He’s telling me to focus, but it’s a little too late because her fist comes crashing against my face, sending me tumbling backward. I don’t fall down, but I want to. It’s not just the fact that it hurt, but that it was completely disorienting.

I see him again, and his calm demeanor keeps me grounded. With my fists back up and my elbows in, I move back toward the center.

Managing to block a couple more punches, I get in one more before the bell rings. Walking over to the corner where my coach is waiting, I don’t take my eyes off Rafe. With the next breath, he’s up and standing on the ring until he’s face-to-face with me. I don’t say a word as he grips my face in his hands. Inspecting a sore spot on my cheek, he pulls my face close.

“Turn everything off. Focus on the fight. You’ve practiced this enough. Let your body do what you’ve taught it to do.”

For some reason, I want to cry. Tears start to spring to my eyes, and he notices it. He swallows, and I have to bite down on the mouth guard to keep from losing it.

“It’s the adrenaline. Don't’ worry about it,” he mutters while Ezra bounces next to him.

But I want to tell Rafe it’s so much more than adrenaline. It’s him standing there, being my rock, the person I come to when I need someone to hold me up. It’s the fact that seven months ago, we hated each other—or at least we thought we did. It’s how broken we both were and how we both managed to find the one person worth being selfless for.

As the bell rings, he wipes the tears that have fallen. “Now, go kick her ass,” he mutters before pushing me away.

The tears on my cheeks dry, and I focus only on the motion of her eyes as they land on my face. She goes in for another swing, landing a punch straight to my ribs, and the pain makes me want to vomit.

I keep letting her take all the swings, but mine are falling short. Everytime I make contact, it never feels like enough. Like I’m not putting my all into it.

By the next round, I feel myself slipping. I’m getting tired and worried that I’m not as confident to win as she is.

So by the fourth round, I get my water, look at Rafe who is now so wound up that I literally feel his energy radiating toward me. I know I need to end this now. I don’t have it in me for five more rounds, and if I let her throw all the punches, I’m going to lose.

Shoving my mouth guard back in, I think about how good it’s going to feel to kiss Rafe again and what I’m going to do to him when we get back to the apartment, and when I see her ready herself for another punch, I beat her to it, laying a cold left to her face, followed by a series of hooks that she never recovers from. I see Rafe screaming for me as I throw the last punch that sends her straight to the floor.