The room emptied, leaving him alone with Shiori.

“That went well.”

“They’re not the ones I’m worried about. It’s Ronin.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “I wish he’d call in so I could talk to him.”

“We did the right thing.” She placed her hand over his. “Do you want to come over tonight?”

He pulled away from her. The lines between their public and personal relationships were getting harder to maintain. For him anyway. And he wasn’t in the mood for servitude. Yeah, Shiori would get pissed if she knew he’d called it that. “No, thanks. I’ll be ready for a beer and ten minutes in my steam shower when this day ends.”

“What is going on with you?”

I like you and want you to be my girlfriend as well as my Mistress. And I feel like a total whiny fucking pussy telling you that because you refuse to consider it.

Two raps sounded on the door and Blue poked his head in. “Got a minute?”

“Sure. Come in.” After Blue sat across from him, Knox said, “What’s up?”

“I didn’t want to bring this up in the meeting, but I think we’ll need to cancel the upcoming fight, smoker, whatever we’re calling it.”

“Why?”

“Low advance-ticket sales for one. We’ve changed the lineup twice. And if we cancel ten days out, we only lose the ticket sales plus a ten-percent penalty for the venue. And now knowing that Maddox Byerly will be in the mix for future events, it’s better if we cut our losses.”

“Who’ve you talked to about this?”

“Katie. She’s been trying to drum up interest, but nothing is working. We’re set to do a poster and flyer campaign starting next week, but that’s just more money flying out the door.”

Knox sighed and rubbed his eyes. “The guys have been working toward this, putting in extra hours . . .”

“And it hasn’t helped them a damn bit, because they all still look like thugs on the playground.”

“What the fuck, Blue?”

“It’s true. You’ve got two good fighters. Deacon and Ivan. It’d be best for you to cut your losses with the other trainees and not put them on an amateur card at all. They don’t need false hopes.” Blue leaned forward. “And do you really want to parade any of those guys past Maddox Byerly?”

Fuck. He hadn’t thought of that. “Deacon told me to let them go too.”

“Smart man.” His gaze moved between Shiori and Knox. “You okay with the fight card getting canceled?”

“What about delaying it?” Shiori suggested. “Pare the roster down to eight bouts. Have all of Black and Blue’s fighters on the card. Up the game. Get a big rival of Black Arts involved. ABC’s too. It’s worth a shot.”

Blue studied her. “Great idea. I imagine your problem-solving skills are missed at Okada.”

“I was the one stuck dealing with the poorly solved problems after the fact. So I’m happy to be here helping before problems become, well . . . problems.”

“Would you have time to meet with Katie in the next couple days?”

“I’ll check my schedule.”

“Cool. Thanks.” He stood. “Great news about Maddox. I’m glad you were able to step in because I sure couldn’t afford him.”

Knox got up after Blue left. “I’m heading down to catch Molly before Deacon’s class starts. I’ll tell her to contact Katie about event scheduling changes before she starts any promotion.”

“Knox.”

There was the Mistress voice. And dammit if it hadn’t made him stop. “What?”

“What is going on with you?”

“I’m just stressed.”

“Bullshit. Look at me.”

He turned and glared at her. “Don’t. Remember where we are. Something came up, so I’m turning over the advanced black belt class to you tonight.”

“Shihan—”

“Later. I’ve got shit to do.”

*   *   *

HIS shit to do included grabbing a six-pack and parking his ass on his back deck. He’d dragged out his fly-fishing gear, even when he hadn’t hit a stream in more than two years. Something about trying to perfect a series of line-snapping casts quieted his mind.

Yet the thoughts kept churning.

So far in three weeks running Black Arts in Ronin’s absence he’d managed to:

Piss off Zach and Jon by refusing to put them in the rotation to test for their next belt level.