Deacon caught Shoshanna’s eye and signaled for another. He figured Beck had followed him for a reason besides monitoring his alcohol intake. “I wouldn’t think as Shihan that you could skip helping plan this blowout.”

Beck snorted. “Maddox will do what he wants. Ronin has the final word. My input is just noise—unless Maddox does something that conflicts with Black Arts martial arts philosophy.”

Shoshanna set the shot in front of Beck with a smile. Usually she scurried off. But tonight she leaned over the bar, gifting Beck with an eyeful of cleavage. “You spoken for, too, sugar?”

“Not tonight.”

“You flexible?”

“If you mean whether I’d be interested in waiting around for you until after closing time, the answer is yes. If you’re asking if my body is flexible?” He took a slow sip of his shot. “For that one, sugar, you’ll need a hands-on demonstration.”

She smiled. “I’m off at eleven.”

“I’ll be here.”

Beck’s eyes were glued to her ass as she sashayed to the other end of the bar.

“Doesn’t seem like you’ve got chick problems, Shihan.”

“That was for your benefit.” Beck smirked. “Shoshanna has had firsthand demonstration of my flexibility several times in the past few months.”

“You dog.”

“A hot chick offers me a bone, I’m gonna take it.”

Deacon held his glass up to toast Beck’s words of wisdom. “So what else is going on?”

“Between us?” Beck glanced over his shoulder. “As dojo GM, it’s my job to check the security logs. In the past three months, Maddox has logged in at various times on Sundays—never at the same time. The camera feed is off on that day, so I can’t see what he’s been doing.”

“Maybe it’s personal time for cardio and weight training?” Deacon offered, remembering the times he’d run into Maddox on Sundays.

Beck shook his head. “I monitor the machines. No activity those days.”

“Have you asked Maddox about it?”

“Not yet. I only received the quarterly security logs last week, which is what tipped me off.”

Deacon studied him. “What’s your gut feeling?”

“Maddox is training someone privately. Maybe a couple of someones. So he’s not hiding it, but he hasn’t mentioned it to me or Ronin.”

“You sure Ronin doesn’t know? Because the man is as closemouthed as they come.”

“Not more closemouthed than you, Yondan—that’s for damn sure,” Beck said dryly. “Anyway, if Ronin knew, he’d tell me, even if Maddox asked him to keep it to himself.”

“True.” He paused. “Who do you think is getting free training? Courey?”

“Maddox never was sold on bringing him on board. He used him to taunt you. Then you beat the fuck outta him and Courey lost his usefulness.”

Deacon hated the stupid games Maddox played in the name of kicking performance up a notch. “Then who is he training?”

“Fee.”

“Fee? Seriously? But why hide it?”

“Because Ronin doesn’t want to invest Maddox’s time starting a women’s MMA division. But Maddox has been scouting female fighters for years—before it became the cool thing to do. He can’t ignore that Fee has all the right components to make a big splash in women’s MMA.”

“Did you know about this exhibition before Maddox sprang it on us?”

Beck shook his head. “Maddox and I are respective of each other’s roles at Black Arts. We’re two division heads answering to the CEO. So after his announcement just now? I looked up the event on my phone. Guess who else is slated to attend the event besides his former employer?” He paused. “The scout for the UFC’s women’s division.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. So there’s some kind of weird politicking at play with Maddox and TGL. I don’t like it. Especially if Ronin doesn’t know about it. The last fucking thing Sensei needs is to look like an idiot who doesn’t keep tabs on his trainer.”

“No kidding.” Deacon realized Beck had the same intuitive nature as Knox, and that was exactly what Ronin needed. Sensei wasn’t an easy man to work for—and he was glad Beck had Ronin’s back. “Think Blue knows?”

“It pains me to say this, because I don’t wanna come across as a goddamn busybody, but it is my job to know everything that goes on in the building. Fee moved in with Katie so Blue couldn’t keep tabs on her outside of the dojo.”