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Dante

Wednesday went by slower than molasses.

It was so slow at Tidal Wave, Kas and I spent pretty much the whole shift compiling a huge list of great trivia questions. I barely even saw Howard at all that day. He came in during the morning hours, but when I went to hand him an updated inventory list around noon, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Did he step out or something?" I asked Kas. She shook her head no.

"He went home. If we don't get a customer by ten in the morning, he deems the day as "slow" and takes off."

I looked at her confused. "That... that doesn't really..."

"Make much sense?" She offered. "Yeah, we know. He closes for Holidays and gives us sick time though, so there isn't much we complain about around here. That, and this dumbass was guaranteed to do nothing anyways so I see no problem with him doing nothing at home."

I gave Kas a nod, because realistically, I saw no lie.

And the rest of the day continued as such.

I didn't think it dawned on me until now... but between working at Tidal Wave and working at Fight Club, I barely saw Sammy even though I was staying with him.

He had come to Tidal Wave Wednesday night so we got to walk back together, but most of our conversation revolved around boxing. By the time we made it back to Fight Club, I was exhausted from my early morning, and Sammy was exhausted from his work day. We both ended up knocking out as soon as we finished creating a new combo set for Brian.

When Thursday came around, I was positive I had made a mistake taking on all three jobs at the same time. Tired didn't begin to cover what I felt when I sat up in bed that morning.

Call me crazy... but besides the sleep deprivation, I woke up with something else feeling completelyoff.

I knew I had felt this feeling before, yet I couldn't pinpoint where or when.

From the sounds of the music, I thought Sammy must have woken up early to workout. My eyes glance down to check the time on my flip phone, and I damn near almost fell off the bed.

It was almost nine thirty.

"Shit shit shit shit shit," I mumbled to myself, barely managing to get some workout shorts and a sweatshirt on before flying down the stairs. Sure enough, Grayson and Sammy were already up and working. Grayson was with the novices while Sammy started warm up with the veterans.

"I'm so sorry!" I rushed out to Grayson as soon as his eyes caught mine.

"No biggie at all." He shook his head. "We were just in warm up right now. Sammy mentioned you might start a little late this morning. You can get started on the workouts if you'd like. Sammy was planning on hitting them hard with an ab day today. They were little shits yesterday." He handed me the chart of exercises.

Sammy must have let me sleep in, I thought to myself. When my eyes analyzed the chart, I immediately grimaced.

These exercises were fucking brutal.

If the novices didn't hate me already, they were definitely going to now.

"Okay..." I spoke hesitantly to the group of exhausted and completely uninterested young adults. Sure most of these kids were only a few years younger than me, but their lack of discipline reminded me of a toddler.

"Kyle, it's a right uppercut, not a left hook. 3-3-4-6b. That's left hook, left hook, right hook, right uppercut to the body." I called to this fucking hothead that was almost purposefully messing up the combo again.

He wasn't even following my directions, he was literally just hitting the bag anyway he seemed fit. As soon as he finally got the combo down, he had already wasted the power he had earlier because of his senseless hits.

Irritated as all hell, I grabbed the pads and signaled for Kyle to come closer. The night was almost over now and I'd be damned if Kyle didn't nail this fucking combo. "I thought you said you weren't fighting?" He asked me in this snarky brat like voice, as I slid the strap of the pad onto my hands.

"I'm not." I stated simply, working hard on not having this kids taunting get to me. "I'm just holding up these pads for you to punch. I want to feel how hard you're hitting each point." I explained. Kyle was tired but I knew he still had a reserve of energy he was just refusing to use.

The directions to this combo had come out of my mouth so many times for the last forty five minutes, I'd reckon I could do it in my sleep. I held up the first pad at its intended target, and watched as Kyle went through the combo.

His hits felt like a fucking love tap against me. "Again." I instructed, watching as he rolled his eyes my way before trying it. These hits were harder, but still not there. I could tell his anger was starting to get the best of him, as his hits became more powerful but less on target.

There was a loud smack, and I glanced over in the direction of Sammy. He was sparring with a veteran I recognized as Vinny.

