“I get the exact same amount of eye candy as you do.” He pointed a finger at her and then pointed it up and down her body, his eyes following. “You’re just the only woman I now get to stare at, day in and day out. For which, I am very thankful.”
“What?” She tilted her head to the side, and wondered where he was going with this.
“I’m bi.” He threw an arm over her shoulder and forced her to walk out the door with him. He locked up the building without releasing her. “And yeah, the entire team knows.”
“Well, this must be heaven for you,” she shook her head, a smile toying on her lips.
“Well,” he leaned down close to her ear, “I think we could make some heaven together if you want to try.”
“You already know that answer.” She rolled her eyes, letting him be a seductive flirt. She enjoyed it, even though she was still a bit peeved that he had captured her with it.
“I would love a reminder,” he pulled her even closer and stepped in front of her, giving her a naughty grin, “even though Vincent told me not to try.”
“I’m suddenly very thankful for Vincent,” she laughed, pushing him away. “You always like this?”
“Yes, but not because I want to sleep with everyone.” He shook his head, still grinning. “I like sex, like every other guy in that house. But, I like to play around and have a good time, because that’s how I show my affection for people. Let me know if I make you uncomfortable.”
“I’m feeling a lot of things,” she kept chuckling, shaking her head, “but none of them are uncomfortable right now, though.”
“I’m happy to hear that,” Elijah threw his arm back over her shoulder. “Even if you won’t ease my seemingly-endless suffering and sleep with me one day, I would like you as a friend, Sawyer. I don’t want you thinking that everybody here just wants to use you for something. Jasper and Zander don’t need to be your only allies, here.”
“That means a lot to me.” Her throat was suddenly thick with emotion. They walked in silence for a long time until she needed to ask. “Why? You’ve known me for only three and a half days.”
“Because I know another lost soul when I see one,” he said quietly, “like the rest of this team.”
She wanted to say that Jasper and Zander had never been lost souls, but she would have been lying. That’s what had made the three of them friends when they were younger. Jasper’s parents passed away when he was eight, and he had nowhere else to go except the orphanage. Zander’s mother gave him up at six, leaving with nothing except a life of thinking his mother didn’t love him. She had never had a family at all, completely raised in the orphanage.
“Jasper said everyone here was a misfit,” she whispered.
“We are,” he nodded. “And I think, even with all the darkness in your eyes and the horrors you think will happen, you belong here. You like protecting people and saving them. You like sticking up a middle finger at the system; and, while it might not seem like it, we do, too. Yeah… Give it time and you’ll fit right in. Just give us a chance.”
“I’m worried you’ll all get killed,” she admitted to him. “I’m worried that helping you go after Axel will get Zander and Jasper killed and that…” She shook her head, wondering why she felt the need to make that admission to this open, playful cowboy.
“You trust us to stay alive.” He pulled her to him as they walked so that she was pressed into his side completely. “We know what we’re doing. Vincent knows what he’s doing, but I’ll tell him to back off you a little. I don’t want him completely scaring you off.”
“Thanks,” she huffed. “He’s pushy.”
“Yeah,” Elijah chuckled softly. “I’m his second in command, so if he’ll listen to anyone, it’s me.”
They were nearly at the house when he let her go.
“Think about what I said, Sawyer.” He smiled at her. “We’re just trying to keep you safe and take down the bad guy, just like you did for those kids.”
She nodded and let him go inside without her. It was nearly three in the afternoon, and they hadn’t said she needed to do anything after Elijah’s training. The day had given her a lot to think about—a lot to consider about her future and being there.
She quietly went to her room. She took a shower after she got some clean clothes ready, then took a small nap. She missed the fact that her box of photos had been moved.
16
SAWYER
Sawyer wrapped her hands slowly as all the guys watched her prepare for hand-to-hand training. They were all waiting on her, but she had a ritual that she wasn’t going to change for them.
