by Ally Decker
"Carlito, you've got to either take care of this or hire someone to do it, even for a few hours a week. Hell, maybe someone will help you in exchange for free time at the gym." The last one wasn't likely, but maybe they would get lucky. Or maybe they just needed a college student who had their head on straight and didn't mind low salary.
"I know, I know." Her brother sat in his chair and rested the back of his head against the wall behind him. "But I'm not sure I can afford anyone, even part-time."
"The fact that you don't know is part of the problem, though." They'd had this conversation before. They'd probably have it in the future, too. There were days Alicia wanted to throw in the towel, but then it was just her against the paperwork, and she couldn't devote enough time to do it right anymore—not if she wanted to keep her job at Foster, Young, and Urban.
When she'd been offered the job at the fixers' office, Carlos all but pushed her out of the gym door and told her not to look back, but he hadn't dealt with the fallout of her leaving, either. And that was why she was here right now, trying to stay on top of things. She might have switched jobs to the one that actually paid, but she wouldn't abandon her brother and cousin with no help.
She sat up and rolled her head around her neck. "Okay. Let's do this."
CHAPTER SIX
Shawn had never before been both furious and relieved at the same time, but when he found his photo on the Internet on Friday morning, those were the only two emotions he could identify.
He grimaced at the way they put him and the Sheppards side by side, with a tacky slash mark between the married couple. He knew it was bound to happen, but it still stung when he saw it.
There was a part of him that was relieved, though. The wait was over. The media attention was something he could meet head on. He was prepared for it. The endless waiting game—it had been a few days and it had already felt endless to him—was much harder than he'd expected.
Nate and Dean met him at the front door to the office, obviously waiting for him.
"Hey, I see you've seen the news," he said, nodding at them, but not stopping. He passed them and entered the lobby, greeting Alicia with a nod as well before going straight to his office.
His friends followed right behind him. They sat down in front of his desk and leaned forward to rest their arms over their knees. It was almost as if they'd rehearsed it.
Shawn shook his head. "We all knew it was going to happen, guys." He turned his computer on and grabbed the closest pile of files. Your 9 am, the sticky note on the top told him, written in Alicia's curvy handwriting. He glanced up at the name. Yang.
"You can't ignore it now, Shawn," Nate said.
Watch me, he wanted to tell his friend.
"Listen, I appreciate it, but we've already discussed it to death. Everyone knows what they're doing or, in my case, not doing." He grimaced. "I just want to focus on work now."
There was a long moment of silence when he had to stare his best friends down, but finally, they relented. Dean was the first one to stand up, followed by Nate, who took his time.
"Kevin will monitor the web and the media, and we'll talk about this during lunch," he told Shawn in his 'it's not over yet' voice. "Don't check your social media. Or any media, actually."
"Curfew isn't enough, now I'm grounded, too?" He intended it as a joke, but the way he spit the words out made Nate narrow his eyes. Shawn ran a hand over the back of his neck, looking down at his files. "Sorry."
When he glanced up, he saw Nate open his mouth to say something, but Dean's hand on his shoulder gave him a pause.
"We'll let you be," Dean said, meeting Shawn's gaze. "For now."
Shawn nodded and watched them go, feeling worse than he had five minutes ago. Dealing with the media and the affair rumors was one thing, but he didn't have to make it worse for himself by being an asshole.
He pushed the button to call Alicia's desk probably a little too hard. He took a deep breath and counted to three before she picked up.
"Yes?"
"May I have a cup of coffee? The usual with one additional sugar."
"Already on its way," Alicia told him, and his shoulders dropped a bit.
"Thanks."
"I'll be there in a minute."
Shawn knew getting coffee was not exactly a reason to give someone a raise, but he was sorely tempted in that moment. He closed his eyes and tried to relax until there was a knock on his door. He called Alicia in.
She smiled at him, but there was something in it—something more like a practiced smile than the bright, honest one she usually gave him. Maybe she was walking on eggshells around him now, too, after seeing the story break.
