Lucy confronts Billy the next day

Billy was expertly parrying Lucy's every attack. Her right jab was about to connect Billy's unguarded chest when he astutely pulled his body back. Lucy expected as such. She immediately pulled her hands back in a guard, anticipating a jab.

Billy didn't move a muscle.

Lucy frowned, irritated at Billy's indecisiveness. He was 'supposed' to feint a left, then land a hefty right, to break her guard. That would have created a perfect opening for him, if only...

Billy wasn't a rookie. He was a shrewd boxer who planned his next five moves. But lately, he was hesitant, unsure. Constantly on the defensive.

Lucy exhaled with a hint of disappointment and signalled a time-out.

***

Billy wasn't the same boxer in Lucy's eyes anymore. Last night's revelation had a huge impact on how she perceived him now. His constant moans of him begging to get knocked out, that too by some 'woman', were etched to her ears and made her cringe with disgust.

In Lucy's mind, Billy's muscular stature was now replaced with a bent-down weakling, who couldn't even fight his own 'fetishes', for lack of a better word.

Lucy couldn't watch Billy destroying his promising career just because he couldn't get this 'thing' out of his system.

She had to confront him, for his own sake.

Her eyes darted around and saw Billy sitting on a bench, chatting with his sparring partner. She stood up from her bench and moved forward, determined to have a chat of her own. Billy and his friend noticed Lucy approaching them and stopped mid-conversation.

"Billy...locker room", Lucy ordered and without waiting for his response, left away. Sensing the urgency in her tone, Billy gave a slight nod to his friend and immediately stood up to follow Lucy to the locker room.

Lucy has always been a bubbly and energetic coach. She would get excited by the smallest of her students' achievements and push them to strive for more.

But today she was acting a little different, and Billy had noticed this change.

Lucy was already inside by the time Billy reached the locker room. Billy exhaled, as if preparing to confront her, and pushed open the door. What was this about?

Lucy was standing, facing the wall, her back towards him. Billy closed the door behind him, trudged close to her, and stood silently, waiting for her to speak.

Moments passed. The whole situation was getting rather awkward. Billy cleared his throat as if to remind her of his presence.

"Lucy?..."

In response, Lucy turned around slowly, her arms crossed, and her fit, round breasts resting on them. Billy couldn't help but glance at those fit jugs, obviously without arousing any suspicion.

She had a clear frown on her face.

Billy knew she gave him the utmost importance, more than any other club member. Hence, whenever she wanted to give some additional pointers or comment on his training in general, she used to isolate him from the crowd for a talk.

But why bring him here? Usually, she'd take him to a corner just after a practice bout and provide him with new tips.

"Billy...you know you can share anything with me...right?". She put a heavy emphasis on 'anything'.

"Yeah...?"

This was the only thing he could come up with. He noticed that while her arms were crossed, she was constantly fiddling her fingers as if tensed about something.

"Is there something...anything you want to share?...you know...anything personal...which might be affecting your practice?..."

Billy sighed. He knew she would figure out his recent dependence on defensive moves, sooner or later. After all, she was a professional herself.

He had been knocked out, rather embarrassingly, by his milf of a mom, that too twice. The loaded gloves had taken a toll on his jaw. After those 'fateful' matches, he couldn't afford a pro boxer even graze his chin, otherwise, it might cause permanent damage.

The best course of action was to play a little defensively for a few days and switch back to being aggressive once his jaw was completely healed.

But Billy couldn't reveal this to Lucy. He had to make some excuse as to why he changed his tactics all of a sudden.

"Lucy...as I said yesterday...it's just lack of sleep...you..."

"Just shut up Billy!", Lacy yelled.

To say Billy was stunned is an understatement. He could see the glare in her now teary eyes. His mind immediately began recollecting the past few days. Had any of his recent actions accidentally invoked this reaction from her?

Lucy strode towards him. It looked as if she would collide, but paused right before his face. She was panting with turmoil.

The words she spoke next were about to shatter Billy.

"I know about your knockout fetish Billy", Lucy whispered in shame.

A sudden chill ran through Billy's spine. His face was blank, but he was in turmoil. How could she know this embarrassing yet intimate fantasy of his? Billy's heart was pounding furiously.

Did Heather speak to her? It wasn't impossible but why would she? Heather didn't even care about his club activities. And why would his mom do something like this, to begin with? After all, Heather believed that all those knockouts were 'real' and not some perverted fantasy of his son.

Billy was also anxious about his 'alpha' persona being decimated before her eyes. He had worked hard to be the boxer he was. He had bested Lucy, a professional herself, innumerable times. He had seen nothing but respect in Lucy's eyes for him.

And it had all but vanished.

"Wha...what are you tal..."

"No need to hide, Billy", Lucy interjected, "I...I heard...everything...during your shower...remember?"

Billy ran his fingers through his hair in response, as her words came crashing down. He cursed himself as he recalled what he did yesterday, unwittingly in front of his coach.

"You are supposed to be the future prodigy...the amount of skill you have is unmatched...". Lucy had now somewhat composed herself. She unfolded her arms and grabbed Billy's shoulders. He could feel her fingers digging into his skin.

"You can't jeopardize your career with...with something this...stupid..."

Billy was unable to respond and just lowered his head. Lucy pursed her lips with frustration.

"I can't let you do this to yourself...to your future...". She further tightened her grasp on Billy.

"I've given a lot of thought to this...and for my star boxer...I'll help you...getting...this...out of your system...".

Lucy's words didn't register with Billy immediately. He brought his gaze up, to find a look of concern on Lucy.

"If this will help you achieve your potential...so be it". She embraced Billy in a tight hug.

This was something unexpected. Lucy sincerely wanted to help Billy, so that he could process this fetish out of his mind and focus on his training. She was looking at this situation as just another hurdle in her student's way. The sooner this is done with, the faster Billy could bounce back.

Billy's mind, on the other hand, was racing with a thousand thoughts. She somehow accepted this side of him and wanted to help with his fantasy.

Billy couldn't digest this sudden shift in the attitude of his coach. Even he recognised that this fetish he indulged in wasn't normal. Fantasising one's mom, that too, in this twisted way, was nowhere near ordinary. Any person after knowing this would, at the very least, be weirded out.

Lucy, somehow, was supportive.

And how was she planning to 'help', to begin with? Share everything with Heather? He couldn't let that happen.

Lucy interjected his chain of thoughts. She had already released him from her hug.

"I know this is very intrusive...but...", she muttered.

Billy snapped his attention to her words.

"...you need to explain this...wish of yours...in detail...". Lucy shied to make eye contact.

"...and if you don't mind...", she exhaled, as if at a loss for words, "...who's this woman you were begging to?..."

Billy raised his brow, confused at the question.

"Woman?"

"C'mon Billy...don't make this hard for me...if you don't want to tell just say so...don't act dumb", Lucy frowned.

Billy's heart fluttered at this new revelation. She was in the dark about Heather.

He now had a chance to salvage something from this mess.