“Any day, little lady,” Elijah called out, laughing.
She rolled her eyes and finished the last go around her left hand. She stood up and bounced on her feet as she looked over to him.
“Don’t rush me,” she grinned, “unless you are really excited to get beat on.”
Day two of training was hand-to-hand and martial arts. That was it. She looked to Zander and nodded, remembering their conversation from Sunday.
“You ready?” She taunted.
“Whenever you are.” Zander grinned. “Unless you want to paint your nails first. I can wait.”
“Asshole,” she laughed. “Tell me, who had pink toenails for half of his junior year?”
“Casey did that,” Zander growled, “and you promised never to bring that shit up again after she and I broke up.”
“I forgot that she did that,” Jasper chuckled softly.
“What amazing teenage Zander story are we missing?” Elijah asked, grinning between them. “Someone, please enlighten me.”
“Casey Morgan,” Sawyer chuckled, “was Zander’s girlfriend for six months while we were in high school. She liked to practice her pedis on him. He wouldn’t go barefoot for their entire relationship. Jasper and I caught on really quick that something was up. Took us like, a week, to catch him sleeping and get his socks off before he woke up. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard.”
After giving them that bit of information, even Vincent was chuckling. Quinn looked a little confused, but not angry, so she thought she must have been doing something right.
She had done a lot of thinking through the night. She would train and eventually help them, even if it was only so she could keep them from getting themselves killed. She might even try to be a friend, though that one was still up in the air.
If they pressed her too hard for the secrets she hid in the shadows, they would learn a new meaning to ‘cold shoulder’. She had a mental check list of what they could and couldn’t know. They could know the generalities—like she had a bad relationship, which was the source of most of her scars, but they couldn’t know who that ex was. They could know that the ex-boyfriend taught her how to thieve and some fighting, but they couldn’t know exactly why. It was the best she could think of. Give them enough information for them to understand and feel like she was opening up, but not enough that they could connect the dots.
She knew that giving them even those half-truths would make her feel a little better. That was an appealing thought in and of itself.
“What’s a pedi?” Quinn asked, looking around the group.
“A pedicure. When women do shit like paint their toenails. A manicure is for their fingernails,” Elijah whispered to him. “Well, some men do it too, but it’s considered really feminine so it’s embarrassing to Zander that he let a woman do it to him.”
“Thank you.” Quinn nodded to Elijah and looked at her. “Do you get… pedicures or manicures?”
“No,” Sawyer laughed. “Manis and pedis are not my thing. I barely do my hair.”
“Ah,” Quinn continued to nod, rubbing the scruff on his jaw, “so it’s not a mandatory ritual. What’s the purpose of it?”
“To look better?” Sawyer shrugged. How had Quinn never heard of manicures or pedicures? Seriously? She wished she knew his story, she really did. Seeing him get all curious was probably the least scary thing she
had ever witnessed. It was actually really cute.
“Alright,” Zander coughed, and she grinned at how red he was. She was going to get Cranky Zander for training. “Let’s just get to fucking training. Fuck.”
“Aw, poor Zander. Don’t want Sawyer trotting out embarrassing stories?” Elijah laughed, holding his sides as he bent over, howling.
“Fuck you,” Zander glared at him and then turned to her. She held her arms open, basically saying ‘Come at me, bro’ to him. “You are so eating mat.”
“Try me, bitch.” She bounced around, excitement making her heart race. She loved this kind of banter before fighting. It was playful and easy, showing all the fighters involved that friendships weren't hurt outside the ring by what happened in it.
“I’ll show you-” Zander pointed at her.
“Both of you,” Vincent was still chuckling, “let’s just get through this, please.”
“Sawyer, get over here.” Zander pointed to the mat in front of him, glaring. She sauntered over but stayed nearly five feet from him. She wasn’t stupid enough to get in arm’s reach. “Jasper, call time?”
“Can do,” Jasper pulled out his phone and looked down at it. “Ten minutes. Go.”
