After he finished that evening he found his way into the bar. Planning to ask the bartender out. He went home and got a shirt on but by the time he arrived in, even from his eyes he could see the bartender was annoyed.

'Kieran, come on man. Join us for a drink.' His friend Ryan called. He must have been on a weekend break from the army. And of course, he was still wearing his army pants. It was his one-way ticket to talking to a woman.

Great.

Wearily, he walked over to him. 'Hey man, nice to see you. Long time no see.'

'Just back from my tour. Glad to be home.'

'Well, it's good to have you back.' He smiled. 'Let me get you a well-earned drink.'

Walking to the bar he felt a little thrown. This is all he needed to be dealing with Ryan tonight.

One drink and get out of here.

'What can I get you?'

'Two from the tap, please.' He smiled.

'I'll bring them down.'

He was taken back how quickly he was dismissed. Again.

'I'd rather not give you work. I'll wait.' She smirked and he could tell he wasn't the first. It wasn't going well.

'So, you new to town?'

'Good eye. I just moved back actually.'

'Right.' He took her in for a second. 'I remember you from somewhere.'

'Do you now?' She raised her eyebrows in a false surprise.

'Yes. So anyways, as you're new, I was wondering, did you want to head out for a...'

'Listen, I'm going to stop you right there. I'm not interested.'

'Don't be cocky I wasn't even finished.' He masked his hurt with annoyance.

She sighed and he now wished he hadn't bothered. Clearly, she was full of herself.

'Look sorry. I'm not being short but you're like the tenth guy to come and ask me that same question. I'm not interested in dating anyone right now. I don't mean to hurt your feelings.'

'Don't flatter yourself. You're not hurting my feelings.' Although his face felt warm. 'And anyways, it was a friendly gesture - not a date.'

'Right. Then I guess here's your drink.' She slammed the glass down a little too harshly and it spilled onto the counter. He supressed a smart comment. Placing the cash on the counter. 'And thank you for the friendly gesture but I'm afraid I'm short on time.'

'With your attitude I wouldn't be surprised if they ran away.'

'Listen, I know your hurt...' Did she actually just say that? He was hurt but his ego was really taking a bruise now.

'Darling, I'm not being funny but this really isn't worth the piece of ass I was looking for.' He felt a certain smugness when he turned.

I can pick em.

And he picked up his drink and turned to walk away.

'Hey.' He turned back around and felt a harsh blow hit into his eye. The sharpest punch he had got in a while. The bar tender shook her fist and pulled back.

I deserved that.

'Take your drink and don't come back up here when I'm on.' She shouted.

'REN... HERE NOW.' Gerry shouted from the other side of the bar.

Without another word, Kieran walked back handing the drink to Ryan.

'You didn't try asking the pretty bar lady out, did you?' His face was burning now. 'Poor Kieran, not used to being rejected.' They all laughed at his expense. He drank his drink fast and left not long afterward.

There are other girls.

News of Kierans rejection had made it into the gym the next day. And the entire day he suffered the brunt of it. It was the first day of fight camp and it was the last thing he needed.

Tony of course was the loudest. It was just new material in his eyes to get him fired up during training. He had to be honest with himself. The rejection had bruised him and having the entire gym now laughing at his black eye was the worst part.

'You coming in for a drink tonight or are you avoiding the pretty bar tender?' Shorty called when they were finishing up for the day. He suppressed the urge to tell him to meet him in the ring.

Rising to their level wouldn't make it any better. He just had to wait for it to blow over.

His face was warm.

'I'll give it a miss.' Shorty laughed and he heard Tony chuckling then behind him.

'It's for the best man. You don't want another shiner that's not from this gym.'

'Yeah man. She ain't anyone either. That's McFir's granddaughter.' It took him a second to process what Shorty just said. He hadn't seen that girl in years. A guilty feeling washed over him.

'McFir, Pride McFir?' Tony sounded impressed beside him.

'That's right. She's back in town to help the old man out.'

'Cool of her.' He replied before walking out of the gym home.

What is she doing working in the bar?

Back at home he had his bland dinner which was chicken, rice and eggs. Fight camp wasn't designed to be easy. At the end of the summer he had a fight planned with Sulko. He was 1 loss and 3 wins. Kieran sat at 0 losses and 6 wins. The reason this fight was going to be his most important yet was because a scout from an up and coming fighting organisation called Cage Warriors was coming to the club. He had done a couple of amerture fights but his fights were now getting some attention. If he wins this next big fight he could make it into a proper MMA fighting club.

'Kieran, you're back early.' His dad came in to the kitchen just as he was sitting down to eat.

'Same time as always Dad.'

'Right son, right.' He looked a little confused. 'How was training?'

'Tough. First day of fight club today.'

'Good. I'm proud of you son.' He smiled and clicked on the kettle. Despite his kind words there was an emptiness in the house. The same one that had been there his whole life since his mum died.

They didn't talk while he made tea. He sat at the table facing him and turned the radio on. There was no more talk only occassional comments on what was said on the radio. It was always the same before Kieran went up to bed.

He switched on his laptop and found himself online searching for Ren. Her music page popped up and he was surprised to see she had gained a bit of a following already. The guy from the bar from the other night was in a couple of photos. He wasn't another singer but he was captioned twice as 'the ball and chain.' Was he a manager or a boyfriend? There was a sting of jealous.

Switching off his laptop he rang Stacy. He needed a distraction and she would provide just that.