Chapter 1

December 1st

1:20 p.m.

"Fucking hell, who put on the Christmas tunes? It's too early for that." My boss and mentor, Axel Savage, pulled a face as he eyed the wall-mounted speakers above our heads. Music played softly throughout the gym floor of Savage Boxing Gym, but it was mostly concentrated around the reception area.

"It is December," I pointed out, smirking at him when he rolled his eyes. "Want me to switch it out for something a bit less festive?"

"Please. My ears are gonna start bleeding if I have to listen to much more of this shit."

I laughed as I tapped on the iPad behind the reception desk that was connected to the speaker system, scrolling through Spotify and hitting Play on "Snowman" by Sia, cutting off Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" mid-song. Still festive but less overtly so. Since the gym was quiet and I didn't have a client due until later today, I began putting together an "Axel-approved" festive playlist, then set it up to play.

"What's this?"

I slowly turned my head at Axel's horrified tone, following the direction of his gaze to the shelf next to the reception desk. "That would be an advent calendar. And don't look at me—your brother put it up. Nothing to do with me." Crossing my fingers that he wouldn't notice the small Christmas tree in the far corner of the gym or the sprig of plastic mistletoe that someone had taped to one of the steel bars that the punch bags hung from, I attempted to distract him by appealing to his sweet tooth. "It's Cadbury's. No one's opened it yet."

Axel immediately reached out to the advent calendar, opening door number one and grabbing the tree-shaped chocolate inside. "Which brother?" he asked around a mouthful of chocolate.

"Uh. Jake."

He nodded as if he'd expected that answer and then swallowed. "Mmm. Must be his girlfriend's influence."

"Probably." I shrugged. This was my first-ever job. It had been an opportunity that had been too good to pass up, a recommendation from one of my sports science lecturers who was a former pro boxer and related to the Savage brothers. He had both encouraged me to apply for the part-time trainee personal trainer position and put in a good word with Axel for me. I'd only been working here since October, and I was still working out the dynamics of this place. I knew it was owned by the Savage brothers, and all I knew about Jake Savage was that he was a professional rugby player for the London Hawks, so he wasn't anywhere near as hands-on as Axel, the oldest brother and gym manager.

"Right." Axel clapped his hands suddenly, glancing up at the large wall clock to our left. "No more time for talking. I've got an induction for a new member in five minutes. Where's Seth? He's supposed to be on reception duty right now."

"He went to get more protein bars from the stockroom, so I was watching the desk for him." As I spoke the words, Seth came jogging over with a cardboard box in his hands. He flashed me a quick grin, and I gave him a nod in return before making my escape. I was still in my training gear from my earlier session with a client, so I figured I'd make the most of it, heading over to the punch bags and winding tape around my hands as I went. By the time I'd pulled on my gloves and taken my place in front of my preferred bag in the corner of the gym, next to the mirrored wall, the door was opening and two people were entering.

My breath caught in my fucking throat, and my heart started racing.

Walking into the gym, laughing playfully with a good-looking dark-haired guy and looking way happier than the last time I'd seen him, was someone from my former life that I never thought I'd lay eyes on again.

Samuel Payne.

What the fuck was he doing here? I mean, yeah, I knew he attended a uni in London, but come on. This was a city of nine million people. It wasn't exactly a small town. The chances of us running into each other had to be miniscule, and yet, here he was in the flesh.

Old feelings resurfaced inside me. Feelings that had no place being there, the worst of them being something I would never acknowledge. Something that made my heart race like I'd already completed a round in the boxing ring.

I watched, frozen in place, as the guy with him greeted Axel with a handshake-slash-fist bump that spoke of casual familiarity. I vaguely recognised the guy, now that I thought about it. He'd definitely been here before.

Sam then greeted Axel, shaking his hand and flashing him an easy smile that was so familiar my fucking knees went weak. I swallowed hard, my fists clenching inside my gloves, the leather creaking under my tight grip.

Then, the dark-haired guy leaned into Sam to say something, their almost matching hair colours merging as their heads touched, and Sam laughed.

Fuck. This was…

I lifted my gloved hands to the bag, suddenly conscious that I was standing there staring. If Sam looked my way…

Shooting the trio another glance out of the corner of my eye, I gritted my teeth as I watched the dark-haired guy sling his arm around Sam's shoulder, leading him over to the section with the gym equipment, both him and Axel talking animatedly over each other. Sam's face was still all smiles.

Until he turned his head.

It was like time stopped. His gaze caught mine and held. And just like that, I couldn't fucking breathe again.

His jaw dropped open, his bright brown eyes widened, and the colour drained from his face. It felt like we were caught in a stand-off forever that was only broken by the dark-haired guy nudging him in the side. He visibly jumped and twisted away from me.

Good.

It was for the best. After everything that had happened, neither of us needed to revisit the past. We'd both moved on, and our lives were better for it.

That was what I told myself, repeatedly, as he moved around my place of work, seemingly unaffected after his initial moment of seeing me.

The knowledge that I was lying to myself sat heavy in my stomach.