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I cried so hard my body shook, and my legs gave out. I pulled Chrissy to the floor as I went down. I could not stop it. The weight of everything just took over me. Chrissy didn’t fight it. She just lowered her body with mine and continued to hold me in the middle of her apartment hallway. I’m not sure how long we were out there, but at some point, she pulled me up to my feet and brought me into her apartment and down the hall to her bed.
“Shhh, Kenna, just go to sleep. We will talk in the morning. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered.
Blinking my eyes to adjust to the Florida sun entering her bedroom window, I noticed Chrissy leaning against the door jamb with two cups of coffee in her hands. “I got you some coffee. You still take it with just cream?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, wiping my eyes.
“Here you go.” She handed me a pink coffee cup.
Slowly, I pushed myself up into a sitting position. I must have moaned with pain because Chrissy immediately asked, “Are you okay?”
“I am . . . or, at least, I will be.”
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
With tears fighting to come out, I started telling Chrissy everything. I purged everything, and Chrissy just sat there with her free hand holding mine. After about an hour of narrating my shitty life for the past year, Chrissy lifted my hand, kissed it, and climbed back into the bed with me, sitting with me in silence. No lecture, no judgment, just my best friend being present with me.
I knew the question would come, so I was not surprised when Chrissy finally spoke an hour later. “Shit, Kenna, what are you going to tell Conor and Finn?”
Dread was now looming over me because, truthfully, I was incredibly nervous to tell my brothers anything. “Shit,” was all I could manage to utter at that moment.
By the time we finally got out of bed, it was nearly noon. I helped Chrissy make the bed. “Ryan is going to fucking freak out,” Chrissy softly said.
“What do you mean?” I lifted the pretty pale green comforter up and threw the pillows with pink and yellow flowers onto the bed.
“Oh, come on, Kenna, please don’t tell me you don’t think Ryan is going to lose his mind when he finds out someone did that to you.” She pointed at my bruised and swollen face.
“No, I’m sure he’ll be upset. He is family, like a brother.” I stared back at her.
“Yeah, okay, Kenna, if you say so.”
Chrissy always thought Ryan thought more of me. She thinks Ryan had feelings for me, but that was just crazy. Ryan is best friends with my brothers, and he was always there giving me just as much shit as my brothers whenever I tagged along and annoyed them.
I shook off the comment from Chrissy and moved my way out of the bedroom into . . .
Wow!I didn’t get to notice how beautiful her apartment was last night.
The apartment was probably twice the size of mine in Boston. It had high ceilings with exposed duct work. One of the living room walls was exposed brick, and there was a large beige sofa against it. On the adjacent wall, there were large French Doors that led to, from what I could see, a very large terrace. The television on the other wall was huge. It had to be sixty-five inches.
Chrissy always loved curling up and watching movies. The unit was an open floor plan that had a massive white marble island dividing the kitchen and the living space. The kitchen almost blew me away. It had grey cabinets lining the back wall with top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances. Apparently, marketing was paying off for Chrissy. Chrissy nearly walked right into me because of the way I stopped at her bedroom door, taking in the beautiful apartment.
Breathless from surprise, I stated, “This place is absolutely amazing.”
“Thanks, Kenna. It has a second bedroom across the way.” She pointed to the door across the room. “You can stay as long as you want.”
7
MACKENNA
After taking a long shower and grabbing my belongings from the car, I indulged in two more cups of coffee before making my way out of Chrissy’s apartment. She headed off to work while I headed to the one place I dreaded the most—Mickey’s Gym.
As much as I wanted to hide in Chrissy’s beautiful apartment until the bruises healed, I knew there was no way they wouldn't find out I was here. Chrissy was my best friend, but I knew she would be unable to lie to Conor if she saw him. Chrissy and Conor always had a bizarre friendship.
My dad had turned this gym into a gem of downtown Orlando. Fighters came from all around the world to train at this gym. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was blown away by the new appearance. I hadn't been here in years, not even when I came back for my daddy’s funeral. I couldn't bring myself to come here.
As I stepped out of the car, I cringed at the sign that was above the building - Micky’s Gym. Micky is what my daddy always called me. Only my daddy and my brothers called me that. My daddy said having a daughter was the first time he knew he would do anything to protect me, that he would fight to the end to protect me. Something he wanted his fighters to have. He had the passion and strength to fight to the end, so he named his gym after his only daughter. I smiled at the thought and then dropped my chin, wondering what my daddy would do if he was here now.
My daddy fought and saved to buy this small building that was once a car dealership. It was closed and abandoned long before he bought it. He got it cheap and restored the structure and windows. He gutted the inside and covered the floors with mats, there was a room for weightlifting, another room with bikes and treadmills for cardio, and then there was a room that had an octagon in the center of it.
