The Art of Being Tony (Tony Winters Book 1)

by P. S. Power

  He nearly lied about that part, wanting everyone to like him, since he needed them to. Still, that wasn’t going to be believed, if he said that. Clearly enough, Rick knew that about his little sister.

  “I quit. About three years ago? I was never that into that kind of thing, but did some, since it was there, you know? One day, one of my mom’s boyfriends OD’d and died in the bathroom. I was the one that found him and had to call for help. Everyone else ran off, because they were all still high. I learned not to do that kind of thing, by example. That wasn’t the only one. Most days showed me it was better to not do that stuff, really.” He took a bite of salad and looked up to see Jen staring at him.

  Probably because it was a gruesome story. It hadn’t been that big of a deal, though. It was a heroin overdose, so the guy had looked fine. He’d just kind of stopped breathing. People tended not to live if they did that for too long.

  Rather than call him a liar, or suggest a body cavity search when they got home she just tightened her face.

  “I’m so sorry that happened to you.” Then, as if nothing else needed to be spoken about, they ate dinner. Like a family.

  Chapter three

  Denny had been right, about a lot of things. While sleeping for ten hours did take place, it was fitful that night. Part of it was just being in a strange place. It happened, sleep, because he was tired on a level that was sort of rare for him. That didn’t mean his mind was resting easy at the same time though. The main portion of what was going on with him was just down to being sore. Oddly, his legs and even middle were fine that way. His arms were a different story. That included his shoulders and neck.

  Though he was nearly certain that last part was from Steve and Ashley punching him in the head like they had been. Which, he was nearly certain, had been that hazing that Denny had mentioned. He might not have been a fighter, but he kind of doubted that normal kids got tossed into the ring, even to spar, on their first day. So either he was magically delicious and they could all tell that part, or they’d been showing him that real fighting wasn’t a thing to do if you were cowardly and weak.

  If so, hopefully he’d wowed them all with his courage, since his power and strength hadn’t even really let him stand in the ring with the woman that he’d fought. Now that he considered things, it was sort of plain that both of the fighters had probably been taking it easy on him the whole time. Which was nice of them, really. That had to stop of course, because his job there was clearly to help them get better, not the other way around.

  So he got up, fought through the hurting and aching muscles and showered, then got downstairs in time to find that everyone else was awake already. Jen was making eggs and Rick was sitting at the table, drinking coffee and doing some kind of paperwork. Which meant that Anthony had no real clue what he was supposed to do. Honestly, even thinking about it, he wasn’t certain. Finally, he decided that being helpful would beat almost anything else he could try for. He was wearing gray gym sweats again and his running shoes, but also had a clean pair with him to change into later, which he set in the main hallway on the side table to the left. Denny had gotten him five pair, so he could wash some of them and wear two a day while training.

  It seemed like a lot to him and was nearly as many new clothes as he’d ever had at one time in life.

  “I can help cook, or… Well, not really, since I don’t know how, but, um, peel fruit or…”

  He spoke the words in the kitchen doorway and was surprised when Jen turned around and smiled at him.

  “Not needed. I have three eggs for you here. Do you like avocado?” She had something green and strange looking on the counter and pointed at it with a knife. Given how odd it looked, that seemed to be a safety precaution on her part.

  He smiled at her and shrugged, hoping it seemed friendly.

  “I don’t know? I’ve never had any before.” Which was true, at least as far as he knew.

  The woman, who didn’t look old enough to really be dating Rick, even if he was good looking, made a face then.

  “Do you want to try some? I normally keep the first meal a bit light, since I go right into a work out most days.”

  “Sure? Sounds good. I think that’s the plan for now? I keep working harder and learning stuff in the mornings and then do the whole towel and mopping thing in the afternoon? Unless you need me for something else then.”

  Jenny smiled and started to say something, but Rick spoke at the same time and grinned through the doorway at them from the other room.

