Billy snaps

Billy couldn’t take this anymore. Not after the humiliation he’d suffered at Karen’s hands. Clearly losing a sparring match to Carly was bad enough, but all these degrading messages she was sending him were too much.

This wasn’t how people should be talking to him. Despite everything that had happened, he was still a boxing prodigy. A top athlete, who should be feared and respected, not mocked over text messages. He had the heart of a fighter, and so he fought back.

Billy: A rematch sounds great. Name a time and place, I’ll destroy you.

As he typed the message, Billy tried to ignore the burning warmth radiating out from that lipstick print Karen had left on his forehead.

Carly: tomorrow at ur boxing club. lets do this

Billy gulped. He felt prepared to put Carly in her place, but wasn’t tomorrow a little soon? He wouldn’t have minded a week or two for his brain to recover… And he still had cleaning obligations at Karen’s house tomorrow… Besides, Lucy had told him to go home early after the last match with Carly, another bad performance the very next day might see him get suspended from the club. Getting suspended after losing to CARLY would be the ultimate blemish on his reputation.

Still, he knew he needed to do this. And maybe sooner was better. Both for his pride, and to stop Carly before she had a week or two to spread lies about him. Besides, if she was going to start attending the club again anyway, his options were either to try ignore her, which she wouldn’t allow… Skip club just to avoid her, which would only dull his skills while she honed her own… Or face her in a rematch.

This was for the best. He had to set things right, and fast. So for now, Billy set his phone down, and tried to get to sleep. He would need to be at his best to take down Carly tomorrow.

Fuck. Even just admitting that to himself was humiliating. That thick, frizzy-haired feminist actually had him nervous about the rematch.