Page 73 of Finding Hope

“So you went on an ice-cream date… Did you hear anything good?”

“Nah. Mom and Miss T didn’t talk about anything good while I was there. We just talked about me and Bean fighting. But after I went to the bathroom, I saw Miss T blush real hard at something Mom said.”

“Miss T blushed?”

“Yep.”

Rolling my lip between my teeth, I think about the unflappable Britt blushing.What did Tina say to her?“Interesting…”

“Jack!” Bobby snaps from the ring. “Stop gossiping and move your ass.”

He’s such a fuckin’ grouch.

He’s taken it upon himself to be my personal nightmare. We’re working on my technique, mytell, and my endurance.

I’ve had three fights in as many months, and though I don’t have the multi-million-dollar endorsements and fights like I used to, at least people are looking at me again – for the right reasons.

I won all three bouts, though none of them were the straight knockouts Iusedto deliver once upon a time.

A year ago, I had sponsors.

Lots of them.

Sponsors who paid me lots of money to wear their shit and smell the way they wanted me to smell. The millions of dollars in fight winnings was never even touched, because my sponsors paid me so much and plastered me everywhere so often, that I was literally a name almost anyone in the country would recognize.

My face was on magazine covers and the sides of buses. I had screens in Times Square, and signs on freeways. Steph was offered millions in deals for girly products, simply because she was beautiful, and she was with me.

People still know me, but the last year’s behavior replaced that imagewith one of a party-hard asshole. The asshole that I really am when Steph’s charm no longer shields me.

But I’m working on getting back to where I was.

My fights tend to pay in the tens of thousands at the moment, as opposed to the tens of millions, but that’s alright. I was the one who gave it all away. No one took it from me… well, except the drunk driver who took my world.

But here I am, back in my gym, sweating, and willing to work to get it all back.

“Jack!”

“I’m coming!” I shoot a glare at Bobby, release my niece and step away. “Thanks for looking out for Miss T today, Bug. I owe you one.”

“No problem, Uncle Jack. I’ve got your back.”

Yeah, she does.Walking backwards, I grin. “Hey, Bug. What flavor ice-cream did she choose?”

She smiles mischievously. “Strawberry Swirl.”

Nodding, I spin and run toward Bobby. I’m three seconds away from hitting the canvas, because I’m still rusty, and he’s still a world champion caliber fighter.

I’ve still gotta prove that he didn’t waste his career by stepping down when I went pro.

A few days after tapping out to my brother-in-law, I find myself sprawled out on the grass covering Steph’s grave while picking petals off a daisy I stole from my sister.

Sometimes I buy flowers from the store, other times, times that I want to give her a little bit of home, I steal from Kit’s garden.

Either way, I always bring her flowers.

Flicking a purple petal to the grass, I stare at the clouds in the sky and try to mentally rearrange them into shapes.

“So, remember I told you about that girl… Britt?” Picking off another petal, I watch it float in the breeze. “Well, I dunno. I guess I think about her sometimes.” Another petal, a nervous tic. “I don’t know her, not really. But I kinda feel like she’s important. She doesn’t even know it, but in a way, she kind of saved me.” Another petal picked off, flicked, landing on Annie’s lazy back. “I already told you about all the shitty things I did, but of everyone who tried, she was the one who stopped the spiral.

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