01

Dante

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“Mister?”

I heard someone call from somewhere within the busy crowd. It took serious maneuvering to wade through a large group of people who were making their way inside the bar. Howard failed to mention it could get this busy on a fucking Tuesday night, so here I was on my first night of work, struggling to maintain my composure. I think it was after the ten billionth spilled drink, did I then decide some fresh air would do me a whole lot of good.

Now, upon being thrust out into the busy streets of New York City, I realized fresh air might not actually exist here.

“Mister? Do you have some change?” I heard the same voice call out again. Even with a second glance around, I still didn’t see anyone. Where was that voice coming from?

“Mister?” I felt a hand tap me on the shoulder.

As I turned around, a man I had never seen before in my entire life was staring back at me expectantly. He and I were around the same height, but there were startling differences. Like the fact that he was missing a tooth… and a good amount of clothes.

“Do you have any change?” His eyes were wide and bloodshot when he spoke. By the way he moved, I could tell the man was clearly on something… however my very limited knowledge on drugs left me perplexed as to what that was.

I felt my heart break slightly when I saw him. “I’m sorry,” I replied, “but I don’t have anything.” His face made this odd expression. He looked like if I had offended him or something. I didn’t understand this sudden irritation towards me.

“I said , do you got some change?” He repeated his question. I looked around again, hoping to find anyone else who was tuning in to this quickly escalating situation. It was just my luck that the streets had since started to clear out.

Kassie mentioned we were close to bar close. This was something I was very grateful for… up until now. 

There were a few people walking by, but no one stopped. I was learning pretty quickly that minding your own business was the New Yorker way. And thus, I was left alone to deal with this man.

Fuck .

“I’m sorry sir, but I really don’t have any change.” I did my best to offer him another polite yet sympathetic smile. Clearly that dd nothing to put him at ease, because when I went to turn around, I felt a hand on my shoulder again. This time it yanked me back.

I geared up, fully prepared to confront the man for his actions, but that opportunity never came. The last thing I could remember about that night was a closed fist rapidly approaching my face before it knocked me out cold.

•

And this is the story of how I got punched in the face on my first day in New York City… by a crackhead.

My bad.

I meant to say this is the story of how I was saved by an incredibly attractive individual after being punched in the face on my first day in New York City… by a crackhead.

I’ll soon come to find out that his name was Willis.

Not the incredibly attractive individual, but the crackhead.

And I’d argue, to this day, that that crackhead seemed more like a Steve.

•

Eleven Hours Earlier…

“Do you have any experience in bartending?”

I glanced up from the liquor stained job description packet I was handed, to face this scraggly manager again.

He had first introduced himself to me as Howard. The guy didn’t really look like a Howard, though. White food crumbs from what I presumed was lunch, were still lodged into the tangled webs of his dark brown beard. Everything about him screamed a hot mess. Then again, the establishment I had somehow managed to stumble into was also a hot mess.

“I… I’ve sold liquor before, yes.” I replied hesitantly. Howard gave me a nod.

Technically , I wasn’t lying. I had sold liquor at a convenience store down the street from my home. Had I ever bartended before? God, no. But I needed this job. Hell, I need any job.

I couldn’t afford to be picky.

“Perfect. We don’t do direct deposit, so you’ll be receiving a check every two weeks. I’ll have you stop by tonight and Kassie, one of our bartenders, will show you the ropes. We’ll get you a company shirt as part of your uniform, but in terms of pants, we just ask that you wear something black. No open toed shoes, for your safety of course.”

I did my best to make a mental note of everything, but the crumbs in Howard’s beard was incredibly distracting.

“I’ll be out for the rest of today and tomorrow, but I’ll be back in Friday to answer any questions you might still have.” Howard explained, as he stood.

I guess that was my indication that this interview was done. 

“I need you in no later than 9 pm tonight. For any reason you can’t make it, just shoot me a text to the phone number at the top of that page there.” He pointed towards the packet I had clutched between my fingers. Sure enough, he had a phone number scribbled at the top of the sheet.

I gave him a nod. “Tonight at 9. Got it.”

Those were the last words we exchanged with eachother. As soon as we made it out of his office, Howard was back at the bar assisting customers. Considering it was only about ten in the morning right now, this gave me a solid few hours to try and get my life straightened out…

Like picking up the keys from the leasing office of my new apartment.

I still couldn’t understand how I had been able to find something on such short notice. It was nothing special, actually some would argue the farthest thing from it, but it was also within my price range and that was all I cared about.

A few customers passed my way, as they made it inside the bar and I made it out into the busy streets of New York City.

There was an impenetrable thought running through me. I couldn’t help but think to myself, what the fuck was I doing here?

••

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02

Dante

You know how I mentioned that this apartment wasn’t anything special?

Yeah I may have overstated.

This apartment looked like numerous health code violations. I’m talking discolored carpet, chipped walls, an elevator that appeared to be just for show, and a lock on my door that had definitely busted open a few times.

It was safe to say I’d never felt so unsafe before.

Finally being able to physically see the place, left me in a sour mood before work. I hadn’t even had time to plan what furniture to fill the home with. It looked as if my bed alone could be this studio apartment’s full capacity.

Knowing I would be paying the same amount for this dump as I did for my one bedroom two bathroom apartment in Texas, was incredibly disheartening. But alas, I did my best to remain optimistic and hopeful as I spent the day cleaning out the space. The cleanup involved taking disinfectant to every surface, and ripping off the disgusting remnants of that filthy wallpaper. By the time night rolled around, I had already worn myself out.

Unfortunately it was time for me to head back into work.

The whole reason I had chosen this place was for the convenience of it. Luckily, my apartment was literal blocks down the street from the bar. I picked out my best black pants… which I couldn’t really explain because it wasn’t like I was heading to a fancy restaurant… then I settled on some dress shoes, and a button down black dress shirt. By the time I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I realized I looked like I was heading to church.

“You can take the boy out the church, but I guess you can’t take the church out the boy.” I joked. This was exactly how my mother had dressed me on Sunday’s for most of my life. It was definitely not bartending material… but I thought fuck it, it was too late to change now.

The walk to the bar was brisk. For a hole in the wall, you really couldn’t miss the large ass sign that said “Tidal Wave” in bright illuminated letters. During the day this place looked dead, but at night? Holy fucking shit. I had to work hard at pushing my way through the congested line that had formed outside. I thought I would be completely swept back into the chilly streets of New York, but I felt a hand grab me at the last moment.

“Oh no ya don’t” a girl called out over the noise, as she pulled me past the crowd and towards the back room. The first thing I noticed about her were the hot pink streaks in her hair. She was wearing a black tank top and tight black jeans that showed off her incredible figure. When my eyes had briefly caught hers, I couldn’t miss the vibrant hazel orbs that matched her dark chocolate complexion perfectly. Once we had made it off the floor and in the “employees only” area, I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding. “Sorry ’bout all that, sugar. Tuesdays can get crazy here. It’s one dollar shots all night long.”

Well… that would explain things.

“I’m surprised Howard even put ya out here tonight. Did you tell him you had bartender experience or something?” She asked me.

“I-I- Yes? I don’t really, but I thought that would help with me getting this job.” I explained. The girl broke out into laughter.

“Oh you cute little thing. Howard probably believed you too. You didn’t need to tell him alladat. That jackass would hire anything that walks, talks, and can pour a shot.” She explained.

She had started to rummage through one of the lockers at the far left wall, before she handed me a partially full drawstring bag.

“Here are all the necessities to survive here. We only have mediums and smalls, but I’m sure a medium will fit you just right.” She pulled out a black shirt from the locker and handed that to me too. “I’ll get your badge ordered first thing tomorrow morning, but in the meantime, your name is whatever the hell you want it to be.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Out of all the people I had met today, I think I liked this girl the most. “Speaking of which, my actual name is Kassie. I forgot my name tag tonight so we’re rolling with Bridgette to all the nonlocals, ya got it?”

“Yes ma’am.” I replied. That when she paused momentarily to look at me.

“You are just the absolute cutest, you know that? Don’t change, Dante. Don’t let New York take that innocence.”

My eyebrows furrowed at her. “How did you know I’m not from here?” I asked.

“Sugar, you’re far too sweet to be a born and raised New Yorker. Now, not to rush ya kid but we’ve got to keep it moving here. You and I will run the bar, while Aiden and Chris cover the floor. Like I said, tonight is going to be our busiest night so try to keep a good pace, and get those customers served as quickly as possible. Just look at what I do, and follow my lead.

“Usually I’d have you change into the work shirt, but we don’t have the time for all that shit tonight. Don’t blame me if your good church shirt gets fucked up, though!” She called that list bit out loud from ahead of me as I followed her back into the busyness of the bar. The fact that she recognized this was my actual best church shirt, brought another smile to my lips.

The first thing I could hear was someone yelling out “Where’s the damn bartender at?” From somewhere on the floor.

Kassie answered that question with a swiftness, once we got behind the bar. “Shut the hell up Pete. You’re so drunk you didn’t see the shot I placed in front of you?”

“What shot?” The man replied, as he looked down at the bare bar table.

He was huge for starters, I’m talking at least over 6’5. I didn’t even know God made ’em like this. Complete dread flushed through my body by how confrontational Kassie was being.

“The shot I’m giving you to go on and get your shit together before I call Sammy. That shot.” She spat back. The men and women gathered at the bar broke out into laughter. My body completely tensed up as I watched Pete process her words. Not even a second later, he broke out into a grin himself.

“Damn woman, you strike a hard bargain. Do you got me for a beer?” He asked.

“Damn straight, Pete. Last beer of the night though.” Kassie replied in a serious and direct tone. I ogled at her as she worked.

“Yes ma’am. I’ll be out your ear afterwards, you’ve got my word.” Pete raised his hand as if he was swearing on the Bible. It was only when Kassie shot me a glare, did I realize I was still on the clock.

“Right. Sorry.” I mumbled an apology. “What would you like me to do?”

“You’re good, love. If the regulars ask for a beer, but they don’t give specifics, give ’em this.” She pointed towards bottles in a white label that said something that started with a C and sounded like a warm island. “Specifics are just right down below. If we’re doing tap, make sure you got the right hose set up. Most of these fuckers won’t recognize the difference once their a few shots in so it’s okay to get a little sloppier towards the end of the night.”

I heard a few protests from a the barstool crowd, but when Kassie glanced up to challenge any protesters, everyone went silent.

“Right. Like I said, kid. Follow my lead and you’ll be good.” She added.

And if I was being honest, this might have been the last piece of sound advice I got out of Kassie that night.

The rest of the evening was spent with her completely killing it on drink orders and customer service, while I helped out when I could. By the time bar close started to roll around, I was completely drenched in sweat and some possible tears. Kassie gave the remainder of the true alcoholics their last shot of the night before she told me to take a step outside. It was probably for the best because I for sure looked like I was going to faint.

And well, I guess I’ve already explained the rest right?

So let’s fast forwards to right after I got punched in the face by a crackhead… when my knight in not-so-shining armor managed to salvage my existence.

••

Hi, my lovelies.

How is it? Y’all liking it so far?

This is the book I’ll be uploading pretty consistently until it’s finished so hopefully y’all think the plot is solid.

As always, thank you… and love you.

Xoxo

03

Sammy

“Make sure to keep the back straight. Your stance is everything.” I called out to the ring of new lads, over the sound of music that was blaring through the gym.

I couldn’t tell if it was just my age starting to show, but I swear the music was getting increasingly more obnoxious each night. Most of the kids that were in here on this particular night, were between the ages of 17-19. Let’s just say I couldn’t understand ninety percent of what these motherfuckers wanted to listen to.

One of the novice hot heads, Kyle, had gotten distracted by a veteran boxer named Grayson. In a different ring further towards the entrance of the gym, Grayson was up against Michael, another veteran. They were neck to neck with throws, until Grayson did something pretty fucking impressive. He imitated the Dempsey Roll. He bobbed down to dodge three hits, then followed it with four quick yet precise jabs. It threw Michael back on the floor hard.

As soon as Kyles eyes left his opponents to look, Ricky landed a swift punch to the side of Kyle’s face. I watched him go down, himself.

“Don’t let that concentration break, Kyle. No distractions!” I called out, as Ricky lended a hand to help him back up. Kyles face instantly flashed with anger, but he shoved those feels down while he and Ricky stepped out the ring.

Before I could make it to the back locker room to have a quick word with the rest of the students, I was stopped by Grayson. He was pure sweat from his practice rounds, which was what I liked to see. “Man, almost time to close up huh?” Grayson asked. “Kassie mentioned she didn’t mind hanging back tonight if you wanna wrap it up here then go get a drink? I think they’ll be clearing house soon.”

I set my water bottle and hand wraps on one of the desks As I thought about the offer. Technically, this would be me breaking my own pact to the guys. I was making them go a month with no liquor, in preparation for the next fight. But a shot of whiskey made my mouth salivate, and Kassie’s drinks were always on the house.

“Give me a few minutes to close up, and we’ll walk over together.” I replied finally. That made Grayson break out into the largest grin. He followed as we made our way back to the locker rooms. I was surprised to see that everyone had changed so quickly, and were waiting patiently for me to dismiss them… then I remembered it was a Tuesday night and everyone here probably had school to catch up on.

Grayson took a seat on the bench next to the rest of the veteran boxers (who were pretty much all just our homies), while Kyle and the rest of the younger kids gathered at the opposite side. It was odd working with such a young group, and it was my first time doing it, but I appreciated how great of a role model my friends were to them.

“Alright, great job out there guys. I’ll need you to tighten up that stance Xavier, we’ll work on that this Saturday.” I nodded to one of the kids sitting besides Kyle. He had a smaller build, but he moved quick out there. That was something I could work with.

“Yes sir.” Xavier nodded to me.

“Good. And Kyle, keep that head in the ring. Focus on you.” I shifted to the hot tempered one next.

“Yes sir.” Kyle mumbled back. He did his best to conceal his emotions.

“Other than that, you were quick with that hit Ricky, nice job. On Saturday, we’ll put in more hours on rotation so each of you can get comfortable with fighting different opponents. I’m also going to bring in the veteran group again-” I heard a series of groans from my friends before I could even finish that sentence. I could of sworn someone mumbled “Goddamn it, Sammy.” But I pushed on. “No complaints, we got competitions to train for. Pretty sure it was you, Raiden, who got your ass handed to you by that Kalipsky guy in last years sections.”

That was when the rest of the veterans burst out laughing.

“You’ll all be in at nine in the morning sharp for a few hours of training. I won’t keep you long, I promise. Now get the fuck outta my gym and go have a great night.” And that was all people needed to hear.

They moved at lightning speed as soon as those words left my mouth. My money was on the novice fighters to clear the gym first, but my veterans floored them motherfuckers. Most of the veteran fighters had jobs they were going to need to wake up for in the morning. They also had girlfriends who needed to get laid, or a fish that needed feeding. It was always something with those guys.

I laughed as the last few fighters said a quick goodbye, then trickled out. It was finally just Grayson and I.

“Alright man, lets go get that drink.” I nodded to him. That was when Grayson leaped into action with energy I did not know he had. Alcohol was a great motivation, I guess. We went through the closing process, making sure everything was packed up, rolled away, and stacked, before we left the building.

Tidal Wave was nothing more than one block down the street from the gym, and it’s convenience was the real reason I could never stay away. Grayson and I enjoyed the stroll through the chilly air, allowing it to cool us down especially after the grueling workout we had faced. Grayson worked full time with me, so unfortunately we had to be back in doing the same thing for another fourteen hours tomorrow. I understood why a shot sounded so good now.

Most of the streets had cleared out as Tidal Wave closed up. I noticed there was someone standing outside of the bar next to Willis. By the way Willis was rocking back and forth, I knew that motherfucker was fucked up on something . Then again, it was always something with the guy. He tweaked when he was high. He tweaked when he was sober.

Willis looked aggravated as he spoke to this kid that couldn’t have been much taller than him. From the street lamp right above, I could make out some of the kids features. He had a smaller build, nothing more than 5’9. Maybe fresh out of high school? His skin was the shade of mocha, and paired with the crisp black button down he was wearing, made him look all the more dark and mysterious.

I wonder what the hell this kid was doing with a crackhead like Willis.

It looked like the guy had offered Willis a small smile, before trying to turn around. That was when I noticed the all too familiar patterns in aggression. Before the kid could fully turn away, Willis grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him back. The mystery kid looked completely caught off guard, way out of his element, and fucking terrified. It seemed like he had started to say something, but then Willis did something completely out of character.

He punched the mystery kid square in his face.

As soon as the punch landed, the kid fell back on the pavement. That was when Grayson and I leaped into action.

Grayson sprinted the rest of the way, to get Willis in a headlock before he could do anything else. Willis was wailing about something to do with… change? I was really hoping cash wasn’t what Willis had socked a complete stranger over.

I dropped to my knees instantly to check out the kid. As I drew closer to his body, I realized the guy was older than I originally presumed. His nose was definitely busted, yet even through the blood, I was able to see him. He had a very gentle face, one that was going to need a fuck ton of ice very soon.

“Hey. Hey, are you alright?” I asked him as calmly as I could, when I noticed his eyes start to flutter.

“What the- what the fuck?” The guy mumbled. Once his lids shot open, I saw panic in his eyes. Real panic.

“Hey. Hey , it’s good. You’re good. Willis landed a nasty one on you, looks like. Let’s get you cleaned up yeah?” I offered the man my hand, which he gratefully took. Grayson had let Willis go with a warning by now. I could just make out the silhouette of him before he disappeared down the street. We both helped the poor guy into Tidal Wave, but was met with an ear deafening scream as soon as we walked through the front door.

“What the fuck happened?!” Kassie demanded immediately.

Grayson was the first to respond. “Willis punched him. Not sure why, so don’t ask.”

Grayson’s dynamic with his sister was always entertaining. Kas had a bubbly personality, but Grayson just liked to hang back. I never understood how they got along so well. Maybe it was that ying yang completion shit.

“Oh my fucking god, Dante? Can you hear me, Dante? Are you okay?” She asked the man as soon as we set him down on a barstool. He leant against the counter, holding the bridge of his nose.

Kassie called him Dante.

“You know this guy?” I asked her. Kassie gave me a nod.

“He’s our new bartender. It was literally his first day today too, what the fuck is wrong with this city?” She heaved a heavy sigh, while she started wetting a towel to give to Dante. Once he got the blood cleaned up, I was able to see him much better.

“Does it look broken?” He moaned. I shifted in front of him to take a better look.

“Can you move your hand for me?” I asked. He gave me nod, as his hand fell to his side. I placed a finger under his chin to lift his head up further. His eyes had this look- this very guarded look, as they bore into mine. He was very skittish and tense around everyone. I didn’t understand why though.

Judging by the fallout, it was definitely broken. If this guy could come to terms with a broken nose, then he’d be alright.

“You’ll live.” I told him with a smile. His eyes broke contact with mine as they looked away nervously.

“Thank you.” He mumbled. I gave a solid nod.

“You know what, sugar?” Kassie gestured to Dante. “Don’t worry about cleaning up here. You go home and ice that thing. Come in whenever you can tomorrow because we’ve got all the shifts covered anyways, and we’ll work out your schedule from there.”

Dante gave her the biggest smile he could muster.

“Thank you… Bridgette?” He replied. Kassie’s face looked confused for a split second, before she busted out laughing.

“You’re fucking adorable. These guys are the OG regulars, sweet pea. Kassie is fine around these fools.”

Dante chuckled himself. “Got it, thank you.” He did his best to catch his balance as he slid off the stool.

“Would you like for me to walk you home?” I asked him. He sort of avoided my eye contact again, but he still gave me a smile.

“I should be okay, thank you though. For everything. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Kassie!” He called out over his shoulders.

“Please just promise me you’ll survive till then!” She called back. The last thing I heard was Dante’s light laughter as he went out into the night.

••

04

So I guess the world is ending?

Unfortunately, due to working at a bank, we’re still open. I’ll be transitioning to working from home (which will allow me more time to upload, thank god) but it’s been a tedious process. I’m sorry for being gone for so long, hopefully a few of y’all still stuck around?

As always, I love y’all and I hope you’re taking all the precautions you can to stay safe and healthy. I’ll speak more about it, and give y’all my upload schedule after the chapter.

Xoxo

••

Dante

The walk home was a challenging one. I did the best I could to keep my nose elevated, as I made it down the sidewalk towards my apartment complex.

That punch had quite literally knocked the wind out of me. I was still finding it challenging to wrap my head around what even happened, as my mind replayed the earlier events. One minute I was being forced to turn around and confront this drugged out stranger, the next, I was on the floor. When my eyes finally opened to make sense of the situation and sort out just what happened, I came face to face with the most gorgeous blue eyes I had really ever seen.

There was someone new at my side.

Someone who wasn’t the drugged up stranger.

Someone a million times more attractive.

He had a very large build. Practically taking up my entire frame of sight as he knelt down beside me. I wasn’t processing what he was saying, but when he offered me a hand, I took it gratefully. By the time I made it to my feet, the random stranger that had punched me, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, two new men had entered the chat room.

Next to the gorgeous blonde hair blue eyed stranger, was another man who was similar in build. He was a creamy chocolate color in shade. My eyes lingered longer than expected as he fixed his gym shirt that had gotten pulled out from the hem of his shorts.

Had… had I died ? I thought to myself.

Did that batshit crazy man kill me?

Was I in some kind of Magic Mike heaven?

A deafening scream pulled me right back to reality when my eyes landed on Kassie. The look of horror was blatant on her face as she eyed me up and down. Luckily, she was sweet enough to help me get cleaned up, and I found out pretty quickly that she actually knew these two gorgeous men who had come to my rescue.

I realized pretty late that both men were wearing the same gym shirt. It had the words Fight Club written in large intense font on the back. I hadn’t noticed how sweaty both of them were until now. They must have just left the gym together.

Kassie handed me a warm damp cloth to clean the blood up, while she explained who I was to the two men seated at the bar. I did my best to clean up the mess, and when the talking had died down, I asked Kassie if it looked broken. The last thing I needed was an emergency room health care bill on my first official day in New York City. God knows I couldn’t afford that.

I watched with hesitation as blonde hair blue eyes approached me. He took a seat at the empty stool to my left and shifted a little closer. His eyes felt like they were burning a hole through my face, yet I found it impossible to look away. “Can you move your hand for me?” He asked politely. I nodded, allowing my hands to fall effortlessly at my sides.

He placed a finger under my chin, tilting my head upwards as he looked closely. I felt myself tense up at his touch, but I did my best not to let it bother me. He’s just checking your nose , I told myself quietly. Fucking breathe.

“You’ll live.” He replied finally, giving me a smile. That was when my eyes broke eye contact with his, and I looked away. It felt like I was going into cardiac arrest from the way he smiled just now.

I mumbled a thank you to him, but before he could say anything else, Kassie had already started to chime in. I couldn’t remember much of our conversation, but I know she mentioned I could come in any time tomorrow. I decided bright and early would be best, seeing as it would give me the opportunity to get in as many hours as possible.

The blonde hair blue eyed man had offered to walk me home, but I decided against it. The walk was a short one, and I didn’t really feel like showing this guy the absolute dump I now had the luxury of calling home.

Once I made it into my apartment, two things dawned on me:

1.) I didn’t have a bed yet.

And…

2.) The only thing I had in my freezer was a bottle of tequila.

Sammy

“He’s never coming back here, is he? This was it. The straw that broke the camels back. The crackhead that broke my brand new bartenders nose.” Kassie wailed.

“I mean that was… that was definitely something.” Grayson commented. Kassie and I both nodded our heads in agreement.

“I swear to god I really hope he does come back. For someone who had zero bartending experience, he really held his own in terms of work tonight. He was pretty great out there on the floor too, when Aiden and Chris needed back up. God, it’s so hard to find a dedicated worker these days too.” Kassie continued. She wasn’t wrong in that sense either.

“I thought the kid took that punch like a champ. I mean it’s blatantly clear the guy’s not a fighter, but taking hits is half the work.” I commented.

Grayson rolled his eyes at me. “It’s always work with you, huh? No play?” He teased.

I couldn’t help but chuckle myself. “I’d actually give the kid a few pointers for free if he was down for it.”

Both Kassie and Grayson peered over at me.

“That’s… very unlike you.” Kassie was the first to comment.

Grayson nodded in agreement. “Usually you’re the first one to draft contracts. Money up front, no exceptions. That’s your motto.”

I dismissed both of their scarily truthful and surprisingly shallow comments. “What can I say, the kid just got punched in the face by a crackhead. Both of y’all are acting like I don’t got a heart.” Kassie and Grayson laughed at that.

I couldn’t help but think back to Dante.

I recognized some of his mannerisms earlier.

The general lack of eye contact. The flinching. The skittish demeanor when I got close to him. It wasn’t my place to assume, but it had the markings of someone who was previously abused.

I thought back to those eyes. Those surprisingly gentle eyes. The traumatic walls he built around himself were evident and I couldn’t understand my initial attraction, but I wanted to help the guy out. Kassie and Grayson were right for thinking this was weird. Call me selfish but helping Dante would at least give myself a peace of mind.

“It’s not that we don’t think you’ve got a heart, you’re just a little frugal with it.” Kassie joked. I couldn’t help but grin, cause she was right. It took these guys a lifetime and a half to get my ass in this bar initially. Warming up had always been a bit challenging on my end.

What can I say?

I was a man of routine. I didn’t welcome change that easily.

••

Hey all you cool cats and kittens, how are we doing?

Let’s check in.

This bitch corona really out here. I’m hoping you all are taking the precautions you need to, to put both your own health and others health first.

It’s been a challenging transition for me, not to mention it’s fucking snowing in Minnesota (after it was high 60’s a few days ago).

It’s safe to say I need to fucking move. I cannot stand this states bullshit.

Hows everyone’s mental health doing during the lockdown? Is your state or country on lockdown? Are you out of school? Has your zoom classroom call been hacked by a stupid YouTuber yet?

Fill me in, my pretties.

I have more chapters on the way. As of right now, I’m going to try to write at least one chapter a day so you’re going to see a shit ton of uploads coming in for this book. I’m also going to try and utilize the time to create more YouTube videos.

As always, thank you so much for your continued support. Hopefully everyone had a nice Easter (if that’s what you celebrate. If not, I hope you had a really nice weekend and Sunday.)

Stay safe and stay home.

Xoxo

05

Well… shit.

Last time I popped in, we were going through a global pandemic. Today, it looks like we’re going through a revolution.

To put things simply for you all on why I’ve been away…

I live in Minneapolis MN.

There is so much I wish to speak on, but I feel like I’ve got enough pages to fill a book. Hell, books. If I were to ask the black community and other people of color if the could say the same, I’m positive that they would assure me they could. That being said, I’ve been brainstorming on just how I could openly express this with you all.

Thank you to all the viewers who’ve still supported me, and to all the new readers who have stumbled upon my work during quarantine. Thank you for giving my writing a chance.

I love each and everyone one of you 💞 .

Thank you to everyone who has also checked in on me. I’ll be taking a day to reply to every message. My mental health has taken a serious fucking hit that’s for sure, but it will never be something I can’t rebuild from.

Please stay healthy, stay safe, but do not remain idle during times of injustice… speak up.

Silence is an action.

Dante

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When I woke up the next morning, I knew immediately from the throbbing that my nose had gotten worse. When my fingers snaked up through the fluffed duvet comforter to give it a feel, I hissed in pain. It felt like the swelling had gone up drastically, resulting in a nose I could no longer recognize.

Sleeping on the floor was about as comfortable as you could imagine. I woke up to discomfort all morning, but I did my best to push it aside. Furniture would have to come later, when I found the time and the money. For now, I had the essentials to get me started and get me working. I wouldn’t let New York’s less than ideal welcome get me down.

Once I caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror, however, all that gun-ho energy quickly went down the fucking drain.

My nose looked like it had been smashed in by the front end of a train. It was bruised and swollen, taking up the majority of my face. I tried to place the cold tequila bottle on my nose the previous night, but the bottle hurt when it was pressed against the fragile skin. It also put liquor in my direct line of sight which only resulted in me finishing said bottle.

I stripped myself clean of the boxers I had slept in, and got to work on making myself presentable for work. There wasn’t much I could do about this fucked up nose, but there was something I could do about this hair.

“What the absolute- what in the fuck-” Kassie whispered to herself in absolute horror as soon as I made it to the back room. “Your face looks terrible, Dante. Like seriously fucking terrible.”

If this were under any other circumstances, those comments would have been received poorly. Considering my nose was actually beyond fucked, I took her words with a grain of salt.

“Well I made it home only to realize I didn’t actually have any ice. I tried to use a bottle of tequila-” that was when Kassie’s eyebrows furrowed further.

“Tequila?” She asked me.

“Well, like, the frozen bottle. I tried to press that against my face to ease the swelling but it didn’t prove to be all that productive. I thought that maybe by today it would be better… that obviously doesn’t seem to be the case either.”

There wasn’t much for me to lock up in the locker Kassie assigned me. I just placed my wallet in the bag she provided, then set that on the top shelf.

“Oh hun I’m sorry. Let me get a makeshift ice pack ready for you here. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can send you out on the floor lookin like that today. Did you maybe want to take a few days off to-”

“I can’t.” I blurted out so quickly, I stopped Kassie before she could even finish that sentence. There was no way I could miss out on hours because hours meant money, and money meant I’d be able to afford next months rent. “Sorry, I just- I really need the hours.” I explained to her.

Kassie’s face was hard to read at first, but when my words settled, she gave me a warm smile and an understanding nod.

“No hours cut, got it. I mean I still can’t put you out on the floor like that. Won’t be too hot a look with the customers.” She explained to me, as she started to pull out more books from a filing cabinet at the far end of the room. “Do you mind being my errand boy for the day? I’ll fill in for the work I would’ve had ya do for me today, and you can fill in for the work I would’ve done for the day. Hows that sound?” She asked.

It didn’t even take me a second to respond, as I nodded my head in her direction. Whatever she was going to have me doing was much better than going unpaid.

“That sounds like a plan!” She grinned back at me. “We’ll start with some basic inventory. These are the books here, all you gotta do is check off what deliveries were made when for the last few weeks. This shouldn’t take too much time, so how about you come find me when done?”

I gave Kassie another nod. “That sounds good.” She had started to head back out into the restaurant, but I stopped her before she could fully disappear. “Kassie?”

Her hand hesitated on the door, as she glanced back to look at me. “Yes?”

“Thank you.” I told her gratefully. Her lips twitched up into another smile as she gave me a nod.

“Don’t sweat it, kid.”

The work Kassie had left with me was actually quite simple. The books they kept here at Tidal Wave were surprisingly organized and on par with the shipping details and catelog. I didn’t mean this condescendingly, but this place didn’t look like the type of place to have their books up to date… or to even really keep books. Kassie was right though, I was able to complete inventory in less than an hour and a half.

Once I left the back room to grab Kassie, I was surprised to be met with a packed house. It was approaching noon now, and while the tables were filled with people munching and talking, so was the bar. My eyes widened at the group of people taking back to back shots that Kassie kept coming.

“Dante!” She called out as soon as her eyes caught mine through the busy crowd. Her hands signaled for me to come on over. I did my best not to bump into anyone as I made my way behind the bar. “How’s inventory?” She asked me with the same easy going smile on her face. Beads of sweat had started to form at the base of her forehead, but she looked even more energetic than I last left her. I couldn’t fathom how that was possible, considering the amount of people that had somehow managed to pack themselves into this hole in the wall.

“I think it’s done.” I replied, handing her the hose for one of the drink faucets.

“Oh fantastic! You’re god sent. It’s gotten pretty crazy here for the lunch rush, but do you think you could do me one more quick favor?” I glanced up from a discarded order pad behind the counter, to look at her.

“Sure absolutely. What can I help with?” I asked.

Kassie bent down behind the bar and reached for the handle of a glass cabinet. As soon as the door was yanked open, a back light lit up inside to reveal what looked to be packaged food in those styrofoam containers. She pulled out quite a few bags of those and handed them to me.

“Usually I run lunch up to Fight Club during lunch rush, but one of the beer taps went down and I’m going to have to get somebody out to fix it. Do you think you could bring these over there for me?” She gestured to the bags of food she had placed in my arms.

I gave Kassie a nod. I was almost quick to turn on my heel and get to work, but I stopped myself last moment. “Sorry, Kassie… I don’t think I know where that gym is… or who those people are. I think you mentioned a Sammy before to a customer but I didn’t know who sh-” I started, but Kassie cut me short with a hand wave.

“Oh just ask for Sammy when you get there and you’ll be all set. The boxing gym is just a few blocks away on Happorn Ln. give the business a ring if you get lost but I promise you can’t miss it!” Kassie had rushed that last part out as she got back to catching up on drink orders.

Of course I had more questions, but she was technically filling in for me today and it was obviously a busy day. The least I could do was figure this errand out for her, on my own.

••

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06

Dante

Fight Club really was damn near impossible to miss. The gym’s exterior seemed as if it was once an old production building that was converted into a studio space. One look at it and it looked even further on the verge of ruins than my apartment complex.

My fingers hesitantly snaked their way around the handle of the entrance door, as I juggled the weight of the food on my other arm. I was worried that this would quickly turn into a scene out of the Looney Toons, and if I pulled too hard, the entire building would crumble.

Before I gathered up the strength to give it a go, the door burst open from inside, forcing me to stumble back. Luckily a hand grabbed my arm before both the food and myself could end up on the concrete.

“Oh shit sorry, are you okay?” A familiar voice asked me as they practically pulled me through the doorway. I felt myself tense up and immediately recoil once I registered the feeling of his hands on me. The speed in which I withdrew my arm away from him left those perfectly sculpted eyebrows on this literally perfect human, furrowed.

The voice had been a dead giveaway, but when my brown eyes met those blue ones, complete realization settled on both our faces. “Oh… Dante?” He asked, staring at me so intensely I could do nothing but pray to god i had nothing stuck in my teeth.

“H-Hi! I’m s-sorry, I just- I had no ideas someone was- um, and-” if I could slap myself right now, I would. In a heartbeat.

His intensity softened a bit when he spotted the bags of food I had tightly gripped between my fingers. “Oh! No apologize necessary, that was on me. You must be dropping off our food order.”

I gave him a nod. “Kassie said to find Sammy or Grayson. I’m not sure who either are, and as for Sammy I didn’t know whether that was a man or woman but I don’t see any woman here so I don’t really know like maybe Sammy stands for Samantha but then it could also be Samuel and I just-

“Let me help with that.” This gorgeous human cut in on my rant, as he helped grab a few of the bags that were now threatened to free themselves from my hold.

He had turned to start walking, and all I could assume was that he wanted me to follow him. I did my best to keep up with his long strides, but as he lead me through the boxing sets, I unintentionally began to slow.

There were people set up on roll out mats towards the front of the gym, but as we walked further into the facility, I noticed the more serious equipment come into play. From what I could tell, most of the less experienced fighters were set up with one veteran partner in the front of the building. Towards the back, however, it looked like it consisted fully of more experienced boxers.

I was startled out of my wits by the sound of something being smacked hard into a mat. When my head whipped around in that direction, the sight I saw was even more terrifying. There was a man standing over someone smaller in one of the bigger rings, offering him a hand. His face was bloodied, and he seemed to be having some trouble getting back up. The man who had appeared to have knocked him out, and who was now helping the man back up, was someone I recognized.

It was the guy who was with handsome lad when I got my lights punched out by Willis. Seeing him sweaty and completely without a shirt got my blood pumping that’s for sure. How we’re all these guys so in shape?

I found it hilarious that I was asking this question while I stood in the middle of a gym.

“Is he okay?” I hadn’t even noticed I had said those words aloud until I heard a chuckle come from in front of me. Blonde hair blue eyed had also slowed his pace so I could catch up.

“Most definitely. All the guys here in the veterans area definitely know how to take a hit. Let’s get this food in the break room, and I can give you a little tour if you’d like?” The man offered as he held the back door open for me.

“I-Oh t-that’s okay really. I’m still on the clock and Kassie-” blond hair blue eyes waived me off the same way Kassie had, after he set the bags on a counter.

“Don’t sweat it, Kassie’s got it. The very least I could do is figure out whatever the fuck is going on with your nose.” As he said those words, he shifted his attention away from the food entirely, and towards me.

It was… an unexplainable feeling. The feeling of dread because I had almost forgot all about my stupid nose, and I’m sure he was able to see just how fucked up it was. It also made a very small amount of myself feel warm. Definitely the my entire body is on fire feeling because this man was just shy of gods most perfect creation, but he also emitted a very non threatening warmth… the kind of warmth I could never in a million years imagine receiving from a fight club.

Blond hair blue eyes took a small step towards me.

“Oh you really don’t have to.” I tried to rush out again, as my heart quickened in pace. There wasn’t much room for me to back up, because directly behind me was a wall of lockers.

I noticed the way in which his eyes hovered over me. It was impossible to figure out what he was thinking… let alone what he his next plan of attack was, as he took another step towards me.

“I know I don’t have to,” he chuckled, stopping abruptly to kneel down next to a cabinet. I felt myself release another shaking breath when he open up the bottom drawer to reveal a first aid. “But I want to. We gotta get you in tip top shape for Tidal Wave… you haven’t even experienced the weekend yet.” He explained.

My heart immediately dropped to my stomach. Could the weekend be worse? Worse than whatever I’ve already experienced?

Blonde hair blue eyes set the first aid on one of the benches and signaled for me to come have a seat. He sat down in a straddled position on the bench, and I followed in suit. I made sure just to keep a couple feet between the two of us… luckily, the first aid box was a great barrier. “I don’t know if I can handle another punch from a random stranger.” I mumbled more to myself. This handsome stranger must have picked up on those words because he offered me another light laugh.

“Ironically enough, that wasn’t just some random stranger.” He replied as he started taking out some alcohol pads and wipes from the white tin box. “Willis has definitely gone down a different path, but he was once the proud owner of this gym. It wasn’t called Fight Club at the time, but actually Shred It.”

I watched as he ripped some alcohol pads out from their paper thin packaging, and signaled for me to move a little closer. When his eyes met mine again, I found myself seemingly unable to hold his gaze. I broke away moments later, distracting myself with the scenery of the back room as I allowed him to pat my nose down.

Blonde hair blue eyes continued his story.

“Lots of history there. Willis definitely lost direction after all those years… but it looks like his jab’s still got it. I’m sorry you had to find the out the hard way.” His hand grazed against a fresh cut that made me hiss with pain. When I jerked my head back out of reflex, that was was when his hand slipped below my chin to keep me steady again. We were a comfortable distance apart, just an arms length away on this bench… but every time his skin touched mine I felt this feeling of claustrophobia and inability to breathe.

