TKO

RONNIE

~“Baby, every day you’re training to get the gold,”~

~That’s why your body’s crazy,”~

~But you can’t run from yourself, that’s where it’s difficult,”~

~Girl, I can see in your eyes that there’s something inside that made you evil,”~

~Where did you go? ’Cause it just ain’t fair,”~

~Over here thinking ’bout the shit you say,”~

~Don’t know why it gets to me…”~

~– Justin Timberlake~

***

Once I was out of the hospital, the first thing I did was arrange a meeting with Jax.

Throughout my hospital stay, Jax was a no-show. Frey was my constant companion, keeping Jax at bay whenever he tried to visit. Oliver did the same.

I appreciated their support, but I knew I had to confront Jax one last time. I needed to quit.

When I told Frey my plan, he insisted I bring a friend along. So, there I was, standing outside Jax’s office with Lucy by my side.

Lucy, along with my other friends, had visited me in the hospital. I’d shared with her some of the things that had happened between Jax and me.

Unlike Oliver, Lucy agreed with my decision to quit. She was more than willing to accompany me when I asked her to.

Now, we were standing outside Jax’s office, and I was about to confront him after everything he’d done—and almost done—to me.

“Want me to knock for you?” Lucy asked, her voice gentle.

“No,” I replied, standing tall. “I can do it.”

I was Ronnie, and Ronnie wasn’t scared of Jax.

“Alright then,” Lucy said, “go ahead.”

So, I did. I knocked on the door once, twice, three times.

After a moment, a gruff voice said, “Come in.”

Lucy gave me an encouraging smile and opened the door. We both stepped inside, stopping a safe distance from the desk.

Jax Cole was sitting there, as handsome as ever.

But this time, there were no butterflies in my stomach, no electric charge in the air, no sparks flying when his midnight-blue eyes met mine.

All I felt was a hollow sadness, mourning what could have been, what he had destroyed, and everything we’d messed up in our non-relationship.

Jax looked shocked to see me. His eyes were wide, filled with longing and pain. He rose from his chair, and I stood a little taller.

“Veronica,” he said, and I felt a shiver at the sound of my full name, a name that carried so many demons it was almost unbearable.

“Jax,” I replied, realizing we were using our first names, not our surnames like before. It made me feel even sadder.

“How…” Jax swallowed. “How are you?”

“Good,” I replied, and it was the truth.

“You look…” he said, his gaze on my hair. “This haircut suits you.”

He didn’t sound sincere.

I didn’t care. I liked it, and that was what mattered.

“Thank you,” I said, nonetheless. “I came here for a reason.”

I was supposed to be on sick leave right now. Again.

Jax looked confused.

“What reason?” he asked, moving from behind his desk.

Lucy tensed beside me.

“Stay right where you are, buddy,” she warned, her green eyes fixed on my ex-almost-lover-turned-assaulter.

Jax scowled at Lucy, clearly annoyed. “What are you doing here, Miss Danvers?”

She squeezed my hand.

“I’m here to support the girl you assaulted,” she said, her expression dark.

“Lucy, stop,” I said, turning to look at Jax, whose face was filled with regret. I felt a pang of pity.

“Jax,” I said, drawing his attention back to me. “I quit.”

If Jax were a dragon, he would have breathed fire right then.

“What?” he asked, his voice filled with disbelief and despair. “Why?”

“You really need to ask?” I replied, unable to hide my surprise. “My being here isn’t good for either of us. I need to leave. You can find someone else to replace me, but I can’t stay here. I just can’t.”

“It’s only fair,” Lucy added when Jax opened his mouth, likely to argue.

He closed his mouth with a snap.

“Listen, Jax,” I said, my voice steady, “it’s personal, sure, but it’s not just your fault. I don’t get along with most of my coworkers.”

“The job pays well, but I never dreamed of being a translator. I need to do this for myself, for my sanity, and I think for your sanity as well.”

“I’m not insane,” he growled. “I’m sorry for what happened. I was drunk. I was stupid. I wasn’t thinking clearly–”

“No, Jax, that’s where you’re wrong,” I interrupted. “You knew exactly what you were doing.”

“You fully intended to violate me. You didn’t listen when I said ~no~, you didn’t care when I was scared and terrified of what you might do to me, while I was tied up.”

“I can forgive you for this, but not if you make excuses for what happened.”

My gaze hardened on him. “I’m not about to hold a grudge against you. I’ve been through a ton of crap.”

“Sure, this wasn’t a picnic, but working here, with you as my boss, with you having this unreasonable attachment to me, I can’t do it.”

“You’ll lose your mind again, and maybe next time I won’t be able to stop you from doing what you wanted to do back then.”

“So no, Jax, I’m not sticking around, constantly worried that you’ll pounce on me whenever or wherever. I’m done with this, and your role in my life is finished.”

