I shook my head and turned into the office. I didn’t have time to babysit Tate and Roman to make sure they didn’t kill each other. I dropped the attendance cards on the desk and sorted them out into three piles.
“You’re gonna have to add orange to that pile in a couple of weeks.”
I glanced up and saw Dante walk through the front door with two bags full of fast food in his hands. “Yeah, we were just talking about that.” I sat down and grabbed a pen. “About time you fucking showed up.”
Dante set a soda down in front of me and tossed a straw at me. “You’re welcome.”
“And what am I thanking you for?”
“Because I passed on signing a contract with that space Tate and I looked at last weekend.” Dante sat on the couch in the corner of the office and started pulling food out of the bags.
I ripped the wrapper off my straw and stabbed it into my cup. “You finally come off your high thinking you were going to be the next huge name in karate.”
Dante slid a burger across the desk to me. “Powerhouse is going to be the next big name in karate. Once word gets out of how we are running things, everyone is going to be beating down the door to come train with us. There's going to come a time where we aren’t going to have to take on any Tom, Dick, or Harry that walks through the door.”
I pushed the burger to the side and shook my head. “I’ll be happy if things just keep going the way they are.”
“Come on, Kel. You’re telling me that you don’t hope to one day be as well-known as any one of those top five teams out there competing right now?”
I looked up and leveled a glare at Dante. “We were well-known, Dante. We were the top four on the circuit. We opened Powerhouse because we were done with all of that. Now you’re telling me you want to go back?”
Dante shook his head “No, I personally don’t want to be competing. I want to be the guy sitting on the sidelines, that when someone walks by claps me on the shoulder and tells me how amazing Powerhouse is.”
“So, you wanna be Jim. The guy we all grew to hate by the time we left.”
Dante ripped off a huge bite of his burger. “In theory. Jim was always an ass, we were just blinded by his sell of becoming famous.”
If that wasn’t the truth. Jim, the owner of Cornerstone M.A., sold Tate, Roman, Dante, and me a dream that was hard to pass up. But in the end, we had all received what Jim had promised, but it sure wasn’t as glamorous as he portrayed it to be. Five years being on top felt like ten years. I pointed at Dante. “Rule number one, don’t turn into Jim.”
“Ugh, we talking about that asshole again?” Tate leaned against the doorframe. “If I never hear that name again, it’ll be too soon.”
Dante tossed a bag at Tate. “Word is he’s on the prowl for the next big thing. Don’t be surprised if you see him sooner than you would like.”
“He’ll find some young kid to corrupt and start the cycle all over again,” I mumbled.
We had all came up under Jim, and while we had him to thank for helping us hone our skills, we also had him to thank for burning us out competing.
Tate opened the bag of food and pulled out a fry. “I heard he’s been circling local tournaments.”
“Who?” Roman grabbed the bag out of Tate’s hands.
Tate moved to sit next to Dante. “Jim.”
Roman’s hand stopped mid-air, a french fry inches from his mouth. “You’re fucking kidding me. What the fuck is he in Falls City for?”
I went back to checking off attendance cards. “Probably hoping to strike big twice here. This is where he found us.” Jim was a piranha. All he cared about was money and being on top. We were all his puppets for five years, helping him to secure that top spot. Now, he was scrambling to find the next karate superstar. As of right now, he was still empty handed.
Roman shoved the french fry into his mouth. “Looks like I’m going to have to enter that tournament now.”
Dante smirked. “You lose your mind while I was gone?”
Roman shook his head, and a menacing smile crossed his lips. “No. Just think I need to remind dear Jim what he lost.”
Tate shook his head and held up his burger. “As much as I’d love to stick around and plot taking down Jim, I gotta run to the store and then over to Mom’s.”
“Mom’s?” Roman asked.
“Yeah. You coming with?” Tate’s mom had become a mom to all of us. Mostly because anytime we would go over there, none of us left with an empty stomach.
“Dude, you got a bag of food in your hand right now,” Dante smirked.
Roman grabbed a burger out and tossed the bag at Dante. “This will hold me over until we get over to Mom’s house.”
Roman and Tate gathered their bags and walked out the door.
“Don’t forget pretesting starts next week. Kids are going to be clamoring in with homework and shit. Be here,” I called. The front door slammed shut without a response from either.
“They’ll be here. I think whatever you said to Roman sunk in.” Dante shoved the rest of his burger in his mouth and pulled out another.
“I just told him to get his ass here, or don’t show up at all.”
Dante shrugged. “Well, it must have been what he needed to hear.”
It must have been, but I just wished I wouldn’t have had to make the ultimatum. “You up to working out after you stuff your face?” I finished filling out the cards and put them on the edge of the desk.
“That’s the plan. I plan on giving you an ass-whopping.”
I leaned back in my chair with my arms over my head. “Yeah, we’ll see about that. Get changed, Cinderella, and we’ll see if you’ve still got it.”
Dante chuckled and tossed the burger back into the bag. “I’ll save that for later. It’s time for me to remind you why I kicked your ass all the time and have four titles under my belt.” Dante tossed the bag of food on my desk, strolled out of the office, and grabbed his sparring gear. “I’m gonna enjoy this,” he mumbled.
