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before heading out to join Bags in the ring.
    ‘Up you come, Sunshine,’ he said, parting the ropes for her to climb in before handing her some gloves. Bags, who was nicknamed because he really was a punching bag to his students, put on the hand pads. Pax had started calling him that from day dot, nearly eight years ago, because he reckoned Bartholomew was too much of a mouthful.
    ‘Alright, start with a few jabs.’ Bags widened his stance ready for her attack. His muscles flexed and rose like balloons filled with helium. Another reason Jaz loved the gym so much, all the guys were so fit…not that she was interested in any of them like that. Christ, most were old enough to be her dad but she could appreciate the work they put in to keep their muscled forms.
    Jaz settled into a rhythm, pounding against the pads on Bags’ hands.
    ‘Bloody hell, Jaz,’ said Bags shaking out his hands. ‘Whose face are you imagining?’ But he didn’t wait for her answer as he got her to do some uppercuts.
    After another thirty minutes, when he was sure that she was hurting, he called a stop. ‘That will do you today, I think you’ve vented enough. I know you could keep doing this all day if I let you.’
    ‘Thanks, Bags, that was great,’ said Jaz in between deep breaths.
    ‘No worries. Look, I better head off. Say hi to the guys when they get in and I’ll catch ya soon.’ Bags threw her towel over the top of her head.
    ‘Righto, bye.’ Jaz towelled some of her sweat off as she watched him leave. She had the gym to herself. This was so much better than school, even if she had mats to wash today.
    Ten minutes later Jaz had her earphones blaring music, bucket and sponge by her side as she bent over and scrubbed sweat from the mat. Dark silk cascaded over her shoulder and shook with each push of her arm as she scrubbed the large blue mat. She stood, throwing the sponge back into the bucket and then broke out in a little dance as she sang a few lines from her favourite Avicii song. Jaz bopped away and then squeezed out the sponge.
    A tap on the shoulder caused her to jump.
    ‘Yeah,’ she yelled before pulling out her earphones.
    The tall, gorgeous guy in front of her smiled and she dropped her voice down a few decibels before asking, ‘Can I help you?’ She wouldn’t mind helping the stranger with his deep dark eyes that gave her chills. Or maybe it was the way his jeans hung off his hips. Why did he seem so familiar?
    ‘Is Pax here?’
    ‘Nup.’
    ‘It’s still his gym, yeah?’
    Jaz flicked her hair from her eyes before answering and gave the stranger a head to toe inspection. Why was he so familiar? His grey t-shirt fitted his muscled chest to perfection. God she loved working at the gym.
    ‘Yep.’
    Who was he and how did he know Pax? He didn’t look that old, maybe twenty-five at most, so what would he want with Pax? His body was long and lean; he definitely kept fit so maybe he was an instructor or something. A scary instructor at that. As handsome as he was, her radar was screaming ‘danger’ and she couldn’t read his expression. His eyes were so dark and almost menacing, like he could kill if he was ordered to. And that’s when she realised why he was familiar. He was the bouncer guy from the nightclub. The one who reminded her of a soldier. She never forgot a pair of muscled arms.
    ‘I’ve come to work out for a while; do you have short-term memberships?’
    She threw her sponge into the bucket with precision and nodded her head towards the front desk. He followed obediently.
    ‘Fill in this form, sign here and the amounts per month are there. Take your pick,’ she said pushing the paper towards him.
    ‘So, you been working for Pax for long?’ Mr Mysterious asked.
    ‘Yep, you could say I’ve been working here for most of my life, but I’ve been getting paid for the last seven. I’m running it at the moment while Pax is away.’
    Those dark eyes were studding her closely. Jaz felt like she was