by Lucy Smoke
I scrunched up my nose. “I don’t want to break anything,” I said.
He laughed. “I’m not saying you have to.” Texas looked at me and then, he turned his gaze away. “But that doesn’t mean you should keep it all bottled up either.”
Silence descended around us. Then… “Do you still break things?”
“All the time,” he admitted. “Not because I’m angry, though, usually. I don’t get angry as much anymore – though it still happens.”
“What do you do when you get angry now then?” I asked, turning to look up at him.
Texas’ face pinched tight for a moment as he stared across the room. “How about I tell you later?” he offered. I blinked at him as he started to pull away and get up. “I’m gonna go get some rest, we’ve got an early day tomorrow.”
“Right,” I huffed. “Extra training.”
“It really was a lenient punishment,” Texas said with a smirk.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” I shot back as he opened my bedroom door and stepped out.
With a chuckle, he leaned back in. “I just bet you will, Princess.”
Chapter 10
I yawned, my jaw cracking as I sat in the back of the SUV. Bellamy and Texas sat up front, but Bellamy seemed to be the only one even half awake. I was pretty sure I could hear Texas snoring from his seat. The haze of the early morning dawn was a blur to my eyes as I stared, unblinking, out the window at the passing cars and buildings.
“No one ever told me we’d be getting up at the asscrack of dawn,” I commented.
Bellamy flicked a gaze up at the rearview mirror. “You must really be tired,” he said.
“Why do you say that?” I asked. I couldn’t dispute it. Right then, another yawn swept through me nearly breaking my face in half. It left me blinking furiously through clumped lashes and teary, tired eyes. I sniffed and turned to face him through the mirror as well.
He shrugged. “You never cuss.”
“I cuss sometimes,” I said. “It’s not like I think it’s a bad thing.”
“No, I guess not,” he replied.
Texas snorted and shifted in his seat and I shook my head, returning my gaze to the window. I had no clue where my “extra training” would be held, but Bellamy had shown up at my door that morning with a cup of coffee in hand and told me to dress comfortably. The coffee hadn’t done much, but at least I had heeded him. I was dressed down in a pair of slimming nylon running pants and a soft, dark green t-shirt. Both Bellamy and Texas were dressed in dark gray sweatpants and matching black t-shirts that simply read, Staff.
Soon enough we pulled up to what looked like a large soccer field. My eyes scrunched down in confusion, but I didn’t say anything as Bellamy parked in a gravel lot next to several other cars. I couldn’t even tell what we were doing based on the rest of the cars. There were beaten up pick-up trucks, but there were also a few expensive looking convertibles and classic impalas. I got out next to Texas’ door and realized he was still sleeping.
I shook my head and, with a sigh, gently opened his door. He started when his head slipped off of the window. “Are we there?” He asked around a yawn.
“Yeah.” I looked around. “Wherever there is.”
Texas didn’t reply. Instead, he unclipped his seatbelt and rolled out of the SUV. I turned away and headed towards the back of the SUV where Bellamy waited. I could hear Texas stretching out the kinks in his muscles behind us. I checked my phone and it told me that it was just nearing 8 am.
“You won’t need that while you’re here,” Bellamy said, holding his hand out. “If you want, I’ll take it.”
“Uh, can I just put it in the car?” I asked.
Texas or Knix I wouldn’t mind holding my phone, but because I knew there were still texts from Grayson on there, I didn’t want Bellamy to get mad if he saw them. Not that he would go looking through my phone. Oh geez. I hoped he didn’t think that I thought that. But he only shrugged.
I slipped my phone into the pocket on the back of the front passenger seat and shut the door as Bellamy locked it with the key fob. Texas rushed by, his hand coming out and slapping my ass as he passed by. I whirled around and glowered at him. He laughed and ran straight around Bellamy. I walked at a slower pace, continuing my seething glare.
“Looks like he’s awake,” I grumbled as I stepped up next to Bellamy.
Bellamy laughed. “Looks like it.” He looked down at me. “Come on,” he said, “let’s get going.”
