Black Belt in Love (Powerhouse MA Book 3) Read online

  Black Belt in Love

  Powerhouse M.A.

  Book 3

  Winter Travers

  Copyright © 2017 Winter Travers

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduction, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) utilization of this work without written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  For questions or comments about this book, please contact the author at [email protected]

  Also by Winter Travers

  Devil’s Knights Series:

  Loving Lo

  Finding Cyn

  Gravel’s Road

  Battling Troy

  Gambler’s Longshot

  Keeping Meg

  Fighting Demon

  Unraveling Fayth

  Skid Row Kings Series:

  DownShift

  PowerShift

  BangShift

  Fallen Lords MC Series

  Nickel

  Pipe (Coming November 29th)

  Powerhouse MA Series

  Dropkick My Heart

  Love on the Mat

  Black Belt in Love

  Black Belt Knockout (Coming January 29th, 2018)

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Coming Next

  About the Author

  1st Chapter of Loving Lo

  1st Chapter of Downshift

  1st Chapter of Nickel

  Dedication

  For my own little bad ass ninja, and my personal Karate Hottie hubby.

  

  Age ain’t nothing but a number

  Love trumps all.

  Chapter 1

  Kennedy

  I glanced one last time at the text message and rolled my eyes.

  Another summons from my mother, another message I was going to ignore.

  “You do know that she can see when you read the message, right?”

  A grin spreads across my lips, and I shoved the phone in my pocket. “I know. This is the only bit of rebellion that I give in to. I can vividly picture my mother looking like she just ate one of those sour kid candies with her lips pursed as she stares down at her phone.”

  Karlton shook his head. “One day, your mother’s head is going to explode, and then you’re going to feel all kinds of guilt.” He was squeezing a stress ball in each hand and sprawled out in one of the chairs in the small reception area.

  “Doubtful. That woman is going to live forever to torment me for the rest of my life.” I loved my mother, but she drove me insane. She treated me like I was ten, not twenty-five. “Don’t feel sorry for the woman, Karl. She wants me to come to dinner so she and Dad can harp on me for hours about how I’m wasting my life while I eat dried-out lamb and try not to gouge out my ears with a spoon.”

  “You paint such a vivid picture,” he chuckled.

  I rolled my eyes and collapsed in the chair behind the front desk. “That is me putting it mildly.”

  Vivian Kramer.

  Ice Queen.

  Mega Bitch.

  I could say that because I had lived with the woman for eighteen grueling years and had barely escaped with my sanity intact.

  “Do I dare ask the last time you saw your mother dearest?”

  One could never forget their last encounter with Vivian. “Last Thursday. I made the mistake going to the grocery store close to their house.” I had been craving Clyde's amazing chicken salad and figured I wasn’t likely to run into anyone I knew just ducking into the store quickly.

  I was dead wrong.

  “Did you talk to her, or avoid her?”

  Karlton knew me all too well. “I tried to slip out of the produce section before she saw me, but the woman has sonar when it comes to finding me. She probably knew I was there before I even stepped foot out of my car.”

  “Finish the story. I need to know what Ice Queen had to say. I also need to know what she was wearing.”

  I slowly spun around in my chair and smirked. Karlton loved to hear my horror stories and also salivated to know about the outfit she wore while she berated me. “She looked amazing, well, at least her clothes did. I think she must have had Botox earlier because all that moved were her lips.”

  “Details. I need details on the clothes,” he whined.

  Jesus. Sometimes, Karlton’s uber-gayness went a little over the top. “They were clothes and cost more than your rent.”

  “At least tell me what designer they were.” He pouted and sat forward in his chair, eager for any detail I would give him.

  “Chanel.” Even though I hadn’t worn clothes like hers for years, I could still pinpoint brands. “Shoes were Louis Vuitton.”

  “Flats, pumps, sandals, or boots?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Pumps. Open-toed. Black.”

  He clasped his chest and fell back into his chair. “Eyeline Open Toe Pump,” he sighed.

  “I see you’ve been memorizing the catalog again.”

  “It’s the closest I’ll ever get to a pair. I’ll never understand why you gave up the life. I would put up with a harpy bat if it meant I had unlimited stock of Louis’.” Ha. Karlton could have that life. Fancy clothes and shoes weren’t worth living with Vivian. “Now tell me what she had to say.”

  “She looked me up and down, curled her lip, and asked me what I was wearing.”

  Karlton laughed. “What were you wearing?”

  “Dingy yoga pants and a white tank top.”

  “So exactly what you are wearing now.”

