Page 109 of The Wrecked One

“Drive your elbows into your punches,” he reminded me when I didn’t properly snap my elbow on that last strike.

In my defense, I was exhausted. We’d been going at this since we’d arrived, and I’d barely slept at the hotel before we’d flown in. Well, technically, I had slept, just not well. The nightmares had returned. Different from before, though. It wasn’t that Interpol agent in the room with us that day in Thailand, it was Hugo.

He was threatening Mya to comply or else, and I’d woken in a sweat at 0400 with Mya standing by the bed, waiting for me to wake, unsure how to help.

She’d wound up crawling under the covers to calm me down and it felt right. I could only hope once we finally dismantled The Collective and the Sorens were dead, the nightmares would finally stop, so I could safely sleep next to the woman I loved.

“Eyes always on me. You keep circling to the wrong side and moving right into my power hand. You gotta go the other way.” Jesse shot out, but I’d been distracted, and he took advantage and dropped me to the ground.

I grimaced, trying to hide my pain as I held my bad shoulder at the impact with the blue mat.

“Shit, you good?” Jesse offered me an assist up. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

I shook my head, angry at myself. “How am I going to make it three rounds with this asshole when my body is falling apart?”

Once I was on my feet, he set his gloved hands on his hips, not breathing nearly as hard as I was. “Mindset is how. Being in the ring is as much a mental game as it is a physical one.” He brought his palm to his heart. “Here, too.”

Yeah, I got that. But I was also going up against a guy who’d dedicated his spare time to becoming a skilled fighter, so my head and heart might not be enough.

I removed my mouthpiece and stepped off the mat, needing water and a chance to catch my breath. And to calm my thoughts. I was finally starting to feel like I had it in me to heal and get better, and I couldn’t let negativity invade my mind and take me down before I even stepped into that ring.

“Listen,” Jesse began as I chugged my water, “in boxing, a ref won’t let you clinch all night, he’ll break you up. But there won’t be rules tomorrow.”

Hell, I wasn’t even sure if anyone would be physically on-site to monitor the fight, or if Nicholas planned to have a ref virtually monitor us via “livestreaming.” Only in 2025 could this all be possible.

“Just clinch as much as possible and lean into Hugo so he has to carry the extra weight,” Jesse continued. “Let him wear himself out to get you through one of the rounds.”

I set aside the bottle and closed my eyes, shaking my head.

“You know this bastard will throw everything he’s got at you, so if you have to dirty box your way out of this, then do it. Forearm smash to his face. And jab toward the forehead to break his line of sight. Do what you have to do, man. Just?—”

“Survive,” I finished for him, opening my eyes. “I know.”

He’d had Adam McGregor, an experienced MMA fighter, same as Bravo Three, Asher Hayes, on a secure web call earlier, and both told me the same thing. For whatever reason, none of it was sinking in.

“Mind if I step in for a bit?” Wearing only black shorts, Mason stood in the doorframe of the small fighting area we’d set up.

The last time I’d sparred with him was during an undercover op that brought Jack together with Charlotte. For a minute, we’d actually thought Mason might wind up with Charlotte’s sister, Lucy. We’d caught them kissing, and getting cozy, a couple times, but from what I knew, nothing ever came from it.

“You should probably break for the night soon.” Jesse removed his headgear and mouthpiece. “Don’t stay down here too long.”

Mason picked up a pair of gloves and approached me.

“How’s Mya?” I asked him once Jesse left. “Any leads?”

She’d been upstairs all day, working with the team on the “op-y” stuff, as she’d called it yesterday, while I’d been busy getting my ass handed to me by Jesse.

“She’s nervous for tomorrow. We all are.” Well, that was an honest answer. He strapped on his headgear, but didn’t bother with anything else, including a mouthguard.

Note to self, don’t hit him in the face. “Does she know you’ve offered to spar with me?”

“No.” He began loosening up his shoulders, rolling them forward and back. “I thought we could take a minute to talk before she comes down here and forces you to rest. And you know she will. Stubborn woman.”

“That we agree on.” I walked over to the Bluetooth speaker connected to my disposable phone and turned on the music I’d paused one ass-getting-kicked hour earlier, buying myself time as I decided if I wanted to box with him.

I was starting to like Mason, but if I let myself remember he’d had sex with Mya before, it was possible I’d forget we were on the same side on that mat tonight.

We all had a past, and Mason was part of hers, but he’d also be part of her present and future, and I had to swallow that pill and accept it.

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