"Jab... Jab... left hook..." Oliver shouts at me waving the red pads around.

Sweat is dripping off my exhausted body as I ram my fists into the pads over and over again. My breathing is quick and deep, gasping for gulps of air.

"Good job Gigi, you good for the ring?" Oliver asks, I nod in response still trying to catch my breath.

After last night I couldn't sleep, I spent the whole night wandering around my kitchen and writing pointless lyrics. Hassa records still wanted me, now I'm more conflicted than ever. I spent most of the night weighing out all the pros and cons and reading though the contracts over and over again. But that wasn't the only reason I was so restless, to be honest, I actually felt bad about what I said to Colton last night, sure he might have been an arsehole but I was really harsh to him, some of the stuff I said was really uncalled for. I just couldn't take being walked over again, every man that's ever been in my life has walked over me and treated me like I'm worthless. I didn't want to be that to Will nor Colton, I don't want to be seen as weak.

That's actually how I found Oliver. Oliver knew my ex as he used to box here too, once he found out about the... nature... of our...relationship he offered to train me and help me and ever since then I've been coming here most mornings or evenings to train.

Oliver owns this gym, he called it Olis, he's had it for a while and started it up mainly for the kids who lived in hackney on the estates, he was trying to lessen the crime and violence that goes down on the streets and help children in a similar position to mine, he wanted to give them a place to feel safe away from all the drugs and rough and make friends outside of the estates. It's a medium-sized, slightly run-down old storage warehouse that's been turned into a gym with state-of-the-art punching bags, hundreds of pairs of pads, dozens of skipping ropes and the communal ring right in the centre. The cinderblock walls are painted in shades of blue, grey and red with black boxer silhouettes on top of the colour. Bright lights hang from the ceiling which makes me feel more sleep-deprived than I should be in the mornings.

It is pretty early in the morning today so there's barely any other boxers around, maybe two at the back of the gym sparing with each other and another one skipping in the corner, but I have to come early so I can get to work on time.

I love boxing and fighting it really helps me clear my mind and it's been helpful in the past knowing how to throw a punch or two, especially when I work late. Oliver's great too, he knows when things are troubling me or when I've got something on my mind, he says my left hook becomes weaker when I'm upset or stressed like it did this morning. I told him about the situation with Hassa Records but conveniently left out the parts about Colton as I'm not sure how he'd react... he's like Bleu, a very overprotective brother, Oliver also told me I was stupid for not accepting the deal, in fact, he actually gave me extra sit-ups because he was annoyed I hadn't taken it yet.

I grab a quick drink of water from my bottle and pull my body through the ropes into the padded ring. Oliver and I take our starting positions but just as he's about to call the match the front door swings open. A man with his hood up walks into the gym with an air of confidence radiating off him and starts looking around the walls sceptically.

"Can I help you mate?" Oliver asks dropping his hands and walks over to the ropes to get a better look at him. I follow him leaning my body onto the ropes and taking the distraction as a chance to grab some more water from my bottle.

"Sorry the sign said open, I just wanted to train." The man's still got his hood up which is accompanied with a pair of completely blacked out sunglasses however he's got a very strong American accent, obviously not from around here.

"We are open it's just not very busy this early in the mornings, the kids and teens are usually still in bed. Are you looking to fight or just train?"

"Well I'll fight If I can?" his head perks up a bit, Oliver nods,

"Alright let's get warmed up and then you can join Gigi here."

Suddenly the man removes his hood and sunglasses revealing a confused facial expression.

"Gigi?" he exclaims, shocked.

Oh fuck... Colton?

There are a few seconds of silence where he just stares at me which creates this awkward tension, even Oli can feel it as he looks at me confused, I break the silence eventually,

"What are you following me now?" I say trying to make a joke. I can feel the anxiety creeping through my veins, he probably hates me after what I said last night.

He rolls his eyes,

"Why the fuck would I want to follow you?" he replies sounding offended, dropping his bag to the floor he turns away from me to pull out his water bottle.

Hostile much? I suppose I deserve that though.

I jump down from the square ring and walk over to his bent down body, approaching cautiously.

"Look... Colton, I just want to apologise for what I said last night. It was rude and uncalled for and I shouldn't have said what I did, I was just upset and angry so I'm sorry."

He stands up and faces me, he looks puzzled, but his blue eyes tell me he's surprised, confused even but as quick as it came it was replaced with his arrogance,

"Whatever Gigi, they say the only reason people bully others is a reflection of their own insecurity's." He removes his hoodie and drops it to the floor revealing his naked abdomen.

