by Celeste Raye
“Is that so? Well, that should be fun.”
He sat down next to her, and it was clear from her reaction that Calypso wasn’t used to that. Stephen introduced himself and hoped that she liked what she saw. She was certainly looking him up and down like she wasn’t sure about him. The blue eyes shining back up at him were full of mischief and something else. Stephen was drawn to her but he realized quickly that she was messing with him.
“I don’t know many women that actually enjoy sparring or even spar at all.”
“Well, sounds like you know a lot of boring women.”
Calypso looked ahead of her at the television playing sports. It wasn’t hard to see that she was trying to ignore him and doing a very good job of it.
“Aren’t you worried about sparring with a man?”
She turned back to him and shrugged. “Not really. My enemies will be male as well. It doesn’t matter to me. If Frank thinks that we should, then we should. I trust what he believes. Isn’t he your uncle?”
Her comment made him think that he was questioning everything too harshly, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to learn all he could and this girl wasn’t going to do it for him, no matter how pretty she looked with her hair in soft curls around her face and her dress tighter around her curved body.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that the old man hasn’t lost his mind. I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t want to hurt a little girl like you.”
That got a bigger smile, which Stephen found a bit surprising. She wasn’t supposed to smile like that.
“I am serious, Calypso. You’re pretty, and you seem nice. I don’t want to fight you. Maybe you can tell my uncle that he’s lost his mind. He wouldn’t listen to me.”
“It’s just sparring. What are you so afraid of?”
He shut his mouth quickly and didn’t want to answer. He knew that he was pushing her to do it, but it wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t going to spar with her. Uncle Frank had obviously lost his damn mind.
“Nothing. I was trying to keep myself from hurting a girl. It’s not good manners, and my parents would kill me.”
“I am sure that it will be fine, Stephen. Maybe you should worry about yourself. I know that I won’t be worrying about you.”
Chapter Five
Calypso had high hopes for the cute nephew, but he turned out to be quite full of himself, and she figured that there was nothing wrong with a little sparring. He obviously thought that she was just some feminine woman and she was excited to prove that it wasn’t the case at all. Calypso felt like she was always being unnecessarily sheltered, and it drove her crazy. She wasn’t as weak as everyone assumed she was.
When they got to the meeting spot, she half-expected Stephen not to show up at all. He’d made it clear that he didn’t want to fight her. She didn’t care who showed up, but Calypso certainly had some energy that she wanted to release. She hadn’t been that static in a long time. She was there to learn and grow, not get along with hot nephews.
“You showed up.”
Calypso jumped at Stephen’s voice.
“God, you scared me.”
“Doesn’t seem like a very warriorly thing to do.”
“I am not looking to be warriorly. I don’t even think that’s a word. I’m just here for the summer because I have to be. I was told to train with Frank, and that’s what I am doing. I am sorry if I am in the middle of your bonding time or something. I’m the job, so you don’t have to be so rude.”
Stephen didn’t apologize, but he did want to help her. Whether he was genuinely worried about her or not, he mentioned again that she could back out.
“I don’t want to fight a girl. Just say something and I won’t even spar with you.”
“If this is what Frank wants, then I am sure it will be fine. I am not afraid of you.”
That didn’t sit well with Stephen, but he just shrugged it off. “Fine, if that is what you want.”
He took his jacket off, making a big show of it, and Calypso just sat back and watched him. He moved like he knew what he was doing, and she was very interested in his hard biceps. She wasn’t supposed to be looking at him in that way, of course, but she couldn’t help it. He was a very well put-together guy, and even though he was a jerk, Stephen was also hot as hell.
“Are you okay?”
She shook the thoughts off and said that she was fine. “Get warmed up, ready, whatever you have to do. I’m ready whenever you are.”
Calypso wasn’t too worried about it. She knew that she shouldn’t underestimate him like she had Frank. He could have practiced and trained as much as she had. That was always a lesson she’d learned the hard way. Never underestimate your opponent. Calypso told herself that she wouldn’t do it this time.
After a few shoulder stretches, she could tell he was stalling, and she removed her sweatshirt. He stopped and just gawked at her.
“What?”
“Are you serious? You’re tiny. How am I supposed to fight you? I have principles, you know.”
“Well, then don’t fight me. I don’t care. I am going to spar with someone today or I will go into town and start a fight. Either way, I will get my practice in.”
Calypso was getting frustrated and aggravated, and she knew that it was more from her pent-up stress than it was the smart-mouthed man in front of her. She’d dealt with his type before. After a few times sparring with her, he would probably like her even less.
They stood in front of each other, sizing one another up, and Calypso was all business. If she was going to prove herself, that meant that she was going to have to focus and show him what she could do. It was easier once it got started. She hated the first few moments.
“Are you going to attack me, or have you only learned self-defense?”
