The Parker Boys

Chapter Five

^Ryan being the trendsetter that Ryan is.

"You wanna wrestle with me?"

The ride to the gym was more awkward than I had imagined.

Bates and Rue ended up getting suspended so it was just Mal, Kai, and I. I sat in the backseat and pretended to text on my phone. Kai and Mal argued.

"Since you guys think this is a good idea, then you can keep an eye on her while we're there." Kai said while glaring at me through the rearview mirror.

I raised my hands awkwardly. "I'm getting the sense that you don't like me." I said.

Kai rolled his eyes.

"It's fine. Kai doesn't like anyone. Now let's go over the rules." Mal urged.

I lifted a brow. Rules? "The first rule of fight club..." I trailed off with a smile.

Mal scoffed. "The first rule of fight club is, no talking to strangers."

I rolled my eyes. "What am I, five?"

Mal kept his eyes on the road. "Second rule, don't go wandering around by yourself. It's light now, but once it gets dark people are going to be going in and out."

I frowned. How long did they usually train. Henry never really cared where I spent my free time so I wasn't worried about breaking some curfew, I simply didn't want to train for that long. "You act like it's some kind of dangerous place." I said.

Mal shrugged. "There's more to Lakely than you think. Every town has it's bad side."

I frowned. Maybe it wasn't smart to go to the bad side of Lakely. Especially with the Parker boys who seemed to attract trouble like a magnet.

"Second thoughts?" Kai asked with a smug smile.

"Second thoughts?" I mocked him.

Mal laughed before continuing with his speech. "The third rule of fight club, is not to talk about fight club."

I actually laughed

He glanced at me in the rearview mirror quickly before bringing his eyes back to the road with a goofy smirk on his face. "Seriously, we can't have people knowing we're training you. It'll ruin our reputation."

I nodded my head. "Of course. But why are you training me?"

Again he made eye contact with me through the rearview mirror. "I told you how I am with damsels."

I huffed. "I'm not in distress Mal." I said, hoping that the strength in my voice convinced him. The last thing I needed was for Mallory Parker to play protector.

My words didn't seem to get through his thick skull. "We'll see."

~*~*~*~

The gym was more of a warehouse if anything. It was a large building with concrete floors. There was a small ring right in the middle with punching bags and mats scattered around. All of the windows were boarded up.

"That has to be some kind of fire code violation." I said pointing at the windows.

Mal swung an arm over my shoulders. "Princess, this whole building is condemned." He said with an evil smirk.

I couldn't help but smile back. Mal was cute and nice. He was funny and when he touched me it didn't make me want to flinch.

"So it's true what they say then...?" I asked scanning the building one more time.

Kai walked up behind us, his arms were full of supplies. "What do they say?" He asked curiously.

I bit my lip. Kai was a whole different story. It was obvious that he didn't like me. And not to be overdramatic, but sometimes he looked at me like he wanted to kill me.

"Just rumors." I said trying to play it off.

Kai wasn't buying it. He stood in front of me, glaring. "What do they say?" He asked again with the same tone.

I pursed my lips. "Worried about your reputation?" I asked.

I hastily stepped back when he raised his hand. My heart rate sped up and my eyes widened.

He raised a brow as he reached up and fussed with the chain of a punching bag. "Really? A little bit jumpy aren't we?"

I felt my cheeks burn. "I don't know you."

He didn't smile. "True. Yet you still came here with us. Complete strangers."

Mal winced. "Ouch. Tell her how you really feel.

Kai didn't skip a beat. "I'm just saying. It's a little late to be getting precautious." He dropped his hand before moving to the next bag. "And don't flinch as if I'm some type of  ruffian."

I held my breath as he walked away.

"He's in a mood today, I guess." Mal said with a wink. "Shall we."

He gestured to a table that had a box of gloves and pads on it. I hesitantly reached in the box and pulled out a pair of small shiny purple gloves.

"Cute." I mumbled, securing them onto my hands.

Mal grabbed a square item. "It gets the job done." He said, fastening the item around his neck.

I stared at him. "I'm supposed to punch you?"

He didn't look up as he continued to secure the pads. "Yep. Everybody has their fetishes."

I shifted on my feet, ignoring his joke. "Why don't I just start out with the bags "

"Your not ready for the bags." Kai piped up from the other side of the room. "Would you just punch him?"

I scowled. All of a sudden my hands were sweaty and I was nervous. "Won't it hurt?"

Mal looked offended. "Don't make me laugh." He grabbed my arm pulling me to the middle of a mat. "You most likely won't even land one." He mumbled.

I bit my lip. "I was supposed to be learning how to wrestle." I said once Mal let me go.

He waggled his eyebrows. "You wanna wrestle with me?"

I scoffed, pushing him away from me. "Grow up."

He winked. "Let's practice on your strength. Hit me as hard as you can."

I wanted to. I wanted to knock him into next Tuesday. But I didn't want to be embarrassed if my punch was weak. So I stalled.

"I'm not trying to bruise you Mallory." I said sweetly, batting my eyelashes.

He actually flipped his hair. "As if."

Wanting to catch him off guard, I swung quick connecting with his chest. I put everything I had into the punch, using all my strength. Pain ran through my arm and I felt as if my knuckles where crushed inside the gloves.

I had to much pride to show pain, so I wiggled my arm a bit and dealt with it.

Mal smirked as if he didn't feel a thing. I clenched my teeth as he simply grabbed my arm a repositioned my fist.

"Again." He said.