Page 9 of Steel Rain

We were talking through microscopic expressions. Something you only get through years of friendship. He jabbed, I dodged, we came together again. In my other ear he whispered, "That's Ajax LeBlanc."

I froze. Ajax LeBlanc? The famous trainer?ThatLeBlanc? The name didn’t register when he told it to me in the alleyway. Ajax was a pompous name. Was that his MMA name? Or did his mother look at the baby in its crib and think …yeah, I’ll name him after a Greek Warrior that killed himself!

Whatever. He was the exact kind of good looking that would crown himself after the greatest warrior of Greek Mythology.

Handsome men were like that. Arrogant, and self-assured. The world gave them passes that it would strike down a less attractive person for.

I was just taking advantage of a quick lay before a fight. I hoped a good fuck would bring me some luck. At least it eased my nerves. How lucky could I be, since I had just had his “coaching” inside me?

What was he doing here? He didn’t have a fighter in the ring. Not since the famous Rose “The Vixen” Legaspi, the first female champion in the circuit.

It took seconds to figure out that I had frozen, and Guile pushed me aside with a slight jab to the edge of my rib.

I said, through my eyes, that I had no idea what he was doing here, or why he was in my corner.

"To the left!" LeBlanc yelled. I felt it as much as I heard it. Like a familiar sound that rumbles through your ribs, and through your body. Like the whistle before a boom, or the echo of a bullet before it pings to its target.

I did as he said and did an upper to Guile's rib. It landed hard, and he grunted, striking an elbow back and twisting to glance the impact.

"Again!" LeBlanc commanded.

It was remarkably easy to do what he told me. It took little work to follow his instructions because each one instinctively made sense and was worth following.

And he was always right.

Guile looked at me, concern on his face, worried that he might actually lose. It made me pause.

I didn't set out to win against him. I set out just to make a little bit of money. That was it. But with Ajax LeBlanc at my back ...

"Finish it!" LeBlanc demanded. "Sweep to a mount. Do it!"

I did. I obeyed blindly, my body knowing that what he said was the right thing to do. Fuck! Was this all it took to take me to the next level? A coach?

I came to one knee, lunging forward to take out Guile's legs. He fell, and we bounced so that I mounted him. His hands came up to cover his face as I punched his cheeks. Left, then right, then left again.

"Keep your fucking arm up!" Leblanc shouted, but it was too late. I had allowed my right arm to come down, and with a hard hit, Guile got me on my right temple and I saw stars.Shit.

Guile rolled us so that we were in a half nelson, both of us fighting for dominance, our limbs clamped together.

He pushed down on top of me, using all of his weight to crush me as he stayed too close for me to land any good hits.

"Siobhann, right?" Guile saying my sisters name surprised me. I wasn't sure what he was asking. "The sister?"

"Yeah," I said struggling against his grip.

I had mentioned my sister to him before, a long time ago.

I landed a hit to his shoulder, and his arms and limbs loosened, as if I had stunned him. But the hit wasn't that hard. With one heave, I was able to roll us over, grab his arm and push it across his throat.

He struggled, but it wasn't with the same fervor as before. It was as if someone had zapped his energy and he was running on fumes.

"Don't throw it," I growled as we wrestled for dominance again. "What are you doing?"

"I got you, battle," he whispered. Battle. A shortened Army term for “battle buddy”. He was calling me his friend. A comrade.

"What?" I mumbled, as he fell onto his back, taking me with him, his arm coming between us, and laying across his chest.

On pure instinct, I leaned my shoulder into his tricep, pulling his bicep down onto his own neck, and wrapped my arms around him into an arm triangle choke.

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