FIGHT

Chapter 16

After throwing on a t-shirt, I walk out of Holden's bedroom only to find him lounging on the couch. I'm sore from my lonesome training session yesterday, but he doesn't know that.

"Hey, can I borrow your car?"

Holden's green eyes look my body up and down, his teeth biting down on his bottom lip. I'm dressed for training, but that doesn't stop him from leisurely checking me out. I place my hands on my hips, throwing my own smirk at him.

"Where are you going?"

I roll my eyes, watching as his eyes continually travel down my body. "Josh's gym. He said he'd continue my training until you were able to pick it back up."

He doesn't like the idea, but he knows he can't object. As much as he doesn't want me around Josh right now, he knows keeping me away would bring questions from me. Questions he can't answer unless he chooses to be honest with me.

"You just trained last night."

"But I'm only throwing the same punches over and over. I'm not going to get any better if I just continue what I'm doing. I have to learn new techniques."

I've got reasons to back up any excuse he can throw at me. There's no way he can stop me from going.

"I don't know if there's much gas in the car."

I shrug, walking further into the living room to sit on the arm of the chair, "That's fine. I can fill up on my way over there."

Holden takes a minute to think before lifting off the couch, coming to stand in front of my position on the chair. He places his hands on either side of my cheeks, tilting my head up to meet his gaze. His body slowly bends down, stopping when he's close enough to place a long kiss to my lips.

His kiss almost makes me forget why I need to go over to Josh's place, but the nagging voice persists at the back of my mind. I pull away from him, batting my eyelashes. "Car?"

Holden rolls his eyes before grabbing the keys off of the table and handing them to me. He places a small kiss to my forehead, sitting himself back on the couch to watch mindless TV.

I walk towards the elevator, grabbing my workout bag from the floor, "I'll be back soon, Samuels."

"Hey, Smalls?" I turn around to face him, slowly moving my feet back towards the elevator. He flashes a small smile at me, accenting his dimple.

"Yeah?"

"Keep your energy centered. Beat the shit out of Josh's tiny little punching bag."

I laugh, blowing Holden a kiss before backing myself into the elevator. It's frustrating that he's so hard to be mad at. All I want is to blow up on him for lying to me and hiding shit, but any time I look into his eyes, I can't help but kiss him.

It's amazing how fast someone can change your whole life around.

When I reach the car and turn it on, I see that the Range Rover still has at least half a tank, causing me to roll my eyes. I really wouldn't have minded getting gas, but Holden could've come up with a better excuse than that.

Pulling into the parking lot of Josh's gym, I take a deep breath. Train first, then get answers. If I immediately shoot for answers, Josh will be suspicious. I have to use a different tactic than I used with Holden. Asking questions will get me nowhere.

I enter the gym, a familiar scent of sweat and air freshener filling up my nostrils. Not the most appealing scent, but it calms me nonetheless. All around me, different men are working out and training.