— Everleigh

Sasha was acting weirder than normal. After we ate breakfast in silence, he wanted me to join him at the gym. It wasn't too bad of an idea seeing as I really wanted to work on my body. I wasn't mad about how I looked, it was just that my stomach bulged out a little more than I preferred. It always looked so good on other girls, but for some reason, it always made me insecure.

The only issue with going to the gym was that I didn't exactly have any clothes. The only clothes I had belonged to Sasha. They didn't even fit me, much less scream 'work out.' However, none of that stopped Sasha.

He still forced me to go to the gym with him even with the sweats that went dragging on the ground with every step I took. Not to mention, the extra large t-shirt that touched my knees.

I looked like a hot mess while Sasha resembled a Greek God. He had a compression sleeveless top that he folded up into a crop top only to reveal his delicious abs. Not to mention his long briefs that barely peeked underneath his shorts. His legs were loaded with muscles and his tight underwear helped prove it.

The gym wasn't too far from where Sasha stayed. It was literally a couple of blocks away. We hadn't been in his car for longer than five minutes before we parked along the curb right in front of a gym. Graffiti covered the walls and if I hadn't known our destination, I wouldn't have even believed it was a gym.

Sasha got out the car and walked around to open the door for me. Once I was out, he shut the door behind me and began to lead me into the building. The moment he pulled the glass doors open, loud music danced into my eardrums as grunts and smacks could be heard from the center of the gym. Two people were in a ring, one was throwing punches while the other kept padding on their hands to block every punch.

There was also an area that had a wall covered with dumbbells and a floor-to-ceiling mirror. Chairs were lined up along the wall, ready to be used. There were also areas for squats, deadlifts, power cleans, chest presses, and shoulder presses—every kind of exercise for any kind of body part.

It wasn't exactly what I imagined when thinking about a gym, but in some ways, it was better.

"Sasha!" the man with padding on his hands exclaimed. He removed them and went for a remote where he turned down the music. There was a big smile on his face as he stepped down from the ring. He made his way over to us where he embraced Sasha in a hug just before turning to me.

He was very short—probably about my height. He couldn't have been no more than fifty, but despite his age, he still looked really fit.

"Who's this?" he asked Sasha.

"Uh, a good friend of mine, Everleigh," Sasha introduced. The man laughed joyfully as he pulled me in for a hug as well. I glanced at Sasha awkwardly as I reluctantly patted the man's back.

When he pulled away, his smile only seemed to grow. "My name's Charlie. I taught your friend over here everything he knows, from when he was a young boy."

I glanced at Sasha again to see his eyes were already on me. Charlie threw his arm over my shoulder and began to walk me through his gym while Sasha went to take Charlie's place in the ring.

"I don't know Sasha to have any friends. Now that he's gone... tell me, do you two gotta' thing goin' on?" he asked, quirking up a brow. I quickly shook my head.

"I've known Sasha since we were little. It was only recently that we saw each other again after many years of being separated. He was my friend then, and he's my friend now," I explained with a smile.

He seemed to look at me like he didn't believe a single word that came out of my mouth. "Mhm, well, if not now then for sure later."

I kind of understood what he was trying to say, but I didn't want to believe it. So, I pretended to not have heard a single word as he continued with the tour of his gym. It was really nice, and I could tell Charlie put a lot of work into it. What I especially loved was the pictures of all the fighters he had ever trained in his gym, my favorite was the especially huge image of a young Sasha training with a younger version of Charlie. It was adorable.

"Oh, yeah," Charlie said looking at the very same image as I was. "That was eight years ago. He was training for a big fight, and I helped 'em through it."

I smiled as I looked at the picture before turning to Charlie only to see he was still gazing at it, almost longingly.

"Ya'know, everyone says he's ain't never lost a fight. But what they don't know is that he loses to me every single time," Charlie told me.

"Stop lying, Charlie," Sasha said from the ring. I held back a laugh as Charlie rolled his eyes dramatically. He then led me over to the ring where I could see that Sasha and the other guy swapped places. Now, it was Sasha throwing all the punches while the guy tried his best to block them.

