"Let's not discuss the things you do to me."
I laugh and give her that one.
She shoulder bumps me hard and walks away. I pinch the bridge of my nose and pray for the courage and strength to get through the next hour and a half. I walk fast to catch up to her. I don’t want her in there without me. The meatheads will be on her instantly. Then I will have to kill them. Then I will go to jail. Then the next meathead will ask her out. The thought pisses me off and I nudge her shoulder back, "In this place, you get what you give."
She grins, "Well then, let's play. I have some serious shit I'd love to give back to you."
I can't help but smile. She makes me laugh with how confident and strong she acts. It's like she forgets that I see the girl in the corner with the dead eyes. She doesn’t wear that face anymore but I can still see that girl. She no longer runs, now she fights.
She looks ready to rumble until she sees the rest of the gym. She looks over at Doris, a female I have questioned the sexuality of many times. She looks like a man and Sarah gives her the most disturbed look. I nudge her again, "Don’t look so horrified. She is a pro female boxer."
She leans in and whispers, "Heavy weight?"
I laugh and shove her arm. She winces and I see red marks forming where I pushed her. I forget myself in this place. It amps me up. I offer her an apologetic look, "Sorry. I get pretty hyped in here."
She looks nervous so I pick up the pace to where Lance has the junior class starting. She looks like one of the kids compared to the rest of us. She won't have an issue fitting in.
We get to where Lance and the boys are and she laughs at something. I look around but there is nothing I see funny. She looks like she is losing it a little. I frown and look back at Lance. He puts a hand out and points, "You must be Sarah." He claps his hands and beams at her. I don’t know how he knows she is coming. I can only assume it was Stuart. Lance is the nicest old man ever. I know he will teach her to defend herself and have fun with it. He has a natural way of making people feel welcome.
She smiles but I can see the nerves. She's on edge until he smiles, "I'm Lance, in case Eli there hasn’t told you, and this is beginner's boxing."
The boys look at her up and down and nod. I cock an eyebrow and their faces fall. They've seen me fight.
Angelo sneaks up behind her and grabs her shoulders. "You boys go easy on Tinkerbell here, okay? You still have a chance to run away, Tink." He slaps her on the ass and winks at me. He's dead and he knows it.
Lance laughs, "If that’s gonna offend you, Tink, you're gonna need to toughen up. Or take a seat on the pine over there."
She looks at me to defend her. I nod subtly. He's dead.
Lance claps his hands again. "Three laps around the gym. Fast. I want a quick warm up." He looks right at me. I sigh and glance at Angelo. I want to kill him now while I'm angry but Lance is saying no with his look.
Sarah ignores us and starts stretching. I watch her ass with the kids as she starts warming up. She takes off and I run after her butt. I want to say I was actively participating, but I was watching her butt, until she tore off. I lost sight of her but suddenly she was there.
"Still can't catch me, huh?" She shouldered me and kept running. I pick up my pace but she is an elite runner. I'm almost wheezing when I cross the line, behind Lance.
She grins and bumps into me again, "Somebody let an old man kick his ass."
"In the ring, Tink." Lance points at her. He sees my eyes.
She sighs, "Lance…uhm…sir. My name is Sarah." I smile but he doesn’t.
He waves her off, "We all have nicknames here. I'll never remember Sarah. But with your hair in that bun, you look like Tinkerbell."
She looks back at me, "What's his nickname?"
Lance looks confused, "That’s Eli. We don’t nickname him."
She points at Angelo kicking the crap out of Stan in the ring next to us, ""Him?"
He winks, "Angelo."
"What his real name?" she asks and climbs into the ring. I laugh harder. I've never heard of anyone here having a nickname.
Lance looks confused, but I know he's messing with her, "Angelo?"
Lance throws tape at her. "Tape up." She looks at it like it has a face and is about to talk to her. I laugh and walk over, taking the tape. I wrap her hands and stuff it in my pocket, "For later."
She believes me. I laugh and walk away, leaving her there to blend in. Besides, I have to go get hot and sweaty so she can watch me. Nicky is in the far corner shadow boxing. I nod at him. He smiles. He's just massive but I grin as I walk up. I can take him and he knows it, but it'll be a dirty fight.
I look over at her. He nods, "That your girl?"
I shake my head, "I am trying so hard and not getting anywhere."
He laughs, "That’s ‘cause you're crazy. You gotta be sweet and cook. Chicks dig guys who cook and walk their little shit dogs and who take them shopping."
