After some minor searching, Kiki found Joshua on the treadmill, running hard with earbuds in. It was odd, because she usually met him by the ring in the center of the large warehouse turned gym before they went over the sessions game plan, and traditional cardio had never been on that list.
Kiki walked around so he could see her, giving him a smile and wave. Only to get a hard look before he pulled out an earbud. Kiki was taken aback by the action that seemed so off-putting. She hadn’t seen him this morning, but they had a standing schedule for Saturdays. She had run a bit late today because of the fiasco with Jessica and training Lawson, but she’d been late before.
“Hey,” Kiki said, trying to sound upbeat. “You still have time to train me today?”
“I guess…if you still want to?” Joshua pulled out the other earbud, stopped the machine, and wiped his brow with a towel before turning his back to her.
Kiki wasn’t sure where his attitude had come from. It was beginning to hurt her feelings. She thought they had a good relationship, a nice friendship. Maybe he was just having a bad day, she reasoned. Everyone had bad days.
“Yeah, I’d really like to. You’re a great trainer.” Kiki hoped the compliment would ease the tension. Flattery will get you everywhere.
Turning to face her, he nodded toward the back of the gym. “All right.” His eyes softened a bit, and a half-smile made an appearance on his face.
Kiki followed as he led the way to the punching mats. She loved being in the ring, but the punching mats were equally invigorating. She felt strong with every punch she threw. Every smack that echoed off the pad added a piece of confidence to her soul. The outer strength was adding to her inner strength, and the pleasure of that was so overwhelming that when she thought about it, she was overcome with emotion. Pride.
“Hey,” Joshua said sternly, getting her attention. “Do you remember the combo we did last week?”
“The jab-jab-cross, right?”
“Yep. The one-one-two combo. Now we’re going to do the one-two-three.”
Kiki furrowed her brow in question as she waited for Joshua to dumb down the technical terms for her.
“What?” he asked, his tone harsh. “Get your hands up,” he ordered.
“Are you okay?” Kiki finally came out and asked. She was excited to train, but his sour attitude was taking the fun out of it.
Joshua paused, letting out a heavy sigh. “Yeah. I’m fine.” He shrugged, his tone much lighter now. “Are you okay?”
Kiki nodded with a smile.
“So, a three is a left hook. The right cross, two, sets this left hook up perfectly.” Joshua nodded. “Here, let me show you.”
Kiki was startled when Joshua came behind her, putting his hands on her waist. Usually he just demonstrated and she mimicked his movements. His face was close to her ear as he gave his instructions. Kiki would have felt uncomfortable with anyone else, but because he was her friend she brushed it off.
“So, put your hands up, like I showed you.”
Kiki raised her hands up, widening her stance to allow better pivoting when throwing the punches, just as they had practiced.
“Now in slow motion let’s do a one-two.”
Kiki used her left hand to throw a short, straight punch, followed with her right hand crossing her body with another punch.
“Okay, hold it here.”
Joshua’s hands took firm hold of her hips, his fingers reaching around her hip bone. It wasn’t a place she was used to being touched, especially by a man, and it seemed so intimate. But from a man of this sport, who literally rolled around on a mat with other men, this probably seemed like nothing, and Kiki tried to keep that in mind. There were so many situations that had taken her out of her comfort zone already; sitting on top of Joshua and vice versa when they trained wrestling. This was just another part of training. Right?
“All right, with your left hand you’re going to throw a hook, which is just like it sounds, a rounded punch. When you do it, shift your hips,” he said, pushing her hips in the direction that he wanted them to go. “Give it a try, from the top at half speed.”
Kiki threw the punches into the air as he had instructed. The hook was fun to throw, it was flashy, like a knockout you see in a fighting movie.
“Good, but move this hip faster.” Joshua slapped her left butt cheek.
Kiki jumped at the action. She was starting to feel uncomfortable. “Hey now!” she scolded playfully.
“Do it,” Joshua said, seemingly ignoring her.
Kiki followed the orders, going full pace this time, paying attention to the pivot in her feet and the strength in her arms as she was mindful of where her fists were going.
“Yess...” Joshua said, getting his mouth close to her ear. “Good girl.” The words were a hush.
“All right.” Kiki tried to wiggle out of his hold. “I think I got it. Put on the mitts so I can try it with the pads.” But he didn’t release her. “Joshua,” she called, trying to get this attention.
“When were you going to tell me about you and Wade?”
Kiki’s heart sunk. Was that what he was sulking about earlier, that she hadn’t told him about Wade? She twisted around, taking a back step out of his hold just in time to see the weepy look on his face. She hadn’t thought to tell him about Wade; it never came up, and it was still fairly new. Kiki also hadn’t considered how Joshua would take the news. Why he would be upset she wasn’t entirely sure, but she had a good idea. He had to be worried that Wade was going to hurt her, like everyone else was. Joshua had been around the gym for a couple of years, so surely, he’d heard of Wade’s reputation.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s really new. But don’t worry, we are taking it very slow.” Kiki smiled at a wide-eyed Joshua. “Oh, don’t be mad at me.” Kiki gave a goofy plea, hoping to lighten the situation.
“That’s…uh…I’m not mad… I just…I thought…” Joshua stumbled on his words.
“Don’t worry. I know all about his player reputation, and I’m going to protect myself as much as possible, but I want to see where it goes. You’re one of my best friends, please say you’ll support me on this.”
Joshua’s eyes softened as he pulled her into a big hug, his arms wrapping around her tiny frame, engulfing her. “I could never be mad at you, Kiki. I just want you to be happy.”
“Thank you. I am happy.”
“And I make you happy too, don’t I?” Joshua asked, almost nuzzling into her hair.
Kiki pulled out of the embrace, confused and stunned by the question. “Of course you make me happy. We wouldn’t be friends if you made me sad. That’s just silly!” Kiki shook her head. “Now let’s get back to training, so we can go get something to eat. I’m hungry!”
Kiki sighed inwardly when Joshua nodded, not saying a word, only picking up the mitts to face her. She had to have been reading this wrong. Joshua knew that they were only friends, and he’d never tried to make a pass at her, at least from what she could tell. She was racking her brain to try and figure out why he would be so hurt that she didn’t come to him with this news right away. Then again, Leena gave her a bit of a hard time too for not telling her. Maybe this was just friendship etiquette that Kiki wasn’t aware of.
“Let’s go, Kiki! You gotta work for that lunch!” Joshua teased.
“Yeah! Let’s go!” Kiki said with enthusiasm. Joshua had seemed to recover, and the anticipation of the fight started to buzz around her, getting her blood pumping and endorphins moving. Kiki was becoming addicted to this feeling, and loving it!