Spitfire Suckerpunch (House of Pain Book 2) by Lavender Parker Page B

surroundings, although Shay never would have imagined seeing someone like her in a place like House of Pain.
    “Um... yes,” Shay said after a moment, nodding. A self-defense class seemed like as good of an excuse as any to explain her presence there.
    “You're early,” the woman said with a light laugh. “It's not for another fifteen minutes.”
    “Are you here for the class?” Shay asked, letting her eyes drift around the room again. Two men over by the free weights were staring at them. One was shorter and Hispanic, all tan skin and lean muscles. The other was white, as well as tall and bald and mean-looking.
    “Don't mind them,” the woman said. “They don't bite.”
    “What if I asked them to?” Shay said without thinking, turning back to the woman. The woman's eyes widened and her smile broadened.
    “Well, the scary-looking Russian is married, so you might want to avoid him or his wife may challenge you to a duel,” she said. Then her eyes narrowed a bit. “The other one is Hector,” she trailed off, raising her freckled shoulders nonchalantly. “He's free to the highest bidder.” Shay glanced back at the Hispanic guy and then back to the woman, sensing some definite animosity there. She wasn't going to step into that minefield so she just nodded vaguely and didn't respond. “I'm Erica, by the way,” the woman said, her mood lightening again.
    “I'm Shay,” Shay said, before she could even consider giving a fake name. She really wished she'd come to the gym with a plan. But then again, this was much more interesting. “Do you teach the self-defense class?” she asked, trying to make conversation.
    “Oh, no,” Erica said, shaking her head like it was the funniest thing she'd ever head. “That would be Gennifer. She ran to the juice bar across the street, but she'll be back in a bit. She'll be happy to have another body in the class.” Shay nodded again, casting her eyes around the room again. She didn't want to admit it, but she was looking for Tate. She was wondering where he was. The whole reason that she'd even come there was for him. Not that she knew what she was going to do when she saw him. “Did you bring clothes?”
    “Hmm?” Shay murmured, turning her attention back to Erica.
    “Gym clothes,” Erica explained, raising her eyebrows. “It's not really a work out, but you might get a little sweaty.”
    “Oh, I'm fine,” Shay said waving her hand. Erica grabbed her hand and Shay froze at the unexpected contact.
    “Your nails!” Erica said. “Wow. Those are impressive.” Shay resisted the urge to yank her hand back because she didn't want to make a scene. Besides, Erica was obviously harmless. But Shay wasn't used to strangers touching her and getting all up in her personal space. She didn't know when she was going to get used to it, even though being jumpy about personal space was detrimental in a city as crowded as New York. “I used to get my nails done, before I started coming here,” Erica was saying. She dropped Shay's hand and held up her own, revealing short, black-painted nails. “But Gennifer's rubbed off on me. Can't have nails and be a bad-ass boxer.”
    “Oh, well,” Shay said, mostly to herself, her eyes returning to the ring. Too bad she loved her long nails too much to get rid of them.
    “Maybe after class, Gennifer could show you some moves. She's the one that got me into the ring,” Erica said. “Come on. Let's get your stuff in a locker.” Shay followed Erica to the back of the gym because she didn't have anything else to do. She kept an eye out, but didn't see Tate. She didn't know if she expected to see him, or what she would do if she did. Again, she wondered if she should have come up with a plan before she went to the gym.
    As she was beginning to think she should slip out the back, the door to the men's locker room opened and a hulking figure stepped out in a sleeveless black shirt and a loose-fitting pair of gym pants. Her heart stopped in her