Black Belt Knockout Read online

  He punched wildly at the bag and barely touched it.

  “Good try, bud. Now, I want you to take your time, and take one step closer to the bag. Right now, we aren’t worried about being fast.”

  He stepped forward, balled up his fist, and swung at the bag.

  “I did it!” he exclaimed after his fist firmly connected with the bag.

  I high-fived him. “You sure did. Now let’s have you do it again, and this time, keep your other hand in front of your face. This way your face is protected.”

  He nodded and put both of his fists in front of his face. He swung his right arm and kept his left in front of his face.

  “That was perfect, Sam. Now, when you are done punching with this hand, then do the same with your other hand.” I stood next to him and mimicked his stance. “Like this.” I squared up with the bag, put my fists up, and did a quick left, right combo, rocking the punching bag back with the force of my hits.

  “Holy cow, sir! You moved the bag,” he said in awe.

  “I sure did. Now, let me see you try again. Remember, take your time.”

  Sam shuffled closer to the bag and took a deep breath. “Here goes,” he whispered. He smacked the bag with his right hand, then quickly put his fist back up to his face, and then punched with his left hand. “Whoa!” The bag didn’t rock backward, but he hit the bag hard.

  “Now that’s what I’m talking about, little dude. You took your time, and you hit the bag perfectly.”

  “This is awesome! I can’t wait to show my friends.”

  “Whoa, there little dude. I knew I forgot a little something during out ninja talk.”

  Sam dropped his arms to his sides and sighed. “Oh man, does that mean we are done punching?”

  “For a second. Sit down for a second.” He dropped to his butt, and I sat down next to him. “So, everything you learn here, you can’t do with your friends.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the things we teach you, you only use when you have no other choice. You can’t kick and punch your friends because you’ll hurt them and then you won’t have any friends anymore.”

  “But what’s the fun of being a ninja then?”

  “Being a ninja is more than kicking and punching. While those are things you learn, you can also learn how to use weapons, discipline, and control.”

  “Go back to the weapons part,” he exclaimed.

  I laughed and shook my head. “The weapons come in time, little dude. First, you need to learn the basics.”

  “Then let’s do the basics.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t teach you everything in one day, Sam. It took me three years to earn my black belt.”

  “What’s a black belt?”

  I spied my bag on the side of the mat and grabbed it. “This is a black belt,” I said as I pulled the belt out of the bag. “When you start karate, everyone starts as a white belt and then has to work through all of the belt colors before they get a black belt.”

  He fingered the belt. “Hey, I can see white parts on this.”

  I grabbed the belt and held it up. “That’s because all a black belt is a white belt that never gave up.” I stood up and tied the belt around my waist. The white parts he had pointed out before were where I tied the belt, rubbing the black off.

  “So if I do karate for three years, I can be like you?”

  I nodded my head. “You sure can, bud. We’ll start you in the kinder kickers for a year, then you’ll go to the little ninjas, and then you can start training for your black belt.”

  “I thought you said it takes three years?”

  “You can’t start training for your black belt until you are six. But, you can take classes to help you get ready.”

  “But I’m still a ninja in training, right?” he asked.

  “Most definitely!”

  “Cool. Sign me up.”

  “Heck yeah!”

  Sam and I both looked up and saw Kellan and Molly walk out of the office.

  “Oh crap. I guess I didn’t think this through,” Molly mumbled.

  “This is awesome,” Kellan said. “I knew Sam was going to love karate once he tried.”

  “I can’t wait to tell momma!”

  “Oh crap. I have no idea what Sage is going to say about this,” Molly worried.

  “Momma is going to love it! This way, I can protect her anytime she needs it.” Sam swung at the bag, hitting it squarely.

  “Wow, Dante is going to be impressed.” Kellan bowed onto the mat and walked over to Sam and me. “Let me see you do that with a left, right, left.” Kellan stood behind the bag and nodded at Sam.

  Sam swung, connecting with the first two punches, but missed on the third.

