Chapter 7
Roman
“Well, that was a fucking whirlwind. Jesus, when did we get so many students?”
Dante collapsed on the mat as the last student left. “I’m too old for this shit,” he wheezed.
“Well, when you decide to start a game of tag with a bunch of eight and nine-year-olds, your ass is going to be wore out,” Kellan laughed.
“Sam still watching TV?” I asked.
“He was,” Tate said as he walked out of the office, “but now he’s passed out on your coat.”
I peeked my head into the office and saw him hugging my coat with his mouth wide open as he snoozed. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and quickly snapped a photo. I sent it to Sage with the message we were on the way home.
After Sam’s first class, I tucked him into the office with a lunchable and SpongeBob on the TV. He was in Heaven. I knew he was because he had told me so. The kid was hella smart and wasn’t afraid to say whatever he was thinking. A deadly combination when he would be older, but right now, it was adorable.
“He’s a cute kid,” Dante called. “He must get it from his father because Lord knows that shit didn’t come from Sage.”
“Shh,” I hissed. “Would you shut the hell up?”
Dante threw his hands up in the air but smartly shut his mouth.
“You need help getting him to your car?” Tate asked.
“Nah, I can get him.” I wouldn’t be able to grab my bag, but I wouldn’t need it overnight, so I would just grab it in the morning. “You sure you guys don’t need anything else?”
“Go. We clean the mats tomorrow, so I just plan on shutting off the lights and getting home,” Kellan said.
I knelt down next to the couch and slid an arm under Sam. He stirred in his sleep and looked up at me with half-mast eyes. “That was awesome,” he mumbled.
A smile spread across my lips. “That’s great, little dude. It’s time to go home now. You want me to carry you, or are you good to walk?”
“Carry me,” he whispered.
“I can do that.”
He leaned up, dropping my coat, and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I lifted him up, dragging my coat as we moved up. “Let’s just get your coat on, and then we’re good to go, okay?”
He rested his head on my shoulder and sighed. “I want my blankie,” he mumbled.
Uh oh. Blankie was one thing I did not have. “Once we get home, I’ll get it for you, okay, little dude?”
“‘Kay, Mr. Roman.”
Tate walked into the office and helped put on Sam’s coat. “You did awesome today, Sam.”
Sam smiled up at him. “Thanks. That was pretty awesome.”
Tate gave him a high five, then helped zip up his coat. “See ya Thursday.”
Sam wrapped his arm around my neck again and rested his head on my shoulder. He gave a wave to Dante and Kellan, and we headed out to the car. He was out again by the time I strapped him into the seat, and I was pulling up to Sage’s apartment building in record time.
Whoever said getting kids in the car was a chore hadn’t ever seen how easy Sam was. That probably had something to do with the fact he was asleep, but I was going to take the win this time.
I maneuvered him out of the car, and headed up the stairs.
Sage really needed to look into an apartment with an elevator or live on the first floor. Lugging Sam up the stairs wasn’t an easy feat.
Her door swung open before I even had a chance to knock.
“You really wore him out.” She reached out to grab him from me, but I shook my head.
She stepped back into her apartment, sweeping her hand out. “Just take him to his room. I know he didn’t have dinner, but I don’t want to wake him up.”
“He ate while I was teaching the other classes. He should be good to go for the night.”
I laid him on his bed, slipped off his shoes, and tucked the covers over him.
“Weird question,” she whispered. “Do you know the last time he went to the bathroom?”
I backed out of his bedroom, and Sage pulled the door halfway shut. “Um, I saw him make a dash to the bathroom halfway through my last class. So probably half an hour ago.”
“He should be good for a bit, but I’ll have to wake him before I go to bed.”
My gaze traveled over her body, taking in her tattered and worn sweatpants, along with her white t-shirt that hung loosely on her body. “Um, do you have time to talk, or were you getting ready for bed?”
Her eyes rolled, and she spun around to head down the hallway. “It’s seven-thirty, Roman. I’m not ninety years old.”
I followed her retreating back into the kitchen where she opened the fridge. “Sorry. I know you’ve been tired lately.”
“Tired, yes. But I know if I fall asleep too early, then I’ll be awake at two a.m. ready to start my day.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Did you have dinner?”
“Uh, well no. I was busy before I picked up Sam, and I didn’t really have a chance to breathe during class.”
She nodded her head. “I haven’t eaten yet either. I had four cookies before I left work.”
“Four?”
A laugh bubbled from her lips. “I told myself I ate them so Dante couldn’t have any, but if I’m truthful, it was because they were my favorite. Soft, chewy, molasses cookies. Molly only makes them around Thanksgiving.” She grabbed an armful of things from the fridge and dumped them on the counter.
“You need help?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I’ve got making ham and pickle sandwiches down to an art at this point.”
“Ham and pickle?” I asked.
“Yup,” she laughed, popping the p. “The guy at the deli sees me coming and starts shaving the meat before I even get to the counter.” She grabbed the loaf of bread that was next to her and laid out four slices of bread. “You want two or just one really thick one?”
