Page 94 of Main Event

Brandon nods and then looks at the fighters.

In the ring, Luke is doing something different from the first two rounds. Smaller movements. Cutting angles I haven’t seen him use before. Reyes’s work is visible in real time.

“He’s adjusting,” Brandon says.

“Yes,” I say. “He’s reading his opponent.”

I watch Luke, and I watch my phone, and I hold both of them.

LUKE

Round five is where it changes.

Vega has figured out that I’m not going to chase him, so he starts coming forward—bringing the fight to me because standing and waiting isn’t working. Which is exactly what I wanted. A reactive Vega is different from a patient one.

His right hand comes off the jab in the third combination of the round. I’ve been waiting for it since round one. I slip it, come underneath, and land the body shot that Reyes has been building into my muscle memory for twelve weeks.

Vega covers. Steps back.

First time he’s stepped back.

The crowd feels it before I do—the subtle shift in the arena’s sound when something has changed. I don’t acknowledge it. I follow. Cut the angle the way sparring with Castillo taught me and make Vega work in a direction he doesn’t prefer.

Bell.

When I’m in my corner, Reyes looks me in the eye and says, “There it is. Now do it again.”

ANDI

Round seven.

I get a text from Bill, but I wait until the bell between rounds six and seven to look at it.

Someone is outside Daniel’s hotel room. Not hotel staff. The attorney is calling security.

My stomach drops.

I type back.

How many?

One. Security is responding.

Brandon feels the change in me before I say anything. He leans slightly left.

“Daniel,” I say. Barely a sound.

“How bad?”

“One person outside his room. Security responding.”

We watch the fight. Luke is doing something remarkable in the seventh round. I can see it clearly, even if I can’t name the exact combination Reyes taught him. After all the years I’ve spent with Pop in the gym, I can see the difference in how he’s found his rhythm and is now operating from within it rather than searching for it.

My phone vibrates with another text.

Security removed the individual. No confrontation. Daniel is fine. Attorney confirms.

I exhale.