Path To Redemption (Fighter's Den, #1)

Chapter 3 - Jaxon

"Go long!" I yelled at Sammy, letting the football fly off my fingers with a flick of my wrist and watched it effortlessly spiral towards the direction he ran. With a slight leap, he stretched his arms out and caught the football after it thudded against his chest.

"Nice!" I called out encouragingly. Sam gave me a mischevious grin.

"I know." He said cockily, eyes glittering with amusement.

I rolled my eyes but with a smile on my face. Little shit. I gestured my hands towards myself, signaling him to pass it back. He leaned his body back and launched his weight forward as his arm smoothly projectiled the ball towards me. It fell a little short but I dived low and caught it mere inches from the ground.

"What a save!" Sam yelled, pumping his fist in the air. It was my turn to give a cocky grin.

"I know." I smirked, throwing his words back at him. We both laughed and proceeded to mimic cheering, cupping our hands around our mouth and exhaling roughly.

"The Cage brothers are fucking awesome!" He exclaimed and I clamped down my smile to glare at him.

"Language!" I barked, with a swift thwack to the back of his head.

"What?" He complained, as he rubbed the back of his head while laughing. "You say that all the time."

"Cause I'm 25 and you're what? 12?

"14, asshole." He smarts, which earns him another slap.

"You're still too young to swear."

"You were like 11 when I was born and I swear all you did was cuss at the time." He snorts.

I lock my arm around his head, taking my other hand to roughly rub my knuckles across his head.

"Tough shit," I said through my laughter while he struggled to get out.

Surprisingly, he swiftly jabbed an elbow to my stomach and I bent over from the sudden blow. I never saw his legs coming as they shot out to brush under mine and I landed on my ass with a grunt. I looked up to where he was hovering over me, startled, as he looked down with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Where the fuck did you learn that?" I asked in equal pride and astonishment.

"The boxing club I've been going to, man." He smiled wider and reached out a hand to help me up. I brushed my jeans off once I was righted and clapped a hand on his shoulder, still in a bit of awe.

'You're good, bud."

"That's what Coach said," He beamed and I was glad he had something to be happy about. Leaving mom and dad behind was a tough decision but it had to be done and the life we had so far wasn't exactly ideal.