It made his blood boil for a second, but then he rolled his hands into fists behind the desk and forced himself to relax them slowly. Behaving like an asshole wasn't really on the agenda today.
"Thank you," he finally spoke up when Alicia put the mug on his desk. There was a little smiley face on the foam and he chuckled, almost despite himself. "Thanks for that."
She smiled again, and this time it was all her. "You're welcome. I thought you could use it."
He searched for something to say, but he couldn't find anything. It wasn't like him at all. None of it. None of it was him.
By the time he'd dragged himself back from the dark corner, she was at the door.
"Alicia, wait, please."
He stood up when she turned around, and her eyebrows shot up before she schooled her expression.
"I'm sorry in advance. I may be... unpleasant to be around today."
She looked down on her hands with fingers slotted together before meeting his gaze again. "I don't think you can be really unpleasant," she said and, oh God, how wrong she was. Shawn didn't particularly want to break her illusions, though. He hoped it would be a long time before she realized her mistake.
As for him, he really needed a way to let out some steam.
"Hey," he spoke up again, "you mentioned your brother's boxing gym. Could you..." He had no idea what he wanted to do. What did he want that he couldn't get in their apartment building's gym? A trainer? A change of scenery? What? "Could you give me some information later on?" Shawn settled on in the end.
"Of course!" Alicia nodded and seemed to bounce on her feet as she turned once again and walked away. As Shawn watched her go, his gaze slipped over her body, noticing the sway of her hips and the line of her legs in a way he hadn't noticed before.
Well, that's a lie, the voice in the back of his head gleefully pointed out. Shawn had noticed Alicia's figure once, the day she'd come for an interview. He'd caught the sight of her downstairs as he walked towards the elevators, a woman he'd never seen before, with the long black braid lying along the line of her back, right in the middle, almost directing the line of sight a person should take—down the curve of her body that promised a beautiful ass and legs that made him think thoughts sorely inappropriate for the workplace.
She'd walked into the elevator when he was in the middle of the lobby, and as she'd turned, their gazes met for a moment. Shawn could swear something sparked between them, but then the elevator doors had closed and he'd been left feeling struck before someone had bumped into him and pulled him out of it.
Half an hour later, when Nate wanted to introduce the new office manager to him, she turned out to be the woman from the lobby. She offered him a dispassionate, if still genuine, smile, and Shawn welcomed her to the firm with a polite smile of his own. There was no spark there this time, and he didn't let his gaze wander anymore.
Now he startled from his thoughts as he almost poured his coffee over the files before him. He had forgotten that first meeting, and he needed to do it again. Alicia was a very attractive woman, everyone could see that, but Shawn wasn't to admire her form.
Ever.
***
Alicia's brother seemed to be twice her size, and Shawn had to look up at him.
"Carlos Cordero, nice to meet you. Welcome to our gym."
They shook hands, and Shawn pretended Carlos' hand didn't dwarf his.
"Shawn Foster. Nice to meet you, too." He smiled to the side at Alicia. "Your gym comes highly recommended."
Carlos snorted. "I bet. Ali doesn't have much choice but to praise us."
"Oh, if you'd suck, I'd tell people that, too," Alicia said with a grin Shawn didn't remember seeing on her before. Maybe this one was for family only.
"Liar," Carlos threw back with a wink before looking at Shawn again. "Why don't you change," he waved to the back of the room, "and then we'll see what you've got."
A lot of frustration and a lousy technique, Shawn wanted to tell him, but nodded instead and went to where Carlos pointed him, looking around on his way.
The whole place was sparse, basic, and huge—it was an old warehouse, it seemed. There was no fancy equipment, no multicolor weights, or a wall of mirrors so a person could stand there and admire how they flexed their muscles, but it also had everything someone would really need in a boxing gym. Shawn liked it a lot.
He changed quickly in the locker room that made him feel like he was back in high school for a moment. He quite expected pieces of football equipment thrown around, but it was clean. It was also empty, and Shawn wondered how the gym was doing with their clientele. Back out in the main room, there was maybe a dozen or so people. He didn't think it was a lot for an evening at the gym of this size, even on Friday night.
