ADALYN

25. Safe Haven

Adalyn's Point of View
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"Ready?" Mason asked.

"No."

"Give me your best punch."

I shrugged. "I'd rather not."

"Don't be scared. That's why I'm here. To make sure you don't break an arm," he joked.

"I'm not scared you douchecanoe. I just... don't want to hurt you."

"You won't hurt me," he assured me. "And if you do then we'll use the ring for its original purpose."

"Humor me some more, why don't you?"

"C'mon, I want to see what I'll be working with."

Mason dropped by Elena's and dragged me to his dad's boxing ring after getting done at work. I wasn't in the mood, especially with everything going on at home, but getting in a few self-defense techniques would be extremely beneficial given my situation.

Since the day Reese strolled her way inside the Louis's home, things have been really quiet. Too quiet for anyone's liking really. Peyton was always there but I would hardly ever see her. There would only be small periods where we'd bumped into each other in the kitchen. Other than that, she would be locked up in her room. Not that I cared. If she didn't bother me then I couldn't complain. The same couldn't be said for the rest though. They were never home. Everything has been too unusual lately.

Snapping back into existence, I gave him my full attention once again.

"Fine," I said arduously. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Getting into position, I put my fists up to my chest while moving my feet from left to right. My face was probably making a weird expression, along with funny, but I couldn't care less. He wanted to see a punch and a punch he shall receive.

"Ouch!" he screeched. "What the h*ll England?"

"Whoops." I let a few giggles escape. "Did I really hurt you?"

"No, I just reacted for entertainment purposes," he sarcastically noted.

"Oh, well in that case...let's try this again."

Giving me an irate look, I couldn't help but laugh.
His face was priceless.

"Okay, fine, I'm sorry." I sighed and immediately rolled my eyes after realizing how ridiculous this whole thing was. "In my defense, I did warn you that something like this could happen."

"On a serious note though," he said impressively. "Where'd you learn to hit like that? This mark will probably stay here for a few weeks."

Lifting his shirt, my mind wasn't able to function properly. How could it? I was standing in front of him. He was filled with abs from all that working out he did and little drops of sweat were trailing down his muscular structure.

The cool air inside the ring turned hot as if we'd been in the Sahara for hours and my face was probably red like a bottle of tomato sauce.

"Earth to England!" he called out.

"Huh?" I pondered, leaving that thought that'd consumed my head for a moment.

"Are you alright? You kinda trailed off."

"Cr*p," I murmured tiredly. "Sorry, I'm just really exhausted?"

"Enlighten me."

Well, sh*t.

How was I going to explain that he was the reason I dazed out?

"What?" I said thoughtfully.

"There has to be a motive for the full-strength punch that you pulled on me."