I did my best to look everywhere else but at him. I didn’t want to make this very obviously straight guy uncomfortable with me checking him out. He’d probably end up showing me just how good his jab was.

When I caught whiff of his cologne sweat mix as he leant in a tad closer to position the gauze, it dawned one me that I was going to need to get out of here soon.

Very soon.

“That’s very unfortunate to hear.” I replied, holding my breath entirely now.

Maybe if I didn’t breathe him in, it wouldn’t be as intoxicating?

Then I realized quite quickly that if I didn’t breathe in anything at all, I was going to die.

“For sure.” He replied, stretching the gauze tape out as he gently set everything in place. I now had a soft cushion of protection around the swelling. “Here’s an ice pack to take home but please please make sure you ice it.” he set the now liquid pack down next to me. “That will be critical for swelling and pain.”

“Thank you.” I replied, offering the biggest smile I could muster, without pulling on the gauze tape and ruining all his hard work. “For everything.” I added.

“Don’t sweat it.” He replied, offering me a smile in return. “If you ever need some pointers on fighting back, let me know.” He replied.

As soon as those words left his lips, I immediately retreated back behind those safe metaphoric walls. My body was not my own, as I stood up abruptly. “Thank you- Thanks again- I, uh, I should be getting back to work now.”

Those words had come out of me at lightning speed, but I barely got them all out in time before I bolted out of the back room. The last thing I could hear was the voice of the handsome stranger pleading with me to wait, but I was out of there before he could finish.

••

07

Sammy

“What the hell was that?” Grayson asked, slipping out of one of the vet rings to join me in the back room.

“I- I don’t know.” I replied honestly, still holding the ice pack in hand. “I was trying to get this to him. He bolted out of here without grabbing it.” My hands squished the room temperature cool pack between my fingers as I turned to face Grayson.

“That was the same kid from last night right? Looks like he was bringing us lunch.” Grayson noted. “What the hell did you do to scare him off that quick?”

I threw my hands up in defeat. “It honestly beats me. I just told him I could give him some pointers on defense. Harmless stuff I swear. Just trying to help.” I replied. Grayson gave me a look that said he wasn’t buying it.

But with Grayson, this look was pretty much always present on his face.

“You know you do tend to make terrible choices with words. I’m sure something got lost in translation.” He replied. I was quick to come to my own defense.

“I know, but I’m serious this time! I don’t think I said anything disrespectful.”

Grayson sighed at my words. “Well we’ll know for sure depending on whether Kassie decides to come kill us or not. She really likes that kid, man. Plus you know how long they’ve been short staffed for.”

My fingers pushed back the strands of hair that had slipped through the hair bun. This whole situation was just bizarre.

Dante

I sighed heavily, allowing my back to rest against the hard porcelain water reservoir of the toilet.

Why was I so fucked up? I thought to myself.

Why was everything so fucking triggering?

My hand grabbed at the stall railing, as I took another deep breath. The words fight back amplified through me. I felt the memories surface like an air filled rubber duck that’s been held beneath water, then suddenly released.

I fought to keep my breathing under control. To keep me under control.

Kassie hadn’t noticed when I entered Tidal Wave and shot straight to the restrooms, but that didn’t negate from the fact that I couldn’t stay in this stall forever. Those familiar cries echoed against the walls of my memory as my ex’s voice cut through like a hot knife in butter…

But something else pulled me out from my suffocating thoughts. I heard a loud crash from somewhere in the bar and it was accompanied with the sound of glass breaking. I quickly stood, rubbing the tears that had threatened to fall away from my eyes. I washed my hands as fast as possible, before i could make it back out into the bar.

Once I did, I noticed Kassie standing in the middle of the floor with a broom in her hand. She was clearing up the pieces of what looked to be broken glasses. The tray that Chris usually used to serve, was also on the ground besides the broken shards. Something must have happened while she was serving.

Honestly, I was still trying to get used to calling her Chris. It really stood for Christina (I think she mentioned), but she preferred to go by Chris.

I hadn’t really had the opportunity to carry much of a conversation between her and Aiden. Aiden seemed pretty laid back for the most part. He had to step in to fix a drink I made incorrectly last night, but the entire time he was really nice and understanding. Even Chris had given me some pointers on how to deal with difficult regulars, or what to do if someone comes in asking for a salad- apparently our menu didn’t consist of a single salad option, so this happened more frequently than not.

The only person I had yet to work with, was Howard. So much had happened in such little time, I had almost forgot the main managers name. He mentioned that he wouldn’t be back until tomorrow, and call me crazy, but I was absolutely petrified he’d pick up on the fact that I had no bartending skills.

When it came to Chris and Aiden, they knew what they were doing, and they kept the busy flow going. Their customer service was lacking however, that’s for sure. It took maybe 3 seconds before Chris got into it with the customer who I presume might have bumped into her. Kassie intervened immediately before the customer and Chris could escalate the situation.

Aiden, on the other hand, just couldn’t be bothered with anything. He hated cleaning, and wasn’t a fan of messy customers. Kassie had told him a few times last night when he complained, that he chose the wrong job if he wasn’t ready to clean spilt drinks . There was no argument there. Regardless of how ridiculous Chris and Aiden could be with certain aspects of the job, Kassie knew how to reel them in.

I watched as she talked both the customer and Chris down before cleaning up the rest of the mess, and making it to the bin behind the bar to throw out the shattered glass. That was when her eye finally caught mine.

“Dante! You’re back!” She called out, beckoning me over once again. I wiped my still slightly damp hands on my shirt as I made my way to her.

“Hi, yes sorry, it took me a little longer than expected.” I replied. I was going to tell her about one of the guys from the gym patching up my nose, but Kassie was already moving on to the next task at hand.

“I know you haven’t met much of our kitchen staff, but I was going to have you on dishes for the remainder of the day if you don’t mind?” She asked me. I almost immediately shook my head in return.

“Not at all, just show me the ropes and I’ll catch on.” I assured her.

When things had died down, Kassie put Aiden on bartending, and she gestures for me to fallow her through a different door located next to the bar. I had seen Chris and Aiden walk in and out with trays of food, but I hadn’t seen exactly what was located back there. When Kassie pushed the door open, we were immediately welcomed with a different group of people.

There were 4 guys total back here. All of them were working on preparing the food, while one looked to be rotating between cleaning and cooking.

“Listen up guys!” Kassie called out, drawing the groups attention. Some where in the middle of stirring sauces or flipping burgers, so all they could do was give a head nod in her direction for acknowledgement. “This is Dante. He’s going to be helping out with dishes for the day. I expect you all to treat him kindly. Ben?”

A man who was in the middle of stirring cilantro into a sauce, glanced over. “What’s up Kas?”

“I want you to show Dante the ropes. Let me know if you have any questions.” Kassie replied, before giving me one brief pat on the back, and swiftly leaving me alone to fend for myself. I hesitantly made my way towards who Kassie had called Ben.

He was a tall individual, definitely over six feet. His dark tan complexion complimented the black hair he had pulled into a bun. With his sleeves rolled, I could see the coverings of tattoos that peaked out beneath each arm. He was good looking, but he had this rough exterior that somehow made my skin crawl.

“Alright kid, grab those gloves under the sink there, and lets put you to work.”

••

08

Sammy

“What a fucking day.” I sighed, tossing the beaten up boxing gloves into the trash bin near the end of the lockers.

“I’m going to kill that kid.” Grayson replied, tossing his own tattered gloves into the trash. Tonight we had pushed our old gloves to the breaking point. Grayson and I liked to spar each other after a long day. It wore us out, yes, but it also helped us sleep better. I wasn’t too concerned about throwing this old pair out because we were expecting new shipment in a few days. I wanted the guys to practice with some better equipment before sections.

“Kyle is a fucking idiot, trust me , I know .” I sighed, taking a big swig of water.

“He tried to trip me, Sammy. That’s a highly illegal move- one we could all get disqualified for in sections.” Grayson snapped back. He rarely ever took this tone with me, but today he was rightfully pissed. I had only caught of glimpse of what Kyle had tried, when I was making it out of the back room. As soon as I did, I pulled Kyle out of the ring by his ear and threw him up against the wall.

“If you EVER pull some shit like that in my fucking gym again, you’re done . Do you understand?” I bellowed into his face. All that big dick energy Kyle had, immediately disintegrated as he gave me a nod. “I didn’t fucking get that!”

“Yes sir.” He spoke up, refusing to meet my eye contact.

And that was that. I put him on clean up and a practice bag for the rest of the week. Told him if he didn’t like the punishment, he shouldn’t bother showing up at all.

I thought I had reacted in a justifiable way, but Grayson didn’t mess around when it came to shit like that. He had just gotten back to one hundred percent after a terrible ankle injury that rocked him in every aspect of his life. If Kyle had seriously hurt Grayson, Grayson might have actually killed him.

A week on trash duty was a much better alternative, in my opinion.

“He won’t do it again.” I told Grayson. And I was sure of that. Regardless of how utterly stupid this kid was, boxing meant a lot to him. He wasn’t going to jeopardize that. I think he also realized that I was saving his own ass from what the hell Grayson was surely about to do to him.

“Damn fucking straight he won’t. I’m sick and damn tired of these fucking kids, man.” Grayson was putting on some deodorant in a last ditch effort to hide the smell of sweat. We were meeting up at Tidal Wave in a few minutes so Grayson could pick up Kassie after her shift. Sometimes Kassie had Chris stay after a bit to help with the clean up… Grayson would never admit it to anyone, but he definitely had a crush on her.

We had showers located in the locker room, but Grayson preferred to take his at home. I gave him a good hose down with my axe spray to help mask the scent a little better. I had to at least do my part, ya know? If I was being honest however, he just smelt like axe and sweat now.

“I know. It’s bringing in good money though, so for now, suck it up. I won’t any harm come to you, especially not now. I gotta fix that leaky ceiling remember? I need you to cover for me while I get the supplies tomorrow.” I replied. Grayson gave me another frustrated groan as he zipped up his gym bag. “You ready? I’m going to bring the ice pack just in case Dante still needs it. That nose is just going to look and feel a hell of a lot worse if he doesn’t ice it.”

“I don’t think the kid’s still there.” Grayson spoke, joining me in the gym while I locked up the locker room.

“Really? Why do you say that?” I asked.

“I didn’t see him when I was there.”

My eyes peered over at Grayson. “And when exactly was that?”

Grayson’s eye caught mine when he realized he had just exposed himself.

“One hour ago give or take. I needed a beer after what the fuck happened with that shithead.”

Well, I appreciated his honesty.

“I’ll let this one slide, but you know every calorie counts right now.” I reminded him. “Let still check out Tidal Wave. It doesn’t hurt to take another look.” He joined me out onto the died down streets of New York.

When we made it to Tidal Wave, Grayson’s assumption was correct. Chris was still there, helping clean tables. “What’s up my peoples, how was work? Can I get you two anything?” Kas welcomed us with a smile when we entered.

“Hey Kassie, hey Chris.” Grayson smiled when Chris and him made eye contact. Her cheeks got just a little redder when she returned his greeting. Everyone in fucking New York knew these two liked each other… besides these two. I found it absolutely ridiculous. I gave them both a nod, but when I looked around, there wasn’t any signs of Dante.

“Where’s the new worker?” I asked Kas. She set a few shot glasses down on the counter and got to pouring.

“I sent him home not too long ago. Chris didn’t mind staying behind to help, and I thought it would be best for him to rest. Told him I’d still pay him for the full work day, so he finally reluctantly agreed.” Kassie explained. “I noticed you got his nose wrapped up, though. I’d know your work anywhere.”

I chuckled at that. Kassie was right. The amount of times I’ve fixed both her and Grayson up were ridiculous. “Yeah, it wasn’t looking good. That’s why I was looking for him actually. He left the ice pack at the gym.”

“Ah shit yeah, he’s going to need that, that’s for sure.” She replied.

“Does he not have one at home?” I asked. Kas shook her head no.

“He said he tried to use a tequila bottle I think? I know he lives over at those apartments on 88th. You could maybe try walking it over?” She offered.

“Jesus, they haven’t torn those down yet? They can’t possibly still be livable.” Chris cut in, as she joined us for shots.

“Yeah seriously. Totally not livable.” Grayson added. Kas and I sent him a look. Grayson was an entirely different person around Chris, I swear.

“I’ll take you up on that, yeah. Do you guys mind if I leave you then? I want to hopefully get ahold of him before he retires for the night.” I explained, picking up the stuff I had just set down at the bar.

“Oh no worries at all! We’ll see you tomorrow!” Kassie called out to me. I gave them all a quick wave before making it back onto the sidewalk.

Chris had been correct in her line of questioning. The apartments on 88th was every type of violation you can think of. Those apartments were built even before Shred It existed. As I made it down a few blocks and walked up the steps of the entrance, my initial opinion only grew stronger. These apartments were just ruins at this point.

There was a directory panel located on the wall, but the buzzer didn’t look like it worked, and the list clearly hadn’t been updated in years. Instead, I was greeted by one of the management.

“Hello,” am old scruffy man spoke as he held the door open for me, “how can I help you?”

I gave him a polite smile. “Hi, I’m here to visit a friend. His name is Dante.” I replied. “It doesn’t look like his name is listed on the directory.”

“Oh! That directory hasn’t been updated since the early 2000’s. I think I know who you’re looking for though, he just moved in. His apartment number is… #422 I believe? Be sure to use the stairs, the elevator isn’t working.”

I glanced around at the run down lobby.

I don’t think this man could tell me the last time the elevator was working. “Thank you.” I nodded politely, before making my way to the stairs. #422 I assumed, meant he was up on the fourth floor.

The stairs were old, rickety, and felt like they were going to collapse beneath me as I made my way up. By the time I reached the fourth floor, I was sure I cheated death a total of six times. Luckily they opened up to the end of the hallway which was where Dante’s apartment was conveniently located. I lifted my hand up to knock, but hesitated at the last moment.

This wasn’t weird, right?

Me just showing up?

What if I had said something to offend him? What makes me think he would even want to see me after that?

I shook those thought from my memory as I finally mustered the courage to knock. There was a bit of a pause before the door finally opened up.

Dante stood in front of me, wearing a loose cotton shirt that showed more muscles than I thought existed. He paired that with some casual joggers. It was interesting not seeing him in work attire.

“Hi.” I spoke, breaking the silence that had started to creep its way into this interaction.

“Hi.” He replied, with his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

••

09

Dante

I didn’t want to go home, but I knew Kassie was going to insist on it until I said yes. She even let me know I’d still get paid the full eight hours, which was really sweet of her to do. It was only when I made it home, did I realize that the home I was going back to, wasn’t really much of a home at all.

I had yet to get furniture. I told myself that was something I would do as soon as I found the time to. I also wanted to get some fresh paint for the walls, considering I tore most of the wallpaper off. There were water stains all over the corners of the ceiling that I thought I could try to cover up.

Maybe if I painted them, they’d just go away? I laughed at my backwards thinking.

There was a hardware store not too far from here and the bar. Even though this place was a shit hole, I was still grateful that the location was so conveniently close to everything. A car was so not in the question right now. Being sent home today meant I had the rest of this evening and all of tomorrow off since Kassie said the next day I’d be working was Friday. I thought I’d be working with Howard tomorrow, but she told me I should probably take a day to figure out my nose.

“Goddamn it!” I outwardly cursed as soon as a realization hit me.

The ice pack I had meant to grab, was still back at Fight Club.

I’m such an idiot.

I sighed, making the walk of shame into my kitchen as began the desperate attempt of finding something cold to put on my nose. All I had in the fridge at the moment was a bag of food Ben put together for me, and a bottle of water. I could try freezing the water , I thought.

Those thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

I hesitated, honestly wondering who it could possibly be. I hadn’t met anyone here yet, and I wasn’t expecting anything delivered… plus it was almost approaching ten at night. I felt that all too familiar feeling of my heart quickening in pace. My palms began to sweat uncontrollably.

It… it wasn’t him right?

My body stilled first a moment.

No , I told myself firmly. He doesn’t know you’re here. No one does.

Once I made it to the door, I took a look through the peephole. Who I saw standing across from me was possibly the last person I could ever expect to see here.  Literally. My sweaty hands gripped the knob tight, preparing myself as I yanked it open.

Blonde hair blue eyes was standing in the hallway still in the same workout clothes I had seen him in earlier. He was holding an ice pack in his hand. I glanced down at the ice pack, then back up at him.

“Hi.” He spoke first.

“Hi.” I replied just a smidge bit too quickly. “What are you doing here?” As soon as those words left my lips, I damn near smacked myself. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that-” blonde hair blue eyes was quick to wave it off.

“Don’t sweat it,” he insisted, “I know this is a little unexpected. I just noticed that you left without the ice pack, and thought I’d run it over to you. Kas said she sent you home a little early so she told me to try here.”

He was eyeing me up and down. It suddenly made me self conscious about what I was wearing. I saw his eyes glance past me to the apartment, and all that did was make me even more self conscious. I literally had no furniture in a place that was already just shy of a dump.

“That’s really kind of you, thank you.” I replied, taking the ice pack as soon as he extended it to me.

“No worries. Just make sure you keep it iced. Should be good before the weekend.” I watched as his hand pushed a strand of hair back behind his ear. It looked like he may have just left the gym. I thought he was going to turn to leave, but he stopped himself at the last moment. “Hey, earlier today… I, um…. I didn’t say anything to offend you did I? If I did, I swear I really didn’t mean it. Sometimes I talk out my ass and-”

“Oh no no no, I swear.” I cut in almost immediately. Shit, of course he thought he offended me. I fucking Usain Bolted it the fuck out there like a crazy person. “I just- I remembered I had something to take care of for Kassie. I’m so sorry I made it look that way.” I straight up lied.

Blonde hair blue eyes didn’t look like he was buying that excuse, but he decided not to pry. “Okay good. If I do say some stupid shit, please call me out on it. I have no intentions of offending you.”

I know it was such a basic thing that anyone would say, but my heart still did that flitter flutter bullshit, and I broke contact to look anywhere but at him.

“Thank you.” I forced out finally.

“No need to thank me.” He insisted. “Hope to see you around, Dante.” He turned to leave, but this time I was the one who stopped him.

“Wait! Sorry.” He turned to look at me. “I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, especially after you helping me so much… but I don’t think I’ve caught your name.”

I watched as the corners of his lips twitched into a small smile.

“It’s Sammy.” My eyes grew large at those words. “And in case you’re wondering, it is short for Samuel.” He chuckled to himself when he witnessed my reaction play out. “Have a good night.” Was the last thing he said before he turned around and disappeared down the hallway.

Sammy

I thought back to the conversation I had with Dante, while I walked home. It made me feel good to know that he wasn’t upset with me for something I said. I didn’t quite believe the excuse he gave about running an errand for Kassie, but I’m also sure there were things he wasn’t ready to explain to a complete stranger. As long as he knew my intentions, that’s all that mattered.

That last bit of our conversation had definitely put a smile on my face. I wondered how he hadn’t connected the dots with my name yet, but I couldn’t really remember Kassie mentioning it to him. Kassie did tend to completely skip over things like that.

I slid my key into the front door of Fight Club, and made my way inside the dark gym. I knew where the door was to my flat like the back of my hand, so I didn’t see any reason to flip the lights.

The steps up to the top level were long which was irritating because I was more than ready to retire for the night. Today had indeed been a long one. I barely made it onto my bed before I realized I hadn’t taken a shower yet…

I swear this job was getting more and more difficult every year I got older.

••

10

Just checking in lovelies! How are we doing? How are we liking the story so far? And for those following Addicted to the CEO, did we catch all those new episodes on Radish?

As always, thank you for being such wonderful people. And thanks for reading!

xoxo

Dante

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/94804f0b624e9cf1afb648436379f7bc89a01e12/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f674d6b42345f74743944715a4e513d3d2d3930323639363434362e313631633330326538316236333737663832343437333533383631322e706e67)               

Waking up the following morning proved to be one of the most difficult things I had experienced in this lifetime or the previous ones- I was sure of that.

My body was aching from the second night sleeping on the floor, and no amount of stretching was helping with the soreness. The discomfort had spread across my back and upper shoulders, to the point where it made it difficult to even reach above my head.

I was going to need to get a bed like yesterday.

The time on my shitty burner phone informed me that it was a little past nine in the morning.

I had managed to sleep far later than I meant to, but after being put through what I was put through these last few days, I think I rightfully earned a few extra hours.

There was a lot of shit to be done, however. That daunting thought was weighing heavily over me. With the way I had left things in Texas, I basically had nothing to my name. All the money I managed to save up was transferred to the only account I had, that didn’t have him on it.

It was crazy how entangled your life could become with someone in such a short amount of time.

The tangling is always the fun part, the detangling however?

That’s the part that tears you apart.

I mustered up what courage I had to slowly pick myself off the floor, and start the treacherous process of getting ready. I wanted to make it to the hardware store, and hopefully a furniture place as early as possible. The only challenging thing I hadn’t worked out yet was how I was going to get the majority of the furniture to the apartment.

I had made the decision to sell my vehicle so I could afford this shit hole. That, and Pinterest promised me that I could survive NYC without a vehicle- like they claimed practically all New Yorkers did.

Now I was plagued with the predicament of either paying those pricy delivery fees, or killing my pride and asking for help. I didn’t allow myself to let those genuinely valid questions overtake me, as I slipped on some shoes, grabbed the house key, and left.

Summer was quickly approaching this busy city.

You could smell it in the air.

It was the sweet smell of hot garbage, disgraceful body odor, and just a sprinkle of urine. I tried not to gag as I stopped by the back alley of the apartments to throw out my trash. This was a smell that was definitely going to take some getting used to.

It didn’t take long for me to make it to the familiar street corner where Tidal Wave was located. Just across from there was a large hardware and furniture store. The store name was Jack’s Hardware, which I found a little odd. Maybe the guy who owned the place was a Jack?

I was so used to large chain stores, I was acting like small businesses couldn’t exist.

A neon sign was placed in the entrance window, that flashed the word OPE. The N was burnt out. I waited for the meter to change to the walking man symbol, before I even dared stepping onto the cross walk. New York had to be the only place where I could see a walk sign, a crosswalk, hell even a traffic control guy… and still wouldn’t trust not getting plowed down by a driver who swears he had somewhere important to be.

Once I made it inside the hardware store, I was instantly grateful for the A/C that was blasting through each isle. It helped tame the sweat that was starting to form on my back and forehead.

The store itself was a bit of a mind fuck. It looked a lot smaller on the outside, than it did on the inside.

For the most part, it seemed like I was the only customer here this morning. There was a lady stationed at the cashier, and she offered me a large smile when I entered.

“Welcome to Jacks Hardware! Let me know if you have any questions.” She chirped my way. In return, I gave her a polite smile and a head nod.

Each isle was very specifically labeled, so I didn’t have much trouble locating the paint. The selection presented was a shit ton larger than what I expected, but I proceeded with caution. While my apartment managers would probably think of what I’m doing as free labor, I didn’t want to overstep my legal limits as a tenant.

I decided that I would just go with the color eggshell. It was a neutral enough tone that was easy to paint over if I needed to.

The paints were located on the shelf right above, with the coordinated color code that matched the code on the paint chips. My eyes zeroed in on the correct can immediately, and I went to reach for it.

That was when I felt that familiar jolt of pain run through my upper body. I immediately recoiled my hand away, which was followed up with a loud groan. I forgot about how sore my upper back still was. Before I could make a second attempt, another hand reached past me to grab the can of eggshell paint I had my eyes on.

“You were trying to get this one, right?”

I jumped immediately as my body whipped around in the direction where that familiar voice had come from. To my greatest surprise, Sammy was standing just inches behind me with the can of paint in hand. He must have been taken back by my jarring movements, and how close we were, because he took a few staggered steps back.

“Sorry!” He rushed immediately. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you like that. I just noticed you were struggling to get the can up top. Was this it?” He asked hesitantly as he held the eggshell paint out for me.

I had meant to act like a normal fucking human being and thank this kind man, but all I did was continue to stare at him like an idiot.

It was stupid, I know… but seeing Sammy in something that wasn’t a Fight Club shirt and gym shorts, was dangerous for my heart. He was in some faded jeans, and a casual cotton shirt. His muscles were far too large for the shirt. I could tell the heat had starting to get to him, as light beads of sweat formed at the base of his forehead. His hair was still tied up carelessly in a loose bun that somehow completed the entire look.

The furrowing of Sammy’s eyebrows was what brought me out of my little fantasy, and into the real world.

“S-Sorry! Yes, hi. Um- yeah, that was the color I was trying to get.”

Thank you, brain, for pulling it the fuck together.

Sammy gave me a light chuckle. I watched as those deep smile lines formed. He extended the can out further so I could use my last two remaining brain cells to figure out he was trying to hand it to me. I gave him a nervous smile and a thank you, as I accepted the paint.

“Don’t sweat it.” He said casually. “Feels like I’ve been wandering aimlessly in this hardware store for years now. I don’t even know what the fuck I’m looking for anymore.” I hadn’t noticed the basket of supplies he had with him until now. I did start to notice some of the items inside. “That WikiHow article promised me that a roof leak could be an easy fix. Now I’m calling bullshit.”

I tried to stifle the laugh that was bubbling up, but it was too hard to keep in. Sammy has a goofy smile plastered on his face.

“Roofs can be a little more complicated than that.” I explained. “Could be from any roof penetrations like a chimney or roof vent. Have you checked it out yet?” I asked.

That goofy smile had since faded, and now Sammy had a different expression. He looked to be contemplating something. After just a brief moment, he said something that was the farthest from what I was anticipating.

He asked, “Do you have any plans for the afternoon?”

••

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11

Sammy

I watched as Dante hoisted himself up from the metal ladder to the wooden beams of the ceiling, all the while insisting that he needed to get closer to take a better look at the decayed wood. He had left me standing in my living room, watching him Tarzan his way up there to the leak. My heart stopped beating entirely every time he reached for another beam.

Dante had a pretty slender build. He wasn’t necessarily buff or anything, but I had to give it to him… his strength was awfully impressive. He pulled himself up effortlessly with one hand, as he moved to the next beam.

Fuck , this exposed ceiling was high.

Way too fucking high.

I noticed there was some discomfort when Dante raised his arms up above his head. With all of the 8 months of medical school knowledge I had to my name, my guess was it had something to do with his posture. Maybe he wasn’t sleeping right?

I remembered Grayson got all cramped up like that when we had our camping trip last fall. He was irritated that we didn’t bring any blow up mattresses, but Kassie explained for the nine gazillionth time to him that he was the one who lost the pump and refused to replace it from the previous camping trip.

I think Chris then said something about how sleeping on the ground brings you closer to Mother Nature’s spirit or something of the sorts, and Grayson shut the fuck up after that.

Those three days screwed him up so terribly, I made him go see a chiropractor before stepping foot in my gym again.

“Yeah it looks like it might be from the chimney.” Dante replied, pulling me from my thoughts. “You were right about the decaying, too. Looks like most of the wood here is bad, and will need to be fully replaced. I’d also recommend adding more support beams here. It’ll help the overall structure and stability of the roof.” Dante was pointing to things I knew nothing about. “I won’t lie to you, it’ll take some work to fix, and definitely on the pricier end if you were to hire someone. I’m speaking from my experience down in Texas though, I’m not sure how much it would be here.”

“You still got that extra Kidney man? Now might be the time for me to get in touch with that guy I know.” Grayson spoke suddenly, as he walked into the living room. I saw Dante jump slightly from his post up above, and he almost lost his footing on one of the beams.

“Hey, watch it man.” I snapped at Grayson.

His eyes glanced up to see Dante stabilizing himself again on the rickety beam. “Oh shit my bad. Sorry man, I didn’t know you were up that high.”

“I-It’s okay.” Dante said a little shakily. By his voice, it was clear he had been startled. He gave Grayson a genuine smile however, and that put me a little at ease. “But this work would usually cost around $600 to $800 depending on materials and labor. So… I don’t know if you need to call your guy? Or…” he drifted off.

That made Grayson and I crack a grin.

“No, I’m not selling my extra kidney on the black market… but I’m also not too particularly keen on spending that kind of money for this. The leak will ruin my living room floor if I don’t do something about it, though. It’s already started to warp the wood.” That last part made me smile as I remembered Dante’s initial reaction to finding out I lived above the gym. He was startled when I walked him up into my living room to take a look at the roof.

This top floor was really more of a very large studio. Everything was open so my bedroom lead to the living room which lead to the kitchen. There was a half wall however, that separated one other area of the home. It was on the opposite side of my bed. I didn’t really know what to do with that area because the wall only extended to about where my bed ended, the rest was completely open.

I just threw an extra bed in there and called it a second bedroom for any friend who got too drunk to make it home from Tidal Wave.

My train of thought came to a screeching halt, when Dante started his decent from the beams.  I watched on nervously as his feet kept up with the rest of him, slowly lowering themselves onto the top of the ladder.

Grayson turned to me with an eyebrow arched.

I gave him a slight understanding nod. I knew exactly what he saw because I saw the same.

Dante had great control of both his upper and lower body. He made his movements seem so fluid, Grayson and I couldn’t help drool. We were always going to be scouters at heart.

It wasn’t until Dante’s feet landed safely on the floor, did I finally let out a shaky breath. I fucking hated heights.

“Thanks for taking a look for me.” I spoke as soon as he was on leveled ground with Grayson and I.

“No worries at all. My dad used to do this sort of stuff for a living so I kinda know my way around it.” Dante explained, but quickly stopped himself short. As soon as those words left his lips, his body seemed to tense up. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but you could feel a slight shift in his expression.

I decided not to push it. Instead, I did something else completely on impulse.

“How would you like to earn some extra cash?” I asked.

A blind man couldn’t miss the immediate confusion that ran across Dante’s face. “As you can clearly see here, I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing in terms of fixing that roof.” I continued. “You however have said so many words I don’t understand, but have sounded so right.” A smile tugged at Dante’s lips. One of the dimples on his right side deepened, which caught my immediate attention. “I can’t offer you $600-$800 but I can do $400 and a free gym session-”

I felt Grayson elbow my rib cage very aggressively.

“Okay, a few free gym sessions.” I added.

Dante’s face was a weird mixture of confused, but also genuine curiosity. He looked to be seriously contemplating my very sudden offer. After the longest ten seconds I have ever experienced, Dante finally gave me a slow nod.

“Sure. I wouldn’t mind.”

••

12

Dante

So… I had started the day with a minimum objective of getting a bed.

And I’m using the word minimum lightly here.

A bed was really the only thing on my list at the moment.

Somehow, I was ending the day by creating a supply list for Sammy.

He said he would handle getting the materials I would need to start fixing his roof. You could imagine my surprise when he led me up to another level of the gym which randomly opened up to an entire apartment.

I had tried so hard not to stare, but the interior of the flat was something… unexpected? Most of the walls were exposed brick, like the gym space downstairs. One wall held five expensive looking guitars that made me question whether Sammy actually played them, or just collected them. His tv stand was actually a bookshelf flipped on its side, and filled with countless trophies. And I meant filled .

There were some trophies around the bookshelf stands that couldn’t fit inside.

I wanted to take a better look at them, but I was sure Sammy had brought me here for one thing and one thing only.

I didn’t want to waste any more of his time.

Sammy didn’t seem the most keen on me getting up onto the beams, as opposed to just using the flashlight. I tried to explain to him that it would benefit his wallet if I could see how much of the wood needed to be replaced. Nevertheless I gave myself my own heart attack when Grayson appeared out of thin air, and I almost lost my footing. His ceiling was up there up there.

The thought of our conversation afterward, also came flooding back to me… more specifically the part when I mentioned my father.

He wasn’t someone I brought up often. He wasn’t someone I really brought up at all anymore. I couldn’t understand why I had felt so comfortable just saying those things in front of Sammy- someone I had literally just met.

It was some weird twisted fuckery- running away from a previous life only to have memories surround you in your new one. Just being in Fight Club was starting to unearth the anxiety and pain I thought I had dug and buried deep enough.

I knew I needed to stay away from that place the first time I entered it to deliver lunch.

So what was it about Fight Club that made me lose every shred of common sense? Or more specifically, what was it about Sammy?

Maybe it was those eyes? Or the messiness perfection of his hair whenever he pulled it back. The smile lines when he cracked a grin… It had to have been something, because making it home today with no furniture let alone a bed was not part of the plan today.

I sighed to myself, as I plopped down on the sleeping bag in my bedroom…

If you could even call it that.

The studio apartment was more like a closet. No bed meant that this was going to be another night on the floor, which also meant another morning of pain. I had tried to look at a few places online, but the delivery seemed to be just what I thought it was: an arm and a leg for me right now.

I thought about how long I could make it sleeping on the floor. Maybe I could hold off until my next paycheck? That wasn’t going to be for another few weeks though taking into account the pay schedule and when I started…

As I crawled into that sleeping bag that night, there was one thing I didn’t necessarily regret:

Getting away when I did.

Sure, Texas had a bed, and a home with hot water…

But it also had pain. Abuse. The stares. My father.

Him .

I would sleep on the ground in a back alley before even the slightest thought of returning crossed my mind. This was home now. All I could do was take the bad with the good and try to survive.

When I arrived at work the next morning, Howard was already in the back working on paperwork. As soon as I noticed him, I realized something:

Kassie was right about my nose.

Even though the ice had brought down the swelling greatly, Howard still had a puzzled look on his face when he welcomed me.

“What a jab.” Was the first thing he said to me. I wasn’t sure if that even counted as a good morning.

“Yeah, it’s a long story.” I replied.

Howard shook his head. “As long as it didn’t happen in here, it’s not my problem.”

Well, technically it had happened right outside of Tidal Wave, but if Howard wasn’t trying to be concerned, then I decided there really wasn’t a point in concerning him. Before I even had the chance to say anything else, Kassie joined us in the back room.

“Well good morning everyone! Hey Howie.” She chirped. Howard flinched at the nickname but said nothing as he acknowledged her with a head nod. “We’ve got a busy week coming up here with end month. We need to work on the menu and new inventory for the next month.” She spoke to Howard.

He nodded again.

“We also need to incorporate Dante in a new set schedule.”

Another head nod from Howard.

“I also wanted to work on some new ideas to spruce up the place, and get our customers involved. I was thinking we could-”

“I trust your judgement.” Howard stood, cutting Kassie off completely. “Do whatever you want. I’m going to take a smoke break.” That was the last thing he said before he left Kassie and I alone in the back.

“What a charming guy.” I muttered to myself. Kassie unexpectedly broke out into laughter when she caught my words. “He’s an alright person but a shitty manager. The nice thing is is that if you just talk a lot, he’ll agree with whatever you ask.”

That made me chuckle. It was now clear as day who the real manager was here.

“What I was going to say before Howard decided to take his second break this morning-” Second break? I glanced up at the clock on the wall just to double check, and sure enough, it was still barely passed nine this morning. The day technically just started. “Was that I wanted us to think of things our customers could be involved in. Maybe a raffle? Or bingo?”

I thought about the regulars and semi-regulars I had the pleasure of meeting this week, and I genuinely thought that Kassie had some good direction with this.

“Maybe trivia?” I proposed. “On our busiest nights, we could throw up a trivia question and the person who gets it right can drink for free that night.”

Kassie’s face lit up at that idea. “That perfect!” She exclaimed. “We could have different categories during the week, and maybe even make that extra chalkboard in storage the trivia board? This is some good stuff!” She had already started scribbling things down in an open notebook on the table. “Do you think I could put you in charge of getting that started? You can work on it just whenever you have some down time.” She rushed that last part out.

I gave her a nod. “Absolutely. I’ll let you know what I come up with.”

••

13

Sammy

I didn’t run into Dante for the rest of that week. I thought I would see him the next morning Friday for our lunch delivery, but Kassie was the one who stopped by instead.

“Looking good!” She cheered on my novice fighters, as she made her way to the back room. I was working on some bookkeeping there, but Kassie’s voice was so loud, it cut straight through the open door.

I knew she was here before she even made it to me. “The kitchen made all your favorites today!” He exclaimed, setting the bags down on one of the counters. The delicious aromas that filled the room was intoxicating.

“Slow day today, huh?” I asked. “I thought you might have made Dante your regular runner.”

She quickly shook her head. “No, I mainly sent him here to keep him busy because I didn’t want to put him out on the floor while his nose was that swollen. Why would I want to miss stopping by a gym filled with shirtless hot guys hitting each other?”

I chuckled at that. “You know your brother is one of those guys right?”

That made Kassie gag. “You always have to ruin things, Sammy.” It looked like she was about ready to get back to work, but I stopped her before she could leave.

“I- uh, I asked Dante if he could take a look at the roof this week. Strangely enough, he knows a lot about that stuff. He agreed, but he informed me he wasn’t sure about his schedule yet. I was just wondering if you had that figured out?”

Kassie paused to digest my words. “Since he’s in a part time status, the hours will fluctuate. I don’t think Howard has him down for this weekend however, if you wanted to enlist his services then.” She explained. I nodded slowly.

“Yeah. Do you think you could pass my contact onto him for me?” I asked.

“For sure! I’ll let him know that you’re free this weekend. He mentioned something about buying a bed today. I know it can be difficult and pricy getting one around here. I was hoping I could help him out but I already gave my spare mattress to Grayson for his new place. That and neither of us really have a vehicle to transport anything with. I just thought I might bring it up because I know you mentioned you had an extra bed when you were moving in upstairs.”

I grew silent for a moment, as I processed what Kassie was saying. Unfortunately, things were making a lot more sense now. “Yeah I’ve still got the spare bed. I wish there was a way I could get it to him, but it took me and three other guys to get it up there to begin with. Just thinking about moving that bed into those apartments on 88th sounds like a hazard for both me and my guys.” I explained.

Kassie nodded. “Yeah I remember Grayson bitching about how heavy that thing was. With the way those old apartments are set up, who’s to say it won’t fall through the floor boards.”

I know Kassie had meant that as a joke, but there was some truth to that statement.

“But don’t sweat it!” She rushed out quickly. “I’m going to ask a few friends to see if they’ve got anything, and hopefully we’ll get him situated soon. I feel for the guy, ya know? It can be challenging starting out in NYC.”

“Very true.” I agreed.

Those were the last words I spoke to Kassie that day, before she had to hurry back to work. Nonetheless, even after Kassie was gone, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I wouldn’t wish those apartments upon my worst enemy, let alone someone who seemed as genuinely nice as Dante. The fact that he had to even call that run down place, a home, was really unsettling.

