Sammy

"Wait so let me get this straight- Dante? My Dante? He did what?"

"I don't even know how to describe what he did. I mean, one second I'm over here thinking this dip shit Adrian-"

"Watch it." Aiden called out, as he started to pull a seat up at the bar.

"Adrian, not you Aiden ." Kassie clarified.

"Oh." He he gave us an approving nod to continue.

"One second I'm over here thinking this dipshit Adrian has been slacking on weights or something because those punches, man. They were fucking weak in comparison to what I know he's capable of. I mean they weren't terrible, but they weren't there there ya know? I'm just saying, I've been sparring the kid for a while now and-"

"Anyways-" Grayson was quick to cut off my rambling. "Dante was watching while Adrian and I were sparring, and he- what did he say, man?" Grayson turned to me.

"He barely audibly whispered he needs to inverse it." I chimed in.

Whenever Grayson and I had to explain anything to do with Fighting, we told it like a movie.

"I'm not going to explain the combo to you cause I know you won't understand it-" Grayson started.

"I appreciate your honesty." Kas cut in.

"But this guy put together a combo that could work around Adrian's busted hand in like the 8 seconds of seeing him fight... and we didn't even know he had a busted hand! Adrian didn't flinch with pain or anything when he hit me with it. It's crazy that Dante caught that." Grayson finished as he and I both took the last swigs of our sparkling water.

Grayson's face scrunched up in disgust like he did with every sip, but I just ignored it like I did with every sip. I told him no more alcohol and no more soda. If he wanted to defy that on his own, he could, but not when I'm around.

"I'm sorry Kas, but you're going to need to fire him." Grayson told her simply.

"Cause we're going to need to hire him." I added.

"What?" Kas looked at us incredulously. "No! What's wrong with you people? You know how long we've been looking for help? He's been amazing around here, and... and..." she trailed off.

"We found him first." Howard finished, jumping to Kas's rescue as he emerged from the back room with the rest of his belongings.

"Taking off for the night?" I asked him. He gave me a nod. "Tell the lady I say hello." I added

"Will do." He replied, placing his hand briefly on my shoulder before making his way out.

"I can't understand what's crazier: how you and Howie are buds, or how that man has a wife." Kassie shook her head.

"He likes fighting. I like fighting. We bond over fighting." I explained with a shrug.

"I like fighting." Grayson cut in.

"Yeah. You also like coming here on your breaks to distract Chris while she's working. Howard doesn't like that." I reminded him. Grayson suddenly started making eye contact with everything but me.

"Anyways, steering this back on track here, you can't just take Dante." Kas continued.

"What if we offer more?" Grayson ask.

"To me?" Kas looked confused but intrigued.

"No- to Dante. This isn't a bribe. We aren't bribing you, Kas."

"Well, I mean technically it is a bribe, but we'll be bribing Dante." I explained.

Grayson gave me a look that clearly stated I wasn't helping. "Think of it as more of incentive for Dante!" He added gleefully.

"Before you two go out there and do selfish things for the benefit of the gym, why don't we first regroup and think about what we can actually do for Dante. I haven't been able to find anyone else with a spare mattress besides you, Sammy." Kassie confessed.

"Shit, yeah." I sighed.

"I mean... I know you not-so-secretly love living alone... but you do have that spare bedroom-"

"Now hold on a second here, Grayson." I tried to cut in.

"Grayson's right, yes!" Kassie nodded excitedly. "It could be temporary until he's able to get one for his own place. A few weeks tops, I'm sure."

"Guys, hold on. First off- we do still barely know the guy." I reminded them.

"Oh hush. The kid's made out of gold. Definitely running from something, but made out of pure fucking gold." Kas defended him. "Plus, didn't you put out a Craigslist ad for the place? Isn't this sorta the same thing in terms of strangers?"

"And I mean, and you are letting him fix your roof." Grayson added.

"Plus you're made out of two hundred and something pounds of pure muscle." Kas continued

"Don't forget you're also literally above of gym filled with another twenty something people who are also made out of two hundred and something pounds of pure muscle." Grayson backed his sister.

"Okay okay okay I get it." I sighed. "Maybe it's less about that, and more about me enjoying my space like you said, Grayson. I like living alone-"

"A little too alone, I'd reckon." Kas mumbled.

"I don't need relationships when I'm married to my career, Kas." I reminded her. She rolled her eyes at me. "But yes. I like to live alone. My routine is a very sacred thing for me."

"It's for a few weeks you over dramatic giant." Kas was quick with her reply. "The thought of him in that place on that floor, sickens me to my core."

I felt a pang in my heart at those words. Thinking about Dante sleeping on the floor in there, made my core rot entirely.

"Alright." I sighed. "I'll give him a call tonight, but I can't guarantee he'll accept."

Dante

The day was a long one.

The heat from the hole in the roof had left me completely drenched in sweat by evening. I spent the rest of the day walking around New York in the piping hot sun, just trying to find a place with an inexpensive mattress.

Of course, judging by the sleeping bag still on my floor, the hunt hadn't proved to be fruitful.

Now I was home, and I felt absolutely disgusting...

So you could imagine my complete irritation when I got home to discover that the water in my apartment wasn't working.

"Okay Dante." I whispered to my sweaty, disgusting, and buttass naked self. I was still standing in the tub, watching the smallest droplets of water fall from the shower head and splash onto my chest. "Don't lose it." I continued. "Hold it together. You are fine."

That familiar stinging was starting to return. The one that was always accompanied by tears.

Before I was able to even allow myself to have a full on meltdown, my burner phone went off on the bathroom counter. I stepped out of the shower to reach over and check who it was, and as soon as Sammy's contact popped up, I almost dropped the stupid thing in the toilet.

Why would he be calling? I thought to myself. Maybe I had left something at his place? I glanced at the time. But why call now?

It was going on a little past nine in the evening.

I didn't have much time left to think before it would send Sammy's call to voicemail, so I wiped away the first few tears that fell, and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Sorry, hopefully I didn't catch you a bad time." Sammy replied into the line.

Instantly, my body clammed up. From the tone and stuffiness of my voice, I'm sure he could probably already tell I had been crying. I didn't like anyone seeing or hearing me cry, let alone someone this attractive. If I didn't look like a mess before, I definitely did now.

"I'm okay!" I tried to perk up a little. "Just a long day."

"What's wrong?" He asked, slicing straight through the bullshit.

I covered the microphone on the phone, to take one long shaky breath. Dante, pull yourself the fuck together.

"Oh gosh, ya know... Made a big move to a city I've never been to, to do things I've never done. I think I'm now dealing with some delightful repercussions." I replied with a touch of humor.

Sammy gave me a light small chuckle through the phone.

"Anything too terrible?" He asked.

"Well- lets just say I'm going to have to find out whether this building has 24 hour maintenance." I replied with an equally light chuckle. "It's days like this where I wish I knew plumbing. It's too hot in this damn state to not take six or more showers-" I stopped my self there.

I hadn't meant to disclose all that to him. I actually hadn't meant to disclose any of this to him, what the fuck was I saying?

There was a pause before any noise came through the line. When it did, his voice startled me.

"Come over." He replied.

••

Hey there lovelies!
I hope you're all enjoying the updates!
Sorry I couldn't post them over the weekend. I meant to on Monday and forgot it was month end.
The end of the month is the most dreadful day in the month for bankers and accountants so that didn't go as planned at all.
But I'm back! I might just spend the entire night writing, I dunno. Thank you all so much for checking it out! Love you guys tonssss.
Xoxo