Free Challenge: A Contemporary MMA Romance: Oni Fighters Book 3 by Natalie Gayle Page A

train with people that were better than you—the best.
    I held the pads up and Xander got to work pummeling them with punches, at what I guessed was about fifty percent of his capability. We were training. It was about conditioning and technique.
    The other thing we never did in a formal class was talk unnecessarily. When it was just the two of us, that rule relaxed, mostly. Occasionally, Xander would use the Sensei voice or give a particular look. That was all it took to let me know we were back to formal.
    Neither of us seemed to be particularly chatty at the moment except for the speaking we needed to do the drills. My mind kept wandering back to Seth. He’d be in theatre now. It had actually worked out perfectly. He’d gone to theatre and we’d disappeared to train instead of staring at four walls, or worse, being subjected to endless quantities of daytime television.
    And my parents wondered why we were always on our phones texting or engrossed in social media. There was the answer right there. Daytime television could be considered torture in my humble opinion.
    He finished the set he was working through and stepped back to take a short break.
    “Have you heard when they’re scheduling the World Title fight yet?” I’d been wondering about it.
    “Not yet. I’m expecting to hear this week.” His brow was beaded with sweat and I could easily see his super fit body working harder to suck in oxygen. His voice didn’t give the slightest hint to the fact he’d been working hard, though.
    “So, you’re going to be straight back into training?”
    “I’ll look at the timing and figure out a program with Reed but, yeah, I guess that will be the case. Bloody Seth needs to get his arse out of that bed. Who am I going to grapple with? Dane’s good but…” Rather than slam his fists against the pads I offered, he chose the heavy bag suspended from the roof a few paces from us. Judging by the way the bag bounced, he’d given it one hell of a whack. I knew from first-hand experience what it took to move that bag as much as Xander had shaken it.
    “Seth has the best ground game.” It was the first time I’d heard Xander express any frustration or real emotion over what had happened to Seth. Sure, he’d been upset. This was an outburst of energy and frustration.
    “He does and I need him. Not just for the damned fight but back, you know? We all do.”
    “I know,” I agreed quietly. Didn’t I what. I was only just starting to realise how much I needed him, how much of a solid fixture he’d become in my life. There seemed like I had a gapping hole there now.
    “What the fuck happened that night, Soph?”
    Wasn’t that the question and I wished to God I knew. I shrugged and shook my head.
    “I really have no idea. We were at the party, we drank too much, got horny, and went home to take care of it.” I could be more open and crass when it was just the guys. Eden wouldn’t have liked it so much, but we were two very different people. Although, since she’d been with Xander, she was so much more worldly and open in her own classy way. “And that’s exactly what we did. I don’t remember it clearly but I do remember it. It’s what happened after that has me puzzled. I’ve run this in my mind a thousand times already Xan and all I can figure is that I must have fallen asleep because I don’t remember him leaving.”
    “And…it’s…not…like…we…can…ask…him…” Xander drawled, punctuating every word with the landing of a punch.
    “No…and there’s a good chance he won’t even remember from what the doctor said. You do realize that, right?”
    “Yeah, just trying not to think or dwell on it too much.”
    And there was the elephant in the room again. What would he be like when he woke up? I couldn’t even bring myself to consider the possibility that he wouldn’t come back to us.
    “How’s Eden holding up, any nightmares?”
    He looked over at me pointedly and I knew he was a little