Then he launched forward, his bike leaving dust and wind behind as he disappeared into the darkness, leaving me with my thundering pulse and my unanswered questions, and the knowledge that despite my lingering hesitation, I’d be there tomorrow night.
five
Benny
A NEW PURPOSE.
When I bought this place, I figured it would be years before I had to take over running it. It was always my retirement plan. If I was lucky, I’d make it to my late thirties before I had to stop fighting and switch over to running Forrester Fitness.
I was a few weeks off thirty when it happened—a torn rotator cuff, clean enough that surgery mended it, but messy enough that it ended everything. Then it was months of rehab, endless physiotherapy sessions, and a stubborn refusal to “take it easy,” because I didn’t know how to do that. I’d gotten most of the strength back now, most of the mobility. But the risk was too high. Returning to the UFC was off the table.
My physiotherapist had cleared me for most exercises, though, and I was ready—desperate, honestly—to get back to being productive. To feel like I had a purpose beyond sitting at home and brooding over things I couldn’t change.
I’d stopped visiting Ma as much because she fussed over me as if I’d torn both arms clean off, but that just meant she came over to my place to fuss over me there instead. It was good to get back to work.
“Mornin’,” I called to Georgio as I walked across the mats.
He’d just finished up his stretches, rolling his shoulders as he packed away the yoga mat. “Morning, boss.”
I liked Georgio. He was a former fighter as well and had made it to his forties before he retired. He was one of the greats, Georgio “The Gladiator” Mancini. I’d grown up watching his fights with my dad, and I’d had an embarrassing fanboy moment when he’d reached out after I opened the gym and asked if I needed any help running it. Turned out he ran the place better than I had the capacity to, and I’d gladly handed the reins to him while I focused on my career.
Now that it was over, I didn’t want to push Georgio out. I was sure there was enough work for us both to stay busy.
“Need help with anythin’?”
He chuckled. “Eager to get back to it, huh? I get it. Well, I got the morning classes sorted, ordered the new gear, updated the roster. Hmm… oh, the HVAC guy is coming around ten to deal with the busted unit if you wanted to handle that?”
Right. He definitely seemed to have things under control, then. “Cool. Good. Um, good work. I’ll deal with the HVAC guy… at ten.” I glanced at the clock behind him. I was sure there was something I could find to do for the next three and a half hours. Maybe Riley needed help with admin. “I’ll leave ya to it, then.”
I headed toward the front desk. Riley’s tiny body was almost impossible to spot behind the giant monitor, but as though he had supernatural hearing, he popped his head up when I got close.
“Morning, boss man.” He smiled warmly.
“Mornin’, Ri. Need help with anythin’?”
He tilted his head to the side quizzically, as if I’d spoken in a foreign language. “Uh… no? Everything’s sorted for today.”
“There’s not like… emails or… invoices or somethin’ you need me to handle?”
His eyes softened as he smiled. “Emails are handled, boss. Invoices paid. I’ve got the newsletter scheduled, and the socials queued for the day too.”
Why was everyone so damned competent around here?
“Umm…” His bright green eyes looked around the desk, searching for some task he could assign me out of pity before he pulled a Post-it note off the table. “Vending machine isn’t working. I was going to call the repair guy next, but… you can do it if you like?”
“Thanks,” I sighed, taking the paper and noticing his bright pink nails. I loved how comfortable Riley was with things like makeup and nail polish. I wanted this place to be as openly accepting and inviting to my community as possible. There were Pride flags on the wall behind where Riley sat, and I’d never kept my pansexuality a secret from the public.
“One of the men’s toilets is clogged too,” he added.
Wonderful.
“Uh… where do we keep the cleanin’ supplies?”
Riley stared at me for a moment before pointing at a door behind me clearly labeled “STAFF ONLY – Cleaning & Maintenance.”
“I knew that.”
He smiled, rolling his eyes and sinking back down in his chair and out of view.
