Kyle's Return (13 page)

I rolled my eyes and pointed to the ring. “Tyler’s
going to start coaching and he had an enormous response from young
men wanting to hire him. Knowing he can’t train them all, he
decided to have an audition of sorts.”

Kyle kept his gaze on Tyler. “I see. It’s a shame he
can’t accept them all. I think everyone should get a chance.”

“I mentioned to him about you coaching. Is that
something you’d be interested in?”

His attention snapped back to me. “You said that to
him?”

I nodded. “I did, along with telling him about me and
you. I can’t say he’s happy, but at least he didn’t completely lose
his shit.”

“Hopefully he won’t try to kill me before the day is
over.”

“I give you a seventy percent chance of making it.
It’s not as dire as you’d think. Although he did make the comment
that he was surprised you were still talking to me after spending
the weekend together. Apparently, your habit of hitting it and
quitting it precedes you.”

“Well, then I guess it’s going to be fun to prove him
wrong.”

It was almost time for our self-defense class, but
the phone caught me before I could get up. Kyle nodded toward the
weight bench and I waved for him to go. “Rushing’s Gym and Fitness,
this is Megan, how can I help you?”

“Hello, Megan. How are you?” a deep voice
replied.

“I’m fine, how are you?”

“Doing well. I wanted to call about your membership
fees. I was interested in joining a gym, but I wanted to see if I
can afford it.”

Grabbing our portfolio with all of our prices, I went
down the line and explained to him the different options. Sometimes
I wished I could say
look it up online
, but not everyone had
the internet.

“Which package do you like, the big one I’d bet.”

I rolled my eyes. “I would probably sign up for the
six month contract. You save more money and it doesn’t lock you in
for a full year.”

“I have to say, you have a lovely voice, Megan. Do
you work there every day?” His voice gave me the chills and not in
a good way.

“Not every day, but when I am I work closely with the
owner, Tyler Rushing. He’s always here to oversee everything.”

“Are you a personal trainer?” he asked with a slight
moan. “I’d love to work one on one with someone.”

“Sorry, but no.” I stood impatiently, hoping the
conversation was close to ending. The way he breathed sounded like
he was enjoying more than the conversation. “I hope you find the
prices satisfactory and we’d love to have you join us. Is there
anything else I can help you with?”

“Yes, but you’re not here to receive it,” he grunted,
his breaths coming out in rapid pants.

Taken aback, I slammed the phone down on the
receiver, shocked. Was he seriously jerking off while on the phone?
Sick bastard.

“Meg, you okay?” Tyler asked.

I looked down at the phone and then up to him.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I had the weirdest conversation. I think
the guy was jerking off while on the phone with me.”

His eyes darkened. “Are you fucking kidding me? Next
time you get a call like that hang up the damn phone.”

“It didn’t start out like that at first. He asked
what our prices were and I went through the whole spiel with him.
Then he said I had a nice voice and all that shit. That’s when
things started getting strange.”

“What the fuck is wrong with people? Has that
happened before?” I shook my head. Kyle glanced up at me, his brows
furrowed. “If you ever get a call like that again, throw something
at me to get my attention and I’ll handle it. I’m not going to put
up with that shit.”

“I will. I just hope the perv doesn’t try to come in
here. Maybe it was just a sick prank.”

“Could be, but if not, I don’t want that fucker here
creeping on you.”

My spine tingled with the thought. To change the
subject, I showed him my list with all of his audition names on it.
“On to more important matters, I wrote down who I thought you would
choose. They all worked really well with you.”

He chuckled and glanced at the list. “They did,
especially these two.” He pointed them out. “It was a great group
of boys that came in. I just wish I had the time to work with them
all.”

“Have you decided who you liked best?”

“Not yet. I need to think on it. I told them all to
give me a couple of weeks until after I’m back in town.”

That made sense. Sherry walked in, followed by a few
of the other ladies in my class and they all waved, blushing when
Tyler waved back. Instead of coming to the desk, Sherry found Kyle
and flirted with him. Tyler noticed the interaction and chuckled.
“I have to say I’m glad Ms. Sherry’s focused on someone other than
me.”

Kyle beamed at Sherry and she ate it up. “I think he
enjoys it. It’s not like anyone else here is friendly toward
him.”

Tyler stiffened and sighed, glancing over at Kyle.
“Yeah, I guess. Now stop blabbing and get ready for your class.
I’ll be watching.”

“Thank you.” I smiled and rushed down to save Kyle
from Sherry’s clutches. Hopefully, he could do something to
convince Tyler tonight
.

***

“EVERYTHING OKAY?” I asked, pulling Megan into
my side.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It looked like your
conversation with Rushing was a little heated. I could only assume
it was about me.” Stretch time was almost over, leaving us with
only a few spare minutes left.

“No, it wasn’t about you, I promise. I just had some
douche call and say some messed up shit. Gotta love prank
calls.”

“Are you sure that’s all it was?”

She grabbed my hands and smiled. “Yes, now focus.
It’s time to get our class started. I’m letting you take the lead
tonight.”

