Page 49 of Choke Hold

“Let’s fucking go, Mitchell.” His eyes are dark and dangerous as he finally brings his gaze to meet mine, challenging me to push him further.

I scoff, stepping closer to him so we’re in striking range. “I see you’ve found an even bigger stick to place up your ass this time. How’d that feel going in?”

His jaw clenches as his chest rises, and the anger rolling off him right now doesn’t make any sense. He’s been making progress, and actually letting go and having some fun has been helping him. I know we’re close to fight time, but fuck… this is a drastic shift.

“Hands up,” he says darkly.

I observe him for a moment, unsure where this is coming from, but willing myself to let him have it. He wants to push his boundaries and see what happens? Fine. But I’m not so sure it’s going to go as well as he’s hoping it will. This is too much, too fast.

I lift my hands and move into my stance. “You going first?”

Ty nods, settling into his stance as well. I watch him as he takes a deep breath, retreating into his head as he prepares to attack. And then he delivers a flawless jab-body kick-jab-cross combo, and I block each strike.

But then the tension enters his shoulders as he prepares to defend against my attack on him. And I’m tempted not to do it. I want to drop my gloves and tell him we’ll continue with isolated drills, but the look of fierce determination on his face tells me that won’t go over so well. So, I choose the lesser of two evils, and go for it.

I keep my power light behind my first jab, which Ty successfully parries, then I put a bit more power behind my kick. He rotates his body to block my kick with his forearms, springing back into his guard and blocking my next jab. I see a slight flinch in his face on the final cross, but he successfully blocks each strike, keeping his feet and guard steady.

My face breaks out in a grin as I hop on my toes. “Well, damn,” I say. “Ok, so that was–”

“Again,” he says, his eyes focused on my gloves. “And don’t go so light this time.”

My brow furrows. “The fuck, man. Chill, you just took a jab and cross–”

“And I need to do it again.” He exhales. “And better. So, let’s go.”

Fuck. Dude needs another good ass fucking.

With a sigh, I get back into my stance and motion for him to attack, letting him expel his anger in his strikes on me. And damn, there’s some fucking weight behind them.

And this time when I strike him, I put a bit more force behind my jabs. He parries each one just as he should, but the uneasiness in him remains.

“Again. Harder,” he says.

I roll my eyes with another sigh, and we go through it again, and again, and again. Each time he attacks, his strikes are more forceful, and there’s a frustration and desperation in each one. He’s doing well to defend as he successfully blocks every strike, and his hesitations are fewer. But the anger in him seems to be rising despite his success… so I’m not sure this is really doing him any good.

I’ve lost count of how many rounds we’ve done, so I step back and wipe the sweat from my brow. “Ok,” I say, catching my breath. “What the fuck is going on?”

His head shakes slightly as he keeps his guard up, ready for more. “I need to get this.”

“Yeah,” I agree with a nod, keeping my gloves at my sides, “and you will. But fuck, why is the drill sergeant back? I finally got your ass to loosen the fuck up and now you’re all tight again, and not in a good way.”

“Come on.” Ty gestures for me to move back into the drill. “We’re not done.”

I take a deep breath and shake my head. “Why don’t we move back into isolation for a bit–”

“I don’t have all the fucking time in the world to ease back into this.” His eyes flash with rage as he drops his gloves. “I have only two weeks to get ready for the most important fight we’ve ever had, so get your fucking gloves up.”

I catch his eyes, and something almost like panic seems to pass through them.

“Two weeks?” I ask. “Fight is in three.”

His entire demeanor seems to shift in an instant as he gently taps his gloves together, and his eyes flick to Max at the other end of the gym where he’s working with Adão.

“Why two weeks?” I step closer to him, but he continues to avoid my gaze. I stay silent for a moment, watching him as the sadness I saw in him last night seems to take over once again. “Moon and stars, Ty. Tell me.”

He takes a deep breath and lifts his eyes to mine. “If I’m not 100% by one week out, Max is pulling me.”

Well, fuck.

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