Page 35 of Shifting Gears

As the towel fell from his body, I glanced away, but snuck a peek out of the corner of my eye.

Oh my God, even his ass is toned.

I’d apparently forgotten some details of his physique from the last time we had been together. But I wasn’t mad about it because it felt like I was seeing parts of him for the first time again, and it definitely made my heart beat faster.

Stop looking him over like you are a teenager alone with your first boyfriend. Remember, you were going to give him some real answers. He’s earned that—at the very least—after everything he has done for you. So, keep yourself together for a little while longer.

“Please join me?” I asked as I gestured to the seat next to me.

He finished adjusting his joggers and sat down.

I poured him a cup of tea from the kettle and slid the cup over to him. He took a drink as I shifted to face him more.

“I want to thank you. Tonight, you really came through, and I owe you so much more than you think I do,” I said, getting the conversation going.

“Don’t mention it. It was a nice reminder that I still got it, even if I hadn’t fought for damn near half a year at this point,” he said.

“Still, I’m not one to not show my gratitude. I also feel like I want to be honest with you about everything. You have been more than accepting of how I’ve been holding you at arm’slength and giving you small bits of information. I don’t want to keep hiding myself from you because, for the first time in my life, I feel truly at peace around someone, and I want to let you in so you know who I really am,” I said as I reached over and placed a hand on his arm resting on the table.

“All right, go ahead and say what you wanna say, baby. I’ll just sit here and listen,” AJ said as he relaxed his back against the wall.

I took a deep breath.

Where to begin? I suppose back when things took a turn for my father would make the most sense.

“I lost my mother when I was a young girl. My sisters were so young that they don’t even remember her. Losing her absolutely devastated my father. He struggled to raise the three of us on his own, but he did his best. We never went without, and eventually, my middle sister and I both took an interest in our father’s dojo. We spent countless hours there, taking turns practicing and watching our youngest sister. It was a nice life. But then my father fell into some debt. He had lost some students over the years to newer and more innovative dojos that had popped up, and his income suffered. But instead of telling us girls we needed to cut things out of our life, he took out a loan from the local yakuza.” I sighed as I thought about the memories of the past.

If we had only known when things first became tough for him, we could have helped with the finances. But Father had always been too proud to let us girls worry about anything like that.

“Sucks to hear that. My dad was never in the picture, so I get the whole single-parent-struggling thing,” he said as he wrapped his hand around mine, giving it a squeeze.

“Mmm, it was hard, but Father did a great job at trying to fill her absence. But once we found out precisely how much debt Father had accrued when I hit eighteen, it was overwhelming.My sisters and I could work for years starting today and still not pay it off,” I said. I took a moment to center myself, the memories were flooding in and, if I didn’t control my emotions, I would be overwhelmed.

“My sisters were both still children, and my father’s health began declining. It left us with very few options. So, my dad placed the last thing he had to bargain with in a fight—the final fight he would have as a sensei. It was his protégé up against Kaito’s fighter. A few days after the match, he came home and told us he needed time in quiet reflection in the small building he used for prayer on the corner of the property. When the third day came of him not leaving the building, I went to make sure he was eating, but it was too late. He … he had …” I said, my voice quivered.

AJ squeezed my hand.

How can this man be so cocky one moment, and then so sincere in the next?

I squeezed it back, a silent thank you passing between us.

“Losing that match put our father in an early grave. I don’t think he could live with the shame that he’d bet our home on that match and lost it. That my sisters and I would be homeless because of him. That broke his mind beyond all repair.” I was suddenly overcome with emotions, thinking about that morning.

I had gone in search of him, and when I saw the candle’s dim glow behind the shoji doors, I quietly went there with some food and to tell him that no matter what, we would all come up with a way to make things right.

Seeing him hanging from the beams destroyed me.

I was upset with him for a long while after that. The fact that he couldn’t face us and had decided to take that way out of the situation made me angry. It took time for me to heal and work through those emotions to be able to feel sad that I’d had lost my father. But I had to get over all of that suddenly when Kaitoshowed up a month after his passing, seeking Father’s legal documents.

“You don’t gotta say it. I can piece it together,” AJ said as he tugged on my arm.

I left my spot and sat beside him, resting the side of my head against his chest as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

“Well, after my father was gone, Kaito showed up at our home. He had claims to the property and was there to collect. I asked him to sit down with me, and we had a long discussion. That’s how I found out how deep Father’s debts had gone. And so I did the only thing I could to keep my sisters safe. When he offered the solution of marriage, I agreed to his terms in exchange for my family home to stay with my sisters. To my surprise and great relief, he agreed. I found myself in a yearlong commitment with him, and that end date is fast approaching.”

I traced my fingers randomly along his thigh. He kissed the side of my head, and his fingers rubbed my shoulder gently.

“Damn, baby. You must have one hell of a connection with your family to do all that for them,” he said next to my ear.

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