He walked out of the locker room and moved to meet Carlos halfway. Alicia was nowhere to be found.
"She's back in the office, helping us with some paperwork," Carlos told him with a tilt of his head. "Come on."
What commenced next was Shawn getting his ass kicked every which way. For close to forty minutes, Carlos repeatedly put him down while Shawn got maybe a couple of hits altogether. It was embarrassing, he was dripping with sweat and breathing harshly, and he was fairly sure if they didn't stop soon, he was going to stay down the next time he met the ground. He also felt more relaxed than for the entire week before.
Carlos, thankfully, announced they were done, and Shawn slumped against the ropes. He wanted to wipe off the sweat falling into his eyes, but his arms were just hanging there, not cooperating, until Carlos moved closer to help him get rid of the gloves.
"Here, drink this," he said when he took them. The bottle appeared in front of Shawn's eyes, so he concentrated and reached out to take it from Carlos.
"Thanks." He drained half the bottle before meeting Carlos' gaze. "Give it to me," he said with a resigned shake of his head. "Maybe not physically, since I'm not sure I could take any more, but you know. The truth."
Carlos snorted, arms splayed over the ropes. He seemed almost unaffected while Shawn was close to dying. It was horribly unfair. Shawn wasn't that terrible.
"I'm not in the business of telling lies, man." Carlos grinned. "Besides, you weren't the worst I've seen."
It was Shawn's turn to snort. "High praise." He wasn't offended, though. He knew what he was getting into, and pats on the back weren't something a person needed from their trainer.
"High enough not to drop you immediately," Carlos threw back. "You have decent leg work, and you protect your head well, but you leave too many spots open, and that gives you delayed reaction time. You're good at predicting what I'll do, but not quick enough to counter it, so it's almost useless until you get a handle on that." Alicia's brother tilted his head and gave him a once over from top to bottom. "I'd say the first thing we need to do is work on your blocks, then we can move to counterattacks. I will show you how to do that one by one, but we're not moving forward with the attacks until you can handle the defense."
"It's never about you, huh? Always about the other person."
Carlos nodded. "Pretty much, yes." He glanced at something behind Shawn before looking back at him. "Your only job is to be ready."
Shawn opened his mouth to say something, but the moment he heard the door close behind him, he turned. It was Alicia. She looked out of place here, or maybe just her outfit did. She had a pair of sneakers on now, though, and she walked through the room seamlessly navigating the equipment until she paused next to their ring.
"Carlos, you have an urgent call in the office." She glanced at Shawn, but turned her gaze quickly back to her brother.
"It's mom, right?" Carlos said with a sigh, but left the ring, nodding at Shawn. "I'll be right back. You can change, and we'll talk."
"Are you alive?" Alicia said, a hint of tease in her voice, but also something... different. Something he couldn't quite figure out.
"Barely, but yes. Nothing hurts as much as my pride, though, so I guess I'll live." He looked down at himself and grimaced. His undershirt was damp from sweat and sticking to his body. He had to smell, too, so he kept his distance as he was getting off the ring. "I'm going to shower quickly and change. Give me ten minutes?"
"Sure," Alicia said, distracted by something on the other side of the gym.
Okay then. Shawn turned and headed to the locker room.
CHAPTER SEVEN
This was a terrible idea. A terrible, stupid idea she shouldn't have brought up. What the hell was she thinking, inviting Shawn to her brother's gym? Nothing, was the answer. She wasn't thinking at all, and now she had to deal with the consequences...
Sweaty, hot-beyond-her-fantasies, dangerous consequences.
"Damn it all to hell," she muttered to herself, slumping against the edge of the ring's platform.
"Don't let your mother hear you talk like that, or you'll be spitting soap for weeks."
Alicia turned around and there he was—Dante, her cousin and one of the owners of the gym. She grinned and walked up to hug him. He was twice her size, he was even bigger than Carlos, and his muscles were everywhere. And he was still the best hugger in the world, in her opinion.