“I don’t want anything to do with you. You really don’t want anything to do with me. It ended that time I broke down after you fingered me in your office. I can’t have you, and in return, you can’t have me.”

“So, take this rejection, stop seeing me as a challenge, and find some other woman to bother.” I paused, giving him my iciest stare.

“I heard there was a nice lady before I came into the picture. Josephine Galloway was—and still is—smitten with you. You should move on to her. She’d love to be molested by you, trust me.”

I turned my back to him, quickly glancing at Lucy to see her shocked expression. Some of what I’d just said she probably didn’t know or even suspect.

“I quit both this job and you. Stop calling me and stop texting me.” He’d been doing it for the past two weeks. “Stop trying to connect with me.”

“I’m done, and I certainly don’t need you in my life. So for once, listen to me, and stop bothering me, or I swear to God, I’ll get a restraining order against you.”

After I said all that, I stormed out of Jax’s office, Lucy trailing behind me.

“Wow, Ronnie,” she said, sounding a bit dazed. “I didn’t expect you to explode like that.”

“It was necessary,” I said and turned to look at my red-haired friend.

“I couldn’t have him chasing after me anymore. It would only push him further off the edge, and I don’t want to be responsible for a crazy man. He had to hear it all, straight up and clear.”

She nodded and sighed. “He looked really hurt, though.”

“As if I give a damn,” I said, snorting at the thought. “He can be hurt all he wants. I’m done with him.”

Lucy walked with me to the elevator.

“So, you’re really leaving, then,” she said, looking a bit sad now.

I gave her a small smile and took her hands in mine.

“I’d love to still be your friend, if you want me to,” I said softly. “The way you stood up for me today… It means a lot.”

She smiled back. “I want us to stay friends.”

“Good,” I said and chuckled. “Then we’ll keep in touch.”

She pulled me into a hug. “We will.”

After that, I stood outside the skyscraper that was Wynntec & Co’s headquarters and thought back to my first day there.

How Jax and I kissed in his office, how I became friends with Jo, Erin, and Lucy, how I saw Hailey for the first time since high school.

I’d liked Jax back then, and I knew that if he had given me some time, I would’ve come around. I would’ve wanted to be with him. I would’ve probably been deep in a relationship with him by now.

But that was just a “what if.” In reality, Jax and I weren’t a good match. He’d been too much for me, and I was too much for him to handle. It was doomed from the start.

Feeling nostalgic, I drove to the dojo. I had a lesson with Frey now, and I really wanted to talk to him about everything.

When I arrived, there was a class going on in the dojo.

The same Japanese teacher I’d seen when I came running to Frey after I ran away from the hospital about a month ago was there, teaching Karate to a group of adorable boys.

He looked at me, surprised when he recognized me, and I smiled apologetically.

“Is Frey in his office?” I asked.

The teacher seemed wary of me.

“He’s in the backroom,” he told me. The young boys were looking at me with curious eyes.

“Thank you,” I said, smiled at the kids, and went to the backroom, where Frey was.

When I entered the room, Frey was in the middle of doing some martial-arts routine barefoot on the mat.

I stood there quietly for a few moments, just watching him.

He was seriously strong and solid and also handsome in a completely masculine way.

His thick mohawk glistened from the spray that probably held it up so well, his haunting purplish-gray eyes were striking as he concentrated, and his impressively built body moved, looking almost sensual.

He was dressed in a tight tank top that emphasized every delicious-looking muscle in his chest and abdomen, and his sweatpants hung low, almost showing that sexy V of his lower torso.

An unexpected heat flared in the most intimate part of my body, which made my breathing hitch, my eyes widen, and my cheeks flush.

Okay, I did not expect to feel that way just by watching a man looking all hot and sweaty. Especially not the heat part.

Hearing me, Frey stopped mid-move and turned to look at me.

He grinned and said, “Didn’t see you there, Rons.”

My blush deepened at the nickname.

“I didn’t want to interrupt,” I said, my voice way too husky. I cleared my throat. “You seemed to be enjoying yourself.”

“That’s because what I just did was Krav Maga,” he said, grinning as he motioned me to enter the room and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off his face. “Since I mastered it, it’s my favorite, right along with Karate.”

“Got it,” I replied, trying to keep my gaze from following a bead of sweat as it trickled down his neck. I mentally scolded myself to stay focused. “So, are we doing Krav Maga today?”

“Absolutely,” he responded, winking at me before tossing another towel my way. “Get changed into your workout gear.”

Once I’d slipped into my Aladdin-style pants, a snug tank top, and sneakers, Frey directed, “Leave your stuff here. We’re training outside.”

He led us to a taller hill adjacent to the one where my father was buried. At the summit of this hill, a large tree provided shelter from the weak winter sun.

