Chapter 25 #2
She let my hand go and spun in a slow circle. Then a smile tugged at her mouth as she pointed to the floor. “It was right here. This was where I was sitting when I saw you for the first time.”
“I clocked you the second you walked through the door.” I stretched for her elbow, hauling her close. Holding her was how I’d survived these past nine days. If she was within reach, then she was in my arms.
“It’s quiet today.” Talia glanced around. The space was clean and empty.
“It’s early.” Peak hours were usually in the afternoons and evenings. That’s when people filtered in for lessons and sparring. The social aspect at Angel’s was just as addictive as the fighting itself.
There was no set class schedule at Angel’s. Men and women came in when they wanted to work. And usually, there’d be another person here, ready to work them over.
Mostly it was boxing with some martial arts for those of us who’d been interested.
Drills were the foundation on which everything was built.
There were instructors, like myself, who’d make sure to teach proper technique.
But what made a fighter great was time honing those techniques. And time in the ring was priceless.
If you wanted to get better, you fought people who were better than you. People who pushed you. And for many years, the man who’d pushed the hardest had been me.
Was there any push left? Or had I used up my strength?
A man emerged from the locker room. “Foster?”
“Hey.” I jerked up my chin. What was his name? There were too many young guys coming in and out these days. I’d stopped trying to keep track, to keep up appearances, after Arlo’s death.
Hell, I’d even stopped training here. Jasper had a buddy who owned a gym. That’s where I’d be meeting them this afternoon.
Arlo’s was history now. I’d left Vivienne to run this place. And to move on with Dex.
“Wondered if we’d see you around here.” The guy held out his hand, a bright smile stretching across his tanned face. “Looking forward to the fight Saturday. You ready?”
“Hope so.” I forced a smile.
What if I just didn’t show up? What if there was no fight?
What if I could leave and never look back?
“You here to work out?” He pointed to a ring.
“Nah. Just here to stop in. Check it out.”
“And we’d better get going.” Talia gave him a kind smile. “You don’t want to be late to meet Jasper.”
“Vale?” the man asked. “He’s still training with you?”
“Yeah.”
The guy opened his mouth but I extended a hand to shake his again before he could drag this out. “Good to see you,” I said as he followed us to the exit.
“Yeah, yeah. You too, man. I’ll be there Saturday.”
“Appreciate it.” With a wave, I held the door open for Talia to step outside, then we retreated to the SUV.
“Last time,” she said.
I nodded. “Last time.”
No matter what happened, I knew in my bones I wouldn’t return to Angel’s again. Maybe that was why she’d insisted on us stopping.
A farewell.
To end this the way it had started.
Talia and me.
“You need to eat something,” she said.
“I’m not hungry.” Nothing sounded good at the moment. Nothing but a meal made in Talia’s kitchen. Or a dinner at Knuckles.
“I want a cheeseburger,” she said.
“No, you don’t.” I chuckled. “You want me to get you a cheeseburger, probably two, and when you don’t eat them, I will.”
She giggled. “Maybe.”
And I laughed for the first time in days. “If I vomit on Jasper while we’re training, I’m blaming it on you.”
“I’m willing to take one for the team.”
Team. “We are a team. You and me.”
“What do you want to do about the fight?” It was the first time she’d asked me that question. Instead of pressing, she’d given me time.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I didn’t talk to you the last time this happened. Tell me what to do.”
“I can’t.” She gave me a sad smile.
“Then I’m not buying you a cheeseburger.”
Talia’s laugh filled the cab and some of that anger, the frustration, eased. Regardless of what happened Saturday, I’d leave here with this woman.
“Do you want me to drop you at the hotel while I go meet Jasper? Or want to watch?” I asked.
“Watch.”
“Good answer.”
We stopped at a restaurant for cheeseburgers. After she ate one and I ate the other, we drove to the gym. Jasper was waiting with a group of guys I’d seen in my time training here.
It was different than at Arlo’s. His ghost wasn’t floating behind my back, ready to drive the knife deeper. I could relax here. Stop looking over my shoulder.