“Then don’t go anywhere because you’re my partner. I
want to demonstrate on you first.” Nodding, she stood off to the
side while I walked into the center of the room. There were ten
women, all of various sizes. When I looked at them, all I could see
was Kacey with her wrists cut from the cable ties Liam had put
around them. If I’d have known what was happening to her, I
would’ve killed him that night. Looking around the room, any one of
them could’ve been a victim of such a crime. For all I knew, some
of them probably were.

“All right, let’s get started. First, I’m going to
show you some moves with the help of Megan. Then, you can all
practice on me.” They all regarded me seriously, including Sherry
who had a determined look on her face even though she was dressed
like a purple fairy. She didn’t hit like a fairy though.

Megan joined me in the center of the room and waited
on me to begin. We showed the women several techniques on how to
defend yourself if an attacker came at you from behind. I had a
strange feeling the tops of my feet were going to be bruised for
days to come, after every single one of them jammed their heels
into me.

When class was over, they all thanked me, including
Sherry who wrapped her arms around me, squeezing tight. “Thank you
for a good lesson tonight, sweetheart. Will you be here next week?”
She let me go and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Yes ma’am. I’m not going to let you all get rid of
me that easily. I just might not be able to walk after
tonight.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have let us beat up on you,
silly.”

“Don’t worry, I’m used to it. Besides, I’d rather you
beat up on me than Megan.”

Megan said goodbye to the other women and joined us.
Sherry hugged her and kissed her cheek. “You got a good one here,
honey. Don’t let him get away from you.”

She winked up at me and smiled. “I don’t plan on it,
just as long as he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Sherry reached up and patted my cheek like I was a
little boy. “He won’t, child. I think you’ve got a keeper
here.”

Humoring her, I grinned and winked over at Megan. “Do
you need us to walk you out to your car?” I offered.

“No, dear. I’m a grown woman. If someone tries to
mess with me, I’ll just do what you taught me and kick their
behind.” Starting for the door, she waved her hand in the air and
disappeared around the corner.

“Love her heart, she’s the sweetest woman,” Megan
laughed. “She sure does love you, doesn’t she?”

I brushed off my shoulders. “What can I say? It’s
part of my charm.”

Rolling her eyes, she kneeled down to tie her shoes.
“Part of your big head is more like it. You did great tonight. At
first, you kind of zoned out for a bit. What was going through your
mind?”

I sat down on the floor beside her and sighed.
“Honestly? When I looked at those women tonight, all I could see
was my sister. It made me wonder if any of them had been in a
situation similar, or even worse. You know, I never thought Liam
would hurt her. It’s been eating away at me for over two years. He
knew
I would kill any fucker who ever messed with her, and
yet he went ahead and assaulted her. If it hadn’t been for Rushing
. . .”

Megan grabbed my hand and squeezed, her gaze sad.
“What would you have done if you’d known? Would you have stayed and
fought just to get the title?”

“No,” I growled. “I would have given it all away, the
title, everything, just to keep her safe. I may be a complete dick
who never gave a shit about anyone other than myself, but I love my
sister. I would’ve done anything for her. After she left
California, I know she struggled to keep her and my grandmother
afloat. I sent her money every month, but she never cashed the
checks. I didn’t know what else to do so I kept sending them. My
selfishness made me lose the only family I had left.”

“Not for much longer,” she whispered, her lip
quivering. “We’ll get your family back.”

Clearing his throat, Tyler entered the room, his
expression guarded. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Megan gasped and let go of my hand, placing it over
her chest. “What the hell, Tyler, it’s not cool to sneak up on
people.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he kept his stony
gaze on mine. “Megan, do you mind giving me a minute with
Andrews?”

Sighing, she met my gaze before getting to her feet.
“I’ll be at my desk, okay?”

I nodded and watched her walk out of the room. Taking
a deep breath, I stood and waited for Rushing to speak.

He made sure Megan was out of earshot before
beginning. “I take it you had no clue I was watching you
tonight?”

What the fuck?
I shook my head and he
chuckled.

“I can see that now. I had a feeling Megan would tell
you. It was her idea.”

“For you to spy on me? Why would she ask you to do
that?”

Tyler moved closer and the tension between us was
still there, but it was lessening. “Because she wanted me to
witness how you’ve changed. She said I wasn’t giving you a fair
shot. Either she’s right or you’re putting on one hell of an act.
Which one is it?”

“I’m not pretending shit. This is who I am.”

“What about the stuff you said about Kacey?”

Closing the distance between us, I stared straight
into his eyes. “Believe it or not, that is the truth. She’s my
sister.”

He narrowed his eyes, studying me. “I think I might
actually believe you. This may put you in a better position, but I
can’t make Kacey forgive you.”

“I just have to believe someday she will. Megan’s
been giving me hope.”

“I’m sure she has.” He looked guarded again. “You do
know that if you hurt her, I will personally come after you.
Megan’s been through too much as it is, and the last thing she
needs is you fucking up her life.”

I held up my hand, stopping him. “I know all of that.
She told me about her ex.”

His eyes went wide. “She told you?”

“Yes, so you can keep your threats to yourself. I’m
not going to fuck with her like that.”