  “Roman,” Molly hissed. I looked up, and she was motioning me over. “Come here.”

  “You hang out with Mr. Kellan, okay, little dude?”

  Sam smiled up at me and nodded. “I’ll show him everything you taught me.”

  I bowed off of the mat and walked over to Molly. “What is it?” I was actually having a good time with Sam.

  “Sage is going to kill me.”

  “What, why? Did you get her pregnant, too?”

  Molly’s eyes bugged out. “Shh,” she seethed. “Sam has no idea about the b-a-b-y.”

  “I know, Molly. I was just joking.”

  She rolled her eyes and continued on. “Sage is going to kill me because I don’t think she has the money to put Sam in karate.”

  I waved my hand. “That’s not an issue.”

  “It is an issue, Roman. That is a lot of money.”

  I shook my head. “Sage won’t have to pay.”

  “She’s not going to accept that, Roman. She wasn’t born yesterday. She knows karate isn’t free.”

  “It’s not free. I’ll cover Sam’s tuition.”

  “You do know Sage isn’t going to like that, right? She’s too proud to take a handout.”

  “It’s not a handout,” I growled.

  Molly huffed. “I can’t wait to see you tell Sage this.”

  “There isn’t anything to tell.”

  “You really underestimate Sage, don’t you?”

  “Not at all. I just know Sam is a natural at karate, and I want to make sure he is able to do lessons.”

  “You’re adding a huge wrench into Sage’s world with this, Roman.”

  I shrugged and crossed my arms over my chest. “Pretty sure I threw in a wrench a month ago, so what’s another one?”

  “Well then, you can drop Sam off to her later.”

  “Wait, what? I didn’t say I would watch him all day. You volunteered for that.” Did I just get roped into babysitting Sam all day?

  “You can hang out with us all day. After all, I’m pretty sure Sam is going to be a fixture in your life from now on.” Molly strutted over to the mat and awkwardly bowed. “Is it time to kick some butt?” she called.

  Sam jumped up from the mat and ran over to Molly. “Mr. Roman said I can do karate!”

  Molly high-fived him and looked over her shoulder at me. “He sure did. I can’t wait for him to tell your momma.” A smirk spread across her lips, and she threw a wink at me. “She’s going to be so happy.”

  Molly and Kellan rolled around on the mats with Sam while I hung back and sat down behind the desk.

  At the time, it seemed like an awesome idea to get Sam in karate, and I still believed it was a good idea, but I thought I should have gone about it a different way.

  The way of including Sage in the decision.

  I was an idiot.

  *

  Chapter 4

  Sage

  I slept like the dead.

  For five hours straight, all I did was sleep.

  No dreams, no nightmares. Just sleep.

  It. Was. Heaven.

  I was still lying in bed trying to get the motivation to move my ass when my phone dinged next to my head.

  On the way up.

  Dammit. I had spent all the time S
am was gone sleeping. Getting out of bed. I texted back. I was going to have to talk Molly into taking Sam again so I could get some stuff done around the house. Mary and Dale watched Sam for me, but it was only when I needed to work and the daycare was closed. It felt weird to ask them to watch him so I could get some cleaning done or go shopping.

  I slipped on a pair of yoga pants and changed my shirt right before Sam pounded on the front door. “Momma, open up! We’re home.”

  And now the whole apartment building knew Sam and Molly were home. “Coming,” I hollered back. I held a pair of fuzzy, warm socks in my hand, and jumped on one foot down the hallway trying to pull them on.

  I swung open the door, standing on one foot like a flamingo, and came face to face with Roman with Sam on his shoulders.

  “Roman carried me all the way up the stairs, momma. He’s a super strong, ninja!” Sam exclaimed.

  What in the hell was going on? Molly had left with Sam, and now Roman was standing on my doorstep.

  “Ah, that’s good, baby.” I peeked around Roman. “Um, where is Molly?”

  “She was worn out after the trampoline park. Kellan took her home, and I volunteered to bring Sam home.”

