“Is self-defense class done?” I said and sat down beside Charlie.

“It is.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “How are things with Tyler?”

“Let’s not discuss it.”

“That good, eh?” Charlie laughed and lifted her hand to wave. Jenny, one of the students for the self-defense class walked up beside her. “Hey, sweetie. Want to join the pity party?”

“Um, I don’t want to interrupt.” Jenny seemed shy and distant.

I reached over and patted her hand. “There’s nothing to interrupt. I’m just bothering Sunshine.” The moment my hand made contact with her skin, she flinched.

“Jenny, you remember Zoe, the current strawweight champion.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jenny said and reached out her hand to shake mine. “It’s wonderful to officially meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“I hope all good?” I teased and took the hand she offered. “So, you up for clubbing tonight?” I turned to Charlie who was guzzling some water. “I guess you are. It looks like you are getting prepared now by making sure you’re fully hydrated?”

“Ha, ha.” Charlie rolled her eyes and stood up. “Depends. Which nightclub?”

“Noir. Why? Does it matter?”

“There’s something off about that place. I just can’t put my finger on it.”

“Oh, Noir,” Jenny said, sounding a little curious. “It was voted one of the five best nightclubs in Las Vegas.”

“See, even Jenny’s interested.”

Just then Malik, who ran the self-defense class, and Devon, a trainer, stepped up beside us. “Where’s the party tonight?” Malik said, trying to keep his eyes in my direction and not on one particular person. “Are you going out with us?” That last question was directed at Jenny.

Jenny surprised me by reaching for her towel and walking away without a word. “Guess she changed her mind,” I said and watched her disappear into the women’s locker room. “Something we said?”

“It’s me.” Malik raised his hand. “Not sure what I did but it’s become a common theme whenever I appear.”

Malik at one time was one of the best heavy weight champions. He even won a belt in two weight divisions in the same year. Now he trained younger fighters and accepted a fight ticket about every two years. I missed watching him in an octagon. His power was magical.

“Sweetie, you know she has problems at home.” Charlie patted Malik’s cheek. “Stop taking it so personally.”

Charlie’s words caught me off guard. If Jenny did in fact have personal demons, we really needed to convince her to go out with us tonight. I left the group without saying a word and made my way to the locker room. “Jenny,” I said and let the door close behind me. “You still in here?”

She peeked around the locker door that was swung open. “Um, yeah. What’s up?”

I sat down on a bench. “About the nightclub.”

“What about it?”

“Go with us tonight.”

She stuffed her workout clothes in a gym bag and sat down to tie her shoes. “I don’t know if I can.”

“What if I was having a special lady’s night? Could you go then?” I knew she had a husband who was unkind. Charlie never shared the details, but she didn’t have to either. I paused to let her think about what I was proposing.

Jenny sat up and turned toward me. “I…yeah, maybe I could.”

“Good for you. You deserve a night out.” I stood to head out. “Do you need me to pick you up?”

“No,” she said and held up her hand. “Sorry, I meant, I can drive myself but thank you.”

“Okay, see you at eight tonight.” I left the room feeling pretty proud of myself. Whatever Jenny was experiencing in her life, she still deserved to have happiness in her day. As I was walking toward the front desk, I noticed Tyler from the corner of my eye, practicing in the ring. I stopped to watch as he threw each punch. The man looked angry even behind the padded helmet. What if he wasn’t pissed off at me? Maybe I was an easy target.

An arm snaked around my waist. I turned to see who was beside me. “Lily. Hey.”

“I heard practice is better these days?” She rested her head on my shoulder.

Her words caused me to laugh. “Yeah, I guess. Your man knows his shit.”

“He’s also determined to make sure you keep that belt.”