  “Actually, I need you at one today. We’re having a doctor in and I was thinking that you should get a physical. We all get them, every few months. It will take about ten minutes and really isn’t a big deal. I have some paperwork for you to sign. Or will, by then.”

  He didn’t share what that would be about, though given that he’d just moved to the area, if they were planning to keep him at all, school came to mind. They might also want to get rid of him and need for Anthony to sign papers saying he was willing to go away someplace. That didn’t seem likely, though. It was May, so he hadn’t been planning to go back to school that year. It wouldn’t be worth it for the short time he could get in.

  Even the Principal of his old school had agreed with that and had altered his transcripts a bit, right in front of him, so that he could start at the beginning of the next year without any trouble. Still, if Rick and Jen wanted him to go and sit around for an extra month, or even go to summer classes, he would. Without any complaints. Especially when whining was probably the fast track to the curb.

  “No problem. Sounds… Well, not like fun, but not hard, really. I don’t have any STIs or anything like that.” Not that he knew of. Mainly because he’d always made certain that when he had sketchy relations with women that he protected himself from accidental pregnancy. That meant wrapping up with a condom each and every time. Also watching to make certain the women had never been alone with his protection first.

  Not that he’d been a catch that way, but ending up a dad at thirteen wasn’t that brilliant of an idea. His mother had always told him that having him was the biggest mistake of her life. That it had pretty much destroyed her chances of doing or being anything more than she was. So he’d made a point of not sabotaging his own possibilities that way. So far it had paid off and only one of the women had ever balked at the idea of him protecting himself like that. The rest had been fine that way.

  That none of them had been girls was just a fact. They’d mainly been friends of his mother and if the age of consent mattered, well, no one had ever mentioned it to him in particular. Drunk and stoned women tended to be friendly and persistent and when your bed was on the floor of the living room, they would just crawl in with you on occasion.

  The eggs were scrambled and had four slices of green and tan looking stuff next to them. Which wasn’t bad, once he tried it. So he nodded and pointed at it with his fork.

  “That’s really not bad, for an alien egg. Does it count as a vegetable?” He thought that eggs might count as meat, but didn’t know for certain. It was what they had, so it made sense to eat it anyway.

  Rick nodded though.

  “It’s actually a fruit, but close enough. A bit high in fat, but it’s the healthy kind. Thanks for making it, honey.” He took a big bite and then went back to whatever papers he was working on.

  Anthony was almost taken aback and at a loss again, for the second time in a few minutes. For one thing he didn’t know who honey was, though he could get that from context and he really wasn’t certain if he was supposed to thank Jenny, too.

  Hoping it wasn’t wrong, he chimed in.

  “Yes, thank you, this is very nice.” He kept eating and saw that he got a smile, as she sat down, with a similar plate of food for herself.

  They ate in silence and it was still before eight when they all got up to get things opened for the day. Again, they didn’t bother to lock the front door. He nearly mentioned it, since that was asking to be robbed, but didn
’t, since no one would be taking his clothing or safety razor.

  When they got in, Jen set him to skipping rope, though Rick didn’t go with them this time, having other things to see to.

  As he tried to jump the moving handheld obstacle and managed it a few times in a row, Jenny explained some things to him.

  “I have a fight coming up, so have to actually get in shape. Functionally we’re running several training camps here at one time. As well as working the gym. Rick is on promotion at the same time, for nearly everything. That and training are the time consuming portions of things here. Anyway, don’t bend your knees so much when you jump each time. Like this? This is a calf endurance and cardio exercise. Keep your thighs out of it.” She hopped just enough for the rope to pass under, instead of hurling herself up into the air each time like he was doing. It took some practice, but apparently that was just part of what they were going to be doing that day. It was harder than it seemed, but he did start to kind of get a handle on the idea near the end of the half hour that they were doing it for.

  Then they moved right into pushups and sit ups.

