Page 79 of My Family

He has to say that every time the two of them go against each other.

Reed's mouth twitches, mean. "Sure thing, sir."

"Touch gloves," Griff says.

They do. Tyler's eyes are locked on Reed's chest. Reed's eyes are on Tyler's face, and there's something in that gaze I can't fully read behind that Joker smile.

Reed throws the first jab, lazy, testing. Tyler slips it easily, moves left, circles. Good footwork. Ethan nods almost imperceptibly from beside me.

"That all you got, rookie?" Reed says, loud enough for the room to hear. "Thought your brother trained you."

Tyler doesn't answer. He throws a jab-cross combination that snaps against Reed's guard with surprising force. Reed blinks, surprised, or just annoyed that the hit landed.

The next exchange is faster. Reed closes the distance, cutting off Tyler's angles, forcing him toward the edge of the mat. Tyler ducks a hook, spins out, resets. Smart. But Reed's already there, already adjusted, and his body shot catches Tyler in the ribs hard enough to make him wince.

"Light sparring," Griff repeats, an edge in his voice.

Reed lifts his hands, palms out, the universal gesture of innocence. "That was light."

Ethan huffs, annoyed.

Tyler rolls his jaw, resets his stance, and comes back harder than before. A three-punch combination, jab, cross, hook, that makes Reed actually have to move his feet. The hook grazes Reed's jaw, just barely, and something shifts in Reed's eyes. His nostrils flare.

"Lucky," Reed says.

"Wasn't luck," Tyler says, and it's the first thing he's said since they touched gloves. "You'll have to admit I'm good."

Reed smiles then, slow and sharp, the kind of smile that would make most guys in this facility take a step back. Tyler doesn't step back. He squares up, chin tucked, hands high, and waits.

What follows is two minutes of the most intense sparring I've ever seen between two people who aren't supposed to be trying to kill each other. Reed comes forward with combinations he's pulling just enough to keep within the rules. Tyler absorbs some, slips others, and fires back with a speed that makes Reed work harder than I've seen him work against anyone except Ethan and Griff.

There's a moment where Reed catches Tyler's jab, controls the wrist for half a second, and pulls him in close. Their faces are inches apart. Reed says something I can't hear, something meant only for Tyler, and whatever it is makes Tyler's face go red. Not embarrassment red. Fury red.

Tyler rips his hand free and throws an uppercut that Reed barely gets out of the way of. If it had landed, light sparring would've become a dental emergency.

"Time!" Griff barks. "Separate."

They don't separate immediately. They stand there, almost chest to chest, breathing hard, Tyler's jaw locked so tight I can see the muscles jumping, Reed looking down at him with that infuriating half-smile that says I got under your skin and we both know it.

"I said separate," Griff repeats, his voice dropping to the register that means consequences.

Reed steps back first, hands raised again, still smiling. "Good round, rookie," he says.

Tyler pulls out his mouthguard and walks to the water fountain without looking back. His hands are shaking.

I've seen Ethan do that exact same thing. Walk away rather than escalate, jaw locked, hands shaking. Brothers.

Ethan watches the whole thing with an expression I know well, trying to decide whether he needs to interfere. Griff would kill him, of course, so he stays put. He wants to say something to Reed, I can see it in the way his body angles toward him, but he doesn't. Because this is Tyler's fight, Tyler's space, and Ethan's learning, slowly, painfully, that protecting someone and fighting their battles for them are not the same thing.

I catch Tyler's eye as he passes me on the way back from the fountain. He gives me a tight nod that says, I'm fine. Don't. Then he drops onto the mat beside Ethan, who hands him a towel without a word.

The language of brothers.

I look away, giving them the moment.

"Marsal. Hoffman. You're up."

My stomach drops through the floor.