Kyle's Return (Gloves Off #5)(14)

“That’s great, Olivia. I could feel the force behind it even though I know you don’t want to hurt me.”

“She can practice on me,” a voice called out. All eyes turned to the door and my heart leapt.

I rushed toward the door. “Kyle, what are you doing?”

He looked at the ladies and then back to me. “I want to help. They wouldn’t need to hold back in fear of hurting me. Let me join so they can do whatever they want to me.”

It was actually a good idea, but he had no idea what he was getting in to. “Tyler will never allow it,” I whispered, leaning in close.

A small smirk splayed across his lips. “Well then, I guess it’s a good thing he just left.”

“Kyle, no,” I hissed, smacking him on the arm. “Tyler just made me manager. I don’t want to get fired.”

“You’re a manager now? Look at you go. I think we should celebrate.”

“We’re not going to be celebrating anything if I don’t have a job tomorrow.” Kyle looked over my head at the women and walked around me. Groaning, I rushed to keep up with him.

“Tyler’s not going to fire you, love. I mean, I already got my ass kicked by Dean. Why not add a bunch of women to the mix?” It didn’t help that he paraded to the front half-naked, showing off his perfectly tanned and tattooed muscles. “Which of you ladies want to work with me first?”

Almost instantly, all of them lifted their hands in the air. Kyle’s smug expression made me want to slap him. “Okay, fine you can help. But if I get in trouble, I’m going to say you forced me and there was nothing I could do.”

“I’m okay with that.”

Rolling my eyes, I focused on the ladies. “Girls, don’t hold back. Give him hell.”

***





KYLE HAD BEEN outstanding with the women. He’d let them pound on him and gave encouragement every step of the way. I wondered how the ladies would feel if they knew of his past.

“Out of all the women, I think Sherry enjoyed having you the most. Did you see her face? I’ve never seen it that shade of red before,” I laughed.

Chuckling, Kyle put his shirt on and zipped up his gym bag. “Probably because she tried to cop a feel. That woman scares me.”

Shaking my head, I pushed him out of the room so we could make our rounds through the gym. “Thank you for helping me tonight. You surprised me.”

He winked. “You’re welcome. What do you need me to do now?”

I pointed to the treadmills. “Make sure all the machines are turned off and then move to the weights and straighten them up. Once I check the rest of the stuff we can go.”

He turned to head to his section while I started on mine. “If I keep spending my time here, Tyler’s gonna have to put me on the payroll.”

“That’s not going to happen,” I laughed. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him bend down to straighten the weights. His muscles tightened and flexed as he moved them around. Was it wrong that I wanted him to hold me again? Hell, he could hold anything against me at this point. “Would you really want to work here?”

He glanced at me over his shoulder. “I don’t know, but one of these days I’m going to need to find a job. I can’t live off of my money forever.” He finished up his rounds and joined me at my desk. Once I fetched my gym bag and phone, we were ready to go.

“What else do you do besides fight?”

We started for the door and he shrugged. “To be honest, not much else. Fighting was all I’ve ever done. I made triple on my fights at the Dark Side compared to the UFC. I guess it’s a good thing I learned to save money.”

Opening the door, I waited for him to walk out before locking it. “I’d say so. I’m sure you’ll find something. If you find a way to get back into Tyler and Kacey’s good graces I know Tyler will find something for you to do.”

He chuckled. “And I can only imagine what that something would be.”

We walked side by side around to the parking lot and noticed it was exceptionally dark. “The parking lot lights are out. That’s strange,” I noted. My danger instincts went on full alert and Kyle could sense it.

He put his arm around my shoulders but kept vigilant as we walked the rest of the way to our vehicles. Little did he know I had a gun in my bag. I slipped my hand inside and felt the cold metal on my fingers. Tyler understood my need to carry one and allowed me to bring it to work. It helped me feel safe. When we got to our cars, I expected someone to jump out, but no one did. However, the feeling in my gut was still there.

Once I unlocked my car door and opened it, the interior lights helped illuminate the surroundings. That wasn’t the only thing the light uncovered. “Holy f*ck,” I gasped, grabbing Kyle’s hand, “look at your truck.”

He looked down and his whole body tensed. “Motherf*cker,” he growled. Someone had vandalized the whole side of his truck and keyed the words Stay Away in big, scraggly letters. Bending down, he surveyed the damage and held his head in his hands. “I guess I can’t say I don’t deserve it,” he claimed sadly.

Anger boiled in my veins. “Yeah, but they need to stop being pussies and bring their issues to you and not your goddamned truck.” I yelled it so that if the f*cker was still around they’d hear me. “I swear, if this is someone at my gym I’m going to kick their ass.”