Prologue
ALI
Sixx—10
Ali–10
OCTOBER
I hada sick feeling in my stomach.Not like I was going to puke.This was different, kinda achy.And I had a headache that was thumping through my head that the noise of the gym made worse.
I sat quietly on the bleachers, only slightly hunched over because I didn’t want my best friend to realize I was in pain.Or worse, my aunt Kassa might actually pay attention to me for once and make me leave.She’d be kind and, as long as Caprice didn’t whine and make my issues about herself, would even help me until my parents arrived.
But my absence would only distract Sixx, as would his thinking something was wrong with me.He’d get all in his head and not be able to focus, maybe even walk away from his competition to take care of me himself.
Sixx had a jiu-jitsu tournament, and I’d promised him I wouldn’t miss it.It took a lot of pleading and pouting and sulking before Dad let me spend the night with my cousins, Bentley and Caprice, just so I could attend the tournament with them.
Bentley was on the same Brazilian jiu-jitsu team as Sixx, and he was in the tournament as well.My parents were back in Malibu, watching my friend Evan’s basketball game.Afterward, he was supposed to get some kind of award.Otherwise, they would have been with me.I cared about Evan.He was in my heart the same way Bentley was.But there was no way I was choosing him over Sixx.
Not even if I felt like I might die.
Another cramp twisted low in my tummy.
Biting the inside of my cheek to avoid making any noise, I kept my eyes on the group on the mats.Bentley had already won his first match, as had Sixx.My cousin had almost tapped out halfway through his last one, but he’d made his opponent submit.Now his team listened to instructions from their professor as they got their usual pep talk before the next round started.
Beside my cousin, Sixx was listening intently.He already had an adult purple belt rank in BJJ and would be graduating to brown soon.He was younger than most people with that same belt rank, maybe the youngest in history.Bentley was older than Sixx, but he wasn’t nearly as dedicated to the sport and had only recently gotten his blue belt.They weren’t the oldest on their team, but they were the top of the tier in talent.Neither of them had competed in a tournament and not won.Sixx had been competing in the adolescent/juvenile division of the World BJJ championships since he was five.That first year, he’d come in second place.Since then, though, he’d been the champ every year.
Sixx and Bentley both could eventually turn this into a career.Bentley had other ideas for his future, but Sixx was already considering what came next.Whether that meant continuing to compete in BJJ tournaments—maybe even in the Worlds’ adult division one day, if Mestre had his way—or expanding into MMA, he hadn’t decided yet.If it made him happy, though, I’d support him no matter what he wanted to do.
His parents had put him in his first class because his ADHD had been going haywire.Roanna and Sin hadn’t wanted to jump immediately into medication options.It helped a lot, teaching him self-discipline and keeping him focused.
Some might say it helped a littletoowell, though.Jerks.Those ignorant people needed to mind their own business.Just because someone didn’t like being touched without permission didn’t make them weird or scary.Sixx couldn’t help that his brain reacted the way it did.
His years of studying jiu-jitsu had gotten him more accustomed to being touched, exposing him to human contact in a way that made him feel secure because he was in control.That didn’t mean he liked it when random people, whether they were family or complete strangers, put their hands on him without permission.The sport had given him good coping skills, taught him to take a moment to self-reflect on what he was feeling before he reacted.
Most of the time.
I was proud of him for all the progress he’d made over the last few years.Other than a few fights, he generally stayed calm and didn’t get explosive.I knew that was because of me.Some of the fights he’d gotten into had caused him to have to change schools.Dad hadn’t trusted Sixx to be near me for a little while because Sixx had been unpredictable.Dad had been worried that Sixx might react a certain way and, even if he didn’t mean to, might hurt me in the process.
That was when Sixx really started to focus more on his sport of choice.It was also when his grades improved and his teachers stopped threatening to expel him.I had kinda hoped he would get expelled at one point.That would mean his parents might move to Malibu so he could attend my school.He was in the same private academy as Bentley and Caprice, though.Bentley was three grades ahead of him, but Sixx and Caprice were in the same grade.
It wasn’t a secret that I was a little grumpy about my cousin having the same classes as my best friend, that she got to spend so much extra time with him, when I could only see him on the weekends.Maybe it wouldn’t have bothered me so much if Caprice didn’t rub it in.She bragged that she was Sixx’s best friend.If I didn’t already know the truth, I might have done something bad.
Like putting a little wash-in hair dye in her shampoo.Or adding water to all of her favorite bottles of nail polish.Nothing that would actually hurt her physically.I was petty, not mean.
Lucky for my cousin, Sixx only tolerated her presence.If I ever thought for a minute he might like her, my petty would turn to mean real quick.
Someone blew a whistle, signaling the beginning of the next round.Sixx went to his circle, while Bentley and some of the other team walked over to their own.I barely took note of the blond boy my cousin was competing against before I focused back on Sixx.His opponent was bigger than him, thicker and taller.I almost laughed when I saw the smug look on the other boy’s face.
“I can’t watch,” Caprice whined, covering her face with her hands.
Ignoring her, I kept my gaze locked on my best friend.Caprice might have been worried for Sixx, but mostly, she was making noise to get attention.Which her mom gave her.Aunt Kassa put her hand on Caprice’s back, rubbing as she murmured something soothing to her, assuring her that Sixx would be fine, while trying to watch Bentley’s match.Uncle Gray was closer to the mats, recording with his phone.
I couldn’t look away from Sixx, my breath stalling in my chest as I waited.It went as smoothly as I expected.Sixx rolled the other boy onto his back, shifted him into an arm-bar, and had him tapping in less than thirty seconds.Lifting his hand, the ref declared Sixx the winner, while Caprice jumped to her feet, cheering and bouncing on her toes.
I would have done the same thing if another cramp hadn’t felt like it was ripping my middle in half.It made me slower to move as I tried to breathe through the pain.As I stood, that was when I felt it.
A strange, wet…squishiness.
