CHAPTER15
LUCIA
Istand on the steps of my apartment building, chewing my lip and fidgeting like a nervous teenager about to go on her first date. I have been half-expecting a call from my father to tell me I won’t be working with Jax this week, or perhaps a text from Jax himself telling me the same, but I’ve had neither, so I’m standing here waiting for him—a ball of excitement, anxiety and raging hormones.
As soon as I dropped Matthias off at kindergarten this morning, I rushed back home and tried on every single outfit that I own. I want to look professional, obviously, but I also want to look hot enough that Jax can’t look at me without remembering what we did Friday night.
The memory causes a rush of wet heat between my thighs that almost floors me. I grab onto the handrail beside me for balance. How am I supposed to work with him all day and not stare at those lips, those hands, and remember the things they can do my body? Oh fuck! This is going to be torture. Perhaps I’m the one who should have called my father and told him I couldn’t work with Jax anymore.
As I’m considering the viability of that option, Jax’s distinctive Hennessey Goliath pulls up at the curb. His window is rolled down and his tattooed forearm rests on the door because he has the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up. I mean why are rolled up shirt sleeves so freaking hot?
“Good morning,” he says with a slow, sexy smile. I can’t see his eyes because he’s wearing his aviators, but he appears his usual calm and collected self and it annoys the hell out of me. Does he have no nerves at all? Did what we did mean nothing to him?
I plaster on the biggest, fakest smile I can muster. “Morning, cowboy.” I flutter my eyelashes and walk to the other side of the truck, making sure that I give my ass an extra wiggle as I do. Cowboy though? What the hell, Lucia? Since when do you call him cowboy? God, I want to die.
With a racing heart and trembling hands, I open the passenger door and climb inside.
“I thought we could do something a little more interesting today,” he says as soon as I have my seatbelt on.
“Oh, what’s that?”
“You’re going to learn how to fight.” He arches an eyebrow at me.
“I can fight,” I insist. “Hugo taught me.”
“I’m not talking about self-defense. I mean, real dirty, no holds barred fighting,” he replies with a chuckle.
“I’m not exactly dressed for fighting, Jax,” I look down at my pencil skirt and shirt.
“Don’t worry. Toni will have some clothes at the gym for you.”
“Toni?” I frown at him.
“Well, I’m sure as hell not fighting you, Lucia,” he laughs again. “Toni is an MMA champ and she knows every dirty trick in the book, too. A few one-on-one sessions with her and you’ll be able to take down any asshole anywhere.”
“Does that include you?” I ask with a sarcastic smile.
“Even me,” he replies, ignoring the barb.
He turns up the radio and we don’t speak for the remainder of the drive to the gym. I stare out of the window, wondering if I made a huge mistake two nights earlier. How can Jax just sit there and pretend like nothing happened between us? I know he said it was a one night only deal, but how does he just turn his feelings on and off like that? What we did had to have meant something to him, right? I mean it was incredible.
I glance at him and he remains focused on the road ahead. There is nothing in his demeanor to suggest that anything at all has changed between us. But what the hell did I expect? This is Jackson Decker. Women are expendable to him. That was just his regular Friday night, while for me it was the best night of my life.
I blink back the tears and take a deep breath. I will not think about him or that night for one more second of my life. He is a complete and utter jackass and he is not worth even the tiniest sliver of my heart.
By the time we pull up at the gym I’ve managed to convince myself that I can do this. I can have sex with someone and then pretend that it meant nothing. I have to learn to be a woman in a man’s world, right?
I climb out of the car and follow Jax down an alleyway until we reach a brown nondescript door. It certainly doesn’t look like any gym I’ve ever been in before. He opens it and steps inside, beckoning me to follow him. As soon as we’re inside the room the smell of leather, sweat and disinfectant hits me. I look around the windowless space which has a huge boxing ring in the center and various punch bags and equipment dotted around the side.
“Decker!” a voice calls out from nearby and I look around to see a guy with the biggest muscles I have ever seen walking toward us. He is only wearing shorts, revealing a torso absolutely covered in ink—I don’t think he has a spare inch of skin that isn’t tattooed. It covers his rippling abs as well as his chest and shoulders.
“Benji,” Jax replies. “It’s good to see you, man.”
“Good to see you, buddy,” Benji replies and I recognize the same Southern accent that Jax sometimes has, although living in LA for the past twenty years has changed his slightly.
“This is Lucia,” Jax says and smiles at me.
“Ah, Lucia,” Benji extends his hand and I take it. It’s huge and it dwarfs mine as he shakes it gently. “You look just like your father.” He narrows his eyes at me, no doubt wondering how that is possible.