Our Cause
Let the Monsters Live in Fear, 1
Jennifer Jane Jennings
Copyright © 2021 by Jennifer Jane Jennings
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Editing by Cassie Duncan and Fleur Vanzetti
Proofreading by Dianne Paynting
Cover design and internal formatting by Dawn Lucous of Yours Truly Book Services
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
About the Author
Also by Jennifer Jane Jennings
Dedicated to everyone who wished they had fought back.
Acknowledgments
I started trying to write books and be published about eight years ago. It’s a challenging journey. I’ve been encouraged by some, while others told me I couldn’t or shouldn’t do it. Both inspired me to move forward.
Cassandra Gardiner and Dawn Lucous started helping me towards the beginning and have read a lot of my work. You have helped me grow and become a better writer. I am truly grateful.
Cassie Duncan, Jill Woodbridge and Fleur Vanzetti, my team, you have been invaluable. I was asked to rewrite my book in May 2020 and decided to make it into a series. They helped restore my confidence. They have laughed, cried and fallen in love with my characters. They pointed out things they loved and things they definitely didn’t. They even helped choose the cover. We have become great friends, and we all enjoy the time we spend together.
Dianne Paynting is a new and vital member of my team. She was my main proof-reader of Our Cause and has helped with many technical issues. You have helped me out a lot.
Dawn Lucous has done the covers, promotions and a lot of the nitty-gritty work that goes with publishing a book. She is wonderful.
Many people have read one or two of my books along the way and have given their feedback. I appreciate you all.
Wayne, my husband and best friend, first thought I was nuts until he read the first few chapters of my first manuscript. From that moment, he has encouraged and supported me. He has read everything I have written. He has tested out self-defence scenarios with me and helped me in so many other ways. Wayne and our three children have given me unconditional love and support throughout this journey. I cannot thank you enough.
1
Damon’s head torch lit the way as he kept pushing himself to run faster. The wounds on his chest burned, but his legs were fine. He pushed himself until sweat dripped off his chin, and then he pushed himself some more. His alarm beeped, letting him know it was time for his first day at his new job. Although technically it was a new job, it was his family’s business, and he’d been teaching karate and working in gyms for most of his life. He sprinted the six hundred metres to Knightly Karate Gym and arrived at the same time as a black Commodore.
The car door opened. The slightly taller man with short brown hair and eyes almost the same colour smiled and bowed. “Sensei Damon, ready for your first day?”
“I don’t think no is a strong enough word, Sensei Connor.”
“Just Connor. Do you want to open up, or should I? When this gym first opened, your dad drove the two hours from Geelong every morning to open up. It took him three months before he let me or Dereck do it.”
Damon shook his head and smiled. “That sounds like Dad, but I doubt it took him two hours to get here. You can open up if you like. I’m not quite as much of a control freak as my old man.”
Connor laughed, “Thank God for that,” unlocked the front door and typed in the code for the alarm. “You need a shower before the morning madness begins. How far did you run?”
They both walked in, and Damon went into a deep hamstring stretch in front of the black reception desk, which had four terminals to scan members in. “I just ran until it was time to come here.”
Connor laughed. “Ya know there are watches that tell you all that. What time did you start?”
“About two-thirty. Couldn’t sleep.”
Connor smiled and shook his head. “So you ran for over three hours. You should be able to sleep tonight.”
Damon moved into a quad stretch. “Here’s hoping.” He finished his stretches and looked at his watch. “Ten minutes. Plenty of time.”
He walked back up the stairs at five minutes to six, wearing black pants and a black polo with Knightly Karate Gym embroidered onto it in gold, his red hair still damp from the shower.
Connor grinned, “What took you so long?”
Damon returned the smile, but it didn’t match his eyes. “I must be slipping.”
They both watched three cars drive into the car park. Four bodybuilders got out and walked in.
“You look just like your dad. Welcome home, Sensei Damon. I’m Mick.”
Damon bowed slightly and gave a weak smile.
“From what we hear, you’re a real war hero,” a weightlifter with a shaved head and almost as many tattoos as muscles said.
Damon shook his head. “Hero’s the last word I’d use.”
“I also heard you’re pretty good with the weights, but you look a bit too skinny to me.” His blue eyes twinkled.
Damon raised an eyebrow. “Is that a challenge?”
“Absolutely. I’m Cliffy. Let’s train.”
Damon looked at Connor.
“Off you go, Sensei Damon. I’ve got this.”
Damon bowed. “Thanks, Sensei Connor.”
“Connor,” he corrected, then bowed.
