LGBT

Chapter 1: Training Her-1

Chapter 1: Training Her

“I’m telling you Ange,” Robbie said as he wrapped the tape around my hands. “There are top notch girls here. Girls who will give you a run for your money. Not like the ones over at Rudy’s gym.”

“What was wrong with them? I thought they were good training partners.” I said, flexing my hands.

Robbie glanced at me. “You could whip every one of them in less than a minute. That’s not going to help your training, Ange. You need someone who’s going to challenge you. These girls are contenders.”

“And I’m not?”

He sighed. “You are, hon. All I’m saying is that if you want your shot at the big stage, you need to get some new, fresh opponents and training partners. That’s all.” He pulled me to stand and helped me put my gloves on and lace them up. He hugged my gloves against his chest. “You’re good enough to take the belt, Ange. Your dad would be real proud of you. And he would say that sometimes you gotta change up what you’re doing if you want to get better.”

I smiled up at my longtime trainer and friend. “You’re right, Robbie,” I said quietly. “Let’s do this.”

I followed him out into the gym. It was a big place with a boxing ring on one side and a MMA cage on the other. Rows of bags hung in a line for Muay Thai practice and different shaped bags hung on the other side for the boxers. Grappling dummies slumped against the wall, waiting for someone to come and toss them about. I grinned at Robbie.

“I think I like it here,” I said nodding. There was a lot of stuff I could use to get me into fighting shape.

“Good. You’re fighting in six months and you need to be in the best shape of your life. And this is just the place to do it. Hey Jules!” he called.

A young man with short dark hair jogged over to where we stood. “Hey Robbie. Good to see you.” He glanced at me. “Is this her?” he asked as if I couldn’t answer for myself.

“Yeah. Jules St. Martin, meet Angela Moreno.”

The man reached out to bump his fist against my gloved hand. “Nice to meet you.” He frowned, peering at me. “Moreno?” When I nodded, he continued. “Are you big Al Moreno’s kid?”

I nodded again. “That’s right. Alejandro Moreno is my dad.” I said that with pride but inside I felt kind of small. It always bugged me when I first meet people and they bring up my father. I hated being in his shadow. Granted he was a champion boxer, but I was almost as good. I wanted people to know my name apart from his. I just needed my shot.

Jules smiled at me. “Well it’s an honor to have royalty in the gym.”

“Thanks,” I murmured, feeling my face redden.

Robbie cleared his throat. “So, whose here to spar with?”

Jules looked around. There were several people shadow boxing and a group around the boxing ring. “Yeah. We could get Sherrie to spar with her.”

Robbie watched the woman Jules was pointing at. She was okay. Good footwork but then anyone can have good footwork and hands until they are put in front another person who wanted to pound on their bones. He shrugged. “Has she ever sparred?”

“I’m sure she has,” Jules said. He gave a shrill whistle. “Sherri!”

The woman turned.

Jules waved her over to where we stood. He put an arm around her shoulders. “Sherri, this is Angela Moreno. This here is Sherri Peña, one of our fighters. She’s training MMA but boxing is her specialty.”

Sherri fist bumped me. “Nice to meet you.”

I nodded. “Angie. Likewise.”

Jules looked between us. “Feel like a little sparring? Just easy, to warm up.”

Sherri smiled. “Sure. If she’s up to it.”

I didn’t miss the arrogant tone in her voice. I reckon that she thought she could whip me. I smiled. She obviously didn’t know my father and that he taught his kids very well. I grinned at her. “I’m up to it.”

Moments later, she had her gloves on and was standing in her corner. Jules helped her put on her headgear. He was talking to her about me, if the glances she kept passing me were any indication. Robbie slipped my headgear over my head and fastened it.

“She thinks I’m a toy,” I said softly.

Robbie looked over to Sherri and Jules. “Yeah well I guess you’ll have to show her that you’re not anyone to play with.” He slipped my mouthpiece between my teeth and I bit down to secure it in place. “Don’t hurt her. We gotta train here.”

I grinned at him exposing my cobalt blue mouthpiece with the Japanese symbols for “warrior” in the center. “Gotcha boss.” I tapped my gloved fists against his before turning to head to the center of the ring. Sherri stood bouncing on her toes and swinging her arms. Her gaze was intense and I wondered what Jules had said to her. I hoped he’d told her that this was just a friendly sparring match. Not that I was scared of her but I wasn’t interested in making any enemies, especially since I was the new girl and needing a new place to train.

I glanced over my shoulder at Robbie as the ref stepped between us. We tapped gloves and I settled into my fighting stance. She raised her hands in her cute little pink gloves. I grinned to myself. It always amused me to see girly-girls in the ring. My dad taught us to never be afraid to get our hands or our clothes dirty, or to fight hard. And yet he still expected us to be properly dressed for Mass on Sunday mornings.

“Fight!”

Sherri shot forward, punching at my face. I dodged the hook and fired my jab. I reckon she wasn’t playing around. The broad was out for blood and to take my head off. Can’t have that now. I ducked her next hook and delivered an upper cut to her chin. To her credit, she didn’t fall down, just staggered back. But when she returned, she came swinging. I remained calm and avoided her fists. She was getting tired though and so I pounced. I barely heard the 30 second warning bell as I pummeled her until she cowered, covering her head with her arms.

