“Oh. Yes. Um, here they are.” I twist around and lean over the counter to snatch up the papers and end up shoving them at her as I face her.
“Thanks,” she says as she takes a step back, eyeing me suspiciously.
“You sure you’re up for this, Princess? You might have to get a little dirty.” I pull out a smirk to cover up the fact that seeing her has clearly rattled me. But why is still the question I’m having trouble answering.
Suddenly the nerves I felt from her before disappear as her spine straightens and she glares at me. “Stop calling me Princess. I have a name.”
“As do I.”
“I’m aware, Javier.” My name rolls off her tongue like butter that’s been laced with a jalapeno—smooth, yet fiery, packing a punch that you don’t ever anticipate. Her acknowledgment that she in fact does know me threatens to throw me off balance again, but then I realize that Andre actually said my name earlier.
A bought of silence builds again as Andre and Selena study the interaction between Sydney and me. I can feel my sister’s eyes tracking my movements as I twist the lid off of my water bottle and bring it to my lips for a sip, never breaking eye contact with Sydney.
“Well, as much as I would love to sit here and watch you two glower at each other for an hour, this little lady is tired,” Selena interjects, cutting through the tension long enough for Sydney to turn around finally and take a seat at one of the chairs by the door to fill out her paperwork. Her eyes flip up to me for a second before she dives in and her hand flies across the paper.
“Fucking Christ.” I turn and start heading back to the break room, removing my hat, and running my fingers through my hair in frustration.
“You gonna be able to handle this?” Andre comes in behind me a moment later as I turn to face him.
“Of course.”
“Really? Because you sure as fuck don’t look like it right now?”
“Why do you say that?”
He scoffs. “Javi, I’ve known you for basically our entire lives. Say what you want, but that girl being here seemed to knock you off balance and I’m not sure why. Why does it matter if she’s training here? Did seeing her last weekend stir up some unrequited feelings you had for her back in high school or some shit?” He eyes me as I pace back in forth in front of the small futon stationed up against the wall.
I blow out an exaggerated breath. “Get fucking real, Andre. Sydney Matthews is the last woman I’d want, alright? She’s from an entirely different world than ours …”
“Meaning …”
“Meaning she doesn’t belong here.”
Andre continues to track my movements as he lifts his brow. “Seems to me like you have some very one-sided opinions about who deserves to be able to defend themselves or not.”
And with those words, my anger and shoulders drop drastically. “Shit …”
“Yeah, shit. There’s a reason she’s here, Javi. And whether you like it or not, our job is to give her skills to build her confidence. Who knows who she is now compared to when we knew her. I hired you to do a job and I expect you to do it.”
I shake my head at him before righting my hat back on my head and inhaling deeply to bring my blood pressure back to normal. I shouldn’t be this fired up at the thought of a prospective client, but I guess people like Sydney Matthews get under my skin and I don’t know how to fight that. “Fine. But I’m not going to go easy on her.”
He throws his hands up in the air. “I didn’t say that you should. But you owe her what she’s paying for and what she came here for.” He eyes the clock. “Class starts in two minutes and I’m taking off because I owe your sister a nice meal.”
“Fucker,” I mutter under my breath as I walk past him and the echo of his laugh follows me back out to the front. By now, five other women have shown up, three returning and two new ones besides Sydney. This should make for a fun class.
“Here,” Sydney says as she comes over to me and hands me the clipboard with her completed forms.
I place them on the counter and then turn back around to face the group, ignoring her completely. “Good evening, ladies. You all ready to kick some ass?”
That comment sparks some laughter from the group, but Sydney remains stoic, a side of her I don’t recall seeing in the past. You can tell she’s nervous, but I can’t be bothered to coddle her right now. I have five other women who need my attention more than the prissy princess that thinks she owns half the town.
“Alright. Let’s move into the room.” I wave my hand and guide them to the other side of the gym to a room full of mats made for throwing people down on, all the while wondering what the hell I just got myself into.
Chapter 7
Sydney
What an ass, I think as I catch myself staring across my office, lost in thought for the hundredth time today. If I keep this up, I’ll definitely have to bring more work home with me tonight.
Visions of Javier’s biceps bulging as his hands ricocheted off the punching bags at the gym seep behind my eyelids once again, blinding me from the crass attitude he showed me the rest of my first self-defense class. But the memory of his perma-scowl is etched there too, reminding me that he clearly wasn’t letting the drink spilling incident go.
Never did I think I would run into the man again, especially after I realized who he was the next morning with
