Take the Leap

by April Fire

  “Have you got everything?” Sam asked, fidgeting in the driver’s seat.

  “Yes, I’ve got everything,” I assured him.

  “Keys?”

  “Yep.”

  “Luggage?”

  “Yes.”

  “My stick?”

  “Yes!” I exclaimed, almost laughing at how tense he was. I knew I shouldn’t have been- this was going to be a tough couple of days for him, but I was so proud of him for going through with it.

  “So, we’re ready to go?”

  “I guess so,” I nodded, yawning into the cool morning air. Sam started up the car, and we pulled out on to the street- and started on the road to Philadelphia. Goodbye, Kingstown.

  It had been four months since I arrived in Kingstown, and I’d finished up my story a day before we were due to leave. It had been a difficult piece to put together-I’d spent many an evening on video chats with my editor asking him for direction, but I got there in the end. The piece I handed in the day before had been thousands of words long, and had chronicled the Kingstown Crow’s rise to success and what that meant for the players, the team, and the town. I was proud of it- damn proud, in fact. I knew the copy I handed it wouldn’t be the one that ended up in the newspaper, but I knew that I didn’t waste a single word in that piece. They would love it- and the team would, too, which made me even happier. And of course, it had ended with Sam; Sam leaving for Philadelphia, which is what we were doing at that very moment.

  “Are you okay?” I asked gently, and he nodded. I knew this was a big deal to him. The biggest. He had broken the news about his decision to everyone else the day after he told me- his parents had been shocked, but proud; his teammates were jealous but hopeful that he could carve out a path for them down the line. Johnson teared up manfully, even though he strode off to his office at once to cover it up.

  And, of course, there was us. After that night, we were a couple- a proper, bonafide one. My friends back home thought I was rebounding, but I knew what that felt like and this was different; this was real. Sam made me feel giddy, as though the world had tilted sideways every time he walked into the room. And so, when he asked me to come to Philadelphia with him, I agreed. Without a second thought.

  Yeah, we were probably moving too fast, but fuck it- he’d waited around long enough to get his life going as it was, and I didn’t have any plans for after my article. I wanted to try something new, live in a city I’d never been to before. I revelled in the spontaneity of it, and watched proudly as Sam put together all the pieces for us to move down. He’d shown me pictures of the apartment we’d put a payment down on last month, but I hadn’t seen it yet- I wanted everything to be a surprise. I wanted to let go of some of the control I had clung on to for so long, and just go with it.

  I reached over to put a hand on Sam’s leg, and we made our way in comfortable silence through the deserted streets of Kingstown. We were leaving early-it was a long drive, and we wanted to be there be nightfall. Suddenly, my eye was caught by someone I recognized.

  “Oh!” I exclaimed, and Sam’s head snapped around.

  “What? Did you forget something?”

  “No,” I shook my head. “I just…saw someone.”

  “Who, that guy?” Sam nodded towards the man we were passing. “Where do you know him from?”

  I strained to remember; it took a few seconds, but finally I placed him.

  “The night you came to mine and told me you were taking the Soars thing,” I explained. “We met at a bar.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “He used to play for the Crows,” I continued. “But he left because he wanted to get out and see some more of the world.”

  The man heard the car, turned, and raised his hand in greeting; we both did the same back, silently offering our hellos as we went by. I hadn’t seen him since that night, and I wondered if he was some kind of omen- an example of what Sam could be if he got out. I hoped so. I smiled to myself as we drove by, and Sam shook his head.

  “Well, there’s something,” Sam commented. “I think I’m going to take that as a good sign.”

  “I think you should,” I glanced over at him, and he grinned at me, all the tension from when we woke up melting away. I stared out on to the road, towards the long drive ahead of us and then God knows what else beyond that- and for once, I didn’t feel scared. I didn’t worry about the decision I’d made. I wasn’t worried about Sam, or the Soars, or the city, or anything else. No- all I could think about was how we couldn’t get there fast enough.

