In His Corner

by Alexandra Warren

  “Is that a challenge?” she asked, her pout twisting into more of a smirk as if the idea suddenly intrigued her.

  I could only shrug as I told her, “It's the truth. Now imagine I’m your boss.”

  “Nah, she doesn’t deserve these hands. It’s that baldheaded mothafucka with the trash ass head game who put a bug in her ear,” she replied, finally throwing a hook into my side that landed a lot harder than I expected it to.

  But the weight of her words was a lot heavier than any punch since..., “Whoa. What? Trash ass head game?”

  She shook her head, putting the gloves against her hips as she whined, “See. Now I got you all in my business.”

  Once again, I could only laugh when I reminded her, “Bella, you already know my deepest, darkest secrets and I never even said them out loud. The least you could do is share a little about yourself.”

  For a second, she only stared at me since I had just confirmed the things she had hinted at with some of her questions during the interview. And I suppose it was my openness that made her feel comfortable enough to throw a few more punches at my abdomen, using each to punctuate her words. “I should’ve never... given him… this pussy.”

  “Damn right,” I told her in an effort to hype her up even though I had plenty of questions.

  But this was about her, which meant I was taking a few more punches when she continued, “Pussy so good… he came off… eating it. Lame ass.”

  “Well damn. That’s pretty impressive,” I replied, Bella holding her gloves up to scowl at me as I said, “What? I’m just sayin’. It must be really great for that to happen.”

  She only grunted, giving me direct jabs to the chest as she said, “Yeah. So great.. it got me… fired.”

  This time I caught her gloves to assure her, “You can find another job, Bella. But you know what you can’t do? Replace pussy that good.”

  Her laugh was borderline sinister as she pulled her gloves away so that she could continue jabbing me, clearly in the zone as she delivered more punctuating punches. “You’re right. Fuck him. And Sharon. And that job. I’m a good writer. A great journalist. With good…”

  The rest of her words fell on deaf ears, my brain hyper-focused on my right eye as it detected a punch coming its way. But unlike in a real match, I wasn’t quick to dodge it, catching every bit of the excruciating pain that sizzled in response to what was honestly a good punch.

  Naturally my hand flew to cover it. But my own groans were drowned out by Bella’s panicked, “Oh my God, Oh my God. I am so sorry. Are you okay? Let me see it.”

  “I’m good, B. Relax,” I told her, even though I wasn’t really sure since I hadn’t gotten a chance to survey the damage, not to mention the shit was thumping with pain.

  But since Bella could see it, she held nothing back when she shouted, “Princeton, its turning purple! We gotta get you some ice!”

  I shook my head, on one hand embarrassed by my non-existent reaction time and on the other amused as hell since… this girl really blacked my eye. It was impressive and annoying all at once; only annoying since she was freaking out as if it was my first time getting a black eye. And even when I finally got the ice, she used her teeth to rip the latch of her gloves and tossed them to the side so that she could hold it against my face as if I was suddenly incapable. But there was no use in fighting her off about it, especially with my seated position on the stool that had her breasts perfectly aligned with my good eye as she stood between my legs and applied more cold pressure to the injured one.

  “Princeton, I’m so sorry. Seriously. I just got so caught up, and it felt so good, and I went a little too high…”

  “A little?” I asked, my eyebrow piqued as the eye below it held proof that she had gone way higher than just a little.

  The reminder only made her blush with embarrassment. “Okay, maybe a lot. But I didn’t think all this would happen. I mean, you seem so invincible when you’re in the ring and...”

  Before she could get too ahead of herself, I cut her off. “No sweat, B. My eye will bounce back just like you’ll bounce back from this little hiccup with your job situation. Fullest Disclosure didn’t deserve your skills anyway.”

