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“When I throw up, it’ll be on you, Az-hole.” I lifted my hand and flipped him off without looking at him. “You’re lucky I like your dick because I am pretty fucking convinced I hate the rest of you right now. I should just,” I straightened up, curled my hands into claws in his direction, and twisted my face into an irritated snarl.

“Alright, Love, you’ve had your little bitching session. Time to keep moving. For the record, you don’t have to keep pace with us, you just have to keep moving.” He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head, watching me sternly.

“And how exactly am I supposed to know where to go when you two disappear off into the sunrise, fucking speed demons?”

Craig chuckled and shook his head. “Well, for one, we’d never actually let you out of eyeshot, and two, it’s literally just straight down this road. You can’t miss it.”

“Now, move it.” Az snapped, slapping my ass hard.

I managed a middle finger for both of them before starting again at a slow pace. Both of them laughed as they passed me, looking fresh as fucking daisies. I decided right then and there that I wasn’t going to put out foreitherof them if they kept this torture up during my ‘training’ period. When the diner finally came into sight, I had thoroughly murdered both of them in multiple ways in my imagination. I may have even buried them alongside the hellish path they’d taken us on. To my dismay, they both appeared to have barely broken a sweat, Craig slightly more than Az, while my feet were attempting to refuse to even walk the last few yards to the diner door. They went from sluggish to cement-heavy and then to full-on mutiny as I slowed to a stop outside the diner. I bent forward, my hands on my legs, trying to breathe through the burning in my lungs and the nausea clawing up my throat.

“I hate both of you.” I muttered between gasps of air as I all but limped by them through the door, collapsing into the first empty booth I saw.

Az shook his head, sliding into the booth across from me and waving down a waitress. He didn’t bother giving anyone a chance to look at the menu, rattling off an order that sounded meant to feed a football team. Fortunately for his safety, he ordered me a coffee. I suppose the evil glare I was giving him was enough for him to know I would commit murder intentionally if I didn’t get my caffeine in my preferred method.

“Nope,” He said, snatching the sugar and cream out of reach as soon as my coffee arrived. “Unless you want to actually vomit, you’re going to need to take it black.”

“You are ruining any scrap of enjoyment I have left.” I hissed before letting my eyes slide to where Craig sat next to him. “And you’re just letting it happen. Fuckers.”

Craig shook his head and laughed. Az started droning on about the plan once we got to the gym, but I tuned him out. After the run, his voice made me want to dump my hot coffee over his perfectly styled blond hair. He became a chorus of wa-wa-wah-wa’s until hefinallyshut up when two waitresses appeared at our table with trays of food. A plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes was set before me, and a second, along with a glass of orange juice, was slid in my direction before I’d even taken the first bite.

“Eat as much of that as you can. You need the fuel to get through the rest of the morning.” Az ordered.

I waved my hand over the plates in dismay. “I can’t eat all of this. I know I’m a big girl, but fucking hell, that doesn’t mean I eat like a damned linebacker!”

“Just eat what you can, Bunny.” Craig said. “Az is just overcompensating for being so hard on you. But make sure you drink the juice.”

Az growled something at Craig I didn’t care to pay attention to, but otherwise didn’t correct him. I tried to take my time eating, hoping that if I just took long enough, Az would call it a day and we could go back to the Innocenti’s. My plan seemed to backfire when Az lifted the glass of juice to my mouth and demanded I take a drink before reaching for my fork.

“Do it and I will stab you with it.” I snapped, but I got the hint and finished what I could of my food.

“I’ll pay the bill, you two head on over to the club. I’m sure Leighton is wondering where we are.” Az said when I’d finally eaten all I could.

The boxing club was caddy corner from the diner, which was both a relief to my feet and a death sentence to any hope of dragging out my reprieve. I followed Craig inside and spotted Leighton almost instantly. He was facing our direction in the ring that took up the center position of the club, squaring off bare-knuckled against someone I couldn’t make out through all the padding they were wearing. I wasn’t the least bit surprised by the grin on his face as he sparred. It wasn’t nearly as feral as the fight he’d taken me to as an apology or the way he dove into the firefights we’d lived through, but it was one hundred percenthim.

“There you are!” He called out, hopping from foot to foot as he spotted us entering the club. He made a hand signal to the person in the ring with him and practically sprang over the ropes, landing on the floor next to the ring. “I was starting to think you murdered Az and ran away for good.”

“I was very tempted.” I huffed. “Still might.”

“That’s my girl,” Leighton smirked, leaning forward and planting a chaste kiss on my lips. “Az tell you the plan here?”

“If her face was anything to go by, she completely tuned out everything he told her out of spite,” Craig chuckled, causing me to scowl at him for being right.

“Well, quick run down time. We’re gonna work on takedowns, breaking holds, and hitting. If you doreallywell, I’ll even hold Az in place so you can use him for real world punching experience.” Leighton grinned, waggling his eyebrows. “I reserved this ring for the next couple of hours for us.”

My eyes went to the ring farthest away, and I felt a pang of longing for that one. I didn’t particularly want to have my ineptitude on display for everyone to see, and the ring Leighton picked felt like it was under a blinding spotlight with its positioning.

“Let’s go,Ma Petit,” Leighton said with a clap.

I begrudgingly followed him to the ring and let him help me into it. It didn’t take long for my embarrassment to fade into the background as I worked to focus on not letting him put me on my ass. Just when I thought I had the hang of it, he turned me to where Az and Craig stood waiting behind us in the ring. The three of them put me through my paces, making me do the moves repeatedly until I got them right. I was fairly certain I would be sporting a myriad of bruises by the time we exited the ring and got to work at the punching bags.

“That’s enough.” Az said finally when my arms felt like they were going to fall off. “You’re heading back with Leighton to work on spotting. Expect this to be your routine for the next little bit with some weight lifting mixed in.”

“I thought you said you’d hold him so I could get real world practice.” I pouted at Leighton.

“I said if you did really well.” He winked. “Come on before he decides to make you lift weightstoday.”

“All three of you better sleep with one eye open, I swear to God.” I huffed, drawing a laugh from them before Leighton led me from the gym.