Chapter 36
Max
“There you go,” I encouraged, nodding in approval as Jayden nailed another one of his combos. “Again. Let me see.”
A small grin tugged at his lips as he straightened his stance and punched my flat mitts. Again, he perfectly hit all the beats and even added a high kick to it.
“Alright, now you’re showing off,” I told him. “Chill out.”
“Why? Afraid I’m actually gonna hit you?”
“You wish,” I said, shoving him in the face with one of the mitts. “You couldn’t land a punch on me on your best day.”
He raised a brow. “You wanna bet?”
“I’ve got twenty bucks. What’s up?”
Grinning, he hopped back into his fighting stance. “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this.”
He immediately started swinging, foolishly using all of the combinations I’ve taught him. I easily dodged them and tagged him with my flat mitts. “Come on,” I teased after I popped him for the third time. “I know this isn’t all you got.”
His brows creased together in concentration as he picked up the speed of his punches. Now, I had to block rather than dodge. He still wasn’t landing a hit, but progress was progress.
After blocking one of his hits, I grabbed his wrist, twisted him around, and grabbed him in a headlock. “What happened?” I taunted as I rubbed my knuckle into his hair.
“Hey!” He exclaimed as he struggled in my grasp. “You’re cheating!”
“No, I’m not! What did I tell you when we started training together? You gotta watch for holds too.”
He pushed at my bicep and wiggled his head out. “Let’s go again,” he said, his eyes bright with playful adrenaline.
I chuckled. The kid had determination, I’d give him that. This time, I was planning on body slamming his ass.
As I raised my fists to meet his stance, I felt an arm wrap around my neck and lock around it. “Yo!” I screamed, thinking it was Tony. Whenever I humbled one of the rookies, sometimes he made a point to give me a taste of my own medicine.
But, I heard Jayden yell, “Hey!” and I knew it wasn’t my trainer. “Let him go!” Jayden yelled again. From my view of the floor, I could see his sneakers rushing forward.
The person holding me didn’t budge. “You better chill out,” a familiar voice replied. “Before you join him.”
I smiled as I remembered the person it belonged to. Pushing out of his grasp, I pulled my head up to see my older cousin, Adrian. It’s only been a few months since I’ve seen him at his wedding, but before that it’d been years.
Growing up, he was always my favorite. We shared the same hot head and love for fighting.
Before Mom and Dad separated, and they moved to the East Coast, Adrian was the one who encouraged my interest in fighting.
Every time they came over, we’d end up wrestling in the living room while our mothers scolded us not to mess up the furniture.
I worried our relationship wouldn’t be the same after I cut ties with my dad - and his side of the family.
But, when I reached out last year, we picked right back up as if we never stopped.
He even asked me to be part of his wedding party.
I’m glad we’ve been able to reconnect, but I hadn’t been expecting him to show up here.
My grin grew as I noticed his palm on Jayden’s face, holding him back while he tried to swing at him.
“Get your boy,” Adrian told me as he shoved Jayden away. “Before I body slam his ass.”
“Be my guest. I was already planning on it.”
Jayden’s brows creased in confusion. “Wait, you know him?”
“Yeah. This is my - our - cousin, Adrian.”
Adrian’s brow rose as he looked between our faces, noticing the similarities now that we were both still. He didn’t ask the question aloud, but I could still see it on his face.
“Adrian, this is my brother, Jayden,” I introduced him.
“You have a brother?” He tilted his head. “Since when? I thought Tía Tati was one and done.”
“I have a different mom, but the same dad,” Jayden explained.
“Oh, shit,” Adrian muttered. “My bad. I didn’t even know. Tío Rafael never said anything…”
Jayden averted his eyes. “Yeah, he wouldn’t have,” he murmured.
I almost frowned at the energy deflating from his shoulders. Patting him, I said, “Go clean yourself up, so I can start taking you home.”
Nodding, he raised his eyes to Adrian again. “It was nice meeting you.” He rushed off before Adrian could respond.
“What’s the story there?” Adrian asked as I led him towards the office so I could grab my own things.
“Remember how quick my mom ditched my dad?”
He nodded.
“He’s the reason.”
“Oh, shit,” he repeated. “My mom said Rafael fucked up, but I didn’t know it was like that.”
“Yeah, but he’s actually a good kid. I’ve been training him for a little while now. He’s got a lot of potential.”
“To bring in?”
“What? No! I mean for MMA. He’s got the dedication and he’s building the heart for it.”
Adrian cocked his head to the side. “Why’d you respond like that?”
“Like what?”
“When I asked if you were bringing him in? Your face twisted up like I offended you or something.”
“No, you didn’t. It’s just I don’t…I don’t want this lifestyle for him.”
Adrian nodded. “I get it. Thought your punk ass got out, but here you are.”
I shook my head. “We both know I was never out. Shit’s like a curse; it’s gonna find us one way or another. But, anyway, what are you doing in town? I thought you Ruizs only come to the West Coast for corporate events.”
“I am down here for an event, just not a corporate one. Kiara signed me up for some tattoo convention happening this weekend, and I actually got accepted. Kiara’s never been to L.A. before so we came down a few days early to explore. I stopped by to see if you wanted to hang out with us later.“
“Yeah, sure. I’ll call my girl and see if she can join us. I think she and Kiara would get along well.”
As Adrian nodded, his eyes darted to the door.
I followed his gaze to see Jayden in the doorway, raising his hand to knock on the open door.
“I’m coming,” I told him. Quickly, I grabbed my stuff out of the office and walked with both of them out of the gym.
“I’ll text you the address of our spot and meet you there,” I told Adrian as we parted ways in the parking lot.
On the ride, I noticed Jayden was awfully quiet. He sat low in his seat, his eyes trained out the window. Any other time I would’ve chalked it up to weariness, but given the conversation earlier, I knew it was more than that.
While I hoped he felt comfortable talking to me about his feelings, I didn’t want to push too hard and send his guard back up. So, I let him dwell in his thoughts. In the meantime, I tried to think of something that would cheer him up.
“Have you ever been to an MMA event before?” I asked as we pulled up to his house.
Jayden shook his head.
“Do you want to? There’s an event happening this weekend. If I go through the grapevine, I could probably get us some VIP passes. We could sit real close, maybe go backstage and meet some of the contenders. Would you like that?”
“Yeah, I guess,” he said with a shrug.
I frowned. “You sure you’re alright?”
He pulled at the door knob and pushed the door open. “Mhm,” he replied as he hopped out of the car. “I’ll see you on Monday.”
He slammed the door shut, and I gripped the steering wheel to restrain myself from yelling at him for it. I could give him a pass for tonight. Space and time should help him come around. But next time, he was swallowing his pride and using his words - whether he liked it or not.