"Have you ever thought about doing MMA?" Charlie asked me. I had to make sure he was talking to me before shaking my head with a chuckle.

"Me? Fight? Yeah, no," I told him. I mean, don't get me wrong, I would fight if I needed to. There had already been a few occasions I could think of where I had to check some girl, but it wasn't something I could see myself doing as a job.

"Why not?" Charlie ask me. I cringed when Sasha threw a hard punch at the guy. Maybe it's because I don't want that to happen to me.

"I feel like I'd be embarrassed when I lose. The whole world would've just watched me get my ass beat," I told him honestly. That wasn't the only reason, but it was one of them.

"Just don't lose," he said like the answer was as simple as two plus two. He got into the ring and held out his hand for me to take. I allowed him to guide me into the ring where Sasha stopped swinging just to avoid hitting anyone.

"Sasha, put on the gear. Everleigh is gonna show us what she got," Charlie said. My brows pulled together as the guy began taking off the padding and handing them to Sasha.

"I gotta go. I'll be back tomorrow, Charlie! Bye Kayo! Bye Kayo's girlfriend!" the guy said. I held my tongue and kept from correcting him as both Charlie and Sasha waved him goodbye. He stepped out of the ring and made his way out of the gym, leaving the three of us.

"I don't really know how to fight," I warned them. I didn't want to be the laughing stock. Charlie handed me a pair of boxing gloves and helped me put them on. They were heavier than I thought they would be.

Sasha had a look on his face like he was prepared to burst out laughing at any given moment as Charlie guided me into the proper stance.

"Now, throw a jab at him," Charlie said.

"A jab?" I questioned. It wasn't until after I questioned it, that I realized I knew what it was. It was just a punch, but obviously, my brain didn't process the information fast enough.

Sasha laughed. "She doesn't have to do this."

I threw a right jab at his padded hand before following it with a left.

"You have some power in that swing, but with jabs, you really want to focus on speed," Charlie advised. I did as he asked and went to throw another punch, only this time, I did it faster than before.

"Not bad, Evie," Sasha complimented. I was so out of shape. I was already beginning to break a sweat and I hadn't even done much yet.

Suddenly, Charlie's phone began to ring.

"I gotta take this. Sasha can take over," Charlie told me. I paused to see him step out of the ring with his phone close to his ear. It gave Sasha enough time to take the padding off his hands.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Hit me," he said. My brow quirked up.

"What? Don't be ridiculous. Put them back on, I was actually having fun," I explained.

I thought he had been joking but there was no indication at all. His face was stone cold and serious.

"Hit me," he repeated.

"You're serious..." I muttered.

"You don't know how many times I've been pun—"

I slammed my fist into side only for him to groan in pain as he reached down to cover the area that I just hit. I had to bite down on my lip just to keep myself from laughing.

"That's not happening a—"

I did it again, only this time hitting him in his lower abdomen. Again, he hunched over in pain.

"Wow, Kayo, Mr. Undefeated Champ, you sure do know how to get your ass beat," I taunted with a sly smile on my face. He grabbed ahold of my wrists and stood upright. He towered over me instantly and all the tension from earlier easily clouded around us as he took a step toward me.

"Try again," he told me, releasing my hands. I went to punch him again when he grabbed me and twisted me around so my backside was pressed against his front. It happened so fast I barely had any time to process what just happened.

"Sure you can throw a punch, but fighting is also a game of defense. There's no winning if you can't protect what's important... you," he whispered into my ear, instantly igniting goosebumps on my skin.

"Will you show me?" I asked.

"I will."

—
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Another update! I could've kept this chapter going but I'm so tired, and if you're American, you'd know that Thanksgiving is tomorrow. So, I have to rest and prepare my stomach for all the food I'm about to devour.

Also, huge thanks to all the people who reached out to me or just simply shared their support when I spoke about my depression. It really means the world to me that you're all so understanding. It helped me so much. You all deserve the world.

I love you guys!

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