JAB, JAB, CROSS. JAB, JAB, CROSS.
“If Tommy doesn’t get his hands off my wife, I’m gonna fuck him up.”
Jab, jab, cross. Jab, jab, cross.
“He’s fucking with you, Con. Now concentrate. My Nan could hit harder than you are.”
Kieran took the piss as he held the heavy bag steady.
“Your Nan is hard as nails. Even Danny’s scared of her,” I joked, but threw an extra bit of weight behind the combination, which made him grunt.
“Besides, you owe him for taking care of your girl while you trained,” he reminded me. I looked over at Tommy and reminded myself why he was getting a free pass. There were only a few men in this world who I would trust my wife’s safety to, and all kidding aside, Tommy was one of them. Today was the first day I’d let her out of the apartment, and I was not entirely comfortable with her being anywhere but resting in bed. It’d been two months since that bastard took her and my life nearly ended. That was the truth of it because, without Em, there was nothing else. My hollow, meaningless, life had been filled by this woman. I didn’t deserve her, but there was nothing I wouldn’t do, no line I wouldn’t cross, to keep her safe.
There was a festering hate burning inside me for the bastard who took what was mine. Believe me, there was a day of reckoning coming when Frank was going to get what was coming to him. For now, I kept my rage contained. Em needed me to grow a pair of balls and deal with my shit, and I’d be whatever she needed me to be so she could heal from this. Of all of us, she seemed the least fucked up. Danny, me, Kieran, we all had guilt. If we’d done things differently, protected her better, she would never have been taken. That was on us, and we had to live with it. Em didn’t see it that way, though. She felt free, like she’d gotten a new lease on life because Frank was behind bars. She made me promise I wouldn’t do anything while he was in there. I never made any promises about when he gets out.
“Seriously, Con. Focus. Danny sees you punching like an old lady, he’s gonna think you’re out of shape.”
“Fuck you.” I grinned.
He wasn’t entirely wrong. I hadn’t put on the gloves since I’d won the IBF belt, but as usual, my wife had been kicking my arse. She announced this morning that she was coming to Danny’s and that I could join her, or leave my lazy, overprotective, arse at home. Turns out, she was more of a hardarse when it came to training than Danny. I wasn’t in fighting shape, but with my muscle memory and hard work, I soon would be. Besides, I was hungry for it. I’d had a taste of winning, and I wanted more. With everyone behind me, there was no reason I couldn’t have it, too. I never used to think like that, but Em changed me. She still thought that breakfast at Daisy’s was the first time we met. It was true, but I first saw her months before that.
My hangover had been raging, and I’d had bad news to break to Danny. He’d arranged a fight between Mac and a local guy from another gym. The cocky little shit had been mouthing off in Brady’s the night before. It was amusing till the gobshite turned on me. I couldn’t be arsed mouthing back, so I floored him and broke his jaw. Pretty safe to say that Friday’s fight was cancelled after that.
“Danny’s gonna put my balls in a blender when he finds out,” I told Kieran, who looked highly amused.
“Tell him now while he’s having his breakfast.”
“We haven’t been home yet. I stink of booze and birds,” I reminded him.
“Listen. Mac told me he’s friendly with some waitress down at Daisy’s. The old fucker’s happiest when he’s eating, and if you’re in a public place, he can’t bollock you so bad.”
The man had a point, so I decided to risk it. Danny wasn’t there when I’d arrived, so I waited across the street. I needed Danny to get comfy before I spilled the beans. Round the corner, came a gorgeous pair of legs and an arse fine enough to make a grown man beg. She was pretty, in a wholesome good girl sort of way, but good girls weren’t really my type. There was nothing wrong with the legs of the bad girl who’d been wrapped around me last night. No, it wasn’t her looks or her body that caught my attention. It was what she did next. This girl didn’t look like she had a quid to her name. Her jacket was threadbare, and she had it wrapped around her like it was the most expensive possession she had. A few yards away from me, a guy was sleeping rough in a doorway. It was a pretty common sight in this part of London, especially this early in the morning. I barely noticed the homeless anymore. This girl saw him and stopped. It wasn’t like she was embarrassed at having to walk past him. She literally had to cross the street to get to him. But when she did, she laid her hand on his arm and asked if there was anything she could do to help. He smiled and thanked her but told her he was fine. Then she emptied her pockets and gave him everything she had. In this day and age, who did that? That’s what made this girl so special. Twenty minutes later, she came back over, shivering in her waitress uniform, and handed the guy a hot cup of coffee as he was packing up his sleeping bag. That act of kindness probably made his day, because it sure as hell made mine. It was the first bit of faith in humanity I’d had since Kieran’s ma stepped up for me.
I didn’t wait for Danny after that. I wasn’t ready to face her, but I emptied my pockets to the homeless guy as I walked home. Already, she was making me want to be a better person. I turned up at the cafe a few times after that, but never made it inside. When my day had been hard and shitty, I’d watch her from across the street. Seeing how she was with people and how she’d smile shyly when she thought no one was looking, instantly made my day better. Every girl I’d ever met acted like they were performing for me. Everything they did or said invited me to look at them or touch them. It was the rare exception when they didn’t want me to fuck them. This girl just wanted to be invisible. I didn’t really know her, and I worried that I’d built her up in my head to be something she wasn’t, but by the time I grew enough balls to muscle in on Danny’s breakfast and actually meet her, I was already half in love. It was probably why I acted like a total tool that first time, too tongue-tied to even open my mouth.
Em knew I loved her, but I didn’t think she’d ever know just how much. She was my peace, my inspiration, my motivation, and my reward. She was my salvation. The centre of my fucking universe. I was going to conquer the whole world and lay it at her feet. It was the least she deserved. People thought the IBF Championship fight was the hardest thing I’ve ever fought for. It wasn’t. Getting that girl to fall in love and marry me was the hardest fight of my life.
I hit the bag Kieran was still holding harder and harder until he was grunting with every punch. I could feel Em watching me, and I smiled, knowing that my need to impress her fuelled each hit. Now that she had me here, my appetite for training was relentless. Until Frank was gone for good and I knew my girl would get the happy ever after she deserved, this fight wasn’t over. It was only just beginning.