Jasper had been the one to suggest a change of scenery after Arlo’s death, proving once again he had a direct line to my emotions.
“How are you?” he asked as I joined him in the ring to stretch for a few minutes.
“Good.”
“Liar.”
“You know I hate the press bullshit. Sets me on edge.” Especially with a loudmouth asshole like Scott Savage.
It was the truth, but only a part of the story. I trusted Jasper with my life but I hadn’t told him about the Vivienne and Dex clusterfuck. He’d be livid, and I needed him to keep focused. One of us had to concentrate on the fight.
I’d tell him about it later, after I made sense of it myself. After I figured out what to do.
“When’s your first press event?” he asked.
“Tomorrow.” For the rest of the week, I’d be adding various appearances to my schedule, all leading up to the fight this weekend. Thursday I had meetings with my agent and manager to talk about a new contract. Friday was weigh-in.
But today, I needed to train. So I smacked the floor and jumped to my feet, then walked to the edge of the ring, leaning on the ropes as I bent to talk to Talia, who’d pulled up a chair just beyond the ring. “Need anything?”
“All good.” She shook her head. “Do your thing. Save a little energy for me later.”
I grinned. “Maybe more than a little.”
Two hours later, I was dripping with sweat, my muscles were warm and loose, and some of the haze in my mind had cleared.
Jasper had brought in some other guys from the gym, maybe sensing that what I’d needed was to burn. I’d done sparring round after sparring round. Most hadn’t been much competition, but my last match had been with Jasper himself and he’d pushed hard.
“Saved yourself for last, huh?” I teased, chugging from a bottle of water. “Made sure I was winded before you stepped up.”
Jasper chuckled, dragging a hand through his sweaty, dark hair. “That was the plan, but with the speed you’re moving today, it wasn’t necessary. How many body shots did you land? Two? Three? Savage is going to eat you alive.”
He was taunting me. It was working.
“You’re such an ass.” I planted my hands on my hips, my chest shaking with laughter. “I landed more than three.”
“Seven,” Talia said from her bench. On her lap was a pen and notepad she’d pulled out of her purse. She lifted the paper, holding it up for me to see.
A sheet filled with tally marks.
A row for each of the sparring rounds.
“See?” I smirked at Jasper.
“How many did I get, Talia?” he asked her.
“Um . . . nine.”
“Shit,” I muttered as Jasper and every one of the guys watching roared with laughter.
“That is priceless.” Jasper clapped me on the shoulder. “We’re keeping her around.”
I locked eyes with Talia, those sparkling blues dancing as she smiled. “Yes, we are.”
Whatever doubts, worries, fears I’d had about this fight vanished.
In the beginning, I’d told her that I’d win this fight for her. That she was my motivation. Our past was scattered with enough broken promises. I wasn’t adding another. So I waved her closer, meeting her at the ropes and dropping to a crouch.
“I’m not losing this fight,” I said low enough for only her to hear.
She pressed a hand to her heart. “No, you’re not.”
It was like she’d known all along that would be my decision but had given me time to realize it myself.
The money for Dex and the situation with Vivienne, there was a way out of this. Neither of them might like it, but they didn’t get to bitch. Not after what they’d done. Dex and his pride could go fuck himself.
“We’ll figure the rest of this out,” I said.
“After you win.”
“For you.”
“You already won, baby.” Talia reached for my side, her fingertips brushing the Garnet Flats tattoo on my ribs.
A single touch and the future flashed in my mind.
Garnet Flats. A house built on her family’s ranch. A home filled with love and laughter.
We’d be having a conversation at the hotel tonight about those pills she took each morning. If she was ready, they’d go in the trash. We’d fill our dream house with kids. Make Kadence a big sister. And I’d worship this woman for the rest of my years.
“Don’t win this fight for me,” she whispered. “Win this one for you.”
Win this fight for the one I never should have lost. “Then I’ll be done. Then I’ll retire.”
“But not yet.”
I grinned. “Not yet.”