Pain & Gain

Chapter 15

~Marshall's P.O.V.~
The girls went out today, probably planning Ren's wedding down to the rhinestones. I'm back at the gym, having nothing better to do and needing something to keep mind off of everything else. I throw powerless punches at the punching bag. Rule hits another one beside me. Its become routine for us.
We come to the gym and we box. I haven't been in an actual fight since I got hurt. I'm fully healed now and to tell the truth, I miss it. I miss it more than almost anything. Rachel would be so mad at me if I went back to it. Especially with the kid on the way, she wouldn't forgive me.
I still get to train regularly and be in the ring occasionally. It's not the same. But if it came down to it, and I guess in a way it has, I would always choose her. There's not a fight in the world that's more important to me than she is. I would never pick up gloves again if she asked me to.

"How long have you known?" Rule asks out of nowhere. "About the baby, I mean."

"Feels like she told me yesterday." I say, sighing and throwing some more punches. "But it's been a few weeks, almost a month."

"I can't get over it." Rule laughs. "You're gonna be a dad."

"How long have you been engaged?" I ask him, desperate to get the attention off of me.

"About a month." Rule stops for a second and then starts up again.

"So I take it she broke up with Tony then?"

"Well..." He starts and I raise a brow at him, he's got to be kidding. "Technically she said she'd marry me while they were still together. But it's over now. She ended it."

"Does he know?" I ask, feeling a tenseness in my abdomen. "About the wedding."

"Look I don't know, the guy hates me."

Rule huffs out an angry breath and shakes it out, continuing to work on his left uppercut. I watch him for a couple seconds and I know he's trying hard not to look at me. He's lying. He's tightening his jaw like he did when we were young. That's how his parents could tell he was lying.

"Oh my god, he doesn't know?" I raise both my eyebrows at him. Rule punches the bag extremely hard, sending it back with force.

"Why do you care anyway?" He challenges.

I find his newly voiced anger amusing. He shouldn't be so defensive over it. If Tony doesn't know then that's their business but I don't want Rachel around when he decides to act on it.

"I'm just worried about you guys." I tell him, trying to dispel the tension in the room.

Rule scoffs. "Don't you have your own girl to worry about?" He's in a fiery mood today, an unpredictable one.

"Dude I'm just worried Tony's gonna do something stupid and make it worse." I explain, both of us stepping away from our punching bags.

"Worse?" He raises an eyebrow. "I'm just marrying her. At least I didn't knock her up."

His words strike me right in the heart. The big downside of fighting with your best friend is that they know exactly how to push your buttons. They know what will hurt you the most. They know exactly how to destroy you from the inside out. It hurts more than any physical fight. I would prefer a punch in the face.

"What are you trying to say?" I ask him rhetorically, taking a couple steps closer. "Think I'm not happy about this baby? I love her, Rule."

"You're not ready to be a father Marshall." He takes a step towards me, now only a couple feet away from each other. "Yours is shit. Do you even know what you're doing? Weren't you careful? I mean didn't you think this through at all?"