Holy shit this boy is ripped, his tanned abs stick out like a saw thumb... but the good kind (If you can have the good kind?), tattoos dot up and down his skin, some parts completely covered in swirls of ink, my eyes trace every contour and every vein. My lord this boy is gorgeous, everything about him screams sexy.

Hold up, get a fucking grip and close your bloody mouth, Gigi, he just called you a fucking bully. I snap out of my lustful state,

"A bully? You are joking right." He shrugs and starts to warm up.

Is he for real?

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" I gab his knees as he comes up from a sit-up, our faces are inches apart and I can see the little sweat droplets forming on his forehead. He pauses, scanning my face,

"Yea...I know, it's annoying." He says starting to push his body up and down again. I let go of his knees with a slight push and storm back over to the ring, I pace the little box waiting for him to finish warming up.

He takes his fucking time but I can't deny I didn't enjoy watching him, the way his biceps flex when he does push-ups or how sweat trickles down his perfect abs and rests on his heavily defined V-line, the concentration in his eyes as he hits the pads Oliver's holding, It creates this swirly feeling in the pit of my stomach, I can't tell whether its anxiety from being around this heavily toned Americas next top model or pure excitement... even lust.

"You've got a neat right hook lad. You ready to get in the ring?" Oliver asks.

"Against her?" Colton gestures to me.

"Yes? Problem?" Oliver asks,

"Yea, are you serious? I'm not fighting a girl, it's not like I'm going to get a proper fair fight here, I'll wipe her out in seconds, she's tiny." He laughs.

Yes, Colton because I'm a girl and I'm smaller than you I obviously won't have the strength and stamina to hurt you. Idiot. I just want to scream this in his smug looking face but after last night I think I've caused enough damage.

I hate sexist men.

My biological gender does not define who I am and what I can do, and I hate any man who thinks they can dictate that and try and tell me different from what I am. I'm fed up of men undermining me all the time because I have breasts and a vagina.

I'm about to say something when Oliver jumps to my defence.

"So just because she's a girl, she can't do as much damage?"

Colton nods and Oliver shakes his head.

"Well, it's a good thing we don't all share the same sexist views as you then right? You getting in the ring or should I wait for a man to beat you instead... because you're too scared to fight a girl?"

Colton hesitates, looking between me and Oliver, we're both smirking, and Oliver gives me a fist bump, bless him, always trying to keep up with the times.

Colton huffs and jumps into the ring with me. We take up our positions, hands in front of our faces, feet spread into a steady stance. I look deep into his eyes, the icy blue pools of mystery. The best thing you can do is study your opponent and read what they're going to do, look for their weaknesses. I've always been good at this since I love people watching, its easy when you know what you're looking for.

Just by looking into his eyes, I can tell he's frustrated, sweat rolls slowly down his face but his eyes are trained on mine. Oliver starts the fight and immediately he squints his eyes very slightly indicating he's about to move and goes to punch me. I dodge.

I've now picked up he's hot-headed and impulsive and squints before he punches. I leap up and throw a right hook into his jaw. He stumbles backwards dumbfounded. His eyes are now ignited with anger and I'm pretty sure he'll soon produce a ring of fire around him. He goes to attack me again; I block the punch and kick him in the stomach. He falls to the floor, another thing I now know is, he should really work on his balance. I know people always say don't kick them whilst there down, but this is quite literally the best thing I can do right now.

I jump on top of his body and start throwing my fists tactically into his face and body, he feels pretty good underneath me, I can feel his contoured body breathing heavily between my thighs, my legs tense and I hope to god he can't feel it.

Concentrate Gigi bloody hell.

Suddenly Colton stops struggling and writhing about on the floor, his eyes are closed, and he lays motionless. Oh fuck, I stop punching him, but I'm still straddled on top of him, breathing heavily. My mind starts racing as I stare down at the limp body beneath me.

Holy shit I think I've knocked him out... or worse... maybe I've killed him, there's blood streaming out of his lip and several red marks and gashes on his face.

Oh my god, he was a dick, but I never meant to kill him. Oh my god I'm a murderer. Panic sets in my body and I can hear Oliver rush up beside me. I start shaking his body and calling his name whilst Oliver checks if he's still breathing.

Come on Colton, wake the fuck up!

Ten seconds was all it took for me to lose focus.

Colton leaps up and grabs my wrists, he pins me down to the floor trapping my body beneath his.

That little shit. I am so mad right now and I know Oliver will be too, you don't pull shit like that in his gym. That's also such a cowardly thing to do. Nobody likes a cheat. I actually thought I'd killed the son of a bitch.