Dante was going to kick my ass. It was a given, but it was the distraction I needed to not think about Jim being in town. He had made my life hell before I had quit the circuit and was one man I hoped to never see again. My blood boiled at the last words he had said to me. “You’ll never make it without me. You were all nothing before you met me, and you’ll go back to being nothing as soon as you open your studio.”
He was wrong, and I was hell-bent on proving it. Powerhouse was going to be a success, and no one was going to stand in my way.
**********
Molly
“Are you going to keep staring at the wall all afternoon?”
I glanced over at Sage and grabbed my coffee cup. “Can you not hear that?”
Sage dumped three dirty mugs into the sink and shook her head. “Yes, I can. I don’t know how you never heard it before Bess mentioned it.”
I focused on the wall, glaring. “It’s loud, Sage.”
“No, it really isn’t. It typically just fades into the background.”
“Yeah, if I crank up the music so no one can talk.”
Sage stood next to me. “You know, if you’re so bothered by it, you need to go over there and talk to them, right? Giving the wall the death glare hasn’t been working the last week. It’s time to actually go do something about it.”
She was right, but it was so much easier to glare at a wall than to have to talk to the jackasses. Yes, they had escalated to jackasses in my book. “I plan on writing a letter.”
Sage threw her head back and laughed. “A letter? Are you serious right now? Mol, walk the twenty feet around the corner and just talk to them. They’re hot, not anything to be afraid of.”
I turned my glare at Sage. “I’m not afraid.” I really wasn’t. I just knew how I was when I came face to face with a problem. I became a bumbling fool who couldn’t seem to put two sentences together. Confrontation was not something I excelled at.
“Then, go over there.”
&nb
sp; “Hmph, why don’t you go over there, and I’ll stay here. Someone has to close up.” It was five to three, and the cafe had cleared out.
“Pretty sure I know how to close up seeing as I do it every day. Besides, I’m not the one who's been glaring at the wall all week. Their grunting doesn’t bother me. If you ask me, it’s kind of sexy.”
“Sexy?” I scoffed. Low grunting was far from sexy.
“Kind of like a glimpse into the bedroom, you know?” Sage bumped me with her elbow. “Don’t tell me you didn’t think of that.”
“I really think there might be something wrong with you. Might explain why we’re both single.”
Sage laughed. “What does my being weird have to do with you being single? Pretty sure that is all on me.”
“Weird by association.”
Sage stood in front of me and put her hands on my shoulders. “I’m pretty sure you’re just as weird as I am, but that’s a whole other discussion. Stop trying to distract me from sexy as fuck kung fu masters.”
“Do you think they would appreciate you calling them that?”
Sage rolled her eyes. “Who doesn’t want to be called sexy as fuck?”
“I’d like to think I’m quirky.”
Sage slow-blinked. “Can you focus for two minutes on the words coming out of my mouth?”
I bit my lip and tried not to laugh. “I can only guarantee a minute since I know that this is going to be a conversation that I don’t want to have.”
“Too bad, we’re having it.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “Hit me with it.”
“You’re going to go over to the karate hotties, and talk to them.”
“Why?”
“Because if I have to deal with you one more day longer while you bang and clang around complaining about the grunting, I’m going to lose my shit.”
I huffed. “I have not been complaining all week.”
Sage rolled her eyes. I think this was the most I had ever seen her roll her eyes in one conversation. “Molly, you have been. Even the customers noticed.”
“What?” How would the customers know that I was bitching about the noise?
“I told them.”
I pushed her hands off my shoulders. “Why would you tell them that?”
“Blame Bess and Frank. I swear, those two should work for the FBI the way they grilled me until I gave in.” Sage wiped off her forehead and sighed. “I needed a drink after they were done with me.” She gazed off and frowned.
I laughed and snapped my fingers in her face. “Did I lose you?”
Sage shook her head. “It was bad. I’m pretty sure I would have told them my life story if they had asked.”
“I bet.”
She waved her hand. “Never mind that. We’re focusing you and the four kung fu masters.”
“There is no me and four kung fu masters.”
“Yet.”
I rolled my eyes. It was apparently catching today. “Your minute was up about two minutes ago.”
Sage took a deep breath. “You’re going over there, right now, and you are going to talk to them. I’m sure they just don’t know that they are loud.”
“No, I promise not to complain about it anymore.”
“Bess complained to me about it today, too.”
“What?” Bess hadn’t mentioned anything to me since the first time. I had assumed I was the only one who could hear them since I was closest.
“She told me they were really loud today, and that Sharon left early because she couldn’t take it.”
“That’s not okay, Sage.”
She shook her head. “I know it’s not. That’s why you need to go over there, and have a civil discussion with them, and maybe try to sneak a covert picture of them with their shirts off for me.”
I shook my head. “I’m going to ignore that last part because it just proves that you are whacked in the head.”
Sage smirked. “That’s probably for the best. But any who, you’re going over there today.”
“And why can’t you go over there?”
“Because I need to pick up Sam from daycare in half an hour.” Sage untied her apron and tossed it in the hamper. “Go over there, show them who’s boss. Shit, maybe even take some of the leftover cookies with to soften the blow of telling them to pipe down.”
