Melanie didn’t know what she was doing wrong. She had watched her father train her brother for most of her life and was applying all the same techniques, but it just wasn’t working for her. She managed to be taken to the mat continuously throughout the practice match. How in the hell she was going to win a real match was beyond her.
She heard some women talking and snickering in the background. She hated those bitches. They had already won some real fights and walked around the mixed martial arts practice facility as if they owned the place.
The practice facility was for women only and was known for training some of the best women fighters. One of those women, Macey Richards, was currently undefeated and constantly rubbing it in to anyone who would listen. She was in the prime of her career and made sure she reminded everyone of that fact. All the stupid women in training hung on her every word and couldn’t see past her wins to realize just how rude and condescending she was to them. Plus, she had been offered a spot on the latest reality show as an assistant trainer for up and coming women fighters.
Melanie couldn’t understand why Macey was always around during her trainings. It felt like she enjoyed watching Melanie be humiliated.
Melanie had grown up in a family of mixed martial arts fighters and wanted to follow suit. The only problem was that her father didn’t agree. He didn’t believe MMA was for women and refused to train Melanie, no matter how much she’d begged. He continued to train Nicholas, but outright ignored her. Even though she and Nicholas were very close, her father and her no longer had the relationship they once had when she was a child. They only saw each other for their regularly scheduled meals that Nicholas insisted they have at least once a week. She could feel her eye swelling and could only imagine what her father would say this time.
Melanie had been a member of this club for the past two years. She was about to turn twenty-two, and would have preferred to start training earlier, but without her father’s support, she’d had to save up money while in high school and then used any extra money from her grants and college scholarships to put towards training.
Even though she started late, she had been watching the sport for the majority of her childhood, so she was already familiar with the various moves. Now, it was just a matter of execution.
With that thought, her leg was swept out from under her and she fell back with a thud. She looked up at her sparring partner and grimaced.
“That’s enough for today, Melanie,” Tobias announced. “You really need to pay attention. You continue to make the same mistakes.” Tobias was tough and had very little tolerance for careless mistakes. She understood why he was being hard on her.
He turned to the other girl. “Nice take down, Penny.”
“Sorry, Tobias. I’ll do better next time,” Melanie said. The problem was, Melanie didn’t know how to do better. She had been watching her brother train for years and knew exactly what it took to be successful in the cage. However, every time she would apply her knowledge to her actions, Tobias told her she was doing some aspect of it incorrectly.
She wanted this so badly, not only for herself, but to show her father he was wrong. Women could compete in this sport. She was going to work on letting go of her past and focus solely on what Tobias told her to do.
She was going to prove her father wrong, even if she had to put up with bitches like Macey, and a body that was constantly bruised and battered. It would be worth it all when she was holding that trophy in her hand. She was putting all her faith in Tobias that he could make her into the fighter she needed to be to successful in the cage.
She sucked up the pain coming from her cheekbone, going to shower and then change before driving home.
As Melanie walked into her apartment, she heard a crash in the living room. She immediately grabbed the taser she kept in her bag and ran into the living room.
As she pointed the taser in the direction of the noise, she saw a man’s bare ass and her roommate’s purple glitter toenail polished feet on the floor beneath him.
Melanie laughed. She never knew what she was going to walk in on with her roommate, Trish. It was the best remedy for the bad training session she’d just came from.
She dropped the taser down to her side. “Hey guys, what’s up?” She asked casually as if it was no big deal to see two naked people lying on the floor between the couch and coffee table.