Page 16 of Falling for the Forbidden Fighter
What can she say?
Folks in the foster homes tried their best. I’ll always be grateful for that. But there was nothing those people could tell me to make me feel better about any of it.
Catherine must see the rage I’m feeling because she frowns, smacks my chest, and whirls around, digging in her bag.
“What are you doing?”
She turns and slaps a twenty into my hand.
“There,” she huffs, crossing her arms.
“There… what?”
“For the meal. You’re a professional now. And it was worth every penny.”
I can’t help but smile. “I guess it’s more than I’ve ever made boxing.”
“Five stars.”
Catherine storms out of the kitchen.
“Get ready for bed. Training bright and early,” she yells from her room. “And if I ever hear you talking about yourself like that again, you’re out of here!”
I hold the note in my hand, feeling the crispness between my fingers.
Somehow, the gesture makes me feel a little better about things long past.
CHAPTER 5
CATHERINE
Louis trains like his life depends on it.
Every day, he faces down my dad’s grueling regimen.
In keeping with our act, I give Louis a lift in the morning but let him out about a mile from the gym. He gets his warm-up run, and we keep our arrangement a secret.
All week, I’ve filled my afternoons with patients so I can spend mornings in the gym. My dad is glad to have me around to help—I hope he thinks nothing more of my interest in our new fighter.
Sweat drips permanently from Louis’s body. He’s always out of breath, always flush with exertion, fighting through the pain. At home, he cooks me dinner, makes hazy conversation, and passes out early. I let him sleep, keep quiet so he can rest even though I want to pick his brain and stay up all night talking to him.
It hurts me that he thinks so little of himself.
I’ve never seen anyone train like him. He’s so committed that I fear he’ll work himself to death. He’s the type of man that could do anything he put his mind to—I know it. I wish he knew it, too.
My dad rides him, whipping him into shape. “Pain isgood!Pain means your brain is still working. Someday, you’re gonna be in that ring, drowning in your own blood. Some better fighter is gonna hit you so many times that you won’t even register thepain anymore. What’ll you do then, huh? Quit? If you quit now when it hurts, you’ll definitely quit when you’re lying numb on the mat with the count barely cutting through the ringing in your ears.”
My father and Louis battle dangerously.
I’ve seen fighters go through this, and they all have a breaking point. That’s what my dad’s after: he’s searching for the line. He needs to know just how far a man is willing to go.
Louis fights like he’ll never break.
He’s going to need that grit.
All this time, my dad has been aloof about who Louis will be fighting. “Just an undercard in Vegas,” he says to me again and again. “Don’t worry about it. Leave the strategy to me.”
When I finally corner him in his office and demand the details, I want to slap him. Louis is set to fight Hector Ruiz: nine professional fights, nine wins, six knockouts…
