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avoid talking about the gym. I absolutely hated disappointing my father, and the gym had been in decline for so long that there never seemed to be anything to say. Now, though, I might actually have some good news to tell him. He’d have something to look forward to when he came back to visit me. He’d see the old gym thriving. And then he wouldn’t regret giving me this place.
                Excitement coursed through me. I knew that I was putting all my eggs in one basket, but something innately told me that I could trust Kirk. Now I just hoped that he’d take my invitation and come fight at the qualifying match.

Chapter 8
    Kirk
                “Did you get rid of your groupie?” Martin asked as I got back into the warehouse space.
                I gave him a look. “That was Emily Morris. She’s considering sponsoring me. You idiot. You know you could have cost us that sponsorship. Why did you do that?”
                Martin frowned. He had the decency to look slightly chagrined, but I knew that he wasn’t really sorry. The next words out of his mouth were, “So you fucked her to seal the deal?”
                That was too much for me. I balled my hand into a tight fist and decked him in the jaw. “Don’t talk about her that way.”
                “What the hell, man?” Martin yelped as he cradled his jaw with one hand. “It’s not like she’s your girlfriend or something.”
                I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Of course, Martin was right. Emily wasn’t anything more to me right now than a fuck partner. Still, there had been something that passed between us when I had been inside of her. What was I doing? How could I be losing my edge just from meeting a woman? And yet, all I could think about was getting back with her. Making her smile. Making her come. I felt my cock getting hard just thinking about her, so I turned away from Martin.
                “Go to hell, Martin,” I said quietly.
                “What did you just say to me?” he asked, his voice coming out like a shriek.
                “Go fuck yourself, Martin,” I said more firmly. “Get out of here. We’re done. You’ve taken my career as far as you can, and now it’s time for me to manage myself.”
                “You can’t fire me, you ingrate,” Martin yelled. “I made you. If it wasn’t for me, you’d still be just some punk kid getting into fights on the street.”
                Suddenly I saw him how everyone else must have seen Martin. He was a desperate leech who had been trying to push me into whatever role would make him the most money or garner him the most prestige. He had stuck with me for what I could do for him, not because of any loyalty that he felt for me. The realization hit me hard. It made me want to punch him again.
                “Just get out,” I said. Keeping my voice hard, I pointed toward the door. Martin spluttered for another moment, but finally he swore at me again, and stalked out of the room.
                I sank down on to the sofa where just half an hour earlier, Emily and I had fucked so perfectly. Emily. The way she’d told me that I was better than these illegal fights. She’d meant every word she’d said, and it felt good. She cared about what I was doing, she was willing to take a chance to sponsor me even though she really didn’t approve of what I was doing now.
                I found myself thinking that I didn’t want to disappoint her. That thought was pretty foreign to me. For so long I had lived my life only for myself. My parents had drifted out of my life when I was sixteen. I had never really had a serious relationship. Martin had been the only person I’d trusted for a long time, and now that had shattered. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got.
                Standing, I began to pace