Every Breath You Take Read Online Free Page B

a bag that couldn’t hit back.
    Unfortunately Lexie’s issues were bigger than her privileged students. She used the leather target to chase away the demons from her past. To strike out at the ugly men who’d taken advantage of a barely teenaged girl. The strip joints that allowed her to eat and gave her a place to sleep—for a price. The death of her beloved brother. And now, this.
    She forced herself to speak calmly, but couldn’t keep her voice from shaking.
    “I need to go to the dojo, Jake.”
    “Okay, honey. Let me get changed. I’ll join you.”
    Before she could refuse, he put up his hand.
    “Don’t worry, baby. I’m not crazy enough to spar with you tonight. No, I’ll let you beat the hell out of the bag, instead of me. But the bag is a good idea. I’m glad we have several in the dojo.”
    ~~~
    Jake stood in the back of the cavernous studio watching the woman he loved more than life attack the leather surrogate. He shared a troubled gaze with Master Wan. But neither of them attempted to stop her. They both knew that the only way Lexie could deal with the anger and grief swamping her was to beat it out of herself. After Anthony was killed, Jake and Master Wan encouraged her to use the inhuman target for her rage. Often she flayed at the bag for hours at a time. Only when she was about to collapse from fatigue did one of the men step in.
    Tonight, her strikes were vicious. Her warrior shrieks echoed throughout the studio. They bounced off the walls as violently as her hands and feet struck the unyielding bag. Lexie had already exchanged her gloves several times, the ripped rejects tossed aside in a growing pile. But now after an hour Jake saw that her kicks were getting less fierce. Her shoulders weren’t as rigid. Her shouts not as shrill. Jake started to go to her, but Master Wan shook his head.
    Lexie’s sensei and the only true father she’d ever had, murmured softly. “Jai Li’s body is wise, Jake. It will tell her when she’s had enough.”
    Jake sniffed, reminding himself that the wisest person in this room was the elderly man standing beside him. Years ago, Master Wan had saved Lexie’s sixteen-year-old brother Anthony from certain prison. The renowned grandmaster saw the promise in the fierce young boy and took him into his home and his life. After Anthony learned to focus his rage into the more acceptable MMA channels he joined the Army, quickly going through the ranks. His fighting skills put him in a class of his own. For the next five years Master Wan and Anthony tromped through the various levels of an uncaring social service system hunting for his young sister that he hadn’t seen since she was ten years old. Following the crumbs from one foster home to another Anthony finally found Lexie in a strip joint. Her sixteen-year-old body was just beginning to exhibit the extraordinary attributes that now made her the object of many men’s wet dreams. Forced to return to his mission in Afghanistan, Anthony turned his sister over to the person who’d saved him. Master Wan and Madam Juen took the young girl into their home. With his expert eye, Master Wan saw the talent beneath the angry druggie’s harsh exterior and turned the sullen teenager into a world class martial artist. He always laughed when he said the only student he’d had in forty years of teaching who was more talented than Anthony, was Lexie. Master Wan and his wife became the only real parents both Lexie and Anthony had. To say that Master Wan saved their lives was, if anything, an understatement.
    As if to underscore the older man’s wisdom, Lexie’s movements became erratic, less accomplished. She now began flailing at the bag. A couple of tries later she stumbled, staggering against the wall. Jake had to physically restrain himself from going to her. Then with a harsh cry that sounded more like a wild animal caught in a hunter’s vicious trap she fell against the wall and sunk to the floor. If Jake had thought that