When I hopped in my car I felt happy. It was invigorating to take a little bit of control of my life. I started the car and headed off toward Luke’s gym.
10
Bria
‘Greer Mixed Martial Arts’ showed prominently in big red letters on the front of the building. In the parking lot there were a few cars scattered about. It looked like most of the people had gone home for the day. Luke’s Maserati was parked near the front doors.
I hopped out of my car feeling totally and completely out of place. Two big guys walked out together. One had a mohawk that was colored green. The other looked like one of the bad guys in a Sylvester Stallone movie. His nose had been broken a handful of times and there was excessive scar tissue above each of his eyes.
The one with the mohawk stared at me as they crossed the lot. I couldn’t make out what he was saying but when he nudged his buddy and made a motion like he was pushing something into his crotch, I was glad to be out of earshot.
The place was incredibly intimidating. There were a couple of young girls hanging around by the entrance. They were probably just waiting on their boyfriends… Or did girls fight too? I wasn’t even sure.
“Hey,” I asked the one who looked a little less like a cheap stripper, “do you know if Luke Greer is around? I’m hoping to see him…”
She looked at me as if I had two heads. “Luke? Are you joking? Are you, like, his sister or something?”
“No…,” I replied cautiously. “Why, is it weird that someone would ask for him or something?”
“It’s weird that someone like you would ask for him, honey,” she said, and they both laughed.
“Oh,” I said, defeated. “He just… helped me out with something and I wanted to thank him.” My confidence had totally faded.
“Yeah, you’re not the type that usually comes in,” she said. “You’re a little too… corporate.” They both cackled.
“We’ll be sure to tell him you dropped by,” said the other one. “Maybe Luke will call you when he needs someone to do his taxes.”
I could feel my whole face go beet red. They were right. What was I thinking, coming down here in a business suit and heels? I was so stu-
“Hey, Bria, is that you?” called a familiar voice from inside. I craned my neck to see around the two skanks blocking my path. “Come over here!”
The girls stood, mouths agape, as I shoved by them to go to Luke. I badly wanted to give them a ‘fuck you’ look but decided it was beneath me.
“Uh, hi,” I said, nervously. “So you do remember me?”
I forced a smile as he chuckled and shared a look with the stocky young guy standing next to him.
“You’re asking if I remember you? You’re asking if I remember the beautiful young house plant fanatic who I saved from certain death less than twenty-four hours ago? Yeah, you could say I remember. You’re the highlight of my whole week.”
“Oh, yeah of course, well…” I didn’t really know what to say and it felt more awkward than it should have been with the other guy standing there.
Luke shifted his position on the wall he was leaning against, and if sensing my discomfort, nodded for the other guy to leave.
The guy jumped to attention. He brushed by me as he passed. “Excuse me, ma’am, but my rude friend failed to introduce us.” He offered his hand. “I’m- “
“You’re leaving,” interrupted Luke. “Not this one, Nick,” he said. “Get lost.”
Nick gave me a defeated smile and headed toward the girls at the front door.
“So what’s up?” asked Luke.
“Oh, I wanted to come by and say thank you again for helping me out last night.”
“You mean for saving your life?” he asked.
His eyes were unrelenting and I think he enjoyed watching me squirm.
“Well, yeah, you know what I mean. I was thinking about it today and I really owe you one,” I said.
“You couldn’t afford me sweetheart,” he replied, smiling wickedly.
“Do you have to be so damn arrogant?” I asked, my cheeks flushing red.
“We both know you didn’t just come here to thank me. Why don’t we just cut to the chase? What do you want from me, beautiful?”
I knew exactly what I wanted, but I wasn’t about to tell him that…
“How about I buy us dinner?” I said, meekly. The words jumped out of my mouth before I had time to consider them.
“Really?” he said. “You’re going to take me out to dinner?” He seemed genuinely intrigued. “That’s a first.”
“I don’t know, I just thought I could make it up to you. Dinner seems fair to me,” I said.