Ham and pickle wasn’t my first choice for a sandwich, but I had to admit, it didn’t sound unappealing. “Stack it high.”
“Grab the chips from the cabinet behind you, and I’ll meet you in the living room.”
I opened the cabinet and found five different kinds of chips and grabbed the first open bag I saw.
“So he did good tonight?” she asked from the kitchen.
“Yeah,” I replied, sitting down on the couch. “He’s a good listener, and he got along well with the other kids.”
Her laughed drifted from the kitchen. “That is one thing I had never had a problem with when it came to Sam. He makes friends wherever he goes. He’s four years old and has more friends than I do.”
That, I could believe. He was a little talker who didn’t stop when he was on a roll. I thought for sure we were going to have a problem, but he knew when it was time to talk and when it was time to listen. “The girls like him, too,” I laughed. That was another thing with Sam, it didn’t matter if it was a boy or girl, he was going to talk to them.
“I’m not hearing that,” she called. “He’s four years old. He can start talking and caring about girls when he’s thirty-five.”
Thirty-five? Sage was crazy. “That means I shouldn’t be here right now. I’m twenty-seven.”
She walked out of the kitchen carrying two plates and set them down on the coffee table in front of me. “Thirty-five is for Sam. I’m pretty sure you are a lost cause.”
I grabbed the bigger of the two plates and pulled it to me. “Yeah. I think I was fourteen when I had my first kiss.”
She plopped down next to me and opened the bag of chips. “I’m really not surprised.”
“Am I supposed to be offended?”
She shrugged and took a huge bite of her sandwich.
“I’m gonna not be offended.”
“Good choice,” she mumbled around a mouthful.
We ate in silence for a few minutes until she grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. “I’d ask you what you want to watch, but I’ve been in the mood to watch Christmas movies all day, so you’re going to have to deal with it.”
“It’s not even Thanksgiving yet,” I insisted.
“Doesn’t matter. I love this time of year, and as soon as the Christmas movies start playing on the Hallmark channel, I’m all over them.”
She flipped the channels ‘til she landed on some cheesy movie, and I sighed. “Next you’re going to tell me you put your tree up before it’s even December.”
A huge grin spread across her lips. “Black Friday shopping with Sam, and then we spend the rest of the day putting up the tree. It’s our tradition.”
“Crazy,” I mumbled under my breath. I wasn’t a Scrooge, but I believed you should at least wait until December to put the tree up. Otherwise, you got sick of it before it was even Christmas day.
I finished off my sandwich and grabbed a couple of chips out of the bag. “So, I got a letter in the mail today.”
“Um, okay,” she giggled.
I sat back on the couch and kicked my feet out in front of me. “It was an offer from SKW.”
“Am I supposed to know who or what that is?”
Of course not. Sometimes I forgot most people didn’t know or follow karate like I did. “Sport Karate Weapons. They are the largest weapon manufacturers in the sport.”
“Wow, that’s great, Roman. Although, I don’t know why you are telling me this.”
I cleared my throat and just dove right in. “They offered to sponsor me on the circuit this upcoming year. I would have to compete at all of the big tournaments, and SKW would pay all my entry fees, boarding, and also pay me on top of it. I would have to train constantly and be gone a lot on the weekends.”
“Oh,” she whispered. She understood what I was getting at. “It sounds like an amazing offer.”
“It is, but it also means I won’t be here.”
“So you’re, like, moving?”
“No, not at all,” I reassured her. “It means I’ll just be traveling. A lot. On top of the tournaments, I’ll have endorsements and other things to do to fulfill my commitment to SKW.”
“So how often would you be gone?”
“At the least one weekend a month, but I know there are going to be months when the season picks up I’ll probably only be around one weekend a month.”
She silently nodded and took a small bite of her sandwich.
“I know I told you before I was going to be here whenever you needed me, and now I could possibly be gone more than I’m around.”
She looked up at me with a sad smile on her face. “This sounds like an amazing opportunity for you, Roman.”
“It is, and it’s also amazing for Powerhouse because SKW wants me to wear my regular uniform, just with a few patches added to it. This could be the thing that puts Powerhouse on the map finally.”
“Then I don’t know why you’re thinking about it. You need to do this.”
“But what if something happens with the baby, and I’m not here?”
“If you mean my doctor appointments, I’ll just schedule them around you. It’s not that big of a deal. Once I get to the end of my pregnancy, I go more frequently, but right now, it’s only once a month.”
“I’ll still take Sam to class, and if I happen not to be here, Kellan said he can pick him up and drop him off.”
She pushed her half-eaten sandwich away and sat back on the couch. “You need to do what’s best for you, Roman, and I think this sounds like an amazing opportunity for you. I assume they don’t hand out endorsements to just anyone who does karate, right?” I shook my head. This was a big deal. “Then you’re doing it. Don’t worry about the baby or me.”
That was exactly what I didn’t want to hear. I knew Sage already thought I was some cocky asshole who only thought about himself, and me taking this endorsement wasn’t going to help change the way she thought. “I’m always going to worry about you and the baby, Sage.”
