The Heart of Tony Winters

by P. S. Power

  After that they fought a lot harder than Gary had managed with him. It wasn’t really that Neema was better than the other man, either. No, it was that she was trying harder against him than Gary had been. Working far closer to full strength, which was what they were supposed to be doing. He didn’t give up anything to her, which meant that she had to really struggle to try for a head and arm after about five minutes. It wasn’t great form, but he worked his hands, taking control of hers, then pushed them toward her face, as he stood up. It was so different that she didn’t know what to do.

  Leaving her lying there, looking at him in bafflement.

  Chase, rubbing at his smooth face, looked away.

  “Again. Neema, pay attention here.”

  It was a bit longer on the next engagement, with Tony being the one to get the lock going this time. The woman didn’t let him just have the arm bar or anything either. In fact she worked harder to prevent him from getting it than anyone ever had in class before. It worked, too. She turned it into a collar choke, using his gi against him. That meant he had to move one of her hands away as she managed to roll them both so that she was on the top.

  That meant using two hands on one, pushing to the side. It wouldn’t have worked if she could just punch him in the face, but they were grappling, which meant that she couldn’t do that inside the rules. Not that he wasn’t fighting like she might do that anyway. Finally, moving her weight to his left, he suddenly shifted, half sitting up to wrap her in a mounted guillotine. It wasn’t a great choke, from his position, but it did let him take top control again.

  Also ending up with his face on the mat, propping him up. It wasn’t comfortable, but reaching under his own body, he took his wrist and tried to lock it off, forcing his partner to tap or go unconscious. That wasn’t to be, since Neema was good. Using her legs she tried to break his hold and ended up pushing him away, keeping his wrists under control. That led to a wrap, which meant he was in a solid arm bar a few seconds later. It wasn’t impossible to get out of, but she tightened it fast and hard.

  That meant he was tapping out, laughing a bit, a few seconds later. It was either that or have his right arm broken.

  Chase nodded then, his face a bit blank.

  “Again?”

  This time Tony managed to make her tap out, using a reverse Kimura. It was a move that he’d never tried before in practice, but had been going over each night before bed. After that they didn’t do anything too interesting for a while. They both nearly got things going, but didn’t manage it before Chase patted them both on the shoulder to get them to stop.

  “Good job. Both of you, talk to me after this?” Then he had them split up to work with other people. That was interesting, since the next man was in great condition, had nearly a hundred pounds on Tony and a brown belt, which was a decent ranking. Higher than the blue that Tony had by two ranks. That didn’t mean that Anthony didn’t force him to tap several times in a row. The man actually started to get mad, his face turning red as he tried harder and used more strength. That made him less skillful, though Tony did get punched in the face twice before the guy realized that was cheating.

  He ignored it, just pulling the man closer, like he was supposed to in order to control the force of the move. At the end of that the man winced and shook his head.

  “Sorry. Damn… I guess I need to get a bit better? The blue belts are kicking my behind. Bad enough when Neema does it…” Chase walked over and patted the man on the shoulder a few times.

  There was a smile on his face.

  “Don’t feel too bad. Get with me and Neema in a few minutes, Roy. I’ll explain it. Gary, you too. Over here, after class?”

  What that was all about Tony didn’t know, but had an idea, since the general topic had been suggested to him before. These were probably the people that Raul had suggested he work with. For some reason he’d kind of assumed that they’d be white belts, or possibly fellow blue belts. That they weren’t was kind of interesting. He could kind of see the concept however. They were all good, which would mean that he just needed to find a way to push them all when they sparred. In different ways, each time.

  That would take some research, but knowing how they tended to fight, it should be possible to work out what to do for each of them.

  The large man who was in charge slapped him on the shoulder.

  “This is Tony Winters. Blue belt…” He grinned then as Neema gave him a tight lipped look.

  “My arse he’s a blue belt. If he was one you’d be handing him a black belt right now after that…” She glared a bit, as if that made sense.

  Chase nodded.

  “Can’t. He’s fifteen still. Until January. He’s also a professional MMA fighter. Raul Sousa asked him to work with you three over the next two months, before the big match. You don’t have to, of course. If you don’t, then you’re idiots, which none of you are. Mr. Sousa is also going to be working with you, if you’re in with his trainer for this.” That got everyone to go quiet.

  Probably because they couldn’t afford to hire Raul for that kind of thing. He was a coral belt after all, which was one of the highest ranks in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Honestly, it had to be sort of a hobby project for him, more or less. He made his money training people to fight in ways that earned him a daily fee. These people were all amateurs. Good grapplers, but it wasn’t going to make him anything to help them out. Tony either, true, but he didn’t expect that. His payment would be in helping other people.

  Which might be the same for Raul on this one.

  Gary nodded then.

  “I’m in. What’s the plan?”

  That got a shrug. These people would have jobs, of course, which would need to be worked around. Over the course of ten minutes they moved to the side and worked that part out. It meant that he had to write some things down, then blow right through what they expected from training with him.

