Tyler's looking at me as if we had all the time in the world and somehow it helps me put my doubts at ease.

"God! I can't believe you're going to convince me to do this." I let out a humorless chuckle, surprised by my desire to take these classes.

"You're stealing my students now or what?" I hear a woman say and I turn my body so I'm facing her. She's wearing a pair of workout leggings and a black t-shirt with the gym's logo like the one Tyler has on. Her blond hair is up in a tight bun on the top of her head, and much similar to Tyler, she holds herself in a way that exudes confidence.

"I thought you said your classes were full when I texted you yesterday?" Tyler asks her, his brows raising.

"Hi, I'm Alice." She waves at me with a sweet smile on her lips. "I'm just giving my brother a hard time."

"I'm Andie. Nice to meet you. Tyler was actually trying to convince me to start self-defense, but I'm not so sure if it can work for me." I glance at him and when I look back at her, I'm surprised to see a little smirk on her lips.

"You think you won't ever be able to fight back, right?" she asks, something in her voice letting me know she sees right through me.

"You know, he's like twice my size." I chuckle.

"Well, I assure you that we can always fight back. We might not know how at some point, but it doesn't mean we're not able to learn," she says, basically repeating what Tyler has been trying to tell me.

"Wow, that sounds... empowering," I say, loving how confident she sounds.

"That's our main goal here." She smiles, then looks from Tyler to me. "Would you believe me if I told you I could take Tyler down?"

"Uh..." My mouth falls open as I try to come up with something to say that won't offend her.

"Well, let me show you something." She hops into the ring, and Tyler shakes his head.

"You're such a show-off, Alice," he says, his eyes rolling.

"Come on, are you scared of your little sister or what?" She teases him.

"You know I won't make it easy on you, right?" He smirks, his eyes shining with mischief.

"I'm counting on that." She cracks her knuckles. "You might want to step out, Andie. Things are about to get fun."

"I'm sorry, Andie..." Tyler looks at me helplessly, but I'm so curious about the whole situation that I let myself out of the ring and lean on a pillar by the right so I can watch the show.

"You don't want to get your gloves first, sis?" Tyler asks, making Alice laugh.

"Are you afraid to hurt your hands, pretty boy?" She stops in front of him, and Tyler's posture alters. He goes from relaxed to utterly focused in a second and suddenly he's all business. Yeah, I won't lie and say that's not one hundred percent hot. Because damn... He's sexy without even trying.

"Are you trying to hurt me or show Andie how it works?" Tyler tilts his head to the side, a cocky smile on his lips.

"Let's show her how this works," she says and in a split of a second Tyler tackles her to the ground, straddling her hips and pinning both of her wrists above her head.

Stunned, I press my back to the pillar to support myself. "Holy shit!" I gasp and the next thing I know, Tyler's eyes are meeting mine.

"This is one of the worst-case scenarios a woman can be–" He starts, but Alice quickly interrupts him.

"But if I bridge my hips up like this, I'll be able to throw him off because he'll be afraid to collapse and hit his head straight into the floor," she says, and sure enough Tyler's hips go up and his head almost touches the floor above Alice's head.

"And this fear amplifies when she travels her hands down like this toward my knees," Tyler says as he goes back to mounting Alice and she snow-angels her hands to explain the motion.

"So you see..." Alice continues. "My hips go up as my hands go down. But notice I'm not lifting my hands off the ground." She repeats the movement in slow motion, and this time Tyler's head face plants the floor, and Alice is able to get out from under him.

"Wow! I'm... Damn! That was incredible, Alice!" I say, watching her get out of the ring.

"It's all about practice and rewiring our mindset. For ages, we've been programmed to believe men are stronger than us, which only serves to make us feel weak." She stops in front of me, and having a woman feel so empowered gives me the push I need to try the classes.

"Can I get an autograph?" I joke and she burst out laughing.

"You'd think a professional MMA fighter would be better at impressing girls." I hear Tyler say, and my eyes snap to him as he jumps out of the ring to join us.

