Byron rose slowly. He picked up the chair, then the ruined sandwich, and placed both near the wall. He did not look at the camera. Colt stepped in front of him and told him to get out because he was making the gym smell bad. When Nora entered from the striking room, she saw Byron holding the wrapped remains of his lunch and Colt leaning toward him with a grin that did not reach his eyes.
"He has a right to take his break," Nora said. "You knocked him down."
"Stay out of it, Nora," Colt replied. "Nobody asked the backup coach."
Wade arrived in time to see the camera still recording. He looked at Colt, then at Byron, and made the same calculation he had made many times before. Colt's audience was valuable. Byron's hourly wage was an expense. Wade told the older man to apologize for disrupting filming. Nora stared at Wade as though she had misheard him.
Byron understood there was no use arguing with a man who had already chosen the result. "I'm sorry the session was interrupted," he said quietly. Colt cupped a hand behind his ear and ordered him to repeat it louder. Byron did, his voice steady but thinner than before. Colt patted him on the shoulder and called him a good boy. The crew laughed again, and Wade walked off satisfied that he had defused a problem.
When they were gone, Byron remained in the hallway. His knee hurt, but the shaking in his right hand frightened him more because he knew where it came from. He had felt that response during moments when people younger than he had needed him to remain calm despite terrible provocation. Here there was no immediate danger requiring a response, only contempt and cameras. He breathed slowly until he could unclench his hand.
Nora found him ten minutes later. She handed him a bottle of water and leaned against the wall without asking whether he was all right. Sometimes that question felt like a demand to perform recovery for another person's comfort. Byron appreciated that she did not make it. After a while, he said, "The boy has good timing." Nora looked at him and answered, "He should have better judgment."
He almost smiled at that. They stood together a little longer before Byron returned to his post. He had not told Nora that he knew exactly how quickly he could have stopped Colt's kick. He did not tell her because that knowledge was not the victory he wanted. He wanted to earn his wages without having to defend his dignity every night, and he was beginning to understand that the gym was not going to let him do either peacefully.