Thursday afternoon after training, I stop Cora on her way out of jiu-jitsu class. I haven’t seen Penny at the gym since Tuesday night when I broke every rule I made to keep me sane after Avery left me—no relationships, no intimacy, no vanilla anything. And yet I couldn’t stop myself. I had to touch her, kiss her, and when she let me know what she wanted, I lost control. Walking away wasn’t easy, but it was the right decision. For both of us. So why hasn’t she been at the gym?

    “Have you seen Pen?” I draw Cora to the side under Blade Saw’s watchful gaze. I’ve never seen two people dance around each other the way they’ve been doing for the past two weeks.

    “I saw her yesterday. She said she was too busy with work to come to the gym.” She narrows her eyes in what I assume is meant to be an admonishing way but just makes her look cute. I don’t know what the hell is holding Blade Saw back, but if he doesn’t make his move soon, he’s going to miss out. He’s not the only fighter at Redemption who’s noticed Cora.

    “Okay. Thanks.”

    Cora gives an exasperated sigh. “She’s not really busy.”

    Puzzled, I frown. “I thought you just said she was.”

    “You’re not paying attention. There’s a big difference between what she says and how she is.”

    “How is she?”

    Her brow creases in a worried frown. “She has a hard time dealing with stress. She gets all strung out like she is now, and then she shuts me out. I worry about her when she gets like this. She won’t answer my calls; she doesn’t come to the gym; sometimes she doesn’t even make it to work. I can always see it coming, but she won’t talk to me about it, so I don’t know how to help.”

    “What happened?” My stomach clenches, and something niggles at the back of my mind, a conversation Penny and I had about her need for pain as an emotional release.

    “I don’t know,” Cora says. “I thought maybe you did. She’s had one bad relationship after another, one guy beating on her after another. I thought, finally, she’s met a guy who’s going to treat her right, who’s not going to hurt her… Maybe she’s found someone she can talk to, someone who can take away her pain.”

    “That’s not me, Cora.”

    “No,” she says softly. “I guess not.”

    * * *

    PENNY

    Cora calls me for the fifth time today as if she knows what I did last night and is determined to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

    “Cora, I’m working.”

    “Well, I’m not. I saw Rampage yesterday at the gym. And I’ve been thinking, since things seem to be a bit rocky with Rampage, you should get some no-strings, no-heartbreak loving, Doctor Death style.”

    “He was flirting with you, not me.”

    Cora makes a tsk-tsk sound into the phone. “You told me Doctor Death would sleep with anything that moves. And he was flirting with you, too. In fact, I don’t think he knows how to talk to a woman without flirting. It’s Friday, and you need to get out tonight. Blade Saw is up for it, and I’m hoping to get him drunk enough that he’ll come home with me and show me some MMA skills in bed.”

    Someone knocks on the door, and I put down the phone. Amanda doesn’t have a problem with me taking the odd personal call because I don’t do it very often.

    “I’m on my way to the Bar Association dinner with Jill and Dana,” Amanda says when I open the door. “I sent Mari home early, and Ray is out on surveillance. You can go whenever you want. Just be sure to lock up for me.”

    “No problem. Have fun tonight.”

    I pick up the phone and lean against my desk, waving to everyone as they leave. “I thought you said you hadn’t dated many guys, so I’m not sure where the dating advice is coming from.”

    Cora laughs. “I wasn’t a nun. But the guys I was with were overexcitable types. All I had to do was smile and they’d be whipping off their pants, ’cause when you’re spending most of your day sitting in front of a computer having virtual sex with aliens, you don’t waste time when you’re offered the real thing.”

    “I couldn’t sleep with Doctor Death, Cora. He’s a friend. He’s so outrageous he makes me laugh. I wouldn’t be able to take it seriously.”

    “Jack was a friend, too. You were getting serious with him.”

    My heart squeezes in my chest. Yeah, I was getting serious, but he shut it down pretty fast. And now that I’ve dealt with the stress and emotional pressure in the usual way, I’m resigned to move on. Story of my life.

    “Not anymore.” Although I have been keeping tabs on him at the gym through mutual friends, to make sure he’s not cutting out of training early to go to the club.

    “Well, he was asking about you,” Cora says. “And this is perfect. If he is on the fence, then seeing you with Doctor Death could tip the balance. And if not, at least you’ll have a good time.”

    “Are you meeting Blade Saw at the gym?”

    “Eight o’clock,” she says. “Right after Fuzzy’s Punch or Perish class that you forced me to join with you. I already asked Doctor Death if he wanted to come out with us, and he said yes. Actually, he thought at first I was inviting him for a threesome with me and Blade Saw, but he got over his disappointment when I told him you were our fourth.”

    I hear the front doorbell tinkle and I head into reception to check out the visitor. “Okay, I’ll…”

    “You’ll what?” Cora says.

    “I’ll call you back. Jack is here.”

    She sucks in a sharp breath. “I’ll see you at class tonight. I can hardly wait to hear all about it.”