Sparring session, I reminded myself and hoped Jay remembered too.
I didn’t have any issues with Jay as a person. He was a good dude, and I liked him. He’d felt the same about me, before learning that I’d slept with his sister.
What I had an issue with was his asshole behavior since learning his older sister had consensual sex with someone he knows.
Because this was training, and we had an audience, we had to play nice.
Playing nice didn’t mean not pushing the limits of how hard we could hit. We’d both leave with our fair share of colorful bruises.
And one of us would leave the mat with a bruised ego.
When the bell rang, neither of us moved. Instead, we sized each other up.
Jay grinned before telegraphing his first punch, making it easy for me to block.
He was testing me. No, we’ve sparred before.He’s playing with me.
Two can play at this game. I circled to his left—his weak side. Jay’s weak side on his worst day was stronger than most people’sstrong side on their best day. But I wasn’t most people, and I’d find a way to exploit it.
He matched me move for move. When I swung, he blocked it and tried to pin my hand behind my back.
But I’d anticipated it and turned into it.
He instinctively moved to block my hand, but I’d anticipated that too and swept his leg.
What I hadn’t anticipated was him taking me to the ground with him.
My only option was to grapple.
We tossed each other around, gaining and losing the upper hand as we went. We trapped limbs and threw elbows until Jamie rang the bell and called the match a draw.
Bruised bodies: two.
Bruised egos: none.
Frustrated men: two.
Chances of a rematch: one hundred percent.
There was a lot of shit talk afterwards.
“That’ll be a tough match to beat,” Nathan said with a laugh.
“We’re not here for your entertainment,” Jay said, sounding pissed off that he couldn’t beat me.
“I’m man enough to admit that I would’ve tapped out three minutes in,” Jamie said.
“I think I might’ve lasted about five, but then again, I don’t want to tell Chase I can’t play tonight because I’m black and blue,” Doug added.
In a moment of unplanned solidarity, Jay said, “Raiders never quit.”
As I said, “SEALs never quit.”
Covered in sweat, and with the taste of copper in my mouth, I removed my sparring gloves and mouth guard before chugging a bottle of water.
Jay did the same after wiping blood from under his nose.
My ribs ached and I couldn’t wait to see what color they’d be in the morning.