  I hadn’t read every article on the site, but I had read enough to know Bella’s work stood out from the rest by far. There was a certain quality to her writing, a certain voice, a certain mood she was able to create that sucked you right in from beginning to end no matter the length. And that was part of the reason I had no problem inviting her in for an exclusive in the first place. I knew she’d be one of the few journalists to actually do my story justice.

  Her blushing no longer surprised me, along with the batting of her eyelashes when she gushed, “Thank you, Princeton.” But I was surprised when she moved the ice-pack from my eye and replaced the coldness on my skin with the warmth from her lips, landing a kiss sweet and soft enough to make up for any pain she had caused.

  “Better?” she asked once she pulled away, her smile back to the genuine one I was used to as she waited for an answer. But the longer I stared at her, the longer I got caught up in her glittery eyes, her glowing skin, her full lips, her… everything.

  And it didn’t take long for me to realize I wasn’t alone, the sadness that was once in Bella’s eyes replaced with a lusty glow that had me taking action before I could even think about what I was doing. But thoughts quickly became irrelevant the second my lips crashed against hers, the icepack dropping from her hands so she could use them to cover my cheeks while mine ventured to the back of her thighs so that I could pull her closer, filling the gap between us.

  The kiss was just as sweet as I imagined it would be, made even sweeter with Bella’s groans into my mouth as her hands moved from my cheeks to wrap around the back of my neck. And she wasn’t the only one on the move, my hands skimming upwards from her thighs to her ass that fit perfectly in my palms as I gripped hard enough to make her moan.

  I was so lost in the moment that I barely heard Tony announce, “P, your pops said he’s… oooh shit.”

  It was the second part of his statement - confirming we had gotten caught - that prompted Bella to pull away, her cheeks flushed with heat as she ran a hand across her mouth while I acknowledged Tony who looked beyond amused when he restarted, “Your pops said he’ll be a little late today. And good thing, what the fuck happened to your eye, man?”

  Bella shrunk to the size of a mouse when she raised her hand to take responsibility for her actions. But that only seemed to make Tony even more amused as he said, “Damn, girl. We might need to enter you into a few contests if you’re hittin’ like that.”

  Of course she was quick to defend, “It was an accident!” Before turning towards me to whisper, “Just like this… was an accident.”

  “Accident for you. Treat for me,” I told her with a wink that had her rolling her eyes at me. But it was far too late for an attitude now, the feel of her lips and ass etched forever into my memory as I watched her snatch up her belongings.

  She put on her polite, professional face to say, “I’m… gonna go now. It was nice seeing you again, Tony. And… thank you, Princeton. For your help.”

  I nodded as I replied, “I got you, B. Let me know when you’re ready to go another round. I’ll be sure to wear headgear next time.”

  Again, she only rolled her eyes. But this time it was paired with a smirk as she turned to leave, Tony and I watching her skip out of the gym for different reasons. And the second the door closed behind her, Tony wasted no time scolding me, taking a closer look at my eye as he said, “Boy, you done let that girl come in here and dot you up? What the hell am I supposed to tell King about this?”

  I could only imagine my father’s reaction to finding out I not only had a woman in the gym when I was supposed to be training, but that she had come in her and fucked my eye up too. So in the moment I decided, “We’re not gonna tell him. I’ll just run to the drug store and find something to cover it up with until it goes down.�
�

  It was unfortunate that I was even familiar with the power of makeup from watching my mom cover up more black eyes than I could count before she dipped on me. Still, what I saw as a simple solution didn’t sit well with Tony who you would’ve thought was an expert when he replied, “Man, the drug store around here ain’t gonna have your shade. Let me call Denise. She’s about your color. And I think she just got something new by that island girl, though you may have to pay her back for it. She stood in a long line and paid a pretty penny for that shit.”

  “Tell her I got her, but I need it ASAP. The faster she can get here, the better tip I’ll tag on,” I offered, watching Tony pull out his phone to make the call.

