Page 34 of Only You

Detroit

‘Focus! Focus!’

Demir’s coach repeated the words so often, they echoed in his head even after his fists finished meeting the wall. His knuckles cried out in pain, but he was used to the burn. It greeted him like an old friend.

‘Watch the hook!’

Demir shifted his footing so he could throw a left hook. His speed was good, but his power was superb – in his own opinion. Still, there was room for improvement, especially if he was going to enter bigger, better paying fights.

‘Aye, watch it!’

He gritted his teeth as his hand hit the wall harder than he intended. Pain crackled up to his wrist, and he stepped back, cradling his hand.

‘Fuck,’ he groaned as he unravelled the tape. He cursed again, feeling the bruises beneath his dark skin beginning to form; he tried to bend his pinkie finger.

‘Gonna blow your fucking hand out doing shit like that. I keep telling you, D, focus ,’ his coach, Jack, yelled as he walked over.

Out of instinct, Demir looked around to see if there were any peering eyes.

The other boxers, scattered around the room, were minding their own business.

They were used to the sight, he supposed, of the two of them.

Demir, tall and Black with dark brown hair and eyes to match and Jack, a few inches shorter than him, white, blonde, Irish and loud as shit.

The fact that they were both twenty-four made it even stranger, with Demir often getting mistaken for thirty while Jack’s easy-going smile made him pass for barely twenty.

They were undeniably an odd pair. Most saw the arrangement as Jack, a budding boxer until he blew his knee, using Demir to fulfil his own dreams. Maybe there was some truth to that, but it didn’t take away from the fact that he was a great coach most of the time.

Pain shot through his hand as Jack looked it over with a frown.

‘Fuck, that’s ugly.’ He took a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and pulled one out. ‘You’re lucky I got a new doc that costs less. Jimmy would’ve charged me out my ass for this shit.’

‘I don’t need a doctor,’ Demir told him easily. ‘Just need to snap it back. Worry about your blood pressure.’

‘You are my blood pressure. And you doing reckless shit before our fight this weekend will fuck both of us.’

Demir shook his head at his coach, rewrapping his hand. He didn’t need some street doctor telling him to pour some weird ass oil over it. ‘You don’t have to worry about this weekend. I’m fine now. I’ll be fine by then.’

‘You’re damn right, because she’s here already.’

‘Who?’ Jack stepped around him and headed for the stairs, a crescendo of catcalls beginning to rise as their guest descended the stairs.

So, he had heard right when the coach said ‘she’.

By his side was what Demir classified as the American Beauty: slim figure, curled hair and big, wide eyes.

Her dark blue dress clung loyally to her curves; while sheer stockings kept her technically appropriate, she had a smile that was anything but shy.

If it wasn’t for her mocha-coloured skin and full lips, he was sure she would’ve been on every motion picture poster.

She walked arm in arm with Jack, talking animatedly while waving at the other boxers. Her wave may have been inviting but Jack’s stare was not, so the other boxers stayed in their corners, even as their eyes lingered. Not that Demir could claim any differently; he couldn’t look away either.

‘The fuck is you doing, D?’ Jack asked once the pair got close. ‘Why are your wraps back on? Take them off so she can look at your hand.’

‘I’m fine, miss,’ Demir said politely as he stood. The woman raised her brow before taking the clutch purse from under her arm and tapping it on his knuckles. Demir hissed, snatching her bag.

She whistled. ‘Impressive reflexes, but clearly, your hand is hurt, so if you don’t mind…’

She held out her hand, and Demir gave the purse to her with a scowl.

Tucking it under her arm again, she gestured towards his hand.

He sighed and placed it in her palm. Undoing the wrappings with deft fingers, she gently turned his hand to assess the damage.

Demir grimaced as she smiled at his crooked finger.

‘Fascinating,’ she commented. ‘I’ve never seen this before.’

‘A dislocated finger?’ he questioned, looking at her sceptically. What kind of dainty dame did Jack bring in here?

‘Hardly,’ she said. ‘I meant your knuckles. I’ve heard of this method of training but have never seen it in real life. You see, what you’re doing is slowly fracturing the bones so they can heal and become denser. A knockout from you must really be something. As for the finger…’

Demir couldn’t help the cry he let out as she pulled on the digit to snap it back in place.

‘There.’ Bright eyed, she ran her fingers over his hand. ‘All done. Also, you can get the same effect hitting the bag. It’ll hurt a lot less.’

She stepped back to Jack’s side, arm sliding around his waist. A small stab of jealousy hit Demir as she rested her head on his shoulder, her demeanour calm. He couldn’t remember if a woman had ever been so at ease in his arms.

‘This will be fun,’ she commented before grinning. ‘My name is Selene.’

‘Selene…’ he said slowly. The name rang a bell, and he looked at Jack suspiciously. ‘As in your girlfriend?’

Demir had heard about her plenty of times, usually over drinks.

Jack tended to go back and forth between complaining about how she drove him crazy and lamenting over how much he loved her, driving Demir crazy, too.

He never said anything on the subject as he had no opinion either way.

His first and foremost rule was to stay out of business he wasn’t a part of.

However, he would have never imagined the girl that drove Jack so crazy was Black.

‘More or less,’ Jack smirked. Selene gasped, pinching his side. He winced before chuckling.

‘It’s nice to finally meet you, Demir,’ she said. ‘You better not forget my name since I’m the only one in here who likes fixing broken things.’

His jaw clenched. Now he understood. Her mouth was just as wild as Jack’s.

‘You’ll get plenty of chances, Sel,’ Jack reassured her, planting a quick kiss on her forehead before unwrapping himself from her embrace. ‘Okay, playtime’s over. Arms up, D. Ten more reps.’

