I can't apologize enough! These past three weeks have been really hard. I let my personal life get in the way and I aim to get this story updated a few more times before getting back to my weekly quota. PROMISE! Enjoy and please let me know what you think.
"Come on."
If Myra didn't know him like she did she would assume that he was angry with her. But that wasn't the case. He was frustrated with the whole situation. After she had asked Vince, he had ignored her request for a few days. So she did the only thing she knew for sure would get her results. Dom was hesitant at first but the idea soon became a good one and one conversation between him and V had Myra up and early to head to boxing the next day.
She easily climbed out of V's car and closed the door behind her, jogging to catch up with him as he entered the building. They moved past the receptionist desk and into the weights room. Myra kept close, eyeing up the men that put their muscle on display, noting that some of them even made Dom look small. As they headed through a back door on the right Myra took in the new landscape of this room. Rings, and more rings. There were a few boys fighting already, fans blowing, music blaring. She felt out of place.
"Vinny, what do you have here?" The voice was coming from a short older man. His once black hair was fading into gray quickly, his glasses perched on the end of his nose. He moved towards them, eyes lingering on her form just behind Vince.
"This is Myra." Vince looked back at her, motioning for her to stop hiding behind him. She grumbled, glaring up at him, but took the two steps anyhow and looked up at the stranger. "She needs a little help."
"You're telling me, look at her." The man shook his head, pushing his glasses back up only for them to sag back down to the brim of his nose. He seemed to be having a battle in his head, eyes digging through the mounds of flesh that was her. She held to the strap, that belonged to her bag, that wrapped around her body, waiting for him to finish his assessment. "Leave her, come back at 2."
Vince chuckled, leaning down quickly to plant a kiss on her cheek. He jogged off and out of the room before she could get a word out, the stranger grinning from ear to ear in front of her.
She was exhausted. She couldn't feel her toes, her fingers, her anything. Everything was blissfully numb and if she stepped on a scale she was sure she had sweat out about ten pounds in total. But it was good. Each punch, each kick, each tumble; they left marks but they made her stronger.
"So why did you want to start boxing in the first place?" The coach sank down on the edge of the ring next to her, handing her a bottle of water. Myra took it and quickly chugged half of it, giving him a toothy grin.
"Self-defense."
"You could have taken self-defense classes for that bullshit. Why boxing?"
"I want to be stronger. I want to be in control of situations."
He nodded, taking his glasses off and folding them up. She watched him slip them into his front pocket and push himself off down to the ground. Her time was up. 1:45 PM read loud and clear on the red neon sign on the wall. Vince would be here in no time and all of this training she had done for the day would be pushed back for another day.
"Boxing is all about control." He turned around and stood before her, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's about taking a part of your life and being 100% in control of it, and knowing you are. Each blow, each hit, it's all power you already know you have."
"A little poetic."
"Oh shut up and take a shower. I'll see you tomorrow morning. 7 AM. Don't be late."
Myra grinned and jumped down, scooping up her bag and jogging towards the women's locker room. She threw her stuff down on the sink counter, looking up at her reflection for the first time since she had woken up. She had a cut just below her right eye, and with soft fingers she touched it, noting how tender it was. Blood was gathered around her mouth too and baring her teeth at her reflection she noted that her mouth was pretty gross.
She had seen the cuts on her shoulders, and the bruises on her neck and arms while practicing but seeing them in her reflection was surreal. With one last stare she gathered up her things and hit the shower.
The next month was a repeat, a constant loop of work, sleep, food, boxing, cars. She gained the momentum to continue each day from the strength she was developing, noting in the mirror the smaller bruises left behind, the removal of the cuts. She tumbled less, she hit more, and she dodged everything that came her way.
Her time at the shop was purely office related, her time spent with the family was in the evenings, all gathered around the dinner table and then later around the TV. With each practice she grew more and more sure of herself, of her power, of her control. It was evident, to all of the people around her. She grew less timid; she became more assertive.