“I highly doubt they eat cookies.”
Sage grabbed her purse from under the counter and slung it over her shoulder. “If they don’t eat the cookies, then you know they can’t be trusted.”
“I don’t need to trust them, I just want them to keep it down.”
Sage pulled her keys out of her purse and pointed at the wall. “Then, you gotta go over there. Otherwise, they’re are just going to keep grunting and groaning, and then one day, it’s going to get the best of me, and I’m going to have to find out if that’s how they are in bed.”
“You’re going to find out for each of them?”
She shrugged. “Don’t make me have to find out, Mol. Go over there and take care of business.”
I pointed to the front door. “Go before I question your sanity anymore today.”
Sage gave me a salute and headed out the door. “I’ll leave it open since all you need to do is grab some cookies, and you’ll be following right behind me.” The door slammed shut behind her, and I dropped my eyes to the floor.
I heard more grunting and yelling coming through the wall.
Damn it all, I was going to have to go over there.
**********
Molly
I knocked.
Hard.
Four times.
Nothing.
I could see two guys beating the crap out of each other if I pressed my face to the glass and looked far to the right. The music they had playing was thumping so loud that I was amazed I didn’t hear that more clearly when I was in the cafe.
I pounded hard on the door one last time. “Answer the door, assholes,” I mumbled.
It was late April, but there was still a chill in the air. Typical of Wisconsin weather. I should have known to grab my coat on the way out the door, but I had just wanted to get this over and had completely blanked on how cold it was outside.
The song that had been playing ended, and I banged on the door, fearful it was going to shatter.
I smashed my face into the glass and saw they had both stopped and were looking at the door. I jumped back, straightened my glasses, and pushed them up my nose. I didn’t bother to look down at my clothes, because I hadn’t even bothered to take off my apron. With the box of cookies in my hand, I looked more like a delivery person than someone who was about to have a serious conversation with these guys.
Thank God Sage wasn’t with me, because they were both shirtless, and I’m sure she would have whipped out her phone and had a mini photo shoot.
I leaned into the glass and caught sight of one of them moseying over to the door. I couldn’t help but thank his mama for building him the way she did. He was covered in sweat, his skin glistening under the glow of the lights, as he unvelcroed his gloves with a scowl on his face. He was sexy but also pissed off.
Whoops, maybe I shouldn’t have knocked on the door so hard.
He unlocked the door and cracked it only open a couple of inches. “We’re closed, and we didn’t order anything.”
“I’m not—” He slammed the door in my face and threw the lock. He stared at me through the glass and folded his arms over his chest. Nice, and inviting he was not.
I pulled on the hem of my apron and cleared my throat. Time to be the badass you are inside your head, Molly.
I waved and pointed at the cookies. “I brought you cookies.” Oh Jesus, what kind of badass starts off that way?
He shook his head. “We don’t want them.”
I could only imagine what was going through his head. I looked like a freak standing at his door telling him I brought him cookies. Time to try a different tactic. “I’m Molly.”
Tall
, sexy, and pissed laughed. “I’m Dante.”
Well, I at least had a name to put to the pissed off face. “I own the cafe.”
He shook his head but didn’t move to open the door.
“What in the fuck are you doing?” I heard but couldn’t see who had said it.
Dante turned his head. “Some chick is trying to give me her cookies.”
“Since when did you stop accepting chick’s cookies?” Dante moved over, and the guy he had been fighting looked out at me. Holy mother of God, the man was gorgeous.
Dante scowled. “I’m not into strange chick cookies.”
It was time to start again. “I’m Molly.”
Dante threw his head back and laughed. “I’m Dante,” he howled.
“I’m Kellan,” Tall, sexy, and hot said.
Kellan and Dante. It was worse than I thought. Not only were these guys drop dead gorgeous, and sexy, they had hot names. Sage would have creamed her panties by now and been in full photo shoot mode. “I brought cookies.” I seriously don’t know what was wrong with me.
“So, I heard. But if Dante doesn’t want your cookies, I have to go with him and say we don’t want them. Maybe the spa down the street wants them.”
Well, Kellan at least seemed nicer than Dante, but that really wasn’t much of an improvement. “I brought them for you because I need to talk to you. I own the cafe.”
Surprise flashed on his face, and he unlocked the door. “Java Hut?”
“Spot.”
“Spot what?” Dante asked.
Kellan opened the door, and I slipped in. “Java Spot, not hut.”
Dante and Kellan had only taken half a step back from the door. They were both looking down at me, curiosity in their eyes. “I thought it was Java Hut,” Kellan said.
I shook my head. “Nope, always been spot.”
Dante pointed at the box in my hand. “Let me see your cookies.”
Kellan scoffed. “You generally at least buy them dinner before you ask that.”
I rolled my eyes and opened the box. Dante licked his lips, and Kellan inclined his head. I made amazing cookies. Even just looking at them, you could tell that they were going to be good. “Peanut Butter Fudge Chunk, and Lemon Sugar.”
Dropkick My Heart: Powerhouse M.A. Series Page 3