“Take off your shoes,” Frey instructed once we’d settled under the tree. I complied. “Good, now stand in front of me.”

Once we were facing each other, Frey began, “Let’s start with a brief overview of what Krav Maga is.”

“Shoot,” I said, ready to listen.

“Krav Maga is a self-defense system developed for the Israeli military. It’s a blend of techniques from boxing, Judo, wrestling, and more,” he explained.

“It’s known for its focus on real-world situations and its incredibly efficient and brutal counter-attacks. It was created by Hungarian-Israeli martial artist, Imi Lichtenfeld, who used his boxing and wrestling training to defend the Jewish quarter against fascist groups in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in the mid-to-late 1930s.”

“After moving to Israel, he began teaching combat training to what would become the IDF—Israeli Defense Forces—who further developed the system into what we now know as Krav Maga.”

He looked like he was about to launch into a full history lesson, so I cut him off, “You had me at ~efficient and brutal counter-attacks~.”

He smiled. “Alright then, ready to get started?”

“Absolutely,” I replied, a small grin playing on my lips. I had some pent-up energy to burn off, and what better way than trying to take down my mentor in Krav Maga?

Frey began teaching me self-defense techniques specifically designed for women. At first, it was challenging, but I managed to break free from his hold several times, thanks to his excellent instruction.

Deciding I was ready for more, he announced, “We’re going to try another technique.”

I was slightly out of breath from the exertion, but the adrenaline rush was invigorating.

“Bring it on,” I said, grinning.

Throughout the lesson, I imagined Frey as Jax, which made hitting him even more satisfying.

“You’re sounding rather bloodthirsty,” he commented, amused. “Did something happen today?”

He knew I’d quit my job and was probably curious about how it went.

“Let’s finish the workout first,” I suggested, stretching my arms. “We can talk later.”

Frey grinned. “A woman after my own heart.”

Suddenly, he moved so quickly he was a blur. The next thing I knew, I was pinned against the tree trunk, with Frey pressing against me from behind.

His large, warm hand gripped the back of my neck, while his other hand held my wrists together behind my back.

His legs were flush against mine, his body molded to my back.

Suddenly, I found it hard to breathe, and not because he was choking me. He was so close, I could feel his steady heartbeat against my back.

He towered over me, but his face was near mine, and I could feel his breath on my cheek. A wave of heat surged through me, stronger than before, and my mind became a foggy mess.

I was acutely aware of his skin against mine, of my butt brushing against his middle, of his broad, muscular chest, so hot it seared my back. Every part of me tensed as I realized what was happening.

I was turned on by my mentor.

“Now,” Frey said, his voice sounding a touch deeper than before, though I couldn’t be sure. “How do you escape from this?”

The last thing I wanted to do was break free from his hold. In fact, I had to admit, I wanted him to press even closer.

As if reading my thoughts—which were more pleasure than punishment—he tightened his grip on my neck and wrists. “Answer me.”

“I…” I tried to respond, but unintentionally wriggled a bit, pressing myself even closer to him.

A gasp escaped my lips as a wave of warmth spread across my skin, turning me into a bundle of hypersensitive nerves.

“I… have no idea,” I managed to stammer out.

“Think,” he said, his voice a whisper in my ear.

A shiver ran through me before I could stop it.

“I…” How was any woman supposed to think in this position? How could anyone concentrate with such a hot, gorgeous man pressed so tightly against her?

Suddenly, desire tore through me.

I wanted Frey’s hands to explore me, to touch me where I ached the most.

I wanted him to kiss my neck while his strong arms held me close.

I wanted him to take me from behind, to fuck me until there was nothing left—

~What are you thinking?~ a voice in my head interrupted my thoughts before they could wander any further.

~Frey’s your mentor! He’s not a toy, not a fling. You still need to get over Jax. You can’t start falling for someone else!~

Oh no.

Oh no, no, no.

I wasn’t falling for Frey. It was just lust. It had been a while, after all, and my time with Jax didn’t really count. Neither did Vadim. I just needed to get laid, that was all.

I was a grown woman, after all. But even so, I shouldn’t be thinking these things. Frey was my mentor. He was like a god to me. He was my savior. He couldn’t be my lover.

I couldn’t fall in love. Not with him. Not with anyone. It just wasn’t in the cards for me.

“Ronnie?” Frey’s voice sliced through my thoughts like a hot knife through butter.

I didn’t respond.

I took a couple of deep breaths, pulled myself together, and, pushing aside the wave of desire, I slammed my head backward into Frey’s.

Frey gasped in surprise, his grip on my wrists loosening just enough for me to slip out of his hold. I spun around, ready to elbow him in the jaw, but our legs got tangled up and we both lost our footing.

I ended up on top of Frey, our faces just a breath apart.