Page 19 of Rush
“I’ll get you for this,” Cole declared.
“He’s all bent out of shape,” Hamish said to Josh. “Isn’t little Alphonso adorable?”
With a grunt, he promptly cracked the shits and strode off, leaving us to laugh in his wake. He could dish it out, but when it came to the crunch…
Blocking out the chaos beside me, my thoughts inevitably went to Jade. I could feel myself being pulled back into old habits already, and I did my best not to think about her ass, her tits, her mouth… Fuck,her tongue.
All through the striking exercises on the bag, all I could picture was beating the shit out of Ballinger’s cheating ass.
I ran on the treadmill, and all I could think about was the night I went to that party in senior year to tell Jade how I felt and found Hunter Ballinger all over her. I saw them together, and I’d just turned around and walked out. I walked out and never saw her again.
By the time I fought Cole in the cage, I was a mess of emotions. Every time he broke through my defenses and landed a hit, I was reminded just how much Jade’s appearance had affected me.
After we’d finished our sparring for the day, Ash pulled me aside. I didn’t like when he wanted a one-on-one chat because it meant I’d done something wrong, and today, I’d done a lot of things ass about. Things that I should’ve known better.
“Where are you lately?” he asked, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “Your focus is all over the place.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not,” Ash declared, steering me away from the others. “It’s getting worse.”
I grunted, shaking his hand away.
“Does it have anything to do with that woman you were with this morning?”
“Jade?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah.Jade.”
I didn’t like what he was insinuating, and I rolled my eyes.
“She’s just staying with me for a while until she gets her shit together,” I said with a scowl. “Her fiancé cheated on her, so it’s this whole big mess. She was staying in an overpriced shithole of a hotel because he kicked her out. He kicked her out, and he was the one who cheated.”
Ash gave me a look but didn’t say anything. “And?”
“And what?”
“There’s nothing more going on there?”
“No,” I snapped.
He stared at me in that ‘I can see straight through you’ kind of way he had. Ash Fuller was a master at spotting and picking apart his opponent’s tells, and now it seemed he’d become a fucking therapist, as well.
“Take the week off,” he said out of nowhere.
“What?”
“Take. The. Week. Off,” he said more firmly. “You’re frustrated, and now you’re distracted. Trying to train your ass while you’re fired up is counterproductive. You’ll piss yourself off, you’ve already riled up Cole to the point he’s more difficult than usual, and you’ll only end up giving yourself an unnecessary injury.”
“But, if I get offered a fight—”
“If you do, it won’t be scheduled in for at least a month. You can afford to take some time.” He looked me over. “I’m your fuckin’ coach, and if I say you can,you can.”
“I can’t take time off,” I complained. “I’ve worked too hard for this.”
“Ryan, you train harder than anyone I’ve ever known. Maybe even more than I did at your age. There’s a point where it all becomes too much, and you’ve reached it, mate. A week won’t derail you.” He shoved me toward the change rooms. “Take the time to get your head together. Help your friend get back on her feet, go on a holiday, do whatever, but I don’t want to see you in here until next Tuesday?. Got it?” ?????
I stood in the middle of Pulse Fitness, completely dazed and confused. Take time off? I wasn’t even sure what that meant.
