Stryker

by Lexi Buchanan

  I needed to get away from her before she discovered just how upset I was with the whole mess I’d found myself in. I needed to learn to say ‘no’.

  I swallowed a few times, and finally said, “I promise, and the location of the desk sounds tempting. Very tempting.”

  She grinned. “Thought it might.” She turned away to walk to her apartment a few blocks away. “I’ll see you tomorrow unless you call around later.”

  “I need an early night, so it will be tomorrow at the gym.”

  Millie ran back and kissed me on the cheek before she hurried down the sidewalk.

  The early night was the truth, but I wanted to spend time on my laptop and make notes about the gym first—the set up, the men that trained, and most of all, I wanted to do more research on Stryker. He intrigued me more than he should, but he’d made an impression on me that I had a feeling wouldn’t be so easy to get rid of.

  Chapter 4 ~ Stryker

  FASTENING UP MY RUNNING shoes, I pulled my hoodie on and stepped outside onto the balcony where I breathed in the fresh air. My hands tightened around the railing as I took in the view of central park in front of the building. The high rise buildings across the park were far enough away to give me a sense of seclusion but close enough where I could still feel the city. Looking down, the early morning workers dashed past the building. I often wondered how it would feel to be kissed goodbye in the morning as I left for a normal day job, and to return in the evening to that same person—my redheaded beauty.

  A pipe dream, I knew that, but I had a feeling my distraction with her would cause trouble. Not just for me, but for her as well.

  Entering my line of sight below, a white horse drawn carriage trotted along the road gaining beeps from impatient drivers before it turned into the park. The couple in the carriage were well wrapped, and snuggled together under a blanket.

  My mind drifted to Evie again. What would it be like to be that couple in the back of the carriage? Heaven came to mind. As usual though, I didn’t have the luxury of doing something for enjoyment, especially with a woman. Even though I’d disappear and visit Julio, I didn’t consider it enjoyment, I just considered it peace, and somewhere that I could go without a shadow hovering over me.

  Inhaling once more, I exhaled slowly and pushed away, backing into my apartment, knowing my day of training was about to start. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to enjoying the training aspect of my life. It kept me going on the days that I’d thought about ending it all.

  That would be the easiest way out, but I’d become a fighter and fighters didn’t quit. I wasn’t a quitter and now that I was older, I intended to figure out how to be free without causing consequences for anyone else. My main problem was to figure out a way to find the ‘Irishman’ and actual evidence to what they’d done to me, and maybe others. I was sure that more illegal stuff went on behind my back as well. I knew that the only way I’d be able to walk away was to sell the fuckers out by giving everything to law enforcement. I just hadn’t worked out how I was going to do that, or how I was even going to make contact with them.

  It would be dangerous, but it could work.

  “You running first?” Jamie asked, which made me realize I’d been standing in the living room gazing into space. He’d been part of my security team for three years and was one of the more lenient guards. We had a kind of understanding. At least, the best we could under the circumstances. He’d turn a blind eye to me sneaking out alone, and I’d return within two hours of leaving. It amazed me that he trusted me to return, but he probably knew I had nowhere to go. No friends. No family. No means to support myself. They had everything. His trust in me had gradually grown, and now I had three hours to myself on occasion.

  “How’s Julie doing?” His wife was pregnant and had a bad case of morning sickness, which sometimes would have him looking a bit green when he’d arrive in the mornings.

  Jamie smiled. “She’s doing great and, even better, no sickness for four days, and counting.” He chuckled. “She thinks she looks huge.”

  I raised a brow in question and hoped I hid my amusement. “Really?”

  “No… She looks sexy as fuck.” He grinned. “I keep having to show her.” He coughed as a slight blush coated his neck.

  “I guess you’ll need to continue to show her, huh?” Turning my back so he wouldn’t see my smirk, I headed through the apartment before I strode out the door and into the elevator.

  “Do you ever miss that?”

