Knockout by Tracey Ward

hurt?”
    “No,” I said softly. He was done wrapping it and both his hands were roaming over my foot, feeling to make sure it was covered but not too tightly. It made me shiver once quickly. Kellen felt the tremor run through me and he looked up.
    “Are you cold?”
    I shrugged. “A little, maybe.”
    “Here,” he said, pulling his T-shirt over his head. He was naked underneath and I was shivering again. He draped the shirt over my head, pulling my hair free for me and letting it fall long and dark over my shoulders. When he sat back on his heels he grinned up at me. “It looks good on you.”
    I chuckled. “It looks huge on me.”
    Kellen quickly wrapped my other foot before standing up and surveying the gym. He glanced back at me once, his face unsure. I waved him on.
    “Do what you’ve gotta do. I’m fine.”
    “You’re not scared being here?”
    I shook my head. “I’m never scared when I’m with you.”
    He grinned faintly before looking away. “Laney has never been here. All this time and she’s never shown up. She said she doesn’t like the neighborhood. She’s worried her car will get stolen.”
    “Kellen, what she said tonight—“
    “Is true,” he cut me off harshly, his eyes going dark. “She’s right. I’m poor white trash, Jenna. It doesn’t matter what grades I get or college I go to. I’ll always be poor white trash.”
    “Those aren’t the same thing,” I told him, getting angry.
    “What isn’t?”
    “Poor and trash. Those are two completely separate things and you know it. You’ve met some of Laney’s friends. Hell, you’ve met some of my parent’s friends. They’re rich as shit but some of them are straight up trash. People lying to each other, cheating on each other, stealing from each other. Money doesn’t make you a good person. If anything, it ruins you.”
    He continued to stare into the distance. I knew he heard me but I also knew I wasn't getting through. He was gone. Detached the way he got when the world expected too much.
    “Hey, look at me,” I told him.
    Finally he brought his dark eyes to mine.
    “When you look at me, do you only see a rich girl?”
    Kellen’s brow pinched. “No. Not at all.”
    “Good, ‘cause when I look at you, I don’t see a poor boy. I see you. All of you. The boxer, the genius, the smartass, the know it all. You are who you are, Kel. You’re not the place you grew up in or your bank account. You’re you and I happen to think that you are pretty fucking amazing.”
    He smirked and when the light of it hit his eyes, I sighed inside. “You’re pretty fucking amazing yourself.”
    “I know. Now go do what you do until you feel like yourself again. I’ll wait.”
    And I did. For hours. Kellen ran through his entire workout but I didn’t say a word. I sat in that chair or wandered around the gym, but I stayed close the entire time. He didn’t speak to me, he barely looked at me, but it didn’t matter. He was in his zone. In his place where the world turned blurry like the painting I’d done of him. Where it was all color and light without sound or thought. It was weightless. Instinctual and free.
    When he was finished, when he was covered in sweat and breathing hard in the dark making my mind explode in thoughts that I should never be thinking of him, we left. I gave him his shirt back as we walked outside, my feet still wrapped in red, then we rode away into the dark. He took me the long way home. We went slowly and I knew he was feeling better. More relaxed. His burning hot, sweat soaked body was softer beneath my hands. More pliable. He felt less like a statue and more like a man and when he stopped at lights for the red, took his hand off the handlebars and pressed it to mine against his stomach just as he had in the driveway, I went soft inside as well. Hot and melted. Burning slow. And that man did it every single time, at every single light. By the time we pulled up to my house, I was humming inside.
    Before I was