After Tom's fight, Y/N was having a good night, until she walked through her apartment door, immediately regretting what had occurred earlier that day. She knew Raymond would be there waiting for her in her room to talk to her about what happened at the diner. She was right, he was sitting there on her bed, wearing a white tank top and old blue jeans that he stole from the Goodwill, his bare foot tapping on the hardwood floor, waiting for her to walk in the room.
"Where have you been?" He asked, standing from his seated place on the bed, he walked over her to try and intimidate her, it worked. All of her confidence flew out the window as soon as she saw his bruised knuckles and the multiple holes in the living room walls.
"Out." she said, walking to her closet to change into her pyjamas.
"Well fucking obviously, but where? Huh? Ivan said you quit your job at the diner. Where else are you at this time of night?" He yelled, grabbing Y/N's wrist too tightly, she felt her fingertips go numb at the grasp, but she knew better than to try to fidget her way out of it.
"I went out to dinner with Yvonne and then we went to a bar, and I drove her home and then had to walk back because I don't have a car." Y/N tried to lie, she knew that Raymond knew Yvonne's house was over an hour to walk from. He let go of her wrist when she looked at him and his face softened at her a little.
"I still have an issue with you not working, I'm not going to have some fucking freeloader living in my house. So either you get a job or you get the fuck out." He spat at her and walked out of the room. Y/N wanted nothing more than to be out of his apartment, but she had nowhere else to go.
As she got undressed in front of the bathroom mirror, she tilted her head to the left as her soft fingertips ran over her brown and yellow bruises, memories replaying themselves in her head as her hands skimmed over the skin, tears dripping off of her chin onto the white granite countertop.
The next morning, Y/N left the apartment at two o'clock in the afternoon, and headed to the gym that Tom trained at. Tom was already there when she showed up, and he smiled when he watched her walk through the doors of the gym in a pair of mid-rise ankle length black pants with a peach colored blouse tucked into them, she was confident and comfortable, and Tom thought she had never looked more beautiful. He smiled wider when she met his eyes and pulled at her ponytail, she looked to the ground as she felt her face heat up.
"You know, I didn't expect you to be here for another hour." Tom said as he walked toward her, biting his lip and wiping off the sweat from his forehead.
"My parents always used to say, if you're on time, you're late." She giggled which made Tom smile again.
"Good to know." he laughed and smiled again and Y/N could only think about how Tom should smile more often, he had a wonderful smile and Y/N found it charming, in fact, it was one of his best qualities. "Do I have something in my teeth?" he smirked a little at her, she had been staring at Tom's mouth for too long and she was starting to get embarrassed of her thoughts.
"N-No, sorry I just spaced out a little." Y/N laughed a little and followed Tom as he lead her to his manager, Harrison, sitting on one of the workout benches on his phone, he looked very out of place dressed in a grey three-piece suit.
"Y/N, this is Harrison, my manager. Harrison this is Y/N the assistant I was telling you about." Tom introduced the two of you as Harrison stood from his seat and put his phone in his blazer pocket. He held his hand out for you to shake, and you did, softer than you would have liked.
"Nice to finally meet you Y/N, I have some things for you to get started on back at the office if you'd like to come with me." Harrison said as Y/N looked to Tom as if to ask him permission to go with Harrison, Tom sent her a quizzical look back, tilting his head at her a little. It was a force of habit, she never made decisions on her own without Raymond giving her the go-ahead. She shook her head a little bit in order to pull herself from the person she'd learned to be.
"Yes, of course." She smiled at Harrison and he nodded.
"Perfect, just have a seat for a few while I make a quick phone call, and we'll be out of here." Harrison said as he walked away from Tom and Y/N, she took a seat on the workout bench that Harrison was previously sitting on. Tom smiled at her before walking away from her, and she blushed before looking at her phone in her hand. She set it down next to her and looked up at Tom who had started doing chin-ups on the pull up bar, his trainer, Chris, counting them out as his chin cleared the bar. She couldn't help but bite her lip at Tom's figure, his muscles contracting under his black t-shirt that was already soaked in sweat. She tried to push the thoughts of peeling the damp shirt off of his body, and running her fingers over his abdomen.
"He's something else, huh?" Y/N's gaze snapped to Harrison who had returned from his phone call and was now standing above her, a smirk spread across his face.
"U-Uh, what?"
"Tom. He's something else, isn't he?"
"I-I guess, I don't really know what you mean by that." Y/N stood up quickly as Harrison started walking out of the gym, she heard Tom call out behind her, "I look forward to seeing you later, Y/N!" She pretended not to hear it, wanting to shake these feelings for Tom, she knew it wouldn't end well.
"He doesn't act like that to just anyone, you know?"
