by Zara Teleg
“Damn,” Leo said as his eyes blinked at the height I just reached. My yoga training gave me the advantage of being able to stretch high and still keep balance.
When Leo saw how my yoga skills expanded my abilities, he decided to cut me a deal for the private lessons that I couldn’t afford. I forced myself to pay because these lessons were way more helpful than any emotional therapy had ever been. No shrink could do for me what MMA had done.
Leo offered me a bargain. He suggested I teach a special type of yoga class once a week for his elite fighters to get them to stretch and balance. And I continue to help Shelly, of course. We called the class Dynamic Expansion. We knew the fighters would never go for a yoga class. Every Wednesday at 7 pm, I taught the scariest men around how to increase their range and balance to give them more power. It had been over a year, and they all loved it. Most never missed a class.
My best friend, Ivy, God bless her, loved to assist—more accurately, ogle and molest—the class. That girl was all about the bad boys—she loved them and was the consummate flirt. Bad boys they might be, but they were all super respectful. That might be because Leo would kick their asses and then kick them out of the gym if they stepped out of line.
With the last kick, my time was up. I was feeling particularly nauseated after today’s workout; I must not have had enough water earlier. I was an exhausted sweaty mess.
“Great job, Juliet. Now get out of here and replenish.” Leo said in his drill sergeant voice, pointing to the locker room.
“Thanks, Leo,” I replied, still huffing. I squirted the cold water from my aluminum bottle into my mouth and some on my towel before wiping my face.
“See you tomorrow night.” He winked and extended his rarely seen megawatt smile. The grin suited his usually stern face. I smiled back and hit the showers before meeting Ivy at Roasted.
Chapter Two
Rage
I left my bike parked at Stained Skyn. The morning was beautiful; the summer sun warmed my face the few blocks I walked. What used to be unwelcoming, cracked sidewalks and boarded up storefronts were now tree-lined cobblestone, flower pots, and boutiques.
A genuine smile spread across my face as I approached the end of the block. In front of me was the only place where I felt my life had any meaning, The Pit.
Eight years ago, Leo and I rented a space, a hole in the wall, just a few blocks from the center of town. No other businesses were even close to it, certainly not the Organic Dry Cleaners that was now operating beside it. We started with a DIY cage, some heavy and speed bags, weights, and a small locker room.
Shit, we were so young then and had no idea what we were doing—just a couple of twenty-five-year-old hothead fighters who wanted to start a ring of our own. But it wasn’t hard to convince the MC to invest. The club made a shitload of money running underground octagons, the potential for new fights alone was all the incentive they needed.
Leo and I became close as brothers. We fought the same circuits for years. He was there the night I got arrested—he’s the one who pulled me off the little bastard. When I had taken the offer to skip town temporarily, he agreed to run The Pit without me. I still did what I could from a virtual location, books and shit, but even though I couldn’t physically be there, he never missed sending me my cut. Training at other gyms in Tennessee just wasn’t the same, nothing was like The Pit.
Walking in here for the first time in four years, I almost didn’t recognize the place. Leo had gotten my approval for all the changes and showed me pictures now and then, but I was not prepared for this. It was way better than any picture.
The glass doors and front walls were tinted and had black and white images of all the fighters, including me, in large decals. My face was half hidden by my left arm while my right was pulled back in position to throw a powerful blow to some poor guy’s face. Leo’s decal of his famous Guillotine Choke was featured next to mine.
I moved toward the reception desk where a familiar blonde was behind the counter helping clients. As she turned my direction to greet me, our faces turned quickly to smiles of recognition. Shelly practically jumped over the counter to give me a bear hug. She was such a little thing. I lifted her off the ground, swinging her in a circle before placing her back down.
“Oh, my God! Rage!” She looked at me like she was seeing me for the first time. “I didn’t think we would see you until next week. It’s so good to see you! Leo is going to freak.” She hugged me again. “We missed you. Things have not been the same since you left.”
“I’m glad to be back. It’s great to see you, Shell. It looks like Leo’s doing something right to keep you around this long.” I twisted my lips trying not to smile.
