Katie kept an eye on the entire class and alerted the instructors when she could see who hadn’t been helped at all or who needed extra help. Plus she offered lots of praise in a genuine manner that boosted the students’ confidence and made them work harder.

Time flew by. Before they ended the class, the girls begged Shiori and Fee to do a grappling demonstration. It didn’t take much to convince them because they liked to mix it up.

Neither woman held back. And maybe some of the hip throws and takedowns were over-the-top, but the audience loved it. By the time they finished the match, they were both sweating, breathing hard, disheveled, and happy for the challenge.

Katie declared the match a tie. While Shiori and Fee were evenly matched in skill in some areas, in others Shiori had a clear advantage. The last time they’d faced each other in an MMA fight, Shiori had won. But she knew Fee wanted a rematch. Maybe that would be a way to increase ticket sales for the next Black and Blue Promotions event. She’d bring it up with Katie first. From what Shiori had seen, both Blue and Ronin were dismissive of Katie’s abilities in the promotion business. That didn’t make sense to her. Why would they keep her on staff if she wasn’t contributing in a positive way? Sure she was a knockout as a ring girl. Amery had mentioned that Katie had a six-month probation period, but that’d passed. Yet Blue and Ronin still hadn’t allowed her to do the job she’d been hired for. It seemed the only person who listened to her ideas was Knox. No wonder she hung around him whenever possible.

Ronin had asked her to keep an eye on Black and Blue Promotions, so maybe it was time to dig deeper into the business plan for the next year.

“What do you think, Shi?” Fee asked.

“Sorry. I was thinking about something else. What did you say?”

“I said those guys were so smarmy about us going shopping; I say we shop our asses off. Then let’s have a girls’ day and night. Dinner, drinks, dancing . . . Who knows where it’ll lead?” Katie said.

Tasha spoke first. “As much fun as that sounds, I have to work tonight. But you guys have a blast.” After a round of goodbyes, she got in her car and sped off.

“What about you, Molly?”

Molly pulled the elastic band down, releasing her ponytail. Then she fluffed up her dark brown hair. “Well—”

“God, I hate you. Both you and Fee. You’ve been moving around and sweating for four hours and your hair looks that amazing immediately afterward?” Katie’s gaze winged to Fee. “Go ahead and do the hair flip and primp thing so I can lament the hideousness of my overprocessed stick-straight hair and bask in the gloriousness of yours.”

“Yes!” Molly did a fist pump. “Katie envies me for something! I’m writing that in my diary.”

“Me too,” Fee said. Then she added, “Or I’ll write it on my girls-of-the-ring calendar with Katie’s hotness as Miss September.”

Katie flipped her off. “The calendar was for charity, Fifi.”

“Fuck. I hate that nickname. Fee is so much better than the drawn-out So-fee-ah that my mother saddled me with. But Fifi is the name of a damn dog. I want to kick him in the face whenever he says it.”

Shiori frowned. “I’ve never heard Blue call you that before.”

“Blue calls me brat or Sophia. Gil is the one who teases me with that.”

“Anyway, the two perfect-hair chicks can’t complain about a bad hair day keeping them from shopping and carousing. What about you, Shi? Ready to do some damage to your credit limit?”

“Let’s do it.”

“Saks first? Then the boutiques downtown?”

“Perfect.”

Molly and Fee were whispering to each other.

“Share with the class, ladies,” Katie chided.

“Okay, here’s the thing.” Molly looked at Fee again. “Where you two shop is way out of mine and Fee’s budgets. Way out. But it’ll be fun to see how the one percenters live. So we’ll come along, as long as you both understand we’ll be window-shopping.”

“Yeah, and this isn’t a hint for you to take pity on us and buy us shit.” Fee grinned. “And I really wanna see how much Katie spends on shoes.”

Shiori had never considered it might be uncomfortable for Molly and Fee. Her entire life she’d had the luxury of buying whatever she wanted. Price didn’t matter, and she’d never had to stick to a budget. Their way of living was as foreign to her as hers was to them. But she was glad they had been honest about their hesitations. She nudged Katie with her shoulder. “You heard them. Shoe shopping first.”