  “I’m fighting MMA, of course. Anyway, Ashley was kind of impressed with you yesterday. Then, I’m pretty certain she thinks you’re about eighteen. I didn’t want to spoil the fun, so didn’t mention you being younger than that.” She was exercising while she spoke, so he copied her and took direction when she gave it, making corrections to his form.

  Still, he was confused. A bit.

  “Um… I wasn’t thinking that we’d date. Ashley and me? I mean, once a girl kicks your butt in public, that ship has kind of sailed, hasn’t it?” He tried for playful and got raised eyebrows when the woman looked over at him, her hands behind her head as she sat up.

  “I wasn’t thinking that either. Date a lot of older women?”

  Again, probably not thinking about it, she was digging right into things that he didn’t really want to talk about. Then, they were discussing a possible relationship with Ashley, not Jen, so he kept working for a bit and spoke as his middle burned from the effort already.

  “I… Not really? I mean, I didn’t actually date most of them, you know? My mom, she partied a lot and had friends, off and on. So a lot of women were around. Most not that old.” He didn’t want to explain that kind of thing and thankfully Jenny wasn’t going to force him to. She got it anyway.

  “Oh. That’s kind of messed up. That she let that happen? You’re all right though?”

  “Sure. No diseases or anything. I was always careful. No kids, either.”

  Instead of going on about him being evil for that kind of thing, she just nodded and kept working.

  “Keep to that. Even if you don’t want to be a fighter, being clean and not having kids too young is a real plus in life. As for Ashley, maybe it would be better if you didn’t hit that? Even if you might be able to pull it off right now. She’s going places, but that takes luck and not messing things up too much. Like having sex with teen boys? I know, she isn’t all that in boxing, but that’s her weak point and notice, she’s willing to fix it? If she can get that online, which is why she’s here, then… yeah. She has a real chance of making it. By some standards she already has.”

  He kept working, trying to match what Jen was doing and not being able to really. Still, even if he had to take short breaks, he went back to work as soon as he could, which meant he was sore and exhausted when it came to be time to go running with everyone else.

  That part went well enough, at least. His legs felt fine and while they did hit a fast pace, he was able to actually push ahead a bit and force Steve to speed up, on the last mile. The man was out of breath, but smiled when they got in front of the gym, to wait for the others.

  “Ha! It wasn’t even me being the asshole this time. Good. Tomorrow is sprint day. That means doing this and sprinting, so be ready for that.” The crew that was coming in was the same as the day before, plus three other people. Two guys and a girl. They were all younger, though still half a decade his senior at least. Then, maybe not. They all seemed to think he looked a bit older than he was for some reason. Probably hard living, to be honest.

  Still, the rankings were still about the same as the day before. Ashley, Denny, Mark and the guy he didn’t know, then the new three. The woman was in the back, but trying pretty hard to keep up, which had to count. That group took a while to get there however and even Mark was breathing smoothly when they padded up. Gasping and about half an hour later than they should have been.

  The tradition did seem to be waiting for everyone to show up however, so he did it too. No one complained about that, though they were all ready to go in and start working immediately.

  Denny slapped him on the back.

  “Hey, new kid. Everyone, this is Tony. Tony, these slowpokes are Lewis, Dave and Dani. With an ‘I’ at the end. Slow or not, they’re all fairly decent fighters. Amateurs, making the leap. That means you’ll be sparring with them all, over the next weeks. Lewis is the boxer here. The others do MMA.”

  Lewis was black and looked pretty hard already, actually. Even if he wasn’t the world’s fastest runner. At least over a six-mile course. That might change a lot once they were into sprints. It had in school. There had been a couple of weight lifters that were nearly two hundred pounds at least, who had run the forty meter faster than he could.

  One of them had beaten him consistently in the hundred-meter dash as well. Though after that, Anthony had managed to pull ahead, since it was down to endurance. It was a thing to keep in mind, so he just smiled and nodded.

  “Hey! That sounds great. So, what’s up now?” He looked at Denny and didn’t actually know if they were working together past that first day. If nothing else he could help make lunch though and repeat what they’d done, more or less.