“Going?” I asked.
He turned me so that I faced the same direction that Texas had gone. “Start running,” he said.
I groaned but did as he told me to. I followed after Texas, and Bellamy kept pace with me. I didn’t know where we were running to, but eventually we found an actual running trail in the woods alongside the soccer field. The guys didn’t let up.
I didn’t know how long we had been at it when Texas finally slowed enough that we were all running alongside each other. Bellamy cut a glance over at Texas. “How much further do you think?” Bellamy asked.
Texas huffed. “Probably not much further. We’ve already bypassed the first stopping point. We should catch up to them soon.”
“Catch up to who?” I panted.
Sweat beaded on my temples and rolled down my face. I was glad I had managed to put my hair up in a ponytail before we left. I could feel the sticky strands on my nape plastered to my skin.
“You’ll see,” Bellamy said with a smirk.
I huffed but was too out of breath to really argue. I could have stopped and demanded they tell me where we were going and who we were catching up to, but I had a feeling that if I stopped, they wouldn’t stop with me. So, I kept going.
Around another bend in the running trail, the woods opened up to another field without soccer goals or much of anything other than flat land and a large group of people in exercise gear, just standing around. When the guys suddenly slowed, I followed suit. We came to a full stop not more than a couple of yards from the group and Bellamy took my hand, leading me around the center mass of people.
“Max!” Bellamy called out, waving to someone I couldn’t see. I tried to push up on my toes to see over the heads of the others, but it was no use. I scrunched up my nose and Bellamy noticed.
“Don’t worry, shorty,” he teased, “I’ll introduce you.”
A skinny, older gentleman dressed in running shorts and a gray Staff t-shirt – instead of a black one like Texas’ and Bellamy’s – made his way through the throng of people and called out for Bellamy in a jovial manner. He stopped right in front of us and shook Bellamy’s outstretched hand as Texas ambled up behind us.
“Good to see you boys again,” the man said.
“Good to see you too, Max,” Texas greeted.
Max’s eyes met mine. “And who might this pretty little lady be?”
“Max,” Bellamy began, “I’d like you to meet Harlow. She’s a new recruit.”
“Ah, is this the girl Alex was telling me about?” Max looked to the guys for confirmation.
“Yup.” Texas nodded. “The very one.”
“Ah, well then,” Max returned his gaze to me and held out his hand. “It’s lovely to make your acquaintance, Miss Harlow.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” I replied, shaking his hand with an awkward smile and a nod.
He smiled brightly and then returned his attention to the guys. “So, we’re starting with the next half of the run soon. We have water bottles and coolers ready just over there…” he gestured somewhere beyond the crowd of people. “Will you remain for the entire training session?”
Texas blanched. “Yeah,” he sighed, “we’re staying.”
“Ho!” Max laughed. “What did you do to piss off your team lead?”
“They didn’t,” I said. “I did.”
Max looked back at me. I couldn’t tell if he was restraining more laughter or surprise. He simply smirked at me and then nodded to the boys. “That explains it
entirely. You boys know what to do then. I’ll see you at the end.” Texas and Bellamy nodded politely, and Max turned and disappeared back in the crowd.
“Max is a part of Alex’s team,” Bellamy explained. “They’re all mostly retired – families and all that. Training, advising, and managing is about all they do now.”
“What about Alex?” I asked. I knew for a fact that that wasn’t all Alex did.
Texas quirked a smile. “The day that Alex actually retires is the day pigs fly,” he said. “Alex isn’t the idle type.”
“Max doesn’t seem the idle type either,” I pointed out.
Texas shrugged. I didn’t get an opportunity to ask further questions because the next thing I knew, Bellamy and Texas were urging me through the crowd, calling out hellos to people they recognized. We stopped by a water cooler and Bellamy bent down, pulling out three water bottles and handed one to both me and Texas before opening his own.
“We better hurry up and stretch,” Bellamy said. “They’re about to start again soon.”
