Page 94 of A Better Place

“Tess called.”

“Ah, hell. What’s the nosy woman want now?” I joke.

“Dinner tonight?”

“Sure.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course. Unless… do you not want to? I know my family is a lot to take in.”

“No. Not at all! I love them. I promise.”

“Good. They love you, too,” I tell her quietly.

The door to the locker room swings open with a loud bang again, the new guy’s ominous appearance causing a chill to go down my spine.

He sets glaring eyes on me then jerks his head toward the boxing ring as he takes menacing steps through the gym.

“What is his deal?” I mutter.

“What?”

“Nothing, baby. No worries.”

I start walking to the ring, bending down to pick up my gloves as I go, assuming this guy needs to get out some aggression from whatever put him in this mood in the first place.

I’m happy to help. I have enough angry thoughts about Carly’s ex rolling around in my head.

“I gotta go, beautiful. I’ll pick you up in about an hour, okay?”

“That sounds good, Captain,” she says, laughing.

“That’s better,” I murmur. “I’ll see you soon, beautiful.”

I hear the guy in the ring scoff, and again I look at him with confusion, wondering what his deal is.

I walk over to the ring and start putting on my fingerless gloves.

“You wanna go?” I ask him.

He nods, not giving me much then lifts his hands to show me his own pair of gloves similar to mine.

“Alright,” I say, wondering for the umpteenth time what his problem is. “You okay, man?”

“Yeah,” he grunts. “I’m just motherfucking fine.”

I raise my eyebrows but climb into the ring anyway.

“I’m James,” I tell him, reaching out a hand to bump fists with him.

“Got it.”

Oka-a-ay, so this is how it’s gonna be.

“Yo!” I holler to Danny. Danny is another trainer here at Tate’s gym. I have a feeling it might be good to have him watching over for us.

“Yeah?”

---