Page 63 of Only You
She held out her hand, and Demir gave the purse to her with a scowl. Tucking it under her arm again, she gestured towards his hand. He sighed and placed it in her palm. Undoing the wrappings with deft fingers, she gently turned his hand to assess the damage. Demir grimaced as she smiled at his crooked finger.
‘Fascinating,’ she commented. ‘I’ve never seen this before.’
‘A dislocated finger?’ he questioned, looking at her sceptically. What kind of dainty dame did Jack bring in here?
‘Hardly,’ she said. ‘I meant your knuckles. I’ve heard of this method of training but have never seen it in real life. You see, what you’re doing is slowly fracturing the bones so they can heal and become denser. A knockout from you must really be something. As for the finger…’
Demir couldn’t help the cry he let out as she pulled on the digit to snap it back in place.
‘There.’ Bright eyed, she ran her fingers over his hand. ‘All done. Also, you can get the same effect hitting the bag. It’ll hurt a lot less.’
She stepped back to Jack’s side, arm sliding around his waist. A small stab of jealousy hit Demir as she rested her head on his shoulder, her demeanour calm. He couldn’t remember if a woman had ever been so at ease in his arms.
‘This will be fun,’ she commented before grinning. ‘My name is Selene.’
‘Selene…’ he said slowly. The name rang a bell, and he looked at Jack suspiciously. ‘As in your girlfriend?’
Demir had heard about her plenty of times, usually over drinks. Jack tended to go back and forth between complaining about how she drove him crazy and lamenting over how much he loved her, driving Demir crazy, too. He never said anything on the subject as he had no opinion either way. His first and foremost rule was to stay out of business he wasn’t a part of. However, he would have never imagined the girl that drove Jack so crazy was Black.
‘More or less,’ Jack smirked. Selene gasped, pinching his side. He winced before chuckling.
‘It’s nice to finally meet you, Demir,’ she said. ‘You better not forget my name since I’m the only one in here who likes fixing broken things.’
His jaw clenched. Now he understood. Her mouth was just as wild as Jack’s.
‘You’ll get plenty of chances, Sel,’ Jack reassured her, planting a quick kiss on her forehead before unwrapping himself from her embrace. ‘Okay, playtime’s over. Arms up, D. Ten more reps.’
A few hours later, Demir picked up his bag, ready to rest his sore body and glad he didn’t have to train tomorrow. He was the last boxer in the gym – all the sane ones having left a couple of hours ago, ones that probably had something better to do or someone to go home to.
He shut off the lights in the locker room and walked over to the stairs. Selene was waiting nearby. Petty as it was, Demir hoped she smelled like sweat and it ruined her evening. She straightened as soon as she saw him.
‘I hope I didn’t offend you earlier.’ He must have looked at her confused, because she continued. ‘The broken thing. You seemed quite angry when I said it, but I’m a doctor, you see. Well, training to become one. When I said broken, I meant something more technical.’
Demir looked her up and down. She was quite beautiful, he would never deny that, but Jack’s personality was enough for him. He didn’t need any more complications. He wanted to box, get paid, and go home. As long as he could do that, he was more than fine with forgetting her.
‘I feel no ways about you.’
She seemed taken aback by his bluntness, but just as she opened her mouth to reply, he cut the lights and walked up the stairs. Selene huffed before following him outside where Jack was waiting for them both by his raggedy car.
‘What took so long?’
‘Lay off. You tortured me enough,’ Demir said tiredly. Selene brushed past him, sashaying to the car and getting in without a word. Jack looked at her for a moment before turning to Demir. ‘Need a ride?’
‘My two feet look more reliable.’
‘Saturday at eight,’ Jack told him, climbing in after her. ‘Don’t be late or I’ll come find you. You’ll regret not taking the ride!’
‘I doubt it,’ Demir yelled over the roar of Jack’s engine. He shook his head as the car lugged down the street, turning in the opposite direction. He tilted his head back to the sky, scanning it for stars, counting five before little prickles of pain ran up his arms.
He reached into his pocket for his cigarettes and matches, ready to light one when he studied the bandages Selene had wrapped tightly over his knuckles. It was much better work than he or Jack had ever done. Maybe Jack was onto something with this girl… he shook his head before pocketing the pack. This wasn’t the time to think about that.
A few streets over, sirens wailed in the night, and Demir decided to jog the rest of the way home.
‘Good job, babe,’ Jack said as soon as they got back to his apartment, placing a kiss on her cheek as they sat down on the couch.
She turned on the radio, a lively jazz song playing. ‘You mean I got the job,’ she asked with a smirk.
Leaning over, he captured her lips. Selene sighed into the touch. This was her favourite time of the day, when it was almost over and there was nothing else to do but relax. They continued kissing for a few moments before Jack tiredly collapsed beside her. She giggled before wrapping her arm around him as he buried his face into her shoulder.
