“I don’t want to do it at the gym.”
“Why not?” he asks.
“Well, for one, it smells like a locker room and bleach, but I’m also not good at that sort of thing. I don’t want people watching me.”
“What if we went when I could promise it was just us?”
That wouldn’t be too bad…
“Fine,” I concede.
“I’ll text you to iron out the details. Now finish eating so I can take you home.”
Yes, sir.
Chapter 12
Gage
Nathan’s gloved fist comes hurtling toward my face. The move is telegraphed—which is a habit we’ve been trying to break—and I should be able to dodge it easily. “Should” being the operative word because my head isn’t in it today. The bell over the front door rings, and for a split second, my attention is pulled from the drill. I’m not sure if I’m too slow in my recovery or if he’s too quick to take advantage of it, but his fist catches the side of my ear. It’s hardly even a hit, but he lets out an excited whoop as if he won a title fight.
“Butler! Focus!” Coach David calls out from the front of the mat.
“Sorry, Coach,” Nathan says, but that self-satisfied grin doesn’t fall from his face.
“Lucky hit. You telegraphed that shit from a mile away,” I tell him, and we resume our sparing.
“Oh yeah? If it was so telegraphed, then why did you let it hit you?”
I respond by throwing a combo of my own, shifting us both to get him backed against the fence.
“He was too distracted. Probably thinking about Kori,” Karis says as she corners her own opponent on the fence beside us and throws a nasty punch into his gut.
“Fuck no,” I try to argue, but the mere mention of her name floods my mind with flashes from last night. My attention falters, and Nathan is able to free himself from the fence. “Holy shit.” Nathan’s smile widens to a full-on shit-eating grin. “She’s right.”
“Shut up,” I growl, and put all my focus back into kicking his ass.
The problem is, Karis is only half right. Yes, Yellow is on my mind, but she’s a bright spot in the chaotic sea. The Bean Bar fired me for not showing up this morning, which wasn’t surprising. I knew what might happen when I chose to stay by her side. And my employment status at Cutter’s is still unknown. My friends didn’t give me any updates besides Nathan’s ominous text claiming “everything’s handled.” Coming from him, that could mean literally anything from burning the bar down to paying off the witnesses.
“No one is judging, man. Go for it if you like her. If you don’t, I just might. She’s hot,” he teases.
My teeth clench around my mouth guard, and I catch Nathan with a knee that has a little more force behind it than it should during training. He grunts in pain and is stunned long enough for me to move into his space. In a real fight, this is where I would take him to the ground, but I let him go and reset the drill.
“Leave her alone.”
“I was joking. I know she’s your girl.”
“She isn’t my anything.”
“Yet.”
“Butler! Maher! Less talking, more sparing,” Coach yells, killing that cursed conversation.
My focus doesn’t improve as our class continues. By the time Coach calls it to an end, I’m sweaty and even more frustrated than I was when I stepped on the mat.
“You still look fucked. Want to hit the weights and burn off some of that angst?” Karis asks as she falls in step at my side.
“Sure.” Maybe the soreness will be the distraction I need.