I decided I was going to also try everything I could to help.

I didn’t hear from Dante the rest of Friday. When Saturday morning came around, I was nervous that Kassie may have forgotten to pass my information along. I didn’t even have the time to remind her before she left Tidal Wave last night, because I had a late session with one of the younger guys Adrian.

Adrian had been dragging his feet these last few weeks, and with less than a month left before sections, that laziness wasn’t going to fly by me. I had him practice until he collapsed on the mat from exhaustion. He took the punishment like a champ, which most of my men did. It was either that, or get the hell out of my gym.

When Saturday morning rolled around, I almost lost all hope completely. I had asked Grayson to give lessons today so I could free up my schedule, but that was quickly proving to be useless. Just as I thought all hope was lost, my phone lit up with a text alert on my bedside table.

A message had come in from an unknown number:

Hi Sammy, this is Dante. Kassie passed your number along to me- hopefully that was okay! I can stop by whenever you’re free today, to get started.

I was already typing back before I could even finish reading that message.

Hi Dante, I’m glad you reached out. I’m free whenever today, and would love it if you could stop by as soon as you’re available. The materials you listed are here for you when you’re ready.

I thought it would take him some time before he got back to me, but another message flew in moments later.

That sounds great! I’m just waking up now but I could be there around 9:30 if that works?

I glanced up at the time again, and it looked like it was minutes away from nine right now. The gym wouldn’t open until eleven so that gave Dante and I some time to run through where he’ll start, and where I can help. I shot him a message back:

9:30 sounds great.

I was going to place my phone on the bedside table again, but it vibrated in my hand with another two text alerts.

Sounds great!

9:30 it is.

That made the edges of my lips twitch up into a small smile.

Dante

“Oh my god Dante, what is wrong with you.” I groaned outwardly as soon as my finger hit send on that last text.

I had sounded redundant and overly eager all in one go. I was hoping Sammy just thought I was maybe clarifying the time even though he clarified the time. I sighed. Oh god, then the sounds great part after he already said that and I just-

I took one long deep breath.

Then another.

You’ve taken overreacting to a whole new level, Dante. Chill the fuck out. We have a roof to fix.

••

14

Dante

As soon as I made it to Fight Club, all that confidence I had been trying to build on the walk over here, quickly depleted.

I hated the fact that Sammy didn’t look like an eighty year old woman.

When he made it to the entrance to unlock the door for me, I could already feel myself drooling. It was the second time I had seen him in something that wasn’t gym clothing, and it was dare I say better than the hardware store fit.

Today he was in a pair of sweatpants, and a long sleeve shirt that had Fight Club printed across it. This one was one of those workout shirts that had a snug yet comfortable fit. The ones that thoroughly showed off every flex of muscle. “Good morning.” He gave me a smile, as he held the door open for me to walk through.

“Good morning.” I replied, breaking eye contact with Sammy just as quickly as we had made it. I basically had to stare at the floor in hopes that he hadn’t caught me blatantly checking him out. He flipped the lock on the front doors and lead me into the gym towards the staircase that went up to his apartment. The steps towards to his flat were a bit of work considering the gyms first level ceiling was high, but when we got up there, his familiar living room came into view.

I could’ve sworn the place was cleaner than when I had seen it on Thursday.

“Thanks again for doing this. Hopefully I got all the right shit. The cashier at Jack’s did her best to help, but I think she may have been a little new. I tried to look for everything myself so she wouldn’t get too overwhelmed.”

I couldn’t stop a smile from forming. That was surprisingly really considerate. “Not a problem. From the looks of things, I can make what you got, work.” I replied. When I glanced from the supplies, his eyes caught mine.

I couldn’t tell if he was going to say something, but for a second, he just looked at me. Something flashed across his face, then he looked away. I heard him clear his throat before he spoke next.

“So, uh, I took some time off to help today. Is there anything I could start with?”

“Oh, y-you really don’t have to.” I rushed out.

I was about one thousand percent sure that Sammy was going to make working up here all the more difficult.

It would’ve been nice to have someone to keep me company, but Sammy could under no circumstances be that person. My lack of a filter and control when I was around him, was starting to scare me.

“I insist.” He said sternly. “There is no way I’m letting you climb up there without someone down here to watch out for you.”

I knew those words were just sensible thinking on Sammy’s end, but goddamn it, it still made my heart beat quicken. I needed to get my shit all the way together and stop giving credit to a man who was literally doing what most people would choose to do.

Had my expectations really always been this low?

“O-Okay.” I nodded. “You could start with grabbing me one of those empty boxes over there. I’m going to throw the decayed wood down below if you don’t mind collecting it.”

“Sure.” Sammy replied. He started moving things around to clear up space, while I began my ascent up the ladder and onto the beams. I expected Sammy and I to work in quiet for at least little while, but Sammy was quick to get the conversation going. “So what brings you to NYC?” He asked.

My hands gripped the wooden beams far harder than they probably needed to, as I hoisted myself up. If this was the direction the conversation was going in, I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to hold out for. I gave myself a moment before replying.

“I-um, I needed a change of scenery.” I decided on.

Being up here on the highest beam made it possible for me to see the decay at its worst. The hammer I had slid out of my work belt, latched itself on to the loosest nail, and started to pull up on the bad wood.

“From Texas to New York, huh? Quite the move.” He commented. I glanced down to watch as he picked up the rotten pieces that fell, and set them in a cardboard box. “If you don’t mind me asking, how was Texas?”

I jutted my palm forward, applying force on the hammer to get the rest of the wood to lift up.

Just say you mind, Dante … I told myself. Just tell him it’s something you rather not speak about now- or really ever.

“It was a small town.” I sighed, completely ignoring myself. “Everyone knew everyone. It’s hard to thrive in a town where your business is aired out like dirty laundry in every towns newsletter.” Why are you even saying words right now, Dante? “I needed to- um. I needed to get away from it all. The people.” I finished.

If it wasn’t for the hammer in my hand at the moment, I would have pimp smacked myself.

“I understand- and I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to pry.” He spoke honestly.

My completely smitten self didn’t hesitate to reply “Oh no no! It’s okay, really. I just- I guess I haven’t really spoken about it…” I trailed off.

Another large piece of wood freed itself unexpectedly and came tumbling to the floor. Sammy’s quick thinking caught it before it could hit the edge of the ladder. “Thank you.” I nodded to him.

“Don’t sweat it. It’s what I’m here for.” He replied with a small smile. I almost lost my footing from that smile.

Maybe if I just don’t glance down at him

ever,

I might survive.. . I thought to myself

“What made you choose New York?” He asked me, as he tossed the wood piece down in the box. It made a thud as it hit the bottom.

I gave myself a moment to think about that one.

What had made me choose New York?

I thought back to that moment. The moment when I had flipped to a New York Living piece in a People’s magazine article while on the train to Austin. I hadn’t shown much interest until those few words at the bottom of the page caught my attention.

Get Lost In The Big Apple , it said.

And that was what I was trying to do, right? Find a pocket of safety where no one could find me?

I took a deep breath before replying.

“I made a lot of mistakes back home. Settled for a lot of shit I shouldn’t have. I thought whisking myself away to a new state would give me a fresh start.” Sammy did nothing but listen as I spoke. “When you live in a small town, everyone’s image is so contrasting to who they really are, and what secrets they have. I guess I wanted to go somewhere where everyone was so busy living their own lives, they didn’t have the time or energy to create a façade or become so involved in others.”

I had been focusing so hard on getting a tight nail loosened, I hadn’t realized how long it was before Sammy spoke.

“I think that’s half right.” He replied. “Here, you may not have to deal with gossip circulating, or your baggage being judged for what it looks like… but don’t let that NYC is a cold hearted bitch façade fool you either. It’s a community here. We care for our people. I know we haven’t put our best foot forward considering you did just get punched in the face by a crackhead, but I ask that you give it a chance. I hope your stay here will show you that this city, and it’s residents, are more than that.”

••

15

Dante

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/e61ba1acd58e488bd3042ecc0eecf01a55c2c6dc/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6f35512d6f344e4645584c446d773d3d2d3931333932393737322e313631653036373832333534313231343431373731333437303434392e706e67)               

It took every ounce of strength not to just stare at Sammy.

His words weren’t what I expected.

I don’t think he was what I expected.

I could feel that familiar sting. The sting that came right before your eyes started to well up with tears, but I pushed all that emotion down.

Sammy

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/d7d25ae1ca14084be21f3d5d76d6c0b463b20b57/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f49546f763347466267386a6468673d3d2d3931333932393737322e313631653036376431303361393863363133383335393735313936322e706e67)               

I wasn’t sure why Dante’s words had stirred me so much. It wasn’t that I took offense to what he’d said about his assumptions of New York… it was more or less about the mystery surrounding why he left Texas. I couldn’t put my finger on it before, but I now realized that Dante was picking his words carefully.

I knew the dance all too well because I did the same with my past.

It wasn’t my place to pry, but with every word that passed through Dante’s lips, my opinion of him kept changing. He was an evolving mystery.

I decided to change the subject. It was difficult to think of what to change it to, because all my questions about him would inadvertently bring up his past. It looks like that was a road he wasn’t ready to take with anyone, let alone me.

I asked him about his interests. What he liked to do in his spare time. For the most part, he answers were pretty vague. He spoke about liking to put things together. He liked building furniture and scale planes when he found the time to.

Deciding to give him a little break from my interrogation, I let him ask a few questions of his own.

He wanted to know how I got into fighting. I offered him a small smile when his eyes caught mine from up on the beams. “My past’s a bit of a dark one.” I spoke honestly. “I tried to get on the straight and narrow after a few fuck ups of my own, even did medical school… but I realized that that just wasn’t who I am. This is who I am.”

Dante gave me a nod. He was nearly done ripping up the last few pieces of wood concealing the hole. The casual short sleeved shirt he was wearing, was now drenched in sweat. I, myself, could already feel the heat from outside sleeping through the roof, and I couldn’t begin to imagine how hot it must have been up there.

“It’s a special thing, isn’t it? To find something that’s so you. Something you’re truly passionate about.” He replied finally. I couldn’t tell if that statement was meant for my ears or not, but nevertheless, it made me pause.

“Have you eaten yet?” I asked him. “Did you want to take a break? Grayson should be finished warming up the guys downstairs by now and I think Kassie will be stopping by with lunch soon. Let’s go cool off.”

After Dante ripped the last piece down, he looked over at me. “That would be great, yeah.” He nodded.

Even through the physical exhaustion, he was still able to quite gracefully lower himself. However, I noticed a breath of relief leave him once his feet settled on leveled ground. I’m sure being up that high was no small feat for anyone.

Dante allowed me to lead him back down to the gym. I could see the guys strapping up for parring, as Grayson rolled up the warm up mats.

Dante

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/48bd54e968ccea2cad0470f93be2f199c01d974d/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f435873554a41486f7350537a58773d3d2d3931333932393737322e313631653134343563363138373637343236373930353033313034352e706e67)               

“Hello hello.” Grayson nodded to Sammy and I as we entered the main gym area. He was back in his gym attire, but he looked a lot less sweaty this time… unlike all the other guys who were getting in the ring.

“Sup. Veterans show up yet?” Sammy asked him.

“All but Travis and Dustin. You’ll have to put an APB out on those two if you’re trying to locate them on a Saturday morning. Travis’s phone is off and Dustin’s bitch self sent me to voicemail twice this morning.” Grayson replied.

You could visibly see the irritation on Sammy’s face.

“At least the novices made it. I’ve been going at it with Adrian all morning. I just don’t get why he’s not understanding a right cross lead punch combo. You said you were working on it with him last night?” Grayson asked

Sammy gave him a nod. “He didn’t get it then, either, but I knew I had overworked the kid. Jump in the ring with him and let me see.”

Sammy and I watched as Grayson called one of the younger fighters over. This one was average build, and couldn’t be older than his early twenties. He already looked defeated when Grayson practically dragged him onto the mat.

“Alright, you got this Adrian. Right cross lead punch combination. Right cross- straight left- right cross. Follow it with left hook- right cross.” Grayson instructed as he got his pads up and readied himself to be the target.

Adrian lead with the right cross, but his straight left wasn’t as strong as it should have been. Grayson didn’t even move when it hit him. Adrian tried to finish up with the right cross- left hook, but the left hook didn’t land right either.

“I need you to push in with your left side, Adrian!” Sammy called out. “Those hits aren’t heavy hitters. They wouldn’t even knock down SlaughterHouse’s janitor, come on!”

I felt that feeling of uneasiness settle when I heard the noice of the gloves hit the pads. This was resurfacing memories. The memories themselves weren’t bad, but they were soured by the person I had these memories with: my father.

Nonetheless, Sammy and I watched as Adrian gave the combo another go. This time he was able to exert a little more force, but not nearly what was needed to make it impactful. The irritation on Sammy was bright as day now.

And I understood why.

“He needs to inverse the combo.” I whispered to myself.

It was so loud in the gym, I couldn’t even tell if I had said it out loud or not…

But Sammy’s head spun in my direction almost immediately.

“He needs to what?” He asked me.

“I-I’m sorry that wasn’t my place to-” I started to quickly rush out, but Sammy quickly dismissed it.

“He needs to what?” He asked again.

“Inverse it.” I repeated. “Left cross lead punch combo instead of a right. Make that left cross a feint, come in with the straight right, but make that a double, follow with a left hook but aim slightly off the target zone so the impact isn’t at great on his left. Follow through with a clean right uppercut.” I replied, as I watched Adrian stagger. It looked like he was going to attempt it again.

Sammy’s eyes furrowed so deep, I forced myself to mentally run it through again… but it added up. He needed to favor his right side without giving off the weakness on his left.

I was going to tell Sammy to forgot everything I had just said, but he didn’t give me the option to. Instead he turned to Grayson and Adrian.

“Alright, inverse the combo. Feint on the cross left, double on straight right, barely on that left hook but follow with right uppercut instead.” He called out to the two. My eyes grew wide at his words, but we watched as Adrian got back into position with Grayson.

Grayson knew the calls obviously, but that double right straight knocked him back a bit. Adrian followed with that weak left hook, but when he went for the uppercut, Grayson barely had enough time to react. He blocked the move, but it made him stagger back.

“Yes!” Sammy exclaimed. “That’s what the fuck I’m talking about!”

Grayson pulled Adrian in a head lock and messed up his hair. “You almost had me.” He joked.

Sammy glanced over to look at me.

“How did you know that?” He asked.

“The momentum and speed were all there. The issue isn’t his left side, it’s his left hand. He’s done a great job at concealing it- I mean a truly phenomenal job… but I’m guessing he’s got a boxing fracture.” I replied.

Sammy’s expression quickly went from excitement, to anger. He slid into the ring immediately and grabbed Adrian by the collar.

“You’ve got a boxing fracture?” He asked the kid straight. Pure embarrassment visibly flashed across Adrian’s face. “What the hell happened?” Sammy demanded.

“I-It was just some kids from the block. T-They tried roughing me up a bit.” Adrian replied. “I tried to do a lead uppercut- cross- lead hook.”

I saw Sammy’s eyes soften slightly.

“You haven’t even landed that shit in here yet.” Grayson chimed in. He carefully helped Sammy pull off Adrian’s left glove, and unbound his hand to take a look at the injury. I felt chills creep up under my skin as I watched the situation play out.

I knew a boxing fracture when I saw one.

It was the fracture my father had got when he sent his fist into a wall after losing one of the biggest fights in his early career.

It was also the fracture my father had received after he threw that same first directly into my mother’s nose.

••

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/4d7089f3409703a4db2a580421e5086d093686ef/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f78534652367737706d6f33695a773d3d2d3931333932393737322e313631653036386137373365353766373737393239353339323730302e706e67)               

16

Sammy

“Wait so let me get this straight- Dante ? My Dante? He did what ?”

“I don’t even know how to describe what he did. I mean, one second I’m over here thinking this dip shit Adrian-”

“Watch it.” Aiden called out, as he started to pull a seat up at the bar.

“ Adrian , not you Aiden .“ Kassie clarified.

“Oh.” He he gave us an approving nod to continue.

“One second I’m over here thinking this dipshit Adrian has been slacking on weights or something because those punches, man. They were fucking weak in comparison to what I know he’s capable of. I mean they weren’t terrible , but they weren’t there there ya know? I’m just saying, I’ve been sparring the kid for a while now and-”

“ Anyways -“ Grayson was quick to cut off my rambling. “Dante was watching while Adrian and I were sparring, and he- what did he say, man?” Grayson turned to me.

“He barely audibly whispered he needs to inverse it. “ I chimed in.

Whenever Grayson and I had to explain anything to do with Fighting, we told it like a movie.

“I’m not going to explain the combo to you cause I know you won’t understand it-” Grayson started.

“I appreciate your honesty.” Kas cut in.

“But this guy put together a combo that could work around Adrian’s busted hand in like the 8 seconds of seeing him fight… and we didn’t even know he had a busted hand! Adrian didn’t flinch with pain or anything when he hit me with it. It’s crazy that Dante caught that.” Grayson finished as he and I both took the last swigs of our sparkling water.

Grayson’s face scrunched up in disgust like he did with every sip, but I just ignored it like I did with every sip. I told him no more alcohol and no more soda. If he wanted to defy that on his own, he could, but not when I’m around.

“I’m sorry Kas, but you’re going to need to fire him.” Grayson told her simply.

“Cause we’re going to need to hire him.” I added.

“What?” Kas looked at us incredulously. “No! What’s wrong with you people? You know how long we’ve been looking for help? He’s been amazing around here, and… and…” she trailed off.

“We found him first.” Howard finished, jumping to Kas’s rescue as he emerged from the back room with the rest of his belongings.

“Taking off for the night?” I asked him. He gave me a nod. “Tell the lady I say hello.” I added

“Will do.” He replied, placing his hand briefly on my shoulder before making his way out.

“I can’t understand what’s crazier: how you and Howie are buds, or how that man has a wife.” Kassie shook her head.

“He likes fighting. I like fighting. We bond over fighting.” I explained with a shrug.

“I like fighting.” Grayson cut in.

“Yeah. You also like coming here on your breaks to distract Chris while she’s working. Howard doesn’t like that.” I reminded him. Grayson suddenly started making eye contact with everything but me.

“Anyways, steering this back on track here, you can’t just take Dante.” Kas continued.

“What if we offer more?” Grayson ask.

“To me?” Kas looked confused but intrigued.

“No- to Dante. This isn’t a bribe. We aren’t bribing you, Kas.”

“Well, I mean technically it is a bribe, but we’ll be bribing Dante.” I explained.

Grayson gave me a look that clearly stated I wasn’t helping. “Think of it as more of incentive for Dante!” He added gleefully.

“Before you two go out there and do selfish things for the benefit of the gym, why don’t we first regroup and think about what we can actually do for Dante. I haven’t been able to find anyone else with a spare mattress besides you, Sammy.” Kassie confessed.

“Shit, yeah.” I sighed.

“I mean… I know you not-so-secretly love living alone… but you do have that spare bedroom-”

“Now hold on a second here, Grayson.” I tried to cut in.

“Grayson’s right, yes!” Kassie nodded excitedly. “It could be temporary until he’s able to get one for his own place. A few weeks tops, I’m sure.”

“Guys, hold on. First off- we do still barely know the guy.” I reminded them.

“Oh hush. The kid’s made out of gold. Definitely running from something, but made out of pure fucking gold.” Kas defended him. “Plus, didn’t you put out a Craigslist ad for the place? Isn’t this sorta the same thing in terms of strangers?”

“And I mean, and you are letting him fix your roof.” Grayson added.

“Plus you’re made out of two hundred and something pounds of pure muscle.” Kas continued

“Don’t forget you’re also literally above of gym filled with another twenty something people who are also made out of two hundred and something pounds of pure muscle.” Grayson backed his sister.

“ Okay okay okay I get it.“ I sighed. “Maybe it’s less about that, and more about me enjoying my space like you said, Grayson. I like living alone-”

“A little too alone, I’d reckon.” Kas mumbled.

“I don’t need relationships when I’m married to my career, Kas .” I reminded her. She rolled her eyes at me. “But yes. I like to live alone. My routine is a very sacred thing for me.”

“It’s for a few weeks you over dramatic giant.” Kas was quick with her reply. “The thought of him in that place on that floor, sickens me to my core.”

I felt a pang in my heart at those words. Thinking about Dante sleeping on the floor in there, made my core rot entirely.

“Alright.” I sighed. “I’ll give him a call tonight, but I can’t guarantee he’ll accept.”

Dante

The day was a long one.

The heat from the hole in the roof had left me completely drenched in sweat by evening. I spent the rest of the day walking around New York in the piping hot sun, just trying to find a place with an inexpensive mattress.

Of course, judging by the sleeping bag still on my floor, the hunt hadn’t proved to be fruitful.

Now I was home, and I felt absolutely disgusting…

So you could imagine my complete irritation when I got home to discover that the water in my apartment wasn’t working.

“Okay Dante.” I whispered to my sweaty, disgusting, and buttass naked self. I was still standing in the tub, watching the smallest droplets of water fall from the shower head and splash onto my chest. “Don’t lose it.” I continued. “Hold it together. You are fine.”

That familiar stinging was starting to return. The one that was always accompanied by tears.

Before I was able to even allow myself to have a full on meltdown, my burner phone went off on the bathroom counter. I stepped out of the shower to reach over and check who it was, and as soon as Sammy’s contact popped up, I almost dropped the stupid thing in the toilet.

Why would he be calling? I thought to myself. Maybe I had left something at his place? I glanced at the time . But why call now?

It was going on a little past nine in the evening.

I didn’t have much time left to think before it would send Sammy’s call to voicemail, so I wiped away the first few tears that fell, and answered.

“Hello?”

“Hi. Sorry, hopefully I didn’t catch you a bad time.” Sammy replied into the line.

Instantly, my body clammed up. From the tone and stuffiness of my voice, I’m sure he could probably already tell I had been crying. I didn’t like anyone seeing or hearing me cry, let alone someone this attractive. If I didn’t look like a mess before, I definitely did now.

“I’m okay!” I tried to perk up a little. “Just a long day.”

“What’s wrong?” He asked, slicing straight through the bullshit.

I covered the microphone on the phone, to take one long shaky breath. Dante, pull yourself the fuck together.

“Oh gosh, ya know… Made a big move to a city I’ve never been to, to do things I’ve never done. I think I’m now dealing with some delightful repercussions.” I replied with a touch of humor.

Sammy gave me a light small chuckle through the phone.

“Anything too terrible?” He asked.

“Well- lets just say I’m going to have to find out whether this building has 24 hour maintenance.” I replied with an equally light chuckle. “It’s days like this where I wish I knew plumbing. It’s too hot in this damn state to not take six or more showers-” I stopped my self there.

I hadn’t meant to disclose all that to him. I actually hadn’t meant to disclose any of this to him, what the fuck was I saying?

There was a pause before any noise came through the line. When it did, his voice startled me.

“Come over.” He replied.

••

Hey there lovelies!

I hope you’re all enjoying the updates!

Sorry I couldn’t post them over the weekend. I meant to on Monday and forgot it was month end.

The end of the month is the most dreadful day in the month for bankers and accountants so that didn’t go as planned at all.

But I’m back! I might just spend the entire night writing, I dunno. Thank you all so much for checking it out! Love you guys tonssss.

Xoxo

17

Dante

I wasn’t sure how I got here.

And by here, I meant standing outside in the scorching evening heat, staring at the large unlit sign which said the words Fight Club .

I had zero intentions of seeing this place until tomorrow, but Sammy’s unexpected call completely decimated my plans.

I tried to tell him that this really wasn’t necessary. Pretty much begged actually. I knew it was my stubborn pride that made this entire situation uncomfortable for me, but Sammy didn’t take no for an answer. I told him that I was really going to be fine, and I’d figure everything out with maintenance in the morning… yet he assured me that no one has seen a maintenance man in that building since Reagan was president.

The final nail to seal the coffin was when he said I either accepted his offer, or he’d come and try his hand at fixing my plumbing himself.

That was when it dawned on me that there really was no way out of this.

So I slipped on the sweaty clothes I had been wearing earlier, stuffed some clean clothes into a bag, and made my way out of my apartment building towards the gym.

I shot Sammy a text to let him know I had made it. Moments later, the lights inside flipped on. I watched as Sammy maneuvered through the gym equipment towards the door. He was wearing what looked to be a plain comfortable short sleeved shirt with a different pair of joggers.

“Hi again.” He gave me a small smile as he held the door open. I cautiously stepped through.

“Hi.” I nodded back. There was the briefest of pauses where no one said anything, but it felt like the pause itself lasted an eternity.

Sammy cleared his throat. “Sorry, um you must be exhausted. Let me show you over to the showers.” He started to lead us through the poorly lit gym towards the locker room area. “They’re just through here. I- uh, I set some essentials over on that counter for you. Just come on up and let me know when you’re done.”

I gave Sammy a nod and a smile. “Thank you. Y-You really didn’t have to do.”

He gave me a light chuckle. “I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to. Plus NYC humidity isn’t anything to play with.” And he wasn’t wrong. Even just the sweat from the walk over here had made my outfit completely mold to my skin. “Let me know if you need anything.” Was the last thing he said before he left the locker rooms.

I walked over to the items Sammy had set out neatly for me. There was bar soap, liquid soap, shampoo, conditioner, a loofa, and like 5 different sized towels. “What in the hell…” I whispered to myself. There was no way I needed even half of this stuff… but when I caught a whiff of the shampoo scent, I wasn’t so sure anymore.

When in Rome, right?

I stripped down and took the shower as quickly as I possibly could. The thought of Sammy staying up for me to finish and head home made me move even quicker. By the time I finished and got dressed, I was grateful for that feeling of cleanliness, but I waisted no time sprinting up the steps to let Sammy know I was taking off.

When I made it up into his apartment, Sammy was lounging on one of his sofas with the tv on, and a drink in hand. His hair that was always up in a bun, was now cascaded effortlessly down past his shoulders. It practically froze me in place when he ran his hands freely through it.

Jesus , I thought to myself.

“Whoa, you were quick.” Sammy acknowledged when he noticed me. I gave him a nervous smile.

“I didn’t want to keep you up for too long while you waited for me to finish up and head back.” I explained to him. Sammy had a bewildered expression on his face.

“Oh, I didn’t have the intention of making you go home tonight.” He shook his head.

“Oh no, I really should be getting back.” I rushed out almost immediately. “This was already too kind of you to do.”

Sammy shook his head again. “It’s getting pretty late now and to send you out in that weather after you just showered, would be the very definition of counterintuitive. I’ve got another bedroom on the far end there. You can crash here and head back tomorrow.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but then shut it seconds later. Sammy had this way of making every request seem less and less like an actual request. Finally, I gave him a small nod.

“Perfect. Can I fix you a drink?” He asked me.

I shook my head no. “It’s okay, thank you.” He motioned for me to take a seat in one of the comfy looking sofas, but of course in that moment my legs forgot how to function.

Left foot.

Right foot.

There we go Dante, my inner voice instructed me.

My big toe suddenly collided with the corner of one of his table legs and I whimpered a little in pain.

“Are you okay?” Sammy asked seriously. I gave him a less than sure nod as I hobbled over to one of the sofas adjacent to him.

He made me feel so bare when he looked over at me with those gorgeous eyes. I knew it wouldn’t have affected my nonexistent chances of ever attracting Sammy in the slightest, but I now wished I had picked a shirt that didn’t have Scooby doo on it. In my defense, I thought I was going to be going home directly after the shower.

It took me a little while to build up the courage to say anything to Sammy, as he flipped through some books while taking an occasional sip of his dark liquor, and a glance my way. After a bit, I gained that courage.

“So I just wanted to-” we looked up at each other as the same words left both our lips the same time. That made each of us chuckle nervously.

“You go first.” He insisted.

“Okay.” I nodded. “I just wanted to say thank you. You really didn’t hav-” I stopped myself short as I almost repeated the same phrase for the nine thousandth time. “I knew you didn’t have to, but thank you.” I finished on.

Sammy’s smile grew slightly at my words.

“You’re welcome here anytime.” He replied seriously.

I broke eye contact as soon as I felt my cheeks heat up. “What were you going to say?” I asked, avoiding his gaze.

“Oh I was just wanting to talk to you about something. It was actually the reason for the call tonight.” Sammy explained, setting down his work books. “I know you moved here pretty recently, and NYC can be a difficult place to adjust. Kas mentioned you needed to get some new things for your place, which also included a bed.”

I could already feel my body start to shrink in on itself. When Kas said she’d look around for me, I guess my dumbass never thought she’d ask Sammy…

“As I mentioned, I do have that extra bedroom further down there. I don’t have the vehicle to move the extra mattress, and unfortunately the bed weighs about the same weight as a fucking car… but what I could offer is a place to sleep in the meantime, just until you get things sorted.” He finished.

It felt like my body was on fire.

This wasn’t what I needed right now.

Pity wasn’t what I needed right now.

I had gotten myself into this mess, and it wasn’t anyone else’s responsibility but my own to get me out of it.

“I really do appreciate the offer, I do… but I just can’t accept it.” I replied. “It’s been a bit of a rock start, but I rather sort out said repercussions on my own.”

I watched as Sammy’s eyes softened a bit, but he nodded.

“I won’t force the offer on you, obviously. Just know that I didn’t offer this because I had to. I offered it because I wanted to.”

Sammy

It wasn’t long before Dante retired to bed for the night. He had barely made it through the our more serious conversation of him staying here a few days, before his eyes began to drift closed.

I lead him to the small extra bedroom area that was partially secluded. He slid under the sheets, mumbled his ten thousandth thank you to me, and drifted off to sleep.

I knew it was going to be a long night for myself, crunching numbers and creating new group activities for advancement…

But that didn’t stop me from lingering a moment just to make sure Dante got to sleep alright.

••

18

Sammy

When I awoke the next morning, I was surprised to see I had woken up before my alarm clock went off. Last night’s work had landed me in bed closer to 2am. I half expected to not wake up at all.

There was this weird gust of energy spiraling within me that was something I wasn’t used to having this early. The time was now going on six and I was going to need to burn some of this energy pronto. Especially because I had no classes today.

I made the bed quickly, before slipping on my work out shorts and grabbing my gym bag. This had to have been the greatest part of living above the gym, and the only reason I went through the vigorous work of converting the upstairs studios into my apartment.

When I made it down to the dim lighting and fresh mats, the sweet smell of sweat and leather filled my senses.

It was home.

I set my iPod into the dock and turned my playlist on shuffle, then I got suited up for this work out.

Dante

The first thing that came through my senses were the low vibrations of music.

My eyes snapped open- startled, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure where I was. Vague memories of the night before slowly started to come back to me.

I was in Sammy’s spare bedroom.

On Sammy’s incredibly soft spare bed.

When my body stirred awake, it was as if someone had poured oil into my joints like they did the tin man in the wizard of oz, and I could magically move again. My arm stretched high over my head as I sat up.

The music was much clearer now that the grogginess from sleep was starting to wear off, and I decided I was going to investigate.

The stairs going down were so long and steep, I had to take them slowly to keep from falling down. When I made it to the gym, most of the brightest lights were off besides one. Sammy was underneath this light in his boxing attire, throwing combos at a bag.

Almost instantly, my eyes were drawn to him.

His stance was beautiful. He was centered, grounded internally, yet quick on his feet. When he threw a right cross or a left jab, he sent the bag flying. I slowly moved to get a closer look. On his next right jab, I saw him land a powerful hit, but it wasn’t fully on target. He sent another jab which was even stronger, but still not on target.

That was when he took a step back for a breather, and unfortunately noticed me. He jumped in surprise.

“ Oh Jesus , Dante- Sorry. I didn’t hear you come in.“ He smoke in between pants of breath.

“I-It’s my fault, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” I replied. Sammy quickly dismissed it.

“Not a problem. Just came down here to burn some energy.” He explained. “Shit I’m sorry, was the music too loud? Did I wake you up?”

I quickly shook my head no. “I was up.” I lied. “I just came down to see where it was coming from. That’s when I saw you… you- uh, you’re really good.” I blurted out.

That made Sammy laugh. It sounded like wheezing in between the shortness of breath, but it was unimaginably attractive nonetheless.

“Oh god, I’d hope so. I am teaching this after all.” He joked. “But just good? I mean I guess you haven’t seen much yet.” He had a killer smile playing at his lips, and that smile was just… wow. I felt myself staring, and quickly looked away.

“Your power is… insane.” I spoke honestly.

And it was.

Sammy was quick and strong. Just watching him hit that boxing bag made me fear for whoever was sparring him.

“But I noticed with that last punch, what you’re aiming for is a more impactful hit. If you move your left foot back with your toe pointed slightly out, you’ll create a space on your right side. It’s almost like an… open pocket to relieve some of that free energy. Instead, try pushing up off the back of that foot to create more controlled energy. Think of it like a train track. The tracks give the train direction.”

Sammy quickly caught his breath as he listened. He had no complaints, no comments, he just listened and did what I told him. When he hit the bag again, the noise it made when leather smacked leather, echoed through the gym.

It was perfect form.

Sammy’s head spun in my direction with a large grin, and I hadn’t known I was wearing a bigger one.

I had missed it.

This.

Analyzing .

Sammy slid out of the ring to join me. He pulled off the slightly worn gloves, and unwrapped those tightly bound fingers. It was a simply act, one I’d seen done by my father thousands of times… but Sammy made it look so damn attractive.

Next, he lifted the hem of his shirt up to wipe away the abundance of sweat that was running down his face, back, arms, everywhere. I hadn’t noticed how much work he had put in this morning until now. When his shirt lifted, I caught a glimpse of his mid drift…. and it was every bit as chiseled and refined as I had assumed, and then some .

Sammy’s body was the pure definition of lean.

I didn’t give my eyes the luxury to wander just in case he caught sight of my ogling stares and drool.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” He asked me as soon as he flipped his shirt down.

No, you’re amazing . I wanted to counter, but I caught myself.

“T-Thank you.” I struggled out instead.

“I know we had that conversation yesterday, and I completely understand why this would make you feel uncomfortable…” he drifted off for a moment.

I finally allowed my eyes to meet his.

“But I wanted to offer you something different from last night. Something that would be mutually beneficial. Instead of you just staying for free until you’re able to work out your situation, I could give you some work here. We’ve been on the hunt for someone to keep an eye on the novices. To be frank with you, I’ve got to work on strengthening my veteran team right now.

“You could make the schedule and just come when you’re free, so it wouldn’t interfere with your work at Tidal Wave. The roof is a completely separate ordeal that you will absolutely keep the compensation for, this is strictly just about fighting lessons and a more fitting place to stay in the meantime.”

His eyes bore into mine, which was a continuous inexplicable feeling for me. I had followed every word he said, but processing them proved to be a challenge. The word yes almost slipped past my lips but I caught it at the last moment. My eyes broke contact with Sammy’s.

This wasn’t something to mindlessly agree to.

I had told myself that I was going to stay as far away from Fight Club as humanly possible. I had meant to stay the farthest away from fighting in general. This wasn’t what I came to this city for…

But then the words Sammy had told me the night before, started to resurface.

So far Sammy, Kassie, Grayson, and the gang at Tidal Wave had completely discredited what I assumed NYC to be.

If I was being honest with myself, I wasn’t sure my reasoning for coming to this city still rang true. Instead of disappearing, everyone I had come in contact with here had made me feel more seen in the last week, than I may have ever felt in Texas.

I glanced up at Sammy again.

“I’ll help, but there is one condition.” I told him.

Sammy gave me an understanding nod. “Just name it.”

I took a deep breath.

“I’ll help, but under no circumstances am I to fight. This means no practice hits, and no sparring. I don’t want to step foot in a ring or even on a mat. All I’ll be here for, is to give some direction.” I spoke honestly yet sternly.

For my own sanity, this was something I could not compromise on.

Sammy nodded again. “You won’t have to, you have my word.”

My lips twitched up into a small smile.

Somehow I had gone from having one job… to now three?

••

19

Sammy

I didn’t necessarily understand Dante’s reasoning for not wanting to fight, but I settled on this familiar feeling that it wasn’t my place to pry. I was just happy he had agreed to it in the first place.

Dante decided he was going to head home for a bit, and he’d see me later on in the day with some of his things. That left me with more time to kill than I had initially planned for… so I decided to have Grayson over.

“That sure is a hole in your ceiling.” He mumbled to himself, as he tried to stomach a mango flavored LaCroix.

“That sure is.” I nodded, staring up at the same hole he was.

“It’s starting to get considerably hot up here, you know. How high do you have that A/C?” Grayson turned to ask me.

“The highest.” I replied honestly. And he was right. After my shower this morning, I had switched into another pair of shorts and a shirt. I was maybe three more degrees away from getting shirtless. Eight more degrees from completely naked. “I chose the worst time to fix this.”

“You really did.” Grayson agreed. “I think we’ll be approaching stormy weather around the time of our tournament. Hopefully it’ll be fixed by then.”

We both glanced back up at the hole.

Dante said it wouldn’t take more than a few days… but that was before I offered him another job here. Now he was going to have to split his time 3 ways, and frankly, I gave way more of a fuck about fighting than I did about a hole in my roof.

“I’m surprised that worked out so well. He agreed to stay here a little bit and he’s going to work for us? What a weird twist of events.” Grayson added. “I bet that kids a fucking beast in the ring.”

“He won’t be fighting.” I replied.

Grayson nodded to himself. “I gotchya. He’ll still be great to spar with-”

“He won’t be sparring either. He’s not doing any fighting.”

Graysons head whipped in my direction. “What do you mean he’s not doing any fighting?”

“I mean he’s not doing any fighting.”

“Then what exactly is he going to be doing?”

“Instructing.” I replied simply.

“Without fighting?” He doubled down.

“Yes, Grayson. He was able to catch that boxing fracture without even touching Adrian. I think he’ll be fine.”

Grayson looked at me skeptically, but eventually nodded. “I wonder what the kids story is. He had to have been around professional boxing for a while- he was quick to reconfigure those combos.”

I silently agreed with Grayson. Dante clearly knew fighting, and probably how to fight… but he was also clear on the fact that he didn’t want to do so. He looked at fighting with admiration and terror.

I wasn’t used to seeing those two emotions linked together so closely.

Dante

I had done everything in my power to stall time today. I even went on my ten thousandth hunt for a mattress, which still proved to be useless. By the time evening rolled around, I was just hoping Sammy had forgot about our arrangement all together.

I felt my burner phone vibrate, as a text came through.