  “Hey,” I protested. “These are brand new yoga pants. I got a good deal online.” I might have gone a bit overboard on ordering, but I couldn’t pass up free shipping and fifty percent off. While my mother never looked at prices, I was a bargain hunter and rarely paid full price.

  Karlton waved his hand at me. “Continue the story.”

  “She asked all of her typical questions. When was I going to wake up and come back home? Was I still dirtying my hands at the ‘dreaded’ yoga hole? Had I met a decent man yet to make an honest woman of me? The usual.”

  “And I’m sure you answered all of them like the dutiful daughter that you are.”

  I was hardly dutiful. I just knew in order to get away from her, I needed t
o answer her questions and make my escape as quickly as I could. “I gave her the bare minimum. Never, yes, and no.”

  “How annoyed did she look?”

  “Scale of one to ten, I would have to say fifty.” I learned early on in my life that nothing would ever make Vivian happy. Even if I were to do exactly what she wanted, she would always find something else she didn’t like. When I was sixteen, I had gone above and beyond to try to make her happy; it was the worst year of my life. Trying to act like labels and brands mattered and having staff wait on me hand and foot was not the kind of life I wanted to live.

  Vivian and my dad were filthy rich and lived for everyone they knew to know it. They flaunted it and loved the looks they got from people. I stopped calling Vivian “Mom” when I turned eighteen, and she demanded that I call her “Vivian.” My dad was a bit better than Vivian, but he had his moments also that drove me crazy.

  “Are you going to dinner?”

  I shook my head. “I have at least two more times I can ignore her before I have to go.”

  “Got it down to a science,” he chuckled. “Maybe you should get a fake boyfriend to take with you, and then you could get her off your back on that.”

  Pfft. I didn’t even know anyone who would want to enter the lion’s den with me. My mother would tear apart any guy I brought. “Are you volunteering?”

  Karlton held up his hands. “As much as I would love to see the castle they live in and play in your mother’s closet, I don’t think she would believe for a minute that you and I were knocking boots. Especially if she caught me in her closet trying on her Louis’.”

  “My mother would probably love you if she met you. You could be one of her token gay friends. You just wouldn’t pass the boyfriend test.”

  Karlton tapped his chin. “Then I guess we need to find you a guy who would pass the test and keep her off of your back.”

  “That man does not exist.”

  “Oh ye of little faith. You just leave this to Uncle Karlton. I’ll find you just the man that you need.”

  I stood up and leaned on the desk. “I think I should be afraid. Maybe lay down some ground rules. I know you think you know my mother from what I have told you, but you really don’t.” Karlton was the person who knew the most about my mother, but I still kept things from him. “He can’t be gay. My mother will know right away.”

  “Pfft, I know that. I know a ton of guys who will fit the bill and would be more than willing to spend time with you.” He pulled out his phone and flicked his finger on the screen. “I’ll have to hold a couple of auditions. I think I’ll need a few judges to help me.”

  “Judges? What the hell are you planning on doing?” Now I was terrified of what Karlton had planned.

  “Don’t worry about it. I just need to make a few calls, and I’ll have a date for you within the week. Then you can head off to your mom’s.”

  To say I was doubtful that this was going to work was an understatement. “Do your worst, Karl. You have four weeks before I’ll need to make an appearance.”

  He stood and rubbed his hands together. “This is going to be so fun. I need to run to the café and talk with Molly and Sage.”

  I figured he was going to rope them into this. “Try not to broadcast it to the whole world that I’m so pathetic that I need you to find me a date.”

  He winked at me and slipped out the door.

  I glanced at the clock and saw that my only class today was going to start in half an hour. Wednesday’s were my slow days where I only had one class, and I used the time to clean and work on paperwork. Karlton always came over to shoot the shit and tell me all the gossip he had heard at the laundromat. He thrived sitting in the corner of Sudz and eavesdropping on everyone’s conversation.

  Now I was more than likely going to be added to the gossip he loved.

  Oh well. This wasn’t going to last long. He would find some poor sucker he would trick into coming to Vivian’s, she would chew him up and spit him out, and then I would go back to the usual way of dealing with her.

  Rarely.

  **********

  Chapter 2

  Dante

  “What do you mean you’re all out?”

  “I mean exactly what it sounds like. We are out of cookies. You ate them all.”

  I shook my head. “That can’t be possible. I only had six.”

  Sage rolled her eyes. “It’s totally possible when you also count the six you bought this morning. We only make two dozen a day.”

  I leaned against the counter. “Then maybe you should think about upping that number.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t tell me how to do my job.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “I’m not telling you how to do your job, just giving you a suggestion.”

  “Your suggestion blows.” Sage always gave me shit whenever I came into the café, and I had to admit that it was kind of fun to get her riled up.

