I laugh. “Tell Abby I said hi.”
“Will do.” He tosses up a wave as he power-walks through the door, like he has a million other meetings he has to get to.
Once he’s gone, I stare around at the office. Maybe I should get a local assistant, someone to be in the office. I’m just worried I’d take my day out on them. Am I weird for enjoying working by myself with nobody asking me idiotic questions or wanting to talk about their day or their kids? Always interrupting me, unable to solve a problem on their own?
I just don’t have the patience for that kind of shit. I feel like we’d both be miserable.
Cole Miller.
I can still feel his hand where he smacked my ass and pulled my hair. It didn’t just feel like sex, though. It felt like something more, afterward. My stomach ties itself in a knot. This is not good. Not good at all.
I pick up my phone and scroll through my calendar to see what else I have going on this week.
What. In. The. Fuck.
I almost missed it at first, and I have to squint at the screen, making sure it’s real.
It stares right back at me, clear as day.
My face heats up as the recognition sets in. Cole Miller put a meeting in my phone. When the fuck did he do that? How the hell did he get into my phone in the first place?
I think back. I picked it up and left it on the nightstand when I was in the hotel room getting ready, during the morning walk of shame.
He took it! That son of a bitch!
That asshole had the audacity to not only look at my phone while it was open, but then program a meeting into my calendar.
I squeeze the phone tight in my hand. So tight the whites of my knuckles show and I grit my teeth.
What the hell am I going to do now? He had to know this is the reaction I’d have. He also knew I’d either have to call and cancel or show up.
You could just ghost him.
It sounds like the best move in theory, just not showing up. Let him feel stupid, sitting there all by himself, like a big dumb idiot. It’d be deserved. There’s only one problem.
I can’t do it. I can’t not show up for a meeting that’s in my phone, the same way I can’t not uncheck a task off my daily to do list. I just can’t. It’s not in my programming at the DNA level.
The worst part about it is I’m pretty sure he did this, knowing that about me.
He knows me as well as I know myself.
How?
This is bad. This is really bad.
Chapter Five
Cole Miller
I pull up to the Team Miller gym, just outside of downtown. It’s where Pedro and some of my other fighters train, along with general members of the public who want to learn MMA. Pedro trains during the day, and the other guys come in at night. Bill Perkins runs the place for me. He’s the one who took me in off the streets and trained me when I was a kid. He saved my life. Now, I’m paying it forward with Pedro.
When I walk in, Pedro stops what he’s doing and grins right at me.
“Hey, asshole, you gonna train or smile for cameras?” Bill smacks him on the side of the head.
It doesn’t faze Pedro. He shakes it off and goes back to bouncing around.
Nobody else is in here right now. I’m not even really sure why I’m here. It just felt like the right place to come after work.
I walk over to the mat where they’re training, and after a few more minutes of sparring they both stop.
Bill walks up and smacks me on the arm. “How’s it going?”
“I’m good.”
He eyes me up and down for a long second, then walks off to the office. Pedro stands there, breathing heavily from his workout.
“Make it home after the wedding?”
He grins and shakes his head. “Naw, not at all.”
“Nice. Glad to see your focus is back this morning.”
“How about you, boss? Get lucky?” He waggles his eyebrows.
“We need to work on your striking. I think it can be—”
“Wow. Changing the subject? She must be really hot and off limits. Wonder who it could be?” He taps his chin.
“Motherfucker, can we talk about—”
He bursts into a laugh and walks over and smacks me on the shoulder. “We’ll be fine.”
I reach out for his arm. “Hey, I’m serious.”
His face hardens. “I know. I’m working my ass off. You’re the one who told me to have a good time at the wedding. Now, I’m focused. I’m back here in the gym this week at the ass crack of dawn and don’t leave until it’s dark. I live for this shit. You know that.”
I shake my head. I don’t even know why I was being tough on him. He works even harder than I did. I’m just so… I don’t know, flustered, and I can’t figure out why. I have no reason to be. Everything is going great in my life.
“I know, man. I know. Sorry. I just… You know where we both come from. I want to see you stay out of that.”
“I don’t even go to my old neighborhood anymore. I moved my family and everyone I care about up out of there. I’m never fucking going back.”
“Have you talked with Dexter about the money you made from the last fight?”
He nods. “Yeah, he hooked me up with a financial advisor. Said she’s the best in the city. I told him I wanted the name of the other best one.”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “For?”
He shrugs. “I figure I give half to one, half to the other. Even if they’re both the best, if one fucks up, I still have the other half of my money. It’s like a win-win, right?”
I smile. “Okay, maybe you’re doing fine.”
He smiles back and we bump fists.
“I just care about you. That’s all.”
“You’re like the dad I never had, man. I’m not gonna let you down. Or my family. Or myself. It ain’t happenin’. And don’t make me pull you in there and kick your ass around.” He nods toward the ring.
I chuckle. “Shit, kid, you would. It’s frustrating once you pass thirty. Your body stops doing things it used to do. Fractions of seconds make all the difference.” I poke him in the chest, just barely. “That’s why you have to capitalize right now, while you’re in your prime. Yeah, live a little and enjoy, but get everything you can from this career and sock that shit away. You don’t get to work until you’re sixty-five like everyone else and the WMMA doesn’t have a pension.” I grin. “And when your time is up, and you gotta turn in the gloves like I did, maybe I’ll let you scrub the toilets around here for some extra cash.”
“Fucking pendejo.” He chases after me while I laugh.
These really are the best times right now. Maybe that’s why I stopped by the gym. It always relieves all the pressures from regular life. I’ve always felt more at home here than anywhere else.
“Knock that shit off, clowns!” Bill’s voice booms from the office.
I walk in there while Pedro heads off for the showers.
Bill nods to the chair across from his desk, and I have a seat and glance around. It’s dirty and there’s shit everywhere; the building is run down. I’ve tried to get him to let me renovate this place a thousand times and he dismisses the idea every time. Says these places are supposed to be concrete and filthy, it builds a fighter’s character.