“I don’t know any Claire.”
“Liar. You were here with her yesterday.”
“I work here, so if your girlfriend was here I might have talked to her, but I wasn’t with her.”
“You work at a bakery? Are you gay or something?”
Nate sighed with exasperation. “I’m supposedly hitting on your girl, now I’m gay? You guys are fucking idiots.”
“What the hell did you call us?”
“Dude, we should trash this place. Get this asshole fired.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Hammer said casually behind the two young men. He saw them stiffen before they turned around to look at him, and he caught the smirk Nate shot his way. The kid didn’t back down even when confronted by two teens who were bigger than him. He had courage, but he could learn a thing or two about how not to rev his opponents up.
The teens’ eyes widened. “Oh man, you’re the Hammer! Dude, we’ve seen all your fights. You’re awesome!”
Hammer smiled, but it held an edge to it. “Yeah? It’s always nice to meet fans, but I don’t really like hearing someone threatening my girlfriend’s shop. Hey, Nate.”
Hammer walked around the two young men and held up a fist. Going with Hammer’s friendly greeting, Nate raised his fist and tapped it with his own. “What’s up, Hammer?”
“Shit, you guys like friends or something?”
“Yeah, and as I said, Nate also works for my girlfriend.”
Both young men’s jaws dropped open, and they stumbled over themselves trying to apologize. “We didn’t mean it.”
“We were totally kidding, man.”
“That’s what I thought,” Hammer said. Acting his part, he stood with his feet spread apart and crossed his arms over his chest, looking intimidating as he stared down the two teenage boys who shifted nervously on their feet. “I’d hate to have something happen to the bakery so I would have to call Sheriff Wyatt about it.”
The teens visibly winced. Sheriff Storm Wyatt was a good friend of Hammer’s. They had grown up together and served in the same unit when they were in the Army. Hammer knew that most people in Breakers feared to get on the Sheriff’s bad side.
“Honest, man. We weren’t serious.”
Hammer studied them for a moment before nodding. Dismissing them, he turned to Nate. “You done for the day? Good. Why don’t we head over to the gym and start those training sessions we talked about.”
Nate’s eyes widened slightly, but his reaction was nothing compared to the gasps the two boys let out. “But Fight Hard doesn’t take members under eighteen! We checked,” one of the boys complained.
“Yeah, we don’t usually, but Nate’s a friend of mine, and since I own the place…” Hammer shrugged.
“Do you think we could—”
“Maybe some other time. Just ask Nate, and maybe we could set something up. But until we change the policy, it’s still eighteen and older for membership,” Hammer said cutting the teen off. “Come on, Nate. Let’s go.”
The teens watched sadly as Hammer and Nate walked away, crossing the street.
“I don’t get it,” Nate muttered. “If his girlfriend is cheating, shouldn’t he be pissed at her?”
“Kid, I have been asking myself that for years. The only answer I’ve got is nothing makes sense when women are involved.”
That made Nate snicker. “I bet you don’t say that kind of shit in front of Kali.”
“Hell no, and if you ever told her I would deny it with my last breath.”
“I won’t tell her. She thinks you practically walk on water or something anyways.”
“She does?” Hammer asked as he stopped when they were standing outside of the gym. He could practically feel his own chest puffing out at that statement. Christ, did he have it bad for his little fairy.
Nate sent him a long look. “I know you’re all famous and shit, but I like Kali. She’s been really nice to me and my brother. I hope you aren’t playing her.”
Getting called out by a freaking teenage boy…
Damn, he liked the kid a lot.
“I’m not. Not that this is any of your business, but I’m pretty serious about Kali.”
Nate’s shoulders seemed to relax. “That’s what I thought.”
“You tell me if those guys cause any trouble at the shop,” Hammer ordered.
The teen rolled his eyes. “How much you wanna bet those guys will be kissing my ass from now on since you said you were training me?” He paused and studied Hammer. “Were you serious about that?”