After the fight, I didn't want to think about Terrance. The feeling of almost losing was awful, and there was no way that I could see myself honestly throwing a whole match when a near-honest loss almost broke my heart.

So I put Terrance and his threat on the back of my mind. Fortunately, it was easy to ignore Terrance because I now had another area to focus my attention on, and that person was my boyfriend. I honestly do not know what had gotten into Samuel these past couple of days, but whatever it was, it was super annoying. He hadn't touched me since that fight that he came to see.

Was it just too much for him to handle? Was he just freaked out by the blood and the pounding?

That didn't even make any sense. It wasn't as though he didn't see those things in my other fights. It also wasn't as though he himself wasn't regularly tying people up and smacking them with their consent. There was no reason for him to be squeamish.

So I texted him, before I went into the gym for the day.

I know you are at work. But I was wondering what the deal is with you and the whole not touching me thing. Because I was kind of used to the idea of having you touch me a lot.

I got a reply back almost immediately. Being that it was Samuel, who was a dork, it was full of smiley faces.

Sorry. But you were pretty badly banged up. I didn't want to make things worse and hurt you.

I rolled my eyes, but of course that was a great explanation. Of course that was why he was being so foolish. Of course that's why every touch was very vanilla and it felt like we had gotten in a time machine and gone two years back in time.

That's silly. I'm fine, and we're fixing that tonight, I texted.

The smiley face that greeted me was cute, and I thought about it as I headed out to the gym. the smiley face promised that we could resolve our issues, and I looked forward to that.

"Hitch! Your face is finally starting to look normal!" Alex greeted me once I got onto the treadmills.

It was a good day for treadmills. I had been pretty slow in the last fight, and I definitely needed to build up my speed.

"Thanks, Alex. I can't say the same about yours!" I said cheerfully. "You stalking me or what?"

"Pft. You think you're the only one that got a lecture about needing to incorporate more cardio to build speed? Kamal's been all over us all, thanks to the golden boy getting a pounding in the ring. Besides, you aren't here at your normal time."

"Well, I'm sure it's what you deserve," I retorted.

I ignored the fact that I hadn't been coming at my regular time because I was frankly avoiding the hell out of Terrance. So far, my avoidance plan had gone well, and he hadn't had the guts to show back up at my apartment or at our house.

I tried to focus my irritation into my workout; that usually seemed to work pretty well. But I was frowning down at the treadmill. It didn't seem to be that high of a speed, but I could barely breathe at this speed.

What was the deal? Was I really that bad at cardio? No wonder I'd gotten my ass handed to me a few days ago in the ring.

"You alright over there, Hitch?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I muttered. "Apparently those cardio lectures were well-deserved."

That was an understatement, I thought, as I went through the rest of my workout. Keeping up with my usual standard of a cardio workout was almost impossible. I huffed and puffed through most of the last twenty minutes, and felt a not small degree of nausea coming over me.

By the time I was done, I was basically very annoyed. I had plans for the day, and they did not include getting sick.

Fortunately, by the time that I made it to the grocery store, most of the nausea had already worn off, and I was feeling much better. I was able to focus on getting some of Samuel's favorite foods, which included scallops, a nice bottle of red wine, and one of Samuel's favorite movies. I also picked up some asparagus, because it was the fanciest vegetable I could think of, and because I knew that Samuel loved it.

Once I arrived home, I put on the dinner and then went upstairs. Maybe I wasn't the best chef in the entire Raleigh area, but the internet was a great source of learning how to cook both scallops and asparagus. Apparently, cooking scallops in a red wine sauce was easy if you had the right online video and the right incentive.

Considering that my reason was getting Samuel to return to his kinky excellence and leave gentle vanilla Samuel in the past, I was sure that I had the very best incentive in the entire world.

By the time that Samuel arrived home, I was dressed in nothing but my finest pair of silk black boxers and one of the leather collars that I had fished out of the magic box in the closet.

I wasn't being a bratty sub; Samuel had encouraged me to pick up the box whenever he wasn't home and go through the toys there in order to familiarize myself with what was available.

