Page 58 of Ours to Lose
“What are you gonna do when I leave again for camp in a few weeks?” he asked more seriously. “You can’t spar on your own.”
I couldn’t. In all honesty, sparring with Noah wasn’t enough either. I needed to find another heavyweight, and Noah was about two weight classes too light. But most of the boxers I knew had either moved out of the area or retired close to a decade ago.
“I’m working on a plan,” I said. He didn’t need to know the plan currently consisted of air. “Did your dad still want tickets?”
I had ten left to sell. My own dad had bought some for his friends, and so had Coach Lou, plus a bunch of friends from high school. I still had plenty of time to sell the rest, but I’d feel better when they were gone. Otherwise, I’d be paying for them out of pocket, and the whole point of fighting was towinmoney, not lose it.
“Oh yeah, I’ll text him.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and typed out a message. “Hey, a few of my friends from high school who live here were going to check out a new bar on South Street. Wanna come?”
I climbed out of the ring and snagged the jump rope. “Can’t. You may be on vacation, but I’m not. No booze while training.”
“So don’t drink anything. Come on, it will be fun. We went out a bunch in London, and you kept up fine, old man.”
I laughed out a breath and started jumping. Somehow, London felt like three years ago and not three months. “Sorry. I have plans.”
Tonight was the first night in nearly two weeks Aubrey had a break in her schedule. She’d been busy either prepping events, working events, or menu planning for the catering competition, and the couple of nights she’d been free, Evan had invited her to hang out. He still didn’t know what we were doing, so she hadn’t wanted to say no.
Plus, he was her best friend. She should hang out with him.
But he was working late tonight, and Aubrey would finish prep for tomorrow’s event earlier than usual, thanks to the new chef she’d hired, which meant there was no way I was missing out on seeing her.
“You mean…like with a girl?” Noah asked as if that was as unlikely as me hanging on a yacht with the Phillies. I guess I hadn’t dated much since he’d known me.
Or at all the past two years.
I couldn’t actually remember the last woman I’d been with before Aubrey.
Which was exactly the sort of selfish shit that disqualified me from a permanent place in her life. Right along with letting her use me for my own pleasure.
“No comment,” I said, my breathing heavier as I picked up my pace.
“Shit, you must like her.” He slid to a seat at the edge of the ring and draped his arms over the bottom rope. “Who is she?”
I crossed the jump rope in front of my body and switched to one-legged hops. “No one.”
“Yeah, right. Does she know you’re into her? Or is it like a server somewhere, and you go to her restaurant every night and sit in her section, hoping she’ll smile at you?”
I huffed. “Fuck off.”
He kicked his legs and grinned, his cocky smirk so similar to Evan’s except for the dark hair. “This is my new mission. Discover Coach’s secret love.”
“You’re worse than my brother.”
The words recoiled in my chest, leaving a sting I tried to ignore. The current status of my relationship with my brother wasn’t something I liked to think about. Like how he didn’t tease me like this anymore.
“If what you say about him is true, I must be doing something right. When do I get to meet the legendary Little Hardt?”
I couldn’t remember which story about Evan had landed him the “legendary” title among the fighters in London. Just that I’d told a lot.
Like the time he’d climbed our elderly neighbor’s tree to get their cat off their roof after it’d been stuck there for three days, and no one else the neighbor called had been able or willing to help. Or the time he’d gone to his buddy’s football party in college and done a gainer off the high-dive platform into the campus pool, catching a can of soda and casually taking a sip on the way down.
I hadn’t been there in person for most of them, but I’d seen the video evidence. So had Noah and the rest of the guys in London. Talking about Evan was just something I did. It hadn’t hurt as much when I wasn’t in the same city for him to avoid.
I was still thinking of an answer besidesprobably neverwhen my phone buzzed on the weight bench. “Hold on,” I said when I spotted Aubrey’s name.
Aubrey:I have to cancel tonight. Work crisis, will explain later. I’m so sorry.
“Everything okay?” Noah asked.