  “We need to add in running for all of you. Weightlifting as well. You have two months, which means we can’t hit things too hard, since we don’t want to over-train you. Um…” He smiled, then shrugged. “Training, at least five days a week. You can all be here at six? So, until ten. Then you need to get right home and sleep. How are your diets?”

  Neema wasn’t bad, being that she actually ate fairly clean. Roy was a bit fat heavy, but Gary just ate what he wanted each day. It more or less worked for him, but had a lot of junk food inside of it. Sitting down on the floor, a white paper pad in his hand, he worked out what everyone needed to be eating. They didn’t have to lose a lot of weight or anything, but there was no excuse for them to be lazy that way. Not with only two months left.

  That would start the next day, which would mean running in the dark, since that was when they could all be there. Raul showed up at about seven, for the next class, smiling at them all. They were staying to work, which wasn’t just going to be with Tony.

  “Ah! You have already started? Good. Good. Now, everyone will work against Tony and I, observing. Let’s move to the side, so we do not bother the real students too much. Let’s start?”

  That was harder, since Tony ended up going up against Raul, who was without mercy when he worked against him. He used his full power and forced Anthony to improve in nearly real time. He was kinder with the others, especially with Neema.

  Shaking his aching left arm, he shook his head then kicked Raul gently in the leg.

  “No. Don’t go softer on her because she’s a girl. She’s good. Make her work.”

  There was a wince then, but the man did it after that. Neema didn’t get to look great, maybe, but she didn’t fold instantly either. It was hard to focus on, since he was working with Gary at the time, shortly after that. Roy called out that they all needed to work harder.

  “Especially you, Tony. You’re distracted…”

  Which was true.

  “Got it. Good call, Roy.” He did his job then, working a lot harder with Gary, who made it more difficult to just use good technique afte
r that. He had to use full power against what was probably eighty percent of the other man’s. Which hurt.

  The point was to push the others though and help them work with greater skill. It went on for a few hours, but they left at nine, since they were going to need to get used to the harder work schedule over a few days. After they left, Raul pounded him on the back with an open hand.

  “Not too bad of a start. We must push them much harder, over the next days and weeks. Their opponents will be doing the same. Neema has the most experience. Roy has some, but not as much as the others. He is thinking of going into MMA. I wish to see him pressed here first. He has the size and strength for it. His skills are good for an amateur, no?”

  That got a nod from Tony.

  “He knew to punch when he got pressed. Not great for a BJJ competition, but it will work for the rest of it. Plus, they’re all willing to show up for hours each day. I wasn’t sure that would happen. They normally practice what… Six hours a week?”

  That got a nod.

  “About that. Then, it is not their job. Just a hobby for them. I have some video for you to watch, if you are willing? In the morning, however. You need to go and rest now. So do I…” Then the man stopped and grinned at him. “Also, Nick and I are to be married next month. I can count on you to help with that? I’m sure there will be lifting, carrying and other such things needed. Possibly planning it all as well.”

  Anthony nodded.

  “You know it. All of us will be there for you. We need to get together for that planning… Um… Saturday? I think… No, Lexi has her fight. Unless you and Nick can get on the bus? That will give us hours to work on it. Plus… I think she could use the moral support. It’s her first pro-fight. Denny has been working with her. I need to go over some sparring with her as well. Um…”

  It was interesting, but even with all his new free time, he had constraints. With Lex it was that she worked five days a week and trained in the evenings. Which he was helping other people with as well after that night. After a bit he nodded.

  “Right. We can do both at once. I’ll work with Lexi and the others can go with you in the MMA room? Roy should be getting used to seeing that kind of thing and it won’t hurt to have Lex work with Neema on grappling, if that won’t hurt her training?” He meant Neema, of course.

  Raul shrugged.

  “At their levels? I doubt that any work will act against them, to be truthful. They are good people, but new to this.”

  It made some sense to him, once he thought about it. They needed to work and stress their skills, but it wasn’t like they were going pro in two months. They had time to learn and grow. The trick would be to spend most of their time doing what would help them all the most. Really, if he was smart about things it should be possible to get an hour in each night with Lexi for the next few days. He just needed to get food for dinner in a few minutes at about four-thirty. That was all.

  Nodding, he tilted his head.

  “So, um, what’s the color scheme? For the wedding?”

  That got the man to shrug, his face pleasant.

  “We have not decided as of yet. What do you recommend?”

  He didn’t know, but the idea was a good one, getting that kind of thing started.

  “What are your favorite colors? We’ll get those and work from there? I’m thinking cream and whatever those are? You’re both virgins, right? So we need lots of white, to show how pure you are.”

  Raul nodded.

  “But of course!”

  Then they laughed, which was nice. They didn’t have a lot of happiness around there just then.

  Chapter seven

  The next day was different than Tony had planned for. First of all, he went to check on Riley, which went about as well as possible. The other man was there to run, early, along with Mark and Nick. Ashley showed up at the gym, but stood there after the men started to jog away.

  Riley had his hand wrapped still, but had wiggled it a bit when Tony had asked. Showing that he was on the mend. Without bothering to talk about it.

  His brown haired friend giggled at their backs. It was nearly a husky chuckle, instead of mocking anyone.

