I’m so tired I don’t even argue with him.
Sliding into my seat, I notice my hands are little shaky as I buckle my seatbelt.
I guess Alex also notices because he asks, “You alright?”
“Yeah,” I say and give him a weak smile before leaning back. “It’s just been a long day. I’ve never trained like that before.”
Alex nods and throws the car into gear. Hitting the gas, we burst forward and his attention turns to the road ahead. “I bet.”
He has the heater going and as the warm air hits me, I sink deeper into my seat, struggling to keep my eyes open.
“It’s only going to get harder,” he remarks a minute later.
I jerk awake. I guess I drifted off.
“I know,” I answer and shift in my seat.
“Think you can handle it?”
I look over at him and tell him with complete certainty, “Yes.”
Chapter Eight
Alex
Fuck, Chase is still one large motherfucker. It’d be a shame if I had to take his knee out to put him down. I don’t give a fuck if he is bigger than me, he won’t see me back down from shit.
I’m not lying, though, when I say I got my own shit to worry about for my next fight. I need to stay focused on my own game plan even though I want to help Christy.
Lifting my hands back up, I go back to striking the bag in front of me. Over and over, I go through the last fight against Rocko. He’s a world-renowned striker. If you ask me, dude has fists of fucking lead, and each punch fucking hurt the last time I fought him.
The fact that he has an amazing takedown defense makes him a hard fucking guy to fight. There was talk that before our last fight he had been battling the flu and just couldn’t get back to tip-top shape. I don’t know if that was true, but it doesn’t make me think he’s going to win the fight with me this time.
My game plan for the next fight is going to be the same one I had the last time I was up against Rocko—hit him as hard as I can for as long as I can. If I get him to the ground, fucking pound that fucking nose of his through the back of his thick ass skull.
Christy looks like a whooped pup by the time she gets to the jumping jacks. I’ve been there. Dale calls this phase train until you puke or quit. It’s fucking evil. We’ve all been there though, or at least those of us who have what it takes to make it further than some of the posers that hang around here.
There are guys who hang around the gym doing nothing but posing and talking about what they could do if they wanted to.
Little bitches are what I call them.
Most of the group Chase is working with right now will probably fall into that category. There’s one guy named Blane who looks like he might have what it takes to go further, just like Christy, but I’m going to leave it to Chase to notice that.
Heh, fucking Chase was like a mama bear when I went near one of his cubs. I can’t imagine what he would do if I went for a second, or what he would do if he knew I was taking care of Christy.
Ugh! Motherfuck. The sound of fluid and chucks hitting the mats makes my stomach swirl. Yep, Dale broke the seal on Runt. She’s done for the day.
I slow my punches down as I let my breath come out in hard pants. I have been going hard at the bags for a while now. I want my arms used to this. I need them to be there for me in the fifth round when I have to punch Rocko one more time.
Turning around the bag, I wrap an arm around it to watch as Christy retches again. The whole gym has stopped to watch her puke. She may not know it but all of us, including the male fighters like Brett and Bear, have admiration for her. We have been there. It hurts the pride, but it makes you stronger.
Dale says something to Christy then turns away from her. He looks grumpy as always but his big ass loves shit like this. He wouldn’t have even bothered talking to her if he didn’t think she had what he was looking for.
When one of the guys from Chase’s group goes to clean up the puke Christy left on the mat, I wince inwardly. That is not going to bode well for her.
Dale will have her ass puking again tomorrow for thinking she can be a princess like that.
Grinning inwardly, I unwrap my hands and head into the men’s locker room. My body is sore but in a happy way.