I narrow my eyes at him as he hovers over my body, he's so close to me I can feel his hot ragged breath on my skin, his eyes bore down into mine and I can't tell what he's going to do next. His hands are still tight on my wrists keeping me down and if I wasn't angry at the stunt, he just pulled I would 100% be enjoying this. His body drops closer into mine and my pulse picks up rapidly, I can hear his heartbeat so close to me going at a fast pace too. His abs press against my stomach, I can feel every ridged line on his body, l my stomach drops like I'm on a roller-coaster. He looks up and down my face like he's contemplating what to do next, I feel bad, but I use this opportunity to get one over on him. I jam my knee up into his groin and he winces in pain, he collapses on top of me, still holding onto my wrists. In a swift motion, I push his half-naked body off mine and leap to my feet, I take two steps before he grabs my ankle causing me to face plant the floor. He then pulls my body close to his again and starts ramming his knee into my side.

The pain jolts through my body and I know it's going to leave the biggest bruise there tomorrow. He knees my side again with more force, I try and curl my body into a ball, but he slams his knee into me for the third time, by now I'm in agony and he can see it, he whispers into my ear,

"Come on Gigi, just tap out." I can see he's smirking but if Colton hasn't learnt by now, I don't give up easily and I won't be going down first. I ignore the excruciating pain in my side and roll Furth enough away from him so I can extend my heel into his shin, he stops for a second turning to assess the damage on his leg and that's when I strike, I swing my right hand into the side of his face, he shies away more and then turns back to me throwing his left hand into my eye.

Fuck, I can't see, searing pain ripples through my face. I can feel the tears from my open eye running down my face. For a second Colton backs away almost looking remorseful but then comes in with his right fist punching me again in my side where he's already kneed me. I double over and land on my hands and knees, he walks away thinking he's won with a smug smile on his face.

This makes my blood boil. I'm not done yet, I ignore the exhaustion in my body, pounce up and run to grab a fistful of his hair, I yank it and his head turns to face me. I shove my fist right into his nose, he falls back to the ground and I take the opportunity to straddle his body again this time throwing fists into his face, I'm really going for it and all the anger and hurt that's been building up in my body over the past couple days is coming out onto him now. I can see the blood flowing from his nose as he tries to cover his face.

"Come on Colton, just tap out," I whisper into his ear, mocking him.

I shove another fist into his face. He groans beneath me sending vibrations down his trapped body.

He slams his palm down on the mat and a smile sneaks across my face.

I reluctantly push myself off his muscular body and stretch out my hand to help him up as a peace gesture, he ignores my hand and gets up himself. His lips swollen and bust open and blood Is trickling down his face from his nose, bruises are already forming on his face and he's got several scratches and red marks on his torso. My smile quickly turns into a frown and guilt fills my body. He looks pretty beat up and I can't help but feel bad, I had really hurt him, I'd let my anger take control in those last few seconds and I'd badly hurt someone. I keep staring at his injuries, ignoring the pain from my own, I felt disappointed in myself.

"Looks like a girl just beat you, my boy!" Oliver comes over laughing and gives Colton a slap on the back. He just huffs and wipes his lip scrunching his eyes in pain. I can tell he feels embarrassed too, that's twice I've hurt his ego and we already know he doesn't take kindly too it.

I hurt him so now I'll help him.

I walk over to him and grab his arm,

"Come with me." I start tugging him in the direction of the bathrooms.

"Get off me for fucksake." He's in a sulk now and tries to protest.

"Swallow your ego for five minutes and just come."

He huffs and rolls his eyes, but he lets me help him through the ropes. I take him into the girls' toilets and sit him down on the counter by the sinks.

"Back in a sec," I say darting out of the room towards Oliver's office.

"Don't leave me in the girl's bathroom alone." He shouts after me, I ignore him and grab the first aid kit off the wall In Olis office.

When I get back to the bathroom I place it down next to Colton and grab a gauze, I place it around his nose and pinch the top, stopping the blood flow, I move his head slightly forward to stop more blood dripping onto his chest.

"Pinch here," I instruct him as he replaces my hand, he winces a little. He's still looking at me sceptically like I might try and poison him.

"How does it feel having your ass whopped by a girl then? Wipe me out, my arse eh?" I chuckle slightly, he just grunts and narrows his eyes at me.

"I am sorry though," I say as I lift his chin slightly to assess the damage of his lip.

"That's going to need a stitch I'm afraid." I wipe the area with disinfectant and dab it carefully. I then pull a butterfly stitch out of the first aid kit and place it onto his soft lips, adjusting it over the injured area.

"How's your eye?" He asks suddenly taking me by surprise.

