Page 57 of Fierce-Jonah

“Trent walked in on Jonah and me talking in his office this week. So Trent knows, but not your parents. We haven’t gotten that far. We don’t see each other much but do have some communication daily. I won’t see him today. He’s there until closing he said. I know he’s out earlier tomorrow, but I’ve got Abby’s birthday party and not sure how long I’ll last at my parents’.”

“Are you going to tell them you are dating Jonah?”

“I don’t know. Don’t take this the wrong way, but my mother will probably faint.”

“She totally may when she sees him,” Raina said, laughing.

“Yeah. I’m not sure I’m ready for it and not with my sisters there. We know I’m going to get crap tomorrow like I always do.”

“I get it,” Raina said. “Don’t let them get you down. You be you and they can learn to deal with it or not. It’s about you being happy and not worrying about others’ approval.”

“I worried about getting yours,” she said quietly.

“I know. I love my brother and want to see him happy. I feel the same about you. If you two can do it for each other, that is even better. That is my stance on this. Don’t let it be awkward.”

“Maybe we can even double date,” she said, grinning.

“If you think you can get my brother to take enough time off to do that, more power to you.”

Not what she wanted to hear, but she knew there were things Jonah and she had to work on. And they would.

21

Needing Approval

“What are you doing here?” Jonah asked his sister when she walked into the back of the gym where he had two guys in the ring doing a mock fight.

“I thought you’d be expecting me. I’m sure Megan told you that we talked.”

“She did,” he said. “Hold your arms up in front of your face, Nick. That’s it, do it again. I don’t want any busted noses on my watch.”

He turned back to Raina and saw her face over the fighting. He knew she didn’t care for it when he did it. She never came to his matches. His mother always did. His mother had said it was to make sure he walked out on his own.

Until he didn’t that one time. The last time.

“And what did she say?” Raina asked. “Or now isn’t a good time?”

“Can you give me ten minutes?” he asked. “I’m almost done and then we can go talk in private.”

“Sure,” Raina said. “I’ll go wait in your office if you’re okay with that.”

“More than okay. Then I don’t have to bust any faces of the men looking at you.”

She laughed. Yeah, it was his normal statement to make. “Cody would appreciate that. He wanted to come with me, but I told him I’d be fine. It’s a gym. There are a lot of women here.”

“There are,” he said. “But not too many back here.”

He watched Raina go to his office and finished with the two guys in the ring, giving instructions and then scheduling them to come back next Saturday. He was going to do it earlier in the day though so he could get out at a decent time.

Tonight he was short staffed and had to close down the gym on top of it. Normally he didn’t care all that much, but now that he had someone he could go home to—or at least spend some time with—it was bothering him.

He walked into his office and saw Raina there looking at her phone. “Sorry to just drop in like this,” Raina said. “I should have called, but I didn’t think you’d answer.”

“Probably not. I would have called you later though.”

“I know. I wanted to talk in person. First, I’m happy for you two.”

He snorted. “Thanks for the approval.”