I hated him for making me want him again.
‘It’s good to see you again, Ninja.’ The combination of his tone and the way he was looking at me made me feel as if someone had kicked my legs out from under me.
‘I don’t feel the same way. And don’t call me Ninja.’
It made me think of the day we’d first spoken. I was sixteen and I’d lost a competition to a girl from a rival karate club. I’d been furious with myself, not least because I should have won. I would have, but I hadn’t been concentrating. Instead I’d been glancing around the room to see if my parents were going to show up and embarrass me. They went through a hideous phase where they both showed up to everything, not because they cared but because they were trying to outdo each other in proving who was the better parent. In the end neither of them came. I probably should have been relieved they hadn’t been there to witness my humiliation, but I wasn’t. It just proved what I already knew. Th at neither of them cared.
I sat at the edge of the gym on my own, putting more energy into holding back tears than I’d ever put into beating my opponent, when Hunter squatted down in front of me.
I knew who he was. Who didn’t? All the girls were crazy about Hunter. He was twenty years old, a skilled fighter, the youngest black belt our club had ever had and seriously hot, but he was too focused on training to be interested in a relationship, and anyway, he wouldn’t have noticed me, because I was too young. Right at that moment I would have fast-forwarded time if that had been an option.
‘Are you all right?’
I looked at him. ‘I lost. I made mistakes.’
‘That’s the past. Next time you’ll win, Rosie.’
For some reason the fact that he knew my name made me feel better.
‘It doesn’t matter anyway,’ I muttered. ‘No one will be watching.’
‘I’ll be watching.’ He held out his hand and pulled me to my feet. ‘Now go back out there, forget what’s in the past and start fresh. Watch your balance. Keep your focus and concentration. Mistakes are learning experiences. Move on. Forget everything else in your life. That’s what I do.’
I looked up at him, skinny, angular teenage me, and tried to imagine this broad-shouldered god having anything in his life he needed to forget. ‘You have stuff you need to forget?’
He gave a faint smile and brushed a stray tear away from my face with the pad of his thumb. ‘Everyone does, Ninja.’
Ninja.
I liked the name. It made me feel strong and suddenly I didn’t feel like crying anymore.
He might have said something else but at that moment my sister flew across the room, school bag heavy with books banging against her hip. Her hair had half escaped from her ponytail and her breasts were doing their best to push the buttons of her shirt right out of the holes.
‘Sorry I’m late. I had extra maths tuition and then Mum and Dad were arguing about where we were going to spend Christmas, so I gave up and left them. I ran all the way.’
My parents hadn’t made it but my sister was here.
Hunter smiled at me and let his hand drop. ‘Now you have two people watching you.’
I fell in love with him right there and then. Not because he was hot but because he cared.
There were a hundred other things he could have been doing, girls he could have been smiling at or flirting with, but he’d chosen to spend his time watching gawky, awkward, messed-up sixteen-year-old me in her karate competition.
From that moment on I no longer minded whether my parents turned up or not. I had Hunter. He was the one certain thing in my very uncertain world. He watched every competition; he offered advice; he trained with me. I knew he wasn’t interested in me like that. I was just a kid. But suddenly I wasn’t a kid anymore and on my eighteenth birthday he stopped treating me as one.
Everything changed that night, apart from the fact he still called me Ninja.
It was my nickname and it made me feel warm and special.
Hearing him saying it now was like having a knife twisted in my insides because it reminded me so much of that horrible messed-up time.
I felt the breath moving in and out of my lungs and I was holding myself still so there was no chance I’d accidently brush against him a second time. I could feel the heat in my cheeks and I stared at the wall even though I could feel him watching, cool and calm.
I stumbled out of the lift in my haste to get away from him, took the few stairs that led to our attic flat and had my keys in my hand when the door opened.
Hayley stood there. She was wearing skin-tight jeans and a top that emphasized the fact she’d inherited the breast DNA. The fact that her hair was loose and messy told me that Nico had been round. ‘How was boring Brian?’ Her voice trailed off as she saw my forehead. ‘Oh my God, what happened? Only you can come back from a dinner date with a black eye.’