Chapter 2 - The Name She Used In That Gym
Maya had been training at Keller Combat for sixteen months.
I had known for exactly fourteen hours.
That alone should have embarrassed me enough to keep my mouth shut.
It did not.
“Sixteen months?”
I was standing outside the gym when she said it.
Keller had finally demanded we leave.
I agreed because the alternative was letting Cody, Noah and half the gym turn a family argument into entertainment.
Maya was still at the hospital waiting for discharge.
“You knew I trained.”
“I knew you took boxing classes.”
“I told you that because you'd make this face if I said MMA.”
“What face?”
“The one you're making.”
I stared through the gym windows.
Cody was arguing with Keller near the cage.
Noah stood off to one side.
“Nobody called me when you started competing.”
“I didn't compete under Hale.”
I went still.
“What name?”
“Brooks.”
Her mother's maiden name.
“Why?”
“You know why.”
I did.
I simply didn't enjoy knowing.
Three years earlier Maya had fought in a small amateur kickboxing event.
I didn't attend.
I told her I had spent too much of my life training people to hurt other people and didn't intend to clap while my daughter volunteered for the same experience under brighter lights.
I had thought that sounded principled.
She had heard something else.
Your sport embarrasses me.
Your judgment is worse than mine.
You don't get to decide what strength looks like.
She fought anyway.
Stopped inviting me afterward.
“Maya.”
“Don't apologize on the sidewalk because you think the gym is listening.”
I glanced through the glass.
She knew me too well.
“What were you supposed to be doing yesterday?”
“A meeting.”
“With who?”
“A promoter named Dana Ruiz.”
“For a fight?”
“For a development deal.”
My stomach tightened.
“You were going pro.”
“I was considering it.”
“You didn't tell me.”
“No.”
“Your mother would've—”
“Don't.”
I stopped.
Maya's mother, Claire, had been dead seven years.
I still used her sometimes when I wanted backup in an argument.
Maya hated it.
Correctly.
She continued.
“Dana was coming to watch some technical work, then we were going to talk.”
“With Cody?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“A woman my size from another gym.”
I looked through the glass again.
Cody outweighed Maya by at least twenty pounds and had been fighting professionally for years.
“So how did Cody end up there?”
“Vince told me Dana had pushed the meeting.”
“Did she?”
“I found out this morning she never did.”
That opened another question.
I looked at the gym doors.
“Maya, did Keller tell Cody you asked for him?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Cody said it before we started.”
“What exactly?”
She hesitated.
“He said, ‘You wanted the real version, you got me.’”
“And you still sparred him?”
Silence.
“Maya.”
“I thought Vince was testing me.”
“For what?”
“For whether I was ready to leave.”
That answer annoyed me.
“That's insane.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew Cody was bigger.”
“Yes.”
“More experienced.”
“Yes.”
“And you agreed anyway.”
“Yes.”
I rubbed my forehead.
She heard it.
“Don't do that.”
“What?”
“Turn me into somebody who wandered into traffic.”
“I’m trying to understand why you got in there.”
“Because I wanted Dana's offer and because Vince had spent a year telling me I wasn't ready without him.”
I leaned against my truck.
“And you wanted to prove him wrong.”
“Yes.”
That part, at least, I understood.
Too well.
Then she said:
“I agreed to one controlled round.”
“What changed?”
“Cody.”
I waited.
“And Vince.”
“What did Keller say?”
“He told Cody I wanted it hard.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Did Cody know that?”
“I don't know.”
I watched Cody through the window.
He had stopped arguing.
He was staring at Keller now.
Then the gym door opened.
Noah stepped outside.
He looked at my phone.
“Maya?”
“Yes.”
His voice softened.
“You okay?”
“I'll live.”
Noah closed his eyes briefly.
Then looked at me.
“Keller wants me to say Cody misunderstood.”
Maya asked:
“Did he?”
Noah didn't answer.
She continued.
“Noah.”
He looked back through the glass.
“No.”
I straightened.
“What happened?”
Noah lowered his voice.
“Vince told Cody before you came out that you'd been running your mouth about him.”
Maya went silent.
“What?”
“He said you told Dana Cody was all hype and no discipline.”
Maya laughed once.
“I've barely spoken to Dana.”
Noah nodded.
“I know.”
Cody had been told Maya insulted him.
Maya had been told Cody was an evaluation.
Two people entered the same cage carrying different reasons.
I looked at Noah.
“Why?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know.”
From inside the gym, Keller shouted:
“Noah!”
Noah did not turn around.
Maya's voice came through my phone.
“I know why.”
I waited.
May you like
She said:
“Because I told Vince the night before that I was leaving his management whether Dana signed me or not.”