Julian wasn’t abrasive during practice. It was hard to get used to his gentle demeanor. When I started at Fight It Out, I was immediately assigned to Tyler. The way he treated me during practice seemed odd, but I figured that was the way all the brothers trained. Then I had to work with Brooks six months ago and discovered my theory was incorrect. Now, here I was training with Julian daily and knew it was just Tyler who needed an attitude adjustment.

“Yeah? I’m fucking determined to keep it.”

“Have you talked to him?”

I glanced over at Lily and saw her eyes were locked onto Tyler as he continued to train with Devon. “What? No. He wants nothing to do with me.”

“You sure about that?” Lily sounded off, which made me curious.

“Is there something you’re holding back, Little Punisher?”

She smiled and stepped away. “Tyler is a good man. That’s all.” Then Lily blew me a kiss and walked away.

If he was a good man, he sure had a shitty way of showing it. My body was still locked in place and facing the man on my mind. I didn’t know why I didn’t walk away. What was keeping me rooted to the spot? Tyler stopped fighting and pulled out his mouth piece. He was breathing heavily as his eyes made their way toward me. It was weird—we didn’t say a word, we didn’t move, just stood there staring at each other. Then something pulled me out of the trance and without a second glance, I turned to leave the gym.

If I wasn’t the cause of his anger, why did he make me feel this way?

What was he hiding?

“Did you have a good day?” I bent to pick up Sammy, my ten-year-old cat. The new puppy, Lucky, was hopping around my feet as I made my way down the hallway of my small apartment. “Are you both getting along?” I kissed Sammy’s head and let him down. Lucky leaped forward toward Sammy. I expected my cat to hiss and bat at the sweet puppy; instead, he fell to the floor and started to roll around with Lucky. “Well, shit, look at you both.”

I stepped into my bedroom to throw off my clothes and slide into something way more comfortable. Just as my hand clasped the hem of my tank top, the phone rang. My gym bag was resting on the edge of my bed. I quickly reached into the bag and pulled out my phone “Hello.”

“Yes, is this Zoe Alanis?”

“This is she.”

“Yes, Ms. Alanis, this is the veterinarian’s office calling. You have an appointment with Dr. Barker scheduled.”

“Yes.”

“We’re rearranging the schedule and just wanted to check in with you regarding moving the appointment to an earlier time?”

My alarm bells went off. I didn’t want to pry, but I was curious if the doctor was still missing. Normally I watched a little bit of news before I went to bed, but the last few days had been off, so I had no clue what was happening in the world. “Um, that’s fine. Is everything okay?” I didn’t feel comfortable saying any more than that.

“Yes, we have a new doctor that will be taking over most of the new puppy and kitten appointments.”

“Oh, okay.” We discussed the best time for the appointment and said our goodbyes. The moment we hung up, I felt curious, like something wasn’t right. Before I threw my phone back on the bed, I pulled up the local news app to search for Dr. Barker’s name. The page finally loaded and about three stories down, I noticed the same headline, Missing Woman. The article was brief, almost as if there were still no details available.

I silently said several positive thoughts in hopes they would help the doctor in any way.

My phone rang again, knocking me out of my thoughts. I looked down at the screen and was surprised to see Charlie’s name. “Hey.”

“Hi, hon. Will you hate me if I can’t make it tonight?”

“Hate is such a strong word. Dislike maybe, but not hate.” I struggled with holding back my laugh. “No, silly. If you can’t go, it’s all good. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just exhausted.”

“Then enjoy the night relaxing. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”

“Not bright and early.”

I had set up with Julian for an afternoon training session. “Oh hell no. I need my beauty rest.”

“And a little bow-chicka-bow-wow.”

“You really didn’t just do that, did you?”

Charlie burst out laughing. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“So the skies the limit.” I sent an air kiss through the phone and hit end. It was already six, which meant I needed to start getting ready for the evening. So much for comfy clothes. A part of me wanted to stay in and eat bon bons while watching reruns of Supernatural. Then the thought of an empty house flashed in my mind, and I walked to my closet to grab the perfect dress for the evening.