Page 150 of Forgotten Comeback
“I do, but it’s time for me to hang up the gloves. It’s bare-knuckles boxing, but you get my point. Figure I’ll run this club when I retire; maybe help a kid who needs an outlet for their own shit.”
“Gavin, I love that,” she says, wrapping her arms around me in a warm hug. “What will you call your club?”
“The Spider’s Boxing Club. Original, I know.”
She cradles my cheeks. “It’s perfect.”
I grin. “Maybe you can help me with the logo.”
“I’d love to!”
“And if you decide to retire the ring girl bikini, maybe you could help me run things around here a couple of days a week,” I test.
“What extortion material will you use to get me to do the job?” she teases.
“Not extortion. More persuasion…with your favorite body part of mine.” I wag my eyebrows.
She drops her hands, giving me a look. “Yourfavorite body part of yours.”
“Enough talk, you wanted to blow me in the ring, remember?”
Arms crossed, she stares me down. “I don’t recall the conversation going down like that.”
I nod. “Yes, you’re going down. On me. Isn’t that what we agreed?”
Fire in her eyes, she shifts into fighting stance, and I fucking love it.
Her phone rings, and she apologizes. “Give me a sec.” She grabs her purse from the stool on the ring’s canvas and fishes out her phone. “Hello?”
There’s a pause, her expression falling.
“But I’ve been paying off the debt. A large chunk of it recently?—”
Pause.
“You can’t do that.”
I hustle over, snatching the phone from her. “Who is this?”
“This is Jared from the collection agency,” a guy says with attitude. “Who is this?”
“I’m the boyfriend.”
“Well,boyfriend, your girlfriend is a thief if she’s not going to pay back the debt she voluntarily incurred, and I’ve been authorized to begin legal proceedings against her.”
“Tell you what. I’ll drop by to pay in full. If you can meet outside your building in thirty minutes, we’ll get this sorted.”
He gives the address, and I end the call.
“That was a new collections agent assigned to my case. He said he’s going to take me to court and get a lien against my studio.” Tears well in her eyes.
“Taylor, I’m gonna go handle it. Why don’t you put in a solo workout session, and I’ll be back.”
Her eyes pin me to the mat. “Are you going to beat his ass?”
I rub the top of my head. “Yeah.”
She lifts her chin. “I’m coming with you.”
