He’s going to kill me.
When I came to, I was curled on my side, coughing violently while air tore back into my lungs.
My chest heaved.
My throat burned.
For several seconds, I didn’t even understand where I was.
Derek stood over me casually retightening his belt.
“You’ve got to tap earlier, Sarah,” he announced loudly.
“Don’t let your ego get in the way.
In a real fight, nobody stops.”
I had tapped immediately.
He knew it.
Everyone knew it.
But the entire room looked away.
I pushed myself upright, humiliation burning hotter than the pain in my throat.
Then Derek cracked his knuckles.
“Who’s next?”
“I am.”
The voice was quiet.
But every head turned.
Cole stepped away from the cinderblock wall near the cubbies.
He wore a plain black rash guard and gray athletic shorts.
No military insignia.
No unit shirt.
No tattoos advertising where he had served.
Nothing about him revealed that the quiet man standing against the wall had once belonged to an elite U.S.
Army special operations unit.
He stepped barefoot onto the mat.
Derek looked him over and smirked.
“Sorry, buddy.
Class is full.”
Cole’s face never changed.
“She tapped,” he said.
“You held it four more seconds.
You put her out on purpose.”
The entire gym went silent.
Derek’s smile tightened.
“It’s a contact sport.
People get caught.”
Cole took one more step forward.
“Then let’s see how you handle it.”
Derek laughed.
“You even know how to grapple, tough guy?”
Cole said nothing.
That silence seemed to amuse Derek even more.
What Derek didn’t understand was that Cole had spent years being trained to stay calm when other people lost control.
He had been tested under exhaustion, pressure, fear, and conditions far more serious than anything inside Apex Grappling.
And after leaving the Army, he had deliberately buried that part of himself.
Tonight, he hadn’t come looking for a fight.
He had come to help his little sister move.
Then he watched a man deliberately choke her unconscious.
Derek dropped into a wide stance.
“All right,” he sneered.
“Timer’s running.
Let’s go.”
Cole slowly raised his hands.
There was no anger on his face.
That was the part that suddenly made me nervous.
Derek exploded forward, one massive hand reaching straight for my brother’s neck.
And for the first time that night, Cole moved.
