Trial And Error

Chapter Six

Kian's POV

Kian walked into the empty gym, the only sound was the echo of her footsteps on the concrete floor. She made her way to the back where her training equipment was set up. The Lieutenant started to warm up, shadowboxing and jumping rope. As she got into the rhythm, she felt the familiar burn in her muscles and the adrenaline pumping through her veins.

She had just returned from pre-deployment training yesterday, but she made the decision to go into the gym since she hadn't been here in a while. Despite having all of this gear at home, she realized that leaving the house was the wisest course of action. She had an itch to go to the gym where she discovered her passion for the sport of boxing again. Kian had spent some time on the Marine Corps boxing team when she was stationed out in camp Lejeune. While residing with her father, running had not been the only activity that had kept her sane. She persisted with it throughout the years and improved to the point where she could join the team. Unfortunately had less time to train after getting promoted and moving to California.

She met the gym owner after finding it by accident and working out for a few weeks. Tommy took a liking to her, apparently, it was her technique that caught his attention. His family immigrated here from the Philippines, to keep him out of trouble his father put him in boxing lessons. He grew pretty good at it considering he ended up becoming the middleweight champion. Now he's retired and owns a gym built for troubled youth. In her free time, she came down here to help train the kids or to let off some steam. There were certain days out of the week when Tommy would close the gym, and allow only those who volunteer to come and work out in private. Today was thankfully one of those days.

The impact of her gloves striking the heavy bag reverberated throughout the empty gym as she went on to the heavy bag and started punching it hard Letting all of the rage and frustration out. After four ten-minute intervals, she switched on over to pad work. Tommy strolled out of his office with a smile on his face, greeting the taller woman. Afterward, they walked into the ring, as Kian danced around the ring to warm up her legs.

As she worked on her combos, she could feel the heat in her arms and the sweat running down her cheeks. Her trainer's voice rang in her ears as she switched to concentration mitts and focused on her speed and precision,

"Faster Kian, good. Now add a hook, good!" Tommy encouraged as they danced around the ring in sync.

"Again, and keep those hands up. You know want to get into the habit of droppin' em."She shook her head, using her glove to remove a damp hair from her face.

Focusing on power and speed each time her hand landed. They worked for about twenty minutes before calling it. She thanked Tommy and even engaged in their usual small talk about how his kids and wife were.

Then the raven-haired woman took a water break, downing it before returning to a new task. The Cobra bag was something she liked to finish all of her boxing workouts with. She loved working on her reflexes and speed. She finished her workout and slumped, panting, onto a bench nearby. A towel hung around her neck with a new water bottle in her hand. She sat there for a short while, relishing the sensation of a job well done.

Footsteps approached, "Good workout?" a voice called out

Kian looked up at Lucas, standing in civilian clothes looking refreshed with a smile on his face. His hands were safely tucked away in his pockets as he made his way farther into the office and sat down on the chair adjacent to hers.

"What are you doing here?" Kian asked setting her pen down, staring the man down as if she was annoyed with him.

Lucas smiled in return, "Came to see you, obviously"