Damned If I Don't *Matt Murdock* (book two of Damned)

15) Strong enough to stand

Vera bought brass knuckles. She would be lying through her teeth if she claimed she had no idea why, but truth to be told... she wasn't sure why. It wasn't like she planned to become an actual vigilante and she had been doing enough punching, thank you very much, but she just did it. She tried to convince herself it was simply for her own protection, she did wear them in her purse just like her pepper spray, but she was failing miserably. The point was – she had them. Just in case.

To balance her craziness, she called Trish to find out if she was free any time soon, because Vera still owed her coffee and it might be nice to talk to someone who wasn't engaged in vigilante business or was her student.

"Vera! Hey! I'm so glad you called!" she burst out and Vera was sort of taken aback by her enthusiasm. "I actually wanted to call you, but I didn't want to bother..."

"You wouldn't bother, Trish.... Things were just... a little crazy. Terri – my friend from the café, the one I introduced you – she organized fit-box lessons for me as a trainer without me knowing about it, so I was kinda busy. I know you're always busy too, but- yeah.... So, how are things? You think you could find some time in your schedule?" she asked hesitantly, hearing loud Ms.Walker can I have your attention?! in the background. Guess she choose a wrong time.

"In a minute," Trish hissed back and Vera understood it wasn't meant for her. "That's great, I would love to hear about that. I'm pretty sure I can squeeze a meeting with my friend somewhere. Maybe not coffee though, so a dinner? Or lunch? How about Thursday? Thursday's good? Jesus Christ, give me few seconds to deal with my phone call!"

Vera winced as she heard Trish being pissed off and loud. Very authoritative. The person she was talking to apparently shut up. Vera was pleasantly surprised Trish would find time for her so soon – it was only Monday – and she sounded quite eager to find it. Huh. "Okay. Dinner's good. Choose place and time and I'll be there. Sorry for keeping you-"

"You're not keeping me from anything, Vera, they are some people who need to learn a thing or two about privacy and patience," she murmured, raising her voice at privacy and patience, as if she was giving the said person a hint. "I'll text you. Have a nice day."

"You too. You know, try to have one..."

Trish just laughed and hung up. So that went well.

---

Monday evening was... nice. She had some regular attendants now, finally remembering their names and they were excited about each lesson. In a good spirit, they even played a game of some sort and they welcomed it with enthusiasm just like when she pulled out the free punching for the first time. She also asked them to share any song they would like her to make a choreography for; they immediately blurted out Eye Of The Tiger – Vera laughed at that, but promised to try something out.

Bryan stayed a little longer, watching her hesitantly as she went cleaning the bags like usual. "Need help with those?"

The offer surprised her, but she quickly gathered herself. She smiled at him, tossing him one rag – he caught it with no trouble, grinning. Bryan was...not just easy-going. He was really nice, throwing jokes around, but mostly kind ones. He started attending on Fridays as well, filling the gap that appeared for some reason – Vera blamed the Friday night being the night of hanging out with people. Bryan apparently didn't mind. He was always smiling – apart from that one moment someone called him a show-off (and maybe he was throwing punches harder than usual, Vera thought he might have a small crush on Rita, one of the girl attending, and he was just trying to impress her) on said Friday lesson; that second, his face twisted in ugly grimace and he punched the bag with such strength that Vera would definitely receive a blow to her face if she was standing on the other side of the bag – luckily, she didn't. But otherwise, he was simply a nice guy.