Page 97 of Playing to Win

Chapter 34

brooks

Week 4 without Izzy.

Kit lays punches into the pads I’m holding in the boxing ring. He’s getting stronger. I might try sparring with him properly soon. Drew waits for his turn, his arms resting on the corner post of the ring as he watches us.

“When do you move into the new pad?” Drew asks.

“Two weeks. Keep going, Kit. He’s talking to me.”

“Fucker,” Kit says breathlessly, landing another punch.

“I’m looking forward to it,” I admit. “Things are changing and I…I guess I feel good about it. I only wish I’d had my shit together when Izzy was here.”

“Have you spoken to her lately?” Drew asks.

“One-two, one-two, Kit. Keep up the pace. I sent her a couple of messages last week. Showed her the view of the apartment and, ah, the new tattoo.”

Kit stops punching and bends forward over his knees, raising a hand in surrender. “Good effort, buddy,” I tell him, patting his back with my pad-covered hand.

“She knows about Alice in Wonderland, huh?” Drew asks.

“Didn’t take much working out.” Kit and I move to the corner of the ring while Drew steps in. “Let’s aim to spar properly next week,” I tell Kit. He nods as he drinks from his sports cap bottle.

Drew and I bounce in the middle of the ring, smirking, staring, generally winding each other up to spar. He moves first, as I expect. I block his punch and I get in a jab.

“So, what did they say, these messages?” Kit asks.

“I guess I was trying to show her that I’m changing.” I block another shot from Drew. “When she left, we both knew we had shit to figure out. I thought… I don’t know, man. She just didn’t reply. Maybe I’ve been working on me and she got back to London and realized she liked being a spoiled rich girl.” As I say that, I hope to God I’m wrong. The distraction allows Drew to land a blow to my temple. Hard enough that I feel it, but not so hard it’s going to hurt me—that’s kind of the point.

“Did you outright say, I love you, I was an idiot to let you go and I want you back now I’ve stopped acting like a pussy?”

Drew and I stop sparring and I glare at Kit. “I know you didn’t just call me a pussy, man.”

“I did. And the reason you’re not already over here putting your glove in my face is because you know it’s true. Look at Drew. When he realized he might lose Becky, he got on a plane and flew to London, like a hero, to get her back. So, did your messages tell her you want her back or not?”

“Well, no.”

“Then you can’t be sure she got the message.”

“We’re not like Drew and Becky, Kit. When Izzy left, she said we both had stuff to work on. Just because I’ve been doing that doesn’t mean she has, or that she still wants to, or even if she does, that she’ll want me at the end of it.”

“God, I’m pleased I hooked Madge in college. This old-man love is complicated shit.”

“Kit, you’re older than us both,” Drew points out. “Can we spar?”

We get back to it, working up a sweat, laughing as we land and dodge punches, until Charlie comes into the room. “Brooks, I’m sorry to interrupt.”

“What’s up, Charlie?” I ask, still going at it with Drew.

“There’s a bit of a situation. Some woman is making a scene downstairs. She isn’t a member and wants to use a studio.”

I land a punch in Drew’s side and block his next. “Tell her no.”

“I have but she’s very persistent.”

When I notice the smile on Charlie’s face, I take my attention from Drew and look at the woman who has made her way to Charlie’s side. The breath leaves my lungs and I drop my hands to my sides. As I do, Drew lands a punch I should have blocked, right into my jaw. The shock rocks my already shaky legs, and one knee gives.

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