Page 9 of Fight for Forever
His green tea is in a large white mug, with the tea bag string hanging over the side, not a small one, but it is dwarfed in his large hand. I thank him and he settles in the chair. I wish I’d gone to a booth where he would have had more room.
“So how are things?” he asks.
“Good. As well as can be expected, I guess.”
“That’s good. I’m glad you’re okay.” He takes a sip of his drink.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice two women at a nearby table staring at him. Joey follows my gaze, and a crease mars his brow, but he looks straight back at me. I wring my hands in my lap before I realise I’m doing it. Joey’s eyes drop in that direction. I stop and lift them up onto the table.
“Erm, I know you said you don’t want me to say this, but I have to. It’s important to me that I thank you for what you did and I’m sorry that I didn’t do it sooner. So, thank you, Joey.”
Joey nods, his face is stoic and I’m not sure what to make of it. He’s always been friendly in the past. He jokes around a lot and has a good relationship with Jenna. Right now, he seems like a different person.
It has to be me. He doesn’t know how to react to me. It’s something I’m encountering a lot. No one ever knows how to talk to the woman who took a beating from her partner and stayed. Maybe he is wondering why I didn’t leave.
I want to tell him I did. I found the courage, and I moved two entire states away from my home, my job and what little family I have. For six months, I was safe and felt like I could get my life together. Michael didn’t bother looking for me, initially. I didn’t change my name or anything, but I didn’t let anyone who Michael may speak to know where I went.
He took enough from me. I didn’t want to lose my identity too. When he got bored, he came looking, and he found me in a nice apartment, with a good job and happier than I’d been in years. He couldn’t stand that, so he stayed, so he could take it all away again.
“You alright?”
My mind catapults out of the terrible memories and refocuses on the coffee shop, on the look of concern on Joey’s face as he leans his elbows on the table. I nod, trying to control the trembling of my hands around the cup. The surface of the dark liquid vibrates, like someone has thrown a stone into a calm lake.
“Sorry, sometimes I just…”
Joey tilts his head. His voice is soft when he speaks. “It’s over now.”
My brow creases, not expecting such compassion from a guy like him. He uses his fists all the time, it’s how he makes a living. Yet, I’ve never felt scared or uncomfortable around him, or the other fighters at the gym. There is something different about them, nothing like Michael at all. My mind can separate the two, but it’s still hard not to spiral at the thought of anyone hitting someone else.
Something I am going to need to get over, and quickly, is being able to tolerate the things that go on in everyday life. I don’t need to put myself into situations that are going to trigger me, but I have to know how to defend myself if the need ever arises again. I neverwant to be in the position I found myself in these last few years. Ever again.
“Joey,” I speak, my voice not as confident as I wish it could be.
“Yeah?” He still has a normal look on his face. There’s no pity, he’s not tiptoeing around me so as not to spook me, like everyone else has been around me.
“I want to come back to the gym.”
“That’s great. Fitness is important.”
I smile at him. He means that. “I don’t just mean to work out.”
One brow lifts, but he doesn’t say anything. He’s waiting for me to continue.
Taking a deep breath, I look straight into his eyes and tell him what I’ve been thinking about for the last two weeks.
“I want you to train me.”
Chapter Five
Everyone has left for the night and most of the lights are off, except for the one over the ring I’m sitting in. I have my back against the corner bar, legs drawn up, and my hands hang between my bent knees.
I trained for two hours straight, hitting the bag, doing weight work on my legs, and getting in the ring with Malice. That asshole has known me a long time and is perceptive to my moods. I didn’t want to talk, so he spotted me, did drills and let me knock him about a little in the ring instead of talking.
We discussed the re-match fight Marris wants. He agrees, it’s a stupid idea and I do not need to prove myself, but he encouraged me to do it, because like me, he never backs down from a challenge.
It kills him he can’t fight professionally anymore, so has thrown himself into helping with my training. I’m still on the fence about accepting it.
My mind isn’t on the fight with Marris. It’s on the proposal Megan put to me at the coffee shop earlier. She wants me to trainher. There are so many people she could have asked before she came to me.