Damon grunted as the wounds on his chest ached on his fourth chest press. On his sixth rep, his muscles started to burn. I love this feeling. Damon pushed through to eleven reps, where his arms began to shake, and Mick and Cliffy grabbed the bar.
Cliffy grinned. “Not bad for a warmup.”
Damon laughed for the first time in months, the pain in his muscles taking his mind off the pain in his heart.
Damon and Mick spotted Cliffy as he achieved a personal best. Two spotters make it easier for heavier weights.
After just over an hour, they finished their session and shook hands.
“So Mick tells me, you’re even better at karate. He’s been trying to get me to join in for a while,” Cliffy said as they walked out of the free weight section.
“I’ve been doing karate since I could walk, so yeah. Have a try tonight. It’s included in your membership anyway. I’m teaching three classes. The fir
st is at six o’clock and is open to everyone. Will you get home from work on time?”
Mick grinned and put his arm around Cliffy. “He works with me, and I’m driving today. We’ll be there.”
Both Mick and Cliffy smiled and their muscles bulged as a group of women came up the stairs after finishing aerobics. Damon glanced at the whiteboard with the timetable on it. Aerobics had started at six-thirty. He had missed their arrival and was looking for a way to avoid their departure when he was greeted by a warm smile and even warmer brown eyes.
“Sensei Damon,” Laura, their aerobics instructor, hugged him and whispered, “How you holding up?”
“I’m standing. Look at you.”
Laura beamed and put her hand on her tummy. “Fifteen weeks’ tomorrow. We can’t wait.”
Sensei Dereck, a little shorter and much stockier than Damon, with dark hair and a goatee, wearing a gi with a black belt, put his arms around Laura. “We certainly can’t.” He glanced over to the desk as Connor signed in students wearing karate uniforms. “I better help sign them in. After all, it is my class.”
Damon shook his head. “Get ready for class, Sensei. I’ll do it.”
“Thanks, Sensei Damon.” Dereck gave Laura a quick kiss and headed for the stairs.
Damon stopped himself from groaning as a group of aerobics women huddled about ten metres from the desk, waiting for the karate students to be signed in.
Damon started signing a blonde about forty into karate. “You look just like your father, except for your hair. Same black eyes and dimples.”
“They run in the family. I get my hair from my mum,” Damon answered before he was asked. It usually comes next.
“But Sensei Heather has…oh, your dad remarried?”
“Yeah. Sensei Heather’s way too young to be my mum.”
“Will Sensei Lucas still be teaching his Friday class here now you’re the manager, or will he stay at his Geelong gym?”
Thank God. He can answer all the questions. Connor may not be quite as happy. “Yeah. He’s still teaching here every Friday. Enjoy Sensei Dereck’s class. I better sign the rest of the class in.”
The woman blushed. “Oh, I’m sorry. I could talk to you forever. I shouldn’t make the class late, though.”
Damon avoided eye contact, hoping to dissuade more questions. It worked on the karate students, but the moment they signed the last two in, the aerobic women descended on the desk.
“You must be Sensei Damon, just back from Afghanistan. I’m Sasha. My brother’s in the army too. He says you’re the best of the best.”
Damon’s brow furrowed. “He’s wrong.”
“But Logan says you took an entire Militia troupe out by yourself.”
Too little, too late. “Some things should stay in Afghanistan.”
Sasha bit her lip. “Sorry. He also said you got hurt really bad, and it’s a miracle you lived.”
Penance. Damon tried to think of something to say, but Connor spoke first.
“He’s doing alright. We’re lucky to have him here at Lorikeet Meadows. He could’ve stayed in Geelong with Sensei Lucas. Instead, we get him full-time.”
Sasha smiled at Connor and winked at Damon. “We are lucky to have you here. Let me take you out to dinner one night to show my appreciation.”
Damon shook his head. “I work every night.”
“Lunch then?” a different girl said.
“You’ve got to get some time off? You need some fun in your life too.” Sasha smiled and leant forward onto the desk, allowing Damon a good view of her cleavage.
Fuck this. Damon stood without saying a word, walked downstairs and locked himself in his office, leaving Connor to deal with them. He looked at the pile of resumes on his desk. Someone had printed them out for him, thank God. Damon glared at the computer. He hadn’t touched one in five years, and he was pretty much useless with them before that. I’m going to need Brent to give me lessons.
Damon picked up the first resume with a picture of an athletic girl in her early twenties with fair hair in a bun and tossed it in the recycle bin. The next three resumes also had pictures of athletic girls on the front page and met the same fate. The fourth resume had no picture and was the first in Damon’s read later pile. The seventh resume belonged to a man and was the first Damon read. Pity he doesn’t have any martial arts experience. Damon put him in the maybe if desperate pile but doubted he’d be a good fit.