He was goading her, and Calypso shouldn’t have let it get to her, but of course, it did. The guy was trying to bother her. His green eyes flashed with amusement and even if she could have ignored that, the grin halfway across his face wasn’t something that she could forget about. He thought she was a joke and that just made her mad.
Going after him, the first hit landed purely out of shock. It was satisfying to hit him in his throat. It wasn’t usually her first target, but he’d said some horrible things that she wanted to forget about. Now, he couldn’t talk from the looks of it.
She waited for him to right himself. Yeah, maybe it wasn’t going to take a few sparring sessions for him to hate her. Calypso could see the beginnings of it in his face.
“Look, that was probably a low blow, sorry.”
Calypso felt bad, and she started to walk towards him. She knew that she didn’t want to hurt him, and by the looks of it, not much else was hurt but his pride. She still tried to do the right thing, though. She offered her hand to him, and he swept her feet out from underneath her, and she was flat on her back next to him.
“That’s not what most people do when you’re trying to help them.”
“Sorry, was that a low blow?”
Calypso growled and got up. She wasn’t going to wince like she wanted to. Her ass was going to be bruised, she was sure of it.
The man got up as well, and he refrained from grabbing his throat even though she knew that he wanted to.
“So, are we done with this charade?”
Calypso shook her head. “I’m just getting started. It’s good to know I don’t have to worry about honor or rules.”
She lunged at him, and he blocked several punches, though a few did land. Stephen was ready to attack, and when he did, Calypso blocked all of his hits. He didn’t get another hit in on her for the majority of the session, but she got many on him. She was like a little bee, buzzing around taking stings, but in the end, he did a windmill and knocked her down. It was the only way that he was able to best her.
Both were breathing hard, and Calypso was on her back.
“Do you give up?”
She looked like she was going to, but and scrambled away instea
d. The look in his eyes had changed for a moment, and the hunger there had scared her more than anything else. She could take his violence, but his passion, that was more than she could handle.
Chapter Six
“Well, I see that the two of you have gotten acquainted.”
Frank’s voice stopped her heart for a moment, and then she calmed down. She eyed Stephen once, to make sure that he wasn’t going to jump her or something, but apparently, he didn’t want to do the dirty dealings in front of his uncle. It would be looked down upon.
“Yes, it’s nice to meet your nephew, Frank. He’s definitely something else.”
Frank smiled, and he looked between the two of them.
“Is everything okay? You’re both breathing hard, so I take it that you’ve had some time to practice?”
She agreed, but Stephen was still eying her like he was going to pounce at any minute.
“We have, yes, thank you.”
Calypso was trying to be nice, but at the same time, she wasn’t too happy about her training thus far. She wanted to spar and work with Frank, not Stephen, who was more irritating than anyone she’d met before.
“Good, now you can work together to take me down.”
She looked surprised for a moment and looked at Stephen. They’d been at each other’s throats a minute ago, and now they were supposed to work together? That didn’t make sense to her, and she was still trying to get it together when Frank moved towards her in an aggressive way.
“Oh, so we’re starting now?”
Frank grinned and tried to strike her. She was able to get out of the way and then tried to return one, but she was knocked flat. It seemed to be a thing today, and Calypso tried not to let it get to her. She was there to learn, after all.
The older man turned on Stephen and did the same thing to him. They took turns going after him, just to be knocked down a few more times. It was insanity, trying to do the same thing over and over again, expecting to get new results.
Finally, she realized that she had to work with Stephen. It was the only way that they were going to take Frank down with them. Sadly, it took her ass getting bruised repeatedly before she got it. Stephen was thrown one more time before Calypso moved towards him and away from Frank. She wanted him to help her take down Frank because it was becoming clear that the exercise was going to keep going until then. It wasn’t all that good for her, as far as she could see.
“Come on. We’re just going to keep getting our asses kicked. Let me jump off of you.”
“Huh?”
She didn’t have time to wait for an answer and used his outstretched leg and then his shoulder to jump high on top of Frank. The older man never saw it coming, and the look of shock was enough to make her laugh.
Frank got up quickly, but their point had been proven.
“Where did you learn that?”
“From a monk a long time ago.”
Frank and Stephen both looked surprised that she was able to move in such a way, but the very thing that people wrote her off for, her vulnerable size, had been turned into an advantage. She could move faster than most, which meant she could elude far better than most. That kept her spry and away from people that wanted to hurt her, long enough that she could hurt them.
“I think you will have to show us some of that, Calypso. I think I would like to move like a monk.”
Calypso wasn’t used to showing off in front of others, and if she did, it was only to win an argument or prove a point. It wasn’t something that she was praised for very often, because it was mainly her secret.
“So, can we have a break now, old man? You’ve worn me out.”
Frank agreed and he told Stephen to stay back. Calypso didn’t care much what was said. She had made her point, and she still walked a little lighter when they brought it up in praise. She was feeling good about everything, and Calypso wondered how the summer was going to go. It was already so full of things she didn’t quite get. Both Stephen and Frank being some of them.
