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few times he throws a
punch into the mitt. His arm recoils instantly but another from his
other hand follows. Encouragement from Carlo pushes him to
continue.
    His body falls
into a familiar routine of moving and throwing hits. All the while
Carlo exclaims, “Great, get lower, Grey or hit harder.”
    He loses
himself as he has so many times before while training. The movement
of his muscles becoming something he’s missed for so long now. The
drone of Carlos’ encouragement is pushing him on. He dances with
the mitts as if they are his opponent, trying to judge the next
move or step they’ll take.
    After an hour
an audience has gathered around the ring. Parker among them calls
out, “It looks like I might be up for a challenge.”
    Carlo shushes
him, “Harris, I told you to leave it alone. You don’t know Grey, if
you keep prodding, he’ll get you when you least expect it.”
    Parker laughs,
“That’s what I’m counting on Carlo.”
    Greylan stops
for a moment distracted by the banter. He looks over at Carlo, then
past his shoulder to Parker. He waves Parker into the ring. Carlo
shakes his head protesting, “Grey, he’s pro now. You aren’t ready
yet. Give it time.”
    Greylan
watches Parker come around him while fitting his head into his
gear. Greylan removes his mouth guard, glances over to Carlo and
states, “This’ll be a good crash course for me. Catch me up on what
I’ve been missing.” He looks on to Parker and continues, “And it’ll
give me a place to take out my anger at him for living with my
sister.”
    He fits the
guard back into his mouth as laughter and ribbing at Parker erupts
from the other people in the gym watching the scene.
    Greylan hits
his black gloves against Parker’s red ones. They rotate around each
other once, twice, three times before Greylan throws the first
punch at Parker’s face. Parker’s arm comes up in an instant
blocking the contact. His other hand rounds to the side of
Greylan’s face forcing it in the other direction. His head moves
with the contact. His feet stagger back a moment before he regains
his stance. A deep breath and he moves around Parker again. This
time he lands a roundhouse kick in Parker’s side. It barely affects
him though. A step backward and he’s surging back at Greylan with a
casting punch but Greylan is expecting it and he moves maneuvering
into a clinch, with his arms wrapped around Parker’s chest. Parker
grasps him around the back and moves throwing him down onto the
mat. Greylan struggles and loses his grasp around Parker as he
lands on his back. Parker lands on top of him.
    Carlo calls
out, “I told you Grey, he’s fast. But remember this is the dude
that is sleeping with your sister.”
    Carlo’s words
have the effect he had intended. Greylan moves his legs up in a
triangle grasp around Parker’s head and arm. But taking Greylan by
surprise, Parker comes down on him with an elbow in the gut causing
his legs to loosen. Parker maneuvers to the side an instant later
and Greylan plays right into his plan. He slides to a sitting
position but Parker is too fast. His arms come around him from
behind in a choke forcing his forearm into Greylan’s windpipe.
Greylan realizes he’s done so he taps Parker on the arm. Parker
releases him and stands helping Greylan to his feet. Carlo climbs
up onto the mat shaking his head, “I told you Grey, he’s fast. You
need a lot more training to grapple with this one.”
    Greylan has
anything but hard feelings toward Parker. Yes, Carlo’s comment
about Trinity was a low blow and pisses him off because it’s
probably true, but being on the mat again, has helped him come to
the conclusion that this is not something he can so easily give up.
Fighting is something he needs, almost as much as he needs to
breathe.

A soft sound
echoes through his thoughts. He winces and his whole body shakes
with the realization of what the noise is. He opens his eyes
staring at the ceiling. Theodore James’ lifeless