  “Miss what?” I asked, knowing what he meant but taken off guard by the question.

  “Having a woman to keep you warm at night?”

  I blocked Evie from my mind, and admitted, “You can’t miss something that you’ve never had.” Even as the words left my mouth, I wasn’t all that sure I spoke the truth.

  My eyes dipped so he wouldn’t see the longing. Over the years I’d become good at hiding my emotions behind a wall of indifference, but since I’d seen her, my emotions were so close to the surface that they scared the fuck out of me.

  Outside, in the crispness of the morning, every breath we took could be seen in a trail of white mist. I wouldn’t feel it soon though.

  Jogging on the spot, I turned to face Jamie and nodded when he pointed toward the park with his head.

  Then I was off at a run.

  No one had ever been able to keep up with me when I decided that I wanted to run in the park instead of a treadmill at the gym. I was surprised as fuck that they actually allowed it.

  Head down, my eyes searched out my usual route. Crossing the road, I jogged into the park as I allowed my body to warm up. My pace stayed steady. My feet knew this route and I could run it with my eyes closed.

  The freedom caused my breath to come easier. My feet pounded on the path as I picked up speed now that my body had started to warm. I felt my muscles loosen as I ran past the pond, the grass covered in a light covering of morning frost. My heart pumped the more I ran, sweat beaded at my shoulders before it ran down my back but I felt exhilarated. My body was used to this treatment and my thighs wouldn’t burn unless I ran miles, but I knew that I had to go to the gym because Coach would be waiting.

  My five-mile run was coming to an end as I reached the area that would usually be filled with children. Today was no different. Except today, as I passed parents with kids feeding the ducks, I wondered about Evie, again. Would I see her today? My thoughts had run wild again during the night because every time I closed my eyes, I saw her glorious red hair. I couldn’t escape her, but I had to try. The attraction that had been obvious to us both couldn’t go anywhere. Not only was I basically held captive, but she was engaged to one of the fuckers who was involved with the ‘Irishman’.

  “Fuck.”

  Did she know about me? About what they’d done? Or was she totally innocent?

  I wiped a hand down my face, tiredness suddenly hitting me at the thought that Evie could know about them—about me.

  Walking out of the park, I pressed a hand to my chest and rubbed at the ache inside of me. She couldn’t know. Could she? Either way, we were dangerous to each other, and that had to stop.

  Inhaling, I moved my gaze from the sky to search out Jamie when a blonde caught my eye.

  Evie’s friend.

  Where had she come from? She’d just exited the Starbucks with a large drink in her hand as she waved a taxi down. That meant she had to live around here. Why else would she be in the area?

  I dashed across the road and raced toward the cab, but I was too late. I don’t know what I’d planned on saying if I hadn’t missed the cab, but my want had propelled me forward.

  My breath caught at the back of my throat, as I dropped my hands to my thighs. I let my head drop.

  “Stryker, what’s going on?”

  “Nothing.” I shook my head.

  “That wasn’t nothing. Do you know that woman?”

  I closed my eyes and stood to my full height, knowing that most people would be intimidated, but
not Jamie. He didn’t match my strength but he was close to my height of six foot five.

  “Did you see where she came from?” I clarified, “Before Starbucks.”

  Jamie stared at me and backed away. “No.” He met my gaze with a frown. “She was pretty?” Jamie commented, and waited.

  “She was…that wasn’t why I was curious.” I didn’t want to alienate him since he was one of the few that allowed me some freedom so I gave him something. “She’s a friend of someone.”

  I watched his reaction from the corner of my eye and saw surprise flicker across his features before he frowned.

  “We need to go. Coach is waiting.” Jamie cleared his throat. “Please be careful,” he muttered, following me to the car that he had waiting to take us to the gym.

  Evie

  I WAS TIRED. LAST night I’d gone to sleep with images of Stryker in my head, and woken up pretty much the same. He’d been all I could think about so my disappointment at not seeing him at the gym when I arrived had taken the enjoyment out of being here.