The bell rang, saving her from further trouncing from me. I went back over to Robbie and he pulled my headgear off. “You did great,” he said, putting the straw between my teeth.

I greedily drank the water. “Thanks.” I started to say something else but Jules and Sherri came over to my corner.

Sherri grinned, wiping the sweat from her forehead on her wrapped hand. “Great fight,” she said.

“Thanks,” I said offering my hand. She took it and hugged me briefly.

“Welcome to the gym,” she said, smiling. “Maybe you can teach me some of that for my next fight.”

I nodded. “Sure.”

Patting me on the shoulder, Sherri jumped from the side of the ring. “Have you seen the place yet?”

I shook my head. “No. I just got here.”

“Come on. I’ll show you where to put your stuff.”

“Kind of in the middle of training.”

She glanced at Robbie. “We’ll be quick.” She glanced at me. “Everyone here is pretty hands to themselves, you know? But it’s still not a good idea to leave all your gear laying around.”

Seeing her point, I followed her to the locker room and put away my bag. When we came back out, I noticed a woman with short black hair staring at me. I nodded to her and she offered a crooked smile in return. I glanced at Sherri.

“Who’s that?” I asked, gesturing towards the woman who leaned over the top rope, letting her gloved hands hang over as an older man talked quietly to her.

Sherri followed my gaze. “That’s Roxie. She’s a Golden Gloves contender. She’s got nasty hands.” She grinned. “We call her Rocky. If she hits you, it feels like a ton of rocks falling on you.”

I smiled. “Sounds like you know first-hand.”

“Yes I do.” Sherri glanced at me. “You remind me of her. In your style, you know?”

I nodded. I found myself watching the woman. She was really pretty, with big blue eyes and a delicate face that didn’t look like she’d lost too many fights. Her hair was cut almost boyishly short and dyed black. She had a body that any woman would kill for, at least what I could see of it with the ropes and her trainers in the way. A buzzer sounded and she gave me a crooked grin as one man pushed her mouthpiece back into her mouth. I turned to follow Sherri back to where Robbie waited, but found myself wanting to stay and watch Roxie. She was good. Really good. Unconsciously, I started moving my fists in the air as if she and I were fighting.

“Ange.”

I turned at Robbie’s call. He motioned me over and with one last glance at Roxie, I jogged over to him to start my training. I’d finish thinking and wondering about her later. Right now, I had a fight to prepare for.

*****

A few hours later, I sat on a bench in the locker room, sweaty and tired. I wanted a shower, food and my bed. In that order. But I couldn’t seem to drag myself into the showers. I took another swallow of the sports drink and tried to convince myself to get moving.

“Hey.”

I turned to see Roxie standing behind me. She used the towel around her neck to mop at the sweat on her face. I let my gaze roam over her. The oversized gray tank top she wore was now dark with sweat from hours of training. I could see the sides of her blue sports bra peeking out from the side as she wiped at her face again. The boxing shorts she wore were the same color as the bra and like the shirt, hid her body from my gaze. I drew my eyes back to her face to find an amused smirk on her features.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.” I scooted over on the bench. “I didn’t mean to block your locker.”

She waved me off. “No worries. I’m Roxie. They call me Rocky.” She reached out a hand to me.

“I’m Angela. Angie,” I answered, shaking her hand.

She opened the door and hung the towel over it before opening her gym bag to put her gloves and wraps inside. “Tough workout today?”

I blew out a breath telling myself to get up and go home. “Yep. But it was good though.”

Behind me, Roxie chuckled. “Yeah. Mine too. I saw you out there. You’re good. Real good.”

“Thanks,” I said, finally standing. I grabbed my bag, shutting my locker door. Turning, I froze.

Roxie had taken off the sweaty tank top and now stood in the sports bra and bikini underwear. Her skin was creamy and smooth with a hint of a tan. Her small breasts were hidden almost flat against her chest behind the cups of the bra. My eyes traveled over a flat belly ridged with muscle. A lovely tattoo of three red roses nestled on a thorny branch started from her ribcage and wound downwards over her lower abdomen. Long, shapely legs with rock hard calves that any runner would kill for completed her beautiful body. My gaze wandered back up slowly, so as not to miss a single detail of her. Like mine, her shoulders were wide and her arms tight with muscle. But she was all woman. I swallowed hard as sudden heat suffused my body and settled down between my legs. I’d only recently discovered that I was attracted to women but hadn’t made any moves to explore these new feelings. But I’d have to keep them to myself for now. I had no idea if Roxie was a lesbian or not. I’d been wrong a couple of times.

So I averted my gaze and pulled on my sweatshirt. Roxie watched.

“You know there are showers here, right?” she said, jerking her thumb in the direction of the shower room. “And a sauna and steam room.”

“Oh yeah. Sherri told me.”

Roxie nodded. “Ok good.” She turned and I admired her backside. Damn she was hot. She glanced at me over her shoulder. “Are you training for a fight or something?”

It was my turn to nod. I swallowed on a suddenly dry mouth. “Yeah. I’m fighting in a few months. What about you?”

I lost my train of thought as she reached behind her and unfastened the clasp of her bra. I could just imagine my fingernails trailing down her smooth back. When she hooked her fingers in the sides of her underwear and peeled them down her hips, I almost came. This woman obviously had no qualms about being naked in front of people. I was the girl who always went into the stall to change back in gym class. I knew I had a good body. I’d worked hard to get it that way.