Sammy

I glanced at my bedside alarm clock again.

It was now almost midnight.

I had meant to get to bed around ten, so I'd be fully rejuvenated for tomorrow's morning classes. Instead, all I could think about was that conversation with Dante.

Every conversation we had, lead me to understand him more and less at the very same time. It was unexplainable. When he told me about both of his parents passing, I couldn't help but feel a little more connected to him in some way. I hadn't told him my parents had passed. I, instead, just listened intently to what little he revealed about himself.

His father being a boxer was a good explanation for Dante's skill, but it didn't explain why Dante loved and loathed the sport.

Clearly something had happened there that affected the way he now saw boxing. Something he had yet to feel comfortable telling me. I just couldn't understand why I was trying to Nancy Drew this mystery together at midnight- on the evening before a work nonetheless.

Why was I so fucking curious?

-

Monday went by faster than I had time to comprehend. One minute, I was yelling at my novices to quickly change and get on the mats for warm up... the next, I was yelling at them to quickly change and get the hell out of my gym.

Kassie had visited during the day to drop off our lunches.  She wouldn't shut up about how happy she was that I had let Dante stay with me for a bit. I thought she was being far too over dramatic, but I was glad Dante seemed happy about the arrangement as well.

She also let me know how his schedule was going to look over the next few weeks. He was working long shifts but only for three days this week. That left him with Tuesday and Thursday available. I had my veterans in tomorrow, so that would work well for Dante to focus on the novice fighters.

By the time the day ended, I was so all over the place with the books, Grayson had to help me pack everything up.

He was in a rush to get to Tidal Wave so he could say goodnight to Chris before she left. I was more or less in a rush to get to bed... then I remembered Dante would be walking back here tonight, and I thought maybe he would want some company on the way back from Tidal Wave.

Tidal Wave's lights were still on yet the place had long since been emptied. It looked like Dante was helping Kas clean some glasses, while Aiden and Chris poured themselves a shot. Dante had a warm smile on his lips while he worked. I couldn't tell what they were talking about, but it didn't really matter to me.

It just made me feel good to see a genuine smile on his face.

I didn't realize how little he did that.

Grayson was quick to burst through the front entrance first. "Hello hello. Happy Monday everyone." He announced, taking a seat at the bar.

"It looks like you're in a good mood." Kas noted, as she set clean shot glasses in front of us. Regardless of the alcohol kick we were on, Monday nights were shot nights. I may have been too tired to care much about drinking, but Grayson wasn't going to pass up this opportunity.

"Now that the day is over? I'm in a fantastic mood. And it's Monday so this means I can throw back a shot in front of this one" Grayson jerked his head in my direction. "Without worrying about him making me throw it up, or something equally crazy."

I rolled my eyes his way, as I took a seat besides him. "You're being over dramatic. I'm doing this for your health." I reminded him.

"I think you're doing this to please your true sadistic side. Why else would you force LaCroix on a grown man?" Grayson countered.

"I don't think LaCroix is all that bad." Chris interjected.

"You know what, you are so right. I don't think I've really given it much of a chance." Grayson replied with a quickness. I watched closely as Dante did his best to mask a laugh threatening to burst through. The rest of the gang just cracked a smile because by now, we were all used to Grayson's sudden backtracks when it involved Chris.

Chris was a smart girl and I'm positive she must have known Grayson had a thing for her, but I think she was waiting for him to advance things.

Grayson barely had the courage to form coherent sentences around her.

"Well I'm glad to hear today went alright. I'm sure it's crunch time right now with the first tournament coming up and everything." Aiden chimed in as he downed his shot. Grayson and Kas were next. I noticed even Dante had taken a shot. The liquor went down his throat a lot less smoothly than it did with the others.

Drinking definitely wasn't his thing.

I only took a few shots that night before Dante and I decided to leave the true alcoholics to do their thing. I told Grayson that as long as he made it into work the next morning, I really couldn't care what or how much he drank. He was grateful to hear such kind words leave my mouth.

And I'll admit, I was being a shit ton more lenient on him tonight. It was mainly due to the fact that I was going to have Dante tomorrow to assist the novices. Since Dante wasn't fighting, however, the novices would still need someone to spar with. This meant I was still going to end up needing Grayson in the long run.

Dante gathered his things and said a pretty quick goodbye to everyone at the bar, before we started the walk back. He wasn't necessarily drunk, but I could tell the few drinks were making their way through his system.

"Hopefully today wasn't too shit for you." I commented, as Fight Club came into view.

"Not particularly." Dante shook his head no. "Im just excited to get back to fighting tomorrow. I've missed it." He mumbled that last part a little low, but I still caught his words.

I knew Dante had some sort of love for fighting, that was obvious, but I never really thought he'd openly admit it. Maybe liquor was his truth serum?

As soon as we made it to Fight Club, and entered my upstairs studio, Dante retreated to his semi private bedroom. When he stepped out moments later, he was changed into some shorts and a short sleeve button down shirt. This shirt had a few buttons undone, revealing a bit of Dante's toned chest.

The heat had settled heavily up here, and between that and the liquor, I could see beads of sweat already forming at the base of his forehead. He looked on curiously as I sat and flipped through the pages of notebooks sprawled out on my coffee table.

I signaled for him to grab a seat besides me. "These are the combos I've been working on for the tournament. They're new sets, but I think we could do a better job of tweaking it for each fighter. I was hoping you could take a look at this, and change things to better suit the team?" I handed Dante one of the books.

His fingers gently flipped through the pages. When he brought the notebook further to him, I watched as a bead of sweat broke away from the base of his forehead, and traveled further down the side of his face towards his neck. It captivated me for a moment, distracting me from the questions I had meant to ask tonight.

I quickly forced myself out of that trance.

"Did you ever fight competitively?" I asked him.

Dante glanced up from the notebook, to acknowledge my question. I truly couldn't tell what he was thinking anymore.

After some time, he gave me a nod. "For a while, yes."

Those words hadn't surprised me, but his honesty had. For a moment there, it looked like a lie may have been on the tip of his tongue.

I took a deep breath before continuing.

"What made you quit?"

There was another elongated pause that only heightened the suspense, before he finally spoke.

"There was a lot that happened in Texas. A lot I'm still processing myself, I guess you could say..." he trailed off for a moment, to brush some of the sweat away. My eyes inadvertently cast down to his chest. It was glistened with a few droplets of sweat that had descended from the base of his neck.

It made his skin look even softer to touch.

"It was a string of terrible decisions. I guess everyone can chalk a lot of their pain to a horrendous previous relationship, but I really knew how to pick em. He was subsequently the reason for me leaving fighting and leaving Texas."

I hung onto and replayed every word that fell past Dante's lips... But there was a particular word that immediately caught my attention.

Had Dante said He?

••