  The End

  Hit Hard

  April Fire

  Chapter One

  Emily

  I tentatively touched the toe of my shoe to the ground, and instantly felt an odd, gooey stickiness spreading across the bottom. Ugh.

  This place wasn’t my kind of night out. I mean, I had to come here --- Nina had been dumped and she wanted a night on the town and, as the best friend, I had to go along with whatever she suggested. But even I have to admit, I was pretty taken aback when she gabbled to me on the way over about what we were actually doing that evening. When she had called me up to invite me out, she’d been vague, describing the event as a party across town - but it had turned out to be the furthest thing from a party I could have imagined.

  “I can’t believe you brought us here,” I leaned over to murmur in her ear. Nina, hair pulled up into a high ponytail and dress skimming the backs of her thighs, glanced over her shoulder and smiled cheerily.

  “This is where he hangs out,” she shrugged. “I know he’s going to be here tonight.”

  “At an amateur boxing match?” I eyed the ring distrustfully, and stumbled forward as someone bumped into me from behind. I shot a dirty look after them, and tried to figure out just how illegal all of this was.

  “He is a coach,” she reminded me. Nina had her sights set on a rebound fuck, a guy she’d encountered through her work as a make-up artist when he’d appeared on a small TV segment. They’d flirted then, apparently, though Nina was spoken for and didn’t want to pursue anything further. But now that she was single again, he was on the top of her list to get back on the horse.

  “Are you sure we can’t just go out for dinner somewhere?” I implored her. “There’s probably tons of hot guys in this city who we don’t need to break the law to get with.”

  Nina waved her hand, dismissing me as she scanned the crowd. We were in a large warehouse with high, grey walls and a permeating smell of blood and sweat. It was packed, at least two or three hundred people moving to form a crowd around the ring. I screwed up my face in distaste. I didn’t want to be a snob, but god-dammit, this wasn’t the kind of shit I did. My idea of a night out was way more about the drinks and the dancing than watching two maniacs getting the shit kicked out of each other.

  “Trust me, when you see him, you’ll get it,” Nina promised, and batted her lashes at me in an attempt to convince me of her commitment to bedding this stranger. I cocked an eyebrow- she knew exactly what to do to get me on her side. I crossed my arms in front of me, and looked over at the makeshift bar that was selling beers in large plastic cups.

  “Well, the least you can do is get me a drink,” I pointed over to the queue, and she grinned.

  “Sure thing,” She skipped over and joined it, bouncing up and down on her heels. Maybe it was her excitement at seeing this dude again, or maybe it was just the buzz of the place getting to her. Even though I wasn’t exactly happy to be there, I couldn’t deny that the place had an electric atmosphere. The entire place was dripping with anticipation, and I wondered what in the hell I was about to see here tonight.

  Nina came back a minute or so later with two beers, and thrust one into my hands. I took it, and immediately downed about half. I was going to need it to get through the rest of the night. I was squeamish as hell, and the thought of watching two guys beat the crap out of each other for my viewing pleasure was just…ugh.

  “When does the match start?” I leaned over
to shout in Nina’s ear as some music began piping through the tinny speakers rigged up around the place. Nina glanced at her phone and took a sip of her beer.

  “Now,” she replied, and took my hand so we could weave our way around the crowd and up towards the ring. The crowd had quietened -- shrieks and laughs replaced by murmurs and muttered observations. I looked around, trying to figure out what was going to happen next.

  Suddenly, the crowd parted as two men made their way up to the ring; I was shoved to the side and had to grab Nina to keep from falling over in the rush. I held my beer up to keep it from spilling, and stood on my tiptoes so I could get a look at the guys who were going to fight each other.

  One of them looked like the image of a boxer that I had in my head -- covered in scars and bruises, his nose obviously having been broken a bunch of times, his body bulky and strong. He was followed by a coach, and Nina jammed her elbow into my rib and nodded in his direction.

