Nothing Left to Lose by Kirsty Moseley

and closed my
eyes.
    Suddenly my
earphones were pulled from my ears. Shocked because I hadn’t
realised someone else was here, I opened my eyes to see Ashton
standing over me, frowning. “Why do you do that to yourself? Shit,
Anna, I watched you run as fast as you could for fifteen minutes
and you were already sprinting when I came in!” he cried
incredulously.
    I gritted my
teeth, ignoring his obvious agitation, and pushed myself up to
sitting. “Whatever,” I dismissed. “Want to show me how you keep
blocking my hits all the time?”
    “You want me to
fight you?” he asked, raising one eyebrow in disbelief.
    “I don’t want
you to hit me if that’s what you’re thinking, but I actually
thought I was pretty good at self-defence until I met you,” I
admitted.
    He shook his
head. “Anna, I think you need to rest, surely you’ve done enough
for today,” he countered, his expression turning hard.
    I stood up; my
legs wobbled and threatened to give out on me. “Ashton, this is my
routine, usually it’s a morning routine but I had somewhere to be
this morning, so I’m doing it now instead. I always run then have a
few minutes with the punch bag. If you want to help me then great,
if you don’t then just get out and stop interrupting me before I
cool down,” I growled as I pushed past him, grabbing the training
gloves from the side and putting them on. I then proceeded to punch
and kick the stuffing out of the punch bag.
    He sighed.
“I’ll show you a few things if you want. But you need to stop this.
This isn’t good for you, you shouldn’t train like this. It’s
crazy,” he replied sharply.
    I huffed and
turned around to face him. He wasn’t dressed for training; he was
still wearing the jeans and T-shirt he’d worn to the lake. He took
off his shoes and socks, and then his T-shirt and belt so he was
just wearing his jeans.
    He looked at me
cockily. “Take your shoes off then, we’re only practicing, I don’t
wanna get hurt.”
    I smiled,
knowing that he didn’t think I was going to be able to hit him. To
be honest, I probably wouldn’t. I’d tried three times already and
hadn’t gotten anywhere near him. I slipped off my shoes and walked
over to the training mats.
    I turned back
to Ashton, who was standing there looking like a cocky, arrogant
Greek God. “I’m gonna attack you and I want you to fight me off.
You can really hit me, it’s fine. After, I’ll tell you where you
can improve, okay?” he instructed, looking like he genuinely didn’t
want to do this.
    I nodded and
waited for him to approach. When he moved towards me, I quickly
ducked out of the way, kicking my leg out towards his stomach. His
hand wrapped around my ankle, holding it still as he swept my other
leg out from under me. I slammed back into the padded mat with him
on top of me.
    “Holy shit!” I
gasped, trying to get the air back into my lungs. That was
freaking awesome!
    “You okay?” he
asked, looking a bit concerned as he hovered above me.
    I nodded.
“Again,” I instructed, pushing him up. He shook his head, frowning,
but helped me to my feet regardless of his noticeable unwillingness
to do this.
    Within a minute
I was on the floor again. I groaned as I rolled onto my side and
pushed myself to my feet. My whole body was aching from my run, but
I refused to quit. I faced him, watching as he winced. “Again,” I
barked, bringing my arms up to protect my face. He sighed heavily
and moved to attack me.
    After the fifth
time of landing flat on my back, he pinned me to the floor, his
body pressing into mine. “Enough now,” he said sternly. He wasn’t
even slightly out of breath, whereas I was panting and sweating
like a pig.
    “No, not yet,”
I whined, struggling to talk through my wheezy breath.
    “That’s enough
for today, Anna. I can’t do this. Look at you! If you want, I’ll
teach you, but you need to slow down, you can’t keep doing this to
yourself,” he protested.
    “Just one more
time.