“More running?” I groaned. “This is not lenient at all.”
Texas laughed and bumped me with his shoulder. “You should see it when he gets mad at one of us.”
I grimaced. I certainly didn’t care to see that.
We carried our water bottles as we ran. I liked running even less in a group. Too many people talking. I wished I had known beforehand what we were doing. The running wasn’t so bad, even though it had my legs cramping and feeling like jell-o. I wished I had my phone and some headphones. Music would have made the entire experience easier. I might have even run faster if I had some harder beats between my ears.
The next stop we made was in a new field. How many fields were there out here? I wondered. This time Max and a couple of other older members of the group gathered at the forefront of the crowd. Max stood on the stump of a tree and called out for everyone to lower their voices. I stood next to Texas and Bellamy as he began to make announcements.
“Welcome to our monthly training games,” Max called. “Thank you all for coming. Now, before we begin, I’ll go over a few rules. Even if you have been here before, please pay close attention as some of the rules may have changed.”
Texas bumped me, and I looked over. He leaned down close and whispered, “The rules never change, but Max always starts with that, so no one has a reason to not pay attention.”
“You’re not paying attention,” I said with a raised brow. He grinned at me before turning back to face the front.
“Rule one, if you are holding a weapon, do not point it at anyone. Whether or not the weapon is loaded or dangerous, if you are caught pointing it at another member, you will be reprimanded,” Max called.
“Weapon?” I blinked and looked to Texas. “What does he mean? What weapons?”
“Shhh,” someone shushed from behind me. I turned around and caught a girl around my age with freckles and twin red braids scowling at me. I stared at her blandly for a moment before rolling my eyes and facing forward again. Perhaps Max had merely been using a figure of speech.
“Rule three!” Max said loudly.
“Wait,” I hissed. “Texas.” I tugged on his arm. “What was rule number two? I missed it.”
“Shhh,” the girl behind me hissed again. I whipped around and glared at her outright.
“If you have something to say, say it,” I snapped.
“Be quiet,” she snapped back.
“I’m asking a reasonable question,” I growled.
“Hey, calm down, Ginger,” an Amazonian girl with a high, blonde ponytail stepped up to her. “She’s new.”
“I don’t care,” Ginger said. “She shouldn’t be talking while Max is.”
“I was just–” Texas glanced back then and pulled me closer.
“Come on,” he said tightly. “Max is done. We’re moving on to the activities.”
“But that girl–”
“Leave it, Harlow.” I blinked up at him as he walked me through the crowd, further and further away from the snappy redhead. He so rarely called me by my actual name. I turned and looked behind me, but she and her friend were gone. I wondered if Texas knew them.
“We’re up at archery first,” Bellamy said.
That caught my attention. Surely, they didn’t mean archery as in bows and arrows, right?
Yes, they did, in fact, mean archery as in bows and arrows, I realized ten minutes later.
“I don’t know about this,” I said shakily as I nocked my arrow and held my wavering bow up, aiming at the paper targets nailed to the trees several yards away.
“It’s fine,” Bellamy assured me, stepping up at my back. I could feel his heat right through our clothes and it did not help my nerves. He reached around, his arms encircling me as he held my elbows steady. “Don’t think too hard,” he suggested. “Just breathe and keep your head straight. Pull it back to the corner of your mouth and…” I released, and the arrow went flying through the air. It arched up overhead for a brief second before it descended and hit the edge of the outer yellow circle on the target. I sighed in relief.
“At least I didn’t hit anyone,” I said with a laugh.
“I wouldn’t have let that happen,” Bellamy assured me.
“My turn!” Texas called, sailing in and snatching me around the waist. I dropped the bow and huffed out a breath as Texas carted me away. Bellamy laughed and waved. I waved back with a ridiculous grin.
Texas didn’t even pause as he hefted me up and over his shoulder and my grin dropped immediately. “Texas!” I hissed. “Put me down, people are staring.”
Texas chuckled, but ignored my request and kept walking. “If you want down so badly,” he challenged. “Then you can fight me.”
