Page 12 of Choke Hold

He lowers his head to meet my eyes.

“You’ll need to apologize for that very uncalled for fuck you out in the ring.” I hold his gaze as he draws his brows together.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.” I nod.

He stares at me in confusion for a moment longer. Which is fair, we’re not the apologizing type.

He shakes his head slightly. “Ok. I guess… Sorry I–”

“Not with your words, you idiot.” I stand up, shaking my head at him in disbelief that he was going to fucking apologize. “By actually fucking me. You know you can’t tease me like that.”

Ty stares up at me for a moment before he closes his eyes and sighs.

I smile, assuming I’ll pay for this later.

“Come on.” I open my locker, pulling out my clothes. “Fuck me first, then we’ll fuck up some d-holes.”

FIVE

I’m desperately trying to ignore the feeling of everyone’s eyes on me as I follow Luca out of the gym, but I can’t. Because it’s an unnerving feeling, knowing that they all saw exactly what happened here tonight. They know I tried, and that I failed.

And with every step I take towards the gym door, guilt sets in. This isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m not supposed to be running away. I have a fight soon, and I need to train. I’ve already missed so much, and now I’m just falling further and further behind.

Luca pushes the door open, but the second I step into the dark parking lot, I stop.

“I should be training.”

“No,” Luca says, continuing to walk towards his Jeep. “We’re done for tonight.”

Annoyance burrows deep within me as I scowl at his back. “You just gave me a whole fucking talk about not running away, but that’s exactly what you’re telling me to do now.”

Luca sighs, as if he’s annoyed, and turns to face me. “Dude, you need to chill. You are way too fucking stressed to be going at it in there tonight.”

I squeeze my hands at my sides so hard I think I’m going to break my fucking fingers. “I’m stressed because I’m not doing anything tonight. I’ve barely done any training in these two days now that I’m finally able to–”

“But you’re not able to.”

It takes everything in me not to step into him and knock his fucking teeth out.

He rolls his eyes, and steps closer to me. “Ok. So, let’s say you go back in.” He gestures behind me to the gym. “Then what? What are you realistically going to achieve tonight that you can’t tomorrow?”

“I’ll work the bag or lift some–”

“My god.” Luca tips his head back with a groan. “Let it go, Ty. You’re allowed to take some time to gather yourself, and just have a break. You don’t need to work all the fucking time.”

Those words hit me somewhere deep, and I forcefully exhale. I don’t have a response to that, and I hate that it means he’s probably right.

“You asked for my help, so let me help you.” He puts his hands in his pockets and observes me, waiting for me to argue with him.

“I didn’t ask for your help.” I glare back at him.

Luca shakes his head and tsks. “No, you definitely did.”

“No, you offered. I accepted.”

“Same thing.” He shrugs.

---