  “I thought that I’d find you out here. We have a thing later today. At nine? In the morning. You don’t have to be there, but it’s kind of… Um, the conference call with the Nevada Gaming Commission? About the fight after my match, not the rest of it. Not the steroid test being covered up. That one… Honestly, these are some of the same people that are involved in that, at least possibly. I don’t know that they should be allowed to judge this one, but it’s what’s happening.”

  Anthony nodded. Part of him wanted to avoid talking to the authorities, but the other portion of his brain worked things out first. If it was being done at long distance, then chances were the ruling wasn’t planned to be too harsh. It wasn’t what he had planned for the day.

  Still, they were his friends and family, so he was going to be there for them. If nothing else, he could help them go on the run.

  “I’ll be there. Where?”

  “The big side room? It has a speaker phone. I… Thanks. I know this kind of thing might be hard for you.”

  That got him to smile at her, acting innocent. It was true, but he hadn’t figured that anyone would really have understood that kind of thing about him yet. The pieces of his story were out there, but to the best of his knowledge he’d never covered it with Ash in particular.

  “You do? How’s that?”

  There was silence, as his friend moved to walk inside the gym. It was a lot warmer there, the heat being turned on early, since it was actually cold out that day. Not freezing maybe, but the grass had frost on it.

  The woman smiled, her face less swollen now than the day before. There were still some bruises.

  “I pay attention. I also talked to your mother when she was here. That… I read between the lines, you know? How you were raised in places that most of us don’t even really know exist, outside of bad television shows. She also mentioned not liking the cops that much, which probably got passed along to you. She didn’t add that part, but you always get tense when they’re around. Then, apparently they kick you in the head a third of the time. That would pretty much do it, right?”

  Anthony nearly just smiled and didn’t comment, but it was close enough to true, so he nodded a bit sadly.

  “Yeah. I mean, I’ve seen some things go down in my life. Innocent people being arrested and even locked up, just because they were in the wrong place. It happens. I always managed to avoid that kind of thing, but it was close a few times. Once or twice I would have gone to prison for the things I was doing, if I’d gotten caught. Mainly acting as a drug courier, but you know, if anyone would have searched me, I’d be in lockup now. Probably being raped by a guard.” He was cute enough for that. On the good side, ninety percent of the time when boys were raped in prison it was by female guards.

  In the big leagues they were raped by other inmates, which had to be less easy to live with. From his understanding the women were just raped by everyone. No one really talked about it, but he’d heard enough to understand that it happened in real life. Thankfully that wasn’t the kind of thing he or his current friends had to deal with.

  Even if found guilty, the worst that would happen would be a short suspension. Probably not even that, from what he’d seen when he’d looked it up. Most of the time people were just given a fine. Sometimes they weren’t allowed to attend fights in Nevada for a few months, which would affect business, but not so much as to ruin anyone.

  Now, for steroids, the penalties were harsher most of the time. Fighters caught doing that would be kicked out for up to three or four years. Often the ban covered everyplace that they could legally fight in the U.S., which was pretty much the death of their fighting career. There was no way that Fox Rends would have anything after that. It was kind of a shame.

  The woman wasn’t a brilliant fighter maybe, but she tried hard and needed to earn eno
ugh money to live, like everyone else in the world. Even if she had to retire, she might have managed to do something else, like sports coverage or some kind of radio show. A trans ex-fighter had to be interesting to some people. That might not happen if she were seen as a criminal.

  Ash went off to do something different than what he had planned. That was to invade Rick’s office and use the screen there to watch some fights. He had a lot to cover. BJJ matches, as well as the one bout that they had from Lexi’s opponent in her coming fight. He did that first, with Rick coming in at about eight-thirty. His uncle looked a bit tired, but nodded when he noticed what Tony was doing.

  “You’re going to be sparring with Lexi later?”

  Tony smiled up at him, the chair he was in squeaking a bit as he did it. The thing was a bit old, but still mainly solid. The blue cover on it was newer than the frame, he thought.

  “I’m that obvious now?” He nodded though, trying to seem happy about it. “That’s right. Then I need to get up to speed on how grappling matches run as well. Raul has me working with some people from the night classes. They’re all pretty good, but we’re going to be doing some running and other things too. I know a bit about that, so it makes sense, right?”

  He didn’t really know that it did. It wasn’t exactly like he was an expert on anything. Still, if Raul was going to be helping them, along with Chase, then they had the team they needed. Tony could try to help them round things out. Taking directions and that sort of thing. So far they seemed like a solid team to him. Neema was, clearly, really good. Gary was probably a bit too nice with him, because Tony was smaller. That meant… Well, Raul could work with him pretty well. He was a bit lighter, but not that much. Fitness was the big deal there.

  Roy was in shape, at least as far as Tony could tell. Possibly not a runner. He was lean and had muscles. Power, too. Also a willingness to do whatever he had to. That wouldn’t work all the time on the mat, so they’d need to work on that. It wasn’t going to be that hard. He’d gotten frustrated working with Tony, at first, but after Neema had called Chase on things, he’d laughed it all off pretty well. Tony wasn’t a black belt, but he was a real fighter. It had made a difference to him.