41. Oliver
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, ABU DHABI – THE NEXT EVENING
41
“Exhale after each strike. It makes you more powerful. Faster. Plus, it saves your energy.” Jesse flicked his wrist, gesturing for me to come at him again.
We’d be holed up for the next twenty-four hours at our new safe house, and I planned to make every minute count until the “big day” arrived.
Standing on the mat, I narrowly missed Jesse’s left hook while managing to land an uppercut to his padded helmet.
“Drive your elbows into your punches,” he reminded me when I didn’t properly snap my elbow on that last strike.
In my defense, I was exhausted. We’d been going at this since we’d arrived, and I’d barely slept at the hotel before we’d flown in. Well, technically, I had slept, just not well. The nightmares had returned. Different from before, though. It wasn’t that Interpol agent in the room with us that day in Thailand, it was Hugo.
He was threatening Mya to comply or else, and I’d woken in a sweat at 0400 with Mya standing by the bed, waiting for me to wake, unsure how to help.
She’d wound up crawling under the covers to calm me down and it felt right. I could only hope once we finally dismantled The Collective and the Sorens were dead, the nightmares would finally stop, so I could safely sleep next to the woman I loved.
“Eyes always on me. You keep circling to the wrong side and moving right into my power hand. You gotta go the other way.” Jesse shot out, but I’d been distracted, and he took advantage and dropped me to the ground.
I grimaced, trying to hide my pain as I held my bad shoulder at the impact with the blue mat.
“Shit, you good?” Jesse offered me an assist up. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
I shook my head, angry at myself. “How am I going to make it three rounds with this asshole when my body is falling apart?”
Once I was on my feet, he set his gloved hands on his hips, not breathing nearly as hard as I was. “Mindset is how. Being in the ring is as much a mental game as it is a physical one.” He brought his palm to his heart. “Here, too.”
Yeah, I got that. But I was also going up against a guy who’d dedicated his spare time to becoming a skilled fighter, so my head and heart might not be enough.
I removed my mouthpiece and stepped off the mat, needing water and a chance to catch my breath. And to calm my thoughts. I was finally starting to feel like I had it in me to heal and get better, and I couldn’t let negativity invade my mind and take me down before I even stepped into that ring.
“Listen,” Jesse began as I chugged my water, “in boxing, a ref won’t let you clinch all night, he’ll break you up. But there won’t be rules tomorrow.”
Hell, I wasn’t even sure if anyone would be physically on-site to monitor the fight, or if Nicholas planned to have a ref virtually monitor us via “livestreaming.” Only in 2025 could this all be possible.
“Just clinch as much as possible and lean into Hugo so he has to carry the extra weight,” Jesse continued. “Let him wear himself out to get you through one of the rounds.”
I set aside the bottle and closed my eyes, shaking my head.
“You know this bastard will throw everything he’s got at you, so if you have to dirty box your way out of this, then do it. Forearm smash to his face. And jab toward the forehead to break his line of sight. Do what you have to do, man. Just?—”
“Survive,” I finished for him, opening my eyes. “I know.”
He’d had Adam McGregor, an experienced MMA fighter, same as Bravo Three, Asher Hayes, on a secure web call earlier, and both told me the same thing. For whatever reason, none of it was sinking in.
“Mind if I step in for a bit?” Wearing only black shorts, Mason stood in the doorframe of the small fighting area we’d set up.
The last time I’d sparred with him was during an undercover op that brought Jack together with Charlotte. For a minute, we’d actually thought Mason might wind up with Charlotte’s sister, Lucy. We’d caught them kissing, and getting cozy, a couple times, but from what I knew, nothing ever came from it.
“You should probably break for the night soon.” Jesse removed his headgear and mouthpiece. “Don’t stay down here too long.”
Mason picked up a pair of gloves and approached me.
“How’s Mya?” I asked him once Jesse left. “Any leads?”
She’d been upstairs all day, working with the team on the “op-y” stuff, as she’d called it yesterday, while I’d been busy getting my ass handed to me by Jesse.
