Dante Harris was running. Running from an abusive past. Running from a messy break up. Running from the life he left in the small city of Round Rock Texas.
Somehow this small town boy has found himself in the busy streets of New York City, and in t...
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"Make sure to keep the back straight. Your stance is everything." I called out to the ring of new lads, over the sound of music that was blaring through the gym.
I couldn't tell if it was just my age starting to show, but I swear the music was getting increasingly more obnoxious each night. Most of the kids that were in here on this particular night, were between the ages of 17-19. Let's just say I couldn't understand ninety percent of what these motherfuckers wanted to listen to.
One of the novice hot heads, Kyle, had gotten distracted by a veteran boxer named Grayson. In a different ring further towards the entrance of the gym, Grayson was up against Michael, another veteran. They were neck to neck with throws, until Grayson did something pretty fucking impressive. He imitated the Dempsey Roll. He bobbed down to dodge three hits, then followed it with four quick yet precise jabs. It threw Michael back on the floor hard.
As soon as Kyles eyes left his opponents to look, Ricky landed a swift punch to the side of Kyle's face. I watched him go down, himself.
"Don't let that concentration break, Kyle. No distractions!" I called out, as Ricky lended a hand to help him back up. Kyles face instantly flashed with anger, but he shoved those feels down while he and Ricky stepped out the ring.
Before I could make it to the back locker room to have a quick word with the rest of the students, I was stopped by Grayson. He was pure sweat from his practice rounds, which was what I liked to see. "Man, almost time to close up huh?" Grayson asked. "Kassie mentioned she didn't mind hanging back tonight if you wanna wrap it up here then go get a drink? I think they'll be clearing house soon."
I set my water bottle and hand wraps on one of the desks As I thought about the offer. Technically, this would be me breaking my own pact to the guys. I was making them go a month with no liquor, in preparation for the next fight. But a shot of whiskey made my mouth salivate, and Kassie's drinks were always on the house.
"Give me a few minutes to close up, and we'll walk over together." I replied finally. That made Grayson break out into the largest grin. He followed as we made our way back to the locker rooms. I was surprised to see that everyone had changed so quickly, and were waiting patiently for me to dismiss them... then I remembered it was a Tuesday night and everyone here probably had school to catch up on.
Grayson took a seat on the bench next to the rest of the veteran boxers (who were pretty much all just our homies), while Kyle and the rest of the younger kids gathered at the opposite side. It was odd working with such a young group, and it was my first time doing it, but I appreciated how great of a role model my friends were to them.
"Alright, great job out there guys. I'll need you to tighten up that stance Xavier, we'll work on that this Saturday." I nodded to one of the kids sitting besides Kyle. He had a smaller build, but he moved quick out there. That was something I could work with.
