The next day I was happy that Kate still wasn't home so I could watch my Netflix in peace. My peace didn't last long when at around 9 pm I got a call from Kate.

"Hi!!!!!! Dante and I are getting drinks, you should meet us!" She said and I could barely hear her over the loud voices in the background.

"I don't know," I said and she laughed and then started pleading.

"Pleaseeeeeeee," She said and I sighed, getting up knowing I was going to say yes to her.

"Okay, text me the address," I said and she squealed, hanging up and texting me the address. I got changed into jeans, some booties, and a light pink sweater. I put on a little makeup and left my hair down. I had called an uber and got a notification that they were here so I walked down and it was only a 7-minute drive.

I arrived at the bar and as I was about to walk in, a hand was thrown over my mouth and I was pulled into an alleyway. I fought against the hand and I was pushed up against the wall with a hand wrapped around my neck so hard I couldn't breathe. I looked up and it was a guy with blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He was tall standing at about 6'5 and he was wearing a sweatshirt and I could see his muscles through it. He smelled like beer and cigarettes and was completely trashed.

"What's a pretty thing like you doing out here alone?" He taunted, feeling up my waist, his body pressed against me so I couldn't move. I tried to knee him in the balls but instead I got his thigh, which was enough to get him to loosen his hold and I could breathe. I tried to run away but he roughly grabbed my wrist and pulled me and punched me right above my eye and I stumbled forward because of the force and the strength behind it.

My sweater had ripped and he pulled me back up and punched me again, this time hitting me near the side of my mouth on my cheek causing me to taste blood. I felt the warm liquid run down my freezing face and it grounded me enough to kick up towards his balls causing him to fall down.

I ran away and entered the bar looking for Kate, noticing many people giving me a look as they saw my beaten face. I saw her sitting in the corner with Dante and I ran over to her, tears rushing down my face and my hands trembling. Dante saw me first and he pulled away from Kate and he stood up and grabbed me his face dropping. He led me out of the bar, Kate following behind.

"What happened?" Dante asked me, as we started to leave the bar.

"I-I-" I said before I felt dizzy and Kate practically caught me.

"You are okay, it's okay," Kate said as she rubbed my hair, obviously sobered up completely. We walked a few streets over until I noticed we were in front of the gym. He unlocked his car and Kate climbed into the back with me and we all sat there in pure silence until we got back to the apartment.

Once we got inside Dante, knowing how to clean up a punch wound started to help me not saying a word and not asking me any more questions which I was grateful for. I was handed two bags of frozen vegetables and I put one on my eye and Kate held one up on my neck.

That night as I was getting ready to go to bed I looked in the mirror and I had a black eye, a bruise on my cheek with a cut on the side of my lip. I had a bruise in the shape of a hand on my neck, and a bruise on my wrist.

The next few days I fell into a weird state of disassociating from what had happened. I was sore and exhausted mentally so I slept while Kate checked in on me to make sure I was eating and drinking. Finally, after two days of moping Dante walked in on Monday early in the morning, after Kate had left for work and must have noticed I hadn't gotten up yet which was unusual for me.

"I am bringing you to the gym, get up," he said and I simply nodded my head, knowing I had no energy to fight him. My bruises somehow looked worse and I looked exhausted. My one eye was swollen pretty badly but luckily I could still see. It was black and blue and looked like I had intense makeup on. My cheek was bad and my lip had a scab waiting to break open again. My neck was still bruised with a handprint and so was my wrist.

I put on leggings and a sports bra. I then put on a sweatshirt and put up my hood after trying to put on makeup and wincing in pain from it.

"Is it going to be busy?" I asked, my throat sore and scratchy from the damage to my neck.

"No one comes in until after 10 am," he said, handing me a water bottle and I nodded my head. We walked over to his car and I looked down at my feet not wanting to draw attention to my face.