She got back to her room and called her mom. She wanted to know more about Frank and what she had gotten her into.
“Hey, darling, I was going to call you later before you went to bed. I miss you already.”
Her mother was overdramatic, and it took a lot for Calypso not to remind her that she’d seen her yesterday. Freya was talking about missing her like she’d been gone for years.
“I just wanted to call and say hi. I might be going to bed early. Frank has me tired already.”
“Yes, he’s faster than he looks, isn’t he?”
“You know, you could have warned me about him. He put me on my ass several times today.”
“Language.”
Calypso sighed loudly so that her mother could hear. “Anyway, I was wondering what the deal with him is.”
“He was very good friends with your father. I knew that Frank was the one to get you ready. You can attest to his effectiveness now, can’t you?”
She could hear the smugness in Freya’s voice, and that didn’t help her mood.
“Yes, he will be fine as an instructor, but what do you really know about him?”
“Why, what’s going on?”
Freya was going into a panic and Calypso told her that everything was fine.
“It’s nothing to worry about. I was just wondering.”
“Well, he’s a good guy and knows the family. He will get you ready for anything.”
“And you’re still not going to tell me what that anything is, huh?”
“I wish I could, Calypso, I really do.”
Again, Calypso had to bite her tongue hard so that she wouldn’t say all of the snide things that she wanted to. Her mother was hiding something very important; that meant that something bad was out there, and she didn’t know what.
Calypso had always been filled with dread. Her parents made her that way, made her paranoid that something was coming to get her at any moment. It was hard for her to shake it, and the truth was surely nothing compared to what she had put together in her mind. The imagination was usually far worse.
“I think that if I am really in danger, you should tell me what it is about. Don’t you think?”
“Honey, I know that you want to know everything, but…”
Calypso didn’t let her go on; she just couldn’t. It was all she could do not to get upset. Everything was done for her benefit, but it didn’t feel that way. It felt like she was being punished for something, but she had no idea what.
“I know what you’re going to say. I’ve heard it way too much. I was just wondering what was up with Frank. I know you wouldn’t have sent me to him if he was just anyone. Is there something that I should know?”
Calypso wanted to get to the bottom of things, but her mother was the queen of secrets.
“He is a good friend, and he just wants to help. Do you not like it there?”
She could have insisted on going home, but there was no point. Calypso did feel like she was going to learn something from Frank, and maybe she could feel something stirring between herself and Stephen. There were just a lot of emotions, and Calypso wanted that one thing off of her mind. She had so many other things that were wearing at her.
“I like it here. It’s just weird. He was talking about Dad earlier, and I didn’t realize that they were friends.”
“Frank is a friend to everyone. I have known him since long before I had you. He was a big part of us being together. I trust him, or I wouldn’t have asked him to help me with you. He is a good man and is doing it with a kind heart, so please don’t be too hard on him.”
Calypso scoffed like the thought had never occurred to her. She liked to believe that nothing she said mattered, but she knew that her mother would chide her if she got too smart.
“I will try not to. I have to go, Mom. Love you, and we will talk tomorrow.”
Freya told her that she loved her, and Calypso went to grab the vase next to her. She’d forgotten all about the chambermaid and
heard her rustling in the back of the suite.
“Come out.”
“Sorry, Calypso, I was trying not to bother you.”
Calypso smiled and put the vase down. “You should be a ninja, Alice; screw this job. You can sneak up on anyone I think.”
The praise made Alice smile, and then Calypso did as well. She did like the Dynasty Club. It wasn’t at all what she thought it would be, it was so much better.
Chapter Seven
“I see that you didn’t fare as well as you believed you would, nephew.”
Stephen got his point immediately and tried not to be too sour about it. He’d worked with her in the end, but the fact that she’d taken him down even once was enough for his pride to be wounded.
“She was a lot stronger than she appeared.”
Frank smiled. “I told you that she wasn’t one to be messed with. She took me down by herself earlier. You’ve yet to do that.”
“Have you trained her before?”
“No, but someone has, and it makes me wonder why she has been training at such a young age. Her mother acted like she was helpless, but she was very wrong.”
Stephen had to agree with that sentiment. His whole body was hurting from her. Helpless wasn’t a word that he would associate with Calypso, not in the least bit.
“You know her family well?”
Frank nodded. “Yes, I have known their family for over a century. They are a good family.”
Stephen waited for more. All of a sudden, he was worried about his sparring partner, and now that he’d seen what she could do, he was trying to get more information. His uncle was holding back.
“Is there something I should know about her?”
Frank shrugged. “Not really. What you see is what you get with Calypso Phoenix.”
“Isn’t her family cursed?”
Frank frowned. “That’s just an ugly word that people give to a string of bad luck. That’s all it is.”
