Page 85 of My Undead Heart
I’m not having a good day. Fuck that. I’m not having a good week. Not only am I spending my nights curled up on my office floor on a bed fashioned of wrestling mats, but I haven’t heard from Mia since her little spectacle at the bar last weekend. She canceled our training sessions this week with the most impersonal text message ever.I won’t be at the gym this week. No excuse. No reason. No apology. As if what we had meant nothing. That was Monday, and for the past four days I’ve been waiting for her to reply to my question.Why?
I have a feeling I’m waiting in vain. She’s not going to answer back. Hence the bad week. Now to make matters worse, my two best fighters are missing from practice—again—one week from their fight night.
Nota good day.
Barking commands at those who decided to grace me with their presence, I focus on getting through tonight’s training. I’ll deal with hunting down Ricky and Xavier later. As for what to do about Mia, I’m at a complete loss. I want to see her again, but I’m not into games. And that shit she and her friend pulled over the weekend was downright idiotic. Only the more I reflect on Mia’s reaction, the more I wonder if she really was in on the ploy the way I first assumed. Why else would she have been so pissed when I made her take the ride home?
Shaking my head, I clear my mind and focus on work. The guys train hard, and after about an hour the front door jingles with a new arrival. I turn to see Xavier and Ricky jog in, drop their bags, and proceed to wrap their hands.
Even though they’re hustling to join the group, I’m enraged. It’s plain disrespectful to behave this way only one week out. I stomp over to them without a second thought.
Ricky glances up when he sees me coming. “Sorry, coach. We’re both—”
I’m pissed at Ricky too, but it’s the young man who made me a promise he wouldn’t do this again that I’m ready to kill. “Xavier, we talked about this, man! If you’re not gonna make training a priority, this isn’t gonna work. I want you to win, man. I want this for you more than you can ever know. But showing up late to practice isn’t gonna get you the win. And now you’re dragging Ricky in late, too.”
Xavier’s gaze drops to the ground and he grinds his jaw back and forth.
It’s Ricky who speaks up, but his voice is coated with agony rather than indignation. “Coach, you don’t understand. We just came from the hospital.”
Shit.My gut drops.
“His mom—”
I hold out my hand to stop Ricky’s explanation, and step in front of Xavier so he meets my stare. “Is she okay? What happened? Do you need to go back?”
He blows out a breath before answering. “I will, after training. They think she’s dehydrated, but it could be more. We got her checked in and settled first. That’s why I’m late. I’m sorry, Coach. Won’t happen again. I’ll stay after and run sprints.”
I clasp my hand on his shoulder and shake my head. “I’m sorry about your mom. Get out on the mats and get to work. Next time call.”
“Yes, Coach,” Xavier says and Ricky follows him, jogging over to the rest of the guys to get to work. We go through practice and I push everyone harder than normal. My nerves are already hanging by a thread. My earlier anger is deflated by sorrow, leaving me unsettled. At the end of class, I send everyone on a one-mile run and pull out my cell. I promised myself I wouldn’t be that guy, but right now there’s nothing I need more. I type out the text message and hit send before I can second guess myself.
Matt: I need to see you. Can I stop by?
She’ll probably say no. I’ve been trying to respect her space. Not ask for too much. Hell, this might even be the proverbial nail in the coffin to any chance I ever had at a relationship with Mia Shultz. But not sending that text would have been worse. I won’t play games with Mia. If I want to see her, I’m going to be honest. Just as the guys come back inside, my cell buzzes from in my pocket with an incoming text. I don’t take it out to look right now. I can’t handle the rejection in front of an audience.
We end practice with bouts of sparring for a solid hour. And after not one, but two of my newbies run outside to puke, I call practice. We only go twenty minutes late and they all know better than to complain. I feel a sliver of guilt because I ran them hard tonight. It was not entirely for their benefit, but for mine, releasing only a tiny bit of the frustration building inside. But then again, my trainers used to do much worse.
The guys wipe down equipment and put things away, our nightly routine, but I jog over to Xavier and Ricky.
“You two, head out. You’re done for the night.”
“You sure, Coach?”
“Positive. Which hospital?”
“Mercy.”
I nod and turn to Ricky. “Wait for me in the lobby? I just need to lock up, and then I’ll meet you boys there.”
Xavier shakes his head. “You don’t have to. It’s a lot of sitting around. I’m sure we won’t know much ’til tomorrow.”
“No, I’ll be there,” I promise because no one was there for me. They’re strong young men, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need a hand. Someone in their corner who’s been there.”
“Thanks, Coach.”
As they head out, I finally give in to temptation and look at my phone. Only a few words in her response but it gives me everything I need.
Mia: I’m home. 416.