Are you wrapping things up there soon? I was just about to start in on dinner.

My fingers hovered above the keys of the outdated flip phone, as I read Sammy’s text again.

Clearly he hadn’t forgot.

I looked at the suitcase I had already packed with my essentials.

Maybe I hadn’t of wanted him to forget? I thought to myself

When I made it to Fight Club, Sammy welcomed me with a spatula in hand.

“Hey! Let me help you with that.” He gestures towards the suitcase, but I swatted his hands away.

“Oh no worries, I got it!” I rushed out. “Plus it looks like you may have your hands tied.” I signaled towards the spatula.

Sammy glanced at it and chuckled. “I guess there really is no point in hiding this but I don’t know the first thing about cooking.”

I glanced at him funny as he lead us upstairs.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking… but why are you cooking then?” I tried to get out delicately. Sammy was staring straight ahead, but I could’ve sworn I saw his face turn a shade redder.

“I thought I’d try my hand at making you- I mean us dinner. I’m not sure what I made is even edible.” He brought me over to his kitchen area to take a look. I stared down at this meat sauce he had tried to make. When I dipped a clean spoon in and brought a little to my mouth, my tastebuds practically revolted.

I immediately spit it out into the sink nearby.

Sammy dropped his face into his palm. “Is it really that bad?” He spoke hesitantly. I offered him a weak smile.

“How much um- how much salt did you use?”

Sammy glanced at the open cookbook. “I think it said 3 tablespoons?”

I whipped my head over at him. “That… that doesn’t sound right at all.”

Sammy peered down at the text for a second before his eyes grew large.

“Is a tablespoon tsp ?” He asked me.

I shook my head no. “That would be a teaspoon.”

“This smaller one?” He held up his measure spoons. I gave him a nod. “Well… shit.” He sighed. “Should we just order a pizza?”

I glanced down at the sauce. Then I reached up to take a look at his spice cabinet. “I think I can salvage some of this. Do you have a larger pot to transfer this too? I’m going to need some tomato sauce and water too.” I instructed Sammy.

Then I got to work.

“Is there anything you can’t do?” Sammy mumbled in between the last few bites of food. I knew I was staring, but I couldn’t help it. Even when this man had a mouth full of food, he still managed to look painstakingly beautiful.

“I can’t ice skate.” I told him seriously. Sammy glanced up from his plate to give me a goofy smile.

“NYC might be one of the most perfect places to learn… in the winter, of course.” He replied. I watched as he set the finished plate down, and I stood up from the couch to move the plates to the sink, but Sammy beat me to it. “Where did you learn to cook?” He asked, as he took my plate.

“From my mother.” I replied without thinking. Sammy glanced back at me. I almost couldn’t believe how easily I had let that slip.

“She must be an amazing cook.” He commented. “Is she back in Texas?”

My body stilled at that question.

Technically, my mother and father were both back in Texas… They were just buried next to each other at the St. Anthony’s Cemetery.

I couldn’t for the life of me understand why I told Sammy the truth, but I did. “Both my parents aren’t alive anymore.” I spoke honestly.

Sammy’s hands froze in the middle of rinsing a dish, and he turned to look at me. “I-I’m so sorry, I should have-”

“Oh no it’s okay!” I replied quickly. “There’s no way you could have known…” unless I decided not to tell you , I thought. Which is what I should have done . “And it was a few years ago, right after I turned twenty-one.”

“How old are you now?” Sammy asked.

“I’ll be twenty-five next February.” I replied.

Sammy simply nodded as he finished loading the dishwasher. “I have another question.” He spoke moments later. “One that is just for my own curiosity, and one I seriously don’t meant to offend you by.”

I said nothing but nodded for him to continue.

“How do you know so much about boxing?”

I knew this particular question was bound to come up sooner or later. I should have just shut the fuck up when I saw Adrian yesterday… but I just had to open my mouth and say something about that boxing fracture. I didn’t want to see him completely ruin his hand because he didn’t want to tell Grayson or Sammy.

Now I was plagued with a split path. I could tell Sammy a lie… Maybe I learnt from my uncle or a family friend?

But then I glanced at Sammy again…

He was waiting patiently for me to answer.

There were many things I would probably never disclose to Sammy, but this didn’t have to be one of them.

“I learnt from my father.” I told Sammy. “He was a professional boxer.”

••

20

Sammy

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/107b02c98fec52a20e7516943d3bbc794c6c3d19/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6164574d6b6d38795a737a4e70773d3d2d3931363038313236322e313631663361333335323531646130313637393931333035343339312e706e67)               

I glanced at my bedside alarm clock again.

It was now almost midnight.

I had meant to get to bed around ten, so I’d be fully rejuvenated for tomorrow’s morning classes. Instead, all I could think about was that conversation with Dante.

Every conversation we had, lead me to understand him more and less at the very same time. It was unexplainable. When he told me about both of his parents passing, I couldn’t help but feel a little more connected to him in some way. I hadn’t told him my parents had passed. I, instead, just listened intently to what little he revealed about himself.

His father being a boxer was a good explanation for Dante’s skill, but it didn’t explain why Dante loved and loathed the sport.

Clearly something had happened there that affected the way he now saw boxing. Something he had yet to feel comfortable telling me. I just couldn’t understand why I was trying to Nancy Drew this mystery together at midnight- on the evening before a work nonetheless.

Why was I so fucking curious?

Monday went by faster than I had time to comprehend. One minute, I was yelling at my novices to quickly change and get on the mats for warm up… the next, I was yelling at them to quickly change and get the hell out of my gym.

Kassie had visited during the day to drop off our lunches.  She wouldn’t shut up about how happy she was that I had let Dante stay with me for a bit. I thought she was being far too over dramatic, but I was glad Dante seemed happy about the arrangement as well.

She also let me know how his schedule was going to look over the next few weeks. He was working long shifts but only for three days this week. That left him with Tuesday and Thursday available. I had my veterans in tomorrow, so that would work well for Dante to focus on the novice fighters.

By the time the day ended, I was so all over the place with the books, Grayson had to help me pack everything up.

He was in a rush to get to Tidal Wave so he could say goodnight to Chris before she left. I was more or less in a rush to get to bed… then I remembered Dante would be walking back here tonight, and I thought maybe he would want some company on the way back from Tidal Wave.

Tidal Wave’s lights were still on yet the place had long since been emptied. It looked like Dante was helping Kas clean some glasses, while Aiden and Chris poured themselves a shot. Dante had a warm smile on his lips while he worked. I couldn’t tell what they were talking about, but it didn’t really matter to me.

It just made me feel good to see a genuine smile on his face.

I didn’t realize how little he did that.

Grayson was quick to burst through the front entrance first. “Hello hello. Happy Monday everyone.” He announced, taking a seat at the bar.

“It looks like you’re in a good mood.” Kas noted, as she set clean shot glasses in front of us. Regardless of the alcohol kick we were on, Monday nights were shot nights. I may have been too tired to care much about drinking, but Grayson wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity.

“Now that the day is over? I’m in a fantastic mood. And it’s Monday so this means I can throw back a shot in front of this one” Grayson jerked his head in my direction. “Without worrying about him making me throw it up, or something equally crazy.”

I rolled my eyes his way, as I took a seat besides him. “You’re being over dramatic. I’m doing this for your health.” I reminded him.

“I think you’re doing this to please your true sadistic side. Why else would you force LaCroix on a grown man?” Grayson countered.

“I don’t think LaCroix is all that bad.” Chris interjected.

“You know what, you are so right. I don’t think I’ve really given it much of a chance.” Grayson replied with a quickness. I watched closely as Dante did his best to mask a laugh threatening to burst through. The rest of the gang just cracked a smile because by now, we were all used to Grayson’s sudden backtracks when it involved Chris.

Chris was a smart girl and I’m positive she must have known Grayson had a thing for her, but I think she was waiting for him to advance things.

Grayson barely had the courage to form coherent sentences around her.

“Well I’m glad to hear today went alright. I’m sure it’s crunch time right now with the first tournament coming up and everything.” Aiden chimed in as he downed his shot. Grayson and Kas were next. I noticed even Dante had taken a shot. The liquor went down his throat a lot less smoothly than it did with the others.

Drinking definitely wasn’t his thing.

I only took a few shots that night before Dante and I decided to leave the true alcoholics to do their thing. I told Grayson that as long as he made it into work the next morning, I really couldn’t care what or how much he drank. He was grateful to hear such kind words leave my mouth.

And I’ll admit, I was being a shit ton more lenient on him tonight. It was mainly due to the fact that I was going to have Dante tomorrow to assist the novices. Since Dante wasn’t fighting, however, the novices would still need someone to spar with. This meant I was still going to end up needing Grayson in the long run.

Dante gathered his things and said a pretty quick goodbye to everyone at the bar, before we started the walk back. He wasn’t necessarily drunk, but I could tell the few drinks were making their way through his system.

“Hopefully today wasn’t too shit for you.” I commented, as Fight Club came into view.

“Not particularly.” Dante shook his head no. “Im just excited to get back to fighting tomorrow. I’ve missed it.” He mumbled that last part a little low, but I still caught his words.

I knew Dante had some sort of love for fighting, that was obvious, but I never really thought he’d openly admit it. Maybe liquor was his truth serum?

As soon as we made it to Fight Club, and entered my upstairs studio, Dante retreated to his semi private bedroom. When he stepped out moments later, he was changed into some shorts and a short sleeve button down shirt. This shirt had a few buttons undone, revealing a bit of Dante’s toned chest.

The heat had settled heavily up here, and between that and the liquor, I could see beads of sweat already forming at the base of his forehead. He looked on curiously as I sat and flipped through the pages of notebooks sprawled out on my coffee table.

I signaled for him to grab a seat besides me. “These are the combos I’ve been working on for the tournament. They’re new sets, but I think we could do a better job of tweaking it for each fighter. I was hoping you could take a look at this, and change things to better suit the team?” I handed Dante one of the books.

His fingers gently flipped through the pages. When he brought the notebook further to him, I watched as a bead of sweat broke away from the base of his forehead, and traveled further down the side of his face towards his neck. It captivated me for a moment, distracting me from the questions I had meant to ask tonight.

I quickly forced myself out of that trance.

“Did you ever fight competitively?” I asked him.

Dante glanced up from the notebook, to acknowledge my question. I truly couldn’t tell what he was thinking anymore.

After some time, he gave me a nod. “For a while, yes.”

Those words hadn’t surprised me, but his honesty had. For a moment there, it looked like a lie may have been on the tip of his tongue.

I took a deep breath before continuing.

“What made you quit?”

There was another elongated pause that only heightened the suspense, before he finally spoke.

“There was a lot that happened in Texas. A lot I’m still processing myself, I guess you could say…” he trailed off for a moment, to brush some of the sweat away. My eyes inadvertently cast down to his chest. It was glistened with a few droplets of sweat that had descended from the base of his neck.

It made his skin look even softer to touch.

“It was a string of terrible decisions. I guess everyone can chalk a lot of their pain to a horrendous previous relationship, but I really knew how to pick em. He was subsequently the reason for me leaving fighting and leaving Texas.”

I hung onto and replayed every word that fell past Dante’s lips… But there was a particular word that immediately caught my attention.

Had Dante said He?

••

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21

Dante

I woke up the next morning feeling absolutely rejuvenated. The sleep from the night before had made this night two on a bed again.

The smell of something greasy immediately intoxicated my senses. Was that bacon? I thought to myself. My eyes flew open.

There was a thick cloud of smoke that floated through the air, carrying that glorious scent with it. I searched for some shorts underneath the duvet on the bed after I realized I was still pantsless (I must have pulled them off at night from the heat). Once I was able to find those, and my shirt, I went out to take a look.

Sammy was standing in the kitchen in some gym shorts and a gym shirt, making what looked like breakfast. Judging by his poor attempt at dinner, I was immediately alarmed.

“Ahh is everything okay?” I asked him. He glanced over, and gave me a grin.

“Good morning. Yeah I thought I’d start in on some breakfast for your first official day at the gym.”

I smiled nervously back, then glanced at the sizzling bacon.

“Oh that’s sweet. I thought you may have mentioned that, ya know, cooking isn’t something you really do all that often…” I tried to word my concern as best as I possibly could.

Sammy chuckled. “Oh yeah, I can’t do dinner and all that,but breakfast foods are simple perfection. So if you’re good with breakfast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner- I’m your guy.” He pulled out two plates for us, and set them down on the counter. “The most pressing question this morning is: how do you like your eggs?”

I think it was pretty accurate to say that I now liked my eggs the same way I would like more than half of Sammy’s novice fighters… beaten and scrambled.

I have never, and I meant never , met a group of people with such damning cases of ADHD.

The day had started out fairly simple with easy exercises and basic skill work. When we got to combos, that’s when I started to see lack of direction.

“You don’t want to lock up that leg, Brian.” I told one of the novices. You gotta be light on it.“ Brian gave me disheartening sigh but tried again. Once again, Brian didn’t drive it forward and the punch fell short.

“How’s it going?” Sammy asked, making me jump slightly. I hadn’t even noticed he had creeped up besides me.

“Where exactly did you find this group?” I whispered to him.

“Well, this year we needed to take on new fighters who fit the less advanced bracket, that could also pay… so most of the guys we either picked up from the local street basketball game, or from a preppy academy- they could afford a year of classes in advance. Now that all my old novices are veterans, there isn’t many experienced fighters left in the novice division.” Sammy explained.

I glanced at him.

Then back at the fighters.

Well, that would explain a lot.

“I’m guessing Brian is one of the street b-ball guys, and that Kyle kid over there definitely has some prep to him.” Sammy nodded at my words.

“Sometimes you gotta level with these guys. They’ve got some fighting experience but not a whole lot. Most of them aren’t used to anyone barking orders their way. I’d argue some of them may get off on it.”

My eyebrows raised at that statement.

Okay… I thought to myself. We just needed a different approach

then?

“Brian!” I called out to the kid who was struggle to land a 6-5-2-1p. “You hoop right?” I asked him.

Brian turned to me with that same hopeless expression on his face, and gave me a nod.

“Think of the stance your knees are in just before you’re about to attempt a three pointer. Don’t drop them as low, but open up that power reserve in your legs when you throw that right cross. Push forward like you’d push the ball up.” I explained.

Brian paused a moment to take in my direction, then he did what I instructed. The right cross wasn’t perfect in the combo, but it was a hell of a lot better than whatever he was trying to throw earlier.

“Well done.” Sammy smiled in my direction.

“Thank you.” I replied sheepishly.

He gave me a nod before wandering off to start in on sparring with his veterans. I went back to work.

Brian showed improvement by the end of the day, but the one guy I kept butting heads with was Kyle. The entire time I was trying to have him work on a 4b-6-3-2. 4 was a right hook and 4b meant that first move was a right hook to the body. Kyle was having the most difficult time alternating from the right hook to 6, which was a right uppercut.

When I tried explaining to him that his positioning was off, the fucking brat wanted to give me attitude.

“Why don’t you just jump in here and show me? Are you too much of a pussy to fight me?” He spat my way. I ignored it, explaining the combo for the ten thousandth time to him. He didn’t even have the time to try it again because Sammy had called it a night at around eight that evening.

I waited until all the boxers had cleared out of the gym before I dashed to the locker rooms to take a shower. Sammy and Grayson were the only two souls still out there sparring with each other. I hadn’t thrown a single punch today, but I was fucking exhausted… I had no idea how these two still had a shred of energy left to fight.

I showered quickly in hopes I would get to see Sammy and Grayson go at it, but by the time I emerged from the locker rooms, they were just about done.

“I’m gunna head to Tidal Wave, and see how Kas is hanging in there. You know how Tuesday’s can be.” Grayson spoke, as he finished packing his gym bag.

“We’re all grown adults here, Grayson. You can be honest about who you’re really going to check up on.” Sammy wiggled his eyebrows.

And he wasn’t wrong. It was clear as day how this man felt about Chris. It was also clear as day how she felt about him. What was the clearest, however, was Grayson’s lack of confidence around her.

I was still trying to wrap my head around it because Grayson looked just as much like a god as Sammy did. I wasn’t sure where all that lack of confidence even came from.

“Have a great night Dante! Great job today!” Grayson called on his way out.

Sammy

“Thank you! Take care!” I heard Dante reply with right before the front door slammed shut. He started to help me roll up the additional mats.

“Oh you really don’t have to.” I told him, but he just shook his head.

“I work here too now, remember?” He teased.

I stole occasional glances his way while he stood the mats up. There was something different about him today. Maybe it was being in the gym? I knew for me personally, this place- boxing, it always brightened up my shittiest of moods… maybe that was the same for Dante?

His muscles flexed beneath his shirt as he lifted the heavy punching bags off their chains. I watched that same shirt ride up a bit when he rubbed it against the leather bag. It showcased the inkling of a very well defined stomach.

My eyes hovered there heavily against my will, observing as the piece of fabric fell over to conceal what it had revealed moments earlier.

I forced myself to look away, but I couldn’t get that image of Dante’s perfect skin out of my memory- regardless of how hard I tried.

••

22

Well hello there lovelies!

How are we liking the updates? I promise I’ll get to comments tonight but thank you so so much for sticking with the story!

Love you tons

Xoxo

Dante

Wednesday went by slower than molasses.

It was so slow at Tidal Wave, Kas and I spent pretty much the whole shift compiling a huge list of great trivia questions. I barely even saw Howard at all that day. He came in during the morning hours, but when I went to hand him an updated inventory list around noon, he was nowhere to be seen.

“Did he step out or something?” I asked Kas. She shook her head no.

“He went home. If we don’t get a customer by ten in the morning, he deems the day as “slow” and takes off.“

I looked at her confused. “That… that doesn’t really…”

“Make much sense?” She offered. “Yeah, we know. He closes for Holidays and gives us sick time though, so there isn’t much we complain about around here. That, and this dumbass was guaranteed to do nothing anyways so I see no problem with him doing nothing at home.”

I gave Kas a nod, because realistically, I saw no lie.

And the rest of the day continued as such.

I didn’t think it dawned on me until now… but between working at Tidal Wave and working at Fight Club, I barely saw Sammy even though I was staying with him.

He had come to Tidal Wave Wednesday night so we got to walk back together, but most of our conversation revolved around boxing. By the time we made it back to Fight Club, I was exhausted from my early morning, and Sammy was exhausted from his work day. We both ended up knocking out as soon as we finished creating a new combo set for Brian.

When Thursday came around, I was positive I had made a mistake taking on all three jobs at the same time. Tired didn’t begin to cover what I felt when I sat up in bed that morning.

Call me crazy… but besides the sleep deprivation, I woke up with something else feeling completelyoff.

I knew I had felt this feeling before, yet I couldn’t pinpoint where or when.

From the sounds of the music, I thought Sammy must have woken up early to workout. My eyes glance down to check the time on my flip phone, and I damn near almost fell off the bed.

It was almost nine thirty.

“Shit shit shit shit shit,” I mumbled to myself, barely managing to get some workout shorts and a sweatshirt on before flying down the stairs. Sure enough, Grayson and Sammy were already up and working. Grayson was with the novices while Sammy started warm up with the veterans.

“I’m so sorry!” I rushed out to Grayson as soon as his eyes caught mine.

“No biggie at all.” He shook his head. “We were just in warm up right now. Sammy mentioned you might start a little late this morning. You can get started on the workouts if you’d like. Sammy was planning on hitting them hard with an ab day today. They were little shits yesterday.” He handed me the chart of exercises.

Sammy must have let me sleep in , I thought to myself. When my eyes analyzed the chart, I immediately grimaced.

These exercises were fucking brutal .

If the novices didn’t hate me already, they were definitely going to now.

“Okay…” I spoke hesitantly to the group of exhausted and completely uninterested young adults. Sure most of these kids were only a few years younger than me, but their lack of discipline reminded me of a toddler.

“Kyle, it’s a right uppercut, not a left hook. 3-3-4-6b. That’s left hook, left hook, right hook, right uppercut to the body.” I called to this fucking hothead that was almost purposefully messing up the combo again.

He wasn’t even following my directions, he was literally just hitting the bag anyway he seemed fit. As soon as he finally got the combo down, he had already wasted the power he had earlier because of his senseless hits.

Irritated as all hell, I grabbed the pads and signaled for Kyle to come closer. The night was almost over now and I’d be damned if Kyle didn’t nail this fucking combo. “I thought you said you weren’t fighting?” He asked me in this snarky brat like voice, as I slid the strap of the pad onto my hands.

“I’m not.” I stated simply, working hard on not having this kids taunting get to me. “I’m just holding up these pads for you to punch. I want to feel how hard you’re hitting each point.” I explained. Kyle was tired but I knew he still had a reserve of energy he was just refusing to use.

The directions to this combo had come out of my mouth so many times for the last forty five minutes, I’d reckon I could do it in my sleep. I held up the first pad at its intended target, and watched as Kyle went through the combo.

His hits felt like a fucking love tap against me. “Again.” I instructed, watching as he rolled his eyes my way before trying it. These hits were harder, but still not there. I could tell his anger was starting to get the best of him, as his hits became more powerful but less on target.

There was a loud smack, and I glanced over in the direction of Sammy. He was sparring with a veteran I recognized as Vinny.

Vinny was a huge fella, even taller than Sammy. I could already tell that what Vinny lacked in speed, he made up for in strength. Sammy tried to block an uppercut, but Vinny had hit it with so much force, it sent Sammy stumbling back against the ring.

I was so distracted by what had just happened, I didn’t see Kyle’s fist completely miss the pad on his left hook. Instead, he got me with it right on my cheekbone.

The punch was strong. So much so, that I also staggered back. Luckily my feet caught themselves before I could trip over the raised mat behind us. My hand went up to the side of my cheek to assess the damage as I felt a now stinging sensation against my skin. Before I could even process what to do next, Kyle was up against the nearest wall with Sammy’s hand at his neck.

“What the hell happened?” He bellowed into Kyle’s face. Kyle had since lost whatever cocky attitude he had had with me, and it was now replaced with fear.

“Sammy, it really wasn’t that bad.” I tried to insist, but my words had fallen against deaf ears.

“Everybody get the hell out of my gym!” He snapped at both the veterans and the novices. “I expect to see you all here bright and early ready to fucking train. If you want to come with some bullshit ass attitude like Kyle over here, save it and your fucking money. You will no longer fight for this team.”

No one said anything as everyone shifted on the balls of their feet. Most of the novices looked like they weren’t sure whether to bolt to the locker rooms, or stay put. The veterans didn’t even flinch, so I’m guessing the novices were just following in their footsteps.

“And you,” Sammy added, zeroing in on Kyle. “I’m at wits fucking end with you. Any other guy here would be off this team for the bullshit you’ve pulled. Just because daddy and mommy can afford to send your ass here and pay up front, doesn’t mean either of you or your money can buy disrespect.”

I honestly thought Kyle might have shit his pants by now, when Sammy released his hold on him.

The novices were the first to scatter as they grabbed their gym bags from the lockers and left. The veterans seemed more pissed really, off than scared. Their anger wasn’t directed at Sammy, but rather the novices. These guys looked like they really wanted to be here- like they made a lot of sacrifices to be here.

I could understand their frustrations.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Grayson sighed, pulling Sammy in for some sort of handshake before he ushered the last of the fighters out. Sammy didn’t say anything as he left to head to the back room. When he returned, he had a familiar first aid in hand.

“It really wasn’t anything serious.” I told him nervously, but Sammy in return signaled for me to take a seat at the edge of the ring mat. The first aid box was set down right besides me.

“My men don’t play dirty like that. They don’t intentionally hurt each other.” He said simply through gritted teeth. “That’s not the type of gym I run.”

I glanced up at him as he started to unpack the first aid contents. The way he had said those words made me feel…

A lot.

A lot of everything really.

I couldn’t tell if I was going to cry, or do something equally as batshit… like kiss him.

I was used to my father throwing hits my way if I got distracted while sparring. I was just lucky when it was with his gloves on. I was used to the man I loved pummeling me into a corner whenever he went off the deep end with him mental health.

I had normalized abuse my entire waste of a life.

That was the whole reason I ran away. To get away from the shit people and shittier excuses I had given all these years.

Who would have thought I’d find someone to hold me to these new found set of standards here, in a fucking gym called Fight Club.

I glanced up at Sammy as he leant in close to take a look at the bruise. He was, dare I say, even closer than when he had taken a look at my busted nose. His eyes were focused so intently on the cut right above my cheek, it allowed for me to get a good look at him.

The most perfect eyes, I thought to myself.

“You really gotta protect this face better. It’s too pretty to be getting knocked around like this.” Sammy murmured to himself.

I felt my entire body grow hot instantly as my tiny brain attempted to comprehend what Sammy had just said.

It was almost as if Sammy hadn’t registered those words either until moments after.

Once he realized what he had said, I saw his fingers freeze in the middle of placing ointment on the cut.

“I-” he started to say something when his eyes diverted away from my cheek, and caught mine.

It felt like a surge of energy flowing through my body whenever he looked at me, but this was different… then when his gaze fell to my lips, I lost the ability to breathe completely.

He was close…

So close… I couldn’t tell who leant in to close the distance.

••

23

Hello there lovelies! How are we liking the book thus far? I promise more uploads are on the way, I just had a bit of a busy work week.

Thank you, as always, so much for reading!

You guys are amazing<3

Xoxo

Sammy

“You really gotta protect this face better. It’s too pretty to be getting knocked around like this.”

As soon as those words left my lips, that was when I fully realized what the fuck I had just said. Did I just call Dante… pretty? Like those words had literally just come out of my mouth?

I felt a knot grow in my stomach when Dante looked at me. His large brown doe-like eyes had a darkly curious look to them as they caught mine, and it caused the hairs on my arms stand up. Maybe it was the evening lighting from the gym that had made him look this enticing.

That could have been it, right?

“I-” I started to whisper…

… but that was when my eyes betrayed me, and I glanced down at his lips.

They were full, slightly puffy almost. He had the tendency to curl his lower lip in on itself and grind his teeth against it, when he was watching one of the fighters intensely. Something drew me towards those lips, but I couldn’t tell for sure.

I wasn’t sure of a lot of thing about this moment, like if I was the one that had leant forward…

But seconds later, those same soft lips were against my own.

His lips felt warm as they parted slightly, and for a moment I wasn’t sure what to do. I felt my body tense up when his breath fanned my upper lip… it had made a shiver run through me.

That’s when Dante pulled away.

My dumbass didn’t notice I still had my eyes wide open like I had seen a ghost or something. When Dante looked at me, instant heart wrenching pain flashed across Dante’s face. He quickly pushed himself off the ring mat and backed away.

“I-I’m sorry I shouldn’t have…” he mumbled to me, before he did something else I wasn’t expecting.

He turned around and took off.

I stood there, staring at the front door as it slammed shut behind him. I wasn’t sure of what had just happened- one minute I was kissing Dante… right?

My thoughts slowed.

…I hadn’t been kissing Dante. I hadn’t reacted at all.

It took my body a second to register what just happened, but when it did, I pulled myself together and ran upstairs to get the building keys.

God, I was a fucking idiot.

Dante

God, I was a fucking idiot.

Dante, what the fuck it wrong with you?! I chastised myself heavily, as my legs took me in a direction I had never gone before.

I really did that.

I really just fucking did that.

I mind replayed the horrendous scene that just unfolded moments ago. I couldn’t get the look Sammy had on his face, out of my memory. That pure shock. God, I read that entire scenario completely wrong.

My heart was hammering even harder against my chest as I picked up the pace. Tidal Wave and Fight Club were now nowhere to be seen. Instead, it looked like I had entered a completely different neighborhood- this one having a lot more graffiti… and barred windows. There was a park up a few hundred feet that I thought looked good to rest at. It was completely deserted, and seemed to be a little unkept.

I took a seat on one of the rusted swings to gather myself and as hard as I tried to block it out, the image of Sammy’s face flashed through my mind again.

“Dante, you’ve really managed to fuck this one up.” I whispered. How could I have thought he was going to kiss me? Of course he wasn’t going to kiss me. “You idiot .” I whined.

What was I even supposed to do now?

He probably didn’t want me working for him anymore.

He definitely wouldn’t want me staying with him.

My clammy hands slid into the sweatshirt pockets of the hoodie, and I pulled out a key card. It had the Fight Club logo in the front. Did I put this in here? I thought to myself.

Just as I was glancing over the card, that same weird feeling from this morning came over me again. A sudden crack of thunder rang through the sky, confirming what that feeling was.

“It’s going to storm.” I whispered, as I glanced around my completely unfamiliar surroundings.

Well….

This wasn’t good.

There was another crack of thunder, before I felt the first drop hit the side of my bruised cheek.

Then another.

Then another.

My arm reached back to flip my hood up, but that wouldn’t prove to be of much help considering the sweatshirt was cotton. I could already feel the material growing damp as I tried to start jogging back.

My thoughts had consumed me so terribly, I couldn’t even remember the direction I had come in. The evening was growing darker, making things in this unfamiliar neighborhood give off a more sinister tone.

Had I gone down this street? I wondered to myself…

My legs slowed when I noticed something move up ahead.

There was a group of people, what looked to be maybe three men, walking down the street up ahead. They were too far away to make out distinct features, but two out of three of the men definitely had the bottom half of their faces covered. Everything about them made me on high alert.

“This can’t seriously be fucking happening to me right now.” I whispered in between pants of my labored breathing.

They were drawing closer to me, and I wouldn’t have much more time to react. I did the only thing I could think of. I crossed the street.

Everything inside me was hoping the men were just strolling through, but when the first guy followed in suit after me, I knew that wasn’t the case. The men’s pace went from a stroll to a brisk walk as they drew near. I wasn’t sure whether to turn and go back, or try to lose them.

I noticed a street coming up a few feet away. I obviously had no idea where this street was going to lead me, but I decided I would turn left on it then take off running.

Hopefully that would be enough to lose them.

As soon as I rounded that corner and started to take off, my body slowed to a stop almost seconds later.

“Shit.” I whispered.

This was a dead end.

I heard footsteps behind me, before someone called out through the settling rain.

“Are you lost, kid?”

••

24

Dante

As I turned around, I quickly came face to face with the men that had now cornered me into this alleyway. It was still hard to make out any features, even with them standing much closer now. Rain was pouring hard all around us.

The three men had their hoods pulled up, but only two wore the black face masks. The third one without the mask, was the one to speak. It was the same voice from moments ago.

“It’s getting a little late to be walking around this area.”

His voice wasn’t what I was expecting at all. It was a higher octave, and for his build, I guess I expected something a little tougher. Two out of the three men were quite large actually. The rain had made their soaked black hoodies mold to their figures, which showcased some well developed muscles. There was a third man a little shorter than the rest

I thought quickly of something to say.

“I was just jogging through, and I lost track of time. I’m not from around here.” Those words had sounded fantastic in my head, but saying them out loud made me realize I had just put a target on myself.

The man without the face mask grinned. When he did, his hoodie slipped back a little to reveal more of his features. It was too dark to see his exact eye color, but from the little amount of light the street lamp was giving, I noticed a scar next to his left eye.

“Oh, we can tell.” He replied. They all took another step towards me. “We’ll just need to take our cut here, then I think we can let it pass.”

My mind was racing a mile a minute, planning every escape route possible. So far I had come up with absolutely nothing. These guys wanted money, but I didn’t have any. I didn’t even have my wallet. I had left everything back at Sammy’s place above Fight Club.

“I don’t have anything on me.” I said honestly.

The man’s smile only grew at my words. It looks like I had given him an even better answer than he had hoped for.

“Then you wouldn’t mind if I double checked.” He replied. I watched as he, alone, advanced me.

Okay , I thought to myself. We clearly weren’t getting out of this without fighting.

The man didn’t waste any time as he lunged forward to throw his first punch. It was a fast one. I just barely dodged it before breaking away. This guy was good, but there were some flaws with his fighting style. That didn’t negate from the fact that I wasn’t leaving here without at least a few broken bones. There were just too many of them.

When he charged at me again, I did my best to block his hit, but he landed a combo uppercut to my ribcage. That one fucking hurt. Before he could get another hit in, I was swift with a right hook that knocked him back.

If I wanted to make it out of this tonight, I couldn’t waste any time. As he stumbled back, I saw an opening and took it. I delivered a jab cross-lead hook- rear uppercut which threw his large frame backwards towards the ground.

I hadn’t done a knockout combo on someone in years, and I half expected him to get up… but his body continued to lay lifelessly on the gravel. I glanced up at the other two men now. I couldn’t see their expressions because of their masks, but the smaller guy seemed incredibly pissed. I thought he was going to lunge at me. Before he could, the larger guy stopped him.

I saw the bigger man shove his large hands deep into his soaked pants, before he pulled out something. My eyes caught a glimmer of metal, and that was when dread washed over me.

I had official brought fists to a knife fight.

He all but charged at me. I was quick to dodge him, but it was the swipe of the knife that almost got my abdomen.

“You’re quick.” He called out through the rain. My body had stumbled back slightly from that hard ass uppercut I had taken from the last guy. I was already exhausted from the work day, then that run I had taken out of nowhere.

My stamina was starting to run low.

“But not quick enough.” He lunged at me again. This time I used my left hand to block the hand that was wielding the knife. Then I landed one sufficient jab-right cross. That made him stumble back, but not by much.

I shifted our stance again, so the entrance to the street was on my right side. The thought of just taking off crossed my mind, but there was that last man who was standing in between me and the main road.

I almost didn’t snap back to reality in time before the man lunged once again. The knife was my only objective at this point. My hand gripped onto his wrist and snapped back, making him successfully drop the blade, before I gave him one more swift jab.

My concentration was immediately broken when I heard my name echoed against the building walls of the alley.

“Dante!” Sammy’s voice cut through the rain.

My head lifted to find one very out of breath Sammy at the street corner to my right. His hoodie was pulled down to reveal his face and completely soaked hair. I thought I may have been hearing or seeing things as Sammy started to get closer. Before he could reach me, the smaller man stepped in between us.

“Who the fuck are you?” He asked Sammy.

“Take your friends and get the hell out of here.” Sammy replied with. His voice was the most deep and frightening thing I had heard in a very long time. It sounded so unlike the Sammy I knew, I almost thought it may have been someone else.

I heard the smaller man scoff, but he took the smallest step back. I started to make my way towards Sammy, and for a moment his eyes glanced past the smaller man to catch mine. It looked like a thousand emotions flashed across his face before i hard Sammy yell out “Behind you!”

It took me too long to register what he meant, and by the time I was able to turn around, I caught the reflection of the knife before it cut my arm.

My body sprung back, creating the largest distance possible between me and him.

“Shit!” I hissed to myself. As soon as my hand touched the wound right below my shoulder, instant pain shot through me.

The man I had thought was down, slowly starting to pull himself up. I could see the water turn red as it ran down my sleeve before splashing on the broken pavement. The man lunged at me once more, but it was clear his injuries had been major. It took almost nothing for me to dodge his first punch, and knock him out with my good arm. He fell straight back onto the ground.

As my eyes glanced up to Sammy, I realized he was already fighting the smaller man. Sammy cornered him up against one of the building walls, but when he swung, the man managed to dodge it very last minute.

Jesus, he was quick . If I’d a blinked I would have missed it.

As soon as Sammy’s hand connected with that brick, I heard his yell tear through the thunderous noise of the rain. My body started to spring into action, but it took no time for me to quickly realize that Sammy didn’t even need me. His good hand grabbed the small man’s hood before he could escape Sammy, and Sammy smashed the guys face into the brick wall.

Hard .

I stood there, completely frozen in mid stride.

The small man fell to the ground lifelessly.

Before I even had the chance to react to what I had just seen, Sammy’s hand suddenly appeared in mine and he was telling me to run.

••

25

Sammy

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/174ae053784c7c7e63670799065e4b9a4331c941/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f597148432d746d46534e4d5933513d3d2d3932333637383535342e313632343635306636303237306262633139383134393731373033312e706e67)               

By the time we made it back to fight club, Dante and I were so completely worn out, we basically collapsed on the floor of the gym mats. He and I were one hundred percent soaked from the rain that was pouring ferociously outside. You could hear it coming down on the pavement. I couldn’t tell what time it was, or how much time had passed for that matter.

As soon as I had remembered the key card I had slipped into Dante’s hoodie this morning, I didn’t wait to turn on the gps tracking app and take off through the drizzling rain in the direction it was telling me to go. It took me longer than I thought to catch up to Dante. I had no idea he could run that fast.

From the way Dante was gripping his body now, I knew he had been injured during that time. When I had finally caught up to him in that alley, he looked exasperated. There was now bloody water starting to pool onto the gym mat from his left arm’s sleeve.

“Come on.” I gestured to him. “I need to take a look at you before anything gets worse.”

Dante was hesitant and clearly avoiding my gaze. He didn’t take my hand, but instead lifted himself up. I noticed his body tense with pain when he put too much weight on his injured arm.

“I-It’s okay, I can handle it.” His voice came out unevenly.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I have a first aid kit upstairs.” I all but snapped at him. “Let’s go.” It was making me more and more unsettled seeing him in pain like this.

Dante and I made our way up to my flat. It felt like a mission and half considering just how unwilling both our legs were to move. I pointed to the edge of my couch, and told him to take a seat on the armrest. He slowly lowered himself, mindful of his side which also looked injured.

“I’ll be fine, honestly.” He tried in a last ditch effort to get me to leave it alone, but I shook my head at him.

“Will you pull your hoodie off?” I asked him. There was that hesitant look in his eyes as he continued to avoid my gaze, but his fingers eventually curled around the hem of the soaked sweater, and he began the tiresome process of peeling the fabric away from his body.

He looked a little confused as to where to set the dripping bundle, but I just had him hand it to me. When I reached into the pocket, sure enough, one of the key cards was still there.

“What is that?” Dante asked curiously.

“It’s an access key for some lockers around here. Grayson kept losing his to the point where I had the company install a GPS tracker into them. I didn’t wear anything with pockets today so I put it in your hoodie when I went to go pick up some materials for the roof.” I explained to him.

If it wasn’t for that small mindless act, I didn’t even want to think about what would have happened to Dante.

He looked so deep in thought, I couldn’t help but assume that he was thinking about that right now.

“I’m so sorry.” He told me quietly. “I’m so sorry about taking off, and your hand-” Dante gestured to my right hand that was still bruised and bloody from punching the brick wall. It must have been the adrenaline or something, but it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it looked. “This is all my fault, and I-”

“No.” I shook my head sternly. “No apologies. You have nothing to apologize for. Let me take a look at that arm.”