"So you and Vince been sleeping together recently?" Letty pushed through the wrack of clothing in front of her, eyes bouncing up from the material to glance at Myra just on the other side. They were shopping for a new wardrobe, the clothes Myra had been clinging to were growing too small, not adequate for the muscle she was developing, the curves she was growing.
"Why you ask?" Myra quirked a brow, not exactly comfortable with the conversation of sex.
"He's been... complicated."
Myra chuckled, rolling her eyes as she shook her head. She had relieved him in other ways, helped him out and let him help her out too but whenever the actual act came about she froze up and demanded him to get off of her. All she could hear in her head were the grunts and groans of the disgusting man who had taken away from her something she had only ever given away willingly before.
"Girl I'm just saying..." Letty winked, pulling out a top she held up to herself before walking around the wrack and pressing it to Myra's chest. A tube top, red leather, fringe around the bottom. "Try this on."
"I'm going to look like a skank."
"Isn't that the point?"
"Oh fuck you."
Letty only laughed, picking up another top and tossing it into Myra's pile before pushing her towards the changing rooms. Myra spent the next thirty minutes trying everything on, gathering quickly that her body had changed a lot when she wasn't looking. Letty kept a watchful eye on her, using her like a Barbie as she accented all the proper curves with a finesse.
"How exactly do you plan to pay for all of this?" They gathered what Myra liked, taking it up to the front and passing it over to the cashier. As she rang it up and the dollar amount appeared Myra gave Letty a wink, handing over the credit card her dad had given her before his divorce. "He's not going to care?"
"He's not even going to notice. His mistress buys shit all the time, he'll think it's her."
They left the store with four bags in hand, heading out of the mall and into the parking lot. Packing Letty's back seat, they sped off to join the family at the BBQ.
"You went shopping?" Vince yawned, stretching out on the bed as he looked over at the bags dropped on the floor. Myra nodded her head, pulling her hair up from around her neck and restraining it at the back of her head with a scrunchy. Pulling a bag towards her she started unpacking them, folding up the clothes and removing tags as she went. Vince watched her, eyeing the material in her hands. When she got to the tube top he moved forward, taking it carefully from her hands. "I wanna see it on you."
"Yeah?" She gave him a cheeky smile and he returned it, grabbing a pair of black shorts from her pile and tossing them into her lap. "Yes sir." With a chuckle she gathered up the material and headed into the bathroom, stripping from her evening attire to slip on the tube top and shorts. After buckling the pants, she stepped out, blushing softly as she stepped into the light, noting that Vince had sat up on the bed. His eyes lingered on her face for a moment before dropping down and scaling over her body slowly. He took his time, starting at her bare shoulders and arms, running along her chest, pupils dilating. He raised his hand and motioned for her to turn and she did, the bed squeaking as he rose.
He was there, just behind her in seconds, fingers undoing her hair and letting her curls tumble around her shoulders. She finished her rotation to stare up at him, her cheeks red as she fidgeted with her hands.
"You're gorgeous." His voice was a whisper in the silence of the room, and Myra closed her eyes quickly, feeling the lump in her throat. What Letty had asked earlier came back to her and she felt herself tremble. She was neglecting him, she knew that, everyone knew that; but she didn't want to think about it.
"I'm sorry." She opened her eyes slowly, leaning into his touch as he pressed the palm of his hand to her cheek. "I know it's been difficult since the accident, and I'm trying, I really am."
"You don't need to apologize baby."
"But I do. I really do. You deserve better than this." The sob was coming, she could feel it crawling its way up her throat, scratching at her eyes and tongue. "I'm damaged and I don't –"
"Don't you dare say that." His voice grew hard as he tilted her chin up and forced her eyes to stare right into his. "Don't you dare say you're damaged, and don't you dare think you're not good enough for me." He leaned in and placed a soft kiss to her lips, kissing up her cheek and taking the tears that had slipped down away. "I'll wait for you as long as I have to."