“Spooky…”

Evan was leading me through the boxing gym. It was bigger than I expected.

It was a long, narrow building with a single room that just went on and on, with tons of equipment stations, punching bags, and full-size boxing rings.

“Why?” Evan asked. “Cuz it’s empty? You’re the one who wanted privacy.”

The sarcastic tone that Evan used kind of stung.

We’d talked about why I didn’t want to be in a crowd… It wasn’t that I wanted privacy. I just had to be careful about my safety, now I was a public figure.

I know he didn’t mean anything by it – it was just the way we teased each other.

But it felt kind of insensitive. Just a little glimmer of the old Evan, the one who made fun of me for things I couldn’t control.

He reached a spot near a punching bag and dropped his stuff. “Well, we got the run of the place. Let’s start with the bag.”

I nodded, avoiding his eyes as I tried to shake off the feeling of being offended by his last comment.

“I’ll get you wrapped up then we’ll find some gloves that’ll fit you.”

I don’t think Evan noticed at all that he’d bothered me.

And that bothered me.

EVAN

He tried not to linger while wrapping up Yena’s hands. Touching her always gave Evan a rush. He got it done quickly.

He gave her a quick demonstration then held the bag steady. “Okay. Give it a try.”

Yena’s first few punches were weak. She was holding back.

“Just loosen up,” Evan told her. “Shake your shoulders out. Keep your form like I showed you but do what feels natural.”

Yena grunted and threw a right hook smack in the center of the bag.

“Nice! Keep going.”

Then after getting some good punches in, she told him she wanted to get in the ring.

They took a break. Then Evan got gloved up and led her up under the ropes and into the ring.

Yena started bouncing around on her toes the second she was on the canvas, holding her gloved fists up in just the position Evan taught her.

“Come on!” she said, throwing little jabs in the air. “Let’s fight!”

Evan laughed.

“Okay, first of all, what you’re doin now is good. Get your muscles warmed up before we get started.”

Evan started shadowboxing too, and circling the ring, light on his feet.

“Alright, now we touch gloves.”

They met at the center of the ring and tapped their gloves together.

“And now, try to hit me. Just aim for the center, okay? No head shots.”

Yena giggled just once, but then shook her head and got into game mode. She gave it all she had. And got a couple body shots in that Evan did not expect not being able to block.

“Alright, you’ve beat me up enough for one day,” he said after she hit him the second time. “Let’s call it?”

Yena, red faced, took off her gloves and threw them on the canvas.

“That was a surprisingly good workout,” she said, panting. She looked over at a clock on the wall. “Time really does fly when you’re having fun.”

She put hands on her knees and started to double over.

“Don’t sit down here,” Evan said, making a face. “Come on, I’ll help you down. We’ll go get water.”

They walked together to the ropes at the edge of the ring. Evan slid gracefully under them and hopped down to the floor. Then he reached up and held the ropes up for Yena.

She bent and went to take a careful step forward to the edge, but Evan noticed immediately that her legs started shaking. Her muscles were totally fatigued.

And then as she tried to go under the ropes, she fell.

“Whoa!”

Evan was right there, so he caught her – sort of.

He broke her fall but crumpled under her, so they landed in heap, with her on top.

Evan was holding her tightly.

“Oh, Goddess,” Yena said, laughing. “I’m so sorry!”

Her body was still shaky. She tried to start moving away from Evan, but she was too weak to push off him with her shaky arms.

“It’s okay.” Evan laughed too, but quieter. “You alright?”

“Think so.” Yena put her cheek to his chest and let her weight fall into him.

Evan took a big, slow breath in through his nose, smelling her.

She noticed. And she started pulling away, but then…

She lingered, and brought her face just a fraction of an inch from Evan’s. The look in her eyes was… something different than he’d seen before.

And she sat her hips down ever so slightly into his lap.

YENA

Evan’s hands were on my body, and then they were moving.

I knew how I wanted to react to this. I wanted to be able to just pull away.

But I’d been starved for affection since the moment Nolan walked away after our last kiss. It just felt so nice to have big, rough hands cradling my curves.

Although… it didn’t take very long for me to realize that it just wasn’t the same.

Evan’s hands were smaller than Nolan’s. And the way he was touching was hesitant and awkward.

Poor Evan.

All at once I realized that I didn’t want him, and also that I’d lingered in this moment for too long.

He was getting turned on.

I’d only lingered because I liked being close to him.

But then I felt him getting hard. His dick was throbbing under his shorts, touching my thigh.

Then came the second wave of me hesitating to get off him.

My heart started pounding.

For a moment, all I could think was… I didn’t realize it would be so big.

My body was aching for something, but… I couldn’t do it.

“Evan, we can’t.”

The words came out of my lips before I could overthink them.

I added, “I’m sorry,” and climbed off him clumsily.

Evan groaned.

I stood and walked a few paces away, putting my hands on top of my head to slow my heart rate.

Evan sat up and was resting with his back to me and his face in his hands.

I waited till my breathing slowed down before I said, “Hey.”

He stood up and turned. He was blushing, but with a little smile. And shaking his head.

“I’m the one who should be sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t be letting that—”

“No! Evan. I’ve been such a bitch to you lately, honestly—”

“What?!”

“It’s totally cruel for me to be teasing you like I’ve been, and this—” I pointed to the spot where we’d just fallen– “this is not all your fault.”

Evan walked over to me, laughing, and put his hands on my shoulders.

I stopped talking.

He shut his eyes and exhaled dramatically. He was trying not to laugh. Maybe because he was nervous, actually trying to say something serious.

“Your breath smells bad,” I said quietly.

He chuckled, opened his eyes, and said, “Thank you. That’s very helpful.”

Then he gave one of my shoulders a hard slap and started walking off toward the men’s locker room.

“I’m gonna hit the shower. You did a good job tonight, Yena.”

He spun around and winked.

Then added, “For a beginner.”

I stood there, stunned for a minute. Replaying what had just happened and starting to feel really cringey about it.

I went to the women’s locker room and rinsed my face with cool water. Pulled my sweaty hair out of its ponytail, shook it out, and got it into a loose, comfortable bun.

The drive home started out a bit awkward and quiet.

“Listen,” Evan said, breaking the tension. “Can we just forget about… that, back there?”

“Sure…”

“I just got caught up in the moment. All the fun we been having. I don’t know what I was thinking…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

I almost reached out to touch his arm in a reassuring gesture, but held back. Didn’t seem like the best idea to start touching again.

But then Evan reached out and grabbed my hand. Pulled it to his mouth and gave my knuckles a quick kiss.

He kept his eyes on the road and said, “I love you, little sister.” Then dropped my hand and returned his to the wheel.

The words Evan was saying seemed clear. He was making a choice to treat me like a sister. Saying he just got caught up in the moment.

But the sweet little kiss was kind of a mixed message.