scars

Chapter eleven: Sibling bonding

We had been practicing for three days before Carlos drove me crazy it was getting hard to do without talking.

So we took a break I did the same for Ace he just stopped listening to anything I was trying to get him to do.

Alessandro took me to the doctor who said that given I had rested my voice and not angered the screw over the past week, I was allowed to talk. When I got home I changed into a workout outfit and headed to the home gym where I found Carlos.

"Ok, start your feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Lift your back foot heel up, and keep it lifted. Don't be "flat" footed. Point your toes in the direction of your punch. Pointing your feet away from your target will deliver a less forceful punch. Keep your knees bent. When you punch, your knees can then extend, giving your punch extra power. Use your hips to swing your torso back. Think of it like cocking a gun. Then unload by reversing your hip movement, swinging your torso towards the target." I instruct him he hits the dummy shaking is slightly but not getting his desired effect.

"Why can't I do the simplest thing?" Carlos said clearly frustrated.

"Make sure you exhale before you punch." I reminded him. "Lean your head over slightly, tuck your chin, and look at your target while punching. Try again." He exhaled to initially to calm his anger and then he repeated as I instructed him.

"Keep both your arm and fist relaxed until immediately before contact. As you feel contact with the opponent, tighten your fist. A relaxed fist will travel better through the air, but a tight fist will deliver more of a punch. Punch straight with your arm, not with an arc. You might be tempted to trace a long arc with your punch, but don't: Remember that your power comes from your hips and torso, not from the path of the arm. Don't cock back your hand or arm. This is called "telegraphing," or showing the opponent what you're going to be doing before you do it." I told him as he tried a third time.

"I did it, thank you!" Carlos said hugging me, as he left I heard Lorenzo chuckling.

"You have a real talent for teaching those who others deem unteachable, you said to Alessandro that you wanted to coach boxing how about we get you to train the recruits for our mafia, I watched you teach when you couldn't speak." He asked making me smile widely.

"I used to teach some of the other teens in juvie so I know how to deal with frustrated people." I told him.

"Can I get the directions to the gym where I trained Ace please. I owe him a lesson now I explain to him what I mean." I asked him politely, I had gotten my driving licence when I turned sixteen in Texas.

"I will text it to you if you want the keys to my Jeep are in the kitchen on the island." he said as I walked out to the hallway where my shoes had ended up. I ran upstairs to grab a jacket before leaving the house as well as my gym bag.

Leonard greeted me as I walked into the gym.

"Hey is Ace here?" I asked him kindly.

"He's in the back corner nice to hear you talking by the way." Leonard said kindly.

I walked over to where Ace was and tossed my bag to the side before removing my jacket.

"Okay, Ace I am going to go over how we are going to work now that I can speak to you, I expect you to listen to me if this doesn't go well then you will go back to the crappy teachers you had who deemed you unteachable. Rules, respect me and I respect you, if you don't get what I am saying ask me, don't be a cocky little shit or I will leave." I told him.

"Okay." He muttered in response, he hadn't looked me in the eye at all which is weird given last time he was all for the eye contact.

"Ace are you ok, can you look at me please?" I asked him calmly, he looked at me and I saw a nasty black eye. "WHO THE FUCK GAVE ACE A BLACK FUCKING EYE?" I shouted furiously.

I saw the majority of the gym look at me. "ALRIGHT DON'T OWN UP BUT THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIM REMOTELY HURT, NO ONE WILL SLEEP UNTIL I FIND OUT WHO THE FUCK DID IT, UNDERSTOOD." I shouted.

"Understood ma'am." the gym shouted back.

"Ok Ace do some stretches and warm up and then we will begin with punches." I told him completely calm.

He walked over to me and calmly stood waiting for further instructions.

"Start off by doing 12-15 reps of punches on one hand, and then switch to the other hand.   If you have an obvious weakness in one hand, focus on training that hand. In a fight, a smart opponent will try to exploit your weak side. Not giving him an exploitation point will make you a stronger fighter. Gradually increase the weight as you become accustomed to the lower weight. Increase your weight will make your arm-strength and speed increase without trying you will get knocked out." I instructed him, before repeating the same instructions I gave Carlos.

The two train and work very similarly if the age difference wasn't so massive between them they could spar against each other.

After me basically threatening a whole mafia I think ace finally realises how serious I was about everything I said to him.

I spent a good three hours training him before I needed to go home and take more pain meds so we called it a day.

I walked into the house feeling like shit the pain from being able to talk was making me nauseous.

I went to the kitchen grabbed my third meal of the day and downed all the pain meds I am allowed to take.

I sat next to Santiago at the table with my head rested against his arm.

"I think you should take it easy tomorrow, what do you think?" He said smiling at me.

"This hurts so much I am not going to teach anyone for a while. Or scream at a gym full of mafia men either." I mumbled.

"You did what?" Alessandro asked confused.

"The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but  one ."