Hammer smiled as Lily stepped onto the mat with him and every man in the place stopped to watch them. Some of the men knew him and were probably wondering if the tall, well-built, blonde was going to be any sort of match for him. The rest probably just wanted to ogle Lily in her workout clothes.
Canvas didn’t get a lot of women through the door except for Hammer’s monthly class, and those women were all dressed in loose fitting clothing—not a tight sports bra and short shorts.
“You’re doing that just to distract me,” Lily said softly.
“What?”
“Not wearing a shirt.”
He snickered. “Take yours off, and we’ll be equal.”
She grinned. It had been a week since he’d spent the night at her house. They had seen each other twice since then, and though she still caught the occasional flash of sadness and pain, much of his fun and vibrant personality had returned.
“Maybe later. What are we going to work on today?”
“Let’s start with the throw. You remember how to do it?”
She took a set and flicked her fingers. “Come on big man and find out.”
He charged in. She grabbed his wrist, rotating her hips, transferring her weight and dragging him down. He damned near scrambled out of it before she got his arm locked, but when she did, he bellowed in pain and slapped the mat.
She let him go and rose, offering him a hand up as everyone cheered for her. She remembered what had happened the last time she’d done that, and she felt herself flood with memory.
“You’re embarrassing me,” he said with a teasing grin.
“You should have thought of that before you agreed to teach me.”
He snickered again. “Dammit. I knew this was a bad idea. Okay. Today I want to work on you breaking a chokehold. I’m telling you right now, this is going to hurt. You up for that?”
Her stomach rolled in anticipation. Nobody wanted to get hurt, but she didn’t want to be a chicken-shit either, and what Hammer was teaching her might save her life one day.
“Ready.”
“Good. We’ll go slow until you get it. Turn your back to me.” He slid his arm around her neck and locked it down, but loosely. “You grab my wrist, here,” he said, putting her hand on his arm, “then pull with everything you’ve got. That’s the distraction. Then to step forward, rolling your hips…”
An hour later, Lily threw herself down, the sudden transfer of her weight dragging Hammer down with her. She grunted hard with the impact as well as Hammer falling on her, but his hold loosened just enough that she could begin her turn.
Tucking her chin in as he’d shown her, she twisted, using her powerful legs for leverage. She cried out in effort and pain, but she felt her head slip free. She had no idea what to do then, it was the first time she’d escaped, so she threw herself away from him before he could gather her up again. She sat on the mat, panting, holding her ears to make sure she hadn’t torn them off during her getaway.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” he said with a smile before he helped her to her feet.
“Yeah. Did you let me escape that time?” she asked. So far, her only successes had come when he allowed them.
“Nope. That was all you. Next, I’ll show you what to do after you slip the hold.”
She grinned and threw her hands up in the air in triumph. It had taken several attempts, before she’d finally managed to escape his hold. A few men were still watching them, including Motor, but most had returned to their own workouts when she was failing time after time.
It was a shame they weren’t alone. She could get used to the idea of learning something new then having Hammer fuck the shit out of her as a reward. Talk about incentive!
“That’s your phone,” Motor said, jerking his head at Hammer’s bag as a happy ditty played inside.
“Take a break,” Hammer said and sauntered over to his bag. He dug around until he found his phone. “Hammer.” He listened for a moment and then turned to Lily. “I have to take this. Get a drink or something. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.” He placed the phone against his ear again. “Go,” he said and then walked away.
Lily picked up her water bottle and took a long drink then looked at Motor. “Known Hammer long?” she asked as she crossed the mat to stand in front of him, taking another hit from the bottle.
Motor smiled and nodded. “Twenty years, or there ‘bouts.”
Lily blinked, not sure she’d heard him correctly. “Did you say twenty years?”
Motor’s smile spread. “That’s right. Since he was nine or ten years old.” She blinked at him again, obviously confused. “His parents weren’t worth shit,” Motor said. “Borderline alcoholics, both of them, from what Hammer’s told me. They didn’t give a shit about him. As long as he wasn’t bothering them, they didn’t much care what he did. What do they call it when you don’t help someone but don’t really hurt them either?”