“She’s nervous for tomorrow. We all are.” Well, that was an honest answer. He strapped on his headgear, but didn’t bother with anything else, including a mouthguard.
Note to self, don’t hit him in the face. “Does she know you’ve offered to spar with me?”
“No.” He began loosening up his shoulders, rolling them forward and back. “I thought we could take a minute to talk before she comes down here and forces you to rest. And you know she will. Stubborn woman.”
“That we agree on.” I walked over to the Bluetooth speaker connected to my disposable phone and turned on the music I’d paused one ass-getting-kicked hour earlier, buying myself time as I decided if I wanted to box with him.
I was starting to like Mason, but if I let myself remember he’d had sex with Mya before, it was possible I’d forget we were on the same side on that mat tonight.
We all had a past, and Mason was part of hers, but he’d also be part of her present and future, and I had to swallow that pill and accept it.
“You’re going to be okay tomorrow. I’m not giving you a choice.” Mason’s words managed to compete with the mini Bose speaker, hitting my ears just fine. “Mya never looked at me the way she does you, and like hell am I letting her lose you. Got it?”
I was sweaty as fuck, and yet, chills flew down my bare back. I stole a look at my brother’s ID tags where I’d rested them on the bench, wishing he’d be in my corner tomorrow night. He’d be in my head, at least. I’d carry him with me that way.
“Is this what you want to talk about? Threaten me not to die?” I slowly faced him, finding him standing at the center of the mat.
“Pretty much.” He shrugged.
“You sure you’re not down here to take a few shots at me?” I arched a brow and moved to meet him on the mat, opting not to use my mouthpiece if he wasn’t going to.
“I don’t want to hit you, Oliver. Looks like you already had the sense knocked back into you, so you’re good there.” For whatever reason, I believed him. Maybe he really had moved on? Although, I had no clue how anyone could ever truly move on from a woman like Mya.
“You still love her?” Not what I’d meant to say, but there it was.
Mason’s shoulders lifted and fell in one sharp movement before he removed the headgear and tossed it. Definitely not what he’d expected to talk about, either.
“I’ll always love her. I’ve known her most of my life, and she’s important to me. But do I think she’s the love of my life?” He patted his heart, shaking his head. “No, or we’d be together.” His brows pinched as he studied the mat instead of me. “Sydney wasn’t Gray’s the one like you all thought, and Mya’s not mine.”
I was going to need something stiffer than water to get through this. I also never expected Mason to be so honest and self-reflective. Maybe something had changed for him in the last four months I’d been away, too.
Mason frowned. “I wasn’t planning on having this conversation now of all times, considering what you’re dealing with tomorrow, but hey, if there’s one less thing you need to worry about to help you focus in that ring, then so be it.”
“What are you saying?” He’d need to use small words and spell this out for me, I was too tired to read between the lines.
Mason opened his hand, waving it through the air. “I have no intention of being the kind of friend who hopes you screw up so I can make my move on her one day. I think it’s important you know that.”
“Well, I have no plans to mess up, but if I do, you have the permission you don’t actually need to fuck me up for it.”
“Another thing we can agree on, because I’ll for sure kick your ass if you hurt her.” He shot me a causal, It is what it is, look that I actually appreciated. “Anyway, I just wanted you to know I have every intention of respecting what you two have. I won’t be texting her, or asking her to hang out just the two of us. I’ll happily be a third wheel, though.”
“Maybe one day”—I cleared my throat, feeling damn awkward—“you’ll be the, uh, fourth wheel, because you’ll find your person.” I shook my head. “Forget that thought. I don’t want to think about wheels or hubs now after The Collective used the Sorens to . . .” I let my words trail off, knowing he’d understand. “You know what I mean.”
“So, we good?” He took a step across the center of the mat and offered his gloved hand.
I stared at his peace offering, feeling like this was somehow one more piece of the puzzle Mya and I both needed to truly move forward. “We’re good.” Shaking his hand, I locked eyes with him. “But you’re not getting off so easily.” I couldn’t help but grin, finally feeling oddly lighter in both body and mind. “Put the helmet back on, and help me prepare to kick some motherfucking ass tomorrow.”