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"Really," said the ed

"Yeah! Really," promised Kieran The kid shook his head no and I closedelse

A few hours later, the sun set and otten bored, had disappeared to the back of the plane I sat listening to Kier’s iPod as I ran through all Tey was It was the strong cloud of perfu girl with long dark hair, perfectly manicured nails, and lots of makeup sat down next totoo forward Your friends back there didn’t think you’d want to join us but I didn’t want you to feel left out"

I pulled offto see up, and I’ until the plane lands," I told her politely

"Maybe I could relax with you?" she suggested with a tilt of her head She bit her shiny lip Why girls did that I had no idea; it had zero effect on me Actually that was a lie E outit, and it was sexy as fuck

"Look, I don’t want to seem rude, and you’re welcome to sit here if you’re after a bit of peace and quiet, but I’et so torude was pretty much what I was famous for At least it used to be

As soon as I went to put uys told oing to be really famous Youaround excitedly as she talked about the fight

"Yeah, I guess," I replied, trying to replace ain

"Listen, call it fate," she said, "but I’ht is on Maybe we could hook up soain

I looked at her and couldn’t help but irl hardly ever wore makeup, not because she didn’t need it, which she didn’t, but because I think it never occurred to her to wear any if she wasn’t going out She toldmade her nails all dirty so she kept the false about her There was no coave my heart away the day I first clapped eyes on Sunshine, and I never wanted it back

"Look, it’s really nice of you to offer, but I’ toward ht on the are, then raised her eyes to ht the show and whispered, "I won’t tell if you won’t"

I leaned in next to her to give her my reply "First time you come on tomy wife So how about you fuck off back to your seat before I decide to get offended?"

The look on her face told me this had never happened to her before She flew out of the seat with a ot back towithout Eas temperature was a welcome relief from the harsh weather we’d left behind in London Of course, Danny sucked away all ofout that Temple had trained fore like I enty stone and not two hundred twenty pounds, he grumbled about the a through custo at, Danny gave hirumbled

"This ain’t a feckin’ free holiday!" Danny yelled at theo and lie on a nice beach? Fuck off to Spain You wanna stay and see hoinning is done, you pull your weight Heath is gonna be busy with pro partner, and Liam and Tommy, you’ll run circuits with hiym they’d hooked us up as shborhoods, but as I shook hands with a few of the local fighters, I had to admit that Southside Gym had the same vibe to it as Driscoll’s As far as Danny was concerned, jet lag was just a e, ere up and working before we’d even learned everyone’s naone down in the last week Tough This ain’t the ti distractions For the next six days, you’re all gonna eat, sleep, and dreaet a day off"

That was it The end of his groundbreaking rinned as we looked at each other At least until Danny shouted, "That’s it What the feckin’ hell you still standing around for Get to work!"

I ith the same basic routine I followed at hohters had in on the action When I would run, Samuel, their head coach, made me run with a tennis ball I’d squeeze it and then relaxhands I also didn’t run alone anyet lost and ti I had precious little of left I did tenbut Danny replaced the afternoon run with sprints

We shared the gym with Sauys sprinted, they did too, adding a little extra co, circuits, hitting tires with a sledgehas, the harder you hit sandbags the harder they flew back at you Unless you wanted a se, fast I wasn’t used to training in the heat and my muscles knew it By the end of every day, I was exhausted but felt like I could actually do this

The friends we made at Southside should have been in Temple’s corner They were American, after all But poverty and a certain respect for the sport and the old ways unified us, until they felt as uys