"Like what?" Y/N tried to play off that she didn't take notice of the way Tom was treating her, as if she was the most important person in the world, which meant a lot to her, she'd never been treated with such respect.
"He's not usually this nice to people." Harrison paused as he held the door open for the shy girl walking behind him. "He always has an attitude and pushes people away, so it's nice to see him when he's with you. How long ago did you say you met him?"
"I didn't say," Y/N paused as Harrison chuckled, knowing that this girl was much more clever than he initially thought. "A few days ago he came into the diner that I work, well worked at, and we hit it off I guess." She shrugged as Harrison unlocked the black Audi Q7 parked outside of the gym in the fire lane. She hesitantly made her way to the passenger seat and gingerly opened the door, and slowly stepping in, careful not to ruin the pristine brown leather seats.
"I see, well, this is definitely different from your old job at the diner, I'll tell you that much, now come on, love, buckle up." Harrison smiled at her as he started the car, waiting for her to fasten her seatbelt before putting the car in gear and driving off to his office on the other side of town.
A few minutes into the car ride, Harrison broke the silence Y/N was enjoying.
"Mind if I turn on the radio?" He looked at her through the corner of his eye to see her shake her head a little, she mumbled a quiet "go ahead." With that, Harrison turned up the stereo, a song that Y/N was unfamiliar with played, she didn't normally listen to the radio, she didn't have a car to listen to it in. Harrison sang along to it softly as he continued to drive in the afternoon traffic.
Two hours later, Tom took a break from working out and sat on the empty workout bench that was placed adjacent from the boxing ring set up to spar in. As he sat, spraying water on his face, he felt a vibration next to him. He curiously looked over his shoulder to see a cellphone on the bench next to him, multiple text messages filled the screen, all from the same individual.
Tom didn't want to look at the phone, but a certain word caught his eye: Y/N. Tom quickly picked up the phone, not listening to his conscience telling him looking through her phone wasn't right. Each message was sent from Raymond.
Y/N where are you?
I swear to God, answer me
You didn't even say goodbye this morning?
What the fuck are you hiding?
Hello???
Tom couldn't read them anymore, he had a pang of jealousy hit him and he wasn't sure where it stemmed from. That was a lie, he knew exactly where it came from, this Raymond was the guy who Y/N was obviously seeing.
Tom's mind began to wander to the conversations they'd had about her bruises. He asked her if it was her boyfriend that did it to her, he recalled her saying, "he is not my boyfriend". Then, a shot of anger burst through Tom, if Raymond wasn't her boyfriend, he's more than likely the man who was hurting her. Tom tried to shake the anger, he had no right to feel jealous, Y/N wasn't his to be jealous over. He took a few deep breaths and repeated the words that his mom used to tell him when he would get angry as a child. "Take a breath and bring in the good thoughts, breathe out and let out the bad thoughts." His mother's words always made him feel better, but if he thought about them for too long, he'd start to remember the other not-so-pleasant words they exchanged.
Tom decided to go for a run as the sun began to set, the usual heat starting to cool down as the sky turned orange. He had been training for months, these next few fights were crucial for him, the next two fights solidified his place in the UFC where he'd be fighting the reigning featherweight champion, hoping to take the belt away from him. Not only had his whole career been leading up to this championship, but he also had something to prove. He always let other people's opinions dictate his performance, and as much as he'd love to change that, he always let people's words get to him. He was constantly looking for everyone's approval and validation.
Meanwhile, at Harrison's office, Y/N was having trouble adapting to the new work environment. Harrison had thrown multiple tasks at her without any guidance. She was expected to organize Tom's schedule, which included his fights, meetings, training, and rest days. She had to speak with different companies that wanted to sponsor Tom in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, with his last fight, he was a shoe in for the belt. The only problem was, they all wanted to meet Tom before the fight, which, based on the schedule Y/N had just organized, Tom had no time for. She was able to land a sponsorship for him, contingent on him winning the next two fights. Y/N excitedly hung up the office phone and looked for her cellphone, wanting to call Tom personally, but couldn't find it.
She quickly walked out of the building to check the car, Harrison had left it unlocked. She spent almost twenty minutes looking in the brand-new-looking car, but to no avail, she suspected that she left it at the gym when she met Tom there earlier this afternoon. Her heart raced as she walked down the road, she couldn't stop thinking about seeing Tom again.
She thought about the way he smiled at her, she couldn't think of a time when Raymond ever looked at her that way. Within the few days that Y/N had known this man for, he singlehandedly made her feel like a new person. He indirectly showed her how she should be treated, and how, because her and Raymond were no longer together, she shouldn't give him the power to control her; in fact, she shouldn't give anyone the power to control her.