  I looked up at Roman. “Oh.”

  A smirk spread across his lips, and I would have killed to know what was going through his mind right then.

  “Let us in, momma! Roman made me a ninja today, and my next class is Tuesday.”

  I dumbly stepped to the side, trying to register what Sam had just said.

  Roman ducked through the doorway with Sam on his shoulders, then swung him down to the floor. “Why don’t you let me and your momma talk about being a ninja while you play with your toys, little dude.”

  Sam gave him a thumbs up and scurried down the hallway behind him. “Yes, sir,” he called.

  “Sir?” I mumbled. What happened to my kid?

  “Uh, you think we could talk?”

  I turned back to look at Roman. “The last time we talked, we ended up in bed.”

  A smile spread across his lips. “I promise that won’t happen this time.”

  “I guess that’s the best I can get out of you, isn’t it?”

  He shrugged and looked around. “You have a nice place.”

  It wasn’t that nice. It was passable as livable, and that was about it. “It’s a roof over our heads.”

  He moved into the living room and sprawled out on my couch.

  Roman Yeck sitting in my living room.

  Something I never thought would happen.

  “So, I hung out with Sam today. He’s a pretty great kid.”

  “Um, thanks. I have to agree with you.”

  “Really smart, too.”

  He was. He sure as heck didn’t get it from me, though. He got that from his dad. “He is. His grandma works with him a lot.”

  “He mentioned her. Taught him how to count to twenty.”

  “Yeah.” I didn’t know what to say. Talking about Mary with Roman didn’t seem right. Hell, talking about Sam with Roman didn’t feel right.

  “We also did some karate today, too.”

  “That’s what he meant when he said you made him a ninja.”

  “Well, I showed him the way of the ninja,” Roman laughed.

  “Thank you for taking the time to show him. I’m sure it’s all I’m going to hear about tonight.”

  He ran his fingers through his hair and sat forward. “About that. I thought maybe he could come to classes.”

  “For what?”

  “Um, to learn karate?”

  “Why?” What in the hell was going on?

  “Well, because I went over a few basics with him today, and he did really good. I think it would be a good thing for him to learn.”

  “I’ll have to think about it.” I had already thought about it. It wasn’t going to happen because I didn’t have the time or money to invest in karate. I knew just from hanging out with Kellan and Molly that doing karate was not some small thing. It was a lifestyle. An expensive lifestyle.

  “Sam really wants to do it.”

  I rolled my eyes and sat down in the recliner. I had slept all day, but I was still tired. The baby was sucking all of the energy out of me. “Well, Sam is four, and I decide what he is and isn’t going to do.” My eyes roamed over Roman, and I sighed. Damn if the man wasn’t drop dead gorgeous. Out of all of the karate hotties, Roman was the one who made my panties burst into flames with just one look.

  “What do you have against him doing karate?”

  I pinned him with my gaze. “Him doing karate isn’t the problem. Finding the money and time to do it is a problem. Especially when I pop Roman Jr. out, I’m barely going to have time to pee, let alone cart Sam around for karate.”

  “You already named the baby?” he asked, shocked. “It’s a boy?”

  Oh, sweet Jesus. “No, I didn’t name the baby, Roman. And I don’t know what it is because it’s barely the size of an apple right now.”

  He looked down at my stomach. “Is that why I can’t tell you are pregnant?”

  “You wanna see the stick I peed on?” If this jackass didn’t think I was pregnant, I was gonna kick him square in the balls.

  He sat back, shocked. “What? Why?”

  “Because you just asked why you can’t see I’m pregnant.”

  “That’s because I know nothing about being pregnant. I’m gonna have questions, Sage, and while you may think they are dumb questions, I don’t know the answer.”

  Well, now I felt like a raging bitch. “You didn’t have younger cousins or something growing up?” Growing up, I babysat my four cousins all the time since I was the oldest. I hadn’t had any brothers or sisters, but I didn't lack experience with babies.

