Brave

by Natalie Gayle

  “I know you always say that but then I see how much you struggle and I just feel so much…”

  It was all stuff we’d been through before but I just nodded and held her tight to me. This is how we got through.

  My phone chirped from the bedside table indicating a text.

  Sophia’s head popped up and she looked at it curiously. Then she looked at me, then back at the phone. “Well, aren’t you going to find out who it is? I bet it’s Xander.”

  “That’s Sensei to you and besides I’m in the middle of comforting you!” I couldn’t help ribbing her! She shrugged and rolled her eyes.

  “Geez, you’ve got a lot to learn. A hot guy is texting you at bedtime and you’re not even looking. What’s wrong with you?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with me, except I seem to be more concerned about you!” I gave her a playful elbow to the ribs.

  “So you do one session with Xander and you think you can take me, do you?” she responded with an elbow back. “Just check the damned message already, would you.”

  I let out an exaggerated huff, when really excitement and butterflies were whizzing around my body. As I grabbed the screen I made sure she couldn’t see, then swiped the face of the phone and read the text. It was in fact from Xander, but Soph didn’t need to know that.

  “Well, what does it say?” She was almost jumping up and down.

  “It’s just a message from the phone company to let me know I’ve used half my plan.” I was desperately trying to keep a straight face.

  She snatched the phone off me. “Hey. I haven’t even read it!” I protested loudly.

  “Then how come you know it’s the phone company—smarty pants?” I didn’t have time to think of something smart. I just needed that phone back.

  “It’s rude to read someone else’s messages,” I added and grabbed it back.

  “Oh, you’re no fun. You finally get a boyfriend and you don’t even want to share.” This time she really pouted.

  I ignored her and read the message.

  Xander: Hey Gem, how are you doing tonight? I’ve been thinking about you all night. I’m really sorry the conversation went down that way. It was one that needed more time. But I’m not sorry I get to spend tomorrow night with you. Where and what time do you want me to pick you up tomorrow afternoon? I’d like to do another session on the mats with you, if you can swing it. Xan

  “Far out! Who’d have thought Sensei was capable of writing ‘War and Peace?’ Can’t you read faster…what’s he say?”

  “None of your business!” I already knew I’d tell her some of it, but not all.

  “Oh, come on!” This time it was a whine.

  “He just wanted to know where and when to pick me up tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Bullshit! It doesn’t take that many words to say all that. I may not have got a chance to read it but I saw how much text there was.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake,” I passed the phone to her. I knew Sophia well. There was no way she’d give up until she got what she wanted. “But this is the only time I’m going to do it and if you breathe a word of this to anyone I’m going to kill you after I ask Xander to show me how.”

  She let out a little squeal.

  “He is so flirting with you!”

  This time I rolled my eyes for Sophia’s benefit. “I hardly think so.”

  “He said he’s been thinking about you all night then he says he wants to do a session on the mats. Read the double meaning!” She was shaking her head at me.

  I shrugged not really sure what to say just at the moment.

  “So what are you going to say?” She passed the phone back to me.

  Oh shit…this was the bit I hated. I had no idea how to do this shit, but he should know that. “I’m just going to tell him to pick me up at two again from uni.”

  “Well, at least make it sound like you’re excited to see him.”

  “Okay, okay…pressure much!”

  I tapped out a message telling him to come and pick me up the same as today. I added a smiley face as well and sent it before Sophia had time to dissect it. If he didn’t like my texts, he could let me know.

  “Okay, you seem to be feeling better…I’m going to get some sleep.” Nothing like a distraction of the male type to take Sophia’s mind off things.

  “You want me to go? But I want to see if he texts back.”

  “I don’t care. My texts, my bedroom and it’s my sleep time you’re interrupting. Now, buzz off.”

  “Okay, I know when I’m not wanted.” She got up and moved from the bed but paused at the door and looked. “I really am pleased for you Eden and proud, too. You’ve really started to make progress. Night.”

  “Night honey.” I called to her retreating figure.

  One more text arrived before I went to sleep. A certain someone wishing me sweet dreams—I replied wishing him the same.

  * * *

  Xander

  Dane followed me into my office after we finished up the last class for the week. There were some guys coming in tomorrow to train, but Rohan was covering that. I might pop in later tomorrow if I felt like it. I tried to keep the weekends fairly light particularly right after a grading.

  I went to my laptop; shut it down and started to pack it up. Dane plonked himself down on the sofa.

  “Don’t make yourself comfortable unless you want to lock-up. I’m out of here in about five minutes.” I grabbed a couple of files and threw them into my laptop bag as well.

  “Wooo! Hot date?”

  I glared at him. “Something like that.”

  I saw him jerk back in shock then he looked curious. “Wouldn’t be a certain long and lean strawberry blonde, would it?”

  “Yep, it’s Eden.” I had every intention of telling him. We didn’t keep secrets from each other.

  “Okay. I kind of guessed when she was here again this afternoon. Two days in a row!” He looked a little smug. Eden had come in and we’d gone through some more moves. She was doing great. I dropped her home so she could shower and change, then Sophia had offered to drop her back. Like yesterday, Dane had come in just as we were finishing up.

