“I think you could too,” my father agrees with my sister, who weighs a hundred pounds less than me, for fuck’s sake!
“Well, what the hell do you all want me to do?” I yell at them. “I’m not breaking up with Cassidy. It took me almost twenty years to get her!”
“You don’t have to give up Cassidy,” Jude says. “I didn’t have to give up Sadie, your dad didn’t have to give up Page, and we both won titles after settling down. You just have to retrain your brain, imagine your girl with someone else, pretend she’s not yours.”
“I don’t like this idea,” I tell them as I sip my energy drink.
“Too bad,” Macy says. “You’ve got to find your inner rage again, bro, like that first day you came in with Cass and worked out.”
“My inner rage?” I repeat.
“What were you thinking about that first day you came in?” Dad asks.
I try to think back to a few weeks ago, right when I got into town and then found out Cass was dating and sleeping with not one but two different men who weren’t me.
For the sake of training, I try to imagine Cass with Eddie or Mike, but… “It’s impossible to imagine that jealousy shit now because I know Cass would never cheat on me,” I tell them, unlike my ex-wife…
“The rage doesn’t know that, though!” Jude says. “The green-eyed monster isn’t very smart or logical. He’s just pure, white-hot, senseless emotion. Come on, try again.”
I close my eyes and picture coming home, to Cass’s house, and finding another man in bed with her, his hands get ready to touch her…before I break them the fuck off.
The rage suddenly bubbles up, not from being upset with Cass, but the key I think is going to be to take out my anger at the random man who stupidly tries to take what’s mine.
“Let’s go!” I yell to Coach Briggs, who is over at the front desk talking to Coach Cruz.
“You sure?” he asks. “You looked like you could use a longer break!”
“Someone just grab the pads and hold them for me!” I exclaim in frustration, because I know I can be better than I was earlier.
Jude gets to the pads first. As soon as he raises them, I slam my fists into them again and again while ducking and dodging a fictional opponent’s incoming hits.
After I’ve given everything I have inside of me, I drop to my knees and call a timeout.
“That was a helluva lot better,” Jude says as I gasp for air.
“Agreed,” Dad says. “He went thirty minutes without taking a break, so his endurance isn’t going to be a problem.”
“You’re right, his endurance is great,” Jude agrees then says to me, “But I still suggest that you abstain for a few days before the actual fight. No sex, no self-love. Feed the monster. Sleep in different beds or even houses. Convince the rage you have to win the fight to get the privilege of sleeping with your woman again.”
“That actually works?” I ask him.
“Trust me. It works,” he says with a pat on my shoulder.
“He’s right,” Macy says as she saunters over. “Sex is a reward, reserved only for winners.”
“Could you never use the s-word around me again, please?” I ask my sister.
Macy snorts and rolls her dark eyes. “We’re all adults here. Grow up, dork.”
I hate to agree with my sister; but if Dad and Jude swear by it, then maybe there’s something to what they’re telling me about the rage. I just wish they weren’t right about abstaining right before a fight.
Cass and I just got together, so it’s going to be nearly impossible to resist her for even one night.
Chapter Twenty
Cassidy
All day long I’ve been too anxious to sit still, wondering how Xavier’s first official day of training went. I should’ve gone with him, but I didn’t want to be a distraction.
Finally, around six that night, I hear the front door open while I’m in the kitchen fixing chicken, rice and vegetables for dinner, what I read online was good for fighters.
“Baby, I’m home!” his deep voice calls about, making the smile on my face grow even wider.
“I’m in the kitchen!” I call back.
Behind me, I hear the thud of his gym bag hitting the floor before he mutters a curse under his breath that I don’t quite catch. Clearing his throat, Xavier says, “Fuck me. All I want to eat for dinner is you, Bambi.”
“You like?” I ask when I put the spatula away to turn around and show him the front of my red, lace babydoll nightie and matching thong that I’m wearing with a pair of red high heels.
“I love,” he replies before he comes over and his index finger flicks the bow at the front underneath my breasts that are barely contained by the lace.
Xavier’s black hair is wet and slicked back from his shower, and he smells like smoky wood and sea. I can’t help but inhale deeply to soak up more of him.
“Thanks for throwing in everything I needed for a shower into my bag,” he says while his long index finger ventures straight down my stomach through the lace to the waistband of my thong.
“You’re welcome,” I tell him. “How was training?”
Lifting the hem of my nightie, Xavier shoves his big hand right down the front of my panties, touching me right on the spot that makes my knees wobble so badly I nearly stumble in my heels.
“Good,” he says in response to a question I asked even though I’m having a hard time remembering what it was with his gentle fingertips moving up and down in my panties, lowering just a little more on each pass. “Although, I’ve been told that fucking you too much isn’t good for my chances of winning a fight.”
“W-what?” I ask in confusion.
“The less