Lily thought for a moment. “Benign neglect?”
Motor snapped his fingers and then pointed a gun at Lily made from his first finger and thumb. “That’s it. I guess they made sure he had clothes and food. After that…” He shook his head. “I used to see him walking back and forth by my house. Hot, cold, rain, dark—it didn’t matter. Here was this eight or nine-year-old kid, carrying a red bag, walking. I always wondered where he was going, but I figured, it was none of my business, right? Then I happened to see him one day going into the White Tiger Dojo, and that was five fucking miles from my house. God knew how far from his.”
Lily nodded. As a cop, she knew she was going to see shit like this all the time, and it broke her heart. Some people didn’t deserve the privilege of having kids.
“I don’t know why, but it pissed me off. I was watching when he came walking back, and I followed him. Kept my distance to not scare him, but I wanted to know where he lived. He lived another couple miles on past my house. Seven miles. The kid was walking seven fucking miles each way.”
“What did you do?” she asked.
“At first I didn’t do anything. Still not my business, right? But every time I saw him walk past, it pissed me off a little more. Then one day I didn’t see him coming back. It was dark, and cold, and fuck me, I was starting to get worried. I was just about to get on my bike and go find him when I saw him coming down the street. He was limping, and bad. It ripped my guts out.”
“What had happened to him?”
“I found out later that he took a bad fall in class. It happens. Twisted his ankle.” Motor paused and smiled. “I got in my car and offered him a ride home. The little bastard wouldn’t take it. Kid was smart. I wouldn’t have hurt him, but…” He shrugged. “Two days later, there he was again, still limping, but going to class.”
He stopped, and Lily saw the faraway expression on his face. In his mind’s eye, Motor was seeing the young Joe Grimes limping along the sidewalk.
“The next day I went to the Dojo and talked to the Sensei. Found out that Hammer had gotten a six-month membership as a Christmas and birthday present, and was paying five bucks a week, his allowance, to build credit to keep it going as long as possible. He had about another month paid for, then he was going to be out.”
Lily nodded, fascinated by the tale.
“I left, but the more I thought about it, the more it bugged me. Me, the badass biker, feeling sorry for this little kid. The next day, I was there. I wasn’t allowed to watch the kids, nobody is allowed to do that, but I talked to the Sensei after Hammer left. I told him to bill me for Hammer’s classes. I also gave him a bicycle to give to Hammer the next time he came in.”
“You bought him a bicycle?”
Motor smiled. “Yeah. It was a cheap Walmart special, but even a cheap bike beats walking. The Sensei knew the score, that Hammer was walking, but he didn’t realize how far. He said he’d make sure he got the bike, and I paid for another six months of lessons on the spot.”
“You’re a good man,” Lily said, beaming as she was warming up to Motor more and more.
“I wouldn’t go that far, but any kid that dedicated to something deserved a boost. I got a thank you card in the mail from Hammer a few days later. I guess he got the address from my check. A few days after that, I heard a knock on the front door, and there was Hammer. I could tell he was scared shitless, but he told me, ‘Thank you for the bicycle and the lessons,’ and tried to hand me a five-dollar bill… the little shit.”
Motor gave a short sniff, and Lily saw the faintest watery sheen wash over his eyes. “Anyway, to make a long story short, after that, I became his jujitsu buddy. His parents couldn’t be bothered to be there on parent nights, but I tried to make every one of them. When he got a little older, he started hanging around the clubhouse, kind of like a mascot, you know? The Souls—we sort of adopted him. We paid for his classes, equipment, and trips to compete, and made sure he had a way to get there. He washed bikes and did chores around the place to earn some pocket money.”
“What did his parents say about him hanging around with a motorcycle club?” she asked. She’d almost said gang, but remembered what Hammer said and changed it at the last moment.
“He didn’t tell them. He said he was catching a ride with a friend or something.”
“And you were okay with him lying to his parents?”
“Didn’t bother me one shit,” Motor said, his tone firmer. “They didn’t give much of a shit about him, and I gave even less of a shit about them.”