  But if he had an issue, I wanted it sorted now. “You got a problem?”

  “No man. None at all. Just not your usual type.”

  I didn’t think I had a type but obviously Dane did. It was mute anyway. Eden was the only girl I was interested in at the moment. “Well, Eden’s my type now.”

  “She’s always been your type.” Dane said under his breath, but he sucked at whispering.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Just that you’ve had a thing for that girl since she first arrived in the neighbourhood. I guess it makes sense. Only a matter of time and all.”

  I never realised I‘d been so transparent, but apparently I had been. I’d never outwardly discussed her with Dane but obviously he’s picked up on my actions or interest or something.

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen yet. She’s very skittish, as you know. So we’ll be taking this very slow.” Not that it was any of his business but I just wanted him to understand and not do or say anything dumb. Dane wouldn’t but, I was feeling protective.

  “It’s cool man.” He gave me a nod and that’s all I needed. We were good.

  We talked for a couple more minutes about some of the fighters. There were a few fights coming up. I needed to check the preparation plans for a few of them over the weekend.

  I heard the front doors open and I glanced up from my perch on the edge of my desk. It was Eden. Suddenly I felt nervous and more like a stupid high school kid on a first date, than a grown man who’d been doing this for years.

  I grabbed my laptop bag and my training duffle full of dirty clothes. “Thanks for offering to lock up man!” I flashed him a grin and bolted towards the reception area. I was lucky to have a best friend like Dane but he was quickly forgotten once I saw Eden there on the other side of the reception desk.

&nbs
p; She looked great. Her hair was loose, and she had light makeup on, something I hadn’t seen before. Plus she actually looked at me directly and smiled shyly when she saw me. All big pluses.

  Once I rounded the counter I didn’t hesitate. I moved straight in and looped my arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. “Hey, Eden. Mmm you smell so good.” And she did. It was that damned perfume she wore again. It had been playing havoc with my senses all afternoon. It seemed to get into my head and I couldn’t think of much else.

  One whiff of that and my dick seemed to have all sorts of ideas, all of them inappropriate at this time.

  She dropped her chin and smiled a little coyly. It was cute.

  “Okay. Dane drew short straw and has to lock up. We’re out of here.”

  I unlocked the truck, threw my gear in the back seat and helped her in. This time I managed to do the gentlemanly thing.

  “Thanks,” she murmured as she settled back.

  “You’re welcome, Gem.”

  I think I managed to get in and get us underway in record time.

  “So where do you live?” I was actually surprised. I think this was the first time she’d actually started a conversation.

  I glanced across at her and really wished I could put my hand on her thigh but I knew that would be too much, too soon. “Well, I’ve got a little property south of here, near the river. It’s just under five acres. There’s a house and a big double story barn. My dad lives in the house and I live in the barn at the moment. Dad’s not around at the moment, though. My aunt lives in Sydney and he’s down visiting her.”

  “Wow. Five acres seems a lot.”

  I shrugged. “We both like the quiet. I get enough of people day in day out with the dojo. Plus, I get to have a few big boys’ toys with that much land. If you’re very good, I’ll let you play with them with me.” I turned and gave her a wink.

  She giggled a little and looked a bit shy again. “Well, that sounds like fun!”

  “Oh I’ve got all sorts of fun toys: quad bike, couple of dirt bikes, a jet ski and a heap of other non-motorised fun things. I enjoy the outdoors, when I’m not at the dojo.”

  She nodded her head in understanding and I thought I picked up a little wistfulness. If I was reading this right, Eden was longing to do more.

  “So what do you like to do?”

  “Well I like to read and I watch movies. It was really all I could do for a long time. Physical activity was restricted to recovery type stuff. I guess there’s a lot of stuff I haven’t even tried.”

  That got me thinking and wondering. “So before the fire, what were you into?”

  Her face pulled in concentration or was it memories? “Ah, I guess I did school sport stuff. I used to enjoy swimming and I jogged occasionally, but I didn’t really have a sport. My main focus was school and modelling I guess. How about you?”

  I chuckled a little at this. “Do you mean what was I like at school?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Ummm… not too good. I didn’t really like school. I spent every afternoon at the dojo.” Eden looked at me a little curiously. “Well, not Onigashima fighters. Dane and I used to train at a place just around the corner. Old Ron Stapleton used to run it. His son Reed was my trainer when I fought.” She had questions, I could almost see them.

  “Just ask me, whatever you want to know. If I don’t want to answer I won’t, and I don’t just mean about the stuff we’re talking about now.”

  She turned and gave me a little smile and nodded. “Okay.”

  Maybe if I gave her permission to ask questions, Eden would feel less uncomfortable about talking about things and initiating conversation.

  “What does Onigashima Fighters mean?”

  This one brought a grin to my face. “Well, Dane and I kind of have a fascination with Japanese manga and folk tales, that sort of thing. Onigashima is the mythical island where the oni or demons live.”

