Fighting for Her

Tommy placed his arms out, leaning against the tile wall as the hot water thawed his back. He closed his eyes and saw Riley's face smiling back at him.

Ryan. He grimaced at the thought. There was no way he would ever want to break up a relationship but he just couldn't get enough of Riley. He decided to push the thought from his mind.

Riley's laughter echoed through the locker room as it broke his train of thought. He peered around the shower curtain and saw the doors swinging behind her. He shook his head and turned off the water. Draping the towel around him, he went to grab his bag and realized that he had left it out on the gym floor and hadn't grabbed it earlier because Riley had been yelling at him. He looked for the pair of work out shorts he threw on the floor and couldn't find those either.

"Alright, give it up." He stood over Riley who was sitting on top of his gym bag looking quite conspicuous, twirling her hair around her fingers.

"Give what up?" She cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows. He was standing in the middle of the gym wearing nothing but a towel.

"What are you, 12? My gym bag. Hand it over." Keeping a straight face, he pointed toward his bag.

She smiled, knowing she had his full attention. "Tell me you're sorry."

Tommy snorted. "Sorry for what?"

"For running by me without saying anything!" And for splashing me with water. She thought, but then laughed to herself knowing she let him stay in there an extra thirty seconds and that seemed like punishment enough. She grabbed the sides of the bag for reassurance.

"Are we still on this?" He let out a loud sigh as she nodded her head up and down. They stood there in silence, waiting for the other to break first.

"You're really not going to budge about this are you?" Tommy asked, breaking the silence. She shook her head and smiled.

"Fine have it your way." He leaned down and lifted her and the bag over his shoulder, carrying them both to the locker room. Riley let out a squeal and started punching Tommy's back.

"Put me down!" She tried to sound serious but couldn't help the laughter that escaped her mouth. He kept a firm grip on her legs with one arm as he held the bag in the other. Her arms grabbed his sides as her long hair tickled his back. He squirmed a little before setting her down.

"And you think I'm 12?!" She stood with her hands on her hips as he rifled through his bag for dry clothes. "I'm not leaving until you apologize." She immediately regretted saying that because she knew what was going to happen next.

Tommy shrugged his shoulders and began to unwrap the towel that was hanging on his waist. Riley quickly turned around, her face turning red. "You're not shy, are you?"

"I can't even tell you how many locker rooms I've changed in." His voice a little muffled as he slid on his shirt. "Plus guys in the Corps don't really have time to be shy."

"Lucky me." Riley mumbled under her breath, not sure if she was being sarcastic or not.

The double doors swung open and a guy smaller than Tommy walked in. He was bleeding from a fresh cut above his eyebrow. The blood dripped onto the tile floor as the guy just stared at Riley. Another man, drenched in sweat followed behind him.

"Uh, I'll just be outside." Riley said, suddenly feeling a pang of discomfort.

When Riley was in the gym earlier, the boxing ring had been surrounded by guys yelling and shouting at the match going on with in it. Now it stood empty, its previous inhabitants had either already left or were heading into the locker room to call it a day.

Out of curiosity, Riley tugged on one of the ropes just to see what it would feel like. It bounced back immediately to its original position. She did it again and laughed.

"Funny, is it?" A voice spoke behind Riley, with a thick accent she couldn't quite place. She turned to face a tall man with a tanned complexion.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

The tall man chuckled and grabbed the ropes behind her, leaving her trapped between the ring and his towering body. He was sweaty and had patches of red spots all over his upper body from sparring with someone.

"Uh, I'll just -" She went to duck under his arm but he tugged on the rope which sent Riley crashing into him. "Hey!" She pushed his chest as hard as she could but he didn't budge. She cursed at Tommy for taking so long in the locker room.

"Vem bebê. Let Miguel show you how he plays in the ring."

Ew. She thought. "I'm good thanks." She went to duck again, only this time he grabbed her arms instead of the ropes.

"Hands off." Tommy stalked out of the locker room and reached out for Riley. She quickly took his hand and he moved her behind him.

Miguel leaned up against the ring, crossing his arms. "A shame you're leaving Tommy. We could run around the ring a bit. Give the mocinha a show." He nodded toward Riley.

Tommy stared at Miguel, eyes ablaze. He said nothing, only curled his lip and slightly nodded. Still holding onto Riley's hand, Tommy began walking out of the gym. Riley turned her head to give Miguel a dirty look.

"Mais tarde bebê." Miguel called after her.

-----

"Are you okay?" Tommy asked her for the third time, as they sat at a bar down the street from the gym.

"I'm fine, really." She took a final swig of her beer and set it down a little harder than usual. "Who was that guy?"

Tommy slid the empty bottle away from her. "He's from Brazil. Came here to train with Colt. He's pissed that I took his spot for the tournament."

"Well he's an idiot." She played with the coaster in front of her. Tommy stared at her tousled hair. She had taken her hat off once they entered the bar and didn't bother to fix her hair. "What?"

He smiled. "You look like you've been through hell."

She looked at him, surprised that he would say something like that. "Um, thanks?" She laughed sarcastically and raked her fingers through her hair.

"You get so flustered. Its cute." Tommy lifted his beer to his lips, wondering if he should have added that last bit.

"Well, I haven't had an easy day Thomas." She stopped and laughed. "I'm sorry. You're the one training for the Olympics or whatever. I'm just used to getting paint all over myself. Not freezing cold water and sweaty man juice."

He almost spit out his beer. "Sweaty man juice?"

She put her head down on the bar and laughed. "I think I need to go home now."

He patted her on the back and nodded. "I think you'll survive the cold water but I'm not too sure about the sweaty man juice."

She got up from the bar and covered her face with her hands.

"Oh god. You're never going to forget I said that are you?"

"Nope." He took one last swig of beer before following her out of the bar.

----

The drive to Tommy's was short yet he had managed to bring up 'sweaty man juice' four times making Riley laugh so hard tears were starting to come out of her eyes. She hadn't laughed this hard in a long time. She pulled up a long side of the curb and put the truck in park.

"Are you going to say bye this time?" Riley playfully lifted an eyebrow at Tommy.

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked, slightly confused.

"Last time you left, you didn't say bye."

Tommy looked down at his lap and ran his hands through his hair. "I don't like saying bye." His voice was low, and his mood changed slightly. He seemed a little somber.

"Oh," was all Riley could muster up. She could tell she hit a nerve of some sort. He stared at her now wide eyes, the setting sun made them a darker green. He brushed a piece of hair away from her face. She tensed a little at his touch.

"How about, 'see you later'?" He stared into her eyes and noticed them narrow a little as she smiled.

"Okay." She said in a breath.

He tapped his knuckles on the center console that separated them, opened the door and hopped out of the truck.