His mom, on the other hand…I’d told her that first time she came over. Her bribe had been delicious chocolate chip cookies, though. She’d whispered some nice advice when it came to her son, which helped me understand him better and why he was being such a jerk after our near kiss. But, like I’d said, the ball was in his court now. Hopefully I could get him to do something with it tonight.
I made it to the end of the treadmills and stood a step outside the entrance to the studio. There had to be nearly twenty women in there, and they all crowded around Hunter. He was kind of a beacon, wasn’t he?
I drew in one last breath to give me a boost of energy and stepped through the threshold. And once again, nothing caved in on me. I didn’t pass out. And even better, my heart wasn’t pick-axing my chest.
The wall of windows on the far side of the room overlooked the city…at least as much as we could see only two stories up. It was black, but the lights beyond were beautiful. And there was Foreman Lake in the background.
It’d been ages since I’d walked around that.
“Lina?” Hunter’s voice cut above the murmur of all the women chatting.
His eyes were wide as he stepped around the crowd. I heard whisperings ofWho’s that girl? What’s going on? Is that his girlfriend?I liked that last one. Girlfriend had a nice ring to it.
“You’re here?” he said as he approached me.
I nodded and smiled. “Remember the thank you I mentioned before.”
“This is...” He turned around toward the other women, and I realized they were all staring at us. “Looks like we have another member tonight. Everyone, this is Li—Angelina.”
The women crept toward me, mostly wearing smiles, but I saw the wonderment on their faces, too.
I heard a few hellos and nodded as I worked the zipper down on my jacket. Hunter winked at me, then started waving his massive arms to get everyone into lines.
“Ready to get started?” he said, his voice deep enough that it echoed off the glass wall behind him. “Let’s show Angelina the warmup.”
I fell in the last line as I tossed my jacket on the floor by the mirrors behind us. I caught a glimpse of my scar in the mirror, but before I could think about it further and get anxious, I whirled around and faced the front. Since I was so short, I could barely see Hunter, but I caught glimpses of him doing some small movements to get warmed up.
“Hi. I’m Janey. Glad you’re here,” a short girl with spiked red hair said to me.
“Thanks. Nice to meet you.”
“How do you know Hunter?”
“He lives next door to me.”
“He dragged you out, huh?”
“More or less.” I smiled. “How long have you been in his class?”
“A few months. When he started it in August. Damn near got myself killed before I met him.” She shook her head. “Boyfriend went postal on me.”
“Oh my,” I said as I followed along with her as she did some light stretching.
“Yeah. Well, Hunter taught me a few things and not just defense. He’s a great guy.”
“Yeah,” I said. “The best.”
“I can tell how much you surprised him.” She nodded. “What’s up?”
“He’s been…giving me private lessons at home, and so I thought I would try coming to his class once to surprise him.”
“At home? As inprivate?” She waggled her eyebrows.
“Nothing like that…I’m-er-Iwashomebound.” I gulped past the nerves of that admission. “He helped me.”
“Homebound? Like you didn’t ever leave your house. How long?”
She asked the question like I’d told her I liked waffles or something. Like it was completely normal. “Um, just over three years.” More like three years, two months, and twenty-nine days.