Violets Are Blue

Chapter 28

Michael Davies' POV.

"Well?" She asks me.

I think I'm about to lay an egg.

I shakily step forwards.

"Look Violet. This ain't right. I- I got a daughter now. Ion hit women!" I protest.

"What, you don't hit them anymore?" She asks, sarcastically.

I feel my face drop.

Oh... right.

"Put on your gloves. We're sparring. Now" she says to me.

I nod, hanging my head, ashamed.

"Get him some gloves!" She yells. The boys around us spring into action, getting the wrapping wads and some boxing gloves.

She clearly has a lot of pull on them.

Everything she asks, they do it immediately.

They love her.

I get myself wrapped up and gloved.

"Violet, please!" I beg.

"We can figure this out another way! We could sit down and talk! We could resolve this by-"

"Oh, you're begging now?" She asks.

Her eyes are ablaze with fury.

"Keep begging for the next 4 years, and maybe I'll listen. But until then..."

She nods at the ring.

"Get in the fucken ring. If you thought it was an option, then you're sorely mistaken." She says.

She steps inside the ring, stretching.

As soon as she does this, the boys around us fall silent.

She unbuttons her uniform jersey and hands it to one of the boys.

She is now in just a sports bra.

Some of them look away bashfully, while others stare with no remorse. And despite myself...

I stare too.

She has a large scar on her neck, down to her right shoulder.

I gulp.

I remember that.

I'll never forget the fear on her face.

She was riding her bike home from school one day and we pushed her into a ditch. It had broken glass in it, but we didn't know that, until we heard it break and her scream in pain.

But we ran off before we could see any damage.

She didn't come to school for a few days after that and I heard that she had to get stitches.

Rumours went around, saying that it was a bump in the sidewalk that made her fall.

Or maybe her being clumsy.

She never told anyone it was me.

I felt so bad that I never even admitted it was me.

Her voice snaps me out of my daze.

"You never seen breasts before? Stop standing there and square up" she scowls.

I do as I'm told, getting into fighting stance.

I do the same.

The whistle blows and she is the first to throw a punch.

It's so quick, that if I wasn't trained, my face would not be in an unrecognisable state already!