She smiled at Motor. Sometimes doing the wrong thing for the right reason was the right thing to do. It sounded like Hammer was lucky enough to find someone who cared about him, even if his parents didn’t.
“Don’t believe a word he says,” Hammer said as he stepped back onto the mat, tossing his phone into his bag.
“Thanks, Mr. Blasick,” Lily said with a mischievous smile.
Motor grimaced, as if he’d tasted something bad, and shook his head. “Let’s get one thing straight right now. If you’re going to keep coming here, I’m Motor, or if you can’t manage that, Morgan. I feel old enough as it is without you making it worse by calling me Mr. Blasick.”
Lily giggled. “Okay, Motor.”
“There, that’s better.” Motor shifted his attention to Hammer. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Knife wanted to talk to me about a security gig we’re working on.” Hammer would call him later to fill him in. Once a Soul, always a Soul, and he often sought advice from the old man.
Motor nodded, visibly hearing everything he needed to. “I’ll let you two get back to it. Try not to hurt him too much, okay?” he said with a wink and a grin at Lily before he turned and walked away.
She smiled at the verbal jab at Hammer. All three of them knew he could mop the floor with her at his whim but she still enjoyed Motor’s teasing support.
“What now?” she asked.
He stepped in close. “I think that’s enough for today, don’t you? We’ll pick it up again next time.” He paused and put his lips near her ear. “Unless you want to do some grappling back at my place.”
She released a soft groan. “My place.” They didn’t have the privacy they had the last time she was here. “So I don’t have to go out again until I need to leave for work in the morning.”
He’d picked her up in his truck earlier and would’ve had to take her home anyway. He grinned at the idea of spending the night with her for the third time. Apparently, they had moved beyond the fuck and run stage.
“I have a couple of pins I want to show you,” he whispered then brushed her ear with his lips.
Lily was afraid her face was going to split with her smile. She couldn’t wait.
###
The shooter sat in his car across the street from Canvas, parked so that he could see the entrance to the gym in his rearview mirror. Even if his car was spotted, it was just another car sitting in with all the other cars parked along the street. A white Honda Accord was as near invisible as any car on the planet, which was why he’d purchased it.
Old habits die hard.
He’d been tailing the policewoman on and off for the last several days. He didn’t know her first name, but he knew her last, Donovan. He’d followed her to her apartment, then returned later and looked at the clustered mailboxes for the number of her apartment. Some names on the boxes were near impossible to read, but her box was labeled with handwritten letters that, while soft and feminine, were almost typewriter precise—LILY DONOVAN.
He was still scouting possible locations to set up for the kill, determining his escape routes and the daily comings and goings of the area. Her building was part of a large complex. He would have to choose his location carefully to avoid detection.
Grimes was hanging around more often, and that complicated his task. While taking his lover in front of him would be immensely satisfying, he had to be sure of his tactical situation. Grimes was hardened by combat, and he would know what to watch for if he witnessed the takedown.
The shooter had given up the idea of taking her at Grimes’ house. The setup was perfect, with his house on a slight rise, but at only two hundred yards, he was way too close. Grimes would know the direction of the shot and would be able to instantly pinpoint his hide. He’d have to kill him to escape, and he didn’t want to kill him. Not yet.
Not until he’d made him suffer.
He’d tailed Lily and Grimes, watching as they went to Canvas. To kill time while waiting for them to return, he searched the Internet, curious as to what they might be doing inside. He browsed Canvas’s website, his eyes flicking up often to the rearview mirror to make sure Grimes’ black F150 was still there.
On the site, he paused when the owner’s name tickled his brain. He stared at the name, Morgan Blasick, trying to tease the memory out. Then he had it and smiled. Corporal Grimes had mentioned Morgan several times in a fond way.
The shooter’s lips pulled wider, and he felt the familiar tingle in his cock. Policewoman Lily Donovan was proving to be a harder target than he’d expected, but maybe he’d found a softer target. And Donovan? She’d still be there, and he’d have her. The more difficult the kill, the greater the satisfaction in accomplishing it.