The Unexpected Path

Chapter 13 - Lucas

"That's a decent idea," I relent. "But not my dad's gym. I don't want to see him."

"There's no way he's there at this time."

"Still. I'm not in the fucking mood."

"Fine. We'll go to Uncle Cam's gym."

"Double fucking no," I scowl. "You know he hates me because of Olivia. I want to whoop ass, not have my ass whooped."

"Jesus," He rolls his eyes. "Fine. My dad's gym then."

"Fine," I agree and drop a bill to cover our drinks. "But you're driving. You didn't drink, right?"

"Sober," He confirms, pointing to his untouched glass.

We head out and I toss Zack my keys. He catches them mid-air, heading to the driver's side. The drive isn't too far because all the Fighter's Den locations are in the Massachusetts area. Uncle Nate's gym is in Cambridge so it takes us fifteen minutes tops to get there. We park in the deserted parking lot and head for the building. Zack opens it up with his keys, nodding at Sebastian, Uncle Nate's head of security for two decades now. He's also married to Uncle Nate's sister, Lexie, so he's family too.

"Ye look drunk, lad," He tells me, his thick Scottish accent poking out.

"It's a drink I call misery," I deadpan.

He doesn't get offended or provoked. Sebastian is cool as fuck. He's a stone cold motherfucker and I admire that. He actually nods his head. "Aye. Can't say I blame ya."

I manage to crack a smirk. Finally, someone who isn't sugarcoating or pretending that this isn't happening to me.

He tips his head to give us the go ahead and Zack and I step inside. The place is empty, which is just what I hoped for. It's huge as fuck considering it tends to almost a hundred students a day so Zack and I can blow off some killer steam if it's just us.

"Want to spar or do you want to do your own thing?" He asks and heads for the locker room. I'm close behind.

"Let me do my own thing and then we'll spar. I might kill you otherwise."

"You wish, Cage."

We're both good at boxing. That's just a given. But our fathers never pushed us to follow in their footsteps and become professionals at the sport. I know a lot of their fans expected their kids to continue their legacy but the truth is, most of us are immune to the hype of boxing. We've been surrounded by it all our lives. Our fathers trained all of us but never pushed us to make it full time or go pro. The only one of us that are actually passionate about going pro are Ethan and Evan, Uncle Asher's twins. They're beasts at the sports at just fifteen years old and we all know they're going to go far. The rest of us aren't really interested. Zack and I just like it to work out.

The girls in the family aren't into it either except maybe Reese, Uncle Wolfe's eldest daughter. From his three girls she's the tomboy and is always training with Ethan and Evan. She's only thirteen but she seems serious about it.

When Zack and I finish changing into our workout clothes we head back outside. I go straight for the punching bag, kicking that motherfucker without a second thought. Boxing is hardcore but it doesn't satisfy me the way MMA does. I can't restrict my movements to just my fists. I need to use every part of my body to really blow off steam. Dad picked that up from the first day I stepped inside a gym to train with him. He taught me MMA inside and out and I have to admit I'm pretty fucking killer at it.

The reminder of that simple time when him and I were actually best friends hits harder than I expect it to. It's bad enough I'm losing my mom but it feels like I'm losing Dad too. It's not even about our stupid fucking fight about him making me go to school. I get it now. Things have just been so fucked up between us neither of us know how to go back to how it used to be. Every time we try to talk we burst into more fights and arguments. Our relationship is so goddamn fragile that the slightest disagreement ends up in a huge fight and ruins our relationship more than it already is. It seems beyond fucking repair now. We forgot how to talk to each other. We don't understand each other anymore. We're strangers. Fuck me if I don't feel my throat lock up.