We got to the gym and Dante opened the door for me and I walked in and waited for him to take the lead. He walked over to the ring and put down his bag and took off his sweatshirt. I looked around and I saw we were alone and I apprehensively took off my sweatshirt too. Dante looked me over and I could see sympathy and anger as he looked at my bruises.

"Come on," He said, jumping up to the ring and I pulled myself up, ignoring the pain in my wrist as I did. He grabbed two padded gloves and he threw them near us before looking at me. I flinched as I heard the office door open. I looked over and I saw Titus who looked at my face in shock, I quickly turned away from him and looked at the floor.

"How did he grab you?" Dante finally said and I looked back at him, getting straight down to business and I felt my breath leave my lungs as I remembered what had happened. A few tears fell down my face and I wiped them. I looked over at Titus who was wrapping his hands, clearly waiting for my answer as well.

"I went to open the door. He came from behind and he wrapped an arm around my mouth. He lifted me up slightly and I panicked and tried to rip his hand off my mouth," I said and Dante nodded his head.

"Okay that is where we start, was he taller than me?" Dante asked and I nodded, the man was way over 6 feet tall.

"I can help," Titus said, putting his headphones down, hopping into the ring, taking a closer look at my injuries. I could tell he had been listening to everything and he seemed upset.

"I will walk you through what to do," Dante said to me and I nodded my head. Titus walked over to me carefully and he stepped behind me and I could smell his intoxicating smell behind me.

"Okay so your feet are your friends, kick behind you, try to get a knee, a ball, or a thigh. Worst case you move your head forward and headbutt them with the back of your head as hard as possible, the back of your skull is harder than the face," Dante said and I nodded my head.

"Okay try and kick Titus in the leg, not too hard, and he will drop you, and then we will go from there," Dante said and I nodded my head.

"If you want me to let go or it becomes too much, tap my wrist twice and I let go right away," Titus's deep voice said behind me and I nodded my head.

Titus grabbed my mouth gently with his hand and he lifted me up by my waist gently so my feet were off the ground. I lifted my knee up trying to stay calm and I kicked Titus gently right above the knee and he gently let me go, steadying my body with his arms.

"Good, if it was a real attacker you would go for the knee. Then what happened?" Dante asked me, and I looked at both him and Titus.

"He grabbed my throat and I managed to knee him in the thigh. I tried running away and he grabbed my wrist and he punched me. I fell over and he punched me again. I managed to kick him from the ground and run away," I said and Titus's jaw locked.

"Okay so you kneed him in the thigh and he loosened his grip, so then you would want to either hit him in the nose causing it to bleed or in the throat which would take him out for a moment," Titus said to me and I nodded my head.

"Or if you can get his knees or balls he will be down for enough time to get away," Dante said and I nodded.

"Hand me the punching pad," Titus said and Dante threw them to Titus.

"Hold your first up to your face, your dominant leg towards the back," He said and I took my stance.

"When you go to punch, you want to make sure that you are leaving yourself protected," Dante followed up and I nodded my head.

"Okay punch the pad," Titus said and I punched with my right hand.

"Good, make sure to use your whole body to punch," Titus said and I punched again, this time rotating my body with it.

"Okay this time throw with the left then follow up with the right arm," Titus said and I followed instructions and he nodded his head.

"Again," he said, and I punched letting my anger at what had happened show in the punches.

"Again," he said and I punched again.

"Again," he said, and as I threw my punch I felt those tears I had held back for so many days all fall down and I covered my face as I fell to the ground crying. I felt myself being pulled into a chest and I wrapped my arms around them, wanting something to just hold onto because I felt like I was drowning.

As I buried myself in the person's neck I realized it was Titus holding me, which shocked me for a moment but my emotional breakdown quickly overtook it as I sobbed. I was held in strong arms for a moment until I calmed down and I was helped up.

I wiped my tears and I took a shaky breath. Titus said nothing, but his blue eyes met mine and he lifted the pads up.

"Again," he said and I threw a punch.