Passing His Guard

He wadded his clothes in his hand and had the decency to hold them over his groin as he shuffled toward Marcus, the self-appointed doorkeeper. The old man was tough as nails and hard on his fighters, but that was nothing compared to the bear he’d become since his niece, Katie Miller, had taken a rather abrupt and unexpected departure back home to Wisconsin. Not that Aiden let it stop him from kicking the hornet’s nest as he passed the guy, knowing full well he was going to pay for it once they hit the gym.

“Whoring implies there was payment for services rendered. That right there was for free. YOLO . . .”

CHAPTER

2

Fff-fff . . . fff-fff . . . fff-fff . . . Aiden exhaled in succinct time with his punches as they co

“You heard from Katie yet?” Aiden asked before laying another round of rapid punches into the bag.

“Nope.”

Fff-fff . . . fff-fff . . . fff-fff . . . “You go

“Nope.”

Fff-fff . . . fff-fff . . . fff-fff . . . “You wa

“Nope.”

Aiden didn’t envy his friend. Easton was going through some tough shit right now, and it didn’t help that he’d fallen for his physical therapist, who just happened to be his coach’s niece. What he wouldn’t give to know what happened between those two to send that gorgeous woman ru

Fff-fff . . . fff-fff . . . fff-fff . . . “You know you’re a fucking idiot, right?”

“Yep.”

“Kruze!” Coach bellowed across the gym. “Warm-up time is over, dickhead! Del Toro is here! Get your ass in the ring!”

“You really pissed Coach off,” Cole muttered, unhelpfully stating the obvious.

Fff-fff . . . fff-fff . . . fff-fff . . . “Yep.”

“Looks like I’m not the only fucking idiot around here.”

Del Toro was putting his mouth guard in place when Aiden slipped between the ropes. Heading to the opposite corner, he took a moment to stretch out a cramp in his calf muscle. Shit, he must be dehydrated. So, admittedly it probably hadn’t been the best idea to drink a bottle of Jägermeister and then head back to his hotel for a threesome. But what the hell, right? He grabbed his bottle of Gatorade and drained it before tossing it into the trash near the lockers. “You see that, old man? Nothing but net,” he proudly proclaimed, raising his arms in the air as if he’d just won the middleweight title.

Marcus rolled his eyes, but the twitch of his top lip told Aiden the cranky-ass was trying really hard to stay mad at him. Not a feat easily accomplished when he turned on his charm.

“Nice shot, Disco,” Del Toro called, stepping into the center of the ring and knocking his gloved fists together a couple of times, the universal language for Get your ass over here and let’s do this. Nikko “the Bull” Del Toro was no fucking joke. The guy could pound—and if you didn’t have good stand-up, the Bull would pound your ass into the mat.

“Thanks, man.”

“Too bad that’s the only shot you’re go

“We’ll see about that,” Aiden muttered before slipping in his mouth guard.

Easton took a seat next to Marcus, and they whispered back and forth, their eyes locked on him. “Let’s see what you’ve got,” Coach called out, signaling him to get the show on the road. Del Toro wasted no time assuming his fighting stance: knees bent, arms up, and fists clenched. He swung for Aiden, narrowly missing his jaw.

Motherfucker . . .

“He’s got a long reach!” Easton yelled, “Don’t let him range you!”

Del Toro dropped his guard, and Aiden couldn’t resist. He shot in as Cole yelled from the sideline, “Dammit, he’s baiting you!”

But it was too late. He swung for Del Toro’s face as the fighter’s arm came up, deflecting the blow, which left Aiden open to take an uppercut. The blow to his jaw was fast and solid. It rocked him back a couple of steps and sent a few stars bursting behind his eyes.

“Fuck!” Easton yelled from the sideline. “Are you still drunk, Kruze?”

Maybe . . .

“Because that is the oldest shit in the book and you just fell for it. You do that in the cage two nights from now and you are going to lose this fucking fight!”

Well, that right hook killed the remainder of Aiden’s buzz and effectively pissed him the hell off. He tipped his head to the left, then to the right, cracking his neck back into place, and then nodded to Del Toro, silently complimenting his striking. The fighter gave him an arrogant, lopsided grin and relaxed his stance, confidence overruling common sense. Kruze took a step forward and wobbled just enough to incite Del Toro’s famed killer instinct. But when the Bull came for him this time, Aiden was ready. He ducked as the powerful fist came at him and brought his leg up, sending a hook kick slamming into Del Toro’s ribs. Air whooshed from the guy’s lungs, the momentum sending him forward just enough to bring his face in line with Aiden’s fist. He slammed an uppercut into the Bull’s jaw that took the fighter to his knees.

“Stop, goddammit!” Cole yelled, voice booming off the metal rafters, as he jumped to his feet. “Do either of you two assholes know the meaning of the word spar? If you want to kick each other’s asses, save it for the cage!” He turned to Del Toro and pointed at Aiden. “He has a fight in two days! I don’t want him stepping into that ring with a fucking concussion! And you—” He turned his wrath on Aiden. “Del Toro is training for a rematch with Ke

“Oh, shit . . .” Coach muttered, no doubt wishing he hadn’t handed Aiden’s training over to the light-heavyweight champion. “Katie is going to have my ass.”

Cole pi

Aiden didn’t miss the accusation in that snarled growl or the guilty grimace on Marcus’s face.

Cole climbed into the ring with a surprising amount of agility for a guy who hadn’t even been able to walk six months ago. He’d taken an illegal flying side kick to the back after wi

Del Toro pulled off his open-mitt gloves and slapped them into Cole’s waiting hand. He shot Aiden a sucks to be you smirk and rose to his feet.

“Go get those ribs checked out,” Easton told the fighter before turning his full attention to Aiden. “Now I don’t have a guard in, so if you hit me in the fucking mouth, I’ll kill you.” That being said, the Beast of the East knocked his gloves together and they squared off.