  “That’s him!” She hissed, and I raised my eyebrows. He didn’t seem much like Nina’s type, nothing to look at -- too old, too lanky, too greasy -- but I supposed he must have had something about him to have her turning up all the way over here just for the chance to meet him again. I was about to question her attraction to him, but then the other boxer stepped into my eyeline and I stopped short.

  He was about six feet tall, lean and muscular- not the kind of strong that comes from hitting the gym seven days a week, but the kind that comes from using your body whenever you can. His hair was cropped short against his head, a smattering of dark stubble scattered across his sharp jaw. For a second, the noise of the crowd dropped away completely, and I simply stared up at this dude.

  Jesus Christ --- so, is this where they were hiding all the hot guys? Amateur boxing? I mean, I wouldn’t have guessed it in a million years, but standing in front of me, bouncing back and forth on his heels, was one of the most drop-dead gorgeous dudes I had ever laid eyes on in my life.

  “Who’s he?” I asked, leaning in to Nina again. She shrugged and shook her head, her eyes trained on the coach.

  “Dunno,” she replied absently. I frowned and looked back at the ring- and found, to my surprise, that the gorgeous dude was looking straight back at me. I wanted to turn around to check that there wasn’t someone standing behind me who he was actually checking out, but his gaze was mesmerizing --- being at the center of his attention even for a second made my heart flutter with thrill.

  “And now!” An announcer’s voice broke my reverie, feedback crackling over the speakers around us. “The match you’ve all been waiting for!”

  There was a loud cheer from the crowd, and I got jostled back and forth again. But now, I didn’t mind so much -- I felt as though I had something riding on this. There was someone I could root for now.

  “Robert Tristam!” The announcer continued, and the other man lifted a hand up to acknowledge the whoops that came with his name.

  “And Darius Frost!”

  My man -- as I was already thinking of him- raised both his arms and beamed into the audience, as though he couldn’t think of anything else he’d rather be doing. I moved a foot to my left so I could get a better look at him. I felt like a creep, jostling to get a better view of this dude. Maybe Nina could get me in backstage afterwards? If the coach recognized her, maybe I could-

  The match began with the loud ringing of a bell, making me jump. I didn’t know much about boxing, but I knew that this was short, fast, and savage -- the crowd’s reaction told me that much. I watched, eyes only half open, as these guys beat the shit out of each other, dancing around and throwing punches whenever they found an opening.

  My view wasn’t great, but I knew enough to see that my guy was doing well. My heart flicked up every time he landed a hit, and I found myself cheering along with the crowd, half-forgetting where I was or that I was meant to be having a shitty time. Nina was whooping along next to me, her beer slopping over the sides of her cup as she held it in the air to punctuate her point.

  Before I knew it, the fight was over, and Nina had caught my hand again to drag me through the crowd and towards the ring. My man had won it, and Nina’s coach was scurrying out of sight as quickly as he could. Nina caught up with him, and he glanced up at her as she grinned cockily in his direction. His eyes swept over her, and I could tell he was trying to place where he knew her from- but a few seconds later, a smile broke over his face and he drew her into a hug.

  “Nina!” He exclaimed. “Well you’ve turned my night around.”

  “Good to see you again,” she blinked up at him flirtatiously.

  “Want to come backstage? We’ve got way better beer there,” he gestured over to a small door that led out of the warehouse. Nina gave me a look, one that said “can we?”, and I shrugged.

  “As long as my friend can come with me,” she gestured to me, and he looked me up and down and nodded.

  “No problem.”

  The crowd was beginning to break up, picking up their beers in preparation for the next fight. The place was already taking on that heavy scent of alcohol, and I was glad to get out of there, to be honest. But not as glad as I was to be behind-the-scenes- and in with a chance of seeing the gorgeous boxer I’d been watching only a few minutes ago.

  We made our way through the door, and found ourselves in a sparsely-decorated dressing room. A handful of other boxers were getting ready for their fights, while the loser of the last round was tending to his injuries.

