Page 73 of Intertwined Souls

By the time we stop, I am fully dripping in sweat and feel fucking amazing. A good sparring or boxing drill always makes me feel ten times lighter. Noah takes his gloves off and drops them to the ground on the side of the mat, stretching.

“Damn, princess, you even got me sweating. Good job.” He nods in approval.

Before I can respond, I get distracted by Cade, who is now back from the run he went on, working with Stone and Ryker while Sugar, who also came down, is yelling at them. Another person comes into view from my right where the wall with the gloves are, and Gabe steps up on the mats. “If you need a quick break, take one, but you aren’t done.”

I raise a brow at him, and he just stares right back with what I am sure is the same exact look I am giving him. “I want to see where you’re at.” He tells me.

Gabe has never boxed or sparred with me. I got the impression that he didn’t want to even fake a fight with me, but I’ve seen him train with the others, and I have to admit that I’m intrigued.

“Have you done a counting combinations drill?” he asks me, and I nod. It’s one of the drills Atlas had me doing often and would push me until my legs felt like they were going to give out. “Take a second to drink water and then let’s get started.”

Noah, who has now gotten up off the ground, tosses me another bottle, and I chug it down before grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat from my face and neck.

Facing off with Gabe, I prepare myself for him to start calling out combinations, but what I don’t expect is for him to go hard from the start.

He immediately begins calling out different combinations starting with different jabs and then starts tossing in other combos.

Noah yells from the side, “Keep your lead foot flat, Harley.”

Realizing I am getting sloppy because I’m getting tired, I shake my head and take a breath, forcing myself to focus. Pushing myself to do better.

I land a body shot on Gabe, and he grunts and then nods, “Good job, Harley.”

We stop and through my heavy breaths, I ask, “Can we do a jab-only drill?”

Gabe’s eyebrows shoot up as he eyes me. “Are you sure you want to keep going?”

“Yes. I want to push myself. Plus, I want to see what you’ve got, too.” I grin at him.

Gabe chuckles, “Alright.”

We both get into our stances, preparing to do a jab-only drill, which means we both practice using only jabs on offense and defense.

“Don’t go easy,” I warn.

Gabe looks like he wants to protest, but Noah chimes in from where he watches us, “Trust her, Rage. Remember when you’d kick my ass when I first came here? She can handle that shit. Don’t be soft because she’s a girl and your daughter. I think we all underestimate her.”

I shrug when Gabe stares at me for a moment. “He’s not wrong. Atlas was the first to finally understand that I want to be pushed to my limits, and then he started kicking my ass and it was never pretty. I ended up with lots of bruises. Physically and on my ego. It pushed me to practice more and get better.”

Gabe inhales and then nods, but I can tell he doesn’t know how to feel about training with me how he would with Noah or someone else, so I find any energy I have left in me and throw my all at him.

Once I start landing more hits and actually making him grunt, he seems to come out of it and narrow his eyes on me, beginning to attempt jabs back my way.

We go back and forth, with Noah yelling from the sides on things to correct. By the time we stop, I can’t stop the huge grin that forms on my lips even as I drop to the mat and lay flat out on my back, breathing heavily.

Gabe plops down next to me. “I love seeing that smile on your face,” he murmurs.

“I really love it when people don’t hold back on me. Pushing my limits and training makes me feel really fucking good.” Turning my head to look at his eyes, I say, “Thank you for not going easy. Well, after you stopped hesitating.”

Gabe chuckles, “You definitely didn’t hesitate. It’s good. I’m proud of you, Harley. You are so fucking strong.”

I don’t respond, not really sure how to, but luckily Ryker approaches, leaning over me. “You alive?” he asks, his mouth quirked in amusement.

I shake my head and push my bottom lip out to pout. “No. Carry me. My legs are like Jell-O.”

Ryker tsks and swoops down to lift me under the arms. “Don’t pout at me, babe.”

Once I’m back on my shaky legs, Gabe reminds everyone who is still down here that we are leaving in a few hours, so wrap up any workouts they have going. Ryker lifts me, and I automatically wrap my legs around his hips.

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