  “He’ll be here. I bet he never misses a day,” Millie tried to cheer me up with her words while her eyes caressed over the muscular form of Carter.

  He was a handsome man and if I hadn’t become obsessed with Stryker, I might have taken a second look. Carter was full of boyish charm around Millie. His light brown hair fell casually on his forehead, giving him a rakish look, but I had to laugh at their size difference. Carter looked to be around six-foot-three or so, close to Stryker’s height, but Millie was only five-foot-two. At least I was a bit closer to Stryker’s height at five-foot-eight.

  Carter’s hazel eyes followed Millie around the gym, and his tongue would wet his lips when Millie bent to grab her towel from the floor.

  It was amusing and they were both as bad as the other. I wondered when Carter would make the first move. I knew that Millie wouldn’t. She loved to be chased, and had often told me it made for hotter and sweatier sex once she’d been captured.

  Leaving Millie to her thoughts and her flirting, I started the treadmill and built up to a fast walk. I’d no wish to run, but I could handle a brisk pace while watching the others in the gym through the mirrored wall. I was supposed to be making notes and talking to other fighters, but Patrick had told me that they’d been warned to keep their distance from Millie and me. I knew that he didn’t take my writing seriously, but I sure as hell did. Even Carter had been evasive when I’d asked questions about routine and fighting.

  It didn’t make sense.

  I was here to research and yet everyone had been told to keep their distance. Patrick was a jealous man and when he’d first told me, I’d thought it was because he didn’t want me near other men, but I wasn’t sure anymore. Who knew what he was up to. I’d rather not know.

  My body started to warm along with my thirst for water. With a glance to my right, I spotted his coach standing next to the water dispenser. I grabbed the bars of the treadmill in surprise to keep on my feet. I slowed the speed until I started to cool down, quicker than usual, and stepped from the machine. Grabbing a towel, I walked toward him and smiled as I filled a plastic cup with the cool water.

  He held my gaze as I took a long sip from the cup, and once it was empty, I tossed it into the trash.

  Stryker’s coach made me uncomfortable but I refused to move away because of it and refused to be the first to look away.

  He smirked and held his wrinkled hand out to me. “Coach.”

  I returned his handshake. “Evie.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Evie.”

  “Likewise, Coach.” Then the thought struck. “Would you be willing to answer some questions for me about the fighters?”

  His gaze darkened. “Depends on who you’re asking about?”

  No sooner had the words left his mouth than the doors into the gym opened and silence descended.

  My eyes flickered to the right, but I already knew who it would be. His eyes met mine and held for mere seconds before he glanced at Coach then back to me. My heart pounded and as he took a step in my direction, he glanced again at Coach before he halted mid-step. I made to go to him, but Coach grabbed my wrist.

  “Don’t…if anyone finds out about whatever is going on between you two, it will bring a lot of trouble down on him. Please keep to your side of the gym. I need to keep him safe.”

  Funny choice of words.

  Coach let go of my wrist with my nod of acceptance, but his words didn’t make sense.

  Stryker looked to be in his twenties, and was undefeated in the ring or cage, so how could Coach keep him safe? He looked to be in his eighties and frail…as though a puff of wind would blow him over. I was surprised that he coached the fighters because he didn’t seem like one.

  I glanced at Stryker and realized he’d moved to his own designated space while I’d been watching Coach.

  “You didn’t answer my question?” I quickly asked as he started to move away.

  He paused and glanced over his shoulder, his gaze flirting around the gym before he answered. “I’m not sure they’ll allow it.” He shrugged and moved over to Stryker who had been glaring at his coach while we talked.

  I couldn’t help the tears of frustration that hovered on my lashes. I was so sure that he’d agree; it was almost as though he was afraid. But of what?

  Rapidly blinking to hide my distress, I couldn’t stop myself from casting one last glance at Stryker. He looked angry and I realized he was still watching me. Coach said something to him and the look Stryker gave me was lethal, as though he blamed me for something.

