“What habit?”
“You increase the pace when your pride gets touched.”
The gym went silent.
Frank stepped forward.
“That's enough.”
Cole looked at him.
“Who is this guy?”
Frank didn't answer immediately.
That hesitation told Cole more than words would have.
Cole smiled.
“Oh.”
He pointed at David.
“There's a story here.”
David shook his head.
“Frank.”
Frank sighed.
“He's an old friend.”
Cole laughed.
“Old friend?”
“Yes.”
“Ex-fighter?”
Frank said nothing.
Cole's grin returned.
“Then he should know better than to sit there laughing at a champion.”
David picked up his jacket.
“I wasn't laughing at you.”
Cole stepped into his path.
“Then prove it.”
David looked at him.
“No.”
“Scared?”
“No.”
“Then why not?”
“Because I didn't come here to fight.”
“What did you come for?”
“To see an old friend.”
Frank's eyes met David's.
Something passed between them.
Something Cole didn't understand.
That made him even more curious.
He turned toward the crowd.
“Apparently we've got a secret weapon in the building.”
People laughed.
David didn't.
Cole pointed toward the ring.
“One minute.”
“No.”
“Thirty seconds.”
David paused.
Frank shook his head.
“David, you don't have to.”
“I know.”
Cole smiled.
David looked toward Tyler.
Then at Frank.
Finally, he looked at the ring.
“No cameras.”
Frank immediately nodded.
“Everybody put them down.”
Brandon Lee, Cole's closest friend, lowered his phone.
Cole climbed through the ropes.
David removed his watch.
He placed it on the chair.
Then he removed his boots.
And that's when Cole noticed the scars.
A thin surgical line along David's right ankle.
An old scar near his left knee.
A flattened little toe.
Small details.
The kind of details most people never saw.
But fighters noticed.
David stepped into the ring.
He didn't look stronger.
He didn't look faster.
He didn't look younger.
Yet something changed.
His shoulders settled.
His weight distributed differently.
His feet turned slightly.
His hands became loose.
His eyes stopped wandering.
The casual man from the chair disappeared.
Cole noticed.
“You sure you only boxed?”
David smiled.
“I said I boxed.”
“What else?”
“You ask a lot of questions when the bell hasn't rung.”
A few people laughed.
Cole didn't.
Frank climbed through the ropes.
“Grappling?”
Cole frowned.
“This is a boxing gym.”
“Controlled clinch work,” Frank said. “No head strikes.”
Cole nodded.
“Fine.”
Frank looked at David.
“You good?”
“Yes.”
Then Cole.
“Technical.”
Cole smiled.
“Obviously.”
Frank backed away.
“Go.”
Cole moved.
Fast.
He reached for a collar tie.
David redirected the wrist.
Cole reached again.
David moved half a step.
Three seconds.
Cole smiled.
He changed levels.
Touched David's shoulder.
Drove forward.
David gave ground.
Cole felt confidence return.
He stepped into a body lock.
David allowed his arms to close.
Cole locked his hands.
“There.”
David looked over his shoulder.
“At what?”
“Nowhere to go.”
David smiled.
“You keep deciding things too early.”
Cole stepped deep behind David's leg.
He planned a simple outside trip.
Controlled.
Easy.
Enough to put the older man on the mat.
Enough to make everyone laugh.
Cole shifted his weight.
David moved.
And the entire room suddenly understood that something was very wrong.
Thirty Seconds
Cole never saw the first move.
That was the part he would remember for the rest of his life.
He felt it.
But he didn't see it.
His right foot was stepping around David's leg.
His hips were driving forward.
His grip was tight.
Everything was where it was supposed to be.
Then David's left hand touched Cole's wrist.
Nothing more.
A touch.
Cole tried to finish the trip.
His balance disappeared.
Not completely.
Just enough.
His shoulder moved forward.
His hips moved backward.
His planted foot suddenly had no weight behind it.
David turned.
Cole's body followed.
Then the older man's hip bumped his.
Cole stumbled sideways.
He recovered immediately.
At least, he thought he did.
But the crowd had gone silent.
Cole looked at David.
“What was that?”
David's hands remained loose.
“Thirty seconds.”
“I know.”
“You asked me to show you.”
Cole's jaw tightened.
He stepped forward.
This time, he didn't attempt a takedown.
He grabbed David's wrist.
David rotated his hand.
Cole followed.
David stepped inside.
His forearm touched Cole's chest.
A short turn.
A shift of weight.
Cole's feet crossed.
He dropped to one knee.
The room exploded.
Someone gasped.
Someone else whispered, “What the hell?”
Cole immediately stood.
“No.”
David stepped back.
“Again?”
Cole's pride answered before his brain could.
“Yes.”
Frank stepped toward the ring.
“Cole.”
“I'm fine.”
“That's enough.”
Cole turned.
“I'm fine.”
Frank stared at him.
Then at David.
David said nothing.
Cole hated that most.
He wanted an argument.
David refused to give him one.
“Come on,” Cole said.
David shook his head.
“You're getting angry.”
“So?”
“So now it isn't technical.”
Cole laughed.
“Don't tell me how I feel.”
“I don't have to.”
David glanced at Cole's hands.
“You're making fists.”
Cole looked down.
His hands were clenched.
He opened them.
“Again.”
David sighed.
“Fine.”
Frank didn't look happy.
“Ten seconds.”
Cole nodded.
David raised his hands.
Cole rushed forward.
This time, there was no hesitation.
He attacked the body.