Deserve [H.S.]

Chapter 22

TAUNT

It was a cool Friday evening in Early December, just over a week after Thanksgiving, and Harry had been training all day because he had another pretty big fight the next night, against a rather tough competitor. Harry wasn't worried because he knew his own skill, but Ray always made sure to go a little extra hard on the training just to prepare.

The more time Harry spent in that gym, the more he wanted to get out of it all. He truly hated the environment he was in and he knew he could do so much more with his life, but he had no idea how to properly go about the situation. He knew leaving the ring wouldn't be easy and he was somewhat nervous to even broach the topic with anyone there.

When Harry was taking a break from training, he went to the locker room to check his phone for any notifications from Noah. Just as he turned on the screen and saw he had a few messages from her, the door to the locker room swung open.

In walked Anthony Wolfe, the owner of the ring, followed by his two henchmen.

"Styles! How's my moneymaker doing? Another big fight tomorrow, huh? Feeling good about it?"

Harry absolutely hated whenever Anthony was around, because he only viewed Harry as a source of income rather than an actual person. He also hated how Anthony bombarded him with incessant questions.

"Yeah, doing extra training today."

Anthony nodded and raised his arm, decorated in a flashy gold watch, up to wipe his hand across his mouth in thought.

"Good to hear, good to hear. Speaking of hearing... What's this I hear about you bringing a pretty girl around a couple weeks ago?"

The blood in Harry's veins turned to pure ice at Anthony's words, feeling his heart practically stop in his chest. He knew it wasn't the best idea to bring Noah to one of his fights, but she was insistent on it and he didn't want to be controlling by saying no. Harry knew that people would talk about Noah being there, but he didn't think it would actually get to Anthony. Harry should have known, though, because Anthony had eyes and ears around the entire place.

Harry didn't know how to properly respond in a way that wouldn't fuel the fire, so he just shrugged his shoulders and tried to look as indifferent as possible.

"Come on, don't be all quiet and mysterious now! Is she someone serious to you or just a sexy thing to tote around?"

The little patience that Harry had was quickly wearing thin, especially because he wasn't sure why Anthony was even bothering to talk to him about this. Why did it matter? Why did he want to know? Harry was getting worried about Anthony's possible ulterior motives, but he just continued to act unbothered.

Before Harry had a chance to respond, Anthony kept talking, "because... I get it, kid. I really do. Surrounding yourself with beautiful women is one of life's greatest joys," Harry had to fight from cringing at Anthony's words, "but they fuck with your mind too much. I don't want you getting distracted from what's really important, okay? This ring is everything to you. It's the only thing you need to be thinking about in your life. If your performance starts to drop because of some bitch you've got on the side, then we're gonna have some real problems. Understood?"

There was no telling how Harry's teeth didn't crack under the pressure of his jaw as he clenched them together. The way that Anthony talked so disgustingly about women made Harry beyond angry, but it was made even worse with the disparaging comments about Noah. Of course, Anthony didn't personally know Noah, but she was obviously the girl with Harry that Anthony was referring to.

The even more frustrating part of everything was the fact that Harry couldn't rebuttal in any way. He just had to take Anthony's words and play along, because he knew that if he made any defying comments, there would be major consequences.