“Where the hell are we going?” Ash whisper-shouted, knowing full well now that Kara’s superhero ears were listening from the other side of the door.
Boone raised a brow. “You said you wanted me to hit you,” he replied matter-of-factly. “So I’m taking you someplace where I can give you exactly what you asked for.”
Chapter 5
“You’re kidding, right?” Ash asked, though the fact that his brother was already wearing his headgear, mouth guard, and boxing gloves showed that Boone Murphy was not joking.
“Come on!” Boone replied as best he could with the guard covering his teeth. “It’ll be good for both of us.” He clapped his padded fists together and bounced side to side on his bare feet. Since Ash had been wearing boots, the older Murphy brother agreed they’d both fight shoeless to make it fair…and so Ash wouldn’t ruin the floor of the boxing ring.
Oh and also…when Boone dragged him to the Meadow Valley Fire Station and the weight room and boxing ring out back, Ash only took off his boots and let Boone plop the headgear onto his head because hethought his brother was kidding.
Now he stood there with his own mouth guard in his left hand, a boxing glove in his right, and the second glove tucked under his right arm.
“Come on,” Boone goaded again, this time tapping Ash lightly on the shoulder with his glove. “When was the last time you worked out all your poor-little-rich-boy frustrations?”
Ouch.Ash felt that one right in the gut.
“Piss off,” Ash muttered in reply. “I’m not doing this.”
Boone shrugged, undeterred. “Hey… I’m not the one who said you were a shitty brother. You figured that one out all on your own.”
This time Ash chose a better four-letter word and modified his directive.
Boone nodded. “There we go.” Then he tapped his brother’s jaw with his glove. “What else you got?” The next shoulder tap felt a lot lesstapand a little morepush. “Shitty brother…”
The only way for Ash to push back was to free one of his hands, which was the only reason he shoved the mouth guard over his teeth. But all his one-handed shove did was knock himself off-balance and give Boone a reason to counter with a way less playful hook to the jaw.
Ash stumbled back a few steps, more shocked than pained, but still… Boone had hit him. Like…actuallyhithim.
“Youhitme,” Ash said, stating the obvious. “Like…actuallyhitme.”
Boone barked out a laugh. “Look where we are, Bro! I didn’t bring you here to play. I brought you here to work shit out, so let’sworkshit out!” He clapped his gloves together once more and then stormed toward Ash like a man on a mission, and that mission seemed to be to lay his brother out flat.
Ash scrambled to get the first glove on and then the second, barely giving himself the time he needed to block the next blow. But when he threw his hands up to protect his face, Boone’s glove glanced off Ash’s elbow and nailed him straight in the gut.
Ash dropped to his knees, not sure whether he was going to throw up or pass out from the air being knocked clear from his lungs. But when neither happened, and Boone went from the man on a mission to an Oh-shit-did-I-just-hurt-my-brother look in his eyes, Ash climbed to his feet and nailed his opponent with a left cross.
Gone was the concern from Boone’s stare. They’d hit the point of no return. And it. Was. On.
***
Ten minutes later, both men collapsed on a bench outside the ring, Ash with a split lip and a bruise already blooming on the skin over his ribs, and Boone with a bloody nose he insisted was not broken.
After several moments of silence, save for the two men catching their breath and nursing their wounds, Ash finally asked, “So…did we work shit out?”
Boone shrugged. “I feel better. Don’t you?”
Ash rolled his eyes as his brother plugged hisbleeding nostril with a wad of tissue. “You look like what your wife is going to do tomeonce she sees what I did toyou. And in case you were wondering, it ain’t pretty.”
Boone nodded at him with a laugh. “I’ll just tell her she should see the other guy. The question is, little bro, doyoufeel better?”
Ash sighed. He didn’t know how to answer because he’d been knocked over the headandpunched in the face, the gut, and the ribs all within the past twenty-four hours. It also was because he couldn’t remember the last time someone had asked him how he felt, and his brain seemed to have lost the ability to compute what for many was such a normal question to answer.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I mean, it was kind of fun to pummel you now that you’re not a head taller than me anymore.” Ash laughed but then winced as he felt the cut on his bottom lip tug and likely start bleeding again.
Boone leaned back on the bench and tilted his head toward the sky. “I know what I see online is some curated mix of bullshit and truth. And I also know you’re busy as hell and that it’s hard for you to get back here, or maybe you don’t want to.” He straightened to face his younger brother again. “But you’ve got people here who care about you, man.” He clapped Ash on the shoulder. “Enough to give a shit about therealstory.”
Ash nodded, but then he stood. “The thing is, Boone…” He licked his busted lip. “I send you and Eli tickets to every damned show. How long has it been since I’ve seen one of my brothers in the crowd?” He shook his head. “Maybe it’s time to hit pause on how shittyI’vebeen and take a good look in the mirror.” He shrugged. “How’s that for how I’m feeling?”