  “I’m an only child, and I’m the youngest by far in all of my cousins.”

  Well, that would explain it. I sighed and tried to rein in my bitchiness. “I won’t be able to find out if it’s a boy or girl for six weeks. I just naturally gravitate to it being a boy because I’m used to saying ‘he’ and ‘him’ with Sam.”

  He nodded. “I guess that makes sense.”

  I sighed and sat back in my chair. “Does any of this make sense, Roman? I mean, you and I hooked up one time, and now we’re going to be stuck with each other for the rest of our lives.”

  “Stuck is the wrong word.”

  I flipped my hand. “Whatever. You know what I mean.”

  “I really don't know what you mean, Sage. I tried calling you after, but you dodged my phone calls and never replied to any of my texts.”

  “What was there to say?” Thanks for the knocking the dust off my vagina. Oh, and the sex was fucking amazing. Yeah, I don’t think so. Silence was the best option.

  “Anything. Just a simple fucking hi would have been nice.”

  I turned my head to the side. I didn’t want to look at him. Acting like a flippant teenager had been my go-to whenever he tried to contact me. Was I proud of it? No. But now, I didn’t get the option to act like I didn’t know him. I was cooking up a little baby who was going to keep us in each other’s lives forever. “I thought it was just easier that way.”

  “Easier to act like I don't fucking exist?”

  “Can you tone down the cussing? I swear, Sam has bionic ears that can hear anything. Yesterday I opened a bag of Tootsie Rolls in the bathroom, and he heard it in his bedroom.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Do I want to know why you opened them in the bathroom?”

  “Because I was about to take a bath.”

  “Still not making sense, Sage.”

  I scoffed and folded my hands in my lap. “I have to admit, you finding out all the joys of being a parent is going to be hilarious. I’ll let you figure out on your own why I was I was in the bathroom eating candy.”

  “Pretty sure I’m about to find out a whole bunch of shit I never thought I needed to know.”

  I quirked my eyebrow at him. “Do you even realize when you cuss?”

/>   “I cursed?” he asked, bewildered.

  “You said shit.”

  “Well, shit. I didn’t know that.”

  “You just did it again.”

  “Dammit, you’re right.”

  I shook my head. “You are going to have to work on that in the next seven months. Dammit is kind of iffy, too. I caught Sam telling his Star War figures the other day to get in the damn ship.”

  Roman snorted. “That’s hilarious.”

  “No, it’s not, Roman. He can’t go to daycare and say things like that.” Hell would rain down on me from KinderLove Daycare if Sam walked in there saying “damn this” and “damn that.”

  He tried to wipe the smile off of his face, but he failed miserably. “I promise I’ll try to think about what I’m saying.”

  That was probably the best I was going to get out of him. “Good. Although you aren’t really going to see him much.” He wasn’t Sam’s dad. He hadn’t signed up to be a dad to both of my kids.

  “I’ll see him in class and when I pick him up.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, there, ninja. Back up the train. When you pick him up?”

  “You said you don’t have time to take him to and from karate, so I can do it for you. He’ll maybe have to hang out after his class for a bit ‘til I’m done teaching other kids, but it won’t be a problem at all.”

  “Roman, I never agreed with him going to karate. I don’t have the money to do that.” I barely managed to make ends meet with daycare being so damn expensive.

  “No one said anything about money.”

  I scoffed and shook my head. “You really expect me to believe I don’t have to pay for Sam to take karate? I’ve seen some of those karate moms, Roman. They drip diamonds, act like everyone is beneath them, and drive big ass SUVs. Last I checked, I don’t fit anything on that list.”

  “That’s not true. Maybe two or three are like that, but most of them are nice and don’t shit dollar bills.”

  “It doesn’t matter what they are or aren’t. I don’t have the money for it. I’m sure it’s well above what I can afford.”

  “Then tell me what you can afford.”

  “Have you noticed I roll my eyes a lot when you are around?”