“What’s that?” Charlie pointed to the bright orange shoebox by my feet.

I lifted the lid and pulled out a stack of photos. “My family. Dad pulled them out and was walking down memory lane before he died.”

She plopped down beside me. “That’s your mom. She was so beautiful.” She pointed to an image at the top of the pile in the box.

I picked it up and brushed my finger lightly down the glossy surface. “Yeah, she was.”

My dad shared with me that night in his basement several weeks ago, that he and Mom met at the gym he practiced at. This was before he even became The Punisher. Mom was a workout junkie but never took the plunge to be a competitive fighter. I think she would have been amazing; Dad agreed with me.

It was hard to believe Dad had already been gone for several months now. It felt like only days. I knew my parents were back together where they belonged, but after leaving Fight It Out, I had this urge to tell him all about my encounter with Julian Moore.

I lifted my head and glanced at Charlie. “Do you think we can believe Julian?”

“What do you mean?” she said, reaching for another picture.

“I don’t know. He just seemed too eager to want to help me,” I said, snatching the picture out of her hand. “Yet, he doesn’t know me.” The picture in my hand had a little girl, maybe five years old, in cotton shorts, a tank top, and her hands were taped up. “Oh wow, that’s me.”

“Let me see it again.” She reached over and grabbed the photo. “You were so damn cute back then. What happened to you?”

“What happened to me?” I scoffed and stood up to head into the kitchen “I got cuter.”

There was a small giggle from behind me. “So you say.”

“Whatever.” I turned and rolled my eyes. “Do you believe Julian?”

“You want me to be honest?”

“Of course.”

She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a can of sparkling water. “I agree with you. He did seem a little too eager to want to help.”

I reached down and snuck a sparkling water before she closed the door. “Yeah, exactly.” I popped the tab on the can and took two big gulps. “This got me thinking.”

“Something that always worries me.”

“Shut up.” I rolled my eyes and tried not to laugh. “Well, when I was looking through the old photos Dad had at the house, I found a gym he used to workout at; one I had never heard of either.”

“Are they still in business?”

“I’m not sure.” I walked over and sat down in a chair at the table. “I feel sleazy trying to find something wrong with Fight It Out or with Julian.”

“Then don’t.”

I scowled, feeling confused. “What do you mean?”

“Maybe it’s better to leave the past in the past.”

Charlie’s words caught me off guard. I sat there for a moment absorbing what she’d said. Maybe she was right. What if the information I found made my father look bad? Something I definitely wanted to avoid.

“I just hope if he finds out who I really am, he doesn’t kick us both out of the gym.” Turning the can around in my hand, I said, “Plus, my dad could be the asshole in this whole mystery.”

“Well,” she said, patting my thigh, “let’s hope neither one of them is the asshole.”

“Yeah,” I said while letting out a deep sigh. “The past can be an awful reminder.” I stood up and bent to kiss her cheek. “I need to find a place to store all those old photos.”

“Lily.”

I stopped in the doorway. “Yeah?”

“They both are good people. Everything will be okay.”

“I hope you’re right, C,” I said as I turned and left the room.

All I could think about was how Julian hated liars. Oh, and what if my dad had a dark past.

Better yet, I knew I was not being honest with who I really was.

Trying to be Lily Waters could be my downfall in the end.

One month later…

“Turn your body toward me,” Devon, one of my trainers, said as he worked to complete the flying scissor heel hook on me. I shifted my butt and inched over slightly. “I said your whole body, Lily.”

“I know.” I huffed. “I’m trying to move but you do have a good hold on my leg right now.”

“You need to figure this out soon. We have been working on this move for three days, and you haven’t figured out how to release yourself.”

Right when I was about to show my Irish roots and tell him where he could release himself, that deep voice that caused my insides to squirm sounded from behind me. “Devon, take a break.”

I sat up and turned to face Julian. “What if I had something I needed to share with Devon?”

“Oh, I’m guessing you have a lot you would like to share. Which is why I’m here.”

“What does that mean?”

