Free Georgia On My Mind by Brenda Stokes Lee Page B

arms and shoulders and your back. It’ll also give you an extra cardio workout. I noticed you hit Charles with a hell of a right, so I figured we might as well use it.”
    “I should have followed with the left! If you liked my right wait until you see my left.”
    “Honestly, I hope I never see your left coming at me. That right hand of yours is wicked.” Rashawn chuckled. “I have a few guys that are going to spar with you when you’re ready. So, save your left for them. Right now, we’ll concentrate on speed and accuracy.” Rashawn eyes met Peaches and they lingered there an uncomfortable amount of time. Coughing to clear his throat he broke their gaze. “Okay! Start off slow, like this. Concentrate on hitting the bag one punch at a time as you slowly build up momentum and speed.” Rashawn demonstrated
    “Do I look like I can't fight?  Move out the way. These are not the first pair of boxing gloves I’ve owned.” Peaches declared as she shoved Rashawn out of the way and slowly began to punch the speed bag. Finding her rhythm, she quickly picked up speed before throwing in a few tricks.
    Rashawn was impressed. He watched in silence as Peaches worked up a good sweat. “So, who taught you to box?”
    “Who taught you to box?” She countered.
    “Damn, that’s right! I forgot you gave me my first boxing lesson when I was ten.” Rashawn chuckled.
    “Yeah! I have four big brothers and they taught me when I was ten. We had a speed bag, some punching bags, weights and jump ropes in our basement. We’d work out and spar for hours.” She laughed.
    “So, they taught you to box?”
    “No! More like they beat my ass every day until I learned to box. I wasn’t into all of that sweaty mess. I was a girl… A cute one at that! So, they made sure that I knew how to handle myself.”
    “Judging by the way you laid Charles ass out, mission accomplished.” Rashawn laughed.
    “I didn't need boxing lessons to whip Charles’ punk ass. After that monkey shit he pulled on me he's lucky to be alive. I should have killed his ass! He lucky I didn’t call my brothers.”
    “Peaches, can I ask you something?”
    “Yeah, sure!” Peaches responded as she alternated hands on the speed bag.
    “You two have been together for a long time, since high school as a matter of fact.  What happened?”
    “I don’t know… I guess we just grew apart.  Charles became a wanna be uppity poser and I remained the same old Peaches.”
    “Why did you stay with him so long?”
    “It really wasn't that bad.  I mean, the sex pulled a Houdini almost two years ago and now I know why.  I guess I was too stupid or too proud to admit that he was just using me.  Hell, a piece of a sorry ass man is better than no man at all.  So, I stayed and spoiled him silly and prayed he wouldn’t leave me. Delusional, I pretended that he loved me as much as I loved him.  I can't believe that I was so fuckin stupid.”
    “Yeah, well love will make you do some stupid shit.” Rashawn chuckled.
    “Oh yeah, what stupid shit has it made you do?” Peaches countered.
    Rashawn laughed. “Other than asking you to my senior prom, not a damn thing!”
    “So, what?  You’re saying that you've never been in love?” She asked puzzled.
    “Not really ... Apparently, love doesn't seem to love me.” He confessed.
    “No, I don’t believe that. Apparently you have commitment issues!” 
    “Who me?” Rashawn asked stunned.
    “Yeah, you!”
    “Hey, I'd love to be in love.  It's just never happened for me.”
    “So what about the girl you're with now?  Maybe she's the one.”
    “I don’t know… It’s too soon to tell.  We're just getting started.”
    “Seems to me you're getting off to a bad start.” Peaches snickered.
    “I’ll admit that things have been a little upside down lately.  Nothing I can't handle though.” He nodded in agreement. “We’re having some issues, but she’ll come around.”
    “So what's she like?” Peaches