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“Hey, Ty!” he greets me as I enter the garage.
“Hey.” I nod to him, tossing my phone and keys onto my workbench.
“So?” Jake smiles at me. “How was it? First day back in the ring, I bet it felt good.”
An immediate feeling of unease takes over me at the thought of what happened last night, and how not good it felt.
“Yeah.” I nod and give him a small smile, pushing down the unsettling feeling and reminding myself that it all ends tonight. It was a one-time thing, and it won’t happen again.
Jake smiles with a chuckle. “Put Luca in his place?”
I offer a small chuckle in return, even though I know it sounds forced. “Just some drills. Starting slow.” I look down at my bench, pulling out the tools I’ll need for my first job and avoiding Jake’s gaze.
“Good plan. Happy for you, bud.”
I look up at him again, giving him another small, tight smile. “Thanks.”
But as I turn away from him, I close my eyes and sigh. In eight hours, I’ll be back in the ring, and can prove that it’s all ok. I can get my head back in it, and get over whatever the fuck this is.
Because I am not afraid.
FOUR
I love days off.
Lounging on the couch with nowhere to be, jamming to some good tunes, playing some PlayStation… I should really do this more often.
But as great as this day has been, it’s about to really pick up. Because it’s gym time, and as everyone is still at work, I’ll have the whole space to myself.
“Hey, Luca,” Max greets me as I enter the gym. “Not working today?”
“Nope.” I smile at him. “It’s a self-care day. Doing all my favorite things.”
Max chuckles. “Good for you.” He puts a stack of towels on the shelf and looks over his shoulder at me. “I missed the end of your drills last night. I’m surprised you finished so quickly.”
I nod as he continues to eye me, like he’s trying to figure something out. Like maybe he knows what I think I know, what Ty apparently doesn’t know but probably does and just doesn’t want us to know.
“Yeah,” I shrug, playing it totally cool, “we skipped out on the flow drill. Excitement of being in the ring with Ty had me wanting to get home real quick, if you know what I mean.” I wink at him with a knowing nod.
Max laughs and shakes his head. “Well, ok then.”
But as he puts his hands in his pockets and eyes me again, I can tell my deflection isn’t working quite as well as I had hoped.
“Hopefully this transition back into training is a good one for him,” he says.
I just nod with a smile, hoping for the same and not even entertaining the idea that it won’t be.
“There’s not much time left until your next fight in Dallas, so I want to go over your training plan,” Max says, thankfully moving on and getting down to business. “I want to see you continue your grappling and pull it all together with full sparring.”
“Got it,” I nod again, this time with determination.
“I’ll meet with you and Ty this weekend, and we’ll go over your training schedule.” Max turns towards his office. “I’ll be here working if you need me today.”
“Thanks, Max,” I say as he heads into his office with a wave over his shoulder.
I make my way to the locker room, looking forward to a nice jog on the track and a bag workout before Ty gets here. But as I silently get ready and look around the quiet, empty space, I regret my decision to come here so early.
I hate quiet. Why did I think this would be nice?
