I’d been working seriously hard on my stamina, going for long runs whenever I could and pushing myself to my absolute limits. I also worked on my mindset. Keeping calm and collected was essential in a real life situation. If I was ever attacked by someone like Merl again, I had to stop myself from panicking. I had to be ready to put all of my hard work to good use and go totally psycho, no pulling punches. Because what was the point of being able to win medals and trophies? I didn’t care for any of that. I wanted to be invincible.
Monroe caught my arm and I snatched his hand in the same moment, using a technique he’d showed me last week as I twisted it sharply, pinching my fingers down on a pressure point. He released me with a hiss and I danced away, throwing another jab into his side.
He came at me again, a wall of pure muscle and fury and my heart hammered as I got cornered against the side of the ring.
His fist swung forward and I ducked it, rushing to meet him and throwing my shoulder into his gut, having no other move to play. I wasn’t strong enough to get him off his feet without a run up, but I could force him back a few inches, enough for me to slip past him.
His hands locked around my neck and he tangled his legs with mine, flinging me around and throwing me onto the mat so hard I almost got whiplash. He was on top of me in the next breath, his legs forcing mine apart and his hands grabbing both sides of my head.
Panic reared up in me so fast that I wasn’t remotely ready for it. I was in the same position I’d been in beneath Merl, a heavy body crushing me down, his hands gripping my head seconds before he smashed my skull against the ground.
I started punching, a shriek of fear leaving me as I hit and hit and hit, writhing madly beneath him as I tried to escape. I threw a punch at his face and he jerked sideways, releasing my head and I shoved him off of me with a yell of determination.
I crawled backwards away from him, my fists raised to defend myself as I brought my knees to my chest, my breaths falling heavily from my lungs.
Monroe stood up and wiped a line of blood from his mouth. His brows pulled together as he took in the sight of me huddled on the floor and he jogged forward to pull me up. I was suddenly tugged against his body and he hugged me tight to him, his chest heaving in time with mine.
“Breathe,” he commanded.
I did so, my forehead falling to rest against his pounding heart as I shut my eyes and drowned in the safety of his arms.
“You got away,” he growled and I nodded, my throat thick. I got away, I got away, I got away.
He released me at last, pointing to the fountain and I followed his silent order, taking off my hand wraps as I went to get a drink.
When I was done, I joined Monroe on the mat to do some stretches, glancing at him from the corner of my eye. I cleared my throat when the silence spread far and wide, deciding we really needed to broach this issue between us or things were going to be forever weird.
“Look…Nash,” I started, wondering how I was going to phrase this. What I really wanted to say was, I like you. Like really like you. That kiss blew my mind and I’d really, really like to do it again, so can we, like, get down to it? There were way too many likes in that declaration. And anyway, I couldn’t say that. I was supposed to be swearing us off, getting us back on friend terms. But suddenly, I didn’t really want that. I’d nearly drowned in that fire between us and I so desperately wanted to fall into the flames again. Would it really be so bad? If I admitted how I felt…would it change things?
“Let’s just pretend it didn’t happen,” Monroe said sharply, turning to give me a stern look and my heart crushed to dust. “We don’t need to talk about it. So far as I’m concerned, it didn’t happen.”
“Right,” I said a little bitterly, reaching for my toes as I bent over and curled my fingers around them. And let’s be dicks to each other while we’re at it, because apparently we can’t go back to being friends now either.
“We both know where this leads otherwise,” he muttered and I stood up straight, narrowing my eyes at him.
“No I don’t actually, you’d better enlighten me. Where does it lead?” I placed my hands on my hips and his jaw ticked.
“It leads to the little rich girl using me for fun for as long as she deems me interesting. Then I end up in prison for it while she swans off and marries some rich fucker with a collection of super cars which try to make up for his tiny dick and beer belly, and she lives happily ever after burning cash and attending galas or who knows fucking what with the ladies who lunch.”
“The ladies who lunch?” I echoed. “What the fuck are
