Claim (Fury Brothers #5)

“If you want to fight, you need them.”

He was right. I nodded. “Thank you.”

“Then let’s get started.”

I unrolled the wraps. I’d been watching people do them all day. I started wrapping up my first hand.

After about four seconds, a pair of big hands grabbed mine. Beau took over, wrapping my hands with practiced moves.

His fingers brushed my skin, and I felt the touch all the way up my arm.

Get a grip, Bell.

“Here you go.” He held out one of the boxing gloves and I slid it on. It was the perfect size. He held up the glove for my other hand.

Once they were on, I turned my hands, getting used to the feel of them.

“Right.” He picked up two black pads and slipped them onto his hands. “These are focus pads. These are your targets so we can practice your hits and build your power.”

I nodded.

“We’ll go through some basic hits.”

“So you won’t use your gloves?”

“You’re not ready to fight yet, Bell. You have to learn to walk before you can run.”

I blew out a breath. “Okay.” I lifted my gloves.

“Let’s adjust this stance first.” He moved in beside me, touching my elbow and moving my arms into place. “You need power in these arms. No noodles.” He gave my arm a shake.

I tensed my muscles and focused.

He stepped in front of me and held up the pads. “We’re going to learn jab, hook, cross, and uppercut.”

“I know all the basic punches.”

“Good. Show me. Let’s go.”

We slowly worked through the moves. I slammed my gloves into his pads. He’d call out a punch, and I’d follow through. Soon, I got the feel for it, my blood humming. He started to speed up, and then added different combos.

My world reduced down to Beau’s deep voice and those focus pads—my targets.

Smack. Smack. Smack.

Soon, I was sweating, and trying to increase the power of my hits.

“Again,” Beau barked.

I wiped my forearm across my head, and went again.Jab, jab, cross. Jab, cross, left hook. Uppercut, cross, left hook.

I got it wrong a few times, and gritted my teeth. But soon, we had a rhythm.

Then, on my next swing, I overbalanced and stumbled forward. I slammed into Beau.

He caught me, but now I was too focused on the feel of him, the smell of him. I wanted to curl up against his chest and stay right there.

“You okay?” He looked down at me.