Page 39 of Love Punch

Diego’s glove came from nowhere and got a glancing blow across my headgear that sent me reeling. I grinned around the mouthguard. “Again!”

We sparred until we were both so sweaty that the gloves were almost slipping off our hands with every punch. When Diego threw a punch and we both ended up stumbling because of the fast movement, I held up both hands to signal him to stop. I dropped the gloves and smiled at him, panting almost too hard to get words out. “Enough….good.”

Diego popped out his mouthguard. “Good enough? Good enough for what, old man? To whoop your arse?”

“Almost…” Despite the sweat, Diego wasn’t panting at all. Maybe I really was getting too old for this shit. “I think we can get you on the undercard of a good fight, if you keep up your training and diet.”

Diego smiled, took a step forward and winced. He tried to hide it, but I gestured to him casually to follow me out of the ring again as if I hadn’t noticed. He took another step forward, and the wince was even more noticeable this time.

“Calf? Ankle?” I asked.

“I’m fine…” muttered Diego.

“Cut the bullshit.” My words came out harsh, and Diego flinched like I’d gone in for another punch. “Boxers have to be strong, yes. But not stupid. Admit when you’re in pain at times like this, because if your trainer sends you into the ring on an injury then it could end disastrously for you. So I’ll ask again. Where does it hurt?”

“My ankle. I think I twisted it when I lunged at you.” Diego looked downtrodden.

“The masseuse should be here this afternoon, they can take a look if it’s muscular,” I said, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. Despite his flirtatious nature and lack of professionalism, Arthur had rehired Rory, who’d previously hit on me until I could see it was affecting Arthur’s job. A bit of me wondered if Arthur just wanted to mark his territory now we were openly together.

“R…Rory is coming here today?” Diego lifted his armpit and gave a quick sniff. “Mind if we hit the showers now? Unless you want to carry on…”

I almost warned Diego off starting anything with an Imperial Gym employee, and then realised I’d be the biggest hypocrite in the world if I did.

“Sure,” I said. We made our way over to the showers, and washed off. I wondered where Arthur had gotten to. The last time I’d seen him he was arguing with the gas man he’d called in to check on the boiler, but give the showers were hot, I could only presume he had worked his usual magic.

As we were drying off, the door swung open. I looked up, hoping to see Arthur. Instead it was Rory standing there. His eyes slid straight past me to Diego. I almost laughed, knowing how he’d clung on to me before. Absence, it seemed, made the heart grow weaker.

Diego, for his part, managed to completely drop the towel he was holding, then scrambled to pick it up. Rory’s lecherous look only got more brazen.

Ignoring the weird choking sounds that both Diego and Rory made as they clocked what I’d said, I headed out to the main body of the gym. At the back of the gym, I could see the kitchen doorway was ajar and the bright, almost clinical light was spilling out from it.

I pushed the door open as quietly as I could, and crept into the room. Arthur was stood in front of the blender, pouring a carton of pre-separated egg whites into it alongside all the othergross ingredients I’d put up with for years. Maybe now I wasn’t boxing professionally, I could let him experiment a bit more with sweeteners, to make my shakes a little bit more tolerable. But then again, I was addicted to fitness, to looking as good as I did. I couldn’t give them up altogether.

I waited for him to press the button and turn the blender on before I moved, letting the noise cover up the sound of my footsteps as I pounced forward and dug my fingertips into his hips to tickle him.

Arthur’s reaction was swift and vicious. One hand came off the blender button, silencing the machine, and then he turned and swung the half-empty carton of egg whites at my head so fast that even with reaction timing honed through years of boxing I didn’t have time to step back. It hit my temple with athunkand for a second we both stood there, stunned.

“Jesus fuck, Bradley! You scared me!” Arthur shouted, and then his expression softened. “Shit, I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

It took a second before I cracked. I giggled, and then almost fell to the floor from laughing. “It stings,” I admitted through wet eyes. “But I deserved it.”

“So sorry babe, but you are a bit of a dick.” Arthur stroked my temple absently right where he’d hit me, and then leaned up on his tip toes to give me a peck on the lips. I pushed him backward with the weight of my body, until he was pressed up against the counter. I made the kiss more than a peck as I ground my body up against his.

Arthur pushed against my chest hard to break the kiss. We both looked at each other, panting, and I could see from his jeans that he was as turned on as I was. “Wanna sneak off to the changing rooms?” he suggested.

“Ah, fuck. Rory and Diego are in there,” I groaned.

“Kick them out. Diego can get a massage any time,” Arthur pouted.

“Pretty sure they’ve commandeered it for the same reason we were about to,” I said.

“Damn it.” Arthur stepped forward and grabbed at my bulge. “We’ll just have to wait.”

I opened my mouth, no idea what I was about to say as my brain had short-circuited in every possible way, when Arthur’s phone buzzed. It did funny things to his grip and made my head go even more haywire.

“Let me just…” Arthur took his phone out of his front pocket, and I busied myself with pouring the protein shake and drinking it down. It wasn’t until I was almost done that I realised that Arthur still hadn’t said anything. I looked at him, and his face was white as a sheet, his hands gripping his phone so hard his knuckles had turned white.

“Are you OK, love?” I asked. “Is it your dad? Or…”

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