  “Where is Molly?”

  “She’s going to give you the same answer I just did. Right now, all we have are the frozen dough pucks in the freezer.”

  I smirked and could already taste the gooey goodness in my mouth. “Then fire up the oven and throw some pucks of deliciousness in there.” Problem solved. I could totally wait ten minutes if it meant that I was going to get fresh out of the oven cookies.

  Sage rolled her eyes and walked away from the counter. “Molly,” she called. “I’m not dealing with this dumbass anymore. I can’t handle it.”

  Molly walked out of the storage closet with a smile on her lips. “How many times have I told you that you can’t come at the end of the day expecting cookies?

  “I guess one more time.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I can give you some to bake at home if you want.”

  “I can’t remember the last time I turned on my oven.” Cooking was not something I did. Ever.

  “That’s the only way you are going to get any cookies today. We close in five minutes.”

  I sighed and rubbed my stomach. “Bag up a dozen. I’ll see if my oven works.”

  “The fact that you don’t even know if your oven works scares me. Do you actually eat out all of the time?” Sage asked.

  I shook my head. “No. You don’t need an oven to make a peanut butter sandwich. Plus, I’m the king of microwaving shit.” It was amazing the things you could throw in the microwave, and they tasted halfway decent.

  Molly visibly shivered. “I’m going to have to make you care packages of food. I’m seriously worried about your well-being.” She moved to the freezer and looked over at me. “You won’t burn down your house if you turn on the oven, will you?”

  I shrugged and held up my hands. “Honestly, it’s probably a fifty/fifty chance. I’m willing to risk it, though.”

  Sage grabbed a bag from under the counter and walked over to Molly. “If he burns down his house, there’s a chance he won’t be in tomorrow. I like those odds.” She held open the bag. “Fill it up,” she ordered.

  Molly dropped a tray full of cookie pucks into the bag, and my stomach growled. This was going to be fucking amazing if I didn’t manage to burn them all. “They’re cheaper since I’m doing all of the work, right?”

  Molly and Sage both turned toward me, their jaws dropped. “You’re an ass,” they said in unison.

  I shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt to ask.” I was going to assume that the answer was no.

  Sage put a knot at the end of the bag and slung it over her shoulder. “You give ninja hotties a bad name.”

  “And you put a lot of pressure on us hotties. We can’t be amazing all of the time.”

  She set the bag in front of me. “You’re just a ninja now. I’m taking away your hottie title. That’ll be twenty bucks.”

  I grabbed the bag and sprinted to the front door. “You take away my hottie title, I’m taking the cookies. Charge it to the Powerhouse tab.”

  “What?” Sage squawked. “That isn’t even a thing.”

  �
�Then make it a thing,” I called. Karlton walked through the door as I opened it, and he beelined towards the front counter. Hopefully he could help distract Molly and Sage. The door swung shut behind me, and I jogged over to my car parked on the side of the building. I had told Kellan that I would be back after grabbing some goodies from the café, but with me stealing a dozen cookies, I had to make a quick getaway.

  Sage was standing outside, flipping me the bird, while making a rather unladylike gesture of thrusting her hips, and telling me to suck it as I drove by the café.

  I rolled down the window and hollered, “Classy!” I coasted out of the parking lot. Sage’s yelling faded as I rolled up the window and chuckled.

  Getting her riled was one of the highlights of my day. She was so easy to piss off.

  Ten minutes later, as I pulled into my apartment lot, my phone rang, and I instantly knew who was calling.

  “I’ll pay her in the morning,” I said into the phone without looking at the caller ID.

  “You’ll pay me because Sage about had a coronary when she stomped into Powerhouse five minutes ago,” Kellan replied.

  “Huh, I’m surprised it took her that long to come bitch to you.”

  “She called before she came over.”

  I pulled into my spot and shifted the car into park. “I hope you didn’t pay her twenty bucks. She tried to tell me that was how much I owed her. Bullshit, man. Ain’t no way I’m paying that much for cookies.”

  “If you wouldn’t be an ass to her, then she wouldn’t charge you an arm and a leg for cookies.”

  “Dude, a week ago, she charged my debit card fifteen dollars for three cookies.” When I checked my account that night, I had to think back and count how many cookies I ate. Molly’s cookies were good, but they weren’t that good.

  Kellan laughed. “You probably deserved it. She’s charging you for having to deal with you.”

  “You’re supposed to be on my side with this shit, Kel. Not your girlfriend's side.”

  “Molly warms my bed at night, not you.”

  I pushed open my door and slid out of the car. “Damn power of the pussy, man. You and Tate are both goners.”