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His gaze narrows. “Yeah, not interested.”
“Ah, come on.” I nod toward the trainer. “He told me you’re pretty good and I haven’t boxed in years. What’s the harm?”
“If you think I believe that you’re out of your damn mind.”
“I just want to talk, Ben. You get your session and I get my convo plus a little exercise. Win-win.”
Ben’s expression is still skeptical. As it should be.
“Only sparring,” I say. “I promise not to throw a real hit. We even have a witness.” I point my glove at the trainer. “Now, you throw one first, all bets are off. Fair?”
If he was smart, and I do think Ben has some smarts, he’d walk away. I’m hoping he’s cocky enough to stay. I hold my breath as I wait for him to decide.
Then an arrogant smile graces his lips. “Fine. Fair enough.”
I smile for the first time today. I reach out to tap my glove against his. He bumps mine a tad bit harder than necessary. Oh yeah, this guy is going to snap. I just need to make sure I get in my shot without getting laid out. He’s wearing headgear and I’m not.
We get in stance, and he starts off with some jab-crosses then I return them. We move around each other, my heart rate starting to ramp up.
“I really don’t appreciate your little stunt yesterday with Autumn,” I say after we move to a jab catch and counter.
“Stunt?”
“Would you prefer set-up? That’s what you did, right? Set her up to get some incriminating photos. I mean, you’ve been setting her up this whole time, but I guess she was garnering too much support and sympathy, huh?”
He bounces away from me, his breathing more labored, as is mine. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Then he comes at me with a few quick jabs, more powerful than before. I block them, but he pushes me back into ropes.
He moves away, smirking. I knew this guy wouldn’t be able to stick the rules. I was planning on it.
I come back with some jabs of my own, staying at the same power I used before. I’m not going at him until the time is right.
“I’ve been trying for a while to figure out what exactly happened for you to suddenly turn on Autumn. Then a few hours ago I found out about this little podcast called,Let’s Talk Stream.”
Ben’s jaw clenches and he throws a hook that I can’t fully block. It glances off my temple, ringing my ears. I blink a few times, shaking it off.
“It’s these two guys talking about what’s streaming with a bit of celebrity gossip tossed in. They mentioned the project that dropped you and had a little fun talking about how you’ve only had success if Autumn Atwood was involved.”
“That’s not true.” He lunges, throwing a sloppy jab that I easily block. It wasn’t going to land hard enough.
His breathing is even more labored now. He’s definitely more skilled than I am, so the fact that he’s messing up just shows that I’m getting to him.
“Now, I don’t know.” I deliver a few jabs that have him backing up. “It’s been straight-to-home videos untilSnowed In. Kinda seems like you can’t hack it without her.”
Ben growls and charges. He gives three rapid-fire punches to my gut before delivering a full-force hook to my jaw that has me staggering back. Black dots fill my vision as pain shoots all through my face. I’m able to block the next hit coming at me hard and laterally step away.
Thankfully, he hangs back instead of attacking again. My heart is going ninety miles an hour at this point. Pain is radiating all through me. I move around, keeping my eyes on him, but direct my question at the trainer. “He hit first, right?”
“Sure did.”
Ben doesn’t seem bothered by this. He wants a fight now. My face fucking hurts, but I’m going to make sure it’s damn well worth it.
I move in, continuing to spar with the jab-cross. “Oh, and I have it on good authority that some of your exes aren’t really buying this stalking crap. What’s your career going to look like when it comes out that not only are you liar, but that you abuse your girlfriends with your misogynistic behavior?”
Ben lunges and this time I’m ready. I slip left to dodge the hit and come back with a hard right cross then a hard jab to his nose followed by an uppercut. His head snaps back and he goes down hard, his nose already gushing blood.
I stand over him, then glance at the trainer.
“I think I’m good for the day.”