  He was already tapping against the buttons of the flip phone I begged him to replace as he mumbled, “Can’t believe you let that girl give you a black eye... mm mm mm…” But before I could even explain how things had gotten to that point, I heard Denise pick up the call, Tony turning away from me to say, “Yeah, Denise? Hey baby, I need you to do me a favor and bring that new makeup you got down to the gym. Prince let a girl black his eye.”

  He peeked over his shoulder at me with a grin and I could only shake my head as I listened to him continue, “No, no, no. You don’t need to beat her ass, baby. It was only an accident. He just likes her.”

  I was torn between wanting to laugh at Denise being ready to go to war and wanting to be upset with Tony for starting rumors I knew would spread like wildfire.

  Did I like Bella?

  I guess you could say that.

  But it was way too damn early, things were way too new, for Tony to be sharing that kind of information as if we were already in a full blown relationship. At least that’s what it would end up translated to once Denise got to telling her friends and they told their friends.

  And if that shit got back to my dad…

  None of us wanted to deal with that backlash anytime soon.

  Thankfully, Denise had taken my tip offer seriously, getting down to the gym in record time to touch me up with her “good shit” as she liked to call it. And once I saw how well she had been able to cover up the mark Bella left, I couldn’t have agreed more with its title. In fact, it looked so good that I couldn’t help taking a selfie to send to Bella for proof that things were fine.

  I had barely put my phone down by the time her response came through.

  “What kind of sorcery…?” - Bella

  “This is my #FentyFace. Tony’s wife came through and hooked me up since your ass went all Laila Ali on me earlier.” - Prince

  “LoL! What do you know about a #FentyFace though? And I might be a little jealous. She has mad skills. Tell her I need an appointment.” - Bella

  Truth be told, I didn’t know anything about a #FentyFace besides the fact that Denise kept referring to it as such when she finished. But the thought about seeing Bella all dolled up gave me another idea.

  “An appointment for our date, right? ;)” - Prince

  Even though Bella had mentioned something about kinda seeing someone long before showing up to the gym today, I figured that was null and void now that she had boxed it all out of her system with a black eye and a kiss to show for it. But I was hardly surprised when she still played coy in her response.

  “Date? What date?” - Bella

  “You blacked my eye, B. The least you could do is let me take you out.” - Prince

  I wasn’t usually the type to barter for a woman’s attention, but shit was just all around different with Bella. She already knew so much about me - more than most people - and wasn’t turned off by it. She was overly caring, had the cutest potty mouth on her whenever she got angry, and now I had felt her ass up too...

  “As long as you promise to wear your #FentyFace so I don’t feel guilty looking at you all night. ;)” - Bella

  While I was excited about her finally taking me up on my offer, I also couldn’t help but tease her when I replied, “My black eye sure didn’t stop you earlier...”

  My phone vibrated with her response at the same time the door of the gym cracked open with my father’s arrival. But his presence didn’t stop me from checking for Bella’s excuse.

  “Accidents happen, Princeton.” - Bella

  “Well how about you accidentally fall on this di…”

  “Boy, what your ass over there smilin’ so hard for, huh?” My father asked as I erased the message I had started to type out before tossing my phone into my duffle bag.

  Then I hopped up from my seat on the same stool Denise had got me right on a few minutes before - the same stool I had been playing grab ass with Bella on earlier - to tell him, “Chill, Pops. Let’s get this work.”

  His face scrunched when he repeated, “Let’s get this work? Boy, what done gotten into you? You ain’t never been this thrilled to take an ass whoopin’ from me.”

  He was absolutely right.

  My father’s workouts never got any easier, his training style tough enough to break the strongest soldier. But after my encounter with Bella, I was just in a good mood all around. And since I couldn’t share that with him, I only shrugged as I replied, “If I wanna be the best, I gotta be ready for whatever, right?”

  Instead of taking my word for it, he released a heavy, “Hmph.” Stepping closer to size me up before his eyes got squinty when he added, “You look different.”

  “No I don’t,” I rushed out in a panic, praying to God Denise hadn’t missed a spot.

