Sample Sunday : friction - What Was He Thinking?

I pulled my attention from the action happening in the ring to answer the question, watching her nose wrinkle in a cringe as she closed her eyes in reaction to another sickening thump.

Another landed punch.

I shook my head, feeling bad for the man on the receiving end of the hit I’d missed.

“Is getting my ass beat like this really worth the secondary purse?” I mused out loud, my attention shifting back to the boxing ring. The opponents had momentarily parted, retreating to their respective corners to regroup.

Across the ring, Micah was seated in his corner, casually sipping from a bottle somebody else was holding while his coach fixed his spade-motif gloves. Bored. He’d leaned into the story. Rightfully. Undefeated champions could do that.

I didn’t mean to focus on him so hard… but that certainty, that stillness he carried, made it a little hard to breathe—and impossible to look away.

Somewhere at the edges of my mind, I heard the bell signaling the commencement of the next round, but I was stuck.

Micah stood, put up his guard.

And… looked at me.

Straight at me.

Right in the eyes.

Oh, shit.

My lips parted, searching for air as his mouth curved into a smirk. His attention was on me, and his opponent took advantage, landing body shots that… did nothing. Micah didn’t flinch. He winked at me.

And then the smirk dropped.

It was so, so devastatingly quiet as Micah’s shoulders twisted in slow motion—elbow bent, glove tucked under, loading the spring.

And then releasing it.

There was nothing his opponent could do against an uppercut that fast, that powerful, right to the jaw.

It was still so quiet as the blow connected, lifting him off the mat before he crumpled to it, splayed out with his gloves wide. Only then did the noise of the crowd come roaring back, reacting to what had just happened. I blinked, and the ref was already there in the middle of the ring with Micah, his gloves in the air as the crowd went wild.

An unfamiliar tingle crawled up my neck, making me shake my head.

What the fuck just happened?

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Friction is a paranormal romance novella released on 4.25.25.