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Like Toby.
The sparring took my mind back to when Toby begged me to train him. He’d bugged me every day straight after I won my first match against a ring regular. Toby had been the one to encourage me to keep fighting for money. And then, one day, he was sure he wanted to do the same thing too, so he borrowed some gloves from god-knew-where and insisted I teach him everything I knew.
But he was a disaster. He was a skinny wisp that could blow over with just a gust of wind, but all that was trainable. The main problem was that he had too much compassion to land a fatal blow. The minute he felt like he was going to hurt someone, he would back up immediately.
I told him I wouldn’t train him because he didn’t have it in him to be the murderous monster he needed to be to fight underground. He was upset at me at first, but he understood.
Now, out of the corner of my vision, a blow came. Instinctively, I grabbed his arm, twisting and flipping him onto the ground. The boy let out a yell even though I gently dropped him on his back.
And within an instance, Charlotte came running, looking panicked.
“What the fuck are you doing to him?” she demanded as she stomped over to us, her eyes blazing. “You’re hurting him.”
“Relax,” Casey said as he got up. His face was red with the effort and probably some embarrassment, but there was still amusement in his eyes too. “He didn’t do anything. It didn’t hurt. I was just surprised, that’s all.”
But Charlie kept glaring at me. She got in the ring with no hesitation whatsoever and got right up in my face.
“I told you not to hurt him,” she grounded out.
“It’s impossible not to get a little beat up when you’re learning to fight.”
“Still. Don’t hurt him. Or else.” Her eyes were glowing with menace, and the fact that it was this tiny little speck of nothing that was threatening me…how simultaneously amusing and impressive.
And from Meech’s expression over her shoulder, he was thinking the same thing.
She was nothing like Kelly.
Kelly jumped when I spoke too loud sometimes. She would cry or be happy, but she would never get into the ring to face me.
Charlie had a fire within her and more courage than sense.
And fuck, if that didn’t get me hard.
“Alright,” I finally said, trying not to smile at the fact that the little thing had gotten her way with me. “I’ll see what I can do.”
She nodded as though pleased with the answer and then walked back out of the ring.
We sparred for about an hour after that under the watchful eyes of Charlie. But then, just as I was giving Casey a few pointers on how to tighten his defense, a loud grumble interrupted our game.
Meech smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. Haven’t eaten the whole day.”
“Oh. I can whip up something real quick,” Charlie said. “If you have any ingredients in your fridge.”
“You cook?” Meech asked, and there was some adulation in his tone.
Charlie shrugged. “Just about. If you’ve got the ingredients, I make a mean sloppy joe.”
“There’s nothing in the fridge,” Meech said, getting up cheerfully. “But I can run out and grab something real quick. The kid can come with me, and we can make it even quicker.”
“Ooh, can I?” Casey looked excitedly at Charlie, who pursed her lips doubtfully.
“There’s a grocery store just around the corner,” I told her. “He’ll be fine.”
She glanced at me and must have seen something in my face that made her trust me. Because she nodded.
“Fine,” she said, relenting. “But don’t take too long.”
“We won’t.” Casey hopped out of the ring and followed Meech, who was already heading out. He was probably trying to get everything together before she changed her mind. The man had been bugging me for a homecooked meal for months now.
