Cutter: A Fight or Flight Novel Read Online Free

go.”
    —
    Pulling up to the gym at a quarter past ten, I have no time to shower and change. I’ll be lucky if I can sneak through the back and at least get out of my jeans and into some sweats. Cracking open the door, I peek around the corner, noting the coast is clear. Slipping into the locker room, I change in a mad dash and almost get out unscathed.
    “Shouldn’t be too hard to make it to work on time when you live upstairs.” Garrett’s voice booms in the tiled room even though he’s speaking at a normal octave.
    “Sorry. I wasn’t exactly home last night. I had to wait for James and Randy to give me a ride back,” I explain, hoping he won’t be too pissed, seeing as it was my birthday and all.
    “That’s who you went out with last night? Those two morons? Jesus, Cutter, you trying to get yourself locked up or dead? Do I gotta drug test you now?”
    “No, I just had a couple beers. They went back to party with some girls they knew. I hung out with their roommate. Nobody’s in jail, dead, or high. I wouldn’t do that to you, man. I swear. But if you think either one of them uses drugs, why are you going to put them in a fight? Don’t they test for stuff like that?”
    “You think I’m that stupid? I keep telling those boneheads if they get their shit together, I’ll fight them. Still, nobody has any shit together. It’s all scattered across Lexington.” Muffling a chuckle, I apologize to Garrett one more time before we both walk out of the locker room and into the gym.
    “I hired a new bookkeeper. I can’t keep up with all that shit anymore and Rian’s too busy at home with the baby to do it for me. If she needs help finding anything, help her out, all right?”
    “No problem.”
    Garrett leaves my side to hop into the ring with James—a very hungover and cranky James, might I add—and starts running drills. From where I’m standing, it looks like Garrett keeps landing stomach hits on purpose and I can’t help but laugh under my breath.
    In the back of the room, the phone starts ringing, and out of habit I jog back there to answer it. When I round the corner to the office, a familiar person is sitting in the chair with the receiver to her ear.
    “Zan’s, this is Josette, can I help you?”
    This is her new job? Of all the places in all of Lexington, this is where she ends up? And a bookkeeper? When you tell me someone works with numbers, I automatically picture some frumpy old dude with a terrible toupee, not a sexy-as-sin woman like Josette.
    “Sure. No problem. I’ll let Garrett know you called. Have a good day. Bye.” She hangs up the phone with a smile on her face while she jots down what I assume to be the return call number. Spinning around in her chair, she’s yet to notice me as she places the piece of paper on top of the filing cabinet.
    “Jo?”
    “Holy shit, Cutter. You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing here? You could have left your number or something. Stalking me at work, even though it seems sexy in the books, is rather creepy.”
    “I work here, dude,” I answer, then start to panic a little. “Hey, I’ll be right back.” All but running out of the office, I nearly trip over some weights someone didn’t put away as I rush to the side of the ring.
    “Garrett. Can I talk to you for a minute?”
    “Can it wait, kid? I’m in the middle of teaching James here why we don’t come to fight after drinking enough to knock out a small village, isn’t that right, James?”
    “Yes. Don’t do it, dude. It’s not a good time.” The wind gets knocked out of him when Garrett lands another shot to his stomach, leaving him hunched over in the corner.
    “I guess it’s a good time, now. Worthless today, this kid.”
    Garrett climbs out of the cage and I pull him closer to the front of the gym, far out of hearing range of Josette or anyone else who might be listening. “What the hell’s going on, Cutter?”
    “Okay, so remember I told you that I hung out with