She waved her hand at me. “You know what I meant, Roman. I’ve made it this far by myself with Sam. I’m pretty capable.”
Again, not what I meant. “You’re not hearing what I’m trying to say.”
“Um, yes I am. You wanted to run it by me, and you did. I say go for it. I know nothing about karate, but I know basics of things. Being offered a sponsorship is a big deal. You’re stupid not to take it.”
“This is not how I expected this conversation going.”
“Did you expect me to beg you stay? You’re still gonna be here, just not on the weekends sometimes, right?” I nodded my head. “And you’re gonna be making more money and growing the Powerhouse name, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Call ‘em, sign the papers, do whatever you need to do. Be a badass ninja, and take all the money they throw at you.”
I sat back and looked at Sage. “You literally just blew my mind.”
“Because I tend to be level-headed and not think like one of the bimbos you date?”
“I don’t date.” I didn’t.
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “Sure.”
“I don’t,” I insisted.
“Look, you can call it whatever you want, Roman. But I can tell you I’m not like the girls you…do whatever with.”
I sat forward and turned my body towards her. “I don’t know exactly what you think of me, but I can tell, you’re probably wrong.”
A smug smile spread across her lips. “So you mean to tell me you don’t have a list of different types of women you wanted to sleep with?”
How in the bloody hell did she know about that? “That was when I was younger.”
“You’re twenty-seven, Roman. That’s young.”
“No, I mean when I was twenty and on the circuit.”
“So you’re saying you had a list of women you wanted to sleep with because you were on the circuit.”
“Yes.”
“And you just told me five minutes ago you were going back on the circuit. So, does that mean you need to make a new list, or you’re just going to redo the one you finished?”
Son of a bitch. “First off, I want to know how you found out about that list. Second, I’ll have you know, I just finished that list.” So, ha.
Her eyebrows rose. “Oh, is that so?”
Oh fuck. What hole did I just dig? “Well, not just finished.”
“It’s good to see you really didn’t waste any time after we were together. You must have just texted me because you were bored, yeah?”
Double fuck.
She tucked her legs underneath herself and wrapped her arms around her middle. She was retreating, and I didn’t fucking like it.
“That was in the past, Sage.”
She nodded her head slowly. “You’re right. That is in the past, just like you and I.”
“Wait, what? I meant the list was in the past.”
“You know, I really shouldn’t ask, but I need to know what exactly was on that list.”
Everything inside me screamed to keep my mouth shut. No matter what I would say, she was going to spin it to make me look like an asshole. “We’re not going to talk about this.”
“Oh, but I think we are. I can just guess a couple of them. Blonde? Brunette? Redhead?
Yes, yes, and yes. I kept my lips sealed.
“But there had to be some more creative ones on there, right? Cheerleader? Nerd?”
This was torture. “I’m not sure what the point of this is.”
“But what could be the final one that took you so long to find?” She tapped her chin, and her eyes traveled over me. “Unless I was the last piece to the puzzle.”
I swallowed, my Adam’s apple bobbing hard. “This isn’t going to fix anything, Sage.”
“What is something different about me that put me on the list? I’m brunette, but I’m sure you scratched that one off your list right off the bat.”
“Maybe I should go wake Sam up and see if he has to go to the bathroom.” I would walk through a pit full of snakes to avoid this conversation.
Her mouth dropped, and she sat forward. “That’s it. That is how I was on the list. I’m a mom.”
I knew where Sam got his smarts from. It didn’t take her long to figure that one out. “I didn’t know you were a mom when we were together, Sage.”
“But that doesn’t change the fact I was on your list. You found out after I was a mom, and your list was complete.”
She was right. Again. She was like a dog with a bone, not letting this drop. “What movie did you chose to watch?” Distract, distract, distract.
“Mistletoe Jingle. I’m not mad at you, by the way. Just like I was rational about you going back on the circuit, I also understand I can’t be upset about something that happened before I even met you. Well, except for me scratching the last thing off your list. That’s a little perturbing.”
Perturbing. I wasn’t sure if that was better or worse than being pissed. “It’s nothing, Sage.”
She sat back, settling on the couch. “If you say so,” she mumbled. “Are you really going to stick around and watch this with me?”
I glanced at her. “Am I welcome to stay, or are you still perturbed?”
“I suppose you can stay. But you can’t complain about what we’re watching. This is cheesy as hell, but I love it.”
I held up my hands and sat back on the couch. “You’re not going to hear a word from me.”
She turned up the volume on the TV and grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch. “Good. If you’re lucky, we’ll have ice cream in a little bit.”
“You do know I’m not a kid, right?”
Her eyes roamed over my body. “Trust me, I fully know you are not a child.”
“Try to remember that, babe.”
Her eyes connected with mine, and she smiled. “It’s hard to forget.”
Well, that was promising. For a second there, I thought she was going to try and rip my dick off.
Thank God Sage was level-headed. Although it had been touch and go there for a little bit. I just needed to figure out a way to get on her good side.
And stay there.
*