“You sure that’s all it is? I feel like it’s more shit going on the just this baby. What’s up?”
He looked over at me and something moved behind his eyes that he pulled back before it fully showed. There was more. I knew it the same way I always knew when Gutta was holding something back. There had always been a thing that he did with his jaw when he was deciding how much to give and how much to keep.
I wasn’t going to push it.
He had something he wasn’t ready to say and when he was ready he was going to say it. That was always how we worked and today wasn’t the day to change that.
He had a meeting in less than two hours that was already going to be the hardest thing he’d done in a long time.
“Go handle your business,” I said when we got to his car. “Call me when it’s done.”
He dapped me up and got in, he pulled off and I stood by my car and watched him go. I made a mental note to circle back to whatever he wasn’t telling me because it was going to mattereventually. Things Gutta kept to himself always came back hard as hell.
I got in my car and headed to the gym.
—
Coach Ray had me going hard for two hours and he didn’t take it easy on me.
That was the thing about Coach. He understood that a world title eliminator wasn’t something you prepared for halfway. Every session since the fight got announced had been harder than the one before it and today was no different.
Footwork drills, combinations, sparring with the big heavyweight he had brought in specifically to prepare me for the kind of size and power I was going to be standing across from on fight night. My body was responding the way it always did when I was locked in — everything else fell away and there was nothing left but the work.
Two hours in I was soaked and breathing hard, feeling exactly the way I was supposed to feel at this point in camp.
I was wrapping up a combination on the heavy bag when movement near the gym entrance caught my eye.
I looked up.
Kyla was walking through the door.
She had on a baby pink suit that fit her like it was made specifically for her body and heels that had absolutely no business being on a gym floor. She looked around at the space with this expression that said she was taking everything in while also being slightly amused by where she had ended up and when her eyes found mine across the gym she smiled and held up a bag.
Coach Ray looked over at her and then looked at me.
“Take your break Hendrix.”
I pulled my gloves off and walked toward her and she met me halfway. When I got close I stopped because I was dripping sweat and she was standing there in a pink suit looking like she just stepped out of a magazine or something. She leaned in for a hug.
“Don’t.” I held my hands up. “I’ll mess up your whole outfit.”
She looked at me and then looked at the sweat situation, then stepped forward and hugged me anyway. Both arms around me, suit and all, like it was the most natural thing in the world and she ain’t mind getting dirty.
I felt it again when she did it. That thing that always showed up when she got too close to me. That specific warmth that she brought every time she was in my space. I was starting to stop trying to explain it because I knew that I couldn’t. I liked her, but it wasn’t on the level of what I was used to feeling.
She stepped back and looked down at her suit and laughed.
“Worth it,” she said.
“You’re wild.” I shook my head but I was smiling and I couldn’t stop it. “What are you doing here?”
She held the bag up again. “You left before I could feed you this morning. Your chef was amazing by the way. But I wanted to do something for you myself. I loved the roses and the gesture of having breakfast brought to me. I’ve never had nothing like that. And I’m the kind of woman that if I’m spoiled, I’m gonna spoil back. She looked around the gym. “You haven’t eaten yet have you?”
“Not since this morning.”
“Good. Because I’m right on time then.” She patted the bag. “Come on. Show me where you eat in this place.”
—
