Page 4 of Protecting Hailey

I pulled myself up and ignored the throbbing on my cheek where he’d hit me. We circled each other in the ring. My fists were up and ready to block his next punch.

“That’s it. Stay focused.”

Will lunged forward, but I stepped to the side, deflecting his jab. “That’s it.”

He came at me with his left hook, but I ducked out of the way.

My mind crept back to the day Will found me stuffed inside a hotel room luggage closet, and my cheeks burned.

Then Will’s right hook landed underneath my chin and I saw stars. Staggering back, I reached for the ropes behind me, but missed them and fell. My back hit the ground hard, and I groaned.

“Damn it, Chris. I should be the one with my ass on the floor.”

He was right. In ten years of sparing, Will had never landed so much as a sucker punch. But in the last few months, he has hit me over and over again.

I deserved it.

I had let my brothers and my client down.

My hands dropped, and all I saw was Will’s red-gloved fist before it crashed into my nose.

Crack!

Blood gushed from my nostrils and I pinched the bridge to stop most of the bleeding. Looking up at the ceiling, I wiggled until the bones aligned and then I snapped my nose back into place.

“Shit, Chris! I’m sorry, man.” Will’s face crumpled as he passed me a white towel. I pressed it to my face while he guided me through the ropes and to a chair on the floor.

“It’s all right. I’ll live.”

Will shook his head. “Is this still about the Adams case? Christian, none of that was your fault. It could have happened to any of us.”

But it didn’t. It happened to me. Some delusional patriot kidnapped my client on my watch. I’d fucked up.

We sat in silence while Will rubbed the back of his neck. There was no one else here. We booked this boxing ring once a week exclusively for our workouts.

He sighed for the millionth time this morning, and it was starting to get on my nerves. “I’m good, Will. You can go.”

He pursed his lips again, but he stood up. At the same time, my phone rang.

I knew it was mine because no one else had dogs barking as their ringtone but me. “Can you hand me my phone?” I asked Will, since he was closer to my gym bag.

Will searched through the bag and finally pulled out my phone. “It’s your dad.”

“My dad?”

I hadn’t heard from my father in nearly a year. I saw my parents last when I visited my mom on her birthday.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Christian, I have an assignment for you.”

No, ‘Hi, how are you?’. Nope, not from my father. I needed to stop expecting that.

“How’s it going, Dad?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I have an assignment for you.”

“I heard you. But I don’t work for you, so I thought you were mistaken.”

---