Her Coach Wouldn't Take My Money, So I Paid Her Another Way novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Pay Her

By Friday night, Marchetti's Boxing held two hundred people and smelled like popcorn.

They stood three deep along the walls and sat on folding chairs around the ring, and the heavy bags had been pushed to the back to make room.

A banner over the door said YOUTH PROGRAM NIGHT.

I stood in Sasha's corner with a water bottle, a towel and a bucket.

Gina was beside me in a black fight-night shirt, wrapping Sasha's hands with quick, sure turns.

She had not looked at me for more than two seconds since I arrived.

Wednesday night was still sitting between us.

"Rae," Sasha said. Her voice was thin. "Why are you doing this? I wouldn't."

"You asked me to," I said.

"I know. But I'm still sorry."

"You said it nine times this week. You can stop."

"I can't."

"Then fight," I said. "Hit someone who isn't me."

She laughed, a shaky little noise.

Across the ring, her opponent bounced on her toes, a stocky girl in blue with a ponytail.

The bell rang.

Sasha went out and took a punch to the nose in the first ten seconds.

My hands closed around the towel.

"Chin down," Gina shouted. "Chin!"

By the end of the first round, Sasha had a split lip, and by the middle of the second she had the stocky girl in the corner and was hitting the way Gina had taught her.

The crowd roared.

I heard myself roar with them.

When the final bell rang, the referee held up Sasha's hand, and the room lost its mind.

I hugged her sweaty shoulders, and she sobbed into my neck.

"I won," she gasped. "I really won."

"You did."

"The announcer's coming. Gina said I could say something."

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