“What?” Texas dropped me, and I landed with a gasp onto a large blue mat. Who had set this all up? Archery. Sparring mats. What was next? An ice cream stand?
“You heard me,” Texas said. “We’re gonna fight – spar. I want to test what you’ve learned from Knix and Bell.”
I thought of the night before – punching the perv in the face. I felt good about it. Hell, I felt better than good about it. I was really seeing an improvement. Texas wasn’t the fighting kind though. He was probably just testing me – like he said. “Okay,” I acquiesced, slowly getting to my feet and moving to stand directly across from him.
“That was easy.” Texas raised a brow at me.
I shrugged. “I’m feeling confident.”
Texas raised his fists and I did the same. “Then let’s do this.” he smiled.
I watched his hands as we circled. There were several other mats spaced a couple of yards apart and out of the corner of my eye, I saw that there were several other partners sparring. I stayed focused on Texas’ upper body, his shoulders, the muscles in his arms. Watching and waiting for when he would make his move. That’s what Bellamy had told me – rule number one of fighting was defense. The best offense was a good defense – or something like that. It sounded like a cheesy line from a football movie to me.
Texas smirked at me, and I felt a rush of air by my feet before his foot connected with my ankle, sweeping my feet out from under me. My hands went back as I attempted to break my fall. I landed on my butt and stared up at Texas as he grinned down at me. I hadn’t even seen him tense, no tell, no nothing.
“How are you feeling now?” he asked, his voice amused.
“Less confident,” I admitted, and my cheeks reddened as I stood.
“Don’t worry,” he winked. “I’ll show you how to do that to Bell.”
“I’m not so sure Bellamy would fall for it like I did.” I paused for a moment before adding, “Literally.”
Texas laughed and held out his hand. When I rose to take it, I smirked and fell back. He stumbled and before I knew it, I had a lap full of Texas. Big brown eyes blinked at me before he grinned wickedly. “Oh, you’re gonna play it like that, are you?” he asked.
I squeaked, rolling over and shoving his arm up.
I pinned it down and sat on his chest. “Remember, you said this was just training – we’re just training!”
My pin was weak at best – or it must have been, because Texas wasted no time flipping me onto my back and slamming me against the mat. He hovered over me, snapping my wrists together and forcing them down over the top of my head before I could even blink.
“My confidence is definitely shrinking,” I panted. “It’s shriveling up, practically bone dry right now.”
He laughed. “You leave yourself wide open.” Texas pressed down a little firmer before lifting up. “Come on, try again.”
I grumbled even as he let me stand and get back into position. “You’re just gonna throw me or something,” I said, then quieter. “You take some sick joy in throwing me around.”
Texas kicked at my ankles, but I was ready this time. I jumped back, just out of his reach and put my hands up. Texas advanced and I turned, so that we were circling each other without falling off the mat. “You’re running away,” he said, chuckling.
“You call it running, I call it intelligent retreat,” I snarked just before I stumbled over my own two feet. Inwardly cursing myself, I twisted and rolled, but Texas was already on top of me. I lifted my knees, but his chest pressed down into them, effectively pinning them between us. I squirmed and wriggled, but only managed to look like a flapping half-starfish.
I narrowed my gaze on Texas’ smiling face. “You suck.”
He released yet another annoying – but also kind of adorable – low chuckle before backing off. “Here,” he said, holding out his hand to help me up once more. “Let’s go watch someone else. I’m sure you can learn just as much by watching as doing.”
I let Texas lead me down the rows of sparring mats. We paused for a brief moment to watch each partner combo. Finally, we ended up at the very end where Max was sparring with a woman that might have been in her early thirties. Her short cropped, springy hair was pinned back with a tight headband. It showcased her bird-like features, the fine bones of her face, and the pointed tip of her nose. Despite that, I realized she was still quite beautiful with eyes that sparkled. She moved with a lithe grace that I envied as she evaded Max’s foot and leg as he attempted to execute the same move that Texas had taken me down with.