I pulled the first aid kit out, and took a seat next to Dante. I sat on the second couch’s arm rest adjacent to where he sat on the first. He was wearing just a plain white shirt now, but the rain had made it almost completely see through. His left short sleeve was red from blood. Right below the hem of the sleeve, there was a pretty deep slash from where the knife had cut into him.

I tried to act as unexpressive as possible because I didn’t want to alarm Dante, but this one was going to take some time to heal. Disinfectant was the first thing I pulled out, as I leant closer to this man in front of me.

Dante was staring straight ahead, almost like a soldier. It was only when the gauze touched near the cut, did he start to squirm a bit from the pain.

“Keep still.” I instructed him lightly. His body stilled like a fucking pole. I didn’t realize why he had gotten so rigid, until I glanced in the direction his eyes were fixated on. I had set my hand down on his thigh.

My hand pulled back as soon as I noticed it, but instead of bringing it to my side, I set it gently on his shoulder to shift him towards me a bit. Luckily the blood had started to clot.

I used the dry gauze to gently pay dry before repeating the disinfecting process once more. Dante’s arm muscles would spasm every so often, distracting the shit out of me. It was like a rippling affect from his shoulder down to his wrist.

It made my hands want to touch. To wander.

Instead, I allowed my eyes to.

From where my left hand held his right shoulder, I started to follow the protrusion of his collarbone towards the base of his neck. Water droplets ran down from his curly brown hair, to join at the hem of the wet shirt collar.  I hadn’t noticed my left hand had started to move until Dante took a sharp breath.

When my fingers grazed over his collar bone, I felt him shiver against me.

“S-Sammy.” Dante forced out hoarsely.

The way he had said my name, made my bruised fingers loosen their grip on the rolled up gauze. I let it fall into the couch somewhere.

The hand that was exploring, slowly slid its way up from Dante’s neck, into his hair. His eye lids dropped slightly as he leant back against my touch. That was when he finally cast a gaze in my direction.

Those large brown eyes half closed like that as I massaged the tenderness of his nape…

I couldn’t stop myself.

Some would argue I didn’t try to , as I leant in further and kissed him.

This time, I didn’t act like a complete fucking idiot.

This time, I closed my eyes and actually fucking kissed him.

When I felt his lips against mine for the second time today, this experience was different. Dante’s lips were dare I say softer than I remembered, but cold. When his lips touched mine, it felt like a cool can of soda against me.

I couldn’t remember doing it to save my life, but judging by the crash I heard somewhere behind me, I must have knocked the entire first aid off the couch.

It was hard to give much of a fuck, though. Especially when Dante started to lean back onto the couch. I made sure to lay him back on the cushions gently, while still maintaining those soft lips against me. I took the kiss as slow as I could possibly take it, but when Dante’s tongue slid out against my bottom lip to ask for entrance, I threw all caution to the wind.

His tongue slowly pushed past my lips, allowing me to taste him. He tasted like a lemonhead.

Kassie had brought us a few sweets with our lunch, but I told her none of us could eat any of that during training. Dante must have slipped a piece of candy out of the bag before Kassie took it back with her.

As his hand reached up to caress my neck and his lips moved against me, I starting to grow a little weak. My left hand shifted to his side, but Dante must have moved at the same time, because I felt his body tensed up again.

One minute, I had Dante underneath me, with his soaked body flush against my own.

The next, I was on the floor with a gash on my head from the coffee table that failed to cushion my fall.

••

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/1bdc5b32ebfd7d9d447e3320e466ba4d41a4779e/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f537a6746384134635676396736413d3d2d3932333637383535342e313632343636666562613964356462363635393431383136383138302e706e67)               

26

Happy Friday lovelies!!

Thank you so much for the continuous support on this book.

Love y’all so much<3

Xoxo

Dante

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/22c409b650f762e3db8add07b975f4cec23dcf20/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f68383371375f3576387a5a6659513d3d2d3932363437313935362e313632366636613735656532666161343438313838313435363534352e706e67)

My heart was pounding hard against my chest as I looked over in complete mortification at Sammy. I had unintentionally thrown him off of me.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” I rushed out, offering a hand to help him up. Sammy’s face was the most red I had ever seen it. “I didn’t mean to, I-” I stuttered out.

“It’s okay.” He replied, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

The look in his eyes cut straight through me. It felt like the same rejection I had felt earlier, when I thought I messed up drastically by kissing him. His intensity, gaze, and visible pain made it impossible for me to filter my words. “It really isn’t that. I… I- um, I enjoyed that.”

That part came out a little choppy.

“I just don’t think… with the way our personal and professional lives are entangled-”

That initial response retracted itself, and instead, Sammy’s eyes softened.

“I just think it would be best if we kept it professional.” I finished finally.

While I wanted nothing more than to continue kissing this gorgeous man, my thoughts had raced back to mere moments ago. I relived that dread which initially washed over me when I had thought about losing everything I just gained in such a short period of time.

I couldn’t afford to fuck up my bartending job or lose out on that extra cash for fixing the roof. Pursuing anything with Sammy could lead to that, and right now, I needed to focus on myself.

“I understand.” Sammy nodded. “For now, lets get cleaned up and in bed. It’s been one hell of a day and you still have work tomorrow morning.” He reminded me. I physically felt the last of my energy leaving me as the thought of work crossed my mind. “I’m going to take a quick shower, but just set your soaked clothes in that hamper there and I’ll take care of them.”

I glanced over in the direction Sammy jerked his head, and saw a large basket that already had some clothes piled up.

“Thank you.” I gave him a nod and a slight smile.

“Not a problem.” He returned the smile, before disappearing down the narrow staircase.

Thus I began the tedious process of separating these soaking wet clothes from my body.

Sammy

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/15ff20531fc5258daa1b10e1bd9b91c450ebcade/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f414e3367494b3943484c5a4a31773d3d2d3932363437313935362e3136323666366133656238643135376532303838323330333037372e706e67)

As soon as my muscles were given the opportunity to relax into the comfort of mattress, I almost let out a satisfied moan.

It was well past midnight by now and Dante was fast asleep. I remained awake to jot down some last minute thoughts that came to mind before sleep found me. Combos were usually the easiest to churn out this time at night… but my mind was distracted.

Every time I traveled back to the thought of that kiss, I felt my lips tingle. It was almost as if I could still feel him against me. I was fighting hard to get my thoughts back on track, but my growing arousal made it impossible.

I understood why Dante had stopped, and I respected his decision of us keeping a comfortable distance, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to feel that again. Dante’s words continued to spin through me, cutting away at my own desires. If this was what Dante wanted, then I was going to need to respect it.

I could hear the springs of the mattress every so often when Dante shifted in bed, but it was a noise I was starting to grow accustomed to. At times, he would stir in his sleep for a few moments, before peace found him again. There wasn’t much of a way to tell whether he was just repositioning himself, or having a nightmare…

But I fell asleep to that sound that night.

Dante had already left for work by the time I made it down to the gym. Friday’s usually called for an earlier start time at Tidal Wave due to shipment and inventory, and it seems as if he was burdened with that shift this morning. The way Dante carried himself made it obvious that he was exhausted, but he did his best to quietly get dressed.

With my eyes still closed, I laid in bed half awake just listening to him move. He didn’t take long to get ready, and before I knew it, he was zipping downstairs with his packed work bag in hand.

By the time I finally found the motivation to get up and start the day, it was closer to eight in the morning. The thing that really got me going, was the sound of Grayson charging up the steps to my flat.

“Why aren’t the mats rolled out yet? And the weights racked? Also why the hell are you in bed still-” Grayson cut himself short when he caught sight of me still tucked under the covers. “What the hell happened to you?” He asked.

I did my best to crawl out of bed. The thought of trying to conceal my injured hand had crossed my mind… but then I though fuck it, Grayson was going to know eventually anyways.

When Grayson’s eyes darted from my head injury, to my hand, that look of concern only intensified. “What the fuck happened?” He demanded. I couldn’t help but flinch at his words.

That was a very loaded question, honestly. I wanted to tell Grayson the truth, but I didn’t think it was my place to put Dante in that position. Grayson and I rarely ever kept secrets, yet this was one I felt wrong to tell. “Dante wound up lost close to Hunts Point. There were some guys who cornered him into an alley. We took care of it, but I fucked up my hand.” I explained.

The look on Grayson’s face said it all. He was beyond the point of confusion.

“Okay so… first of all, how did Dante get all the way over there? And second, what the hell happened to your forehead?”

I started to say something, but stopped myself short. Both of those questions warranted an explanation I wasn’t in the position to give.

“He went out for a run. As for the forehead, I fell off my couch last night.” The fact that that was the best I could come up with, was pitiful.

The look Grayson was giving me said it all. He hadn’t bought any of that, and he knew that I knew that he hadn’t bought any of that… but we had very little time to start the day, and an entire gym to set up. Grayson pushed his skepticism aside, and helped me tackle the morning work.

Dante

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/df1dd9a86e4da551049e0b67242ce631d3ce93c9/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f744c435f385542504965446769673d3d2d3932363437313935362e313632366636613166646563346163343439313031333739303436352e706e67)

I did my best to stay alert while Kassie walked me through restocking. It’s was hard remaining focused, when the thought of the previous night occupied every available space in my discombobulated brain.

Regardless of how many times I had told myself I made the right decision by putting distance between Sammy and I… I couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss.

…Thinking about him.

••

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/4a74013e5fd0f99711526f963a927643473c8633/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f793871646757477647797a6879513d3d2d3932363437313935362e313632366636616433393762653433383739373232373339393133372e706e67)

27

Well hey there lovelies :)

I’ve got a double upload for you because my dumbass literally fell asleep before hitting post.

What a shmood, lol.

Enjoy!

xoxo

Sammy

Friday was going about as well as you would expect.

Which was just shy of a shit show.

With my hand out of commission, I was forced to spar with the novices… something I constantly tried to avoid doing because these young reckless idiots were giving me high blood pressure. The truth of the matter was this: my hand wasn’t good enough to handle sparing with the veteran fighters- especially if I had any hopes of healing it before our first fight night.

Grayson got started on working with the veterans, completing the warm up workout before heading into drills and combos.

I, on the other hand, gripped the hand pad even tighter to stop myself from popping Kyle in his face when he got distracted for the nine thousandth time.

This evening was definitely starting to play games with me. When it finally decided to present itself, I almost couldn’t believe it.

“This has been the longest shortest day to exist.” I sighed to Grayson, as we started to move the equipment back in place.

The guys had long since cleared out by now, all of them eager to enjoy their Friday night. Tomorrow we would have Dante back in the gym, which meant I was going to push everyone harder than I had before. Most men were looking at tonight as the calm before the storm.

“ That I completely second. Sunday couldn’t come soon enough. It felt like we haven’t had an off day in forever.“ Grayson replied.

Technically, I really hadn’t. Sunday’s were just a fancy word for work from home . I still had so much to prepare for, and I wouldn’t have much time to do it on this particular Sunday.

“Do you still plan on going this weekend?” Grayson asked, reading my mind. “You haven’t gone in a few months.”

I gave Grayson a shrug. “I feel like I should.”

He didn’t say anything, but gave me a nod as we finished resetting the gym for tomorrow.

Dante

Friday drained the last few juices of energy I had left in me. By the time I made it back to Fight Club, I barely made it up the stairs to the flat. Sammy and Grayson were, to my surprise, still in the gym moving equipment around. It looks like they were gearing up for some sort of circuit training tomorrow.

They both said a polite hello and gave me a nod. I offered them a weak smile, and a weaker wave before starting my ascent up those treacherous steps. I was happy they didn’t hold me back for any questions. I wasn’t sure my feet could hold me up that long.

Due to how quickly I had left for work this morning, I failed to take a shower. I wasn’t expecting Sammy and Grayson to still be in the Gym area, working. I thought Sammy had already called it a day.

Because of this, my awkward self forced me to stay up here in bed until he finished.

Unfortunately, sleep found me far before that could happen.

When I awoke the next morning, I almost didn’t know where I was for a second.

The uncomfortableness from my arms made me realize I was still wearing my work attire. Wedged deep into one of the trousers front pockets was my phone. I could feel it pressed painfully firmly against my hip bone as I laid on my stomach. My fingers struggled to slip into the pocket, as I flipped myself on my side.

By the time my eyes adjusted to the screen light, the digital clock on the small device’s screen changed to 6:45am.

I had woken up much earlier than expected. When I thought about it, I couldn’t remember even falling asleep.

That recharge was just what I needed, and it gave me the energy to pull myself out of bed pretty quickly. I wanted to get a head start on the day because waking up this early meant I had some time to take a shower. The immediate whiff of spilt liquor and sweat on my clothing almost made me nauseous. I quickly grabbed a towel from my duffel bag, but made sure to remain as quiet as possible.

I wasn’t sure why all my movements sounded so loud on this particular morning.

Sammy was still fast asleep on the other side of the wall. The wall lamp he had on his bedside emitted a low glowing warm light that allowed me to see a part of his face. His hair was down for a change, and gently sprawled against the pillow case. He looked peaceful as he slept… but there was another thing stopping me from walking past.

Part of the comforter was pulled down to his lower abdomen, revealing almost all of his left side. As my eyes trailed across that perfect skin, I damn near had a heart attack. My hands tightened the death hold on this towel when I saw his torso start to move.

That was what pulled me out of that short yet deep trance, and forced my feet to move. If Sammy woke up to me staring at his half naked body like a fucking creepy at the edge of his bed, I would never be able to live with myself.

So I did what I needed to do, which was to get the hell out of that flat.

When I made it down to the gym area, I immediately noticed the new arrangement of equipment. Sammy and Grayson had set up stations across the gym in a rotation and It looked like there were 4 identical stations on both ends of the gym. One must have been for novices, and the other veterans.

I did my best to move carefully considering how little light there was. The locker room lights were fortunately still on, and I had little trouble making it to the showers. There was this weird creepy feeling about being down here in the gym so early in the morning. Luckily the showers were well lit with warm lighting, unlike the fluorescent lights in the gym.

Those gave off horror movie vibes for sure.

I set my towel down on the the counter, and starting to strip off the disgusting work clothes. Thanks to the large mirrors above the counter, the blackened bruise on my rib cage was clear as day. I couldn’t remember whether it looked better or worse the day before, but the pain killers Kassie had given me definitely eased the pain.

As I shifted my body, I saw the bandage on my arm. My fingers latched onto the edge of the wrap, and slowly undid the fabric. Kassie had wrapped it again for me midway through my shift yesterday. She’d really done a lot actually.

I hadn’t meant to tell her at first. I had managed to hold it together for a few hours, but it all fell apart when she placed her hand directly on the area of my cut. I couldn’t hold back the painful groan.

Kassie immediately retracted her arm, and with about two minutes of what I’d argue was CIA Interrogation techniques, I explained to her what had happened.

I didn’t explain to her everything, however. I had just mentioned my dumbass getting lost and Sammy coming to save me. Kassie was pissed I still showed up for work, but I told her I wanted to. Technically , I needed to if I was to survive in this city.

When I caught sight of the cut on my arm, I noticed it didn’t look as bad as the bruise. The pain, however, was a bitch. As soon as those first few droplets of warm water touched the tender area, it sent new waves of pain down my arm.

Today was going to be a challenging day in terms of training.

••

28

Sammy

I woke up a little past 6:30am, or at least that was what my bedside alarm told me.

I had meant to sleep in because of how late Grayson and I worked till, but something else must have woken me up. As my eyes grew adjusted to the darkness, I tried to figure out what disturbed my sleep.

… Maybe I was losing it this morning, but the flat felt warmer than usual. Of course, there was still a hole in the roof, but this heat felt hotter. The A/C generally made it bearable when I kept it on blast.

Did I turn the A/C off? I thought to myself. I didn’t remember doing something like that.

It must have gotten warmer during the nights because somewhere along the way, I even discarded my briefs. When I glanced down, all I could see was my now naked self. The comforter had protected the last of my modesty as it draped over the lower half.

There was a sudden noise that came from behind the partial wall.

I could hear Dante stirring on the bed… but it felt like I could hear it clear as day.

It was almost impossible to tell whether he was just shifting in bed or waking up… but moments later, there was the distinct noise of a flip phone being opened. My eyes drifted close again, as I listened.

He was quick to pull himself out of bed. Hopefully sleep from the previous night had given him some energy. I wasn’t even sure when he had fallen asleep, because by the time I came upstairs, it was past midnight. The only time I had caught a glimpse of him was when he came back from Tidal Wave.

Dante started to move around. I could tell he was trying to be quiet when I heard a zipper slowly open from somewhere behind the wall. His steps were light, but this morning I could hear them perfectly. When he past by my bed, his footsteps came to a stop.

If you asked me what I was doing right now, I wouldn’t really have an explanation for it.

I knew I had the time to pull the covers up, but I didn’t.

Instead, I counted exactly how many seconds Dante stayed at the foot of my bed for.

When my internal voice reached nine Mississippi, that was when a lower abdomen muscle decided to randomly spasm. It must have done something because I heard Dante’s feet shuffle to the stair case just moments later.

Fuck , I thought to myself. The moment had passed far too soon for my liking.

I made it downstairs right at nine. Dante was already down here getting to know the stations Grayson and I had come up with the previous night. It was the sound of Grayson’s voice echoing through the front door, that made me grab my gym bag and head down quickly.

As far as I knew, Grayson hadn’t seen Dante’s injuries. I wanted to be there just in case Grayson’s wrath got the best of him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He spoke almost immediately. “So both of you guys got seriously hurt?”

Dante looked deeply apologetic as he shuffled his weight nervously between his feet.

“It was a wrong place at the wrong time kind of situation. I’m good to handle novices today anyways, and you can stay with the veterans.” I stepped in almost immediately. Seeing Dante this sad made me pissed. All this was my fault anyways.

“No!” Dante rushed out quickly. “I-I mean, I can help train today. The arm looks much worst than it is, I promise.”

Grayson and I glanced down at the bandage Dante had wrapped around the wound.

“If I think you’re pushing it, you’re out for the day no complaints.” I told him seriously. This was the first time Dante had looked me in my eyes all morning. When he did, he gave me a serious nod.

Grayson and I let him get back to reviewing the work, while we made our way to the locker bay.

“Does it… does it feel like it’s getting hot in here or something? I’ve only been here ten minutes and I’ve broken a sweat.” Grayson asked, as he unlocked the boxing gloves from one of our cabinets.

I gave him a nod. “It’s like that upstairs too. The thermometer says the A/C is on but I can’t feel anything.”

“I don’t hear the A/C either. It’s dead silent in here.” Grayson added.

Well that explained why this morning had felt so off. Usually the air vents made this hum that could be heard damn near through every part of the building. Today it was so silent, we could probably hear a pin drop.

“I’m not sure how training is going to go, man. I heard today’s forecast is supposed to be brutal.” Grayson continued. “These men are really going to hate your ass.”

I let out a deep sigh, as my fingers reached for the bridge of my nose.

Shit.

Training was a fucking train wreck.

As soon as the first boxer walked through the gym, all I heard was “it’s hot as balls in here.”

Then, that’s all I heard for the next ten minutes as fighters came in. Grayson did his best to explain that the A/C was out and we were just going to have to tough it out for the day. Though most of them sucked it up and got ready, there were a few (specifically novices) I had to personally tell to shut the fuck up.

Dante stayed with the novices while Grayson took on the veteran rotations. I jumped in to assist both groups when they needed it.

“You know,” Grayson started as he came to join me on one of the side benches. “When you said you were going to help both groups, I really thought you were going to come help both groups. Please explain to me why you’ve been on the novices side for the past two hours.”

I glanced over at Grayson.

“I-” I started, then stopped myself short. “I just want to make sure they’re not giving Dante hell. He’s also injured you know.”

God alone must have saved me from that one… cause Grayson had just interrupted me from staring at Dante… which is exactly what I have been doing for the last two hours.

“Well it looks like Dante’s doing fine from where I’m standing… which, let me remind you, is right next to you.” Grayson replied.

“I mean, I also want to make sure the novices-”

“It practically takes a sacrifice to get you to train the novices. There’s no way you’d choose to sit in voluntarily.” Grayson cut me off. I gave him a sigh of defeat, and allowed for him to drag me back to the veterans side.

My eyes caught sight of Dante from across the gym again. There was sweat literally pouring down his and all the novices faces. As I panned over to the veterans, they weren’t doing any better during this heat. Some of the guys had even dared to take their shirts off.

When my eyes found Dante again for what I promised myself would be the last time, he did something I didn’t expect. Something I couldn’t pull my eyes away from regardless of how badly I knew I should have.

His fingers attached themselves to the hem of his shirt, and he yanked the soaked material clean off.

••

29

Hey there lovelies!

Happy Monday!

I thought a lil upload would be a nice start to the day and the week.

Stay tuned for updates

!(:

Sammy

When Dante’s body came into view, every part of me stilled.

His rich caramel skin was enticed by droplets of sweat that slid down the deeply chiseled muscle. He used his wet shirt to try and wipe himself down. All I could do was linger on every individual movement.

He moved quickly, yet he was careful not to brush too hard against the bruise on his side. It honestly wasn’t looking good, and I was surprised to see Dante training like he barely noticed it. When he brought the shirt back up to his chest, my eyes followed intently until they unexpectedly found his.

He was staring straight at me.

It was Grayson’s hand firmly coming down on my shoulder, which practically pimp smacked me back to reality. “Are you even listening to me, man?” He asked harshly.

I mumbled a half-assed apology, and got back into rotation with the veterans.

Dante

I was now one hundred thousand percent positive Sammy was undressing me with his eyes.

He wasn’t giving much of a fuck to conceal it either.

Throughout the day, I felt his gaze on me as he watched the novices train. My assumptions were that he was going to be rotating between the two ranked groups, but he stayed on the novices side for most of the morning.

He also didn’t do much of anything but stand there and watch.

I, on the other hand, were a few breathes shy of passing the fuck out. It was ungodly hot in here even with the few fans Grayson brought out. Anyone who was doing any sort of exercise, was sweating their balls off. We literally had to wipe down the mats to keep people from slipping on the sweat that dripped onto it.

At midday, I finally caved.

Most of the guys had already made the executive decision to take their shirts off, but I had kept mine on mostly because of the injuries. All any of them could see right now was a bit of my bandaged arm, and I wanted to keep it that way. The bruise on my rib looked much worse than it really was and I didn’t want them to see that… but it was too hot for this shit.

When I finally managed to separate myself from the sweaty disgusting shirt, droplets of sweat slid down my body towards the hem of my shorts. Just the thought of the fact that we had hours left in this sauna of a gym, made me want to cry.

I tried to use the shirt to wipe myself down, doing my best to avoid the bruised tissue on my side. As I moved, there was that feeling again- of someone watching me.

First, I glanced in the direction Sammy was standing at earlier. He wasn’t there anymore.

Then I did a brief scan of the gym.

It looked like Grayson had dragged Sammy back over to the veteran’s fighting area. Sammy was standing next to Grayson, but his gaze was fixated in my direction. I noticed his eyes following the motions my hand was making as it rubbed the shirt against my midsection. When I brought the shirt back up to me, Sammy and I locked eyes.

Even from across the gym, I could feel how different he was looking at me. It made my body sweat more profusely than it already was.

Before either he nor I could do anything, Grayson grabbed his shoulder. It looks like he asked Sammy something, which made Sammy eventually break eye contact to reply. That was when I snapped myself out of whatever trance I was in, and got back to sparring with Kyle. This wasn’t a distraction I needed right now.

But alas, that was just the beginning. Throughout the day, there were countless occasions where I felt his gaze on me. He made it almost impossible to ignore or drown out. This, in return, occasionally drew my attention away from training.

Besides the annoying comments about the horrendous bruise on my rib, the novices weren’t too irritating. I tried hard to push past the pain shooting down my arm, and I did my best to make it a productive day.

Kyle in particular had laid off most of his slick remarks.

I wasn’t sure if Sammy said something to him or what, but the brat was surprisingly tolerable.

There was an instance where he threw a punch, and accidentally got too close to my side. I buckled over momentarily in the excruciating pain, but to my surprise, Kyle was at my side immediately.

“Shit, man. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.” He gave me an apology. It was hard to tell whether or not that was fear I detected in his voice, but I just waved him off.

“That was on me. I should’ve blocked it.” I replied. He lingered a little longer to make sure I was fine, but I just picked myself up and continued on.

I’d dealt with much worse injuries in the past. This particular one wasn’t going to get in the way of training.

When the gym clock struck five, I honestly couldn’t believe it. It felt like the day was almost never going to end.

I noticed Sammy had let a few veteran fighters leave about an hour early. Kyle must have gained some newfound boldness because he marched right up to Sammy to demand why some of the guys got to leave, while the rest of us suffered.

Sammy told him to go mind his own fucking business.

And that was pretty much the end of that conversation.

Kyle was the first one out the door when five rolled around. As soon as the rest of the fighters left, both Sammy, Grayson, and I all released a sigh of relief.

All three of us looked like we just dove head first into a pool. Sammy, who had barely done any sparring, was also drenched in sweat.

“I can’t fight in here like this again.” Grayson mumbled.

“Agreed.” Sammy replied almost immediately. “Any updates on getting someone out to take a look at the A/C?”

Grayson finished pushing some of the weight racks back against the wall before he replied. “They said they can send someone on Monday. Hopefully it’ll be in the morning so the guys aren’t stuck in this heat for long. I expected half of them to just walk out today.”

Sammy gave him a nod. “You and me both. Kyle almost lost his shit when he saw Carmen and Riley leave.”

That made Grayson chuckle. “Hopefully they made it to that volunteer gig in time. They looked disgusting when they left.”

My mouth formed a little o as I listened to their conversation, and helped clean up. That explained things.

I was startled out of my thoughts were I heard Sammy call my name. “You’ve done a lot today. Why don’t you go hit the showers, and Grayson and I can finish up here.” He suggested.

I was about to insist on staying… but the thought of a cold shower almost made me whimper.

“A-Are you sure?” I asked him. Sammy gave me a nod, and one of those gorgeous smiles that showcased his perfect teeth.

“Go for it.”

••

How are we liking the story so far?

I can assure you, these next few chapters are about to get as hot and steamy as the current climate in the Fight Club Gym.

Super excited to write these smutty scenes!

Now for the updates~

I posted a new YouTube video! I answered some commonly asked questions there.

Here is the link for that:

https://youtu.be/PKhuUn_jTAE

I also started a Twitch!

I’ll be doing my best to stream every weekend, so feel free to pop in and hang out with me (and occasionally my sister). You can find us on Twitch as NoSpellCheck. Here is the link for that:

https://www.twitch.tv/nospellcheck

Thank you, as always, for all the love, well wishes, and support.

I hope you all are continuing to remain safe and healthy.

Love you guys,

xoxo

30

Warning: Explicit Content (insert grinning devil emoji here)

Sammy

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/947e0c85ebdef5da3d246f26b9be72f73c3d2088/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4a494664624a546c74717a6572513d3d2d3933353933353238332e313632616464363633336564336138653938303034363135353833332e706e67)               

The temperature had spiked to an almost ungodly degree by the time Dante and I started to wind down for the night. I spent the entire evening on the phone with a handy man who said he might be available to come take a look today… but once closing time rolled around for the company, I knew it was a lost cause.

Dante was showered, dressed, and lounging on a couch in the flat. I, on the other hand, barely looked together. After that long phone call that went absolutely fucking nowhere, I scrounged together whatever energy I could find, and took a shower.

It was so damn hot, I didn’t even bother with a shirt when I got dressed. By the time my foot hit that top step to the apartment, I realized I shouldn’t have even bothered with pants.

Dante was already breaking out in sweat. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt and some shorts… which was something I didn’t expect. If I had been sitting up here in this heat, I’d be naked by now.

“No luck on getting someone out here, huh?” Dante asked, glancing up towards me. “I-I could h-hear most of your conversation from up here.”

He struggled to hold my gaze, as the rest of my very shirtless body came into sight. He did allow himself a moment of lapse to wander before his eyes found mine again. I couldn’t help the smirk playing on my lips when his words made me chuckle.

“I did get pretty heated on that call. Sorry about that.” I’m my defense, these dickheads had put me on hold right up until they closed.

Dante was quick to wave it off. “I understand the frustration. If it helps, this still beats the apartment I’ve somehow found myself in.”

I knew he was cracking a joke, but those words made me hesitate a moment.

Dante was going to be receiving his first check from Tidal Wave soon, which meant he’d be able to afford a bed at his place.

The thought of Dante going back there left me feeling uncomfortable at best. I watched as he closed the book he was reading, and pushed himself off the couch cushions.

“Well, luckily Texas heat has prepared me for quite literally hell.” He replied with.

“Is there anything I can do to make this more comfortab…” I started to say, but my words trailed off as I watched Dante set the book on the table. He then turned towards where his bedroom area was located, and did something that made me forget what I was even talking about anymore.

His fingers pinched the shirt fabric near the nape of his neck, and he pulled the material clean off. I was now exposed to Dante’s own lean upper body physique. He had a new bandage on his side and arm.

“That’s okay, I should survive.” Was all he said before waving me a little Goodnight and disappearing behind that wall.

Almost every fiber of my being wanted to just say fuck it… but my feet obeyed Dante’s wishes, and forced me into my own bed after turning off the lights. I could already feel my body getting hotter against the comforters, as arousal was quick to take over me.

That heat forced my hand in yanking these hot ass pants off.

As I laid on top the mattress in just my underwear, I tried to listen to Dante’s movements. It was beyond god awfully quiet in here, we could practically hear each other breathe. I couldn’t tell if Dante was asleep or not himself, but his breathing was steady.

Another thought of those soft lips, entered my memory. It caused my restrained cock to twitch against the snug fabric of my briefs.

I couldn’t remember the last time I touched myself, and it had been months since I even slept with anyone. Between work and remembering to eat sleep and breathe, I’m not sure how anyone could find the time to meet new people.

In the past, I had my share of both male and female partners, but this attraction to Dante was different. It was hard to repress the memory of the kiss we shared up here in this apartment a few days ago. How he felt against me.

My cock was starting to get uncomfortably tight, and I couldn’t help it as my hand reached out to free it from my briefs.

A particular image entered my mind.

It was of earlier today, when Dante was lifting himself up to pull weights off the top rack. His short’s drawstring had come undone earlier during training, causing the hem to drop dangerously low. When his hands raised above his head, I had to look away to keep from getting hard in front of everyone.

My hand tightened it’s hold on my now throbbing cock, and I involuntarily let out a low groan.

Dante

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/98571cdde353299ea02109d6896f5603136fb1ed/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f7365445a6a6a776e6f51685431413d3d2d3933353933353238332e313632616465353062633561666264643933303739373633383139362e706e67)               

I was laying slightly awake in bed. Sleep had started to weasel it’s way in, but there was a specific sound that ripped me away from those tempting hands.

It was Sammy.

At first, I thought that maybe he had just grunted in his sleep… but then I heard his slow soft breathing grow heavier.

There was another soft groan that fully woke all of me up now. I felt my blood rush straight to my nether region as I finally processed exactly what Sammy was doing on the other side of this wall.

Oh my god , I thought to myself. This could not be happening right now.

He did his best to remain quiet, but my quickly escalating arousal made those groans sound like they were pounding through my eardrums. My cock had gotten almost instantly hard.

It was so quiet in here, I could even hear the sound of friction as something moved against his comforter quickly. Just the thought of everything he might be doing mere feet away, almost made me cum.

Calm down, Dante .

My hand moved to readjust myself in my pants… but I couldn’t stop it from stroking my now leaking cock through the fabric. When Sammy let out the word “fuck” under his breath, I took a sharpest inhale to date.

Any normal night, it would have been inaudible. Tonight, it sounded like I breathed through a goddamn microphone as I shakily exhaled seconds later. The noises that Sammy had been making, came to a screeching halt right after that.

And I was just about ready to throw myself out this bedroom window.

Maybe he hadn’t heard me.

“Dante?” Sammy whispered out hoarsely. His voice cut through the air, startling me.

My heart rate went from zero to one thousand real quick.

Maybe if I just pretended to be asleep? I thought to myself.

“Dante.” Sammy spoke again…

This time it’s was less of a question, and more of a call to attention.

The word “ Yes “ fell past my lips, and if I was being honest, I barely even recognized my own voice. There was a brief pause of complete silence on both our ends before he spoke again.

“Are you up?” He asked me.

If it was any other person in any other situation, this would have made me chuckle. I always found it funny that people asked that even though they knew the person was up.

In this specific instance, I was fucking petrified. What had I done?

“Y-Yes.” I croaked out through some raspiness of my own.

There was another pause of complete silence. When Sammy’s voice broke through again, it almost made me jump.

“Are you touching yourself?”

That almost made me fall off the fucking bed. My free hand gripped the bedsheet tight, as I did my best to suppress a moan.

“N-No.” I tried to force out. It sounded like a damn lie even to my own ears.

“Are you sure?” He asked seconds later. This came out deeper, richer , causing my cock to move against my hand again. I couldn’t stop myself from giving it another stroke.

“N-No.” I breathed out.

Sammy let out a low chuckle, and that sent legit shivers down my spine. Was it possible to faint if you’re already laying down? I wasn’t sure about the logistics there, but I was starting to get light headed.

My hands moved on their own accord as I stroked myself again. Precum was leaking through to my own briefs, but I couldn’t stop.

The sound of something rubbing against his sheets started to continue again. This time, he wasn’t as quiet with his breathing. I could hear everything clear as day from the other side of this wall, and just the thought of him laying in bed jerking himself off, made my hips buckle.

My hand picked up in pace, delivering longer and quicker strokes against the strained fabric. I couldn’t help the noises I myself, made as I felt that familiar warm feeling spread throughout me. I was too close. Embarrassingly close.

“ Fuck , Dante.“ Sammy cussed hoarsely with a deep groan. Those words were the driving point for me, as I felt my hips spasm. The warm feeling that had started to spread, reached my fingers and toes. It was impossible to stop the almost whimper that left my lips as I violently came.

••

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/d67debe59e2cb05fb161c80fc101357ff8bb00d1/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6b5132446761676f676c623056513d3d2d3933353933353238332e313632616465646134396663383463643736393634353335393231382e706e67)               

Now we’re getting somewhere, amiright (;

xoxo

31

Took just a lil break, but I’m back to the uploads!

xoxo

Sammy

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/4a904618c6e3ec4e17cb6ec0beeb75eda4cfcf24/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f38714c3148324b664f57594864413d3d2d3933373532373331362e313632653333653463306538313138393635363837393330303033352e706e67)               

The sound Dante made as he came was unexpected… and far past the point of a turn on. It completely set me ablaze. I hadn’t expected him to cum that quickly, and in return, my body acted against its own will. I came hard into my hand at the thought and sounds of Dante’s climax. His soft moans were a large contrast to my own rough grunts as I felt my release spread throughout my body.

Dante was dead silent. It was impossible to ignore the waves of his embarrassment hanging in the air.

“Dante?” I whispered to him.

It took what felt like an eternity before he replied. His voice was an almost undetected whisper, as I heard the soft “yes.”

A small smile started to spread across my lips.

“Sleep well.” I teased.

There was some ruffling on Dante’s end. It sounded like he might have been cleaning up the mess he made. I had just wiped myself down with a shirt I found on the floor.

From Dante’s short replies and elongated pauses, I didn’t really expect a reply to that… but once he got settled on his end, I heard his voice carry through the wall.

“You too.”

Dante

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/73cdf11f4f1a3c7f941429df120f19d50870f7b9/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f776e48354551747a2d51413658513d3d2d3933373532373331362e313632653333656162346363643032303738333136373434343330352e706e67)               

Embarrassment didn’t even begin to explain how I felt the next morning. As soon as I woke up, memories of the night before hit me in the face harder than Willis the crackhead did.

I had really came that hard. And that soon. From just Sammy’s words? What the fuck. I honestly wasn’t sure I still had the balls to face him after that.

My phone told me the time was now eight in the morning. There wasn’t any shifts scheduled for me today at Tidal Wave and Fight Club was closed Sunday’s, so my only plans were to put some work into that roof.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I slept like a baby after the event of last night. It was damn near impossible to recall the last time I touched myself like that. Of course I remembered the last time I had sex clear as day. I remembered damn near every time I had sex.

It was high on the list of things I dreaded to do with him .

There was a time, early on in our relationship, where it wasn’t like that. Where I felt that excitement whenever he touched me.

Now, three years down the road, all that died with the façade he hooked me with.

I forced myself to shake those past memories from my thoughts.

Getting out of bed was indeed the most nerve wracking thing I was going to have to eventually do. I laid there listening to see if Sammy was up already. After ten minutes of silence, I finally pulled myself up. It took a minute to rummage through and find a shirt as well as some shorts. Only after I was fully dressed, did I even dare peek behind the wall into Sammy’s area.

He was sitting on his bed legs crossed, and in nothing but briefs. My eyes hovered over every visible part of him almost immediately. How could someone look so good so easily? Even those long locks of hair fell at his shoulders like he was some sort of Greek god.

His eyes were closed with his hands rested comfortably on each knee. It looked like he was meditating.

Maybe I could just sneak across? I thought to myself. But then I realized he probably already heard me get up. Sammy was quick to confirm those suspicions.

“Good morning.” He said, as his eyes slowly drifted open to meet mine.

“H-Hi.” I replied, taken completely off guard.

His hands stretched forward, creating a ripple effect through his arm muscles. I forced my eyes to look at the wall behind him.

“Did you sleep well?” He asked as he stood up. That gave me a full view of this almost naked man. Those fantastically toned legs… that insane torso… those broad ass shoulders…

Breathe, Dante. Fucking breathe.

All I did was nod. All I could do was nod.

“Good. I was going to see if you had any plans for today.” The way he was looking at me- Jesus Christ . Even through my peripheral, it was impossible to miss the intensity.

“I-I w-was just going to continue working on the roof.” My words sounded like Sammy was honestly holding me at gunpoint. It was a mix of hesitance, embarrassment still, and a whole lot of sexual frustration. There was very few things I wanted more, than for Sammy to throw caution to the wind right now.

He gave me a nod, but took a moment before replying. I thought the conversation might have almost been over.

“I have an errand to run today. I don’t think I feel comfortable with you up there fixing that roof alone, but if you didn’t have any plans, would you like to accompany me?”

The ways in which this man insisted on maintaining eye contact was really unhealthy for my heart, at this point. His gaze hadn’t left me, even though I practically refused to meet it. If I did, I was positive I was going to get rock hard through my pants. There wasn’t any possible way I couldn’t.