Shields formed around her and Zander, and she could recognize the feel of his magic. They weren’t the strongest shields, but they would keep bones from breaking. She stayed relaxed as Zander carefully moved towards her.
The moment she was in his range, he swung out a high, test kick toward her head, and she rolled away. Fighting a trained martial artist was a different beast than fighting a boxer. She had more practice with boxers, but she always knew her most dangerous opponents were the MMA nuts who could do more than a bit of everything.
“Running scared, Sawyer?” Zander taunted, grinning at her. She stayed silent and just watched him and how he moved. He favored his right side, and, if he didn’t realize it, she could exploit his left. He was heavy on his feet, lacking some of the bounce required to give a fighter the fastest reaction time possible.
He was pretending. There was no way Zander thought he could beat her fighting like he was, which meant he was fucking with her. Well, she was going to need to fix that real quick. She wasn’t going to be toyed with. She was really annoyed with him now.
He entered her reach again, and she grabbed his kick this time as it made contact. She watched his eyes go wide at how she took the kick to her ribs without a complaint. She twisted his ankle and watched him fall, as he winced in pain. She kicked with her right foot, connecting to the left side of his head. She didn’t hit hard, but the point was made.
“Don’t be a show-off,” she told him blandly.
“Fuck,” Elijah mumbled. “What was that? A minute?”
“Yeah,” Jasper whispered back to him.
She let go of Zander’s leg and held a hand out to him. He took it slowly and stood up.
“Also, don’t go easy on me,” she growled, pulling him close to say it quietly to him. “I don’t fucking need it or appreciate it.” She pushed him away with a glare and noticed that being caught embarrassed him further. And Zander hated being embarrassed.
“Time,” he snapped to Jasper.
“Nine minutes left. Go,” Jasper called.
Zander didn’t approach her slowly this time, and she had to move quickly to stay out of his reach. He had longer limbs than her, so she was going to need to get in behind him to avoid getting grabbed, punched, or kicked. The problem was, he was quicker than lightning this round.
She barely dodged a kick that flew toward her head, feeling the air get cut by it when she dropped down. Without a moment’s rest, Zander sent a second kick with his left leg, lower to hit her ribs.
She grunted at the impact, realizing that playing the evasive game just wasn’t going to work. She let him step closer to her and rolled in as he took another kick. He had long, strong legs, and she realized that was his weakness. He loved to kick, knowing he could do the most damage with that.
She came up right in his face and did something she had learned from judo. She grabbed his shirt with her right hand, pulling him down to force his body weight on his left leg, and positioned her right leg between his. She swung the leg behind his left, making his knee buckle and then dropped him to the floor on his back.
“Judo,” she grinned at him. Zander narrowed his eyes on her but didn’t say anything as she helped him up. “Don’t limit yourself to using one technique, even if you are just training. Practicing bringing them all together will make it seem natural if you need to use this in the real world.”
“I thought Zander was leading training,” Quinn whispered, and she looked over. He was giving Vincent a confused look.
“I think this training is quickly becoming a technicality that we shouldn’t waste our time on,” Vincent told him, sighing with a real smile. He turned back to her, the smile fading. “But firearms, you still need to work on those.”
“And I want to get her sparring with shields on us,” Elijah added. “Though, yeah, I think we can get back to work faster than we planned.”
Sawyer only shrugged at the conversation, watching Zander who looked thoroughly displeased with something. Probably himself.
“You okay?” She asked his quietly, and he turned his hard, green eyes on her.
“Where did you learn this?” He asked her in return.
“I don’t think the question you should ask is where,” Vincent spoke up, and she flicked her eyes to him. “I think it’s why did she learn this?”
She narrowed her eyes on Vincent before turning back to Zander. They had a deal, that ass. But Vincent had promised he wouldn’t pry, not that he wouldn’t lead others to do it for him. She should have made sure there were no loop holes.
