Page 28 of Rematch
His head whipped around at the sound of my voice. Like an eager puppy, he left his post and ran to my side. “What’s up, Max?” He asked, trying to subdue the grin trying to appear at his lips.
I usually tried not to entertain the younger ones too much. Tony warned that although I didn’t feel like a celebrity, I was in their eyes. It wasn’t everyday someone from our neighborhoodfought in large, mainstream events. I’d broken the glass ceiling placed on top of the boys here, and they were always watching, studying on how to do the same.
“You feel like sparring today?”
“With you?” He asked incredulously, his eyes growing wide as the excitement was replaced with fear.
“No.” I jutted my chin at Jayden, who coincidentally was exiting the locker room. “With him.”
“Oh, okay,” Nathan said, his shoulders perking back up. “Yeah, sure.”
Jayden’s brows stitched together as he eyed Nathan up and down. “You want me to go up against him?”
“Mhm. I need to assess what you can do.”
He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something smart, but thought better of it and shrugged his shoulders.
I already knew what he was thinking: he’d gone up against men three times bigger than him. What was Nathan, someone his own size, going to do?
I got them situated with finger-less gloves and guided the two of them over to the padded mats in the corner of the room, specifically designated for grappling. I would’ve thrown them in one of the small octagons on the floor, but I didn’t want to draw attention.
“Remember, you’re just sparring,” I told them, more to Jayden than Nathan. “Don’t actually try to hurt each other.”
Nodding, they touched gloves and started circling each other.
Using his prior technique, Jayden waited for Nathan to throw the first few swings. He easily dodged or blocked them.
As expected, Nathan quickly grew tired of being on the offensive. But, instead of wearing himself out like Jayden was expecting, he got in close and swiped one of Jayden’s legs out from underneath him.
Jayden’s expression didn’t falter as he hit the ground. Unamused, he started pushing himself back up.
Nathan wasn’t letting that happen. He grabbed Jayden’s ankle, tugged him off of his palms.
Jayden flopped back down on his back with a soft “thud.” His eyes widened a bit as he noticed Nathan moving over him, trying to secure a mount. Trying to avoid it, he flipped onto his stomach, unintentionally giving Nathan exactly what he wanted.
In the position, Nathan easily wrapped an arm around Jayden’s neck and hooked his legs around his torso. Spinning them around, he squeezed each of the connected joints around Jayden’s torso, putting him in a tight headlock.
Jayden tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but it was too late. Nathan’s grasp was already secure. He had no choice, but to tap in submission.
“You want us to go again?” Nathan asked after releasing Jayden.
I shook my head. “Nah. I saw what I needed to see. Thank you.”
Nathan stood up and held his glove out to Jayden. “Good match,” he told him.
Jayden grabbed hold and let Nathan help him to his feet. “Thanks.” He waited until Nathan jogged away to glare at me. “You knew he was going to do that,” he grumbled.
“Actually, I was hoping he’d put you in a triangle lock and humble your ass. But that worked too.”
Jayden’s look sharpened, nearly becoming lethal.
I almost smiled at the daggers he was shooting at me. “You’re quick on your feet,” I complimented. “But you need to learn how to be quick in the head too. A lot of the men in the underground rings aren’t privy to grappling. All they want to do is beat the shit out of their opponent. They don’t care about strategy or technique. You’re able to dance around them because you’refast. But, you’ll need to learn other ways to gain the upper hand.” I stood across from him and lowered myself down onto my knees. “Come on. I’ll teach you a few holds.”
He hesitated for a moment, staring at me with uncertainty in his eyes. Still, he mimicked my position on the mat and waited for the next instruction.
We still had a lot of work to do, for his training, our relationship, but for the most part, I think we had a decent foundation to build on.
Chapter 13
