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I was already drenched in sweat from the sprints on the treadmill, shaking my arms and legs out once it was time for Victor to arrive and for the real training to start. I couldn’t wait to expel all my frustration, worries, and anger onto his glove pads.
My feet froze in place, and my arms fell to my sides once I noticed Matt leaning against the entrance door. He had a pair of loose shorts hanging from his waist and a tight black tank top that clung to every mass and dip of his perfectly drawn muscles. I could barely keep my mouth from dropping in awe.
It was those damn dreams. They were sex-starving me.
“Hi.” I simply said, trying my best to wipe the real rush of desire that ran through my body at the sight of him. “Max told me Victor would be training me here today. I wasn’t expecting you to come, too.”
“Victor won’t be training you anymore,” Matt informed me matter-of-factly with a blank expression on his face. Back to the curated surface to keep everyone at a distance. Only I wasn’t everyone, and his placidness stung.
“What? Why?”
“I fired him.” There was no emotion on his face as if he was telling me something I should already know.
“Why would you do that? It was going great! I was actually enjoying it!” I protested, annoyed that he would pull the plug on something that was helping me go through all the mess in my head, not even caring to talk to me. Again.
“Exactly. And so was he. A little too much, in fact.” His unwavering calmness made me itch inside.
“What the hell does that even mean?” I couldn’t keep my annoyance from spilling onto those words, walking towards him as if I was challenging him somehow. “Why can’t you stop interfering without even asking?”
“Because he wasn’t the right trainer for you.” He was still completely calm and collected, even with me almost yelling in his face.
“I’ll be the judge of that. Hire him again!” I said in a commanding tone.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Francesca, I said no. That’s final.” Anger simmered under my skin at his attempt to control me.
“Tell me the fuck why!”
“Because I don’t like him having his hands all over you!” There was a small, almost imperceptible flicker in his eye as if his façade was faltering. His voice straining a little under his gritted teeth.
“What? We were training for God's sake. You set it up!”
“Yes, I did, and now I’ve changed my mind.”
“WHY?” I shouted, enraged that he thought he reigned over my whole damn life.
Matt took the smallest of steps further, his body merely an inch from pressing into mine as he lowered his face to meet my gaze. There was an inch between our faces. A breath too deep would have our skin grazing. His demeanor was slipping, and I could see hell burning in his eyes as his voice came out with an edge I hadn’t heard in it before, even though each word came out slow and extra well enunciated.
“Because I will not sit and watch other men drooling over what should be mine. I wanted to murder Victor yesterday, Francesca. I craved to see his blood splashed all over that fucking mat because of the way he touched the woman that I…” Matt said through gritted teeth before cutting off and closing his eyes, trying to regain his composure and resuming in a steadier voice. “I’ll be training you.”
I rolled my eyes in annoyance, knowing that this discussion only had one destination: a dead fucking end. There was no way it would have a different outcome than the one Matt had planned.
“Well then, Coach. Coach me,” I spat in defiance.
“I see you’ve already warmed up. So let's go straight to the point. You have to learn to use your whole body in case someone attacks you. Men can be much stronger and much bigger than you, but if you use your body weight and your pretty little head, you can manage to escape to safety. I will not take it easy on you,” he started, cutting straight to the chase.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The tension in the room was thick, heavy with anger and resentment on both parts. But what Matt was angry about was a damn mystery to me.
“Good. I will attack, and you can show me what you’ve got.”
Matt charged at me over and over and over again. Playing out possible scenarios, pushing my physical limits, but more than that, he was trying to get into my head. He was damn good at it, too.
“Put your barriers up, Francesca!” He yelled, propelling me to mentally block him from making me weak. “What if you were in Jamie’s shoes the night she almost got raped? Huh? Fight it. Fight me.”
