I raced out of my apartment the next morning, already running late for yoga with Ashley. Lucas had left my apartment very early in the morning to make sure that he could check up on Daniel, even though Daniel had reassured him that he was fine. I thought it was good that he went home though. It had been a tough revelation for the two of them and they needed time to unpack what had happened together.

I tried locking my door, holding my coffee, and tugging my jacket on all at once which ended up in all three objects falling on the ground simultaneously.

"Shit," I murmured as I attempted to clean the spilt coffee from my already stained hallway with my shoe, which only managed to spread it out more obviously.

I turned around and looked both ways before dashing out of there. If anyone saw me I'd be stuck with the cleaning bill.

"Ahem," A voice interrupted my stealthy getaway.

I turned around guiltily, "Oh hey, Mr. Greggs. How's it going? I was just.. grabbing some paper towels."

He raised an eyebrow, "Your apartment's the other way."

"Okay, full disclosure, I'm running late for a yo... youth oriented meeting. To help the youths. Keep them off the streets. That kind of thing," I chuckled nervously, scratching the back of my head.

"To help youths with what exactly?" Mr. Greggs asked suspiciously.

"Just life in general. You know, work, school, spirituality - the balance of it all. Auras, chakras, prayers to Jesus, Allah, Elohim."

"You really can pull crap from your ass, can't you? I know you have yoga on Tuesday mornings, Emily."

"Oh right. That must be after my youth oriented meeting. It must have slipped my mind."

"Lord, please just go," he rolled his eyes at me.

"Thanks, Mr. Greggs!" I shouted as I dashed out.

I ran the rest of the way to the gym and took a moment to steady my heartbeat as I entered the small building. Yoga was doing nothing to build my endurance. I should file a complaint against Jim.

"Hey!" Ashley exclaimed as she saw me, pulling me in for a tight hug. "I was so worried about you!"

I returned the gesture as I shrugged out of my jacket. "It was fine!" I mostly lied, "I had Lucas's friend there." Blatant lie.

She narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously, "Lucas's friend? You went out with your boyfriend's friend to an underground fight?"

"Yes?" I answered lamely. I sighed before spilling all the details of the evening, down to the nitty gritty of Silva.

We talked as we spread out our yoga mats and sat cross legged, facing each other. It felt so good to get things off my chest and get an impartial view on things.

"So are you going to file charges?" Ashley asked with her eyes wide open.

I shrugged, "The guy got out of a DUI where he paralyzed a thirteen year old, Ashley. I don't know if hugging an unwilling woman would rank high on this man's offences."

She nodded, "You'd better be carefully at these things moving forward. The cops are taking it really seriously thanks to my story and they're going to start penalizing the fighters big time."

I shot her a look, "Let's hope they start with Silva."

Jim walked into the class, looking fully recovered, a wide smile spread across his face.

"Good morning, all! What beautiful weather it is to cease the day!"

I looked out the window at the bristling cold - snow blowing around, dirty slushy ice on the sides of the road, a cloak of darkness over the city. What world was this guy living in? Ashley had seriously found her other half in him.

"Let's begin by naming some New Years resolutions we'd like to keep. Anyone like to share?" Jim surveyed the class of four earnestly. His 'beautiful' weather probably a factor in why it was such a small class today.

Ashley raised her hand up excitedly.

Jim's face lit up, "Go ahead, Ashley."

"My New Years resolution is to stop making so many sexual innuendos, but it's going to be so-" Ashley was practically wheezing from laughing so much, "-hard!"

I chuckled along at my friend who, no matter the situation, would always act like an eight year old when she had a crush.

Jim rolled his eyes, "I should have known."

Ashley guffawed loudly, "You're right, Jim. I'm not the biggest fan of sexual innuendos, but I do like to slip one in every now and then."

She looked at me and we burst out laughing as she wiped the corner of her eye from tears that were leaking out.

Jim muttered something about not opening the floor to class comments again and began his class in a huff.

We finished class and I made my way to see Daniel. I got to the door and knocked before entering to grunting and guttural sounds.

I walked in to see Daniel whacking Lucas's knees as he fell to his knees. "Ha! People have sensitive knee caps if they aren't paralyzed from the waist down!"

Daniel wheeled closer as he continued to whack Lucas on the sides of his head with a pillow.

Lucas raised his arms in surrender, "Okay! Okay! You win."

"That's not the agreement, Luke!" Daniel continued to whack Lucas's head.

"You're the better fighter and ergo the better brother. You're super talented and super funny that I get jealous sometimes," Lucas responded in monotone, as though reading from a script. I wouldn't have been surprised if Daniel had actually written one for him.

Daniel put the pillow on the floor and noticed me in the hallway, "Hey, Em! Is it a little difficult for you to see your boyfriend in such a demeaning position?"

Lucas took the pillow and whacked his brother on his head.

"Hey!" He whined, rubbing his head from the blow.

Lucas jumped up, ruffling his brother's hair, "I'll admit defeat. You're stronger and smarter."

Daniel's face dropped, "Don't say that."

Lucas smiled softly at him, "I'll see you later, Danny."

He turned to me and wrapped his arms around me before announcing for his brother to close his eyes.

He leaned down and kissed me for a moment before leaning back, "Missed you," he whispered to me.

"Missed you too," I whispered back.

"See you tonight?" He asked and I nodded.

He took his leave to do his training before his fight tomorrow and I looked at Daniel, "What was that about?"

He shook his head, avoiding eye contact, "What do you mean?"

"That moment between you two in the end? It's a joke right?"

He paused for a moment before replying. "Our mom used to tell Lucas he didn't have much of a brain so he may as well be a fighter when I was younger. She wasn't the greatest to him," he said lightly before giving me a look, "Don't tell him I told you."

I nodded, the puzzle starting to look a little clearer. Lucas had said the same thing about his mom. The fact that he was out of the house and fighting when he was so young. The fact that he had such a rough relationship with his mom. I ached for the pain he must have gone through with her. The pain they both had gone through.

~~~~~~

There's probably just a few chapters left. I'm going to get separation anxiety from being away from this book.