"Wait a second!" I blink. "You're an MMA fighter?"

 He tilts his head to the side. "I told you I owned the gym on Saturday."

I look at him in shock. "Yeah, but..."

He narrows his eyes, a hint of a smile on his lips. "You have no idea who I am, do you?"

"Excuse me, but should I know who you are?" I take him in, trying to see if I've known him from somewhere.

"Wait, you don't know each other?" Alice asks, clearly surprised.

"Of course, we know each other," Tyler says, making her gasp.

"Oh, my God! And she has no idea who you are? Well, shit! This is new." She laughs, and I feel my cheeks on fire.

"Am I missing something here?" I ask, totally at a loss.

"How did you two meet again?" she asks, a curious look on her face.

"Oh, I was leaving—" I start, but Tyler interrupts me.

"None of your business, Alice." He gives her a pointed look that has zero effect on her.

"Sorry, Andie. I can be too nosy sometimes. It's just that I'm so used to everyone getting super excited around Tyler that you took me off-guard." She gives me an apologetic smile, making me narrow my eyes.

"Seriously, are you famous or something?" I meet Tyler's gaze and I swear he flushes a little, which is totally adorable, considering how alpha he is.

"Aren't you supposed to be working right now, Alice?" He looks at his sister, ignoring my question.

"Oh, my God! You are! What am I missing here, Alice?" I look from him to her, too curious now.

"Pretty boy here is the current light Global Combat heavyweight champion with too many wins under his belt for his own good," she says and my eyes widen in shock.

"You what?" I gasp, my brain having a hard time accepting the news.

"Damn! That's refreshing," she chuckles, enjoying Tyler's discomfort. 

"Alice." Tyler shakes his head, looking all kinds of flustered.

"What, big bro? You are Global Combat's current champion." She raises her arms in mock surrender. "Anyway, I have to run, Andie. I just came here to let  grumpy boy know he needs to sign some papers at the office by the end of the day."

"Oh, okay. Thanks for the mini-class." I offer her my hand, willing my heart to stop beating so fast. "It was the boost of confidence I needed to try self-defense." 

"No problem. We'll talk more when you officially join the group." She winks before walking away.

"So you're a freaking MMA fighter?" I turn to Tyler, rubbing my face as I try to understand how I ended up here.

"I am, yeah..." He takes a deep breath, his eye meeting mine. "You don't look so impressed, though?"

"Sorry, you just took me off-guard." I bite my lower lip so I don't say anything stupid. No matter how hard I try, I'll never understand why people choose to fight on purpose.

"Right." He studies my eyes, and it's suddenly awkward between us.

"I should get going. Thanks for... for everything. I'm sure Alice will be a great teacher." I force myself to meet his gaze, only to find his eyes narrowing.

"Let me walk you to your car."

"Oh, no, that's okay. I'm sure you're busy." My eyes widen as he crosses his arms over his chest, his head tilting to the side to study me.

"Are you scared of me because I'm a fighter?" he asks, and the hurt in his eyes is something that catches me by surprise.

"What? No! I mean... I'm... It's just..." I try, but my brain can't fully form a coherent sentence under the weight of his stare.

"Right." He nods, taking a step back. "Talk to Amy at the front desk. She'll give you all the info you'll need for Alice's class."

"Tyler..." I take a deep breath, but the sudden change in his mood prevents me from coming up with anything to say.

"I'll see you around, Andie. It was nice meeting you." He gives me one last look before walking away and leaving me speechless.

Groaning inwardly, I kick myself for being so rude. He's being nothing but polite and all he's done is trying to help. But learning he's a professional fighter just doesn't sit right with me.

I grew up with an unstable father who enjoyed slapping me around just because he thought he could. Now knowing Tyler fights professionally is just... disappointing.

But again, what was I expecting? This is a freaking MMA gym, for heaven's sake. Of course, he'd be a fighter, not simply the owner.

God! What a mess... I shake my head as I walk to the front desk. The least I can do is to enroll myself in the course, after all. 

______

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Celeste