“You asked him if he wanted a round.”
Derek’s eyes widened slightly.
It was happening.
The room had spent months orbiting around his moods.
Now the gravity was disappearing.
“You people serious?” Derek demanded.
Nobody answered.
Cole turned away.
That might have been the end of it.
It should have been.
But Derek could not survive being ignored.
He rushed Cole from behind.
I screamed his name.
“Cole!”
My brother turned just as Derek slammed into him.
They crashed to the mat.
This time there was nothing controlled about Derek’s attack.
He drove his forearm toward Cole’s throat.
Cole caught it.
Derek tried to mount.
Cole trapped one leg.
Derek punched him in the ribs.
The room erupted.
“Hey!”
“Stop!”
Mark moved forward, then froze.
Cole didn’t.
In less than three seconds, the position reversed.
Derek went from top control to being flat on his stomach with Cole kneeling beside him.
Cole trapped both wrists.
Derek thrashed.
Nothing happened.
He tried to buck.
Nothing.
He tried to roll.
Nothing.
Cole wasn’t squeezing his neck.
Wasn’t twisting his joints.
Wasn’t hurting him.
He was simply holding him there.
Derek roared with rage.
“Get off me!”
Cole leaned closer.
“Tap.”
Derek froze.
The word was deliberate.
“Go to hell.”
“Tap.”
“Get off!”
Cole waited.
Derek finally slapped the mat three times.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Cole released him instantly.
Not four seconds later.
Not one second later.
Immediately.
The symbolism was so obvious nobody needed to explain it.
Derek stayed facedown for several seconds.
When he finally pushed himself upright, the gym was silent.
Cole extended a hand.
Derek stared at it.
Then
slapped it away.
“You think you proved something?”
Cole stood.
“No.”
He walked toward me.
“I think you did.”
Derek looked around the gym.
No one would meet his eyes.
Cole crouched beside me.
“You dizzy?”
“A little.”
“Nauseous?”
“No.”
“Vision okay?”
“Yes.”
He gently tilted my chin and inspected the bruising.
His jaw tightened.
“We’re going to urgent care.”
“I’m fine.”
“You were unconscious.”
“I’m fine.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
