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Chapter One
BO
“TAMPONS SLOWING YOU DOWN THISbusiness We’d been dancing around each other for the last five th of his reach or the power of his jab I wanted him to hit me, and I wanted to hit him back
My sut He jerked out of whatever fantasy he was concocting of being the next king of the Octagon and rushed htly to the side, and then kneed hiht up a left uppercut and then a right punch He cru center
As he lay face down at ic error My third of theI was a slow learner I looked up to see Noah Jackson shaking his head at me Noah was my best friend, Marine battle buddy, and roommate He knew me better than anyone else
He knew the lightbulb had just gone off overin the Spartan Gyood uy at my feet
With a groan, yuppie nulove and offered him a hand up He looked at it for a couple of heartbeats like I ain Christ, I wasn’t a jackass I didn’tdirty if the situation called for it, but I wasn’t going to hit soht back You got smacked around here at the Spartan Gym That was the whole point
At least that hy I was here I woke up everywith an itch under my skin I could work out that irritation a couple of ways My preferredBut the downed business and not one of the blows that slid off ear
I pulled back ust Pauli Generoli, the owner of the gylared at uys were the way he paid for his gyh opportunity to feel like conquerors, they didn’t want to conored his summons to come over and jumped down off the platfor some Brazilian jiu-jitsu moves
Noah used to partner with me Or actually, I sparred with hi I wasn’t allowed to do this anymore, as Noah had been invited to be part of the UFC, the officially sanctioned group of hters
Paulie, who trained Noah, said I was too dangerous and undisciplined to fight Noah I thought it was better for Noah to face down dangerous and unpredictable in the safety of a gyon, where the UFC fighters battled for fame and money, but I never voiced any opposition
If it were anyone other than Noah, I wouldn’t have kept quiet, but I wasn’t going screw up Noah’s opportunities here Even if I wanted to because Noah could put a beatdown on me like none other, and we both felt better after None of the other ah blows toto just stand there and take it
I pushed open the door to the locker roo s out of my shorts and jock strap, I leaned into one of the two tiled shower stalls at the back to turn the water on Paulie was not a generous owner Complain about the cold water and he’d tell you it was called Spartan Gyoddao to the meatbars out west Didn’t seem like much of a difference these days, with the infiltration of yuppies thinking they could grow a bigger dick by putting on a pair of boxing gloves
The cold water washed ahat little sweat I’d generated, but the excess energy inside me still pulsed just under the surface The tension I’d woken up with hadn’t been pounded out of itated now as I had at the start of hters off limits because I wasn’t supposed to hurt anyone while they were training, I was left with few options
I dried off quickly and pulled on my underwear
Throwing h ht one
Fight tonight? The response was i Too early in the week for an actual match
Thursday Casino Real fight Want in?
The reservations held the huhts because they weren’t bound by state laws This could be awesoood to ht now
In
The locker-rooes as Noah pushed his way in
“Already done for the ?” I asked in surprise
“Just wanted to put my two cents in,” Noah said
“How so?”
“Figure you’re trying to set up so’s rounds were so disappointing”
I just shrugged in return I wasn’t exaggerating about Noah’s familiarity with my behavior More than a decade of friendship and four years of hter than an ass in spandex
“Look, I don’t want to be the heavy, but one of these days you’re going to coetable”