Connor knocked on the door, “Sensei Damon.”
“Come in, Sensei Connor.”
Connor shut the door behind him and sat at the desk across from Damon. “Just Connor, you outrank me, Sensei Damon.”
“You still deserve respect, and you actually outrank me.”
Connor tilted his head to the side and thought about that. “Really? I just got my third dan.”
Damon nodded. “Second.”
“Didn’t you grade before you went to Afghanistan?”
“They needed me earlier than we thought. I trained when I could with army mates, but only stepped back into the dojo a few weeks ago.”
“You definitely outclass me, but if you insist on calling me sensei, I guess,” Connor smiled wickedly, “I’ll let you.”
Damon grinned, “Let me, hey? You don’t happen to have a girlfriend who wants to teach aerobics?”
Connor smiled. “I would’ve mentioned it if I had. Laura working with Sensei Dereck works really well. I’d like that, but alas, I’m single and not ready for that kind of commitment.”
“Do you want to teach aerobics?”
“Hell no. Do you?”
“Fuck no.” Damon handed Connor the guy’s resume. “What do you think of him?”
Connor laughed. “Maybe he’s gay. Your red hair is very pretty. He’ll probably be crazy for you too.”
“I’ve never turned a guy down before.” Damon burst out laughing even before Connor did. “I’ve never been hit on by a guy before despite the rumours about army guys. So any suggestions for aerobics instructors? I just can’t deal with flirty women right now,” Damon said as he started to shake.
“That’s understandable, Sensei Damon. Have you eaten today?”
“Um, I guess I forgot. I should probably do that.”
Damon looked at his watch, twenty past five, not long before he’d be away from the front desk and teaching karate for the rest of the evening. A group of women in crop tops and leggings and two parents with a skinny teenage girl in a gi approached the desk at the same time. Damon moved in front of the family, leaving Connor and Laura to deal with the women. Sensei Dereck was teaching a kids’ karate class, which would finish at five-thirty.
“I’m Sensei Damon. I’ll be teaching the six o’clock class.”
“This is our first time here. We moved from Queensland. I’m Dominique,” the golden-haired woman gestured to her family, “Eric and Katerina Chase. Sensei Jacob used to teach Kat. She was very good. She’s had a year off…while we moved.”
Kat’s shoulders dropped. “I was crap.”
Dominique put her hand to her face and tried to stop her tears.
Eric put his arm around Kat. “You were great. You were national champion for a reason, princess. You used to love it. Please, just try. We hope you’ll love it again.”
Kat shrugged. “I said I’ll try the class.”
“Sensei Jacob’s my uncle. Did he teach you the old school way of not putting your belt on until you enter the dojo?” Damon asked.
Kat shook her head. “I don’t deserve it. I don’t even deserve a green belt, maybe an orange belt.”
This brought Damon out of feeling sorry for himself and made him want to help her. “How about we steal a corner of the dojo and I tell you what belt I think you are?”
Kat shrugged. “Um, okay.”
Damon turned to Laura and Connor. “I’m going to have a look at one of Sensei Jacob’s students. I’ll be in the dojo if you need me.”
They both smiled and bowed slightly.
; Damon took Kat and her parents to the furthest corner of the dojo away from the door. He smiled at Dominique and Eric, “Please take a seat.” He took Kat about five metres away from her parents. “Let’s start with kata. Show me every kata you know, starting at the beginning. Own timing, including bow in and bow out. Announce each kata before you perform it. Begin.” Damon bowed.
Kat bowed. “First Kata.”
Damon watched her perform First Kata, a sequence of combat moves in a visually pleasing pattern. Her technique was flawless. Her focus and intensity were lacking. Damon waited until she bowed out of First Kata. “Stop there for a moment. Your technique shows you were one of Sensei Jacob’s, but your focus and intensity…It looks like you don’t want to be here. I want you to put more snap…”
“I don’t want to be here.” Kat turned and started walking away.
“Hey,” Damon put his hand on her shoulder. “I didn’t…”
The girl jumped and turned to look at Damon. Her face pale, body trembling.
Damon had seen this look too many times before. “It’s okay. Who hurt you? How can I help?”
Kat looked at Damon with green eyes filled with tears. “I’m fine. I’m still here.”
This was starting to make sense to Damon. “Who isn’t here, Kat?”
“Courtney.”
“Who’s Courtney?”
“My best friend. I couldn’t save her. My karate’s crap. I’m crap.”
Damon put his hands up in front of him and talked to her as if she were an injured animal. “Hey. What happened? How can I help?”
Our Cause (Let the Monsters Live in Fear Book 1) Page 1