Page 32 of 4th Degree

Aiden is smart enough to wait until Tristan’s back is turned before he sends him an inappropriate gesture.

“Twenty burpees, pretty boy,” Tristan orders without looking back.

Aiden grumbles something under his breath but gets to his feet. He doesn’t even seem surprised as he launches into the burpees.

It’s the last class of the day, which means I’ll be staying after to clean the gym, per my new membership agreement. I’ve seen other people spray the mats down, but I’m too appreciative to Coach to fuck this up, so I’ll have to find him to ask a few questions about how he likes things done.

My blood rushes a little bit hotter at the idea of talking to him again.

We’ve passed each other in the gym, of course, and he taught one of my jiu-jitsu classes yesterday, but we haven’t had another one-on-one conversation.

I don’t consciously wait for the gym to empty, killing time by finishing my water and changing into dry clothes, but by the time I walk toward the office, there are only a handful of people by the locker rooms, all getting ready to leave.

When I knock on the door and push it open after a voice calls out for me to come in, I see Jax is still here as well, sorting through some paperwork. Coach is on his laptop at the desk, too immersed in whatever is on his screen to look up right away.

“Hey, Skylar,” Jax greets with a warm smile. “What’s up?”

I nod toward the mats. “I just wanted to check in about cleaning the gym—make sure I know what the chore list looks like.”

“Oh, right, Dom mentioned you’d be doing that now,” he says, looking to his boss.

My eyebrows rise. I’ve never heard anyone refer to him as anything but Coach or sir.

Jax huffs a laugh at my reaction. “We call him Coach during gym hours, but once everyone’s gone…he’s just Dom, the grumpy old man.”

“I heard that.”

Jax and I share a silent look of amusement.

“Just give me a minute, and I’ll walk you through everything,” Jax says, returning to the papers in his hands. “I’m almost done here.”

At that, Dominic pushes back from the desk, his attention turning to us.

“Don’t worry about looking for that contract. I’m pretty sure it’s in the to-be-filed stack on my desk. If you could show Skylar around instead, that’d be great.”

Jax brings the stack of papers in his hand to the filing cabinet in front of him. “You got it.” He pushes past me where I’m still standing in the doorway and gestures for me to follow.

It only takes him a few minutes to show me where the broom is to sweep, the wipes for the heavy bags, and the spray bottle and mop for the mats.

“All clear?” he asks once he’s finished our trip around the gym. “Any questions?”

I shake my head and reach for the broom. “It’s pretty self-explanatory. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything that he needed done in a specific way or something.”

“Nah, it’s what you’d expect. It’s just annoying because we have to disinfect everything after every jiu-jitsu class. Dirty mats are the easiest way to spread ringworm.”

I shiver at the thought. “I’ll make sure I’m thorough. Thanks for showing me around.”

“Anytime.” He hesitates before walking off. “I’m glad you’re staying at the gym, Skylar. It would’ve sucked if you had to quit.”

My smile is warm, and pleasantly surprised. I signed up here because I was fascinated by the sport, but somehow…the people are beginning to mean something to me too.

“Thanks, Jax. I’m glad too.”

With one last smile aimed my way, he turns and heads to the front desk, where he grabs his gym bag from beneath the chair.

“Alright, Dom, I’m done for the night,” he calls out. “You need anything else from me?”

Dominic steps out of the office and says, “No, that’s all. I’ll see you at noon tomorrow. Aiden said he can finally start coming to the pro practices, so we’ll make tomorrow a wringer.”

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