“Yeah, well, if I don’t see a ring one day soon, you just may get a shot,” she poked at my chest and giggled.
“Shelly,” a deep voice boomed sternly from behind me, “I told you to stop molesting the fighters.”
I turned to see Leo making his way to me, his smile wide. “You just couldn’t wait to get back here, huh?” He grabbed me in a fighter hold. “Man, it’s so great to have you back! I didn’t think you were coming back to town for a few days.” The man was even more ripped now than he was four years ago when I had seen him last.
“Well, I heard the guys need a break from the drill sergeant.” I kept my face serious and watched his scowl form at the accusation.
“Oh, yeah?” His eyebrows furrowed together, and his large arms folded across his wide chest. “What motherfucker said that? I’m going to work him twice as hard,” his deep voice bellowed, and the three of us broke into a laugh.
Leo’s hand pinched the back of my neck as he veered me past the reception area. “Come on, bro, let me reacquaint you with our gym.”
He gave me the grand tour and told me about the classes they offer. In the first room, a self-defense class was in session. There were about twenty people and two instructors. Women were facing each other, practicing breaking their wrists free from an attacker.
The next room was empty. When the lights flicked on, stacks of colorful rolled up mats sat in the corner, straps were hanging on the walls, and blocks were stacked on the floor. There were large mirrors on every wall. My sneakers squeaked on the freshly cleaned floor as I stepped into the spacious room. “What goes on in here?”
“All different classes, but our most popular is yoga.” His finger pointed to the mats.
“Yoga?” My eyebrow went up. “Who the hell signs up for that shit?”
“We got this fine-ass yoga teacher from that place in town. She’s a damn fierce fighter, and when I saw her range, I knew we needed her to teach.”
I must have still looked confused. Next thing I knew, Leo was calling out for Shelly.
“Shelly, come show Rage something Juliet taught you.”
“Okay,” Shelly smiled brightly. She balanced on one muscular leg, then reached back and grabbed her foot from behind her and pulled it up higher and higher above her head.
“Ta-da” she squeaked, her face proud. My eyebrows met my hairline, and I must’ve smiled a dirty smile because Leo looked annoyed.
“I see,” my head bobbed up and down, eyes wide at the sight of her.
“Not that,” he growled at Shelly. “Show him your roundhouse. Girl, you have the other shit for the bedroom.” His lips went tight.
“Oh, sorry,” she giggled, covering her face with her hands as she blushed. When she regained her composure, she stood still and then threw a head-high power kick in complete balance.
“Whoa.” My eyes widened and my mouth hung open. “I think I get it. That’s amazing, Shell.”
Leo punched my arm. “You should take her class. She’s here every Wednesday night at seven. And Rage, she’s single.”
I’d been back not even an hour and already Leo is trying to fix me up. “Bro, you’re already going there?” I shook my head and rolled my eyes.
Ever since he and Shelly got together a few years back, he had been on me about set
tling down. Not happening. Not because I liked a revolving door of ladies—I just would never put my heart, or what was left of it, through a meat grinder like that again.
After the tour, I spent some time in the office and learned all the alarms and their new opening and closing procedures. I got in a workout and promised to be back tomorrow. I hugged Shelly goodbye before I turned to Leo, who walked me to the door. “I guess I’ll see you at the meeting tomorrow morning?”
His face was serious as he nodded, “Colt said it was mandatory. Some important shit on the table, so yeah, I’ll be at the clubhouse tomorrow morning.”
Juliet
I looked at my watch again, 9:10 am. Where the hell was Ivy? She was ten minutes late—she was never late. Ivy and I had developed a routine. She did the first yoga class of the morning while I beat the shit out of a heavy bag over at The Pit, then we met at Roasted, the local coffee shop across the street from our yoga studio.
My life had become predictable, just the way I liked it. I blew out a breath, thinking that a boring and predictable life was way better than… The thought had me instinctively shifting in my chair to check out my surroundings.
