’t shut your sassy mouth.”

  She steps up to him. “If you think you are going to do anything to my ass, you are sadly mistaken. It was one night. That’s all. I don’t expect anything and I don’t want anything.”

  Whoa, this is getting deep. “Come on, Kara, let’s go. I need to get Sage home and in bed. He’s got school tomorrow.”

  She throws a glance back at Sly with a squinted eye. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

  Damn, she’s going to have to explain all of this to me tomorrow at work.

  Lox puts his hand over his mouth, trying to cover his laugh. “Come on, I’ll show you where Sage, I mean Slick, probably is by now.”

  As we walk down the hallway, Kara lets me know that she’s going to head out. I see Sly following her towards the door. I just shake my head and keep walking. Sure enough, Sage and Marco are in Marco’s office watching TV, eating Reese’s Cups and drinking a Coke.

  “Marco, I’m going to kill you if he doesn’t go to sleep tonight.”

  Sage looks up with chocolate around his mouth. “Marco said it was okay. I’m building muscles, I need to keep protein in my diet and Reese’s Cups have peanut butter in them. So that is protein,” he says as if he’s been given insider information.

  Marco and Lox chuckle. Elizabeth steps in Marco’s office. I never knew Marco had a daughter but I guess he does. “Hey, I’m gonna head out. What we talked about before sounds great. I’d like to go with you guys to the tournament.”

  Marco gives a huge megawatt smile. “Good! I’ll get all of our rooms and get you set up.” He looks up to me. “I should see you there too, Sloan.”

  I’m confused. Just because I went to one fight? I can tell Lox is confused, too. I guess Marco senses it because he laughs. “I talked to Beck today. He said you guys have a conference in Jacksonville the same weekend we have a tournament. He got me to get tickets for you, himself and Gloria, his wife.”

  “Oh! Well, okay then. Yeah, I guess, it’s in a couple of weeks. I’ve still got to talk to my parents about keeping Sage, but I’m trying to get it lined up.”

  Lox nods his head. “Sounds good.”

  I motion to Sage. “Well, come on, little man. Let’s go. You need a bath and a bed.”

  He hops down and fist bumps Marco, who chuckles. “See you next time, Slick.”

  Lox looks at me and motions me to walk with him. “I’ll walk you guys out. The crew is supposed to come put up more parking lot lights next week. I just want it well lit when our clients leave. For safety purposes.”

  I nod. “Yeah, I can see that being important.”

  I unlock my poor little car and get Sage situated in the back seat. Lox chuckles. “Yeah, I should have warned you about Marco and spoiling kids. He did it with all of us. Well, we weren’t quite as young as Slick, but close.”

  I shrug. “He’ll probably crash on the way home.”

  “You looked great tonight by the way.”

  What? He must see my puzzled face. “I mean your moves in the class. You did great. You seem like a natural.”

  I nod vigorously. “Oh. Um. Okay. Thanks.”

  I make my way around to the driver’s side. I don’t know why but I feel this need to keep talking to him. “So I didn’t know Marco had a daughter.”

  He shoves his hands in the pockets of his athletic pants. “Yeah, he just found out about her not too long ago.”

  “Wow. That’s… Wow.”

  “Yeah, he never knew about her until then. He wasn’t like my dad who chose to know nothing about me.”

  I nod my head toward the car. “Yeah, I can relate.”

  He shakes his head. “He’s a good kid, you know? You’re doing an awesome job with him. He’s blessed to have a mom
like you.”

  I feel my cheeks starting to blush and I shake my head. “I just wish I could do more for him.”

  He puts his hand on my shoulder. “You are. I recognize a great single mom because I have one myself. My mom couldn’t always give me everything I ever wanted, but she gave me the most important things I ever needed. She made sure I had food to eat, a roof over my head, she took in my best friends, she did everything she could do for us and we are all better for it. She gave us a lot of unconditional love.”

  “That’s a very sweet thing to say about your momma.”

  He brushes a loose piece of hair that fell from my pony tail over my ear. “It’s all true.”

  “Mom! I’m ready to go.”

  I laugh. “Well, I guess that’s my cue.”

  “I’ll see you next week for my appointment. I have to say, I’m kind of excited about you coming to my fight again.”

  I give him a slight nod, opening my door. “Me, too.”

  As I’m driving out of the parking lot, I glance at Sage in my mirror. “So did you have a good workout at the gym?”

  He yawns a little. “Yeah, I got some good reps in before Marco said he needed a break.”

  I chuckle. I’m gonna have to remember to get something for Marco.

  Once I’m home and I have Sage bathed and tucked in, I head to my room. I go ahead and take the time to call my mom about the conference in Jacksonville. “Honey, that sounds great, but I’m not sure you need to be driving your car that far. Are you going to ride with the doctor?”

  Shit, I really hadn’t thought about my car. “Um, I’m not sure. I’ll check with him though.”

  “Otherwise yes, we’d love to have our little man for another weekend. Oh and he mentioned a couple of other things to me this past weekend. He said something about Fireman Sam.”

  I shake my head. “Yes, that’s some show that comes on Netflix.”

  “Oh, okay. Well, you know the weekend after you go to Jacksonville is Thanksgiving. Are you going to want to do some black Friday shopping this year?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll talk about it later.”