TKO (A Bad Boy MMA Romance) Read Free Page B

death, I had the misfortune of getting involved briefly with an instructor at my technical school. While Danny saw me and my vulnerability and immediately wanted to shelter and protect me, the instructor at physiotherapy school saw me as an easy target. I was still somewhat in a state of shock from Dad’s passing a few months prior, and I was obviously pretty lost. I had no real idea of what to do with my life. I had no clue how I was going to support Alice and myself long term, as I was just working part-time at the front desk of a local gym at that point to make ends meet. That’s why I went into physiotherapy in the first place, someone at the gym where I worked tipped me off to a new course starting up, told me it might be a good way to kickstart a more reliable career. With nowhere to go and everything to lose, I signed up that same day.
     
    The very next day I showed up for the course with no idea what was going to happen. I had always been in the position of athlete, not trainer. I was always the patient, not the medical professional. And the main instructor, Dr. Warren, seemed to take a liking to me from the first second I walked in the door. He was a former bodybuilder himself, still impossibly strong and muscular. He could have broken me in half or tossed me like a javelin with ease, even though he was pushing fifty by then. I was only twenty-two, slender and sleek from years of professional running, and I must have looked like a fresh daisy waiting to be plucked.
     
    So he did.
     
    Within the first week of the course, he asked me out to dinner several times until I finally gave in. I hadn’t been looking for a relationship, or even a fling. I was so numb and confused at that point in my life, the last thing I needed was a confusing, complicated entanglement with an older guy who also happened to be my teacher. The other students whispered and snickered, picking up on the obvious tension between Dr. Warren and me. The whole ordeal was incredibly uncomfortable, sometimes even humiliating. People accused me of making good marks purely because I was sleeping with the teacher.
     
    But we only slept together once. And I didn’t even want to do it. Up until my father’s passing, I had been dead-set on making running my life’s ambition. As a result, I had never even been on more than a few innocent dates as a teenager. So when Dr. Warren swooped in on me, nearly thirty years my senior, I was unsuspecting and totally defenseless prey. Once the rumours about the two of us got to be unbearable, I finally broke things off for good and went to the head of the technical school. Needless to say, Dr. Warren was relocated to a different school. He continued to badger me for weeks, but after a month or so of silence from me, he finally gave up and let me go. Despite all of this, I managed to complete the course in record time, and with flying colors. I was dedicated to making physiotherapy work out for me-- it was my only chance at carving out a successful, comfortable life for Alice.
     
    Now, I was terribly grateful for Danny Gilchrist’s authentic, innocuous tutelage, especially in comparison to the older male mentor I thought I’d found in Dr. Warren years before. Trina clucked her tongue at me, shaking her head.
     
    “Girl, you have got to get some sleep. I don’t mean to be rude, but you look like you haven’t slept in days. Why don’t you and Alice come stay with us this weekend? Dequan can teach her how to fish, and you know the boys would love to see the both of you,” she offered sweetly. They had a lovely little house near a pond on the outskirts of town in a quiet suburb. Alice loved it out there, away from the neon lights and constant hubbub of the city.
     
    “Hmm, maybe. Depends on whether she gets her homework done by Friday,” I replied, stifling a yawn. “And I’m fine, I swear. I just need a morning workout to get my blood flowing or something.”
     
    Just then, Danny peered around a corner