  With one final glance, I turned on my heel and smacked straight into Carter.

  “What’s the hurry?” He grabbed my arms to keep me on my feet, and frowned. “Are you okay?” He glanced over my head, his frown deepened as he quickly dropped his hands. “Let’s go and I’ll show you and Millie how to use the weights.”

  I pulled myself together, smiling at Carter. He hadn’t put the tears in my eyes and he’d only ever been nice to Millie and me, although I suspected that he had an ulterior motive with Millie.

  Following him to the weight area, I chuckled at the mischievous look on Millie’s face as Carter collected some weights from the stand. Her eyes were fixed on his nicely toned ass. Smirking, I nudged her. “I totally agree.”

  She grinned. “Mmm…I have a feeling that he’s deliberately teasing me.”

  “He isn’t the only one,” I mumbled, sure that she was too distracted to even hear me.

  Carter turned and caught her licking her lips, his eyes darkened so I took that as my cue to leave them to it.

  “I’ll be sitting over there.” I pointed toward the wall where I’d left my notebook. “I need to take some notes.” I wasn’t sure my words were heard, but what the hell. I moved away and dropped to the floor, my notebook open at a blank page. In fact, the only information written between the pages were notes on Stryker. I hadn’t been able to uncover anything that I’d really wanted to know—like his date of birth, his real name, or where he came from. So many questions were unanswered and my obsession with the dark and brooding man across the gym had only grown.

  There was something about him, regardless of the fact that he made my belly quiver with fear…and so much more. I knew deep down he’d never hurt me and when he looked at me I felt like he could see straight through to the fraud I was.

  No one other than Millie knew the real me. Sometimes, I wondered if my father did, but how could he…he spent most of his time in Washington these days and I rarely saw him. Sighing, I chewed on the end of my pen, and realized that I was going to have to call my mom to put a stop to whatever wedding arrangements she’d made. That wasn’t something I looked forward to, but it had to be done the minute I spoke to Patrick. He’d been evasive these last few days. Maybe he had been before and I just hadn’t noticed, but I’d started to notice now.

  I knew that he was uncomfortable with me being inside his family’s gym, but since he started wear
ing a suit to his father’s office, he’d changed, and it wasn’t for the best either.

  Looking around me, most of the fighters ignored me, which didn’t bother me. What bothered me, and shouldn’t, was that Stryker was one of those fighters. Other than when he’d arrived, when I’d felt his look to the tip of my toes, he’d gone cold.

  He was the only one who continued to draw my attention. No matter where I looked my eyes found their way back to him.

  His muscular physique drew my gaze.

  His strength made my heart race.

  The loneliness in his eyes made me want to wrap my arms around him and not let go.

  Most of all, when his gaze landed and held on me, a slither of fear would slowly slide down my spine to finally erupt in my belly as desire.

  He knew that I watched him, wanted him, just like I knew how much he held himself together so that he didn’t lose his concentration. Except today, I missed having his eyes on me. Yesterday he’d been fixated on me, like I him. I missed that even though I had no idea how to handle it…or him.

  I finally glanced at Coach and realized he watched me, a deep frown on his face.

  From what I had researched, the old coach had worked at the gym for sixteen years, but he’d spent at least forty years as a coach in the New York area; first as a boxing coach before he branched into kickboxing and several other martial arts and finally ending up coaching at the New York –East Coast Martial Arts Fighters Club. Coach would know everything that was going on in the gym even though I only wanted to know why me talking to Stryker would cause trouble for him. Patrick had told me to stay away from the fighters. At the time, I thought it was so I didn’t distract them from their training, but now I wasn’t too sure.

  “He makes me tingle.” Millie slid down the wall and sat beside me. “Lots of other things as well.”

  “Did I really need to know that?”

  “You told me about your wet pantie reaction to Stryker and the guy at the bar.” She raised a brow.