I went back down to the living room and sorted through the classical musical collection in Samuel's retro record collection. I might never understand the urge to own non-digital music, but I had to admit that the way that the sound flowed through the walls was never going to sound that good coming from my phone.

With the music on to set the mood, I turned the lights down and lit the candles. Then I threw myself on the couch so that I was waiting for Samuel when he walked through the front door. I made sure the blinds were shut. I made sure the blinds were shut throughout the house; it was a simple habit that I had picked up lately, thanks to the threat from Terrance, that I wasn't thinking about right then.

The look on his face was definitely worth all of the worry that I had undergone through the past week, with his refusal to actually get down and dirty.

"Well, you certainly look good enough to eat," he said warmly as he shut the door behind him. "Is this the dinner you promised me?"

"Eh, there's some of that in the kitchen, I suppose," I answered. "I mean, if you really need sustenance before our fun."

He laughed and dropped his work duffle down beside the bed. He came over to me and looped his finger through the D-ring in the front of the collar. Full, thick lips met mine, and I melted easily into the kiss, letting out a howl of disappointment as he pulled away from me.

"That's for later," he said, giving the D-ring a tug that I followed into an upright position. "Right now, I do need dinner. And based on what you're promising, so do you, to keep your strength up."

I wanted to argue with him, but my stomach was growling obnoxiously, so I followed him to the kitchen to get our plates.

Later did, in fact, come. Later involved Samuel's hands being equally split between holding down my wrists and tugging on the collar around my throat. Apparently, a simple collar was all it took to get Samuel to forget that he needed to be "gentle" with me.

Or maybe it was the asparagus. Samuel swore that it was some sort of aphrodisiac. I didn't think that was very likely but I supposed it was possible, and based on the way that Samuel was behaving, I was willing to put suspend my level of disbelief.

He was paused and ready to enter me for the first time in over a week when his phone started to blow up.

"Are you kidding me," I muttered. "It's too early for a client."

"Too late," Samuel retorted, and he reached over to the night desk and gave the phone a clumsy throw across the room.

What was it, with people in my life constantly trying their best to break their phones?

Unfortunately, despite Samuel's best efforts, the thought of Terrance and the phone ringing was definitely enough to ruin the mood.

"Sorry," Samuel said apologetically as he eased down into the bed next to me. "I guess asparagus isn't a cure for everything after all."

I laughed and got up to retrieve his phone. As I picked it up, I saw several texts from a man named "Andrew." I fought back the urge to throw up as I read the messages. I need you. I want you. Baby please.

"Eric?" Samuel asked, his voice rich with sleep. "What's the matter?"

"What the hell is this?" I demanded, and I threw the phone on the bed.

Samuel's brows came together in confusion as he looked down at the messages.

"I have no idea," he said finally.

"Oh, that's real convenient. Just like you had no idea last time, right?"

Samuel sucked air through his teeth, in a clear sign that he was trying to control his temper.

"This guy isn't even in my contacts. You can see that yourself," he said quietly. "If I was really that hung up on some other guy, wouldn't his name be in my contacts?"

I hesitated, before picking up the phones and verifying that there was no "Andrew" anywhere in his contacts. I tried to control my temper, and I thought about how easily my willingness to believe that Samuel had cheated on me had ruined everything last time.

"I ... I'm sorry," I said, sitting on the bed. "I shouldn't have accused you like that."

Samuel shook his head and picked up the phone and began to text. When he was done, he handed it back to me. It was a short message, telling the guy to buzz off and that Samuel had no idea who he was.

Sitting in the dark, I really felt stupid. The look on Samuel's face said plainly that I had hurt him, and I hadn't intended on it.

"I understand being upset," Samuel said. "But I don't understand of accusing me of the very same thing all over again. I – how can you not see that I only have eyes for you?"

I crawled back into the bed and scooted closer to him.

"Maybe I can't believe that I'd ever be so lucky," I whispered.

"Then come here, and let me show you," Samuel whispered right back.

It was the easiest command he'd given me yet.