“This seat taken?” a strong male voice said from beside me.

I looked up to find the owner of AFC standing over me. “Chuck. Hey. No,” I said and moved over to give him some room.

The last five days had been spent at the gym. I couldn’t go home and going to Tyler’s place was even worse. Instead, I used the back room that had a spare bed and trained on and off for easily twelve hours each day. Tyler bunked with me and helped with my training.

“Think we should postpone the fight?”

I stood up. “What? Why?” My stomach was screaming to be fed, so I started to remove the tape from my hands. “Don’t take that away from me, too.”

“Zoe, putting you in the octagon in this state of mind is a dangerous call.”

“What state of mind? I’m fine. I promised my fans this fight, and I always deliver on a promise.” Just then Lucky sauntered over and sat down at my feet. “Hey, buddy.”

“Is this the new gym mascot?” Chuck asked and bent to scratch behind her ears.

“Sorta. Sammy, my cat, is somewhere around here, too.”

“Zoe.” Chuck had this tone that felt off from his normal lighthearted way. “Julian asked me to stop by.”

“Because he can’t get through to me?”

“No, because he’s concerned.”

I wanted to fight. The last five days I put everything into my training. My focus was solely on getting my body ready for the octagon. I couldn’t believe Chuck was seriously considering removing my name from the fight ticket.

“She’s ready,” I heard Tyler say from behind me. “You should see her during practice. She’s stronger than ever.” Tyler grabbed my hand and helped me remove the last of the tape. “The fight was already postponed. It’s time. Vera has been bashing Zoe on social media.”

“Well, that’s all for show,” I quickly interjected.

“I question that with Vera.”

“If you’re sure, Zoe,” Chuck said and started to head toward the front door. “The fight is in three days. I need to know you’re at your best. If you bring anything from your personal life into the octagon, we could have a problem.”

“I will keep my shit at the door,” I said and grabbed my water bottle. “This fight is about Vera and me. What’s in my personal life is not a part of the fight.”

“I’m glad you said that. I’ll see you Saturday then.”

“Think he believes me?”

“Not a word,” Tyler said and grabbed some of the equipment. “You done for the afternoon?”

It was weird Tyler didn’t care that I trained non-stop. Actually most of the time, he trained right along with me. “For now.”

“What’s for dinner?” Julian said and stepped into the small spare room in the gym.

“Peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Dinner of champions,” I teased and held out my second half. “I can make more.”

“I’m good.” He sat down on the side of the bed. “Still fighting Saturday?”

“Yes,” I said and rolled my eyes. “Chuck tried to remove my name, but I begged a little too much.” Sammy, my cat, was sleeping at the end of the bed. He got up and plopped down right next to Julian. “Guess he likes you.”

“Well, he did get the petting of a lifetime at Tyler’s place.”

“So you both are buddies now?”

“Well yeah.” He chuckled and picked Sammy up into his lap. “Any word?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“That’s Tyler’s line, too.” He set Sammy back on the bed and stood up. “You both are going to have to talk about it sometime.” I took a bite of my sandwich and turned the TV up. “Guess that’s my cue to leave.”

I didn’t say anything as Julian left the room. What could I say?