Uncaged Love: Volume 6 (Uncaged Love #6) Read Online Free PDF

that I’ve lost my fighting power, that I’m done.
    I try to summon it, feeding on my anger and frustration.
    But it won’t come. Akoni comes at me with a basic jab-cross, and I barely block it. My jaw aches from clenching. Why can’t I move? What has happened to me?
    Everyone is right. I’ve lost it. Maybe I shouldn’t even be training girls.
    I’m nothing but wasted potential.
    I fake my way through a few more halfhearted kicks, but Akoni knows I’m just going through the motions. He strips off his gloves. “Good start,” he says, but I know he’s not thinking it.
    I exit the cage and toss the pads in the bin. I don’t look at anybody but head back to the kettlebells, my favorite spot, the one place I feel comfortable. I lift in my private corner until the end of the training period, miserable and uncertain about where I belong.
    Hudson comes up and slings his arm around my shoulders. “First day back, Jo. Give it time.”
    But I don’t know that time will change anything.
    We meet my mother at the wedding site, a pavilion on the beach. She’s there with Zandalee, a florist with a hearse she’s converted into a colorful delivery car. She has apparently been a family friend since my mother returned to Hawaii.
    I wonder what Zandalee could tell me about my mother’s past, what pieces of the puzzle might fall together.
    But it won’t happen today. After a lengthy round of hugs and exclamations, the women resume their planning. Zandalee buzzes around the pavilion, going on and on about flowers to wrap around the poles, the placement of centerpieces. My mom is rapt, nodding, making suggestions. Seems like everyone is more interested in planning the wedding than I am.
    I don’t know anything about these things.
    Hudson and I head to the shore, picking up shells and tossing them out into the waves. We agree to work out in the morning like normal, and then he’ll tell Akoni he wants to do some things with me in the afternoon. That way he won’t get overtired before the match.  
    I’ll wrap him and act as his trainer and coach. He seems relieved I’ll be there, as otherwise he was on his own.
    As worried as I am about what he’s doing, I’m glad I can help. Carrying the secret between us draws us closer than we could have gotten otherwise.

    ***
    The next morning, Hudson parks at my house, and we walk back to the gym together.
    I feel trepidation about returning after yesterday’s disaster. But when I arrive, I focus on what makes me happy about being there. The smell of vinyl mats and cleaners makes it feel like home. I picture Colt everywhere, in the cage, by the kettlebells, on the weight machines. As I go through a basic circuit, I imagine he’s nearby, just two stations ahead.
    Akoni doesn’t ask me to spar again, which helps. Occasionally Hudson will catch my eye and we share a quick smile over the secret we carry about the match.
    When they break for lunch, Hudson puts his plan into action and we take off through the trees for my little house. I feed him smoothies and we talk through strategies. I don’t know boxing well, but he’s been trained and together we watch some videos to see how boxers at this level get out of tough spots.
    Around dark, we load up his car and drive to a small gym on the other side of the city. It’s a dilapidated building that doesn’t cater to the up-and-coming pros, but the street boxers, the ones getting by on grit rather than training. The front windows are hand painted with the words “Big Daddy’s.”
    Hudson knows a fair number of the people hanging out in the parking lot. They are mostly young men and their girlfriends. I don’t spot any girls who I think might be fighters themselves. They looked bored, uninterested in what is about to take place.
    We head into the building. It’s pretty bare, just an aging boxing ring and a couple benches. Some equipment is shoved in the corner and covered with sheets.
    A heavy-bellied Asian man in gray sweats comes over