3. Junk-Juice

Bailey

Rochelle? I’d silently questioned myself as I pulled the cake pan from the scorching heat of the oven. A cloud of hazelnut steam hit me square in the face, mingled with the scent of the still baking butterscotch. Whoever created double ovens was a pure genius, and I thanked them in times like this when I was nervous and needed to bake to clear my mind. The reason behind my nervousness? It'd been over a week since the day I went to the gym. Today would be the first time I showed my face again, and all I could think about was that I told them my name was Rochelle. Well, that wasn't all I could think about, but it was a pretty big issue since my name was, obviously, not Rochelle.

When I was in third grade, I'd decided Rochelle was so much better than Bailey, and from that day forward, that's what I would be known as. For two weeks straight, I wrote my name as Rochelle on all my assignments and ignored the hell out of my teacher unless she addressed me as such. I told everyone at school my new name, and it made me "cool" because, let's face it, kids never changed their name just because. And then there came my geography test. I'd been thrilled to show my mom the A+ I'd gotten. There'd been one major flaw with my test – I'd written in big, bold, all capital letters, Rochelle Ross. Of course, I'd kept my last name.

My mom had calmly asked me who in the hell Rochelle was. When I couldn't give her an answer, she'd suspected I'd swapped tests with someone at school since I'd always been horrible with geography. To this day, I still sucked at it. She'd called my teacher, and when she finally got the whole story, she'd whooped my ass. When it was all said and done, she'd told me that I was Bailey and I'd never be anyone else, so be happy with who I was. Good advice, but I still wanted to be Rochelle, so I wrote that name on my assignments at least once a week. Seventeen years later, I, apparently, still wanted to be Rochelle. 

I shook my head and giggled as I mixed the sea salt into the caramel while waiting for the butter cake to cool. As I worked, I let my mind drift back to the other thing I couldn't stop thinking about. Or should I say person? That day, I'd watched him at the gym while he fought with the pretty one. It didn't look like an equal fight, but everyone around them had been laughing, so maybe they'd been joking. From my spot near the entrance, I'd basically stalked him, but I hadn't felt bad about it considering the number of women who'd stopped their own workouts to openly gawk at him. When he'd stopped moving and looked around, I ran out of fear of being caught staring. It'd made absolutely no sense since everyone else had been staring, but I'd still left. I'd waited in the café across the street for him to come out, and before I knew it, they were closing, and he'd still not left. I'd hovered near the entrance for two more hours before deciding to go in, and by then, he'd been at the door. I'd always had trouble speaking to guys, but I'd turned into a bumbling idiot in his presence.

Thankfully, I hadn't needed to deal with Connor when I got home. I'd thought I'd have to sneak around late at night while Connor was out "working," but Rory had left me a note saying he'd taken Connor home to be around real men. He hadn't said for how long, but any time they went, they'd be gone at least a month, sometimes two. My only complaint was that they took Kaelen, too. I knew Rory would have fought that, but Connor probably only agreed to go if he could take him. Hence my baking frenzy. I missed my baby and wanted something to bring Dominic and his friends when I popped up at the self-defense class.

***

When I reached the gym, I sat there staring at the sign. All-Star Mixed Martial Arts was proudly displayed on the front windows. I caught glimpses of people on the treadmills and elliptical machines between the script, but just barely. The tint and writing limited visibility. I wasn't sure what I expected to see, knowing I'd have to go inside and down a hall for the classes, as well as the boxing ring. It was still a boxing ring, right? Technically, they were boxing. I took three calming breaths, grabbed the containers filled with goodies, and jumped out of my SUV before I could talk myself out of it.

A woman, who hadn't been here the last time I came, greeted me from the reception desk.

"Welcome to All-Star. New here?"

I glanced around, hoping to see one of the guys I'd met or even Dominic, but the entryway was deserted. "I'm here for the 5 PM class."

"Oh! Just use your key fob, and it'll check you in."

She smiled as she pointed to a scanner on the desk, and I drew a blank. I glanced between her and the scanner.

"Key fob?"

"Yeah, when you signed up for a membership, they told you to always register for the class online, right?"