Sammy’s voice had the same roughness it had had last night. That, alone, was causing my body to grow heated.

I really needed to stop thinking about last night.

I gave myself a minute to contemplate his offer. Would I have loved to join Sammy for a day filled with activities of his choice?

Fuck yes.

I’d go to the DMV with this man if he asked.

But I also knew the very real dangers, if I were to do so.

Sammy and I hadn’t physically touched each other, yet the flimsy boundaries I had tried to set, were definitely overstepped by both parties. The real kicker was I now wanted to say fuck the boundaries completely.

Real toxic, I know.

Maybe that’s what had released the word “ sure“ from my lips.

••

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32

Missed yesterday’s upload just because I wanted a longer chapter for this one, but I’ll try to keep an every weekday, to every other weekday schedule :)

Thank you so much for all the comments and love! I’m so happy to hear you guys are enjoying this one.

xoxo

Sammy

I honestly wasn’t sure what made me think that taking Dante to go see my uncle in prison was a fantastic idea for a first date.

Of course this wasn’t actually a date… but that’s what I was telling myself to lighten the spirits of having to do this in the first place.

It had been a while since I’d seen Uncle Jimmy (A couple months of sweet ignorance and bliss if I do say so myself). He only ever reached out when he needed me… and it was never a good thing when he did.

The penitentiary was maybe an hour drive or so up north. I hadn’t really thought through any of this trip, or the fact that Dante had, was, and was most likely going to continue avoiding conversation, as well as my gaze.

He had asked where we were off to when we first got on the road, but I told him we had a few destinations- which we did.

Along with visiting Uncle Jimmy, we were also going to make a stop at the hardware to fix up a few things around Fight Club. I needed to purchase more tarp in case the rain got worse. Water had seeped through the hole in the roof, but I placed a bucket there to catch any access. According to Grayson, this was just the start of a pretty wet next couple weeks.

Dante remained silent for the first maybe fifteen to twenty minutes after that, but when twenty five minutes or so passed, I couldn’t take the silence anymore.

“How’s work going at Tidal Wave?” I asked him… as if I didn’t see Kas everyday who insisted on giving me a play by play with how much Dante was catching on.

I acted uninterested with Kas, but really it was nice to hear about Dante’s improvements.

I also liked to gauge where he was at in terms of energy.

Dante was probably the last person to decline doing something for someone. I wanted to make sure that if his day there was a stressful one, at least I could try to make his next work day at Fight Club more bearable. So far, with Kyle and the A/C down, I wasn’t doing the greatest job of that.

“It’s going well.” Dante nodded. “I think I’ve finally nailed down the regulars which is great. Definitely misjudged the rowdy bunch my first night.” He turned to give me a smile, which automatically made the edges of my lips curl up.

It was the first look he’d given me all day that wasn’t coupled with embarrassment.

“I’m glad to hear it.” I nodded. “It’s a different environment that takes some getting used to, but I’d consider most of the regulars there great friends. Some come out to support the guys during our fights- then we all usually meet up at Tidal Wave afterwards to get shitfaced. It’s good company.”

It felt good to have Dante’s attention back on me, as he listened intently.

“That sounds about right.” He chuckled lightly. That laugh made me want to turn this car around and head home, so I could have him to myself again. “I’m also grateful for the staff too. Everyone in the kitchen is incredibly kind, and Kassie has been the biggest help. Howard is… well, Howard but that’s also got its charm.”

That made me smile.

Howard was definitely a character. For someone who owned an establishment used for socializing, he really didn’t like to do much socializing at all. That was the best part about Howard, however. He was a little more reserved like myself.

When he would have me over for dinner with his lady, it constantly surprised me at how much of a good conversationalist he really is. In one of the weirdest ways, he reminded me of my father… if my father had been even a shred of a good person.

Howard would often try to make it home whenever he could, to take care of his wife. He chose not to mention to anyone the seriousness of her health condition, and made me swear to that secrecy as well.

He once said to me his reasoning for it. “I rather people believe whatever the hell they want to believe. It’s none of their damn business anyways.”

Those were words I could agree with… to a fault.

I understood very well having some things you want to keep private. Not everything was meant to be shared with everyone… but I would at least argue his employees had a right, especially for how much work Howard constantly missed.

If it wasn’t for Kas, Tidal Wave would be in shambles.

The good thing was that Kas knew that, Howard knew that, and and so did the rest of the staff. Because of that, Howard made sure to give Kas pretty much all the space and authority to do whatever she wanted.

It was the only way Tidal Wave was going to remain in business, after all.

“Howard’s for sure one interesting lad. He’ll grow on you though, I promise.” I replied to Dante. He gave me an understanding nod, but remained quiet. There was no way I was going to let us slip into that silence again, so I dug into my hat of a thousand questions I had for Dante, just to keep him talking. “Has your impressions of NYC changed at all?”

I glanced over briefly to catch a glimpse of  Dante in the passenger seat. He staring straight ahead, but looked to be thinking about something.

“Yes. For sure, yes. I think I chose the right city, I just had a very inaccurate assumption when I chose it.”

That raised my spirits a shit ton… but there was more I wanted to know. So much more.

With the little pieces of Dante I was able to put together, I tried to create a vague image of his backdrop. Of his previous life- the one he was hell bent on never addressing.

I knew his parents had both past away.

From the way he described his mother, it was impossible to overlook the love and admiration he had for her. I thought about the way he had fixed that disaster of a dinner the first night he officially moved in. He didn’t mention his mother much after that, but every time he referenced the smallest things, I felt that radiating love.

As for his father? That was something I knew he had yet to unpack. When Dante mentioned his father, I recognized the tone of voice because it was the same tone I used when speaking of my own father.

It was undoubtably fear.

His father was a professional boxer, and Dante himself admitted he had competed competitively… Maybe his father had been hard on him? I thought to myself…

But then I remembered the first time I saw Dante, when he was laying on the cold pavement dealing with the aftermath of Willis. The way he reacted to everyone around him, including myself when I tried to help him. What I had felt that night was deep rooted fear. This wasn’t the product of someone being hard on him… this was the product of actual physical abuse.

The last piece of information Dante let slip through those insane double enforced walls, was maybe the most prominent piece of information because it pertained to why he arrived in NYC in the first place… his past relationship.

Dante mentioned that this was subsequently the reason for him leaving Texas. From his words that night, he referred to his previous partner as a man. If it wasn’t for that piece of information, coupled with that first kiss we had, I wasn’t sure I would have even had the balls to pursue him.

That relationship, however, troubled me the most.

It was the way he looked at his quite obvious burner phone whenever a text or call came through, even if it was a telemarketer. The way he still jumped when a customer would tap him on the shoulder, or when a stranger would approach him. There was a part of him that never rested, was constantly on edge.

Shoot at a wall and call me Sherlock, but Dante was running away from something more than just the state of Texas.

He was running away from a person.

And with his father gone, that left only one other person who could still evoke such fear in him.

Could still keep him running.

••

33

Another longer chapter just cause I love y’all. Let me know what you guys think, and Happy Friday lovelies!

xoxo

Dante

When Sammy pulled into a large partially vacant lot, at first I wasn’t sure where we were. It was the ginormous words on the side of the building that said Rikers Correction Center , which really connected the dots… created more dots, I really wasn’t sure.

“Is this a… prison?” I asked Sammy, as he threw the car into park.

“Yeah, sorry I promise it’s just one of a few stops. You can stay in the car if you’d like, I’ll leave the keys.” Sammy replied.

I must admit, I contemplated it for a minute… but the rapidly developing curiosity to see who Sammy was meeting here far overpowered my uneasiness that came with prisons. “It’s okay.” I nodded, following in suit as Sammy got out and locked the vehicle behind us.

It wasn’t even noon yet, and the sun was already out here with a vengeance. I barely made it to the entrance of the correction facility with those harsh rays beaming down on us from the sky. My face was already dripping with sweat.

Luckily, Sammy seemed to know his way around the facility quite well. I followed him as he lead us to a different wing of the building. We had to check in with security, but it was less extensive than I had imagined. The armed workers were actually surprisingly friendly when they set our possessions in a safe guard, until after the meeting.

The way Sammy addressed one of the guards made me assume they must have known each other more personally…. but then I got that feeling of familiarity from almost everyone he interacted with here. It made me wonders how often he came to visit this person.

“We’re just heading through here. If you don’t mind taking a seat over there against that wall, I’ll try to make this quick.” Sammy’s voice cut through my thoughts.

I hadn’t even noticed we had entered a different room. This one was quite large, and divided. There was a large thick glass that covered almost the span of the room. On one end was the visitor area that consisted of booths up against the glass. Inmates moved freely on the other side of the glass.

Sammy pointed to one of a few chairs that were lined up against the back wall. I took a seat, and watched as he made his way to a booth that hadn’t been taken. There wasn’t anyone seated across from him at first, but seconds later, a different inmate entered the room.

This man was completely impossible to miss.

Literally.

When he walked in, he had almost a head on every other inmate standing. He was big, but in a ultra ripped kinda way as broad shoulders were met with a toned toso and massive hands. It was hard to see his lower half from where I was sitting, but I imagined it accompanied his upper half.

There was a part of him that very slightly resembled Sammy, although It was difficult to be completely sure. Unlike Sammy’s dirty blonde locks, this man’s hair was jet black- the same color as his beard, that was grown out long enough to touch his chest.

I couldn’t help but look back and forth between Sammy and this man.

Who the fuck was this?

Sammy

“You look like shit.”

“I could say the same about you.”

Jimmy’s face remained hard for the longest.

Whenever his jaw clenched, you could physically see each individual muscle contract.

I’ve sat right in this very seat across from this very man for years now… and every time I saw him, a shiver ran down my spine. It was like seeing a ghost.

My father’s ghost.

After seconds of practically staring each other down, Jimmy’s face broke out into a grin. It happened so quick, even his facial muscles were delayed in their reaction.

“Who roughed you up?” That voice was cold, a complete contrast to the smile he had on his lips.

“Some kids in Hunts Point. Long story for another day.” I replied quickly. I wasn’t here to talk about that.

“All these days keep coming less and far between.” Jimmy noted.

I knew he was pissed off at my lack of effort to come see him.

And maybe I was a shit person for ignoring the only family I, myself, still had.

But Uncle Jimmy was bad news. Uncle Jimmy had always been bad news.

“Fight Club is getting busier and busier. It’s hard to keep up with everything.” I lied. There was some truth to that lie, however. Fight Club had indeed gotten busier, and management did get more complicated. I just had a plethora of other reasons for not wanting to pay Jimmy a visit.

All he did was gruff at that response.

“I’m not sure why you waste your time and talent with that bullshit gym. Work for me, and you’d never be strapped for cash again. You know that Sammy. Family takes care of family.”

I grimaced at the not so fond memories which resurfaced with those words. It took more than usual to shove those memories back into that box.

“I like the work I do.” Was all I replied with.

So many emotions flashed across Jimmy’s face, I really thought he was going to stand up and leave. Instead he took a more disastrous approach.

“You would really turn your back on your only family?” He asked me in that same heartless tone. “After all I did for you? I’m in here because of you.”

That last part triggered something in me.

Anger I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

That last part pushed me over the edge. “You are here because of your own actions.” I spat at him through the phone that connected this conversation. “If you ever chose to burden me with your actions again, I will leave you here to rot .”

His facial expressions never changed (they very seldom did) but the look in his eyes said it all. We both knew he hadn’t meant those words, but they had been said… and for that, this meeting was now officially over.

I stood up abruptly, all but slamming the phone back on its stand, before I turned to leave. There wasn’t a way to hear Jimmy from behind the glass, but I could hear his heavy fists pounding on it, before an officer went to detain him.

I didn’t bother to look back once as my hand found Dante’s and I pulled him out of that room.

I didn’t stop moving until Dante and I were seated comfortably in my Chevrolet. As soon as my hands rested on the steering, I felt all that building anxiety start to melt.

Deep breath in… deep breath out…

Deep breath in… deep breath out…

“A-Are you okay?” Dante whispered. His voice sounded startled, yet hesitant. I chastised myself immediately for scaring him like that in the first place.

“I’m sorry- I shouldn’t have pulled you out like that-” I began to apologize, but Dante cut me off.

“Are you okay?” He asked again, a little bolder.

Even with the shittiness of this entire situation dawning on me, I couldn’t help but offer him a small smile. “I am now, thank you.”

He gave me an understanding nod, yet remained quiet for a moment. That was the thing about Dante, it was painstakingly obvious when he was trying to chose his words correctly.

“I know it isn’t really my place to ask-” he started. I cut him off before he went further into that nonsense.

“I brought you here. I promise, you have every right to ask.”

Dante nodded slowly again. “Who, um- who was that in there?”

I let out a sigh I didn’t even know I was holding in. “That man in there is Jimmy, my uncle.” I explained.

Dante’s eyes grew large, but he tried to mask most of his surprise with another nod. You could almost see the next question formulating in that handsome head of his. I knew exactly what it was, but even when he asked it, I still struggled to digest it.

“W-Why is he in there?”

What a loaded question, I thought to myself.

Deep breath in… deep breath out…

“Besides the drug possession, illegal firearm possession, and countless assault charges… my uncle was also convicted of emptying a clip into my father.”

••

34

Dante

It was safe to say I had no words for what Sammy had just disclosed to me.

Literally none.

“I-” I started to say something, but caught myself. Luckily, Sammy came to my rescue.

“A lot to unpack, I know.” He replied, as he finally turned the car on. “It’s been many years now, and if it helps, my father was also a pretty shit person to begin with.”

That was something I could relate to.

“People got their vices, and liquor was his. He used to throw my mum and I around a lot when I was growing up- real pussy ass shit if you ask me.”

I was right now real time discovering that I hadn’t known jack shit about Sammy until now.

“He was in business with Jimmy at the time, and Jimmy found out my father had cleared out their rainy day fund with his gambling/alcohol addiction. The night Jimmy came over to confront my father, was a night my father was particularly wasted on… A lot-”

Sammy paused a moment, as he pulled the vehicle out of the parking lot. I waited patiently until he was ready to continue.

“A lot happened that night, but things got physical between my father and Jimmy. Before I knew what was happening, all I heard was a round of gunshots coming from the backyard. When I went outside to take a look, Jimmy was hovering over my father. He wasn’t alive at that point.”

Surprise. Shock. Anger. Sadness.

I really just felt it all as I heard Sammy tell and almost relive this painful memory. His voice was leveled, but it was obvious that him disclosing any of this wasn’t easy. At first, I wasn’t sure what even compelled him to share. Sammy answered that question seconds later.

“I know it’s all pretty heavy stuff. Like I said, it’s been years since. I decided to open up about it and bring you with today, because of how little I’ve shared about myself.” Sammy explained. “It’s not that I don’t want you to know me, it’s just hard to admit I’m quite ashamed of my family. Grayson and Kas ended up taking me in after my mum passed, and I’d consider that to be my true family… so as far as I’m concerned, you’ve already met everyone I care for.”

That last bit made my stomach flip in a good and not so good way.

Really, everything he said had.

It was hard to ignore this feeling of guilt. Sammy had been blatantly honest with me- something I hadn’t been reciprocating.

Hearing about his family made my heart break. Just knowing he and I grew up in such abusive situations… that feeling was inexplicable. When I looked at Sammy all I could do was wonder where I went so wrong.

Sammy took that tragic background and made something for himself.

All I did was cycle out one abusive relationship for another.

“My father was a bit of an asshole as well.” I spoke suddenly, startling even myself.

Sammy’s eyes momentarily left the road to catch mine. I don’t think either of us expected that.

“He practically drank himself to death after his professional career ended. He was… he was always a coach before he was a father.” I tried to explain. Words sounded so foreign right now. “Some days, he dropped the fathering act completely. He got increasingly abusive in every aspect towards my mother and I.”

It was hard to miss Sammy’s entire body going tense with those words.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t take the self love route you did.” I continued. “Instead, I ended up falling for another up and coming fighter my father had started to train before he died. Regardless of how shitty my father was, his death wasn’t easy for me to handle. At first, this dazzling young fighter took a lot of that pain away. He mourned the passing of my father with me… but- what’s that one quote? Crazy attracts crazy? I didn’t realize how much he idolized my father, until after my fathers death. Let’s just say he’s on the same sadistic level of fucked up my father was on.”

Sammy’s eyes looked over in my direction for such a concerning amount of time, I almost pointed back to the road just to remind this man that he was very much still driving.

“So when you told me you left Texas because of him…”

I gave Sammy a nod. “I fled after he had a breakdown in our home.”

Just mentioning that night elevated my heartbeat considerably.

It made my breathes short, and hands clammy.

It was a night I’d have to work tirelessly to forget. It was the night Shaun damn near killed me.

There was a moment of silence where I’m sure Sammy was working hard to think of a reply to that one. I essentially just confessed to this man the numerous levels of fucked up I was. Any hopes he’d still want to even look in my direction after this, had to be slim to none.

I was honestly pathetic.

But when Sammy spoke again, I was taken back. “Don’t do that.” He said seriously.

“Do what?” I asked him.

“Blame yourself for other people’s actions. That man hurt you. He violated every ounce of your trust, and for that, he’s worth less than the filth I’d scrape off the bottom of my fucking shoe.”

Amidst all the times I’ve seen Sammy snap, this particular moment was vastly different. He looked calm, but every fiber of being in my body could feel that radiating anger. I realized now that Sammy and Jimmy gave off this same intense energy.

It made me think back to what Sammy mentioned about his father and uncle working together.

I’d believe pigs could fly before I believed that whatever business they were mixed up in, was legitimate.

Sammy was different, though… or maybe that was just what I was telling myself. As my eyes analyzed him, I wondered what other secrets he had. What else might come to light.

Sammy

I did my best to remain calm, but I felt like punching something right now.

Even though I suspected most of what Dante told me, it was difficult hearing it come from him. I wanted to believe someone showed him all the love he was entitled to as a child growing into adulthood. I wanted to believe my initial assumptions were wrong… but of course they weren’t.

His previous partner sounded like fucking dog shit, and shoving a wrench through his eye was just the tip of an iceberg of things I was prepared to do to him.

When I glanced back at Dante, I allowed my gaze to linger a moment. Were were sitting in the parking lot of the hardware store now, so I’m sure it was okay to take my eyes off the road.

Dante was truly an extraordinary mix of handsome, but also just downright beautiful. His chiseled features… those soft eyes. I could feel myself getting lost again. How could anyone not fall in love with him?

To survive in a place such as this one, one thing was critical: Dante was going to need to learn how to love himself.

“Come on,” I nodded gently to him. “Let’s go get these supplies and head home.”

••

35

Hello there

,

lovelies!

I took a very unexpected hiatus, my apologies. I had a few chapters written, then I scrapped them… so we’re here now lol.

Please enjoy the much much longer chapter, and more uploads through the week.

xoxo

Sammy

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It was difficult to describe how the rest of the week went by. Tidal Wave kept Dante occupied for most of it, so I ended up seeing very little of him. The first full day he was at Fight Club, was Thursday.

I had wanted to carve out some alone time with him, but all we got were fleeting glances, and short yet intimate moments. The fact that I couldn’t touch him was starting to sort of drive me a little crazy.

“The novices are making incredible strides.” Grayson commented, joining me on one of the benches near the mats. We were both watching Dante now, as he continued practice rounds with the novices. He still refused to put on some gloves and fight, but his sparring techniques with the pads alone, were bringing on rapid improvement.

I gave Grayson a nod. “Our first tournament is coming up here in less than a few weeks. I’m just hoping they’re ready for it.”

Kyle was going through the combos with Dante. Those two started out on the wrong foot, but it felt good to see that idiot cool it with the attitude. When he shut the fuck up and listened to Dante, it was impossible to miss the refinement.

The other guys had tightened up immensely. They allowed Dante to show them the slower movements, which they then practiced on each other. Every so often, Dante’s eyes would divert from their gaze, catching mine.

Most times he would look away sheepishly, but on those few occasions when I offered a smile, he gave me a warm one in return.

“I’m not sure what kind of divine intervention brought him to our door step-”

“Technically, it was Tidal Waves door step.” I reminded Grayson. He rolled his eyes at me.

“Tomato, tomato. Who’d of thought we’d pick up such a skilled fighter.”

I soaked in Graysons words as we continued to watch Dante.

“If only he’d fight.” Grayson more or less mumbled to himself. That part made me uncomfortable. Now, knowing what I did about Dante, I understood his resistance to. Whatever made him uncomfortable just wasn’t going to cut it for me. Dante standing in this gym right now was enough miracles for my ass to be content with.

“Don’t push it.” I said to Grayson. He gave me a head nod in return.

I never want to put Dante in a position he himself didn’t approve of.

“You know- I never asked how that visit to your uncle went.” Graysons lips twitched up into a small smile. “It might have gotten busier around here, but I’ll always find the time to check in.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I promised, I would’ve given you the rundown if there was anything to run down. All that driving just to see the fucker for about five minutes tops. Not even that.”

Grayson’s eyebrows raised slightly. “I don’t understand why he tries so hard to see you, just to piss you off when you get there.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, can’t say when the next visit will be. Probably next year or something. I can’t get caught up in that shit again, man. Barely made it through the first time.” Just thinking about Uncle Jimmy brought up the sourest of memories.

“Well fuck him.” Grayson landed on. “Fuck him times infinity. He can thoroughly go kiss my ass, and well on you for even trying with that dick.” I felt his strong hand come down on my shoulder.

“Thanks man.” I sighed.

“There’s just one other question I’ve got for you.”

“What’s up?” I asked him.

“What’s going on with you and Dante?”

That made my head whip in his direction with stupendous speed.

“I-I’m s-sorry, what ?”

“You and Dante. What’s going on there?”

I just sorta stared at him for a moment. This had caught me completely off guard.

“T-There’s nothing going on…”

“Oh cut the bullshit.” Grayson smirked in my direction. “The only time your eyes has left that kid today has been for literally this conversation. If I didn’t know you, I’d be concerned for Dante with all these creepy stalker stares you keep giving him.”

“Oh now hold on a minute here-” I tried to come to my defense, but Grayson wasn’t hearing it.

“Sammy, I would need to be blind not to see that. Literally blind. Everyone in this gym can feel it, and frankly, I’m hurt I wasn’t the first to know. That kid becomes putty when his eyes catch yours, so I’ll ask you again, what’s going on there?”

It was now impossible to avoid this conversation with Grayson.

“We- um… we kissed.” I said quietly.

“You did?”

“Twice.”

“Twice?!” That perked Grayson up. “You want to tell me you kissed twice and I’m learning about this now? When was this?”

I thought about both kisses. They had only taken place hours apart.

“Last weekend. It’s- it’s complicated. I don’t even think I can peruse it.” I didn’t feel like explaining all this to Grayson.

“Why the hell not? Clearly you two like each other.”

Grayson could be so blunt sometimes. Maybe I wasn’t one to talk, however. That comment had made my entire face warmer.

“Besides the obvious which is that we all work together, it would also make things uncomfortable on everyone.”

Grayson shrugged at my words. “I dunno, my guy. I say fuck it. I haven’t seen you look at anything like that, let alone anyone. Maybe when we got that new training equipment in a few months ago, though… you almost cried.”

“Leave me be, it was a very emotional experience. All heavy duty bags. Those tears were justified.”

Grayson chuckled, not bothering to even entertain my nonsense.

“All I’m saying is, don’t fully accept defeat. Show Dante how charming you can be. Be less of your insane workaholic self so you two actually have the time to talk, and the rest of us men won’t have to sit here and suffer in the thick of all this sexual frustration. Or maybe we need the sexual frustration. Are you a better fighter sexually frustrated?”

I gave Grayson a friendly shove.

“Fuck off.”

Dante

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Just being in the gym on Thursday changed my whole mood for the week. I didn’t realize how much I had missed it until I lead the novices into a warm up. It was like playing catch up with some old friends. Even Kyle and I were able to exchange witty banter here and there.

The A/C had been fixed. Sammy got someone out first thing Monday morning to take a look, so the guys were no longer suffering in a heat wave.

The only thing that made practice more difficult, was Sammy- and surprisingly Grayson. Both men had been watching me more today, than they ever had before. My injuries were starting to heal nicely, and I was able to do more activities with the fighters… but it felt like I was exposed on an operation table or something.

They chatted for much longer than they usually did, as well. With our first tournament coming up, I knew things were getting heated, but now I was really feeling that heat. Suddenly I was second guessing myself. My training. Everything.

It was Sammy’s voice that evening, which pulled me from a quickly spiraling panic attack.

“You were beyond amazing today.”

I glanced up from the play books I was looking over on the couch, to watch as Sammy entered the flat. He must have just gotten out of the shower, because his hair had this wet and wavy look to it. I wanted to run my fingers through it.

“T-Thank you.” I replied, still very caught off guard by his sudden compliment. Just a few words from this man was enough to ward off all doubts- well, most anyways.

“The fighters have taken a liking to you. You may be one of the best teachers I’ve seen, honestly.”

That made my body feel things I really couldn’t explain.

“I- thank you.” The smile that graced my lips, widened.

“I was-” Sammy started, then stopped himself. “How does Chinese sound tonight? I could put an order in to have some takeout delivered.”

The way Sammy was looking at me right now was just dangerous. I knew his mouth said food, but those darkened eyes made me want to close the distance.

I watched as water droplets fell from his hair to lightly dampen the white shirt he was wearing.

“Y-Yes.” I barely managed to get out. “That sounds good. I just- I needed to run to my place quick to get a few things. I think my first check was also mailed there. Could you give me about thirty minutes or so?”

Sammy nodded. “For sure, take all the time you need. Did you want me to accompany you?”

I was so close to saying yes, but then I remembered the complete dump I was going back to. Embarrassment didn’t even touch what that place was for me.

“It’s okay!” I rushed out. “It won’t take long at all.”

As soon as the scent of decaying wood, piss stained carpet, and mold hit my nostrils, I felt even better about my decision to go alone.

The scent was worse than I could possibly imagine. It forced me to hold my breath as I made it up the disgustingly humid stairwell towards my floor.

I had two things on my mind all week. The photo I had of my mother here, and that damn paycheck. The sooner I got both those things, the sooner I could leave.

Something made my pace slow down. I thought about what this paycheck meant. I’d be able to get a mattress… which meant that this was going to be home for me again, much sooner than I was leading myself on to believe.

Before I could even fully process that sudden realization, something else caught my attention. It was my apartment door.

It was open.

From the looks of the broken latch, someone must have busted it open.

This couldn’t be happening right now, I thought to myself. Slowly, that door was pushed back to reveal a very poorly lit apartment. My sleeping bag was still on the floor, next to the remainder of my belongings, but there was a shadowy figure standing above it, that had their back turnt to me.

I couldn’t make out any features, yet as soon as they spoke, I knew I didn’t need to.

“You’d really choose this fucking shithole over the life I provided for you in Texas?”

The voice forced a shiver through my entire body.

“Shaun.” I whispered into the darkness.

••

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This book is reaching a climax, which is so bittersweet because I loved writing about these two. I hope y’all are strapped in for the next few chapters!

As always, love you guys.

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36

Dante

I felt my heart drop to my stomach.

Every part of myself was screaming to run. To get the fuck out of this apartment building. The fuck out of NYC. Maybe this fucking country… but as more moon light was emptied into the room, I saw that Shaun was holding something.

It was the picture of my mother. The one I had come here to get.

I hesitantly took some steps into the apartment.

“What the hell are you doing in here, Shaun?” I asked him. It was almost impossible to remain calm, but my voice did a good job of hiding the fear that was coursing through me right now. Shaun slowly turned to face me.

Regardless of how much time had passed since we last saw each other, the injuries on his face were still fresh. There was the deep gash right under his eye from where I had pistol whipped him. He clearly hadn’t done much to take care of it since then, from the way it had swollen up.

Even with the bruises, Shaun still managed to clean up well. Just the smell of his cologne made me sick. It lingered through the apartment.

I could tell by his eyes that he was in his better mood, but with Shaun, I knew to never trust it.

“What do you mean why am I here? I’m here to take you home of course.”

The word home coming from his mouth, made me shiver.

“You know that’s not going to happen. That’s never going to happen.” For a second I saw something flash through him. I knew it was his rage, the same type of rage my father had.

But just as quickly as it came, it went.

“I understand we didn’t really leave things right-”

I let out a dry chuckle that honestly surprised the both of us. “You pulled a fucking gun on me, Shaun.”

That made Shaun flinch. I couldn’t tell whether this was the part where he’d apologize, or lunge at me. Even with my hands visibly trembling at my side, I stayed put.

“I- I didn’t mean to do that. You just- you know how my anger is sometimes baby.” Shaun took a step towards me, but I took one large one back. My mind immediately thought about my surroundings. From where I stood, I close to the kitchen. It was hard to remember, but I was sure I briefly glanced at an old knife in one of the drawers there a few weeks ago.

Right now, it was sort of my only option.

“Stay the fuck away from me.” I spat at him menacingly. Shaun immediately stopped his advances, but there was a smile starting to play on those lips.

“You’re… different.” He settled on. “New York City has made you quite the disobedient one. But that’s okay, Dante. I’m here now to remind you of who you are. Where you’re from. You’re just some sad pitiful excuse of a fighter with no strong father to strictly guide you, and no cunt of a mother to throttle your pathetic existence. You are nothing without me, Dante. You never were.”

It was impossible to describe what I was feeling right now. It felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest, but there was another part of me… this part was brewing anger.

Shaun had a way with words like that. If he wanted to hurt you, he often didn’t need to lay a hand on you to do so.

Violence was just the cherry on top for him.

“Get the fuck out of my apartment.” I said as cold and collected as I could possibly be. The truth was, my entire body was shaking.

When Shaun took another step forward, my hand reached across to yank open one of the kitchen drawers. I didn’t allow my eyes to leave his, not for one moment, but my hand emerged with one of the rustiest knifes I had possibly ever seen.

Shaun’s gaze went from mine, to the object in my hand. His hands shot up defensively.

“I’m going I’m going. No need to get physical, I was just leaving- I thought I’d let you know I’ll be around though. I plan to stay here as long as I need to, to fix whatever nonsense these New Yorkers have put in your head.” He moved closer towards the door. “I also just secured a spot at a new gym. I didn’t know the fighting scene was so prominent here. I went for the best money could buy…”

When I heard those words, I forgot how to breathe entirely.

“It’s called Serenity, just a few miles from here. You should stop by. I think they’re already entering the competing season these next few weeks.”

As soon as Shaun said the words Serenity, I let out the breath I was holding in. Everything in me thought he was going to mention Fight Club. I wasn’t sure what I would have done at that point.

I didn’t say anything in response to that. As soon as Shaun realized that this conversation was most definitely over, he turned to leave. Before he could, something quickly registered, and the word “ wait“ left my lips.

That stopped him dead in his tracks. “What is it, baby?”

I flinched in disgust.

“Leave the photo of my mother.”

Shaun glanced down at his hand to see that he was still holding the photo between his fingers. It didn’t take him a second thought to crumple it into the smallest ball. He tossed it onto the floor.

“See you around, Dante.” Those were the last words spoken between Shaun and I before he helped himself out of the apartment he had broken into.

As soon as I was able to get the chain lock on the door, I leant back against the nearest wall to gather my bearings. My head was spinning at this point. I wasn’t sure if all that had actually really happened or not, but the goosebumps that spread through my entire body said otherwise.

Shaun had been here.

In this apartment.

He had found me.

I thought back to that night. How he looked when he had that gun cocked and pointed at me. It was a crack of thunder and a roundhouse kick that got the heavy metal out of his hand before he could pull the trigger. I wasn’t sure how I had even mustered the strength, after his open palm strike had knocked me off my feet. When I managed to get to the gun, I used it to strike Shaun hard. That had made him fall back on top of our glass coffee table.

The sound it made was almost deafening, but it definitely wasn’t the first fragile thing to break during this fight.

I expected Shaun to try getting up again, yet when I saw his drunk self struggling to, that’s when I knew I needed to get the fuck out of there. I grabbed as much as I could in what little time I could, and took off towards the station.

That was the last night we had seen each other, until tonight.

I wasn’t sure how to process this.

The words he said stayed with me like they always did. I knew they were nowhere near true, but it still made my eyes sting with the possibility of tears.

I forced myself to push those tears down. Instead, something else started to stir up. It was that anger I had felt earlier. Anger I knew I had, but never thought I had the balls to act on until now.

My body jumped at the sound of a knock at my door.

Immediately, I was on high alert.

It was the voice I heard on the other end, that calmed my pounding heart.

“Dante? Are you there?” Sammy asked.

I pulled back the chain almost immediately to open up for him. Sure enough, he was stand at my door in the same post shower outfit, holding my cell phone.

“Hey, sorry. I saw you left your cell and thought just in case of an emergency or something, you might need it-” Sammy stopped himself short as his eyes found mine. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I was going to start saying something, but I stopped myself short. Instead, I gave Sammy a nod.

“I-I’m okay. I was just wondering- is it… is it too late to start fighting?”

••

37

Sammy

I thought about what Grayson had mentioned, while I slid the plain white shirt over my damp head.

“All I’m saying is, don’t fully accept defeat. Show Dante how charming you can be. Be less of your insane workaholic self so you two actually have the time to talk…”

It was just difficult, when Dante and I were both so busy. I’d argue with the competition season coming up, this might be the worst time for me to start perusing Dante….

But when I neared the top step, and saw him lounged out on the couch, all reasoning went out the window.

He had since changed out of his gym gear.

He honestly hadn’t brought much gym gear here… or I’d really guess much of anything to NYC, so he’d been rotating through the same shorts these last few weeks. I left him a few pairs on his bed for his first day back this week. He told me he couldn’t accept those, but I just lied and said they were from our lost and found here.

He was now showered, and wearing shorts that looked like sweatpants material, with a loose fitted top. I usually let Dante hit the showers first while Grayson and I sparred with each other. It was the only time Grayson and I really had, plus now with my injured hand, I was going to need to accommodate my fighting technique for it. Competition season was what all this extra work had been for, Grayson would have straight up killed me if I wasn’t able to fight.

“You were beyond amazing today.” I spoke to Dante, breaking his concentration. It didn’t seem like he even noticed me walking up these steps.

“T-Thank you.” He nodded to me. That dazed state made me wonder what he was thinking.

“The fighters have taken a liking to you. You may be one of the best teachers I’ve seen, honestly.” I continued. Although most days I tried to let Dante know how well he’s doing, some days it just slipped my mind. Today was a day he deserved to know.

“I- thank you.” The smile that was tugging at the edge of his lips, widened.

“I was-” I started, then stopped himself. For a second there, I felt like I had built up the courage to ask him out. As those doe-like eyes held my gaze, my nerves got the best of me. “How does Chinese sound tonight? I could put an order in to have some takeout delivered.”

He curled his bottom lip back to moisten it, and I looked on with intensity I’m sure was far from necessary. It was just impossible not to want to taste those lips again.

“Y-Yes.” Dante replied with a sudden raspiness. It was beginning to turn me on. “That sounds good. I just- I needed to run to my place quick to get a few things. I think my first check was also mailed there. Could you give me about thirty minutes or so?”

I nodded. “For sure, take all the time you need. Did you want me to accompany you?”

The thought of Dante leaving this place past hours again, sat the farthest from right with me. Tidal Wave was just across the street, but his apartment was a few blocks down. After what happened in Hunts Point, I felt like accompanying Dante everywhere.

“It’s okay!” Dante replied quickly. “It won’t take long at all.”

Those were the last words he said, before he shimmied past me down the stairs.

It only took about five minutes of Dante being gone, before some worry started to settle in. I kept telling myself that he was just going down the block, but something didn’t sit right.

A sudden vibration from the coffee table pulled me from my thoughts. It was Dante’s phone.

I knew he didn’t keep it on him that much, but I was sure he had meant to take it with him now. That was the only sign I needed, to go after him. I slid the burner into my pocket and grabbed my gym keys.

It had been almost a month since I was last here.

Good ol’ apartments on 88th.

The building almost looked… worse?

It definitely smelled worse.

Fumes hit me like a pan to the face, as soon as I stepped through the entry doors. “Jesus.” I couldn’t help but whisper as I attempted to breath through my mouth.

Making my way to the hallway leading towards the stairs, I noticed a different man approaching. In a place like this one, my general approach would be to keep my head down and keep walking. But there was something about this man that warranted my attention.

Maybe it was the almost pitch black hair he had tossed haywire. Or the deep evenly tanned skin that matched his golden-brown eyes perfectly.

But I was pretty sure it was the obvious gash under his eye, and the creepy ass smile he had playing on his lips.

When his eyes caught mine, I gave him the briefest head nod humanly possible. Luckily, he did nothing but continued on past me.

The creepiest part was that he didn’t stop smiling.

By the time I reached Dante’s apartment, I thought I was going to pass out. The combination of stairs and the smell in that stairwell, was as good as chloroform. I gave his apartment door a few knocks.

“Dante? Are you there?” I asked, digging into my pocket to pull out his phone. I wanted to be able to explain myself before he thought I was some sort of crazy person who couldn’t leave him alone for two seconds.

Which, I mean, I kinda was acting like one.

There was a rustling of metal, before the door was thrown open.

“Hey, sorry. I saw you left your cell and thought just in case of an emergency or something, you might need it-” I stopped himself short when I started to read his wide eyes… then the rest of his demeanor. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Dante’s mouth opened, then closed. It took him a moment before he finally gave me a nod.

“I-I’m okay.” He spoke hesitantly. “I was just wondering- is it… is it too late to start fighting?”

I held Dante’s gaze, with my eyebrows furrowing deeply. “Like… tonight? Or like fight fight? Like competitive fight.”

Was I entering some sort of parallel universe or something?

“ Fight fight.“ Dante replied. “I want to get on the roster.”

I sort of just stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say. “What made you change your mind?” I asked finally.

Dante took a little bit to respond. It looked like he was contemplating something… maybe telling me the truth. I didn’t hold it against him for wanting his secrets, but since he wanted to start fighting in my gym, I was hoping that earned me a shred of honestly.

“The man I was telling you about. My previous relationship. He was, um. He was just here. He found me, and I um-” Dante stopped himself short. My body went into high alert immediately. I took a step closer.

“What do you mean he was just here? Where? In your apartment?” I asked him. Dante looked a little frazzled himself, so I tried to cool my emotions.

“H-He, yeah I think he broke in.” Dante replied. “The locks busted… well, more busted than it already was. It’s not like he took anything, there’s really nothing to take.”

