Chapter 10

Wham!

I hit the bag so it swung slightly from the chains.

Whack!

This time, it moved further back.

Bam!

Finally, the whole bag moved back with so much force that my fingers hurt; and they were in protective gloves.

I put out all my anger and frustration towards the bag, pretending it was the idiot that had stolen my beloved motorbike.

My mom had let me borrow her car today since she was riding to work with another one of her work friends.

I kept throwing punches, making the bag sway further back until the clearing of a throat interrupted me.

I turned to see Ryder in his usual pose; arms crossed, carefree look, and his signature smirk that I wanted to punch right off his face.

"Ryder." I gave him a short nod and walked over to the bench to get a drink of water. But when I approached, he swiftly snatched the bottle right out of my hands before I could get a sip.

"Hey!" I lunged for the bottle but he quickly moved it over his head and stood still, taunting me.

"Give that back Ryder, you know you're taller than me, it's not fair!" I leapt in the air but to no avail, I missed catching the bottle from his grasp.

"Ah ah ah," he shook his finger, "I'll give it back if you let me teach you how to fight."

I scoffed and crossed my arms. "Teach me to fight? How about vice versa, eh?" I jumped back in the air but he moved to the right and I lost my footing, stumbling in my steps.

"See Ruby? You can't even stand correctly." He said and I started the hit his chest through the gray fabric of his shirt.

"Shut...up...and give me...the bottle!" I kept saying but running out of breath.

"Then let me at least help you. I saw some errors of yours, Ruby. Let me help you." I finally gave up and stood with my arms slumped at my sides and my lungs pumping with me panting from jumping up and down repeatedly.

"Fine idiot." I said and an instant smirk settled on his face.

"Good, now if you let me train you this week, will you think about entering a match this weekend?"

"I'll think about it."

•••

I stood in front of Ryder; his hands covered in punching mats. I stood in my stance in front of him and he nodded to start.

The first exercises were easy, just me throwing punches at his hands and crossing over once in a while. Then Ryder shook off the gloves and stood in front of me.

"Now, when I swing, you duck, alright?"

I rolled my eyes at the easy drill and every time he swung, I ducked my head or under his arm.

"Good, Buchanan, now let's see if you know some basic moves..." Ryder said.

"Jab! Hook! Uppercut!" He kept yelling over and over, sometimes switching up the order to throw me off.

"Slip!" I inclined my head to let his fist sail past and miss. "Good! Now right cross!" On and on we went for the rest of the evening. Him yelling out random but not-so-random moves or blocks and me dodging or hitting him.

After we were done, Ryder and I stood across from each other, our breaths panting and sweat trickling down our foreheads. I was sure I smelled like a sewer rat.

"Nice job Ruby, you weren't the weakling I thought you out to be."

I swung at his leg and he collapsed on the mat, a string of curse words coming out of his mouth.

"Damn, sorry Ruby I was just joking..." he got up and shook his arms around. I looked at his ruffle up hair and thought, wow, what a hottie.

I pushed away my stupid thought and looked at him now. "So..." he came to sit by me on the bench while I was taking a long drink from my water bottle he had stolen earlier. "Will you compete this weekend?"

I stared off into the distance and wondered about it. What if I got hurt badly? What if I won? Then they would certainly hear about me and find me.

"I can't." I mumbled and began to pack my bags. Ryder grabbed my wrist and stopped me from doing so. "Why not?"

"I just can't, Ryder, I'm sorry." I continued to zip up my bag.

"Why the hell not, Ruby! I just spent like three hours helping you and now you don't want to compete?"

I just shook my head and pulled the bag strap over my shoulder. "I just can't Ryder, okay? I can't...I can't tell you..."

Ryder grabbed my arm with his strong hand and pulled me against his chest. One finger touched my chin and pulled it up so I was looking straight into the deep, dark brown eyes of Ryder Daniels. His eyes were filled with... worry? I tried to break his gaze but he firmly held on to my chin.

"What can't you tell me?" he said in a quiet whisper.

"It's complicated Ryder."

"Bullshit."

I pulled his hand slowly away from my face and he stood there with a confused expression. "I need to get going."

He followed me out without a word until I came to the doors. "How'd you get here?" he asked.

I pointed to my mom's white Mercedes. It's sometimes nice when your mom's a lawyer, though is she ever found out about my deeper past and secrets back in California, she would kill me.

"Just think about it Ruby." Ryder called from the doorway of the gym when I was loading into the driver's seat. "Think about it."

I don't understand why Ruby doesn't want to fight. She said something about 'not being able to tell me' or 'it's complicated', but I had an itch to find out why.

The next morning I went for a jog to the gym instead of riding my bike. Feliciano met me at the door and we went straight to boxing. It was a slow morning, one with many knocks to the head and swings to the feet, but I kept on going with teeth grit.

"So," Felix swung again to my ribs but I sidestepped, "was that your new play toy at that last fight?"

I rolled my eyes and hit him on the side of the head. "Oi!" he yelped and I kept my stance.

"No, she's not. Just a friend." thinking of Ruby as one of my so called 'playtoy's' made me mad. Yeah, she had a great body and all, but we actually had a friendship, I guess. And sleeping around with her then dumping her ass angered me. Yes, I admit that that was my plan from the beginning when I barely knew her and thought she was just a pretty face, but for some reason I opened up to her and she didn't judge me like I thought everyone else would. She understood me, fighting, motorcycles (gosh, how I loved that about her) snap out of it, Daniels.

So for another hour I just quickly answered the random questions Felix would throw at me, including his fist.

On my way home, I ran into a busty brown haired girl. She instantly batted her eyelashes and hiked her skirt up a few inches when she caught sight of me. What can I say? I'm good looking.

She approached me when I kept walking down the sidewalk. "Hey good lookin'," she stopped right in front of me and I had to bend my neck to look down at her. She was sexy, yes, but for some odd reason I didn't feel like talking to anyone, or fondling.

"Wanna come back to my place and have a good time?" she whispered in my ear.

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood." I gently pushed passed her and headed straight home.

What the actual fuck is wrong with me?