When Ivy begged me to move here with her, I never thought the studio would be successful enough to support us both. I had nothing to lose, and she was dying to move from Black Rock and couldn’t stop talking about this up-and-coming little town. She took her allotted college tuition and bought the building before the real estate in the area skyrocketed. We did all of the cosmetic renovations ourselves, and Hawk hooked us up with some contractors to fix the rest of the building.
By the time we were ready to open, Roasted was also almost complete. I loved that the yoga studio smelled like coffee and Jasmine flowers. It was a surprisingly good scent. My thoughts were interrupted by the screeching of a chair being pulled back and then a tiny voice.
“Hi, Jet!” A little girl with the blond pigtails placed her sippy cup on the table as she climbed onto the vacant seat across from me. Her white eyelet bloomers showed underneath her skirt as she lifted herself. When she settled in the chair, her smile of achievement was bright. Her faced beamed with pride.
“Good morning, Lucy. Your dress is beautiful! Whatcha got in your cup today?”
“Latte,” she said, proudly holding up her cup, then giggled. She looked around and whispered, “It’s really almond milk, but Momma put whipped cream on it, so it’s a latte.” She tilted her head back, drinking its contents.
“Lucy, I need your help,” her mom, Caroline, called. She mouthed “sorry” to me when she saw Lucy sitting in Ivy’s usual spot. I waved her off—I loved seeing Lucy. Her silky blond hair and chubby cheeks reminded me so much of my baby sister when she was little. The only thing missing was Paige’s unusual violet eyes—Lucy’s were golden brown like her mom’s.
Dan delivered my medium soy latte, no whip, with a dash of cinnamon, and Ivy’s double shot of espresso. He placed them on the table and apologized needlessly for my adorable visitor. He and Caroline owned Roasted, and they were just the best parents a little girl could ever have—they loved Lucy so much.
Ivy and I would have our daily mini meeting here, then we’d head back to our studio where I’d lead the 11 o’clock rock yoga class downstairs and she’d teach the kiddie class upstairs. Moms loved it—they got pumped with me while their kids relaxed with Ivy.
My sky yoga classes were becoming more popular. I ran them several times a week in between the regular classes I taught. More girls from the university were taking the train in, which helped our business grow.
I watched out the window as Hawk pulled to a stop in front of Stained Skyn, the tattoo shop of the Stained Souls MC. Hawk dismounted his bike and unlocked the front door. He came back out placing the OPEN tent sign on the sidewalk. Girls coming off the train stopped to watch him. The women who came to Fluid couldn’t get enough of the eye candy across the street.
Juiced, the organic fresh pressed juice and raw food bar where I love to grab lunch, might have benefited from the view as well. Simon, the owner, was always bringing the guys treats. He might have a crush on a few of the men. I sold Simon fresh sprouts and microgreens every Saturday before I set up at the farmer’s market.
I stared into my latte, stirring it while I waited for Ivy to join me. I didn’t know what I would have done without her. She’d been with me through everything. She was my best friend growing up in Tallahassee, and we were inseparable. I was devastated when her dad had gotten relocated and moved them to Black Rock. We kept in touch over the years but rarely saw each other.
After Antonio had fucked up my life, I knew I had to get away from Tallahassee; it was too dangerous to stay. Then Ivy insisted I move with her here, to Sugar Maple, and help her open Fluid. I had already been instructing yoga at a small studio in Florida, so the idea seemed worth considering. Antonio had never met Ivy, so he or his brother would never be able to find her. I moved while my parents took up new residence in Arizona where my sister, Paige, was going to college. It was the perfect escape. It all made sense.
Just thinking back about it made my stomach twist. Tears threatened to fall. It had been almost four long years since I left my old life behind. Since I became a liar. I left Anabelle Juliet Conti behind and became Juliet Russo overnight. Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t even notice Ivy take the seat across from me.
“Juliet, honey, you’re stirring all the foam away.” I slowly blinked and brought myself back to the present. I looked into the mug’s slowly disappearing foam before lifting my eyes to her. Without talking, she knew what I was thinking. She placed her hand over mine, giving it a small squeeze. I forced a smile.