He sat down in front of me. “Lily, you’ve been here for what, one month?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.” I scowled. “What does this have to do with freeing myself from the hold?”

“You seem to have a block. Are you okay?”

I stood up. “Okay? When did you become my counselor?”

He stood and walked closer to me. “I’m not, but I am the owner of the place, so I do have a say in some things.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Suggestions?”

“Yeah, lie down on the mat.”

“Excuse me.”

“Lily, just get down and let’s look at how you position yourself.”

One part of me wanted to call it a day; the other part of me wanted to feel Julian Moore’s body on my own. I looked over and saw Charlie leaning against the front counter. Our eyes connected, and I knew she was telling me to lie down, bitch. We had a loving relationship.

“Fine,” I said, falling to the floor and rolling onto my back.

He positioned his body next to mine and wrapped his legs around one of my legs. “I know we start in standing position, but you have that part perfect.”

I inhaled deeply, catching the scent of fresh pine and lemon. I laid my head on the mat and avoided eye contact with him.

“Lily, if I have you in a hold like this,” he said, touching my leg, “you should be able to lift your butt up and twist before I attempt to hook your heel.” He placed his hand on my butt in a motion to help me lift. “I won’t move. See if you can twist out of this hold.”

What was wrong with me? The man probably had a girlfriend or maybe even a wife. Shit.

I let out a deep sigh and attempted to lift up. Julian didn’t fight against me; instead, he wanted to let me see how the twist would feel without any resistance. As I moved toward his body, it was like an electrical pull bringing us closer together. I managed to get on my side and lift my body up with my one arm. Our faces were only inches from each other.

“Like…this?” I struggled to get the words out. Being this close to Julian was causing my words to get stuck in my throat. “Um…”

There was a hint of a smile on his face. “Yeah, like that.” He cleared his throat. “Want to try it from the beginning?”

There was a light squeeze on my behind, and I realized he still was holding me. I glanced down and looked back up. “You need to let go so I can stand up.”

“What? Oh, sorry.”

We both stood up, and I felt awkward at the moment. It was weird; I knew he wasn’t interested in me. Two days ago, I’d heard Julian and Brooks bickering in the office. Julian had said my name about ten times in a row. Each time my name fell from his lips, it was followed by “fuck” or “no, not going to happen.” I wasn’t sure what it all meant. So why did the room feel like a hundred and ten degrees at the moment?

As I stood up, Julian attempted to help me by holding out his hand. That felt awkward. Usually I would do a flip in place to get me to standing position quickly. “I’m good, thanks.”

“Sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” he said, bringing his hand closer to his body.

We attempted to follow through on each step for the position, but something felt off. “Listen, I think I get it. I’ll practice with Charlie later.” I walked over to the corner of the mat where my towel and water bottle were sitting. “That makes sense on the twist. I just wasn’t seeing the full picture before.” I rubbed my face in the towel and lifted my head. He appeared about six inches from my face. “Jesus.” I placed a hand on my chest and stepped back.

His eyes raked up and down my body. “You sure you don’t want to run over the move a few more times?”

“Yeah, I need to go.” As I stepped around him, he encircled his hand on my bicep. “Lily.”

I looked down at his hand. “Yeah?”

“I’m going to take over for Devon if that’s okay?”

I leaned back on the balls of my feet. “Why?”

“I’m worried you both are not connecting, which is putting pressure on your training.”

“Oh, okay. But why you?”

“I can get someone else if you want?”

“No, it’s okay. I thought you said you didn’t train fighters anymore?”

“Technically I don’t.”

“But.”

“I decided to make an exception.”

I scowled, trying to understand what was happening. “Any particular reason?”

He let out a small laugh. “No.”

I tapped him on the hand so he would let go of my arm. “Okay, well, when you think of one let me know.” I winked and reached for my water bottle. “I need to get home.”

“Lily.”

I was about halfway to the locker room and avoided turning in his direction. “Yeah?”

“I do have a reason.”

Turning to face him, I unscrewed the top on my water bottle and took a big gulp. “But you don’t want to share?”

“Not today.”

“Okay.”

What was he hiding?