Insatiable (Completed)

Chapter 10- Frozen panic attack

Riley

"Chris?"

"Hmm?" He answered, stuffing a fork full of Kung Pao chicken into his mouth.

I'd been poking at my chicken fried rice in the polyesterine takeout container for the past 10 minutes, my mind still reeling from my conversation with Richard this morning. I was furious, naturally, but rather than losing my cool and causing a scene I left. What he said wasn't what bothered me. It was the fact that he didn't even bother to apologize afterwards. As if I needed to add to the mood I was already in.

"Do you know of any boxing places around here?" I asked casually.

He took a sip from his can of coke before answering. "Uh, I'm not sure. Why?"

"I need to let off some steam." My answer recieved a howling laugh from Chris. Jerk! "What?"

"I'm sorry, I just thought I heard you mention something that involved physical activities," he said between laughs.

I threw the plastic spoon that I wasn't using at him, hitting him smack dab in the middle of his forehead. "Screw you! I maybe lazy but I need a good stress reliever right now."

"What's wrong?" He stopped laughing abruptly, giving me a concerned look.

"Family drama," I replied, leaving out the Richard of it all.

"Wanna talk about it? I may actually be off some use. Did anyone tell you I give excellent advice?" He asked, leaning forward over my desk in an 'I'm all ears' kinda way.

"I appreciate it but honestly talking about it pisses me off even more. So I guess I'd rather just punch something, or someone it doesn't matter?" I shrugged.

"Woman, remind me never to piss you off. Actually, there's a gym that I go to a few blocks away from here. I know gym isn't your thing but the punching bags should do the trick. You can use my access card."

He pulled out his wallet from his back pocket, dug around for the card and slid it over to me. I popped it into my bag.

"Thanks. It's a one time thing I swear. And my sister should never come to know of this, I'll never hear the end of it," I warned.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he chuckled and dug back into his lunch.

***

I drove home to quickly change into some sweat pants and a baggy tee, with a sports underneath and my favourite pair of converse kicks. They were so comfort, especially to drive in.

It took me a good 20 minutes to find the place. If someone was in the car with me they probably would've thought I was a tourist or something. I acted like I didn't grow up in this city most of the time. There wasn't many cars parked outside so I assumed it was quite, perfect for me. I swiped Chris' card through the access panel in the lobby area and got in without any hassles. The gym was massive. I haven't been to many so I couldn't exactly make a comparison but it was impressive. The equipment and different workout stations were immaculately organised, you'd swear this was an all ladies gym or owned by a woman.

Wait, was it?

I found a bright red punching bag in one of the corners of the room. I set my towel and water bottle that I had grabbed from home on the floor and gathered my hair into a messy bun at the top of my head, leaving  few strands out to frame my face. I shoved my phone and keys into the pockets of my sweat pants and did a bit of light stretching before I started. I didn't even know the first thing about boxing but there was a bag in front of me that just screamed 'hit me' so I did. With every punch, I felt a little anger leave my system. It was actually therapeutic, surprisingly. I focused on my breathing, keeping it steady and even as I felt the burn radiate through my arms.