Fighting for Love (Second Chances #4)(36)
“What’s up, Reynolds,” one of the twins said. They both had dark blond hair, which was shaved close to their heads, and midnight blue eyes. It was hard to tell them apart since they were identical, but I’d noticed once before that Ryley was the one with the small jagged scar at his hairline.
Ryley held out his hand and I shook it before turning to his brother, Camden, and shaking his. “You guys are looking good up there. What are you going to do if the time comes for you to fight each other?” I asked.
Shrugging, they both looked at each other and grinned. Camden was the one who answered, “Then I guess we’ll fight each other. I’m sure I could ask the same question to you about Mason. It’s no different going up against a good friend.”
Good point.
When the time came for me to fight Mason, I was going to keep fighting to the very end. He was the best damn fighter I’d ever gone against, and even though we were close friends I didn’t want to hurt him, but we both understood that it was what we did. It was a sport we both loved and it was nothing personal. We’d beaten each other up plenty of times in our sparring, so it wasn’t any different.
“You have a point. I’ve fought Mason before and we know the difference between fighting for sport and fighting to injure someone,” I replied.
“Yeah, that’s true,” Camden agreed. “I guess the same can be said for us.”
We stood there talking for a while until Ryley elbowed his brother in the arm and pointed toward the door. “Dude, look at her,” he marveled. “Is she not hot or what.”
When I recognized the curvy, blonde haired girl he was talking about, I couldn’t help but cringe and shake my head. She was definitely a looker, but she happened to be one of the many mistakes I’d made over the past couple of years.
“What’s that look for, Reynolds?” Ryley asked. “Please tell me you didn’t bang her too.” Nonchalantly, I shrugged and didn’t comment, which in turn confirmed his suspicion. Ryley burst out laughing. “Damn, man, is there any girl that comes in here that you haven’t f*cked? I guess I’m going to have to settle for your sloppy seconds.”
Shaking my head, I put my hand on his shoulder and leaned closer to him. “Believe me, you’ll want to stay away from that one. It felt like a punishing brillo pad scraping up and down my dick. I hurt for a week after that.”
As soon as I made that comment, I knew I was in trouble—so did Ryley and Camden—when Shelby’s voice spoke up from behind us, “Wow, I so didn’t need to hear that, but I guess since you hurt for a week after it probably cut down the number of women you’d been with to what … one hundred and seventy-five?”
With her jaw and fists clenched, she stormed right past us and jumped up into the ring. She had on a black sports bra and a pair of black spandex boy shorts that showed off her flat stomach and the voluptuous curve of her ass. When she noticed me staring, she narrowed her eyes and snarled her lip.
Holy shit, she’s pissed.
“Dude, you pissed her the hell off. Good luck because you’re definitely going to need it,” Ryley pointed out, as if I didn’t already know.
“Thanks,” I grumbled.
The twins and their coach said their good-byes to Carter as he brought out the pads and gloves. I climbed up into the ring with Shelby, but she wouldn’t look at me as I approached her. All she did was stand there with her arms crossed at the chest, fuming.
“Shelby,” I murmured cautiously.
Immediately, she held up her hand for me to stop and closed her eyes. “Please, do me a favor and don’t talk right now. I really don’t want to think about it anymore. Knowing you have a past with women is one thing, but actually seeing the people you’ve slept with and hearing about it is another. I know if the situation was turned you’d understand.”
“You’re right, and I would hate it,” I admitted honestly. “I hate knowing you’ve been with other guys, but you’re with me now and I trust you. I may say stupid shit sometimes, and that’s something I’ve always done, but you have to learn to trust me if this is going to work out. You promised not to leave me and I promised I wouldn’t leave you. You also have to believe in me.”
Her shoulders relaxed just a bit, but now Carter joined us in the ring and immediately picked up on the tension. “Well, I see there’s some hostility that brewed up in the few minutes I’ve been gone. It’ll make for an interesting session.” Carter smiled and taped Shelby’s hands before sliding a pair of gloves on her.
“All right, Shelby, I’m going to show you some strike moves, and also some defensive ones. Then after that I’ll let you practice them out on Matt. It’s important to be skilled in every single aspect of MMA fighting. You have to be agile, quick on your feet, and be able to think quickly to anticipate your opponent’s next moves. You understand?”
Nodding, she watched him closely while I stood there, stewing in doubt. I knew she was angry, and she still hadn’t looked at me. Sooner or later she would have to. While I waited on them to finish, I ran a couple of miles on the treadmill and lifted a set of weights. About thirty minutes later they were done.
“She’s ready, son,” Carter called. “Get your ass up here.”
Shelby was on fire and covered in sweat by the time I climbed up into the ring, but she didn’t waste any time going on the attack. Swinging her fists, I blocked each and every one of her strikes and almost took her down to the mat, but thought better of it. If this was the only way to help her get out the anger, then so be it.