"Membership?" I shook my head slowly and her smile faded.

"You probably won't be able to get in this class then. Are you actually a member?"

Another slow shake. None of the guys said anything about registering. Then again, I wasn't supposed to be here during the day.

"Why won't I be able to get in this class?"

She rolled her eyes, waving her hand dismissively.

"Nico and Jax are giving this class. Their classes are always full. Everyone absolutely needs them to teach them to defend themselves." She finished with a waggle of her eyebrows and a grin.

"Dominic?" I questioned. I'd heard Nico before, but I wanted to make sure we were talking about the same person.

"Yeah, we call him Nico."

"He's popular then?"

She wrinkled her nose before standing and coming around the desk. Holy shit, she was super pregnant! She noticed the surprise on my face and laughed as she grabbed my hand.

"Six weeks to go, and yeah, you could say he's a little popular." She started to speak again, but instead sniffed the air. She did it a second time, and her eyes went wide as she pulled me to a stop. "Is that sugar?" She sounded as though I'd committed the worst of the seven deadly sins. Greed, maybe?

"Um, yeah. I just thought I'd bring something for Dominic and his friends. I met them here last week, but couldn't make it back before now."

By the time I'd finished speaking, she was clutching her stomach and laughing.

"Oh, I like you already. This is going to be epic."

She took my hand again, and I couldn't help wondering at the strength of the pregnant woman currently dragging me along behind her. I could feel curious eyes on us as we moved through the main workout area. I kept my gaze on the floor, but I could still see people on the machines as we rushed through. She stopped at a door, peeked inside then called for Law and East to follow us. I wondered at the names of these people as she dragged me off again. I clutched the containers to my chest, and although I suspected there were now two people following us, I didn't dare look back.

She opened another door, and I was assaulted with a nauseating mixture of different perfumes. There were roughly twelve women in a half-circle, each one clad in too small sports bras and skintight shorts that I'd only be comfortable wearing to bed. A few of them even wore dangly earrings and layers of make-up. Was self-defense not considered a workout? Shit! Was I underdressed? I glanced down at my loose-fitting t-shirt and black running tights. Before I could fully freak out, someone spoke.

"Do you think you could show us again? I'm just not really getting it," one of the women called out.

"I've shown you four times now, sweetheart, so I'll let someone else take over," Dominic answered, and even though I couldn't see him from his spot - on the floor? - his deep voice gave me goosebumps, and my ovaries, traitorous little hussies that they are, exploded in glee.

"Who's this?"

I squeaked and whipped around to where the voice came from – it sounded way too close - and came face to muscular chests, with the guys behind us. How did I forget there were two more behemoths following us? Muscles. Good grief. Was everyone here deluxe-sized? The pregnant chick laughed again, except this time it was more cackle, and the two giants before me grinned.

"Shit, I'm going to start having contractions if I stay around you."

I groaned, realizing I'd said all of that out loud.

"Rochelle!"

I whipped around again and was pulled into a crushing bear hug. Everything in me froze. I had no idea who was hugging me, but I was too shocked to push them away. Instead, I clutched the goody container to my chest and bit the inside of my cheek.

"Nico, look! It's your junk-juice maker!"

I now recognized the teasing tone as Van's, but I couldn't seem to make myself relax. If Connor knew another man was hugging me like this, he'd go insane. I knew I should be pushing him away, but my brain fired all the wrong signals. Also, I felt like I would be pretty embarrassed if I actually knew what a junk-juice maker was.

"Let her breathe, idiot."

Van was yanked away from me, then Cade stood before me. I attempted to scan the room, but found a wall of bodies surrounding me. How was it possible that all of this hotness existed in one group of friends? Every. Single. One. Wasn't there always at least one ugly one? Or was that just for women?

"What's in the box?" Jax asked with a jerk of his chin. Jeez, he’s pretty.

"Is that butterscotch I smell?" Van asked.

He sounded than incredulous the pregnant chick had when she'd smelled it. Did they not like butterscotch?

"And," Cade sniffed experimentally, "hazelnut?"

And suddenly, I was prey, and they were the bloodthirsty wolves.