“I learned boxing and kickboxing from Charlie,” she began slowly. “Judo was something I was working on until you dragged me out of New York. Krav Maga is another I’ve studied, also with a trainer in New York.”
“Why?” Zander pressed. She bit back a hiss that he had latched on to the question posed by Vincent.
“Protection,” she bit out, “why else?”
“Alright,” Zander turned away from her, and she turned a glare on Vincent, who had the balls to give her a tiny, arrogant smile.
“How often are we doing this, and what am I allowed to do in my free time?” She needed to direct them away from this line of questioning. She learned nonlethal takedowns and fighting styles because she didn’t want to kill anyone. Axel had only trained her to take life, not preserve it. They couldn’t know that.
“Well, after that performance,” Elijah grinned and looked between her and Vincent, “I think we should cut this down to mornings. Oh, Vincent, you can teach her the ropes of being an IMPO consultant in the afternoons instead! Can we get her certified?”
“I’ll need to check the regulations,” Vincent frowned thoughtfully.
“I don’t want to get certified as an IMPO consultant. Thanks, but no thanks,” she huffed. She didn’t need her name being officially attached to the IMPO like that. “I’ll just tag along. Once this is all over, I’m going back to New York and going back to my life.”
They were all silent at what she had said, looking around at each other. She was missing something here, and she didn’t know what.
“I’ll check the regulations,” Vincent said again, quietly, his impassive stare directed at Elijah.
“I should teach her survival techniques,” Quinn blurted out suddenly, breaking the strange, heavy silence around them. “Our assignments can go to dangerous places, and she will need to be able to survive.”
What? Quinn, the intense wild man, was suddenly interested in her well-being? Well, she didn’t really know how he felt. The others were obvious with their intentions, whatever those were, but Quinn barely even looked at her. She frowned at him, confused by the strangely talkative version of him she was witnessing this morning. After a few days of brooding, strange silence, she was growing increasingly
uncomfortable with this version of him.
“Good idea,” Vincent nodded to him. “I didn’t schedule it because I wasn’t sure how you would feel about it.”
Quinn only shrugged in response, and his face returning to its usual impassive expression.
“Like what?” Sawyer began unwrapping and rewrapping her hands in boredom. “Like building fires and stuff?”
Quinn gave a jerky nod but remained silent. Sawyer figured that must mean that the conversation was over, and it seemed the others were on the same page as her.
“Let’s run through some more sparring,” Zander waved a hand around. “No reason to waste the fact that we’re here for it.”
She put him on the mat four out of five times after that. They had all paired off. Elijah and Quinn. Vincent and Jasper. Zander was definitely the best in the group, but he wasn’t going to beat her consistently, she knew that. There was one difference between them. She had learned to fight in order to stay alive, then applied that knowledge to the task. He had learned to fight to do the same, but it was obvious he had never used it to do so. He didn’t have the same unerring focus she had noticed in fighters who knew the cost of losing. That cost, in some fights, meant you didn’t get a second chance.
By lunch, Zander and Vincent dismissed them all.
“Sawyer, remember the schedule. Morning workout, firearms, weaponry with Elijah,” Vincent told her as she unwrapped her hands. She nodded. Wonderful. “I’ll work with Quinn about when he wants you with him for survival training. And I’m going to work on seeing what I can do about getting you filed as a consultant for IMPO and the team.”
“Alright,” she shrugged. She had agreed to listen to him, she reminded herself even as she wanted to rail against the professional and authoritative tone he took. “But I don’t want to be a consultant.”
“See you at dinner,” he ignored her, and she ground her teeth as he walked away.
She finished putting her hand wraps away as Zander snuck up close to her. She flicked a look at him and raised an eyebrow. He was still shirtless, and, while she could ignore that while she prepped for a fight, she couldn’t ignore it now.
A Life Of Shadows (The Redemption Saga Book 1) Page 18