"I hope you won't rat me out, then." She grinned easily at him, and he shook his head.
"That depends. Were you swearing because of the guy who just got his ass handed to him by Carlos?"
Alicia opened her mouth to deny it and closed it right away. Dante wasn't someone she could lie to. She wasn't about to agree, either, though, so she changed the subject.
"Did Carlos tell you I've told him you need to hire someone to help in the office?" She wasn't above playing both sides, not when it came to the family and the goal was to help everyone. "I'm not keeping up with the work and neither are you guys."
Dante's smile turned into a grimace. "I know, I know. He told me. We'll look into it."
"Good." They needed it, and she had to stop feeling bad about not measuring up. When they finally found someone, Alicia might even get peace of mind as a bonus. Not to mention, a bit more free time, too.
"But don't think you pushed me away from the topic of the hot mess you came with."
Alicia's eyebrows shot up, and she choked. "Hot mess?"
"Well, I'm guessing he's hot to you, and he's a mess to me, so..." Dante shrugged. "Seemed appropriate."
"Nothing's appropriate about what you just said." Alicia shook her head and looked down at her shoes. Oh God, she was still in her old sneakers. And Shawn saw her like this. She wanted to groan but swallowed it down. She could feel herself blush, though.
"Everything okay?" Shawn's voice was suddenly there, and when she glanced up he was standing close, closer than usual, and he was watching Dante as if he was ready for an intervention.
Oh God, it was just getting worse and worse.
"Everything's fine. Shawn, meet my cousin, Dante Rivera. He's one of the owners of the gym. Dante, this is my boss, Shawn Foster."
There was a stretch of silence when one of the guys should really jump in with 'Nice to meet you' or something like that. Finally, Shawn did, but the delay didn't go unnoticed by any of them.
"It's nice to meet more of Alicia's family." He reached out his hand and Dante shook it. Alicia was really hoping he wasn't doing anything too stupid, like breaking Shawn's fingers.
"Hey. Welcome t
o our humble abode. I have to say, I never thought I'd see one of Alicia's bosses here."
"Why's that?" Shawn kept his gaze steady, but Alicia didn't miss the subtle shift in his posture.
She needed to come up with something to say to break this up, fast.
"Well, for starters, she's your employee and it's Friday night. Unless this is your company's idea of team building or whatever—"
The loud bang of the office door made Dante pause, and they all turned to see Carlos coming their way.
"You okay?" Alicia asked. Their conversations with mom could go very differently depending on the day, her mood, the weather, and, for all Alicia knew, her daily horoscope.
"Fine." He waved a paper at Shawn. "Let's talk now, okay? I don't know if you wanted it to be a one-time thing or not, but if not, I have some ideas..."
Alicia watched as Carlos grasped Shawn's arm and led him away to his office. Shawn was tense at first, but slowly relaxed as he nodded to whatever Carlos was saying.
She faced her cousin again. "What the hell, Dante?"
He shrugged. "I was just—"
"I'm not a teenager you need to protect anymore. And he's my boss, for heaven's sake, you can't do stuff like that!"
"What stuff?"
Alicia narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't play dumb with me now. You can't challenge the guy like this. He's done nothing to earn that from you."
"He did nothing... Ali, he's your boss. And even if he's not... taking advantage—"
"Give me a break, Dante!" Alicia crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes, he is my boss, but he's not taking advantage of me. We're after hours because we actually, you know, work during work hours. And I was the one who suggested coming here to him. I told him about this place, and I came here with him. So no, he's not freaking taking advantage, okay?"
"Okay, okay, calm down."
But Alicia was on a roll right then. "I'm not going to calm down, and you know why? Because there's shit like what you say happening all over. Hell, I've seen some of it myself." When Dante frowned at that, she shook her head. "Not to me. No one did it to me, but I've seen it happen. And I can tell you with one hundred percent guarantee that this is not like that. And frankly, accusing Shawn of it is..."