I first glanced down at the lock on the door, which was in fact busted. I was surprised I didn’t notice earlier. Then my eyes darted past Dante, to his apartment. It was dark inside and difficult to make out much, but from what I could see, there was just a sleeping bag on on the old wooden floor accompanied by a half empty backpack.

“Did he hurt you?” I asked. Dante shook his head.

“I knew he wanted to.”

That made my jaw clench tighter. “What did he want?”

He paused a moment. Every time Dante did, I felt like there was a fifty percent chance he would choose not to tell me.

“He wanted me to go back. I told him I wouldn’t.” Dante finally stepped aside to let me fully into his apartment. I could tell his guard was still up, as I entered. Nothing made him release the breathe he was holding until that chain was back on that door.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to break it to him that a monkey could kick this door in if it wanted to.

“He was letting me know he had plans to stick around.” Dante finished.

That last sentence made me want to punch a hole through something- more particularly someone.

I tried to keep my growing anger at bay.

“You don’t have to worry about him, or fighting. I’ll never let him get near enough to see you again.” I told him honestly.

“It’s not that.” Dante replied. He bent down to pick up a piece of paper that was crumpled up on his sleeping bag. Just seeing that sleeping bag on this ruined floor further solidified the fact that I was not going to let him come back to this.

Check or no check. Bed or no bed.

He pulled me out from my thoughts with a question, as he straightened out the paper in his hand. “What can you tell me about the gym Serenity?”

••

38

Sammy

When Friday morning came around, it felt like a hit straight to the face. Judging by Dante’s slow start, I’d argue it was hard on the both of us.

I had walked us back here last night.

Dante was silent yet attentive as I explained to him what Serenity was. Long story short- they were fucking piranhas. The few times Grayson and I had run into them during tournaments, was when we were close to gashing their trainers eyes out for an illegal move, or a cheap shot. If Dante’s ex had taken up with that gym, he might find himself right at home.

Dante then asked about the roster- how the first tournament will look like. I knew he wanted to be put up against his ex, but it really depended on how well they both fought. The way I saw it was this: if Dante makes it to the final rounds and his ex doesn’t- great, I hope the person this ex loses to really beats the shit outta him. If Dante’s ex advances, and Dante doesn’t, I’ll make sure to take that opponent spot and beat the complete shit out of him myself.

With Dante fighting now, however, the whole dynamic of the gym was going to change drastically.

I made it downstairs first to greet Grayson as he entered. Dante was still upstairs slowly getting his morning started. In his defense we had spent most of the night going over everything. Combos, training, sets, equipment.  I didn’t blame him for barely looking alive now.

“Good morning man. Gym looks more ready than I’ve ever seen it. You must be amping for a major training sesh today.” Grayson called out, as he pushed past the equipment rack to let his heavy gym bag fall to the floor besides it.

I couldn’t help the grin that played on my lips. Grayson was going to lose his shit when he found out exactly what we had in store today.

I didn’t even get a sentence in, before Dante joined us downstairs seconds later. I expected him to take a little while due to the sleep deprivation, but the Dante I was met with right now was lightyears different from the Dante this morning.

“Ready to get started?” His gorgeous self asked, with a grin so large and genuine, I had to return it.

“Absolutely, your set of gloves are in the locker room.” I replied. He didn’t waste time getting a move on.

“Wait… gloves?” Grayson questioned. That was when my grin grew.

“Guess who’s decided to fight.”

“What the fuck did I miss?” Grayson broke his concentration from Dante and the novices, to turn and face me.

“He decided last night.” I explained. “He’ll be fighting with our veterans, I already updated the roster with the facilities this morning.” Grayson’s eyebrows raised at that.

“You’ve had quite the productive morning. And talk about a save. I mean I have yet to actually see this kid fight, but if it’s as good as his knowledge, there’s no fucking way we’re coming in second to those fucktards at Serenity.” Just the mention of that gym, made my own eyebrows raise.

Grayson barely brought up Serenity around here- he said it fucked with the energy we’ve created for our fighters.

The truth was, anytime anyone mentioned that name, it got us all riled up.

I did my best to explain to Dante why we had beef with them, but there were some details I had left out. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell Dante, but rather I knew it was a sensitive topic for Grayson.

Years had past since, but the one tournament neither me nor Grayson would forget, was the time Malcom Dick- Serenity’s trainer, put Grayson in a hospital. It was for an illegal strike below the belt that resulted in them getting disqualified for that round, but that was something neither Grayson nor I fully bounced back from.

After that, Serenity became our main target in every tournament, and we became theirs.

I refused to let my guys fight like theirs. I’d reckon some of the guys probably hated me for it, but there was no honor is fighting dirty.

Dante slid on the gloves I had left for him. Almost every novice was looking on in anticipation as he strapped in to spar with Kyle. The look on Kyle’s face was also interesting. He was trying to get a feel for Dante, but it was a challenge to do- even for myself. When I saw him hold his own in that alley… I couldn’t have ever imagined him to be that fast.

But now, I was truly going to get to see everything. To analyze everything.

“Alright, just like we practiced with the pads Kyle. Same combos, just anticipate the blocks we practiced last week.” Dante was kind, but direct. Kyle responded with a short nod as they backed to their respective areas of the mat.

“Alright, let’s go!” Grayson called out to the both of them.

Kyle was the first to move- rightfully so. Dante had been showing him more offensive approaches over the last few weeks, so when he came in with a cross, we expected it.

We didn’t expect the speed in which Dante was able to easily block it. Throwing a cross with his right left Kyle’s right side open. It was only a brief opening, but Dante didn’t hold back. He threw a jab, causing Kyle to stumble back immediately.

“Jesus.” I heard Grayson whisper to himself. “I knew the kid was sharp but- that was a perfect hit. Perfect amount of strength considering Kyle’s inexperience. Perfect everything really.”

I was getting ready to reply, but Kyle went in for another offensive combo before I could. This one was stronger, I could tell that Dante really drilled it into the kid, he managed to land a solid hit on Dante, but that didn’t seem to faze Dante too much. I’d argue he almost allowed it.

There was a switch up however, where Dante rotated before taking a new offensive approach, and putting Kyle in an abrupt defensive position. With the expression on Kyle’s face, I knew it took him by surprise. He did well to keep his body tight as he blocked Dante’s quick hits.

There was more pressure applied this time. It wasn’t anywhere near Dante’s full strength, but he wasn’t easing up on Kyle. There was something there that made me smile- it was almost like an intense dance between these two. When Kyle nailed another combo, you could practically see that exhilaration in both their eyes.

“Keep it tight.” Dante called out to him. “Anticipate.” Kyle lunged again, but Dante hit him with a check hook, safely bypassing that advance.

Grayson and I were at a loss for words as we watched.

••

39

;)

Dante

It was hard for me to tone down the ginormous smile I had, spreading across my lips. Today was hands down the best training day we had since I had started working with the novices.

Being able to spar defensively and offensively with the fighters, brought the combos we had been working on- to life. It felt like Kyle and I were finally completely in tune with what we had practiced, and honestly? I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good to put those gloves on again.

The evening had officially presented itself, which meant training was over, and we’d see everyone again in the morning. I thought Grayson was going to hang back with Sammy, like he usually did, but Grayson let us know he had some things to take care of.

“Don’t sweat it.” Sammy told him seriously. “I’ll work on some stuff here and we’ll see you tomorrow morning, yeah?”

“Absolutely. You two have a great night, and Dante- you killed it today.” Grayson gave me a large smile accompanied with a fist bump.

Now I was absolutely sure I was grinning like a mad man.

Sammy locked up after Grayson, but when he returned to the mats, he surprised me with what he asked next.

“Did you- um… did you maybe want to spar together for a bit?”

I hadn’t noticed how intently I was staring at the beads of sweat he used his shirt to wipe away, but those words made my eyes find his.

“S-Sure.” I nodded, following as he made his way onto the mat. In all honesty, I hadn’t expected for him to ask me. There was a part of myself (a very large part) that was nervous. I wasn’t nervous about sparring, I was more nervous about the complete distraction Sammy was whenever I caught even the smallest glimpse of him.

Watching Sammy fight from afar was glorious because I could study and drool at the same time.

This wasn’t exactly the case anymore.

“Thank you. The hand is doing better, but Grayson’s still been working on more efficient combos until I’m back at one hundred.”

I could already feel the guilt starting to creep through, but I did my best to push it down. Sammy didn’t blame me for what had happened. That’s what mattered… Regardless of how much I blamed myself.

“I think it’s fine. Grayson is just being overprotective.” Sammy joked as we both took positions. That made me smile. Grayson really did look out for Sammy. I’m sure, to Sammy, that felt like he was being smothered alive.

I found out pretty quickly that Sammy liked his space.

It was really evident with the novice fighters, especially when they had a series of questions for him, or tried inviting him out to events. Sammy had this cool exterior that gave “ get to it or fuck off “ vibes.

That made my body warm all over… thinking about how he constantly gave me his undivided attention whenever I spoke. I’m sure it was just him being nice, because there was no way everything I said was anywhere near that important.

Still… I could feel myself getting sucked in immediately when his eyes bore into mine. He was the first to strike, throwing a a sharp jab that almost broke through my block.

Jesus, this man had strength.

I didn’t stay in defensive for more than a few seconds, and when Sammy gave me that opening, I took it. I went in with a left hook- right cross to head.  Sammy was able to block that hit, but I noticed the hesitancy towards his injured hand.

“If Serenity plays as dirty as you say, there’s no way you can give that injured hand away like that.” I told Sammy. And he couldn’t- If Serenity was anything like Shaun, any signs of weakness was sure to be exploited. Sammy gave me strong nod, before advancing again.

His jabs were insane. When he threw another, it took more of me than anticipated to block it. Enough force that it actually knocked me back. I didn’t think I was going to fall, but I wasn’t really given the option to test fate. Instead, I felt myself being pulled forward.

The momentum Sammy had was more than we both anticipated. Instead of me refiguring myself, I lost my footing and accidentally took both Sammy and myself down. Judging from the sound his back made when it hit the mat, I knew that had to hurt.

“Oh my god, shit, I’m sorry.” I mumbled, trying to gather my bearings and detach my limbs from this poor man. I barely even had time to process the fall.

“I-It’s okay.” Sammy groaned out, but his voice sounded off. I must have seriously knocked the wind out of him. At first, I thought I had my hand planted firmly on the mat to lift myself off him, but my wrist buckled and I ended up crashing on his chest again. “I’m so sorry I-”

Before that second apology could leave my mouth, I felt Sammy’s gloves plant themselves firmly on my hips. “Dante.” Sammy whispered hoarsely into my left ear. “Please stop moving.”

As my eyes finally found his, which were now only inches apart from my own, I had a sudden epiphany.

The groans from Sammy actually weren’t due to me body slamming him onto the mat.

Oh no.

In an effort to find some stable footing for my hand that still had the boxing glove on it, I had managed to grind my lower half against Sammy’s.

My attention was now being redirected towards the growing bulge in his pants… and subsequently, the growing bulge in my own.

“I-I’m-” words tried to string themselves along to create a coherent sentence, but my body was burning up at the speed of light. I wanted to look away from Sammy… being this close made me truly believe I was about to go into cardiac arrest.

But those gorgeous eyes…

When his tongue slipped out to moisten his lower lip, I followed every movement like it was my religion.

“I-I should probably…” I whispered out between the silence that only held the sounds of our heavy breathing. Those were words I knew I should have finished.

I was the one who had laid these boundaries down anyways, right?

These bullshit boundaries… I thought to myself.

Before my body could fully register what was happening, Sammy had rolled us over on the mat. This left me on my back, staring up at him as his knees rested between my legs. He held himself up on his gloves just fine, unlike myself.

“ Dante… “

When he said my name, it was everything.

It was a moan, one that made my already restrained cock, even harder.

It was also a question… maybe to ask whether or not I truly wanted this. Truly wanted him.

It was definitely a warning, telling me that once I took that dive there was no running away after.

And maybe, if you asked the Dante from weeks ago, he’d tell you he wasn’t ready for such a dive… but this Dante was not that Dante.

So instead of hiding behind my stupid boundaries, and false sense of security, I slid those irritating boxing gloves off, and brought his lips down to mine.

••

Well hey there lovelies!

How is everyone?

Hopefully surviving.

That’s all I can ask of you to do this year.

I don’t have a whole lot to update you on, but I do have a favor to ask…

Recently, my high ass randomly searched up w

here

the word shiner came from (referring to a black eye) and apparently this word came from this:

“At the time it was said, the skin of black people tended to give off a shine or gleam,the word shiner was first used in the context of shame. Bruising caused by trauma to the eye usually turns black in colour and the word shiner for black eye became a common form of slang.”

Sooooo, that being mf said, I’m doing a sweep of my writing to delete any reference to that word. If you do happen to stumble upon it while reading my work, please please please let me know.

As always, thank you so so much for reading and I’ll see you guys later this week with more updates!

Love y’all xoxo

40

Warning: Explicit Content (;

Sammy

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/803f0ca9ee1347e4b0f6e7d22b7dd915e02c2765/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f67412d626d59676b757370362d413d3d2d3935343037303332342e313633363838663132663033393036363932393036373437313931392e6a7067)               

As soon as I felt his lips on mine again, I couldn’t repress a sigh of relief.

His hands had tangled themselves into my almost undone bun, tugging gently as he held me flush against him. When a moan escaped his own lips, I hastily slid these damn boxing gloves off. I wanted to touch him. Feel his delicate skin against my rougher hands.

His lips were unimaginably soft as they moved against my own. When I took his bottom lip in between my teeth, I heard another moan escape his lips.

“ Fuck, Dante. .“ I groaned against him. With my hands now free from the gloves, I was able to cup his chin further up, granting me more access with this passionate kiss. Then my hand moved further down to his neck. I could still feel the sweat moisture from our training today.

There was so much here I wanted to explore, I felt like I would never have enough time. My hand then moved to the hem of his shirt, before I slipped it underneath the thin fabric. His whole body was hot and sweaty while my fingers were an icy cold contrast. It made Dante shiver against me as my tongue danced against his bottom lip, asking for entry.

When he granted me that access, I let my hand glide up his body towards his nipples, giving them each a light squeeze between my index finger and thumb. That made Dante back responsively arch, before his hips buckled towards me. When they did, I felt his cock grind against mine through my shorts. That unintentionally made me squeeze his nipple just a little harder.

The sound Dante made when I did, forced the tip of my own cock to start leaking with need. I wanted him. Right here. Right now.

I broke away from Dante, and he seemed to be confused at first, but when those same lips latched on to his neck, his eyes rolled back. “ S-Sammy …“ my name slipped past his own lips in more of a struggled moan. His heartbeat was through the roof, I could feel the vein that rain down his neck, continue to pulsate vigorously.

At first I sucked gently on the skin there, still pinching his nipples between my fingers as I worked. He tasted salty from the light layer of sweat, but oddly enough, I didn’t mind at all. When my teeth grazed that sensitive skin where his jawline met his neck, Dante’s fingers tightened their hold in my hair.

A shiver ran through his entire body. “ F-Fuck .“ He mumbled to himself. It sounded like he had fallen into a daze, shaking against me from the sensation.

That made me pull away almost immediately. If I was to go any further, I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t cum in my pants… and that was the type of embarrassment I wasn’t trying to face tonight.

“ Dante .“ I whispered to him, just centimeters away from those perfect lips. “ I want you. “

Those words had sent another shiver through him. His lids were partly closed as he stared back at me. I let my hand leave his nipples, and instead, I redirected that attention to his cock. When my hand palmed him through the fabric of his shorts, he left out another struggled moan.

“Do you want me?” I asked him, applying slight pressure against his cock as I started to massage the hardness of his length. Dante was unraveling beneath me in pants and moans.

“I-I- Y-Yes. “ He barely got out.

I was just about to rip those shorts clean off… but the gym clock going off quickly reminded me of where exactly we were. Through the front windows of the gym, we were also exposed to anyone who decided to look through.

I slowly pulled away from Dante. He practically let out a whimper when I detached myself fully.

“I…” he started slowly. “Did you not-”

It was evident he had no idea what I was doing. “Come on.” I smiled gently, as my hand reached out to help him up. He barely had time to gather his bearings before I started dragging him off towards the back.

Dante

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/0e43255dbc3aedae70783ac2e18ac97e01bb7a01/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f304f4e516b6c6d6a4c79447664413d3d2d3935343037303332342e313633363838656537626537333764643637313335383237343934312e6a7067)               

When Sammy opened up the locker rooms, leading towards the showers, I could practically hear my heartbeat ringing through my entire body. Every ounce of myself was on fire. Even the hand that was perfectly interlocked with Sammy’s.

The only thing going through my mind was the words he had said just moments ago. “ I want you. “

I found it funny he had even followed it up by asking if I had wanted him. At this exact moment, there was nothing I longed for more than him. His touch had done the impossible, soaring far above the expectations I already had in place. When I felt his hand against my cock, I was afraid I was going to rip his golden locks out from the death grip I had on them.

I had chanted over and over again to myself, in hopes of not coming. I didn’t need a repeat of that other night, when I had thoroughly embarrassed myself by coming without Sammy even touching me.

If he could do that, I wasn’t sure I was ready for what was about to come next.

He lead me towards the showers and his hand eventually left my own. I could see he was grabbing some toiletries from his gym bag, before he set those bottles on one of the showers ledges. Then he stepped back a bit, to start running the water. Unfortunately, the showers always took a little bit to heat up.

When his eyes found mine again, my knees almost gave out.

I thought he was going to say something, but he slowly approached me instead.

Those fingers, the ones I was positive now belonged to the devil himself, attached themselves onto the hem of my shirt. All I could hear was the sound of water splashing against the tile floor… and all I could see was Sammy.

His chest rose and fell with deep breathes. He looked so calm and collected, which was the complete opposite of how I was at the very least feeling. His eyes continued to analyze me. He never broke away from my gaze until the shirt momentarily covered my vision. I lifted my hands, allowing Sammy to fully tug off the material.

Wherever he discarded the clothing to, mattered the least at this point. He then allowed those gorgeous eyes to wander. I felt a little less self conscious knowing my injuries had subsided immensely. His fingers trailed against my skin, causing shivers to erupt through me. When he touched my nipples again, I felt myself growing light headed.

He only lingered momentarily, before both hands moved down to my waistline. As I felt those fingers latch on to the elastic band, my cock twitched with anticipation. It had grown increasingly uncomfortable the harder I got.

The gym shorts, along with my briefs, fell effortlessly to the ground. My cock had sprung up to attention as soon as it was freed from the restrictive clothing.

The way Sammy was looking at my exposed self was honestly illegal. I was sure of it.

I did my best to step out of the clothes, lightly kicking them to the side. Sammy licked his lips when he spotted the liquid leaking from my tip. Instead, the only thing he grabbed was my hand, as he lead me towards the running water.

••

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/8ecf2b6d001eda3849c56cc11fc2dc0cf08917e0/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f70536f616c6157356434657242773d3d2d3935343037303332342e313633363838653566616430663165353531383832393536373532372e6a7067)               

41

Warning: More Explicit Content (y’all already know what it is lol)

Enjoy, lovelies!

xoxo

Dante

I took a hesitant step under the shower head. To be quite honest, I wasn’t sure I trusted that the water had sufficient amount of time to get warm… but time right now was awfully undetermined. I couldn’t tell whether seconds, minutes, or hours had passed. When I turned around to look at Sammy, my tongue got caught in my throat immediately.

Sammy had started to strip, himself.

The first thing to go was his shirt. He pulled it off almost effortlessly, exposing that chiseled, well defined body I couldn’t help but salivate over. As the warm water ran over my bare skin, I allowed my eyes to wander freely… past those broad shoulders towards his sculpted abdomen. When his fingers linked themselves onto his shorts, and pulled them down, my breathing ceased entirely.

Sammy was- wow , I mean- just wow .

After stepping out of the fabric, his hands then pulled at the hair tie holding the last few strands of his golden locks together. When his hair cascaded down his shoulders, I quickly cast my gaze to the tile floors. 

I was sure the look I was giving him was just ridiculous at this point. If it wasn’t for the water running down my body, he would have absolutely seen the drool. Sammy looked like some sort of fucking Greek god. 

His excitement was just as evident as my own. As he approached me, his erect cock twitched. I tried to keep my eyes planted on the floor, but Sammy slowed to a stop right in front of me. Some of the water had started to run down the front of his body, demanding all my attention.

“ You can look, you know .“ He whispered hoarsely. I’m sure he had meant to say that a little softer, but his arousal dripped through every word, causing my knees to grow even weaker. His hand reached out through the water droplets to unexpectedly pull me towards him.

When he dipped down to capture my lips with his, I was surprised by how much slower he moved against me- like he was taking his time. Enjoying every part of me.

I felt his hands explore. One thankfully gave my lower back some ample support, because the way Sammy nibbled on my top then lower lip mixed with the warmth engulfing my back from the water, made me feel like I might faint.

I unexpectedly moaned when I felt his cock rub against mine, causing Sammy to pull away slightly. “Turn around.” He whispered to me.

If he had asked me to jump off a cliff in the same cadence and tone, I’d be halfway off it by now.

With my back to Sammy, I couldn’t see too much of what he has doing. At some point, his hand reached past me to pull a few soap bottles off the shower ledge. I heard the the familiar sound of the bottle cap being opened, before something was squeezed out onto his hands. Moments later, his hands were on me.

He started at my shoulders. Not only did he wash me, but he also massaged those fingers deep into the heart of knots I didn’t know I even had. His hands were like magic, spreading their way across my shoulders down to my back… then lower back. I felt like I was melting beneath his touch.

When his fingers moved across to the front of me, I inhaled sharply. His front was now flush against my back and I could feel his hard cock rested between my asscheeks. His right hand didn’t hesitate to grab onto my pulsating cock. As soon as I felt each digit wraps themselves around me, I let out a struggled moan. This was- unexplainably phenomenal.

From behind, I could feel Sammy’s cock close to my entrance. I felt some weight added to my shoulder as he lowered himself down besides me. “Is this okay?” He asked against my ear. The amount of restrain that was obviously woven into those words, gave me goosebumps. I did my best to work a nod in his direction, but Sammy shook his head.

“I need to hear it.” Sammy gave my cock a slight squeeze.

That made my stomach do that thing where it acts like it wants to flip itself inside out.

“Y-Yes.” I struggled to respond with. That was all the go ahead Sammy needed.

He started to give me deep strokes. His other hand gently took mine in his, before he set them on the ledge in front of us. “Hold on to this.” He instructed. My hands proceeded to grip that porcelain ledge for dear life.

When he picked up speed with his strokes, it almost distracted me from the finger I felt prodding at my entrance. The sensation I felt when he slipped the first digit inside, almost made me collapse. This may not have been the place of time, but I silently prayed to God for stronger knees.

Sammy took his time, making sure to comfortably stretch me out. If I was being honest, this may have been the first time I had experiences sex like this. Shaun never took his time with anything.

When Sammy slid that third digit out, I braced myself for what was to come. Instead of that sharp agonizing pain I was used to, all I felt was a little pressure. There was no sudden thrust, like there was with Shaun. Instead, Sammy slowly entered me.

And I meant slowly . Every few seconds of movements, I felt him dip down to my ear. “Does this feel okay?” He asked against me. I’d reply with a struggling yes , but after some time, I wanted more.

“Y-You c-can move m-more.” I practically forced out through a moan. That was when Sammy pushed the rest of himself inside me.

“ Fuck! “ He growled into my ear, causing my entire body to shiver and shake. “You’re so fucking tight- Jesus . Does it feel okay? Can I move more?”

All I could do was nod at this point, but Sammy got the message. He started to slowly pull himself out, before re-entering me with the same pace. His hand that was stroking me, began to apply more pressure.

I felt my body adjust to him inside, sending more waves of pleasure through me than I most likely ever thought possible. Who knew sex could feel like… this .

His thrusts become faster. Deeper . My hands were gripping that ledge so tight, I was pretty positive I was about to yank it straight off.

“ Fuck, baby, you feel so fucking good. Oh my god .“ As he angled himself inside me, I felt that familiar sensation starting to build from within. I could feel my body growing warmer, far past the temperature these showers could reach on their best days.

I hadn’t anticipated for this to come so quickly… but when Sammy tilted my head to the side, and grazed his teeth against the delicate skin, that sensation reached its climax.

“S-Sammy, I-”

I felt his hand tighten it’s hold on my cock, causing me to unexpectedly spasm. “Are you going to cum?” He whispered close to my ear, creating a rippling effect through me.

That was all it took for me to cum violently into his hand.

My fingers gripped that damn shelf so hard, I now fully expected it to break off in my hand. Sammy’s hands wrapped around me for added support, as he continued to pound into me. I could feel my walls closing in around him from my orgasm, but I didn’t expect the sounds he started to make.

“ F-Fuck, Dante,

oh my- fuck! “ It was this most primal growl he released, before he quickly pulled himself out of me and came.

••

42

in Moriarty’s voice

Didyoumissmedidyoumissmedidyoumissme?

Sammy

I felt Dante’s body still vibrating against me.

As soon as I was able to gather my own bearings, I gently turned him around to face me. His eyelids hung low in what I hoped was the result of pure pleasure. Both my arms were firmly on his lower back, practically holding him up.

I couldn’t help but dip down to capture those swollen lips with mine. The moan that erupted from me, was an accurate representation of the levels of content I felt. Dante melted against me, wrapping his arms around my neck as his fingers tangled themselves into my drenched hair.

“Let me finish washing you.” I mumbled against his lips, before my hand reached across to grab more soap.

Dante

My body still felt like I was being turned over a fire like a pig roast. Sammy had spent the rest of our time in the shower, completely on me. He rinsed my hair with this sweet smelling shampoo I had faintly remembered smelling on him before. Then he worked his way down the rest of my body.

It was safe to say I was a nervous wreck the entire time. We had just had sex, yet every look Sammy sent my way, made me feel the most exposed I had ever felt.

When he was finished with washing me, he spent a brief amount of time on himself. I offered to scrub him down but he just grinned, planting a kiss on my forehead. “If I were to ask you to do anything else after what you’ve just done, I’d be a certified asshat. Let’s get you into bed.” Was all he replied with.

Little did he know, that comment would be easier said than done.

I made it upstairs first, to change. Sammy had hung around the locker rooms to do some quick clean up. I honestly debated staying downstairs with him, because watching Sammy walk around the locker rooms dripping wet in a low hanging towel, was the very definition of time well spent.

Instead, I was currently rummaging through my bag for some clean clothes.

I had been trying to keep up with the laundry, but it was pretty clear I was going to need to purchase more stuff. The check had luckily reached my apartment complex okay, which was still an unfortunate bittersweet situation. It meant I was going to finally be able to afford some new clothes, but it also meant that whatever bliss this was staying here with Sammy, would quickly come to an end.

I managed to locate a loose fitted top, and some shorts. The shirt wasn’t all that comfortable, but it was clean so it was going to have to do. I started to get situated in bed, slipping off the socks I had a tendency to put on as soon as my feet touched the hardwood, before fluffing up the flattened pillows.

Sammy’s footsteps practically echoed through the upstairs flat as he walked. I heard him move around the dimly lit room, most likely searching for some clean clothes himself, before heading to bed. Every sound had become so apart of our daily routine, I could almost tell exactly what he was doing behind the half wall separating us.

When I heard the springs of his mattress come to life, that’s when I knew he had finished his post training night routine. I expected to hear the slight rustling here and there before sleep found him, but something else pulled me out from my own sleepy daze.

“Dante?” Sammy whispered quietly out into the silence, that was dulled by the vibrating sounds of the A/C.

At first, I thought I may had just been hearing things, but when I heard him whisper my name again, that secured my attention.

“Yes?” I whispered back.

“Why are you all the way over there?”

My fingers gripped the bedsheet, to stop my heart from doing anything crazy… like beating straight out of my chest.

“I-I didn’t know if- I um-” in true Dante fashion, I stumbled through that sentence with just the right amount of grace.

“Come here.” Sammy replied, cutting my gibberish off. My heart almost stopped completely at that.

Okay Dante, pull it together.

It was going to sound absolutely ridiculous, especially coming from someone who had been in a relationship with someone for years… but Shaun and I never cuddled. Especially after sex. Usually he would leave me to do some night training, then crash in front of the tv on the couch or something.

I didn’t mind- not at all. Every part of his touch made me want to rip my skin off.

But that left me feeling awkward now, as I slowly pulled myself out from the covers, and turned the corner of the wall. Sammy was in bed, with his side table lamp providing the only light in the flat. There was a space next to him, that he patted down. When his eyes watched my movements, I felt all that anxiety I was trying to shove down, come bubbling up again.

I could barely handle being in Sammy’s vicinity for so long, and now he wanted me to physically sleep with him. Dear lord.

“I promise I don’t bite… unless you’re into that.” Sammy chuckled lightly.

I wish he knew the damage he was doing to my heart at the moment.

I slowly slid into the spot next to him, and as I got settled, it was almost impossible not to notice how comfortable his bed was. Like the spare bed he had was wonderful, but this was cloud nine.

Sammy gently pulled me towards him, until I was rest on my side, looking up at him. He didn’t bother to tie any of his hair back, and instead, let it scatter against the pillowcase in all directions.

He didn’t look like he even belonged to the human race anymore. From his golden brown beard, to those perfect blue eyes. I could never normalize how I felt when I caught a glimpse of his beauty.

“You’re so tense.” He whispered. My head was rested on one of his arms, but his free hand that was holding my waist, started to gently massage the area. “I truly hadn’t meant to make you uncomfortable. I promise that wasn’t my intention. If you feel more comfortable sleeping in your own bed, that’s one hundred percent okay.”

I wasn’t able to help it. There was a part of me that wanted to retreat back to that safety. I mean what if I was a terrible sleeper? I could be a cover hogger, or worst, a violent turner…

But glancing up at Sammy again made me shake my head. “I-It’s not that, I just- I’ve never really slept with someone before.”

That made Sammy perk up. “That was your first time?” He asked suddenly.

I almost pimp smacked myself.

“No no! Sorry, that came out wrong. I’m not used to sharing the bed with someone.” I tried to explain. Sammy’s eyebrows furrow deeply, but he didn’t choose to pry- which I was beyond words grateful for.

“That’s okay,” he replied gently, “I haven’t shared my own bed with someone else in a while. We’ll work out the kinks together.”

That’s the last thing he said to me that night… or rather the last thing I could remember, before sleep found me.

••

43

Dante

Spending the night in Sammy’s bed may have been one of greatest nights sleep I had every had. That morning, I awoke with his arm still wrapped tightly around my waist. My back was to Sammy now, allowing me to feel every light breath he release as they fanned the nape of my neck.

My body let out one of those head-to-toe shivers.

“Good morning.” Sammy mumbled groggily against me. That sleepy voice, mixed with the feeling of Sammy’s cock getting hard against my ass, made my breathing hitch.

“G-Good morning.” My stuttering ass replied.

Sammy must have been convinced by now that this stutter was permanent… because I couldn’t for the life of me string anything together coherently around him.

I felt Sammy plant a few light kisses on the crevice of my neck, before he pulled away entirely. I almost whimpered at that loss of warmth.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news so early in the morning, but we’re late.” He sighed. When I rolled over to catch a glimpse of Sammy, he was already out of bed tucking his arousal up into his training shorts.

Training was getting more and more intense as the days went on. I trained with the novices on Friday, but when Saturday rolled around, Sammy placed me with the veterans.

Working alongside them was even more intense. Sammy had Grayson spar with me for literal hours, and by the time our training came to an end, all the fighters were laid out on the mats in exhaustion… even the novices. Though I didn’t have much time to watch their training, I could hear Sammy call them all kinds of names from across the gym.

It made me further realize why they looked at me like I was their savior whenever I came back to train them. Sammy was the definition of tough love when it came to training them.

Much to my dismay, Sammy and I barely managed to get any alone time together. Grayson and him had started putting in more hours after training to finalize work. There was only one week left before our first tournament, and both of them were working that crunch time to its maximum potential.

Sammy still invited me into his bed every night. It was just that most nights, he climbed into it much later than I did. I could feel myself stir awake when his arms pulled me into him, but he was just too comfortable and warm… I would fall back asleep seconds later.

Every morning felt like we were forced to wake up earlier and earlier. I had a shift at Tidal Wave on Sunday, which meant I unfortunately missed the only off day Sammy had. When I returned that evening, Sammy was starting to pull some things out of plastic bags. It looked like it was take out boxes.

“How was the day?” He asked, pulling me in for an unexpected kiss before I barely reached the top stair.

I know it sounded weird, but the only kisses we had shared since that insanely intimate moment Thursday night, was the ones we managed to steal from each other in the mornings before training. They were hasty, but passionate. What I looked forward to most each morning, besides physically waking up next to Sammy.

He pulled away too quickly for my liking. I couldn’t help but noticed how exhausted he seemed when he did. It wasn’t really that physical exhaustion, but rather something more mentally or emotionally driven. It made me wonder what he had been up to today, to look so depleted.

Today wasn’t bad.“ I spoke honestly. “You should probably know I kind of sort of let it slip that we shared a kiss, to Kas. I really really didn’t mean to but she started going on and on about how different I was acting and-”

Sammy’s chuckles made me cut my drawn out explanation short. Seeing him smile had this relaxing affect on my nerves.

“Oh I know,” he replied “she called me on her break to bitch me out about not telling her. She seems to think this is all part of my elaborate plan to take you away from Tidal Wave. I had to put her craziness at ease.”

I smiled sheepishly at Sammy. Hopefully this wasn’t the reason he looked so spent… but something told me it wasn’t.

“I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know how private you wanted this to be.” I explained, taking a seat where Sammy gestured me to. He was setting up the dining room table, which was something he really seldom did. Usually dinner consisted of us both sitting on the couches, working on fighting combos as we ate. Tonight seemed a little different.

Dare I say, more romantic.

“I want this to be as public as you’re comfortable with. There’s no rush to do anything you don’t want to do.” Sammy replied as he plated some deliciously smelling Thai food, and set it in front of me. When he sat down across the table, I could feel my nerves starting to hit.

This definitely felt romantic.

“I uh- um. I know it’s been a little hectic here with the tournament. I’m sorry I haven’t found time for us to be alone. I’ve been so consumed by wanting to make sure the guys are ready for this next weekend… but that should have never consumed all my time. As you can see, I’m still working on finding that balance between work and play.”

I couldn’t help but stare as he spoke. While I had obviously taken note of how much busier everything got, I didn’t really blame Sammy. He had the most on his shoulders right now.

My eyes softened from his words. “It’s okay, really. I can’t begin to imagine the amount of work this takes.”

Sammy sent me a grin that made my face heat up. “I really don’t deserve you.”

As soon as I managed to process those words, my fingers (along with what I’d argue to be every other damn limb in my body) failed to cooperate. Instead of picking up the fork, I managed to fumble with it before I rolled down my body and under the table.

“I-I-I’m sorry, j-just a second.” I rushed out amidst my embarrassment. Once I pushed the chair back to crouch under the table, I could see where it had landed. It was actually right near Sammy’s feet. I reached out to grab the utensil, just as Sammy pushed his own chair back.

When he glanced down, our eyes locked.

“Hey there.” He smiled down at me.

“H-Hi.” I replied from under the table. Regardless of the many chants I sang in my head to not look down… To pick that damn fork up and crawl my way over to my side of the table…

My curiosity won that battle.

When I glanced down, I could visibly see the bulge in Sammy’s distressed jeans, and for a minute there I thought about whether I even had the balls to try something like this.

As my eyes found Sammy’s again, I damn near toppled over from the way he was looking at me. It was far from the sweet look he had given me just seconds ago.

This one was dark, and lust filled.

It practically called my hands to his pants zipper.

••

I’m planning on ending this story by Chapter 50 at the latest… so I thought let’s make this ending as chaotic and sexy as possible;)

As always, thank you guys soooooo much for reading!

Looks like this is #1 in lgbtfiction, and I want to cry.

You guys are phenomenal.

Love you, lovelies.

xoxo

44

Shit, I forgot to upload this with an explicit content warning… we’re all adults here, right?

Lol, enjoy lovelies!

xoxo

Sammy

As soon as Dante’s fingers grazed the bulge through my pants, I let out a shaky breath I wasn’t even aware I was holding. His large alluring eyes had flickered up from the fabric, to catch mine. I felt a knot form in my throat from the anticipation of what was to come next.

He had little trouble undoing the buckle and zipper, but he hesitated as soon as my briefs came into view. “I-Is this okay?” That question came out as more of a mumble, but I heard it clear as day.

“Only if you want to continue.” I replied, attempting to sound as leveled and unbothered as possible. It was impossible to miss the strain in my voice, though. Dante just-

Fuck .

I was incapable of keeping my hands off him.

Dante gave me a nod, and for a second I thought he might shimmy away from his spot between my thighs… but he didn’t. Instead, his fingers freed my raging erection from the thin material. My breathing hitched as soon as I caught sight of my pulsating cock in Dante’s hand, next to his face.

If I got this turned on just by seeing this , I wasn’t sure how well I’d do once he put me in his mouth. Dante didn’t give me much time to find out, or even a warning at that. As soon as his tongue slide out to give my cock a nice long lick, my entire body shuddered from the feeling.

Once he reached the tip, that was when he slid it into his mouth completely. One of my hands immediately reached for the edge of the table, while the other gently cupped the back of Dante’s head. Instant streams of pleasure jolted through me. I could feel his tongue swirling against the tip, causing my hips to buckle on their own accord. I did my best not to force more into his mouth. “ Fuck, Dante. “ A moan forced its way past my lips.

I felt him hum, with his own lips stretched tight around my cock. That almost sent me over the edge.

Sammy, I swear to god, keep it together.

Dante slowly took me further into his mouth on his own accord, causing my head to tilt back. This felt- just fucking incredible. His mouth was so warm… and watching my cock fill it up, made my fingers grip the table even tighter.

“ Fuck, baby… you feel so fucking good .“ Every time he made eye contact with me, I swore to the gods I was going to come. The hand that had been gently supporting Dante’s head, started to apply a little pressure. “I-Is this okay?” I asked him between pants.

Dante nodded his head, causing my cock to move with. I let out a low groan from the feeling. My hand slowly brought him towards me, pushing more of myself inside Dante’s mouth. I watched his face intently for any signs of discomfort, or him just wanting to stop. His eyelids had since lowered themselves, and it looked like he was legitimately trying to concentrate on what he was doing.

That just drove me further insane.

As soon as I was positive I had pushed all of what I could inside of him, I slowly released the pressure, allowing my cock to slip back out. I didn’t let the tip go past his lips, but rather, started to apply pressure again.