  But it was actually the exact opposite problem, my father taking notice as he replied, “You do. Face all shiny and shit like you’ve been rolling in glitter or somethin’.”

  “Damnit. I told Denise not to put any of that highlighter shit on…” I thought to myself, my eyes flashing her way as she mouthed a regretful, “Sorry.”

  Still, I had no choice but to play it off, focusing on my training gear instead of his skeptical gaze as I told him, “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, man. All I know is I’m ready to get this shit over with so I can get to the crib and rest up.”

  For a second, he continued to stare at me, my shoulders tensing as I braced myself for him to throw a fit out of pure speculation. But instead, there was a collective sigh of relief from Tony, Denise, and myself when he finally agreed, “Yeah, aight then. Strap up.”

  -Round Three-

  Bella

  “So… run it back for me one more time. You kissed him first? Or he kissed you first?”

  The swig of red wine I swallowed wasn’t nearly strong enough to combat the last few days of what could only be described as pure madness. From the situation with Princeton’s bully of a father to the lackluster performance from Chris. Then getting fired due to his lackluster performance, and now I had found refuge in Princeton’s gym only to mess around and kiss the man?

  I wasn’t sure what kind of message God was trying to send me, but I had already decided I was going looking for answers in the bottle of wine Gina brought over to my place in an effort to console me. The bottle I was halfway through when I shrugged and answered, “I don’t know. I guess it was kind of mutual. We might’ve both moved at the same time.”

  Of course kissing Princeton hadn’t been a part of my plans when I showed up to the gym, and neither had punching him in the eye. But in the moments we were connected, you couldn’t have told me any different, everything about it absolutely perfect until Tony’s interruption broke us up. And thankfully so since I wasn’t exactly sure how far things would’ve gone otherwise, my dress having the range to pull-off just about anything.

  My lip was pulled between my teeth in thought as Gina continued pressing me for details. “And then he had his hands where? Cause you don’t exactly have an ass for anyone to grab on.”

  The throw pillow I launched her way just barely missed her head when I whined, “Little booties matter too, Gina.”

  She held her hands up in defense. “Hey, you know I support the movement. Hell, I’d probably be captain of the ship if it wasn’t for my fa
ther’s side of the family cause you know my mama’s ass is flatter than a Taylor Swift note. But you wanna know what else I support? You going on that damn date.”

  Since Princeton hadn’t exactly offered up any real plans, I presented it to Gina as if it was still a mere possibility, mainly so I could deliver my list of excuses to see if she’d talk me out of it. “There’s just so much going on right now. For one, I’m jobless. For two, I have no idea where my next paycheck is coming from. And for three, if what I saw in that picture is any representation of the type of person Princeton is when it comes to women, I don’t know if that’s something I want to take on.”

  I expected the reminder of the picture to make Gina change her mind since the visual of him in bed with two women still hadn’t exactly left mine. But it was clear our thought processes were far from aligned when she said, “Well… depending on your head game, you can get at least two out of three of those problems solved. Actually, make that all three. If the head right, Princeton there errrr-night.”

  A snort slipped from my nose at her Young Jeezy impression and the laugh that followed was even more embarrassing, though I still managed to exclaim, “Gina, I’m serious!”

  “Shit, me too!” she fired back, joining in with a laugh of her own as I refilled my wine glass. And after taking a few short sips, I worked up the courage to ask the question that had been lingering in my mind since being escorted out of the office.

  “Have they been saying anything about me up at Fullest Disclosure?”

  I wasn’t even sure why I cared to know. While I had a tight friendship with Gina and a few of the other journalists, I knew good and well that office was laced with jealousy that I could do nothing about. So I was hardly surprised when she answered, “Usual suspects been hatin’, saying you didn’t deserve to be there in the first place and shit like that. But the real ones are just waiting for you to start your own shit so they can jump ship and join the winning team.”