Zen (5 page)

“Did you want a full interview this evening? We could order a private dinner in my suite.”

Shawna felt tingly at the idea of being alone with Zen in his suite. Thank goodness she had an out. She shook her head. “I am meeting with Nigel this evening. How about we have our official interview for tomorrow morning, if that is okay?”

Zen held back the growl. The idea that Nigel was taking her to dinner pissed him off. He nodded his head and walked off to begin his training.

Zen and the others did some warm-up stretches before they started pairing off. Zen started next in the practice match on the mats. He was up against Torch. They circled each other. Torch threw a couple of kicks to the front of Zen’s body. Shawna winced with every hit. They didn’t seem to hold back even during practice.

Zen made the mistake of glancing up to see if Shawna was watching him. With him being distracted, Torch was able to land a punch to his face. It knocked Zen back a couple of feet.

“Pay attention to the practice, Zen, instead of the sweet smelling pussy,” Torch called out to him.

Zen growled at him. “Don’t ever call her that again.”

Zen landed a knee to Torch’s body. He didn’t give him leeway. He followed with several punches. Torch tried to land a knee himself but it didn’t seem to faze Zen.

“I think you need to bring your girlfriend to your actual fights, Zen. She seems to inspire you to perform better. Or maybe it’s your other performance in bed that is lacking,” Torch continued to poke at him verbally despite all the punches that Zen landed.

“Uh, I would shut up if I were you, Torch,” Hammer called out from the sidelines.

“Naw. Zen’s a pussycat. Aren’t you?”

It was the last thing that came out of Torch’s mouth before Zen landed a shot that dropped Torch. Zen didn’t stop there. He covered Torch with punches. Hammer and Taurus stepped in to end the match.

“Enough. Take a breather,” Hammer told both of them.

Zen stood and walked away. He couldn’t believe he lost control like that. Normally he was the one who needled people until they punched his lights out. Torch was all mouth. Why was he being so sensitive? He glanced over his shoulder at Shawna. She had seen him loose control. What must she think?

Violent, this was definitely a violent sport. She knew that but she hadn’t expected it to be that way during a practice. She heard some of what Torch was saying to Zen. He seemed to be goading him. But that was normal for guys like this. She actually wanted to punch Torch a couple of times herself. He was cocky and annoying. She pitied the woman who would take him on. She watched Zen storm off and had to fight her urge to rush to his side to see if he was okay. She focused on her job.

“Did you get any pictures?” she asked Jimmie.

“Yeah. That was a pretty awesome practice match. Damn, I thought they were going to kill each other.”

“Luckily they didn’t.” She looked at her watch. “We should probably go and take a look at the pictures that you have so far, then send them off to the editor.”

“I’ll meet you at your suite. I want to get a few pics of Zen and the women fighters first,” Jimmie told her distractedly as he watched the pretty red-haired fighter.

“Okay. You know my room number?”

“Yep, got it.”

“See you in a few.” Shawna headed to the door of the training facility. She wasn’t paying attention and walked into something hard. Two hands reached out and grabbed her shoulders keeping her from falling backwards.

“Sorry,” she said as she looked up and froze. The one person she had been waiting forever to see had just walked into her. “Rage?”

“Shawna? What the hell are you doing here?”

The smile that had lit up her face at seeing the man she came all this way for disappeared. By the look he was giving her, told her that he was not pleased with her being there. Did he hate her this much?

Rage was shocked. He looked around and saw that people were watching them. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the training facility into the corridor. “What are you doing here?”

Shawna sighed and her heart ached. “I am a reporter for the Galactic Times. I’m doing an in depth interview for the next two weeks on Zen.”

“You’re a reporter? But you are too young,” Rage stated, staring down at her.

“I have been working as a reporter for a few years now. You would know that if you bothered to read my emails that I send you.”

Rage ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I have to get to training. How about I come by your suite this evening and we will discuss this.”

“There’s nothing to discuss. This is my job. And I won’t be in this evening. I have a dinner date.” Shawna took a step back from him.

“With who? Zen?” Rage looked furious.

“No. I am meeting with assistant director, Nigel, to discuss the itinerary over the next two weeks.”

Rage breathed a sigh of relief. He would have had to kill his friend if he was putting the moves on his—on Shawna. He was confused and needed to talk to Rachel about everything. She would know what he should do.

“Then I will come by in the morning.”

“Don’t bother. I have the first of many interviews with Zen.” Shawna started to walk away.

“Tomorrow night?” Rage called out. She just shrugged her shoulders.

Rage turned to find Zen standing at the entrance to the training facility. He grunted and pushed his way past him.

Zen didn’t know what the hell was going on. Rage was mated to the head of their security, Rachel. They seemed to be deeply in love. He growled at the thought the other male, his friend, had a thing going on with Shawna. He was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Shawna went back to her suite. As soon as the door was closed she sat on the couch and cried. This was a mistake. She should never have come. Rage wanted her gone, that much was clear. She wiped the tears from her cheeks.
Screw him!
She was going to do her job and then leave in two weeks. If he didn’t want her there, too bad, he could just deal with it.

She stood to go to the bathroom to wash her face. She didn’t want Jimmie or anyone else to see her like this. She glanced up at her image in the mirror, then touched up her makeup. There, she had her mask in place. The bell to the suite rang out. Just in time.

“What was that about?” Zen asked Rage. He was standing outside the cage watching Rage and Taurus with their practice match.

“What was what about?” Rage asked as he dodged Taurus.

“The conversation you had with Shawna.”

Rage glared at him. “What’s it to you?”

“She’s here to interview me. I’m just looking out for her. You upset her.” Zen glared right back.

Rage stopped to stand and stared at Zen. “I did?”

“I thought she was about to cry. What did you say to her?”

Damn, he hadn’t meant to upset Shawna; he just didn’t think this was the right place for her to be. He absolutely knew that her parents would be against the whole thing. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Shawna. She was one of a few people he actually gave a damn about.

“Don’t worry about Shawna. She is not your business.” Rage went back to circling Taurus.

If there weren’t bars between them right at the moment, Zen would knock Rage on his ass. What was his problem? He turned to head to the weightlifting room. He needed to unwind before he got into a real fight with his friend. Maybe half an hour on the treadmill would do the trick.

Heels clicked on the corridor hallway.
I have to hurry before someone sees me.
A woman wearing a tight mini skirt and long red hair walked toward the suite door at the end of the hallway.
There it is, suite seven-two-zero
.

She smiled as she placed the gift wrapped box down before his door. She touched the door and whispered, “Soon, my love.” Then she turned and walked away.

Afternoon training seemed to drag out. It was almost dinnertime when they finally called it a day. Zen walked with Roxy, Gana, Isis, and Torch up to the upper levels of the ship where the GCFA fighters had their suites. He wanted to go to Shawna but he figured she would be getting ready for her date with Nigel.

The thought of the other male touching Shawna made him growl. He frowned. He had never before felt possessive over any female. This was crazy. He should probably hunt up a date for himself and take care of his sexual needs. Another female would satisfy him. Maybe two females.

He had forgotten there were other people on the elevator. He tried to smile but he wasn’t feeling it. He saw that Isis and Torch were on opposite sides of the elevator glaring at each other. He wondered if it was a natural thing for them to hate each other. He was fire and she was ice. Or maybe it was a personality thing. Torch was the biggest ass he had ever met.