7. Sunday Week Two

Excitement coursed through me like the blood in my veins. I was finally gonna learn how to fight, finally going to know how to defend myself. And I guess maybe a teensy part of me was excited to see Elias again. Only a teensy part.

Okay, fine. What complete and utter bullshit.

Ever since he messaged me on Friday I had felt nothing but butterflies and anticipation about today which made no sense because I didn't know the boy. Pulling up to Maxon's Fighters, I felt those emotions skyrocket. Here goes nothing. All my anxieties were at the forefront of my mind. Was I dressed right? Was this the right place? Was the time right? Was Eli pranking me?

Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind I grabbed my bag and made my way towards the gym, shivering from both the cold and something else entirely. The gym was in a shady part of town which confused me as I recalled the lavish mansion Eli lived in.

The second before I stepped through the doors a large burly man with a beard stepped out of the shadows and grabbed my arm confirming how dodgy this place was.

"Hey! Get the fuck off me!" I yelled at him.

He gave me a creepy as hell smile and began dragging me further into the darkness of an alley by the gym. Fear washed over me, shit like this was why I needed to know how to fight.

"Get off of her Jake, she's with me." 

Calm washed over me as Elias's emotionless face appeared in the entrance of the alley and I know other things should be on my mind but damn did he look fine. He was in a pair of black gym shorts and trainers with no shirt on cause let's be honest if you had a body like that, why on earth would you ever cover it up?

"I don't recognise her so she's fair game," he said in a gravelly voice whilst frowning at Elias. I felt a shiver of disgust run down my spine and I started struggling in his hold again, repulsed by his words.

Eli's eyes flickered to me and I saw them flame in anger as he must have seen the fear I'm sure was present on my face. He took a step closer to him until he was right in front of the guy, Jake.

"That's 'cause she's with me," Eli looked downright terrifying as he squared off with the creep, taller than him by a few inches and broader than him by a few more, "Now get the fuck off her."

Jake the Creep seemed to heed the warning as let go off me and shoved me into Eli's arms roughly, "See you around sweetheart," he said with a sly smile and gross wink. He slinked off back into the shadows and I shivered again in Eli's arms.

"Not if I can help it," Eli muttered under his breath. I don't think I was meant to hear him but he still had his arms around me, his chest to my back, so I did.

"What was that about, Eli?" I asked him softly, wanting to get a straight answer out of him. He released me instantly as if hearing me speak made him remember I was there.

He grunted, "Don't call me Eli." Everyone at school called him Ryker, I guess he preferred to be known only by his last name; for some reason, I had never thought to call him that.

Deciding to let the incident with Jake the Creep drop, for now, seemed like the best thing to do so instead I turned around and cocked my head to the side, "So why did you sign the end of your text with it."

His eyes scanned me up and down making me very conscious of the fact that I was just wearing a black sports bra and black sports leggings with a violet hoody unzipped on top. I crossed my arms over my chest whilst I was waiting for his reply and his eyes flamed again but this time it was not anger dancing in them.

"Come, Maxon wants to meet you," He swivelled on his heel and marched off back into the gym. I let out an exasperated sigh at his brutishness and ran after him not wanting to be out here alone for any longer than necessary.

The inside of the gym was certainly more pleasant than the exterior. The overhead lights were bright showing one large room split into three main areas - gym equipment, boxing ring, boxing equipment - and there was an office in the back right corner. In my study of the gym I didn't notice Eli, sorry Ryker, stopping and so I ended up walking straight into his back.

"Sorry," I muttered under my breath and came around to stand beside him, "This place is really nice, you would never guess from the upkeep of the outside."

"Keep the snatchers out easy," a middle-aged man with greying hair was the owner of the gravelly new voice. He was in good shape and I somehow instantly knew that this was Maxon the Owner.

"Maxon, this is Reillyn. Tigru, this is Maxon." I glared up at Eli as he introduced me.

"I am capable of introducing myself thank you, Eli," I smiled at Maxon and gave him my hand to shake, he smiled back and I knew he was impressed that I spoke out to Eli. "Call me Rei. What did you mean by 'snatchers'?"

"You gotta be careful in these parts princess, gym looks shabby from the outside so people think it's shabby on the inside, stops the thieving."

"Smart, but doesn't that drive customers away." He gave a light laugh at my reply.

"Only customers we got round here is family, don't get many newuns in these parts." I appreciated the soft smile he gave me as he spoke, it made me feel comfortable and I took an instant liking to him. Shame Elias was an asshole, most of his friends were nice enough.

"Alright, enough, gossip on your own time," see, asshole.

Maxon nodded, "Pleasure meeting you Rei."

"Pleasures mine," I sent him a wink and smile to which he laughed before walking back in the direction of his office.

Elias began striding in the direction of the ring in the back left corner, I rolled my eyes at him, "That was hardly gossiping Eli," I chased after him, trying to keep in pace with his long-ass legs, "just introducing ourselves."

"Yeah," he grunted, "I gathered that when you sassed me for doing it for you." Oof, someone was salty.

"Introductions are important, they are your first impression of a person. If you do that for me, I'm hardly making a good impression am I?"

"You won't be around here that long so who gives a shit about impressions."

Stopping next to him by the ring, I mulled over what he said but found myself with no retort to his comment because it was true. He would teach me to fight, I would keep his secret then we would go our separate ways and probably have zero interaction with each other ever again. 

It was safe to say that I barely knew Elias and in the few interactions I had had with him, he wasn't the sweetest apple of the bunch; so why was I frowning at the thought of never speaking to him again?

Elias turned around and motioned for me to come over to him, I dropped my bag on the floor and as I reached him he spun me to face the ring, grabbed my waist and lifted me up and onto the edge of the ring. My skin tingled from where his inked fingers grazed the bare area in between my high waisted leggings and bra.