I tried to go as slow and gentle as possible, yet it was Dante who started to pick up speed. That was all the go ahead I needed. “Tell me if it gets too be too much.” I told him, giving him one direct nod before I moved faster.

Watching Dante face fuck my cock was unexplainable. I shoved a little more of myself in that impeccable mouth of his, holding it there seconds longer than I did last time, before releasing. I heard Dante choke a moment, so I slowed… but he pushed me back into his mouth like it was nothing.

My hand momentarily slid around to cup his chin. When he glanced up at me again, my heart barely managed to survive the assault.

He was perfect. So fucking perfect.

“I’m going to cum soon.” I whispered hoarsely down at him.

While I had wanted nothing more than to go hours like this, I knew I didn’t have that in me. I had been on the verge of coming since Dante’s gaze lowered to the bulge in my pants, below the table.

Another hum erupted from Dante’s throat, causing my eyes to momentarily roll back. “Y-You d-dont have to swallow if you don’t want to.” I tried to form a coherent enough sentence, but Dante was starting to pick up his speed again.

My hips began to buckle once more, this time with much less control. I tried hard to keep still for Dante, but he was starting to suck the legit soul out of me. His cheeks were hallowed out as his lips moved up and down my shaft, incorporating one hand to massage the base of my cock that didn’t fit in his mouth, while the other fondled with my balls.

“D-Dante I’m serious, I-I’m g-gunna-” I moved to pull away, but Dante just lowered his mouth further. I could feel his gag reflex being triggered, yet it didn’t look like Dante had any plans of moving.

That sent me straight over the fucking edge.

I came hard, with both hands gripping the table in front of me. My momentum with the table was so sudden, I accidentally knocked over the water I had poured in a glass for myself.

None of that mattered now. Not when Dante was still sucking me dry.

Every part of my body felt that orgasm. When Dante finally released my cock from his mouth, I practically collapsed back in the chair. He didn’t waste time shimmying back out from under the table.

I watched in a dazed state as he grabbed a paper towel to wipe up the water that had spilt.

“Oh- you don’t- Let me-… I should’ve cleaned that up.” My voice didn’t even sound right coming out of my mouth. It was raspy and depleted.

My body felt physically drained in general, like Dante had taken the last of my energy with him. It allowed for the feeling of content to wash over me, however, which something I wasn’t used to feeling…

At all, really.

Dante just smiled. “Don’t worry about it.” He tossed the wet paper towels in the garbage bin, then poured me a new glass from the pitcher of water on the kitchen counter. I made sure to thank him when he set the filled glass down next to my plate.

“Can I take care of you?” I asked, as soon as he took a seat across from me again, with a new fork in hand.

That made Dante hesitate for just a moment… but he eventually shook his head. “Let’s tackle dinner first, and see what energy you’ve got after that.” There was a light smirk playing on his lips as he brought his own glass of water to them, and took a sip.

He knew he already swallowed all the energy I had left.

••

45

Dante

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/ac998dca6b9b8051a93e1e58d5c6a67a952a06a6/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f714e7651425943713274533877513d3d2d3935383235363630332e313633383266393935646165633635313732383038343638303835362e6a7067)               

Sammy knocked out almost immediately after dinner. He spent about two seconds kissing up my neck, then I felt his soft breathes as he snuggled closer and drifted off. I didn’t mind, however. The work day had tired me out as well.

That, and we definitely needed some sleep for whatever hell this week brought.

Monday and Tuesday were particularly exhausting. Kassie did her best to cover some hours on Monday so I could train with the team, but the strain from a busy Tuesday night demanded I stay until close.

“I’m so sorry.” Kassie apologized for the nine thousandth time tonight.

“It’s truly okay!” I assured her. “Plus if you didn’t call me in, Howard for sure would have. Tonight was insane.”

“It’s those stupid one dollar shots, I’m telling ya.” Chris grumbled as she passed by.

We had just finished ushering the last drunk customer out. Kassie and I attempted damage control throughout the night, but the empty bottles, glasses, and popcorn everywhere made it seem like we had done nothing. I was just about to slip on a pair of gloves to help Chris sweep, when we heard a knock at the door.

Grayson was standing there, looking slightly confused. Once Kassie got the door open, the first thing he greeted us with was “so now we’re locking the doors, huh? Did Sammy put you up to that?”

He was referring to the fact that Sammy was getting increasingly more strict about liquor. No one was allowed to touch it this week at all, and for good reason. Everyone needed to be at one hundred and ten percent.

Kassie laughed at that. “No, we locked up just in case any strays tried to wander back in. Took everything we had left to clear this place out tonight.”

“Jesus.” Grayson sighed, looking around at the mess. “Well, I’m here to help. Sammy sent me to relieve Dante for the night.”

My eyebrows furrowed at that, but Kassie was the first to respond.

“Two toilets are clogged in the back, and we’ve got some vomit in a urinal again. Get to it, our knight in Under Armour.” She didn’t even skip a beat, before shoving the cleaning supplies in her brothers hands, and disappearing in the back.

Grayson gave me a smile as he approached Chris and I. “A-Are you sure?” I asked him.

“It’s very cute that you think I have a say in the matter.” He chuckled. “But Sammy’s waiting. He wanted to spar with you so you better get moving.”

I handed him the gloves I was just about to slip on, and gave him a quick yet heartfelt thank you before dashing out of Tidal Wave.

As soon as I made it to Fight Club, I could already see Sammy putting in some work with a punching bag through the front windows. There was sweat literally streaming down his body, regardless of the A/C that felt like it was on the coldest mode possible.

“Jesus.” I whispered, shivering slightly as I entered.

It was a literal tundra in here.

“You made it.” Sammy replied, shooting me a smile as he stepped away from the beaten bag, to approach me. “I’d give you a hug, but I’m disgusting right now. Go get changed and we’ll get some practice in before we head to bed.”

I nodded, offering him the same warm smile he was giving me. As I turned to leave, I felt his hand grab my arm, pulling me back. He bent down to give me a soft kiss, before letting go.

“Just had to.” He mumbled to me. That just made my smile grow. I practically sprinted up the stairs to quickly change.

Forty-five minutes later, and I was now one thousand percent grateful for Sammy cranking up the A/C. We were both soaked in sweat from head to toe. I had walked him through practically every combo I could think of, that Shaun might use. For all I knew, it could be either Sammy, Grayson, or myself going against him in this upcoming tournament, and we all needed to be ready.

After what Sammy had told me about Serenity, I didn’t want to imagine what kind of training they were having right now.

“You’ll want to go in with a jab-rear uppercut, not a jab-rear hook.” I instructed Sammy, doing my best to keep up as he went again. The force from his hits tired me out more than I could ever imagine, but I hung in there.

This particular combo I was showing him, was meant to create an opening for a knockout.

It was a combo my father had shown me shortly before alcohol completely consumed him. Though I had practiced it before, I was never given the opportunity to use it. All I could assume was that if he had shown me, my father surely must have shown Shaun.

Sammy was doing well with picking up the movements. There were gaps of time however, where he looked a little distracted. I couldn’t tell what had him preoccupied. When I blocked his left jab, and delivered a hook of my own, he wasn’t quick enough with the block, and my hit got him square in the face.

“Oh shit!” I fumbled forwards immediately, but Sammy just waved it off.

“That was on me. Sorry about that.” He replied with. My hit had left his face a little red.

“You’re doing great… but you seem a little distracted.” I explained, trying to word it in a way that didn’t seem like I was prying, but also let him know I was a little concerned to continue.

Sammy hesitated for a moment, not bothering to move back into our sparring form again.

“Kas- um, she mentioned that you were able to find a mattress?”

I hesitated at his words. That wasn’t what I was expecting. “I think I’ve found one, but I’m really not sure.” I tried to explain. Of course Kassie would mention it to Sammy. She was real gung-ho about me staying here, even after I had explained to her that I already had a place of my own. Not much of one, but it was a place.

“I just- I know we haven’t spoken about it yet, but you’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like Dante.” Sammy spoke. I offered him a small smile. Looks like I’d have to redeliver the same speech I gave Kassie.

“I know, it’s just that… I have a place of my own. A lease I signed. This is your place and I don’t think I could stomach living here expense free like this.” I almost expected Sammy’s face to scrunch up like Kassie’s did when she heard those same words, but it didn’t.

Instead, Sammy took a step towards me. It wasn’t to continue sparring, no, this was different. His demeanor changed. The way he looked at me changed.

“I felt like I reworded that incorrectly. It’s not that you’re just welcome to stay here.” He took another step, getting much much closer to me than sparring would ever really call for. “I want you to stay here.”

That last sentence hit far differently. I hadn’t even started to think of a response to that, before the doors to Fight Club opened.

Sammy and I pulled back immediately, taking a look at who decided to wander in so late at night. I thought I had got the lock on the way in, but that must not have been the case.

The person who walked in, however, stopped me dead in my tracks.

“You know, when I saw your name under a gym like this one, I just had to come pay a visit.”

That voice sent chills through me, like it always did.

It was the suede shoes, the ones with a fancy heel that made a more profound clap as he walked. Those were coupled with some dress pants- a fitted style he had specifically tailored for his build. As my eyes glanced up to the clean pressed black sweater, I knew what face would follow.

Sure enough, it was the face I was hoping only existed in my nightmares.

“Shaun.”

••

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46

Sammy

As soon as those words fell from Dante’s lips, I was on immediate high alert. Though I’d only heard this name a few times from Dante, I knew exactly what I needed to know about this trash of an excuse for a human being.

He didn’t deserve to share the same oxygen as Dante.

The first thing that came to mind as I took in the man that stumbled into this gym, was that I’d seen him before. I recognized him almost instantly from Dante’s apartment. It was the nasty gash under his cheek that sparked that memory. It looked like someone must have finally cleaned it up a little, because there was a bandage there now… however, those features were unforgettable.

He had that same uncomfortable smile as the man I saw walking through that lobby. The type of smile you just want to sink your knuckles into, you know?

Before Shaun was given the opportunity to say or do damn near anything else, I was in front of Dante in a heartbeat.

“The gym’s closed.” I spoke, in a voice I almost didn’t recognize. It was dripping with every ounce of maliciousness I felt.

Shaun’s smile dropped slightly at my words. His eyes  were first on Dante when he entered, but now they had gravitated towards me and were giving me a once over. Wherever they wandered, made my skin crawl in disgust.

“The sign outside had said that walk-ins were available. That, coupled with the door being wide open, I just thought-”

I pulled the stretchy bands up, allowing my foot to slip through as I stepped out of the boxing ring effortlessly. Dante had started to say something, but he stopped himself short. Or I ignored it. I really couldn’t tell, but it was one of those two. I hadn’t meant to, of course… my anger was overpowering most of my senses. Not all, but most.

“This gym is closed to new members.” I stated. It was just a few more steps, before I’d be in range to throw a punch… his face would have looked perfect after I was finished with it.

But that wasn’t the objective tonight.

Don’t get me wrong- I wanted nothing more than to paint the mats with his blood right now, but there were a couple important things holding me back. One was the fact that he could call the cops. This was very much still a business, and I didn’t need heat like that so close to our first tournament. I’d be letting all the guys here, down.

The second thing holding me back, was personally a little more important to me than the cops being called. It was the whole reason I allowed myself to continue fighting. To open up this gym. It was the only thing still keeping me in line.

I only fought in self defense.

I had made a personal promise to never get there again… but as I took another step towards him, I really did debate whether just this once I could break it.

“No new members, huh?” Shaun asked. “Seems like Dante here got added pretty quickly.”

When he first spoke, Shaun’s voice was collected. He damn near walked in here like he owned the building. Now, I could hear the irritation with every word. The smile that was once playing on his lips, was nowhere to be seen. It left with the control he once had. That shift was immediate, and for sure imitated the actions of one mentally unstable man.

I would be lying entirely if I said he didn’t have a large build… but I still had height and weight on him. Sizing him up proved close to nothing, however. It was impossible for me to tell his skills as a fighter. His body led me to believe he had some speed to him, though. Something Dante had warned me about tonight.

“No new members.” I reiterated, taking another step closer. “So I’ll say this one last time- the gym’s closed.”

I was almost taunting him now. Daring him to take that first swing. Letting him know my hands were itching to make some contact.

But he didn’t. Instead he took a step back, putting more distance between us.

“Understood.” He nodded. That word held damn near no emotion. “I’m looking forward to see what you can do… both in and out of the ring.”

My body responded to that challenge like it did with any. I took another step forward, making him back up towards the door. “Likewise.”

That was the last thing I said before he pushed the door handle, and backed up onto the streets of NYC. My eyes never left his, until he turned around. Once his body finally disappeared into the darkness of the night, I locked up quickly.

“I can’t believe that was the man that broke into your apartment. If I had known when I saw him leave-” my words were cut short once my eyes found Dante. He was still standing in the ring, frozen. I quickly closed the large distance between us. “Are you okay?”

At first, it looked like Dante hadn’t even heard me. His eyes were still glued to the door that Shaun had just walked out of. Before I could ask again, Dante’s lips twitched up into a weary smile. “I guess I’d argue I’m as okay as I could possibly be, given the circumstances. I should have known he’d find the place sooner or later, I guess I was just banking on the latter.”

I gave him an understanding nod, yanking my boxing gloves off so I could pull him closer to me.

“I’m not going to let him hurt you-”

“You can’t promise something like that.” Dante replied, cutting me off. “Not now anyways. Not when I’ve decided to fight.”

And I guess he was right. I couldn’t promise Dante he wouldn’t get hurt inside that ring.

I could, however, promise Dante he wouldn’t be touched outside of it.

••

47

Dante

That visit from Shaun lit a fire under Sammy’s ass.

Literally.

He kept us both down in the gym for another hour, putting more effort into the combos I’d shown him, than I possibly ever had with my father. But it was that intoxicating energy, the type of energy that made me want to do more. The type that damn near knocked me out as soon as I hit the sheets.

And we trained like this every evening until Saturday rolled around.

Regardless of how busy the week was, Sammy still managed to find some time for us. It was the moments in passing when he’d pull me aside for a kiss, that made everything easier to stomach. I wanted more, of course, but I knew it would come after this tournament.

“How are the nerves?” Sammy asked, as he and I held the entrance doors open for the team. I sent him a small smile.

“Could be better. Could always be better.”

And I wasn’t wrong. My nerves had a way of acting up before a fight… but this was going to be my first time fighting in years. Nervous couldn’t begin to describe how I felt.

As we entered the building, I did my best to take in every surrounding. There were fighters all over the place. Some getting photos taken, while others looked to be gearing up for their first fight.

“The novices are up first.” Sammy explained to me, as he led us towards a table that had the words Fight Club printed on a card. Some of the young fighters were already stripping down to their shorts in anticipation for what was quickly approaching. “It looks like we might get to watch a round before the veterans are up. Any particular idiot you’re interested in?” He asked, leaning over to show me the roster.

I couldn’t help but smile as I pointed to Kyle’s name.

“Look at me.” Sammy demanded Kyle’s attention, forcing him to rip his eyes away from the ring. “That’s Russo in there.” He pointed to the man standing in the ring. “I haven’t heard much about him but Grayson said Jump In’s Gym switched all their training just days prior to today. Regardless of what you think you know, expect the unexpected.”

I could see the energy bubbling up in Kyle. Even though he acted uninterested, he had definitely heard Sammy. When his eyes found mine to ask for my own two cents before the fight started, all I could do was shrug.

“I don’t have anything to prep you with, but trust yourself… and go kick some serious ass.” That made Kyle’s smile spread across his face.

“You got it, coach.”

Sammy and I remained at our side of the ring, watching as Kyle pulled himself onto the mat. “What are you thinking?” Sammy asked me.

My eyes remained on both fighters, but I was analyzing this Russo kid. He was around the same height and weight as Kyle, yet the way his legs moved as they geared up for the first round, had me nervous.

“He seems quick.” I told Sammy honestly. “Kyle’s good for speed, but his reaction time needs improvement. This could be a close match.”

Sammy nodded in agreement, as we stepped back to watch the fight unfold.

It was safe to say my predictions were correct. The fight between Kyle and Russo was intense. Kyle had started with a lead, taking a more aggressive offense approach. Russo was even quicker than I predicted, however. He was able to block and maneuver with ease. When he sent a straight jab Kyle’s way, Kyle wasn’t able to block in time.

Sammy and I both grimaced as Kyle went down.

He didn’t stay down though. I saw him spring to his feet as soon as the ref approached. “Fuck yeah, Kyle! Come on now!” I found myself unexpectedly cheering. That brought a smile to Sammy’s lips as he joined in.

“Fuck him up!”

Kyle glanced back for a second, sending us a wink before he got back into his groove.

The fight only lasted a few more rounds. The hit Kyle took had thrown his game off slightly, but he managed to land a stellar combo, throwing Russo back on the mat. I saw the man struggle to get up, but anyone with eyes could tell how powerful that right hook was. Once the ref called it, Kyle almost fell out of the ring running towards us. Sammy caught him effortlessly before he could face plant on concrete.

“Did you see that?!” He exclaimed as soon as Sammy set him down.

“Hell yeah we did!” Sammy replied with energy I had honestly never seen directed at Kyle before.

“I did that right hook combo Dante showed me! Fucking nailed that bitch!” Kyle continued. I couldn’t help but smile as I pulled him in for a handshake. Instead, Kyle full on hugged me. My body went rigid almost immediately, but I allowed it. “Thank you.” He whispered to me, before pulling away seconds later. “I gotta go brag to Grayson! Maybe I’ll take him on next!”

That was the last thing he said, before disappearing into the crowd that had started to disband.

“That was a stellar combo.” Sammy spoke, turning towards me. “I don’t think I’d ever, in a million years, expected that to come from Kyle. What kind of voodoo shit did you pull with my novices?”

I chuckled at that. “Nothing you haven’t done, I promise. That’s your combo he used out there. I switched the cross with a hook because Kyle would have more momentum then.”

Sammy’s smile slowly grew. “You- wow. I’m not sure what forces brought you into my life, but it’s enough to make me a believer.” His voice was playful, but those eyes said something different. Those eyes were currently telling me I was wearing too many clothes.

It was the announcement which came through the intercom, that interrupted us.

“It looks like the veterans will be starting now. You ready?” He asked me.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

And surprisingly, I was. I’d argue Fight Club as a unit, was. All our veteran and novice fighters advanced through the first two fights with ease. Sammy delivered a knockout blow to every opponent he had. I had wanted to watch him fight, but my fights and his had overlapped.

I was able to catch Grayson’s third fight, however. It was against Malcom Dick. Sammy mentioned that name once before when he spoke about Serenity, but he didn’t go into specifics. Seeing his title as Serenity’s trainer, made much more sense now. The way Grayson eyed him down led me to believe there was some bad blood here.

“This ones going to be intense.” Sammy whispered to me. We were both standing on our respective side, looking up at the two fighters as they begun. Grayson was powerful, but he wasn’t managing to land anything on Malcom.

Sammy’s arms tensed up when Malcom delivered a powerful blow to Grayson.

Grayson stumbled back, but he didn’t fall. I was surprised by how quickly he was able to recuperate. When he finally landed a hit on Malcom, I saw Malcom stumble back. What I wasn’t expecting, was what followed next.

Malcom bounced back almost immediately to deliver a robust jab that threw Grayson on his back.

“ Fuck .“ Sammy whispered under his breath. We watched as the ref called the match.

••

48

Updating all day today ✨

Dante

The fight was over just like that. Sammy stepped in the ring to check on Grayson, but Grayson swatted his hand away. “That’s some fucking bullshit.” I heard him cuss under his breath as he got out of the ring. While I wanted to comfort Grayson, Sammy’s hand rested on my shoulder to stop me.

“He’ll be fine. He’s gotta go take it up with the punching bags- let him get that anger out first.” I gave Sammy a nod. “Plus, we’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

That made me glance back at Sammy. He was pointing to the board that had been updated for the final rounds. If Grayson had won, that meant that he was going to fight Shaun. Because he lost, my name was now in the bracket against Shaun… and Sammy’s name was pitted against Malcom’s.

“Are you ready?” Sammy asked me for the nineteenth time that minute. I gave him a look as he finished rewrapping my hands.

“It’s a little too late now, if I’m not.” I replied, glancing past him at Shaun who was already standing in the ring. He was shooting daggers through Sammy’s back right now, with intensity I was used to him giving anyone who showed me the smallest bit of attention.

“I could always go take care of him for you.” Sammy offered, drawing my attention back to this gorgeous man. I couldn’t help but smile at that.

“I don’t think that’s how this works, Sammy.”

He rolled his eyes my way, but helped me slide the boxing gloves on. “Most ref’s are pretty much blind anyways. I doubt this one will notice.” I laughed at that, giving Sammy a playful punch.

“Roster says this is my mess to clean up.” I glanced back at Shaun again. Maybe it was my nerves getting the best of me, but he seemed much larger now than he did just seconds ago. Seeing those familiar black shorts on him, brought back not so fond memories

“Don’t psych yourself out. Keep that focus.” Sammy spoke as I started to pull myself onto the mat. “And Dante?” He added, causing me to glance back. “Fuck that motherfucker all the way up .” The look he gave me in that exact moment, made all my nerves cease to exist.

I bent down, feeling beyond the status of bold, to capture Sammy’s lips with my own. It was a brief peck, but just what I needed to hoist myself up into the ring.

Shaun’s facial expressions said it all when our eyes locked.

He wanted to kill me.

But that was a missed opportunity on his part. I didn’t plan on giving him the chance again.

Once the ref initiated the fight, I was in go mode. His fighting style mimicked that of my fathers to the T. I barely managed to block the first hefty blow that came with incredible speed. It made me briefly lose my footing. His second hit was met with a counter attack on my part though, a move I hadn’t done in a very long time. One that brought me back many years to a less pleasant memory with my father…

“Keep your footwork light. You need to be able to breakaway at any point, especially if your opponent is taking the offense approach. If I deliver a left cross, put your arm up like this-” my father directed me, raising my arm up to block his slow hit.

“You got that?” He asked.

I gave him a nod. I knew he’d hit me if I didn’t.

Then he delivered one full force

punch

, without warning. My arm hadn’t been quick enough to block that one. It threw me back on the mat, busting my nose open.

But today was different. I was no longer twelve, for starters.

My arm blocked that hit, before delivering a fierce body hit that threw him back. Shaun grimaced, eyes wide as he attempted to find his footing again. That was when the ref called round one.

Malcom and Sammy both entered the ring seconds later, to check in on us. Sammy handed me a water bottle, as he wiped the sweat off me. On the other side of the ring, Malcom reached over to take a look at the hit I had landed on Shaun, but Shaun practically shoved him back.

“Don’t touch me.” He seethed at Malcom. Malcom tossed the water back at him, clearly irritated, before climbing back out of the ring.

“You’re doing great.” Sammy spoke, dabbing the rest of the sweat from my neck. “But don’t let your guard down. It looks like he was gearing up for an illegal swipe there.” My eyes grew large at that.

I hadn’t even noticed.

I gave Sammy a nod. “Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen.”

That was the last thing I said to him, before he stepped back out of the ring.

The ref had barely called for round two, when Shaun charged for me again. This time he was quicker, landing a righteous hit to my right side, exactly were my previous injury was. I doubled over quickly in pain, but Shaun didn’t back away. He delivered another cheap shot to my face while I was down. One I couldn’t block in time. That was when the referee intervened, yanking him back.

My vision blurred for a moment, causing stars to form… but I quickly blinked them away. Sammy’s voice came through from somewhere behind me, shouting above the noice of the crowd, to hang in there. That got me to my feet again.

When Shaun came for me again, I managed to block, then deliver a counter combo of my own. He blocked the more powerful hits, but it was left hook that caught him. I expected him to fumble back, however he surprised me.

He pulled the same moved Malcom had, by swiftly recovering to deliver another hit. This one was at my side again, causing me to fall back onto the mat. My vision had started to get hazy again.

There was one voice piercing through it though. The voice of my father.

“Are you paying attention?” My father asked, whacking me hard on the back of my head when he noticed I was playing with an ant on one of the gym mats. “I won’t tell you twice, boy. You better tighten up.” He threw another punch my way, forcing me to block it. It was part of this combo we’d been working on all week. I waited

for

the right cross- left hook- right cross, but instead of the right cross, he hit me with an uppercut.

That threw me back on the mat hard.

“You might know the moves, but you will never know the fighter like they know themselves.

“ He spoke, taking a step towards me. “

They won’t always fight fair, and a day will come when you understand that. A good fighter isn’t always one who predicts everything, it’s one who anticipates anything.“

I blinked back the tears from the pain, as I slowly stood to my feet again. It felt like Shaun may have cracked a rib or two, but I couldn’t showcase that pain.

Shaun didn’t hesitate as he came for me again. This time, I let him. He delivered a hard blow to my face, that I was only able to partially block, then he landed a massive blow to my ribs. The pain was excruciating … but necessary.

Him aiming for my exposed side, left an opening for me. As I buckled from that last hit, my fist came up with the last ounce of strength I had. I landed a powerful uppercut, throwing him back onto the mat.

I half expected him to get up again, like a cockroach that didn’t want to die.

But he didn’t.

And the ref called the match.

••

49

One more chapter left and I just- ahhhh.

Thank you so so much for reading, lovelies!

Dante

Sammy had to help me get out of the ring.

“You were amazing out there.” He commented, letting me place most of my weight on him until he got me firmly planted on the ground. “But I seriously think we need to take you to the hospital.”

“No!” I rushed out quickly. “I-I mean, I want to watch you fight.”

Sammy’s eyes softened at my words. “Let me at least find us a first aid. We’ll wrap it up, then get it checked out after the award ceremony.”

I gave him a nod, allowing Sammy to guide me through the windings of the the building hallways. Sammy seemed to know the building like the back of his hand, and he was able to locate the med room with ease.

My side was already turning a deep purple from where Shaun had targeted it. I hadn’t even stayed around to see what had happened with him. It looks like someone had entered the ring to help him out.

All I knew was that I had done what I came to do. Beat him.

“Is this okay?” Sammy asked, gently placing some gauze where the bruise was, to add a little padding before bandaging me up. I gave him a nod, watching as his hands delicately wrapped the fabric. “I’ve got to go get ready for this fight, but come out when you’re good and ready. Most of the team is done fighting so they’ll be out there watching as well. It’s time for me to settle this with Malcom.”

I watched him yank his Fight Club shirt off, before tossing it my way.

“I asked them to drop the temp out there, so you might want to throw that on.”

I slowly pulled the shirt over my head, working hard to remain as still as possible so I wouldn’t ruin Sammy’s handiwork. “Thank you.” I gave him a smile. “Go wipe the floor with Malcom.”

Sammy’s lips twitched up into a smirk. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

As soon as he left, I released a shaky breath I didn’t know I was holding. It caused pain to shoot through my injured side. “Shit!” I hissed, buckling over slightly.

“Looks like I got you good.” Shaun’s voice filled the room, causing my entire body to tense up. When my eyes found his, I almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He could barely keep himself up. It looks like my punch had knocked out one of his upper teeth.

“I’d say it looks like I got you good.” I replied with. Seeing him like this was honestly the farthest from intimidating. It was just pitiful.

“It was a lucky shot.” He replied with. My eyebrows just raised at that. He and I both knew that wasn’t a lucky shot. I had sacrificed my side for it.

“What are you doing here, Shaun?” I asked, already done with this conversation before it really began. He took a step towards me.

“You kissed him. That fighter out there- Sammy. I came to teach you a lesson. Remind you of who you belong to.” Before he could take another step, someone else’s voice cut through.

“Dante doesn’t belong to anyone.” Grayson replied as he approached me. He had a sharp look on his face- like he was on high alert.

“So if there’s a problem here, allow us to help address it.” Kyle added, as he also joined us in the med room.

It was Shaun now, who looked caught off guard.

“I see you’ve made some friends.” He took a step back towards the door. “They won’t always be around to protect you.”

“We’ll see about that.” Grayson replied, staring Shaun down. Those were the last words spoken before he left. As soon as he was gone, Grayson turned to me. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

I shook my head. “Not outside the ring. I don’t have any intentions of letting that happen again.” Grayson’s eyebrows furrowed at that, but he didn’t push it. There was a lot I had yet to explain.

“We better get a move on, then. Sammy’s fight is about to start.” Kyle reminded us, as we started to make our way back towards the main arena.

Once Sammy’s feet made contact with that mat, I saw something in him switch. He no longer had that easy going smile, and simple demeanor. Oh no. The Sammy in that ring was someone else.

Him and Malcom made the referee look like a freaking ant out there. I didn’t know whether or not it was fear I detected, but the ref got as far away as possible as soon as he called for round one to begin.

Sammy was the first to move. He was quicker than I could possibly ever imagine. His first hit to Malcom was blocked almost effortlessly, however. Then Malcom sent a fierce jab Sammy’s way. Sammy didn’t even block it, he full on dodged it.

If I had blinked, I would have missed damn near all of this first round. Sammy was fighting in an offense style I’d never seen before, with agility I’d never seen before. It was rough, yet clean at the same time. The type of fighting style you’d see on the streets, but much tighter. Malcom set up a lead hook body to a lead hook head combo, but dipped at the last moment to add a cross lead hook.

Sammy hadn’t anticipated it, resulting in his body being thrown back. That hit was so hard, the noise it made when Malcoms glove made contact with Sammy’s skin, echoed through the arena. It took Sammy some time to find his footing again. I was surprised he was still standing.

A hit like that would have knocked me out.

“Sammy can really take a hit.” I whispered to Grayson. He gave me a nod.

“He’s been working on building up that resilience. Watching him and Malcom go at it makes me realize I didn’t stand a chance against him. Sammy’s much quicker, yet almost none of his hits are landing. Malcom’s gotten better since last year.”

I glanced between Malcom and Sammy. The ref didn’t even insert himself between the two, he just called for the first round. Once Sammy made it to his corner, Grayson jumped into the ring with a bottle of water and a towel. They exchanged minimal words, words I couldn’t hear from my place in the crowd.

I saw Sammy nod, before Grayson left him. The fighters only had a minute between rounds, but I could’ve sworn it felt like seconds before round two was called. Grayson joined me again in the front of the crowd.

“He needs an opening.” Grayson commented. We watched Sammy deliver neat combos, but Malcom was a different breed entirely. Every hit was either blocked or dodged. When Malcom countered with a rear uppercut, Sammy was able to block it, but he missed the following cross.

That threw Sammy to the ground almost immediately. He bounced back quickly though, shaking the hit off.

And just like that, round two was called.

“Why don’t you go up there.” Grayson spoke, handing me the water and towel. “I think he needs a different kind of motivation.”

••

50

Sammy

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/fc87b8f10ec1b6216b983066ae2636a2ac83e020/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f506d743138357349415f2d4468673d3d2d3935393130333737332e313633386231323038626130343762373135313236343935353730312e6a7067)               

I watched as Grayson helped Dante up into the ring. “Hey hey hey, what the hell are you doing? You need to take it easy.” I chastised him, but he waved his hands in a quick dismissal.

“We don’t have much time.” He said, handing me my water and towel. “Malcom is good. Really fucking good. But you’re better, Sammy. Stop looking for an opening- create one . Use the 1>6>3>4 combo but switch that rear uppercut with a rear hook. Malcom is favoriting his right side. Use that against him. Hows the hand?”

Dante was talking so quickly, I barely managed to follow. Once my brain finally processed that there was a question there at the end, I gave him a nod. “It hurts but I’ll manage.”

He extended his hands so I could hand him the towel and water. “Kick some ass so we can get to the celebrating part already.” He said, sending me a wink. That got me riled up in the best way possible. The things I was going to do to Dante once all this was over…

The very first thing was going to be taking his ass to the hospital.

“Yes, coach.” I replied, watching as Grayson helped him back out of the ring. There was only seconds left on the clock before round three. It was time to get serious.

Malcom had one of his novices coming in on break to hand him water and a fresh towel. I thought he might of had Shaun do it, but judging by the state Dante put him in, It didn’t look like Shaun would be getting back in this ring anytime soon. I also didn’t think that Malcom liked Shaun much at all. The novice scrambled to quickly get out of the ring, in preparation for the third round.

As soon as the ref called it, Malcom was the first to strike.

He threw a combo in my direction. I blocked the first few punches, but I allowed to last one to it me. It damn near knocked the wind out of me, however, it also opened up his left side. I lead with the combo Dante told me about. It was a knockout combo we had practiced this week, but Dante tweaked it a bit.

With that left side exposed, I was able to land a jab, rear hook. I put all my strength into it, envisioning my hand going straight through the side of Malcom’s face. My hand was soaring with pain as it made contact, but I pushed past it. That follow through resulted in Malcom crashing onto the mats.

His body went limp from the knockout.

I half expected him to get up again, but that hit was too much for anyone to bounce back from. I made certain of it.

There was a moment of silence, before the crowd behind me lost their shit. Malcom hadn’t lost a match in years. He damn sure hadn’t been knocked out before. The ref barely had time to call the match, before I was being tackled by my team.

“That was fucking beautiful!” Kyle exclaimed with excitement. I had to literally rip him off of me.

“I got a photo of you right as you knocked him out. In the process of making prints as we speak.” Grayson added, flipping through his phone photos with a satisfied smile playing on his lips. I was happy to see the guys, but there was someone in particular that I owed a thank you to .

Dante was still in the crowd cheering excitedly. I jumped out of the ring effortlessly, before pulling him in for a tight yet gentle hug. “You fucking killed it!” His grin from ear to ear made this victory ten thousand times better.

“I couldn’t have done it without you.” I replied. “Quite literally though, that knockout combo was perfect.”

Dante broke eye contact with me, to look away bashfully. “Don’t say that.” He mumbled. I just chuckled.

“It’s true, though. I was starting to lose stamina there. Malcom really put up a fight this time.” We both glanced back to the ring. Someone from his team had helped him up now. You could see the blood I drew with that last punch, all over the mat. It was mixed with droplets of sweat.

Even though the arena was in subzero temperatures, I literally couldn’t stop sweating. The mat would have been a slip and slide if I fought in normal temperatures.

“Let’s get you cleaned up before the award ceremony.” Dante said, as I allowed him to guide me back to the med room I had brought him to earlier. As soon as Dante got a good look at my hand, he scowled at me. “This isn’t looking good, Sammy. You really overdid it.”

There was a weak smile playing on my lips.

“I didn’t want to let the team down… I couldn’t let you down.” That made Dante’s scowl disappear almost immediately.

“You could never let me down.” Was what he replied with. I watched as he unrolled the compression wrap, before starting to bandage my hand. “The only way I’d be let down is if I couldn’t see you fight again. That will happen if you don’t take care of this hand.” He added.

I gave him a nod. The hand did look pretty busted. I was probably going to have to sit out our next tournament, depending on how soon it was. That was pin to piss Grayson right the fuck off, but me beating Malcom meant more to Fight Club than me sitting out some fights.

“You have my word that this hand will be protected at all costs.” I told Dante. He rolled his eyes at me, but pulled me in for a quick kiss. I went ahead and deepened that bitch cause why the fuck not. All the fighting was over now anyways.

His hands wrapped themselves around my neck almost instinctively, as I pulled him closer. His mouth was swollen from where Shaun had landed that cheap ass hit, and both of us had the irony taste of blood in our mouths, but I didn’t mind. Dante didn’t seem to either, as he moved passionately against me. We were interrupted by someone clearing their throat at the doorway.

“They said I missed all the action. Looks like I showed up for just the right amount.” Kassie spoke, causing me to pull away from Dante. “Oh please, don’t stop on account of little old me. I was just about to pull up a chair.”

“You’re ridiculous.” I chuckled, pulling her in for a hug as she approached us.

“I heard you two kicked some serious ass out there.” Kas beamed at Dante, he offered her a grin twice that size.

“Just a bit.” That reply made Kas’s smile grow.

“Well, we better get moving. It looks like the award ceremony is going to start soon. I can show you were it’s located Dante, while Sammy gets cleaned up.” He gave her a nod, setting the rest of my things on one of the med room tables.

“I’ll see you out there.” He spoke to me. I gave him a nod.

“Well done, Sammy! Grayson sent me the photos. He’s making fridge magnets.” Kas added. That made me laugh, as I watched the two disappear down the hall.

Reaching into my gym bag, I went to grab another towel, but it was the vibrations from my phone that distracted me.

The screen said the call was coming from an unknown number. I debated answering it or not. Maybe it was just a telemarketer? The area code seemed right though…

“Hello?” I asked, picking up the call.

“Sammy.” Uncle Jimmy replied almost immediately. My fingers tensed as soon as I heard his voice. “Hopefully I didn’t reach you at a bad time. How was the fight?”

“It-um, it went well. I beat Malcom. Um- why are you calling? How did you get this number?” Confusion was pretty evident in my voice now.

I could hear him chuckle through the line. “I got your inquiry about that little problem you were having. Everything comes back to me, Sammy. Don’t you forget that.” He added. I could feel a lump forming in my throat. I knew I should have left it alone… But Dante’s safety meant everything to me. “Consider that little problem of yours, handled. But keep in mind, I may have a little problem myself that needs handling one of these days. I expect you to come when I call… because why?” He asked, waiting for me to finish that sentence.

“Family takes care of family.” I replied, ending the call.

Fin

••

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/e34542592cbca106865f56428ce9cab7fdcc6c67/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f416e37465a6c4c2d3269766a74413d3d2d3935393130333737332e313633386231303936343238336536653937353035343531363534352e6a7067)               

First off, thank you to everyone who picked this book up and gave it a chance. I am just- wow, beyond words grateful.

This was honestly so much fun to write and I now know more about boxing than I thought possible lol, but hopefully the fighting scenes were easy to follow!

Finishing this book means a lot to me. I am now over the moon excited to start Book 3 of The CEO’s Trilogy!

Once chapter one is up, I’ll update this book and I’ll also send a notification out.

As always, thank you thank you thank you thank you.

I love you guys

xoxo

New Book Alert!

Christian has finally done it.

Made things official.

But it wouldn’t really be their love story if one of their families didn’t cut that budding, love filled trip short.

What Alex and Christian will return to, will have these two questioning everything… like whether blood is really thicker than water.

And how soon is too soon for marriage.

••

Book Three (Finale) to The CEO’s Kryptonite

  ![](https://img.wattpad.com/bca42d1ab69ce3566eb0ff3e39704ca57a01b620/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f3837733976694e74394d75754f673d3d2d3935393337303236362e313633386436343639343934633763363334313931353735363934382e6a7067)