“Money?” I didn’t know what else he was looking for.
“How about if you don’t win, you owe me twenty grand? And you’ll be in some serious shit.”
I didn’t even think twice about it. “Okay. You’ve got a bet.”
Markie laughed. “See you at your next four fights.” The line went dead.
Chapter Six
Anna
It had been three days since Justin basically walked out of my life. I still couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. He was constantly on my mind. Why did life have to be so unfair? I had gone over what happened a million times in the last few days. I even repeated everything from his fight last weekend.
I was pretty sure he’d had another fight, but he didn’t mention it to me on Monday. I figured he didn’t want me there. Ally must have read the signs wrong because why else would he have just quit seeing me?
It was the end of the day. My last client went home about twenty minutes ago. I was getting things cleaned up and ready for the following day. The last few days, no matter what I seemed to do, I just could not keep my mind off Justin.
I missed our sessions. I missed running my hands all over his muscular body, and I was feeling super disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to do that anymore. I hoped he hadn’t found a different masseuse. Just the thought made me jealous.
I was going over my finances, like I did every Thursday evening, when my darling little sister walked into the studio. I told myself I was going to try to be easier on her today. It wasn’t her fault that she read the signs wrong.
“Hey!” she said. She wore a red beanie, and it almost covered all her short dark hair. I always loved when she wore that beanie. It looked great on her.
“Hey,” I said, not matching her enthusiasm. It was too hard to put that much energy into it. I wasn’t feeling right. I was sad and tired.
“Are you okay?” she asked with concern in her voice.
I nodded my head. I didn’t want to tell her how I really felt. I didn’t want her to scrutinize the situation. I didn’t need that right then. After getting my hopes up the last time I saw her, I didn’t have it in me to explain things to her yet.
But to my surprise, she asked, “What happened with Justin?”
I had no idea how she could see through me so easily. She did tell me the other day that I was transparent, and I vowed to work on that. I couldn’t just walk around and let people read me all the time. It made me feel uncomfortable to think about strangers knowing my deepest secrets.
I looked at her for a minute before I spoke. “Justin broke up with me.”
Ally gave me a weird look. She seemed confused, “When did you guys start dating?”
“I don’t mean romantically. I mean professionally. He said he can’t come get massages from me anymore.” It was hard to say it out loud. It was hard not to hold onto any bitterness.
“Do you know why?” she leaned across the counter.
I shrugged. “I have no idea. He didn’t really give me a reason. I hope he is okay though. I’ve been kind of worried about him. He’s never canceled a session before. Not once.”
“Okay, but maybe he will still want to hang out? Maybe invite you to some of his fights?” I understood that she was trying to make me feel better, but it wasn’t working.
“You weren’t there Ally. It felt pretty final.” I cringed thinking about how things ended that day.
There was an awkward silence for a moment before she asked, “How’s the rest of your business going?” I felt like she had something else she wanted to say to me, but was trying to hide it. I hated when she did that.
“Good. I’ve been getting more clients each week. It seems my popularity is growing quite a bit,” I said. Work had been the upside of things for me this past week. My advertisements in the local papers were working. I even had a couple clients that were referred to me by other clients.
“So,” she began. I knew something was coming and that I probably didn’t want to hear it. “Have you talked to mom recently?”
“Not for a few days, why?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.
“Because they are coming to town to visit.” She cringed, as if waiting for me to freak out.
I groaned. Great. Just want I needed. I already knew what to expect from them. They were going to sit there and bug me about why I didn’t have a serious boyfriend yet. I could already hear my mother’s voice. “Anna, I was already married and had you by the time I was your age. You aren’t getting any younger,” and, “Before you know it, you’re going to be in your thirties and it’s going to be very hard to find a man to settle down with and have a baby.”