  I could see Eden thinking this through for a few seconds before she turned to me. “I don’t get it. Why would you want to name your business after a place where demons live?”

  “Excellent question. And the answer’s even simpler. Because Onigashima is where we go to fight the demons. We all carry them inside us, Gem.”

  “So let me make sure I understand this right. The dojo or Onigashima is the place you go to fight these demons that you say are inside us all.”

  “That’s it. It’s kind of a play on the mythical tale. The story goes something like this…the demons or oni lived on Onigashima Island. To fight them you had to go there. We kind of played around with it a little. Remember we’re kind of diehard fans of this stuff.”

  She was still thinking it through. “I like it. It makes sense to me.” Then she turned to me as I turned into my driveway. “But you mentioned the demons we all have inside us that we have to fight. What do you mean?”

  I didn’t answer until I pulled up under the awning off the side of the barn. After I shut off the truck I turned to her “Let’s head upstairs and I’ll answer that. We’re forming a habit of having way too many important conversations in this truck.”

  I was out and around her side before she even had a chance to answer. Eden took my hand as I helped her out of the truck, but I didn’t release her hand.

  “It’ll be best if you follow me. The light’s out under here and I forgot to pick up a bulb for it the other day.” I moved forward and let my arm trail behind as I moved around the truck and unlocked the side door of the barn. I flicked the light on just inside the door and she stepped in behind me, her eyes everywhere at once.

  “Not what you expected?” I knew it wasn’t. Everyone was amazed when they walked in here. The floor was completely concreted. The left hand side which we’d entered through had been polished and lacquered. Down this side of the barn was an open space that housed a big club lounge and a massive television that was mounted on the wall. Connected to the TV was an Xbox and a few other essential toys. Beside that was a little bench and fridge, which cut the area in two. On the other side was my home gym. A few bags suspended from the roof, mats and a rack full of free weights, medicine balls and kettle bells. A variety of different training pads were also hanging from the end wall. The side wall of the barn was fully mirrored.

  On the side of the barn that wasn’t polished concrete, all my “toys” were housed, and a long workshop bench ran down the other side wall of the barn. This held my tools and all the stuff I needed to maintain the “toys.”

  She was shaking her head in wonder. “I’ve never seen anything like this.” Her eyes were still roaming around before they turned back to me. “I guess this is what bachelor heaven looks like.”

  I exploded with laughter because of the way she said it. It really reached somewhere deep in me. But I also knew then what I’d suspected. There was a beautiful joyous person in there just waiting to get out.

  “Ready to see the rest of the place?” The stairs went up over the polished concrete area and I could see her looking at them and the door at the top with uncertainty. It felt like I could almost read her thoughts. “It’s just an upstairs area Eden. I’ll be exactly the same guy up there as the one you’ve gotten to know a bit about, the one right here. Just that up there, I have a kitchen, a nice bottle of wine and a sofa we can sit on and chat. No pressure.”

  She gave me a little smile and took one of those deep breaths she always did when she was trying to steady her nerves. “Okay, then show me the top floor.”

  I didn’t hesitate but gave her hand a little squeeze then a tug. We climbed the stairs together and it felt like it was yet another milestone between us. I wasn’t quite sure what the milestone was just yet but it felt like it.

  * * *

  Eden

  I was totally transfixed by the barn. It was so different from anything I’d ever really seen before, and when Xander opened the door to the upper mezzanine floor, I was flooded with the potential of the space. It was clean, neat and tidy. The neat and tidy bi
ts I figured were very much to do with the fact that there were next to no furnishings.

  When Xander had said there was a kitchen and a sofa upstairs, he’d actually meant it. There was a kitchen, the sofa, a scuffed up tea chest that he was obviously using as a coffee table and another large flat screen TV on the wall. The kitchen was down the far end of the space and a large bench cut it off from the room. Two basic stools sat under the overhang. The sofa and a lot of vacant space were in the middle facing the TV, and a large neatly made king bed was up the other end. A reasonably sized long rectangular room running beside the bedroom area was the only thing that broke up the room. That had to be the bathroom, I guessed.

  The whole space was lined with gyprock sheeting and painted a basic white. The floor was covered in oversized pale pine boards, which had a nice honey glow. A couple of windows ran down the long wall and I thought there might have been a door to possibly a balcony off the kitchen.

  “So this is home to me. What do you think?”

  I stepped away and he let my hand drop, then I moved into the centre of the room to get an even better feel. When I finally stopped my perusal of the room, I could see the anxiousness on his face. At the dojo Xander showed a measure of control all the time. Here, he was something different all together.

  “I think this space has amazing potential. You could do so much with it. But I have to ask, where’s all your stuff? Did you just move in? There’s not one thing I can see here that tells me this is your home.”

  I watched Xander look around as if seeing the space through my eyes. “I don’t actually have that much stuff.” He looked a little bit confused at what I was saying. The downstairs area of the barn had been meticulously neat, so was here. It took minimalist to another level.

  There was something I was missing here, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. “Fair enough. I guess not everyone likes soft furnishings like I do.”

  “What do you mean by that?” he asked me looking a bit confused.