I look at him and decide to keep it on his level, "She doesn’t have a dog."
He laughs, "And you have a butler who cooks."
I scowl.
He laughs harder, "Stu told me it’s the best food in the world."
I sigh, "It's true. I'm never going to get her to love me."
He wrinkles his thick nose that's been broken several times, "Love, forget that. Take your shirt off and we'll box. She'll want to rape your ass at the end of this match."
I cock an eyebrow, "Firstly, ass raping is not my thing. I mean it might be yours, and I'm not judging. Secondly..."
"Hey, whoa. I meant she'll… you know… attack you."
I laugh and pull my shirt off. He sees my scars for the first time and winces, "Damn dude, you are too beat up. Lucky thing though, girls love scars."
I nod once and pull my gloves on. He is wrong. Girls love normal, not scarred freaks like him and me and Stuart.
We start our fight off slow. Getting warmed and stretched.
He nods at me, "Your girl is hot though, I will say that. That, and Angelo is talking to her, so maybe you wanna find a new girl."
My fists respond. He backs up as I fly at him.
He takes a hard hit to the left side of his face and staggers back. He gets his balance and winks at me, "She was looking, that was a good one."
I smile my mouth guard at him.
We fight for another round but the air is broken with Lance screaming, "COME ON, TINK!"
I turn and jump the ropes down onto the ground. I see Angelo and Lance laughing as I get closer. She is swatting one of the kids with her gloves. He hits her once hard. I growl as she staggers back. Lance shoots me a look.
Sarah shakes her head, looks at him with a set of eyes I wouldn’t wish on anyone, and dives for him. She tackles him to the ground hitting and spitting all over him. I can't understand her but she is flailing and losing her mind.
She stops hitting and starts saying something but piles of spit are coming out of her mouth guard. The kid is crying but the rest of us are dying with laughter. Lance takes a knee, he laughs so hard.
The kid gets away from her, wiping his face of spit and tears. She looks mortified, "I want out."
I nod and try not to vibrate as I hold back my laughter.
She gives me the fiercest glare ever.
I'm going to kill Stuart.
Take her to the gym, yeah. Her eye is swelling shut when she walks over to me with her lip sticking way out. I wrap a sweaty arm around her and lead her back to my tee shirt.
"You okay?" My voice is still high-pitched because I am laughing without actually letting it out.
She shakes her head, "If you want to laugh, just do it."
I make a whistle sound in my throat and shake my head, "No, babe. I'm good." The good comes out really high. She rolls her eyes and I lose it. The laugh tears from me and tears slip down my cheeks. I shake my head, trying desperately to speak, "Wha-wha-what was th-tha-that?"
She shakes her head. I grab my shirt and wipe my eyes. She walks down the hallway past the ring where Nicky is still waiting for me to fight him. He shakes his head at me, "They don’t dig guys who laugh at them."
I flip him the bird and follow her down the hallway. I pull on my shirt and catch up. I can't talk but I can stay calm as long as she doesn’t want to talk about it.
"Are there showers?" she asks, looking sad and swollen and defeated. It melts my laughter. I wrap around her and shake my head, "I don’t want you naked in here. Come with me." I grab our stuff and take her to the Tahoe. We jump in the back and Stuart drives us to my place. He doesn’t talk to us; it's weird. I feel creepy, sitting in the back seat.
He stops outside of my apartment and I pull her out, along with our bags. She looks like she might protest, but I don’t give her the chance. The lobby guy smiles until he sees her black eye. Then he gives me a shitty look. I press the elevator and ignore it all.
When we're in the elevator, I kiss the top of her head and pull her into my arms. She smells like sweat and herself.
The door opens and I drag her to the ensuite in my room. I pull off her shirt and pants and attempt to pull the sports bra off, but step back after a second, "That seems like it wants to stay."
She laughs, "I can do it." She does something that resembles dislocating her shoulders. I shake my head and drop to my knee, pulling her panties down and then taking off her socks. I resist the urge to bury my face between her legs in the dark-blonde mat. I stand and turn around. I push the plug in inside the massive corner tub and start the water.
I pour in some of the bubble bath that my decorator used as a prop but that came from a special boutique. It smells like lavender. I make sure the water is really warm and add some of my muscle-relaxing bath salts.
I look back at her confused look.
"What?"
She points, "You have a lot of these?"
I smirk, "I do. They relax the muscles. I don’t normally do bubbles. Those are for special occasions."