"What the fuck is he doing…" I hear Tristan murmur from next to me. My eyes follow the commotion until they land on the pair that's sparring in the cage.
Or, theyweresparring. Now they're in each other's faces and shoving at each other's chests.
Kane, the new guy, and… Jax?
"What thefuckis wrong with you?" Jax is yelling, emphasizing his question with another shove to Kane's chest. "This isn't a fight, you asshole, I'm yourteammate!"
"Get the fuck off me," Kane growls, pushing Jax away. "This ain't ballet, man. If you didn't wanna get punched in the face, you shouldn't be stepping in the cage."
"Youbrokemynose!" Jax yells. And now that he mentions it, I can see the blood on his face. "Since when does 'drilling' translate to 'throw the first punch as hard as you can' in your brain?!" He steps forward to get in Kane's face again.
"Fuck you," Kane snaps, not backing down an inch. In fact, he does the opposite. He meets Jax in the middle, their noses almost pressed together. "If you suck at fighting, just say that."
Jax's eyes flash with fury, and an actual growl sounds from his throat. He looks like he's about to cock back and smash his fist into Kane's face, which is saying something because Jax is the chillest, nicest guy in here. This whole situation is insane.
Tristan intervenes before it can escalate any further. "Alright,enough!" he bellows. He puts himself between the two men and holds them both at arm's length. "Both of you, take a fucking walk.Now."
Jax shoves his best friend's hand off of his chest and scoffs once more at Kane. Then he rips his gloves off and walks out of the gym without another word.
I focus back on Kane as he throws his gloves as hard as he can against the cage. "Fuck!" he bellows. It's a sound of pure rage, an emotion that he clearly isn't capable of containing.
Before he can start punching the padded corners of the cage, Tristan demands his attention.
"Hey," he snaps. "I know you're new to this sport, and new to this place, but this isn't where you go to brawl, man. We're not street fighting in here. This is asport. We act likeathleteson the mat. Which means we use technique, and discipline, and good sportsmanship. We're not in here just to measure who has the biggest dick, you hear me?" Kane still hasn't looked at him or acknowledged anything, he's just glaring at nothing in particular and shifting his weight from foot to foot.
"Hey," Tristan snaps again, this time putting his face in front of Kane's and forcing the bigger man to meet his gaze. He does, and I can see the flames of anger licking at his pupils. His jaw clenches, and he looks like he's physically stopping himself from shoving Tristan away from him. "I saiddo you hear me?"
And either Kane is calming down, or he's realized that taking a shot at the second-in-command isn't a bright idea, because he nods once, stiffly.
"I want 150 burpees from you, right now," Tristan barks. "If I have to tire you out to burn that anger away then so be it. I have no problem making you start every session with a burnout."
Kane's jaw clenches again but then he launches into the exercise, jumping up before landing and dropping into a push-up position. Down for a push-up, then he's right back to jumping high. Over and over again, he keeps going.
"Emotional motherfucker,"Tristan mutters under his breath as he steps out of the cage and passes by me. "I swear to God, I don't even have this problem with the girls when they're trying to cut weight on their periods."
I glance back at the cage where Kane is still going through the motions, looking like he's barely even breaking a sweat. "You think he'll be alright?"
Tristan lets out a heavy exhale as he follows my gaze. "I really fucking hope so," he mutters. He studies Kane from where we're standing on the other end of the mat, his stare thoughtful. "Sometimes I forget that not everyone thinks of this sport as a privilege," he says quietly. "Sometimes people are so used to fighting for their lives that they automatically come out swinging when they feel trapped." He nods in Kane's direction. "I have no idea what made that boy so angry, but I really hope he figures it out before he hurts someone. Or himself."
* * *
We've barely finished training when I'm grabbing my phone.
Aiden: DANI
Aiden: What’re you doing right now?
Dani: Fighting the urge to throw my computer out the window
Aiden: Editing not going well?
Dani: Something like that
Dani: Boss gave me some changes to make and they’re next to impossible. I’d need magic software to make this happen.
Dani: Why the heated texts? What happened?
Aiden: I want to celebrate. Come over later?