Vinny is drenched in sweat as he runs full out on the treadmill. I smirk as I pass him. I would have done the same thing. The faster you’re done with the cardio, the faster you get to the fighting.

“Preach says you might fight Kravitz.” Vinny gives me a quick left and I duck and easily sweep out his legs while he attempts to rebalance from his miss.

“You’re leaving yourself exposed. Lean into it. Set up your legs.” I extend my hand and pull Vinny back to his feet.

“So is it true? Are you getting back in the cage?”

“Stop gossiping like a little girl and take me down.” The kid needs to focus. Plus, I don’t have an answer to give him.

Vinny shoots in and tries for a double leg takedown. The kid is definitely becoming more explosive.

“Nose up. Back straight. Again.”

He shoots, I wobble for a second, but I don’t fall. Someday kid. Someday.

After another twenty minutes, he’s drenched and I’m warmed up for the day. “Jump in the showers. Make it fast. You got 25 minutes to get to school. If I find out you’re late, next week will be ten miles on the treadmill and there will be no time for training, no matter how fast you run.”

Vinny groans but sprints to the shower. The kid wants it bad. I just hope it’s bad enough to keep him clean with all the shitstorm swirling around him at home.

“See you Monday, Nico.” Vinny jogs by me with his backpack swung over one shoulder. I nod and he’s gone. Out the door after a thirty second shower. I smile knowing he’ll make it to school on time. I pick up the phone and call my brother to give him an update on his student. The kid’s lucky my brother has a soft spot for fighters or he’d have had him expelled the last time he found Vinny pounding a kid three years older than him in the stairwell. But instead, he found him a place to channel the fighting he was doing in the halls. Yep, the kid lucked out when they assigned his teachers.

Chapter 8

Elle

“Sal’s deli just called to see how Leonard was feeling. Business must be down with him out for almost a week.” Regina says with a smile as I hand her the menu for our lunch order.

“He’s probably just afraid we’ll sue him for damages after they’ve fed him those deadly sausage and peppers heroes every day for all these years. You know how much fat and cholesterol are in those things?”

“You know who doesn’t look like he eats any fat at all?” Regina wiggles her eyebrows suggestively and speaks in her best sex kitten voice.

“Nice segway. I think you can turn any conversation into something about Nico Hunter lately. You should’ve been a lawyer.” I laugh at Regina’s latest obsession.

“Do you blame me for being smitten?” Smitten, who uses the word smitten?

I sigh, thinking back to our kiss last night. No, I certainly don’t blame Regina for being smitten. I think I agreed to have dinner with Nico so I could find something wrong with him and get his lethal smile out of my head. But last night only made things worse. I didn’t find a single thing to help me push my wayward thoughts out of my head. In fact, I actually found things that made it harder to stop thinking about him.

“Are you going to tell me about your date or do I need to bring you into the conference room for a formal deposition?”

“How come you never ask about my dates with William, Regina?”

“Because I don’t want to be bored.”

“Regina!” I raise my voice chastising her.

“What?” She smiles at me knowing I’m not really mad. It’s an odd friendship, but the part of my relationship with Regina that I value most is that she is so honest when we talk.

“What makes you think my dates with William are boring?”

“Aren’t they?” Regina grins knowingly.

“William is a nice guy.”

“I didn’t say he wasn’t.”

It’s my turn to sigh. Regina is right. My dates with William are boring. Nice, comfortable, but boring. But it’s good for me. I don’t need any emotional rollercoasters, I’ve had enough of that to last a lifetime.

***

I don’t leave the office till after ten. I’m handling my caseload and helping out with Leonard’s while he’s still out. I keep myself busy all afternoon and late into the evening after my lunch with Regina. I don’t want to think about Nico. He isn’t what I need. I should be thinking about William. He’s the type of man I should be with. He’s stable, honest, and hard working. He’s good for me and he cares about me. So why are thoughts of Nico keeping me awake? I toss and turn for hours until I’m finally exhausted enough to slip into dreamland.

I wake in the morning to screaming. I’m petrified. Unable to move at the harrowing sound. It takes me almost a full minute to realize that I am the one making the sound. I’m screaming and I can’t stop. The dream is back. It’s not really a dream, it’s a nightmare. Although nightmares are a figment of a person’s imagination, so I guess what I just woke up to wasn’t a nightmare…it was reality. My reality. My memory. My past.

It’s been six years since I woke to the torment that haunted my sleep for as many years. I can’t believe it’s starting again. It took me years to make them go away.

I always wake at the same place in the nightmare. His fist connects with her head and she stumbles back and hits the refrigerator. Hard. Her eyes roll into the back of her head as her body slides down in slow motion. He’s really hurt her this time and it doesn’t look like he’s done with her yet. He leans down, his fist pulled back, ready to pummel her lifeless body. A gunshot blasts. It’s so loud it hurts my head. The sound leaves a high-pitch ringing in my ears. It makes me reach up and cover them. I never knew sound could hurt. I feel like my ears are bleeding.

My hands are always covering my ears when I come to. The sound is so real that it wakes me. Every time is as real as the first time. The vision never dulls.

Chapter 9

Elle

I throw myself into my work to the point of exhaustion for two non-stop days. I think if I wear myself out enough, I’ll be too tired to dream. Whether or not it stops the dreams from coming isn’t important, what’s important is they don’t come for the next few nights so I don’t question why.

My phone buzzes and I reach for it. I’ve lost track of the days.

Dinner tomorrow night? I miss you.

William always confirms our date the day before. But I’m surprised that he adds that he misses me. We don’t talk about feelings. We enjoy each other’s company. We talk about work. We eat at nice restaurants. We have sex. If it wasn’t for the sex part, I would classify what William and I have as a great friendship. But the sex started us down a road to somewhere, although I have no idea where we’re heading. I’m not even sure what William wants out of what we have. We don’t talk about it. We just go through the motions and that worked for me for a long time.