Full Contact (Worth the Fight #2) - Sidney Halston Page 0,37
to the gym is because of him. He could be a millionaire if he wanted to, but he’s too busy being a dick.”
“Doesn’t he know this? It’s his money too. Can’t he just keep it together?” she asked as they headed to his bedroom.
Slade laughed and began to take off his clothes to get ready for bed. “Babe, he’s been to a dozen different trainers. No one wants him. He’s explosive and volatile. He parties too hard and doesn’t train enough. He’s always getting in a fight.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
“No, babe—fight as in bar fight or street fight. He’s known as Scarface, partly because he’s Cuban and partly because of a scar on his face that he got not from a professional fight but in a drunken street brawl.”
“Oh.”
“Exactly. Street fights don’t pay the bills. Not to mention they can get him arrested and/or injured. It could be the end of his career and a huge loss for the Academy.”
Jessica slipped into bed and started brushing her hair.
“Sounds like he needs therapy. Or an anger management class. Or yoga,” Jessica teased.
Slade lay down on the bed next to her and chuckled. “Yeah.”
Jessica stopped brushing her hair and looked at him. “Actually…yoga might really help. It’s physically strenuous, which may appeal to him, and it can help him relax. Plus it’ll make him more agile in the ring or cage or whatever.”
“Wait—you’re serious?” Slade asked.
Jessica nodded.
“He might be shorter than me, but that man is huge. He’s a heavyweight cage fighter—he can’t do yoga. Can you picture him sitting on the floor in one of those poses you do?”
“I get how you can’t picture it, but there are lots of men who do yoga. You know how football players sometimes do ballet to work on their coordination? Well, yoga is probably a good tool for a crazy street brawler who should be just a badass professional cage brawler.”
“I don’t know, Jess. I don’t think he’d do it.”
“Well, there’s a class tomorrow at the Om Spot.”
Slade laughed. “Hell, no. That dude’s not going to sit and do yoga with a bunch of chicks. I guarantee you that.” He paused. “Wait. I have an idea. You teach him.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you.”
“I don’t think—”
“Look, do one-on-one classes with him. Help him learn to relax and focus. I’ll pay you for your time, of course.”
“I’m not accepting your money. If you need my help, I’ll do it for free. You’ve helped me so much, it’s the least I can do.”
“No, I’m going to pay you. Don’t worry, it comes out of Tony’s pocket, anyway. And you love yoga. Didn’t you say you’d love to have your own studio? Well, here’s a chance to have your first student.”
“I don’t know, Slay….”
“Say yes.”
“But—”
“Just say yes,” he repeated.
“It really means that much to you?” Jessica asked. Slade nodded. “Then yes.”
Slade gave her the smile, the one that always seemed to make her all gooey and fluttery. “Now, how do I convince the son of a bitch to do yoga when he doesn’t even want to hit the bags or the weights?” Slade mused out loud. “Frances needs to get her ass back to Florida and help me figure this shit out.”
That was the least appealing thing she’d heard Slade say in a long time.
—
“Slaaaade?” he heard when he walked into the gym.
Francesca had returned that morning from Brazil, and was in the office going through all the paperwork that had accumulated while she was gone. The office was her territory. The gym and the guys were his.
“What?”
“I come back to all this?” She lifted a huge bundle of papers and slapped them back onto the table. “My office is a mess. You didn’t even bother to open the mail.”
“It’s our office. And I’ve been busy. I’ve put a shitload of hours into this place with all the renovations—which, I might add, are taking forever, since the crew we hired sucks. I’m just hoping it will all be done for the grand reopening in just over a month. And I still have guys I’ve had to train for upcoming matches. I don’t have time to play with papers.”
“Playing? Is that what you think I do? Is that my official fucking job title, ‘paper player’?”
“Shit, Frances, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant I don’t have time for that. You deal with the business part, I deal with the gym stuff. That was the deal.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” She sighed in frustration. “With Papai sick, I let things