A few hours later, Demir picked up his bag, ready to rest his sore body and glad he didn’t have to train tomorrow. He was the last boxer in the gym – all the sane ones having left a couple of hours ago, ones that probably had something better to do or someone to go home to.

He shut off the lights in the locker room and walked over to the stairs. Selene was waiting nearby. Petty as it was, Demir hoped she smelled like sweat and it ruined her evening. She straightened as soon as she saw him.

‘I hope I didn’t offend you earlier.’ He must have looked at her confused, because she continued. ‘The broken thing. You seemed quite angry when I said it, but I’m a doctor, you see. Well, training to become one. When I said broken, I meant something more technical.’

Demir looked her up and down. She was quite beautiful, he would never deny that, but Jack’s personality was enough for him. He didn’t need any more complications. He wanted to box, get paid, and go home. As long as he could do that, he was more than fine with forgetting her.

‘I feel no ways about you.’

She seemed taken aback by his bluntness, but just as she opened her mouth to reply, he cut the lights and walked up the stairs. Selene huffed before following him outside where Jack was waiting for them both by his raggedy car.

‘What took so long?’

‘Lay off. You tortured me enough,’ Demir said tiredly. Selene brushed past him, sashaying to the car and getting in without a word. Jack looked at her for a moment before turning to Demir. ‘Need a ride?’

‘My two feet look more reliable.’

‘Saturday at eight,’ Jack told him, climbing in after her. ‘Don’t be late or I’ll come find you. You’ll regret not taking the ride!’

‘I doubt it,’ Demir yelled over the roar of Jack’s engine. He shook his head as the car lugged down the street, turning in the opposite direction. He tilted his head back to the sky, scanning it for stars, counting five before little prickles of pain ran up his arms.

He reached into his pocket for his cigarettes and matches, ready to light one when he studied the bandages Selene had wrapped tightly over his knuckles.

It was much better work than he or Jack had ever done.

Maybe Jack was onto something with this girl…

he shook his head before pocketing the pack.

This wasn’t the time to think about that.

A few streets over, sirens wailed in the night, and Demir decided to jog the rest of the way home.

‘Good job, babe,’ Jack said as soon as they got back to his apartment, placing a kiss on her cheek as they sat down on the couch.

She turned on the radio, a lively jazz song playing. ‘You mean I got the job,’ she asked with a smirk.

Leaning over, he captured her lips. Selene sighed into the touch.

This was her favourite time of the day, when it was almost over and there was nothing else to do but relax.

They continued kissing for a few moments before Jack tiredly collapsed beside her.

She giggled before wrapping her arm around him as he buried his face into her shoulder.

‘You always had it,’ he mumbled against her neck. ‘Says the one that didn’t want me going to the gym.’

‘Cause I didn’t need the dogs in there slobbering over you,’ he said, pulling back enough so she could look him in the eye.

She raised her brow. ‘And what makes you think D won’t?’

Jack laughed, standing. ‘I’d be shocked to death if he did. I’ve never seen him look at any girl with anything close to happiness. I’ve never seen him with a dame, not once.’

‘You sure he just doesn’t bring them around? He’s handsome,’ she yelled out as Jack headed to the kitchen.

‘Hey, don’t get any ideas, and no,’ he said, making Selene giggle. He was always so easy to rile up.

‘How do you know this guy again?’ she asked, trying to recall how they’d met but nothing came to mind.

Of course, she had heard about Jack’s friend over the years, but it was always in passing.

Selene had stopped going to Jack’s fights after his first match; she couldn’t handle the brutality. So, she’d never met ‘D’.

One day, there had been a boxer Jack was excited to fight, then that same boxer was a friend at the gym, and then that friend wanted Jack as a coach, pulling him out of the dark place he had been trapped in after his knee injury.

For a while, she thought it was another woman, but Jack never changed the way her friends’ boyfriends had when they cheated. There were no extra hang outs, hiding or sudden errands. He came home like he always did, and D was mentioned more and more.

Glad I can put that to bed , she thought, remembering the brooding boxer from earlier. If his glare from earlier was a sign, she wouldn’t have to worry about him trying to get on her good side.

‘I told you. He’s the guy that broke my record,’ Jack reminded her. Selene’s eyes widened. ‘The guy that knocked your jaw loose?’

‘Same dude,’ he said, sitting back down. ‘Going 10-0 and he knocks me out within three rounds.’ Jack sighed. ‘Anyway, I ran into him at the gym a few weeks after I got back from deployment.’

Selene scowled at the mention of returning from war.

It was the worst eleven months of her life, wondering if he was going to survive.

He got shipped back early with a purple heart and a knee injury that ended Jack’s boxing career before it started.

Jack hated that he had to give up boxing but loved the sport too much to quit it completely.

‘Turns out he didn’t have a coach and was never called for deployment,’ he continued. ‘He’d go to fights and practise the moves he saw from memory. Demir’s power is insane.’

‘Wow.’ She nudged Jack’s shoulder. ‘If he’s so smart, why the hell does he need you?’

‘Because while he brings the power, I bring the technique,’ he smirked. ‘As you know, I am a master of technique.’

‘Oh, do I?’ Selene said, holding back her laughter as Jack leaned over her. Just before he could kiss her again, a pressing question popped into her head. ‘You sure you don’t mind me being in your world?’

‘I want you by my side, no matter where I am,’ he reassured her. ‘Do you mind being there? You didn’t like it last time.’

‘I hated it because you were getting hurt,’ she told him, gripping the front of his shirt. ‘As long as you’re fine, I don’t care about anyone else.’ She pressed her lips to his. He rubbed the back of her neck, massaging it as he laid her down across the couch.

Any more thoughts of Jack’s boxer and his glower left her mind gleefully.