Marcus looked toward Derek.
That had not been part of the plan.
“Derek.”
Derek lowered the microphone.
“What?”
Marcus shook his head.
“No circus.”
“It’s fun.”
Ryan smiled.
“I’m fine with it.”
Marcus was not.
Before he could answer, Jacob’s father called from the side:
“Maybe let the kid you just twisted up have another shot.”
The crowd laughed.
Ryan’s smile changed.
Jacob looked horrified.
“Dad.”
Ryan pointed toward him.
“I didn’t twist anybody up.”
Samuel spoke from the back.
“He said easy twice.”
The room shifted.
Ryan looked toward the voice.
“Who said that?”
Samuel stepped forward just enough to be seen.
“I did.”
Ryan looked him over.
Old farmer.
Dusty boots.
Denim shirt.
Tan cap.
Ryan glanced toward Jacob.
“You know him?”
Jacob shook his head.
“No.”
Ryan looked back at Samuel.
“You there for the round?”
“No.”
“Then what’s your point?”
Samuel answered:
“My point is when a training partner says easy, you adjust.”
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
“I did.”
Jacob looked down.
Samuel noticed.
“So did he.”
“What?”
“He looked down when you said that.”
Ryan glanced toward Jacob.
The teenager immediately looked away.
Derek sensed tension.
And tension made better content than technique.
He lifted the microphone.
“Sounds like we’ve got ourselves a coach in the crowd.”
People laughed.
Samuel did not.
Marcus watched him more carefully.
Something about the old man’s posture bothered him.
Not threatening.
Familiar.
But he could not place it.
Ryan said:
“You train?”
Samuel shrugged.
“Used to.”
There it was.
The sentence every cocky competitor loves.
Used to.
Ryan smiled.
“What?”
“Karate in 1978?”
Laughter.
Samuel looked at him.
“No.”
Ryan waited.
Samuel did not elaborate.
Derek stepped closer.
“Come on, sir.”
“Thirty seconds.”
“Champ says light.”
Samuel shook his head.
“No.”
Ryan spread his arms.
“Why not?”
“Because I didn’t come here to entertain people.”
The crowd made a small sound.
Ryan heard disrespect where Samuel had offered a boundary.
Derek heard content.
He lowered the microphone and whispered toward Ryan.
“Get him out there.”
Ryan frowned.
Derek leaned closer.
“Two-thousand-dollar appearance bonus if you make the old guy tap inside thirty.”
Marcus heard enough.
His expression hardened.
“Absolutely not.”
Derek looked at him.
“It’s an exhibition.”
“You just offered him money to humiliate a seventy-year-old man.”
Samuel corrected from several feet away:
“Seventy.”
Everyone looked at him.
Samuel added:
“Birthday was last month.”
A few people laughed.
Marcus did not.
Ryan said:
“I wouldn’t hurt him.”
Samuel looked toward Jacob.
“That what you told him?”
Ryan’s face flushed.
Jacob’s father stood.
“Hey.”
Marcus raised a hand.
“Everybody stop.”
He turned toward Samuel.
“Sir, you don’t owe anybody a demonstration.”