Page 64 of Finding Hope

“Except that one time.”

I laugh. “Except that one time, but that was becauseyourboys gave her cheese. Not just a slice or a square, but an entire block. So really, whose fault was that?”

Laughing, he leans heavily against the ropes as we both remember the unfortunate events from the winter before last.

Cheesegate, and the treasure map of shit we had to clean up.

‘X’ definitely marked the spot – every two feet or so. I had to buy this place an entire new set of mats – that’s easily five grand – and about six hundred scented candles, because my dog ate two pounds of cheese in secret.

This place reeked for months, like the stench seeped into the cement floors beneath the mats and promised to stick around right through until the following Thanksgiving.

At no sound at all, Annie’s ears flip up. Her head comes up next, then with glittering eyes and sparkling teeth, her lips pull back as she lets out a low growl.

The ears are normal. The head, too. But the growl is the very reason I flip to my feet before Jon even gets a chance to push away from the ropes.

Good mood and disgusting memories wiped clean, I rip my grappling gloves off, and tuck my mouthguard in to the waistband of my shorts. Scratching Annie’s ears, I jump down from the ring with Jon right behind me, and we walk toward the front desk.

Fucked if I know how she knew, since the front desk isn’t visible from the ring, but as soon as we round the corner, we findhim.

Brad stands with his back to us as he pokes around the flyers decorating the front desk, but as soon as we come within fifteen feet, he turns with a smile.

Then his smile vanishes.

“Brad?”

Sneering, he looks me up and down. “Joshua?”

“Ha.”Let me rearrange your face, you useless piece of shit.“Jack. You need something?”

“Ah, yeah.” Nervously shuffling his bag when I don’t cower at his simple jab, he looks between me and Jon. “This your gym?”

“Yup.”

Pursing his lips in thought, his eyes flick back and forth from me, to Jon, to Annie. If Brad thinks he can look at me like I smell like shit and actually have me believing him, he’s got a thing or two to learn from my dog.

Ain’t nobody gives the stink eye as well as Annie can.

Standing beside me, she doesn’t growl, she doesn’t charge. But she vibrates against my leg. Hackles up, she waits for my command to go.

Part of me is excited for when she charges and rips his dick off. But the more realistic side of me knows Brad’s a pussy who’d call the cops in a fast minute. I don’t have enough favors to call in to get my dog off death row.

But then again, getting Alex involved might be a good thing. He should meet the asshole so intent on dating his baby sister.

“So?” Jon snaps. “Can we help you or what?”Jon remembers exactly who Brad is.“We’ve got shit to do, Brent. Sack up or fuck off.”

“Ah, yeah…” He clears his throat. “I was thinking of joining.”

Stepping forward, Jon pulls out a membership form and slaps it down on the desk. “Fill this out. Give me your credit card.”

As Brad nervously takes a pen from the cup on the desk, Jon runs through our prices… and doubles them. I smile at the inflation, but I don’t dispute a single thing he says.

Our friends come in here, we train them for free. If Britt came in here, I’d train her for free. Just like Bobby trained my sister forever ago, I see a girl I’d like to empower. She’d get world champion tutoring, and she’d get it for free.

But we don’t want to train Brad at all. He can pay double, or hell, ifwe’re really feeling like assholes, triple, then if hestillwants to train, fine, we’ll take his money. Then we’ll show him how to spew.

Strolling into the reception area with a whistle on his breath, Bobby stops and cocks his head to the side at the same moment Brad signs his wavers.

Hewassmiling. Hehadhis ‘welcome to our gym’ speech prepared, but then his eyes narrow and his chest fills. “Do I know you?”

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