  The man smiled at him then and winked.

  “Today, you should ghost Steve, I think. I’m on with Dani and Dave. Lewis, if you can, work in with Mark?” They were both bigger guys, so it kind of made sense. Denny tapped Anthony on the shoulder again. “Tony, make sure you push him. Even if you can’t keep up with what he’s doing, don’t let him slack off. Steve, remember, it’s up to you to make sure the new boy doesn’t get lazy. Rick said that he’s going to be doing phone work this morning.”

  Steve let his head come up a bit, the muscles in his jaw clamping down a little. It was hard to tell if it was in annoyance or determination. His face looked solid, but nothing else came to the surface after that.

  “Good. Let’s get at that?”

  They jogged in and up to the second floor for the work out. It had more rope skipping and enough sit ups that he regretted having done the ones earlier, but his part, after explaining that, was mainly to encourage the other man to do his best. Instead of chanting at him, he tried to do the things too and when he thought that the man might be holding back a little, he just asked him a single question.

  “Is that really the best you can do?” Anthony was doing what he could already, but each time, Steve was able to pull out just a little more. It was freaking impressive. Enough so he did his best to try a little harder himself. Then they worked on a variety of bags, punching them with a time limit, or moving as fast as they could.

  Steve did well on all of them and Anthony really sucked. He didn’t give up though, which got the other man to keep trying harder each time. Finally, covered with sweat, that flew off of both of them, the other guy grabbed some pads.

  “Hitting drills. I’ll hold and call for you first, then you do the same for me.”

  “Only faster.”

  That got a grin, but nothing else.

  It wasn’t that hard actually. He just followed directions and listened when the guy told him to do it differently. There was a lot of that, but it was just to help him get it all right, he thought. They moved at their best speed the whole time and didn’t take any breaks. Not until it was time for lunch to be made.

  That day Denny wasn’t there to make it. Even thou
gh it was on the schedule. That was on the fridge and spoke of them having fish, which Anthony wasn’t going to be making for them. He thought, possibly, that he could get some rice and salad going.

  So he worked on that and had a good start, when Jen ran up the stairs. She seemed a bit manic, until she got the idea, looking at what he had out. Then she nodded.

  “Thanks! You even have about the right amount of food. We have two extra for today. Dani and Dave. You met them?”

  “Sure. They seem nice. Well, actually all they said at the time was gasp… Hello… gasp… But it was in the tone, you know? Friendly.” Which was true enough, he supposed.

  The woman pulled out the fish and covertly double checked his work, which was right, since he’d used the directions on the rice package just to make certain he was doing that part correctly. He had though, which was nice to see. Anthony would have felt bad, if he’d wasted their food like that.

  She talked while she worked, her face friendly most of the time.

  “We’re going to do this a bit early today, since Doc Hampshire is coming in for us as a special favor. She normally doesn’t make house calls, but we have seven people in one place for her to look at. Eight, counting you. Oh… Leslie left a note? She asked if we could have the cute janitorial guy back for her night classes? Apparently the softies there enjoyed not working in pools of other people’s bodily fluids. Go figure?”

  “That would be the woman running the Cardio-Boxing classes?”

  There was white colored fish being put on a skillet and it smelled a bit funny to him as it cooked. Different. He’d eaten fish of course, since the school had served it. This looked different, not having any breading and failing to be in stick configuration at all. He kept working on the salad, since the rice would be ready in about twenty minutes, all on its own.

  “That’s her. Leslie Grant. She also does yoga, dance and Pilates on the weekends here. One of the five doing that. A sweet lady, in her own way. She rents space here, unlike the others. She also brings in about half the new business we get, even on the serious training side, so it won’t hurt to be nice to her, if you don’t mind helping her out, too? It isn’t your job, but… Well, that’s the magic of a family business, right? You help her keep things clean, she keeps a few more students and eventually puts in another class, which she pays us for, to have the space for it. Then that trickles down to you.”