Page 13 of Under Pressure

Still, she catches me looking at her as she turns around once more and I quickly exit, ready to box for real.

* * *

I inhale deeply the smell of sweat, of hard work. Wins and losses, triumph and failure.

I’ve never thought of Marty’s Boxing Gym as my happy place, but I guess it is. At the very least, it lets me forget about everything else for a while.

I wrap my hands, winding the long strip of cloth over my knuckles and through my fingers, then head over to a free punching bag, building up my speed until I’m going full throttle, in the zone. Whenever those moments from the lab creep back in, I punch them out, focusing on the soreness of my arms, the ache in my hands.

The hurt on Mia’s face.

No, not that. I don’t care about that.

Why should it matter to me if I hurt her feelings? Jesus, working with her is making me soft already. Next thing I know, she’ll have me lying on a therapist’s couch, discussing how my childhood traumatized me or some shit like that.

I mean, it kind of did, but whatever. I deal with it. And when it gets to be too much, I box it out, lose myself in the work, the sweat. I don’t need help from anyone else. Even if it worked for her. I have my own methods.

“What are you so mad about?”

I startle out of my reverie, surprised Ethan was able to sneak up on me. “Nothing,” I mumble, wiping the sweat out of my eyes with the back of my hand.

His dark brows rise but he otherwise lets it be. “Figured you’d be here when you never came home.”

My first instinct is to make a snide comment, but I’ve already pissed off my quota of people for the day. “You here to train?” I ask instead.

“Lawrence is busy today.” He nods to the heavily muscled man in his mid-forties in the ring right now guiding Kevin, one of the gym’s many aspiring boxers.

“You looking to spar?”

“If you’re willing.” He grins, knowing full well I never say no. I was the one who got him into boxing after all. And he’s somehow become even more of a fanatic than me.

Ethan moved into the house we rent a year and a half ago at the beginning of his freshman year, replacing a senior that had just graduated who was a real douche. Though I tried keeping my distance, we somehow ended up becoming friends. He’s the type of guy that somehow gets along with everyone with his easy grins and booming laughs.

I grab two boxing pads off the shelf as he wraps his hands and slips on his gloves, then call out combos for him. I’m no Lawrence or Marty, the owner of the gym, but he can make do with me for the time being.

We’re only a few minutes in before Erickson comes slinking around. With his shaved head and unnaturally big arms with tattoos running the length of them, he thinks he’s some kind of badass instead of just an annoying snot. He’s always seemed to have it out for me, though I’ve never done anything to deliberately provoke him. I think it’s just because he can tell I don’t give a fuck about him.

“Jenkins, still sitting out? When will you be ready to fight me for real?” he sneers, looking me up and down.

I glance over, barely acknowledging him, then continue giving commands to Ethan. It kills Erickson to be ignored.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” he says, puffing out his chest, as if that means anything to me.

I don’t reply and after a few moments he gives up, huffing angrily as he stalks off.

Ethan pauses in his punches after he’s out of sight, green eyes crinkling at the corners. “When are you going to give him the approval he so desperately craves from you?”

“Over my cold, dead body.”

* * *

I go in early for our next shift at the Stress Lab and set everything up, making sure everything is just so. It’s only because I have extra time today. Not because of… anything else.

Mia enters ten minutes later, meeting my eye as she sets her backpack down and unzips it, bringing out a sealed container. There’s something dark inside. It’s not more cupcakes, is it? I could eat those things all damn day.

“What’s that?” I ask, too curious to contain myself.

“Brownies.” She takes off the lid to reveal decadently dark chocolate brownies, the aroma of pure cocoa wafting out of the Tupperware making my mouth water.

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