Vinny was a huge fella, even taller than Sammy. I could already tell that what Vinny lacked in speed, he made up for in strength. Sammy tried to block an uppercut, but Vinny had hit it with so much force, it sent Sammy stumbling back against the ring.

I was so distracted by what had just happened, I didn't see Kyle's fist completely miss the pad on his left hook. Instead, he got me with it right on my cheekbone.

The punch was strong. So much so, that I also staggered back. Luckily my feet caught themselves before I could trip over the raised mat behind us. My hand went up to the side of my cheek to assess the damage as I felt a now stinging sensation against my skin. Before I could even process what to do next, Kyle was up against the nearest wall with Sammy's hand at his neck.

"What the hell happened?" He bellowed into Kyle's face. Kyle had since lost whatever cocky attitude he had had with me, and it was now replaced with fear.

"Sammy, it really wasn't that bad." I tried to insist, but my words had fallen against deaf ears.

"Everybody get the hell out of my gym!" He snapped at both the veterans and the novices. "I expect to see you all here bright and early ready to fucking train. If you want to come with some bullshit ass attitude like Kyle over here, save it and your fucking money. You will no longer fight for this team."

No one said anything as everyone shifted on the balls of their feet. Most of the novices looked like they weren't sure whether to bolt to the locker rooms, or stay put. The veterans didn't even flinch, so I'm guessing the novices were just following in their footsteps.

"And you," Sammy added, zeroing in on Kyle. "I'm at wits fucking end with you. Any other guy here would be off this team for the bullshit you've pulled. Just because daddy and mommy can afford to send your ass here and pay up front, doesn't mean either of you or your money can buy disrespect."

I honestly thought Kyle might have shit his pants by now, when Sammy released his hold on him.

The novices were the first to scatter as they grabbed their gym bags from the lockers and left. The veterans seemed more pissed really, off than scared. Their anger wasn't directed at Sammy, but rather the novices. These guys looked like they really wanted to be here- like they made a lot of sacrifices to be here.

I could understand their frustrations.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Grayson sighed, pulling Sammy in for some sort of handshake before he ushered the last of the fighters out. Sammy didn't say anything as he left to head to the back room. When he returned, he had a familiar first aid in hand.

"It really wasn't anything serious." I told him nervously, but Sammy in return signaled for me to take a seat at the edge of the ring mat. The first aid box was set down right besides me.

"My men don't play dirty like that. They don't intentionally hurt each other." He said simply through gritted teeth. "That's not the type of gym I run."

I glanced up at him as he started to unpack the first aid contents. The way he had said those words made me feel...

A lot.

A lot of everything really.

I couldn't tell if I was going to cry, or do something equally as batshit... like kiss him.

I was used to my father throwing hits my way if I got distracted while sparring. I was just lucky when it was with his gloves on. I was used to the man I loved pummeling me into a corner whenever he went off the deep end with him mental health.

I had normalized abuse my entire waste of a life.

That was the whole reason I ran away. To get away from the shit people and shittier excuses I had given all these years.

Who would have thought I'd find someone to hold me to these new found set of standards here, in a fucking gym called Fight Club.

I glanced up at Sammy as he leant in close to take a look at the bruise. He was, dare I say, even closer than when he had taken a look at my busted nose. His eyes were focused so intently on the cut right above my cheek, it allowed for me to get a good look at him.

The most perfect eyes, I thought to myself.

"You really gotta protect this face better. It's too pretty to be getting knocked around like this." Sammy murmured to himself.

I felt my entire body grow hot instantly as my tiny brain attempted to comprehend what Sammy had just said.

It was almost as if Sammy hadn't registered those words either until moments after.

Once he realized what he had said, I saw his fingers freeze in the middle of placing ointment on the cut.

"I-" he started to say something when his eyes diverted away from my cheek, and caught mine.

It felt like a surge of energy flowing through my body whenever he looked at me, but this was different... then when his gaze fell to my lips, I lost the ability to breathe completely.

He was close...

So close... I couldn't tell who leant in to close the distance.

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