  “So, what brings you here?” The coach turned to Nina and leaned up against the lockers that had been propped up against the back wall. The boxer he coached for shot him a dirty look-probably mad he was putting his dick over his duty to take care of him, but I supposed that’s what you got for getting involved with shit like this. I offered him a smile, and he gave me a once-over and grinned back. I quickly averted my eyes; I didn’t want him to think that I was here for him. I scanned the room, wondering if he had already been and gone- but then, at last, I found him again.

  He was over in the corner, opening a bottle of beer and chugging at least half the contents in one motion. He pulled a face as he put the bottle down again, and went to grab for his clothes once more. He was just pulling on a shirt when he turned around and found me staring at him- he let the clothes slip over his head and then smiled back at me. Yeah, this was really happening- even then, I wasn’t sure that it had been me he was grinning at before. But, as he made his way over to me, I felt my heart flutter in the knowledge that somehow, he was actually interested in yours truly.

  “Hey,” he greeted me, his voice deep and rough around the edges. He leaned over to grab a beer from behind me, cracked the top off, and handed it to me, then picked one up himself.

  “What’s this for?” I wondered aloud, and he tapped the neck off his bottle against mine.

  “Toasting my victory,” he replied, and I couldn’t help but laugh at his cockiness.

  “To your victory,” I managed through a giggle, and we both took a swig.

  “What brings you here tonight?” he looked me up and down, and I was suddenly glad that Nina had insisted I dress up for the occasion. I was in a pair of savagely high heels and a floaty jumpsuit that showed off my legs.

  “Uh, my friend,” I turned to point to Nina, and found her on the lap of the coach, throwing her head back in laughter at something he’d said. I raised my eyebrows; that girl could move fast when she wanted to. I supposed that I’d only known her while she’d been dating Joel, and single-Nina was all new to me. She looked like she was having a good time, regardless, so who was I to interfere or say she was doing something wrong?

  “And I can certainly see why she’s here,” he remarked dryly. I laughed again.

  “So, what do you do?” he asked, leaning up against the wall and focusing all his attention on me. I felt ridiculously fluttery, fiddling with a strand of hair as I tried to remind myself that this probably wasn’t the kind of guy who I should be crushing on as intensely as I w
as.

  “I’m a waitress,” I shrugged. “At a bar across town. Dino’s?”

  “Oh yeah, I know it,” he nodded. I raised my eyebrows- we were pretty upmarket, and if this was the kind of place he frequented, I couldn’t imagine him finding much to like about us.

  “Really?”

  “No,” he admitted with a sly smile. “But maybe I’ll become a regular.”

  I took another swig of my beer, hoping that I was hiding the flush moving up my neck at his words. I was so used to the flirtation dance to take place over the course of hours, with lots of awkward pauses and weird mumblings. But he was confident and in-control and wasn’t holding back at all. I wasn’t sure if I liked it yet, but I couldn’t deny that my heart beat faster every time he made another one of his suggestive comments.

  “So, what about you?” I asked, turning the focus back on him. “Do you do this for a living?”

  “I wish,” he shook his head. “Nah, this is more a hobby than anything else. Though I’d love to go pro one day.”

  “So, what’s your day job?”

  “I used to work as a IT guy for a major finance company across town, but I got laid off when they shut down, he replied.

  “IT guy?” I looked him up and down.

  “Yeah, I know, I know,” he glanced down at his feet, apparently a little embarrassed.

  “So, what are you doing now?” I sipped from my beer again, starting to relax now that I had control of the conversation.

  “Uh, looking for work at the moment,” he drummed his fingers against the beer bottle and glanced away, as though he’d been cornered into a topic he didn’t much like talking about.

  “You should come along to Dino’s,” I joked. “We’re hiring for a new waitress.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure my ass wold look good in a little cocktail dress,” he smirked at the image.

  “You’d go around stealing all of my tips,” I teased. “No-one would be able to take their eyes off of you.”

  “Damn right,” he nodded seriously. “Not to mention the fact that after years of working in IT I’ve got the best customer service skills.”