Climbing through the ropes I turned around to see him entering the ring also and then wrapping tape around his knuckles. I chose to ignore the butterflies and tingles and focus on learning how to kick ass which I did by asking the question, "why do you never have a shirt on?"

He looked at me with amusement, or the closest he could achieve to the emotion, and a slight smirk as he shrugged, "Does it bother you tigru?"

"Pfft, bother me? No, why would it bother me? Don't be ridiculous," I cleared my throat before continuing, "I'm just wondering if you have...a shirt shortage or something."

 A shirt shortage? Really Rei? Why do I always blurt out the most ridiculous stuff around this guy?

"No, Reillyn, I don't have a shirt shortage." His eyes sparkled with amusement and that damn smirk stayed on his face, "I was working out before you came here," he nodded in the direction of the gym equipment, "got too hot." Yeah, I'll say. He gave another shrug and motioned me over.

"You fought before?" He asked as he began taping my knuckles, I tried to answer his question but I found it hard to focus with him so close.

"Umm, it can get pretty messy between me and Lana when there are only one of Kinsey's famous doughnuts left." A soft chuckle left his lips and I looked up at him in disbelief. I poked his chest, "Did I just make the Ice King himself, the Elias Ryker, laugh?" I had a smile on my face and I won't lie, I felt mighty proud of myself.

He shook his head and stepped back, "Just make a fist." I did as he asked and he looked at it seemingly impressed.

"Thought you would put the thumb on the inside," he motioned to my hand, "that's not as shit as I was expecting." Okay, so maybe impressed was the wrong word.

My shoulders lifted in a shrug, "Me and Kins took a karate lesson once but then we realised you had to wear those white uniform things so we quit."

"You quit because of uniform?" he peered at me incredulously.

"Yeah...they are not flattering at all and we maybe also realised we have zero fitness." Yeah panting and sweating our asses off in front of the children of the beginners class we took was not our best moment.

"Great, so, you don't work out at all?"

I gave him a cheeky look, "not unless you count dancing as working out...like in a club every other Friday."

"Grinding on strangers is not a workout, tigru."

"It is if you do it right," I gave him a cheeky wink as he clenched his jaw. Interesting, big bad Boxer Boy seemed annoyed at the thought of grinding in a club.

"Okay. Enough talk. Hit me."

I'm sure my face reflected the disbelief I was feeling as I sputtered, "W-what? You want me to hit you?"

He rolled his eyes at me, at least he wasn't raising that damn eyebrow of his, "It's not like you are gonna be able to hurt me tigru," he bounced on the balls of his feet and then motioned to his torso, "Go on, hit me. That's what you are here for. So do it."

Of course, he was right, so I shrugged my shoulders and hit him as hard as I could in the chest.

And - HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS, THAT HURT.

Hopping around and cradling my fist to my chest, I looked up at Elias, "What the hell? Is your chest plated with steel or something?"

"Not bad, but you're weak."

"Gee, thanks asshole," I continued to hold my hand to my chest as I glared at him.

He gave me a look of annoyance, "Stop being a child, it doesn't hurt that bad." I turned my nose up at him and shook my wrist out proving that he was right, I may have been dramatising the pain a little. "Obviously you're weak, your only experience in a fight involves a doughnut," if only he knew, "your weakness is expected though, it just means that you won't win a fight with brute force." I wish he'd stop saying the word weak, I think I get it.

"How do I win then?"

"Against someone my size," he motioned up and down his body with his hands, "considering I'm easily double you at least, you don't. Your best chance is to run. Now hit me again."

I raised my fist and hit him in the chest again, "What if hypothetically I can't, you know, run?" He didn't even budge at my fist.

He looked at me with uncertainty, "Why would you not be able to run?"

The floor became very interesting as I refused to meet his gaze, I shrugged in response to his question. His arms crossed over his chest and I could feel the intensity of this stare like rays of direct sunlight, "Why do you want to learn how to fight Rei?"

My timidness suddenly dissipated as my anger sparked and I stomped over to him pointing a finger in his chest, "I don't ask why you fight, you don't ask why I fight. That was the deal Elias, those are the rules."

His eyes burned holes in my finger still poking into his chest so I abruptly removed it and took a step back, "Now, how do I win against someone your size?"

It seemed like he had stopped with the twenty (or two) questions as he took a step closer to me and grabbed my hips, "You have to develop momentum to put power behind your fist," he swirled my hips, "move in this motion so that all your weight is going into the punch." Damn, this boy. He smelt so good and the tingles from earlier on had returned.

"You trying to say something about my weight, Boxer Boy?" My attempt to lighten the mood seemed to work as the tension between us dissolved and he rolled his eyes at me with a smirk on his lips.

"Wouldn't dream of it tigru. Now, focus. You can use the fact that you are little to your advantage, stay low."

For the next two hours, Elias gave me tips on how to use my size to my advantage then making me practice everything he had taught me on him. As disgusting as it is to say, by the end of the session, I was a sweaty mess. There was no denying that I probably looked like shit and I don't even want to acknowledge that I probably smelt like shit as well.

I ended up leaving the gym at around 10 pm, Eli said he was gonna stay back a little longer so with a wave to Maxon and a final nod to Elias I left the gym.

Driving home was a bitch, I ached all over and all I wanted was a bath to relax my muscles. Annoyingly, as I drove, I found my mind drifting to Eli and the time I spent with him. He was kinda standoffish but there was something about him that had me crazy curious. 

Not wanting to dwell on it anymore I blasted 'Little Swing by AronChupa' and sang horribly off-key for the 20-minute drive home.

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2523 words^

Edited ✅ 

So, their first lesson...how do you think it went? 😶