"Painful." I chuckle, "I'll defiantly have a black eye for a few days but that was a good punch and I probably deserved it after last night so..." I trail off, he's staring up into my eyes, his are filled with guilt.

I take the gauze off his nose and wipe up the blood,

"Well, you're...You're uh... good for a-"

"Woman?" I finish.

Suddenly this cocky, confident man child had disappeared, and this sincere almost kind man has taken his place.

"I know, that was unfair, I admit that. I'm uh not actually sexist, I don't think boys can do it better than girls and all that shit, my mom would have probably shot me if she'd heard me say that." He chuckles slightly which makes me smile, it's a deep sexy chuckle and it's nice to see a more vulnerable side of the man who had given me hell these past few days, maybe I was wrong about him.

"But you're a good fighter. When did you start?"

"Hold on you actually want to have a conversation with me and not just hurl insults at me?" I smile at him with my hands on my hips, he rolls his eyes,

"I've only been boxing for a few years but it's just a good way to blow off steam... right?" he nods hesitantly.

"Yea I guess I just blew out a lot of steam on your side." The tips of his fingers lift up the hem of my shirt to see the bruise that's already forming amongst the red, tender patch, his finger lightly grazes my sweaty skin, I jolt away quickly, and he coughs.

"Shit, I did that?" He looks genuinely concerned.

"It's fine, don't worry, it was a controlled fight, it's not like you beat me up in an alley. Sure, I'll be sore later, but I've had much worse." I chuckle feeling guilty again.

I wipe the blood off his chest, feeling his warm skin on my fingertips.

"Why are you being nice to me?" he asks crossing his arms.

"Because I hurt you and contrary to your beliefs, I'd like to think I'm a nice person. I'm always patching up my little brother's knees anyway when he falls over or stitching Sofia's elbows up after she falls over pissed so this is a piece of cake."

He doesn't say anything, he just stares at me inquisitively.

"Right all done, I'd probably ice that for a few hours though, Olis got some ice packs in his office if you want one?"

I pack up the first aid kit as he hops down off the counter.

"Nah I'll be fine." He says as we walk back out to the main gym area.

I nod and go to place the kit back on the wall.

I check my phone nestled in the back of my gym leggings, I have several notifications, but I see I'm already running behind now and if I don't get a move on, I'm going to be late.

"Shit. Oli I'm off now or I'll be late to work."

"Alright darling see you soon and please put some ice on your side and eye!" he shouts back.

I turn to Colton who is weirdly still stood behind me,

"Uh I got to go now, or I'll be late, you know me constantly unprofessional," I say mimicking him, he looks at the ground sheepishly.

I grab my stuff from one of the lockers near the door and start to head out. An arm grabs me as I near the exit. I'm spun around and met with Colton.

"Uh... thanks... Gigi and I'm... uh sorry. I guess that's twice you've... uh deflated my ego in 24 hours and uh... well... I'm... I'm just sorry."

Wow. Did he actually just apologise? I'm at a loss for words... what happened to the major arse I met the other day. Where are the insults and arrogant remarks? Maybe I really was wrong about him, we all have bad weeks I guess and maybe this was his.

"Look, Colton, I know we didn't get off to the best start and I admit I'm partly to blame for that and I know you don't want me on your tour or working on your album. I'm not intentionally trying to ruin your reputation, that's the last thing I would want, I'm not here to step on anyone's toes or upset anyone! Yes, my bartending job might not be the best example of a good reputation, but it pays the bills and takes care of my family. I apologise for my behaviour over the past couple days, it was rude and nasty and if we do end up working together, I'd really like it if we could be friends... or at least civil?"

I surprised myself in what I had said as I tend to hold long and brutal grudges but today, I guess, was an exception.

He doesn't say anything and just stares at me like he's having an internal debate with himself, I was at least expecting an apology back about his behaviour or some kind of olive branch but nope, nothing.

"Fine be like that." I huff and walk out of the door into the cold morning air, frost has settled on the cars and the birds are swooping low in the sky as the sun rises, peeking through the buildings. I take a big breath of air blowing out a cloud of steam into the dimly lit sky and move my feet in the direction of the tube station. I take out my phone again to look through the notifications and see Jacobs sent me a link to a Daily Mail article, tears fill my eyes as I read the headline...

Hi Guys!

Apologies for any grammar or spelling mistakes!

Please, vote, follow and comment! Give me a follow on Instagram @iztypess :)

This has been one of my favourite chapters to write! It really shows what kind of a person Gigi is but Colton regretting how he's treated her over the past few days? What did the headline say too?

Thanks so much for reading hope you stay until the end!

Thanks!

Iz x