Fire And Ash by Nia Davenport Read Free Book Online

an unsteady hand which makes for an uncertain kill.” The words my grandfather has told me many times over chastise me for being so easily shaken as I pound into the bag.
    “Jacobs!” Frank, one of the gym’s trainers yells. “Are you going to wail on that punching bag all day or do want to make twenty five bucks?”  
    I look at him with a deadpan expression playing hardball because I know Frank and if this is about a girl I can make more than fifty bucks off of him. Frank is Sean and Gerard’s childhood friend so I’ve known him practically all of my life. He suffers from chronic laziness and cuts corners whenever they are there for him to cut. It is why he never became anything better than a decent MMA fighter and returned to Laurel Springs after only a year of leaving to try and make it on the professional circuit. He also suffers from an extreme case of being a male hoe. He chases girls more than Sean and Gerard do.
    “Come on Ash. I need to leave for an hour or so.”
    “And I need more than twenty five dollars.”  
      He crosses his arms over his broad chest and humphs at me.
    “Okay, whatever.” I turn back to the punching bag.
    “Fine. I’ll give you fifty,” He grits out.  
    I smile sweetly at him. “Nice doing business with you Frank. Just out of curiosity who’s the girl I’m teaching your beginner’s class so you can go meet this time?”
    “Emily Isaacs, Farrah’s old friend, is home from college and she just hit me up asking if I wanted to meet for lunch.”
    I roll my eyes. With Frank and my cousins seventy five percent of the stuff they do is about a girl.
    Mick, the gym’s owner, enters the gym as the people in Frank’s beginner class file out.  
    “Where the hell is Frank?” He growls after looking around and not spotting him.
    “He went out for lunch early and asked me to cover for him,” I say not completely ratting him out.
    “Oh really. And he didn’t think to run that idea by me?”
    I shrug. “I’m pretty sure the words Frank and think don’t belong in the same sentence.” Unless he is thinking about a girl.
    “The words Frank and work don’t either. I’ve told him a hundred times to stop pulling this shit. I ought to fire his ass when he gets back.” Except he won’t because he’s married to Frank’s sister and she’ll string him up by the balls for firing her baby brother even though everyone in town knows he’s a screw up.  
    I take my gloves off so I can wrap my hands before the advanced session I’m staying for begins. They are not wrapped already because it wasn’t necessary with the basic class and I was demonstrating not participating. But at some point during the advanced class I’ll end up in the ring with an opponent and the people who attend the classes that Mick personally teaches are a far cry from amateurs who take classes as a hobby. They are the real deal. People on the professional circuit or seriously looking to be on it that pack a serious punch.  
    Mick pulls a roll of hand tape out of his pocket and hands it to me. “Speaking of firing and hiring I’ve been meaning to ask you what you’re doing for the rest of the summer Jacobs?”
    “Not much.”   I am curious as to where he is headed with the question.  
    “Since you’re not doing much do you want a summer job?”
    “Where?”
    “Here,” he says it like I should’ve known that.  
    “Doing what?”
    “Instructing a few beginner MMA classes.”
    “Seriously?!” I hadn’t thought about getting a summer job before, but it will be fun to work in the gym, and I can make some extra cash in addition to the monthly allowance Dad gives me   .
    “Yes I am. The MMA classes are what keep the gym afloat. And now that Rashard is getting recognition on the national circuit, it’s seeing a big influx of new members from Highland Village who want to train at the same gym as their hometown hero. But most of them are newbies which means I have to add a few additional beginner