loved because a bakery had stopped selling it.
And now she was screaming for another man to knock me unconscious.
Something inside me finally stopped hurting.
Not healed. Stopped.
Those are different things.
Healing comes later.
Sometimes indifference arrives first.
Derek saw me glance at Claire and rushed me.
He threw a hook.
I ducked.
Then came
His right knee rose high.
His hands dropped slightly.
My body remembered before my mind needed to.
I stepped outside.
Captured the leg.
Turned my hips.
Derek crashed onto the mat.
I followed him down.
One arm around his neck.
My chest against his shoulder.
My weight distributed so my damaged knee did almost nothing.
A rear naked choke was available.
Easy.
Instead, I whispered against his ear.
