Page 46 of Nights at Seaside
Brock smiled, softening the Beast and charming a smile out of Sky.
“It’s nice to meet you, Sky.”
“Thank you. Nice to meet you, too.”
“I’m Manny Regan, but most people call me Roach.” Roach held a hand out and Sky shook it.
Sawyer was relieved to feel the tension ease from her shoulders.
“Do you guys fight, too?” she asked.
“We all fight, but it’s not as bad as it looks.” Roach looked over at Delroy, who was hitting the heavy bag. “See? He’s no worse for wear.”
“I can’t even imagine getting hit by one of you.” Sky looked up at Sawyer, then back at the others.
“You’re with Songbird, so you’ll never have to worry about being hit by anyone. He’s a monster in the ring and a pup out of it.” Roach winked at Sawyer. “You should put gloves on her sometime and show her how to protect herself.”
“Oh, no,” Sky said, taking a step closer to Sawyer. “Thank you, but I really don’t think—”
“That’s the best way to see what it’s really like,” Brock added. “You’d be surprised at how empowered you feel. My sister fights. She’s a tiny little thing, but she packs a powerful punch.”
“Okay, enough of the hard sell. I’m going to walk Sky out to her car. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Sawyer guided her toward the front door. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t think they’d push like that.”
“That’s okay. I mean, I probably do the same thing when people judge tattoos. I always tell them that maybe if they tried a henna tattoo for a week they might like it.” She held his hand as they walked across the parking lot.
A group of kids standing by Sawyer’s truck ran toward him when he came out the door.
“Songbird, can we train today?” The request came from a tall, skinny, dark-haired teenager.
Sawyer smiled at the eager boys. They showed up a few times a week, and when he had time, he showed them a few moves. “I’ll squeeze in a few minutes when I’m done training. But you guys have got to focus. No playing around today. I’m on a short timeline.”
“Cool!” the tall kid said and gave his friend a high five. “We’ll focus.”
“I’m gonna text my mom to bring over my gear,” another teen said as he pulled his phone from his pocket.
“Come on,” a third boy yelled as he ran toward three bikes that were lying in the grass beside the parking lot. “Let’s go get our stuff!”
Sawyer shook his head and turned back to Sky. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I love that they’re so excited, but don’t you worry about teaching them to hit each other?”
He shrugged. “Kids are going to fight whether you teach them how to do it right or not. They’re trying to learn from watching YouTube videos, and YouTube doesn’t teach the finesse they need to be safe—or give them the guidelines of the important things, like being respectful of others, fighters or not, respectful of property that’s not their own, following the rules, caring for their gear.”
A smile curved her lips. “You really care, don’t you?”
“More than you can imagine. Just because I box for a living doesn’t mean I’m an animal. I’d better get back inside, but I’m glad you came by.” Sawyer pulled her into his arms and she smiled up at him. “Is this okay? Holding you like this?”
“Yes,” she said with a smile.
“I know you’re wrestling with my boxing, so I don’t want to overstep my bounds.”
“See? That’s one of the things that makes me want to get closer to you. You don’t push yourself on me or ignore the things that make me uncomfortable.” She went up on her toes and pressed her lips to his chin. “You say that I’m driving you batty, but, Sawyer—Songbird—how do you think it feels to hear you say sweet things and then to know that you can turn all that goodness off and clock some guy in the neck?”
He put on a serious face. “I don’t turn off my good side to fight, Sky.”
“Well, you have to do something with it. There’s nothing nice about hitting someone.” She tilted her head and shaded her eyes from the sun as she blinked innocently up at him through thick lashes.
“It’s not like that. I don’t go into a ring thinking about how I’m going to beat someone up. It’s about winning a match. It’s about finesse and talent, not just who’s bigger or who can inflict the most damage.” As he tried to explain, she looked even more confused.