Ivy’s shiny blond hair was pushed behind her ear on one side and the rest of the chin-length waves framed her heart-shaped face. Her deep blue eyes stared into mine. She smiled, “You okay?”
I pushed her espresso toward her and let out a long breath. “Yeah, I’m fine.” We sat in silence for a few moments, people watching. She knew when I needed space. She was my best friend, and the girl could read me like a book.
“So,” Ivy began as she put down her espresso that was already half gone, “are you ready for this weekend?” She batted her eyelashes innocently. Her smile tilted to one side as she tried not to laugh. She was going to help me prepare for an event I was performing at this weekend for the MC.
“Not really,” I confessed. “I don’t know how the heck you and Hawk convinced me to do this. I must be crazy.” There it was, the evilest grin she could muster. She might as well have rubbed her hands together and laughed maniacally, the evil genius. I gave her a light slap to her arm. “Thanks, Ivy. The things you get me into!” I shook my head. There was no getting out of it now.
Chapter Three
Rage
The Stained Souls Clubhouse. God, I’d missed this place. This place was my home. I loved staying here. It was like living in a bar with your brothers. You could always find girls around, too, if you need someone to warm your bed.
The main house had a bar, a huge kitchen, a game room, and an old-school gym. We brought the old equipment from The Pit here every time we upgraded something. An adjoining building across the courtyard also had rooms where some of the boys stayed. There were also Colt’s office and the large room with double-locking doors where “church”—our club meetings—was held.
I scrubbed my hand down my face to wake myself up. I had a few drinks last night, and I was in dire need of caffeine. My scruff was itchy on my face. Our Wednesday meeting was in an hour. I pulled my T-shirt over my head and stretched as I looked around my small room. Fuck, it was good to be home. I was happy to see the boys had kept my room for me. Other than Colt spending a few nights in there when he was fighting with his ex, my room was the way I had left it. I could smell the coffee coming from the kitchen and followed it to the long island, which had cream and sugar already out along with a bunch of clean mugs. I fixed myself a mug. The scent of bacon was also in the air. My stomach growled as
I sat down on the tall stool.
Before I even took the first sip of the magic brew, I was interrupted by a high-pitched squeal, “Rage! Oh, my God! You’re back!” Livi’s fully made-up face was smiling, rushing toward me. She nearly knocked my mug out of my hand as she planted a sticky red kiss on me. “They said you weren’t coming for a few more days!”
“Hi, doll. Been a long time.” I said, trying to be polite. “You look good,” I lied. She looked rough. She couldn’t be more than twenty-eight, but I suppose this life was aging her faster. Her perfume mixed with cigarette smell was suffocating.
“I missed you. Did you miss me? I thought you’d call me.” She pouted out her cherry-red bottom lip.
“Honey, my brain isn’t really up for talking just yet. I need coffee and food.”
“Lucky for you,” she grinned and began unloading food onto the counter, an assortment of pastries and breakfast sandwiches, bagels, and spreads, “Colt sent me out to pick this up before the meeting.”
I swiped a sandwich and quickly spread cream cheese on a bagel. Food and coffee, just what I needed.
The kitchen doors swung open, and a larger-than-life Kai stepped in. Pretty soon more brothers started arriving one after another.
“Rage! What’s up, my brother?” Kai said, slapping my shoulder. Kai was Stained Souls’ sergeant-at-arms, a job that was fit for me and my brute personality, but I preferred to be his second, staying in the shadows. Kai was tall and muscular. His good looks masked the twisted fucker he was on the inside. His dark brown hair came to his shoulders, his eyes were frequently hidden behind sunglasses, and his tattoo-sleeved arms were always on display. Most of the time, he walked around with no shirt under his cut. He reminded me of a rock star with his cigarette hanging between his lips and the permanent three-day scruff on his face. He came off to most as a jovial playboy, but he was one badass motherfucker. You did not want to fuck with him.