The next few days Dante brought Kate and I to the gym to teach us more self-defense. My bruises started turning yellow and were definitely getting smaller. Kate was a lot more powerful than me with her punches and I was impressed because she was a fourth-grade teacher and didn't have a mean bone on her body.

One day we walked in and Titus was there working out. We had gone at around 9 pm and I was surprised no one else was there. Dante brought Kate over to the punching bags and I started to stretch to go and run first. Titus was jumping rope and I swear I caught him staring at me, but he didn't lose his concentration as he continued to jump.

I heard a loud door slam and next to me, out walked coach and another older man who was dressed in a suit.

"Guess who your opponent is, King," I heard a loud obnoxious man say. Titus stopped his jump roping and glared at the door. I looked up and my heart started beating and I could feel my hands get sweaty as I looked at the blonde guy with the dark eyes who had beat me up in the alleyway.

He was so engrossed in Titus that he didn't notice I was two feet away from him. I put my head down and I stood up and walked towards Kate and Dante who were both punching, punching bags while listening to music.

"Nice ass," I heard behind me and my body froze before I took another step.

"Did you hear me, I said nice ass," The guy said before my wrist was pulled and I turned towards him. He smirked at me and I froze in fear.

"You look familiar, have we fucked before," He said, and I tried to pull my wrist away and he pulled me closer to him. I flinched as he lifted a hand to cup my face. I felt myself being pulled away and I turned around and saw Dante had noticed what was going on and he walked over to save me.

"That is him," I said quietly, and Dante held onto my shaky hands. Kate walked over to see what was going on as Dante let go of me and ran over and punched the man in the face. Dante had caught him off guard so he stumbled, but the man pushed Dante down and started punching him back. I looked up and this had grabbed Titus and the coach's attention and they were ripping them off of each other.

Titus pushed the other man away and his coach grabbed him, and Coach was helping Dante up and had to hold him back from attacking again.

"What is your problem man, you can't have both girls," The man said laughing. Dante spit out some blood.

"No Jason, you beat her up in an alleyway last weekend," Dante said, and Kate froze next to me and the gym went silent.

"What?" Coach finally said, and Titus looked over at me, and I could see the pure fire in his eyes and it was the first time I have ever seen him about to lose his cool.

"I don't remember that girl at all," He said to Dante like he was crazy.

"Because you were piss drunk, you tried to rape her and when she didn't let you, you beat the shit out of her," Dante said and then the man started laughing.

"Can't prove shit," he said and I felt my blood run cold when he smirked at me.

"Get this fucker out of here before I beat his ass," Titus said in a deep voice, and he was about to break. He was holding a fist in both hands and he was glaring at Jason.

"You can try on December 15th, until next time beautiful," Jason said, turning to wink at me, before the other coach walked over and forced Jason to leave, yelling at him as they left the gym. I was physically shaking in Kate's arms when Coop, Dane, and Titus looked at me.

"Guess it's hard to defend yourself when they are used to getting punched," I said with some tears finally falling down my face. Coop turned to help Dante who was bleeding from his face.

"Go help him," I told Kate, who hesitated.

"Are you okay?" She asked me and I nodded my head.

"Go," I told her and she ran over to Dante to help clean him up. I walked over to my workout stuff and I grabbed my headphones with shaky hands. I was gently turned around and I looked up and it was Titus.

"I am going to teach you to defend yourself from me," He said, and I looked at him confused.

"Give me your hands," he said, and I handed them to him. He wrapped them in black tape and ripped the tape with his teeth. His hands felt rough compared to mine and I tried to ignore the feelings he gave me just with just a single touch.

"Get in the ring," he said, and I nodded and hopped in the ring. Titus hopped in too and I noticed Dante was sitting up with an ice pack on his nose and Kate was next to him. Coach was standing by the ring watching us.

"I am going to grab you as he did and I want you to do anything you can to get away from me. I am not going to play weak, and I don't want you to lightly punch," Titus said to me and I looked at him wide-eyed.

"I am not hurting you," I said to him, looking at Coach for backup.

"Part of being a boxer is learning how to take punches, he will be fine," Coach said to me and I looked at Titus.

"I thought you guys already taught me this," I said, and Titus looked at me.

