“Want a refill?” Lily pointed to my glass as she stood to head into the kitchen.

“Um, yeah, sure.” I handed my glass to her as she walked by. “I know this topic has been discussed way too much.” After the scene at the nightclub with Tyler, I couldn’t get him out of my mind. It was weird; I didn’t have feelings for him. Well, I kept telling myself that, but maybe I did and I was suppressing them.

“Let me guess. This is about Tyler?” Lily giggled and set my wine down in front of me. “What this time?”

“He was at the nightclub the other night.” I decided before this conversation started the dance scene was not up for discussion. “I caught him staring at me.”

She sat down and gasped. “Shut up. Are you serious?”

“It’s not that exciting of news. Just caught me off guard is all.”

“Not exciting?” Lily leaned forward in her chair. “Did you really just say, not exciting?”

I thought about when I noticed him looking my way. It was obvious his attention was completely on me. Then I started to doubt myself. “I did. Shit, I was on a crowded dance floor. He was probably looking at someone behind me.” I stood up to turn the TV on. Ever since the news broke about Lucky’s veterinarian who went missing, for some reason I needed to find out what happened. I didn’t know the poor woman, but we did hit on each other for a brief moment. Not that our sexual tensions made a difference regarding why she was missing.

“Zoe, Zoe, you know I love you, right?” Lily placed her hand over top of mine.

“Yes.” Now I was curious where this love conversation was going.

“Well, I pay attention. My woo factor flashes red quite frequently.”

“So is this woo shit flashing red right now?”

“Honey,” she said in this funny Southern drawl. “It’s so red it needs its own traffic stop.”

Her words caught me off guard and I burst out laughing. “I adore you.” When I first joined Fight It Out, there had been only one other woman who trained at the gym. Now there were several women who trained for future fights or took self-defense classes. “I don’t know how to reach him. He only shows anger toward me when we’re in talking distance. So at this point, if he’s interested, then he has to make the first move.”

“I like this.” Lily raised her glass toward me. “Setting the rules and playing hard to get.”

Was it hard to get, though? It felt more like I was being safe. Tyler had made it clear one too many times he disliked me. Well, I thought. Yelling at someone every chance they got was not my idea of love.

I glanced over at the TV and grabbed the remote. “Fuck. They found her.”

“Who?” Lily turned toward the TV. “Do I know her?”

The anchor on the TV: The latest news on missing woman, Amanda Barker, is not what we hoped to be reporting today. Her body was found by two men who were doing utility work in the area. We don’t have a cause of death to report at this time. If there is anyone who knows anything about this case, please contact the Crime Stopper’s number on the screen.

“This is crazy. That was Lucky’s veterinarian. I had just met her recently and then only a few days later discovered she was missing.”

“Whoa, that’s creepy.”

I didn’t know why but I had to know what happened to Amanda. A part of me knew that was a very bad idea, but curiosity was going to get the best of me. “Very creepy.”

Two weeks later…

“Zoe, hey.” Lily ran toward the front desk. “Check this out,” Lily said and handed me the paper.

“You read the newspaper?” I lifted the paper up in my hand.

“Oh hush,” she said and pointed to an article on the front page.

A large picture of Amanda took up half of the page. The headline was alarming. “What the? They are ruling her death a possible homicide.” Lily leaned over and pointed at one specific paragraph. “Shit.” I bent my head and started to read the rest of the article.

The cause of death for the missing woman who was identified as Amanda Barker was revealed by coroners today. She had no signs of sexual trauma. There were many cuts and bruises, most likely from being assaulted for several hours. The most alarming discovery was her tongue had been removed.

“Wait, her tongue was removed?” The paper fell out of my grasp and onto the floor.

“I’m a little surprised they mentioned that information publicly,” Lily said and reached down to grab the paper. “Wouldn’t that be something they would withhold from the public?”

“Only if it’s maybe a serial killer,” Andy said from behind us. He worked the front desk part-time. “Guess we can breathe.”

“A woman is dead and we are supposed to have a collective sigh of relief.” I knew my face showed every thought I had in my mind. Especially the what the fuck thought. I needed to leave, get some air. “Hey, Lils.” I turned toward my friend. “Catch you tomorrow. I need to take care of a few things.”

“But you just got here. I’m sorry if I upset you.”

I grabbed her hand. “No, you didn’t. I just forgot about an appointment I had set for today.” Without another word, I blew her a kiss and disappeared out the front door.

My mind couldn’t let go of what I had read in the paper. The poor woman had her tongue removed. What could that possibly mean? I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings and ran into something hard. When I glanced up, I immediately wished for a way to hide or run away.

“Zoe.” Tyler had his hands on my biceps. “Everything okay?”

Was he being nice? Maybe now that he didn’t have to train me, his hate had subsided. “I’m so sorry.” I stepped back and glanced at his hands still clasping my arms. “Too much on my mind.” When he finally let go, I started to walk around him. The look Tyler gave me the other night somehow decided to make an appearance in my mind and cloud my vision. “Um, I need to go.”

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, totally.” I waved off his words and quickly walked to the parking lot so I could hide in my car.

“Hey, Zoe.” I stopped and turned to face him without saying a word. “I didn’t know you could dance like that.” That’s all he said. He dropped that bombshell and left me standing on the sidewalk with my mouth dropped to the ground.

I had a habit of talking to myself. Hey, Zoe. I didn’t know you could dance like that. Really, maybe if you stopped hating me and started paying attention you would know. Before my inner monologue could continue, my phone’s ringtone took me back to reality. “Hello.”

“Will you be at the club tonight?”

I pulled the phone away from my ear. Unknown caller. Who the fuck was this? “Do I know you?”

“I feel like we know each other very well.”

“Right. Well, you’re creeping me out so I’m going to hang up.”

“Wait.”

The man sounded delicious, but I didn’t chat with strangers, and I most definitely didn’t set up dates. Instead of waiting, I hung up.

My phone buzzed with a new text. “Playing hard to get. I like it.”

Someone knocked on my car window, scaring the shit out of me. Between the phone call and this intrusion, I thought my heart was going to fall out of my chest. It was Lily standing beside my car. “Shit.” I felt out of breath as I rolled my window down. Then I used some breathing exercises to bring my heart rate back to normal. “Are you trying to freak me out?”

“No, but did I succeed?”

“You deserve an award.”

“Sorry, I got a creepy call from a guy asking for you.”

“Creepy guy?” I didn’t want to share about the text message. “How do you know he’s creepy?”

“Trust me, his voice sent chills up my spine.”

“What did he want?”

Lily leaned on the side of the car. “Didn’t say. Just asked for you and said thank you.”

“Well, at least he’s polite.” I laughed and turned my phone over so the screen was facing my leg. Sharing my text seemed premature. It was probably just some creeper who liked to freak women out. “Thanks for telling me.”

“You okay to drive home?”

“What? Of course. Plus, I have a new guard dog.”

Lily burst out laughing. “If that’s your guard dog, you’re fucked.”

I only smiled and blew her a kiss as I pulled away.

Who was trying to connect with me?

Was it the mystery guy I couldn’t get out of my mind from the other night?

I needed to go back to Noir.