“Shut up, shitbird. I didn’t hit you that hard.”
“Honestly, I think your right hook is stronger than Jae’s,” he said with an awed shake of his head.
“Bullshit,” I scoffed.
He smirked holding up his gloved hands to his face. “Go again. Don’t hold back.”
I eyed him with a‘you sure you want that?’look and he nodded.
I took a deep breath, rolling my shoulders before raising my own gloved hands. I took another deep breath before our feet started to move, circling each other. Enoch’s eyes twinkled as he watched me, waiting for me to make my move. He was having fun and I couldn’t help the light feeling in my stomach as I realized I was too.
I stepped forward, my left hand twitching as if to make a jab and followed up with a right hook to his head. He blocked it,taking the brunt of the hit with his forearm, but I’d still managed to clip the side of his head.
He grunted, planting his feet as to not fall over and went for my side. It landed, making me wince and something inside me switched.
I wasn’t sparring with Enoch for fun; I was trying to prove myself to Javier. I was surviving one of his tests.
The punches rained and my heart pumped with adrenaline. I wouldn’t fail this time. I lost count of how many times he managed to get a hit in, the pain didn’t register, only warned me that I wasn’t giving enough. I pushed myself to keep swinging, keep attacking. I wasn’t on defense anymore, I wasn’t just trying to keep myself safe, keep myself from getting hit. I was fighting back and I was going to win.
I landed a blow that had his head swinging to the side and I took my chance, ramming my shoulder into his chest. He let out a groan as the air was pushed from his lungs and suddenly he was on the floor, and I was on top of him.
Victory was pumping through my veins like a song, a pleasant buzz underneath my skin that had me smiling.
I frowned, eyes wide as I noticed the blood on Enoch’s face.
“Fuck.” The word forced its way past my lips with guilt and the high from moments ago vanished.
“What?” Enoch asked, his chest rising and falling quickly, the pulse in his neck drumming rapidly. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, Enoch. I hurtyou.” My lips pursed as I stared at the small cut on his cheekbone.
His brows furrowed and he removed his gloves to gently prod at his face. I reached out, helping him find the small cut.
He shrugged, placing his hands on my hips. “It’s nothing. I don’t even feel it. You okay?”
“Yeah. Fine.” I moved to stand, but Enoch swapped our positions, his hand behind my head as I landed on my back. Heslowly removed his hand, placing it beside my head as he held himself over me.
“Are you?” He asked softly, studying me closely.
“Yeah. I, um,” I paused, taking a moment to actually catalogue my body. “I’m good. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I know,” he said with a smile. “That was fun. Where’d you learn to fight like that?”
I swallowed, taking a deep breath, our chests touching with the action. I realized then just how close our bodies were. His hips settled on top of my own, the heavy weight of his legs as they caged me against the ground.
“Javi.”
Enoch nodded, pulling a strand of hair from my face and tucking it behind my ear.
“Do you miss him?”
I stared in thought, my eyes unfocused as I sifted through my emotions.
“Yes and no.”
I hadn’t thought much about Javier in the last year. It hurt too much. But now…I guessed enough time had passed since his death that I’d finally stopped wilting at the thought of him or any of the one million questions that would never be answered.
“You were right,” I muttered. “About Javi.”