"We taught you how to fight back with people not used to getting hit, if a boxer grabs you, they will be able to take a punch to the face," Titus said and I nodded my head and took a shaky breath.

"Okay," I said and Titus looked at me.

"Remember two taps and we stop right away," Titus said and I nodded my head. I didn't get to respond because Titus grabbed my neck gently and pushed me against the rope. I wrapped my hands around his and he lifted me up slightly. I stayed calm and I tried to kick him in the knees and he pressed himself into me. I lifted my knee and I hit Titus right in the balls trying not to do it too hard and he let go of me and leaned down obviously in pain.

"Good, that will get anyone down for a moment," Coach said and Titus stood up obviously still feeling the effects.

"I am sorry," I said to Titus, and he shook his head.

"You could have done it harder," he said and I still felt horrible. I turned around to get points from Dante when my mouth was grabbed and I was lifted up. I tried to kick Titus in the thigh or balls but he was expertly avoiding my kicks. I then went for the knees when I was placed on the ground and Titus got on top of me. He sat on my hips so I couldn't move my legs, and he held down my arms with one hand.

"What now," Titus said and I couldn't help but blush at how close we were in this position.

"They would have to move at some point," I said, as I tried to fight his arms off of mine, and he grabbed them and separated them.

"Once they move is when you are in trouble," Coach said and I looked up at Titus. My brain was foggy being so close to him, and the position he had me in made me feel hot.

"I don't know," I said after fighting around for a moment. I then remembered a trick that Dante had taught me. I wanted for my moment and when he loosened up I brought my foot behind his leg and I lifted my hip up and pushed him over my foot and used the momentum to hold onto his arms.

"Holy shit," Dante said laughing. Titus looked up at me, impressed.

"You waited for a moment of weakness, good," Titus said, and then he did the same move on me but he ended up in between my legs while he pretended to choke me.

"What now?" Titus asked me, and I could hear Kate whistle causing me to blush. I threw a punch and Titus took it and then he continued to choke me.

"Nice punch," He said and I was frustrated that it didn't work.

I grabbed his wrist that was choking me and I made sure not to leave my thumb out. I put my other arm across his neck so I was holding his shoulder. On the same shoulder, I put my leg up under his armpit and over his back. I put my other arm around his face so my legs were wrapped around one arm and I grabbed his wrist with both my hands and I spun him down and with one easy pull, I could have broken his arm.

I let go of Titus and Coach clapped loudly for me and Titus smiled proudly.

"Nice job," Titus said and I let out a breath I had been holding.

"Do a few more standing up, let's take it to a wall," Dante said and Coach agreed. I stepped out of the ring and Titus jumped out. We walked over to a wall and I waited to be told what we were doing next.

I was grabbed from behind and lifted up. We had done this so many times before but all I could do was think of how Jason had done it and so quickly slammed me against a wall. I felt myself freeze and I re-lived being pushed against a wall. What was happening now and what had happened mixed and I was completely panicked. I looked up and I could feel the terror in my face and Titus didn't have to be told to let me go.

I felt my hands shaking and he went to hug me and I flinched as he lifted his hand and I felt myself slide down the wall. I put my head in my hands for a second and tried to take some deep breaths. I heard Titus saying something but it was almost like I couldn't hear. My chest felt tight and I just had an overwhelming feeling of panic. Finally, I came back as if I had passed out and I looked up and Titus was kneeling next to me holding my water.

"I am sorry," I said, embarrassed I had panicked so badly, my hands were shaking and I felt slightly dizzy. Titus was concerned as he looked at me, and I could see he felt guilty for some reason.

"Drink some, we should stop for today," Titus said to me, and I took a sip of water and shook my head no.

"I am okay," I said and I could see Dante, Kate, and Coach looking at me worried.

"You couldn't even give me the signal," Titus said gently and I stood up.

"Just one more time, I was taken off guard," I said to him, and he stood up as well.

"Are you sure?" Titus asked, and I nodded my head.

"I need to feel safe," I said gently and he grabbed me and I allowed him to carry me so I was against the wall, not wanting to lose strength. He choked me and I sent a punch to his face, which loosened his grip enough to push his arm off me while I grabbed his throat. Titus smiled at me once I let him go.

"Jesus, that punch actually hurt," he said, and I smiled at him as well.