“Nope.” I attempt to bite into a sandwich, but think better and put it back down.
“That’s okay, I overheard Rylan talking to Ben this morning saying we were going over some new sparring techniques, so today shouldn’t be too rough, I’ll pair with you.”
“Thanks,” I say, resting my head on his big shoulder. “But don’t take it too easy on me, I’ll still be able to kick your ass,” I smile weakly.
He puts an arm around my shoulder and pulls me into him. “Don’t worry,” he soothes. “I’ve got your back, pretty girl.”
Before I know it, the bell signaling the end of lunch chimes and we all get up and head our own way, me and the boys to combat while Jacinta heads off to FEDS.
We push through the big combat room doors and walk up to the front where our other classmates have begun to gather. I look up at Rylan who narrows his eyes in curiosity, no hint of regret for being such a jerk this morning. I squirm on my feet, wanting nothing more than to sit down. I zone out and begin staring off into the distance as Rylan gives his little spiel about how today’s session will pan out.
Daniel tugs on my arm, bringing me back to the here and now. He drags me over to a sparring mat. “What was with that weird look Mr. Big Shot gave you?”
“Probably trying to work out if I’ve got my ‘shit together’ after my awful training session this morning,” I say with venom.
“Woah, do I detect trouble in paradise?” he asks with a smirk.
I shrug my shoulders not wanting to get into it. “Alright, alright, I can catch a hint,” Daniel says, then re-explains what we should be doing today.
“Get on with it,” Rylan hollers from across the room.
I let out a groan at the sound of his booming voice, but nonetheless, we get right to work. I spar with Daniel and just as expected, my body wears down quickly, my moves sloppy and my offense weak. My head begins to spin as I push on.
Rylan comes and stands by us, wanting to see the new sequences that we’ve been working on. “Again,” he demands when I screw it up. I give Daniel an apologetic look as I begin again. I get it right this time, but to say it was sloppy, is definitely an understatement. An annoyed expression comes over Rylan’s face, he shakes his head in disappointment. “Keep going,” he orders, walking away.
“Jerk,” I mutter under my breath before grabbing a quick drink and getting back to work.
I fight alongside Daniel, who’s definitely taking it easy on me, and for once, I’m actually grateful. I push myself to my absolute limit, which is nothing compared to one of my good days. I kick my leg up, which Daniel easily catches, throwing it away and sending me into a tumbling spin. I catch myself, needing to blink a few times as my eyes struggle to focus on Daniel.
“Bianca?” he asks worried, but the sound is drowned out by the heavy pulse rushing through my veins and not two seconds later, I watch as Daniel dives for me as I promptly pass out.
----------
I come to a few moments later to hear Rylan roaring at Daniel. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” Daniel defends, annoyance thick in his voice. “She just collapsed.”
The room hushes around us as Rylan digs into Daniel, getting right up into his face. “Bullshit.”
I do my best to get myself to my feet and suddenly have Trey at my side, holding onto my elbow and making sure I’m not about to fall again. Though with the intense sound these boys are making, I’d much rather be passed out. “What’s bullshit is you pushing her so hard when she’s obviously sick,” Daniel says, voice low and menacing.
Rylan’s eyes snap to mine and check over my body as he recalculates his thoughts. Something flashes behind his eyes, but I’m far too out of it to work it out. “Ben, finish up here. I’ll take her to the infirmary,” Rylan says.
“Ha,” Daniel scoffs. “I think you’ve already done enough.”
Rylan fixes Daniel with a look of pure death and I decide I’ve definitely had enough. I walk forward and roughly shoulder through the both of them, giving them each a nasty push. “Both of you assholes can go to hell. I’ll take myself,” I growl before continuing on to the door and glancing back to fix them both with a scathing look. “Don’t follow me.”
The room is silent as I walk out, probably in shock that I had the nerve to not only tell Rylan to go to hell but to call him an asshole to his face. I expect either of them to still come and accompany me despite my warning, but I’m relieved when I find myself in the infirmary without my overprotective friend or douchebag boyfriend.
A young and surprisingly beautiful nurse sees me and after a quick explanation ushers me into a room and helps me into a bed, letting me know the doctor will come in shortly. I immediately fall asleep, not bothering to stay up for the doctor.
I come in and out of consciousness for what could have been minutes or hours when I hear Rylan’s soft voice. “What are you doing here?” he asks. My head pounds and I keep my eyes closed, not ready to hold a conversation. Especially not with him.
I hear Daniel’s familiar voice. “I could ask you the same question,” he murmurs. “Isn’t it a bit risky for you to be here at her bedside?”
“Probably,” he replies.
The room grows quiet and even as I pretend to sleep, I can still feel the tension radiating from the two men in the room. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?” Rylan asks.
Daniel lets out a shaky breath. “Have been for years,” he confirms.
What the hell?
“Does she know?”
“I don’t know,” he responds. “I tried to tell her at the beginning of the year, but the moment you showed up here, it was like some kind of light lit up inside her and I knew it was all over for me.”
Rylan doesn’t respond, but I know he’s thinking hard.
“We could have been great together,” Daniel continues. “If she had never met you, we would be together and she would have had a normal boyfriend where she wouldn’t have to hide, she could have gossiped about us to all her friends like normal girls do,” he says with regret strong in his voice. “But I know that will never happen now. She’s been one of my best friends since we were five. I’ve seen her go through boyfriend after boyfriend, and not once has she looked at one of those losers the way she looks at you. So, if you break her heart, I will come after you,” he finishes with the utmost seriousness.
Rylan, the man of very few words, is quiet once again and I can imagine him nodding at Daniel, taking his threat just as serious.
“So, you want to explain the whole Nora thing?” Rylan asks.
Daniel lets out a small chuckle. “As annoying as Nora can be, she’s actually alright, might even lead to something.”
I take his comment for what it is. A distraction from me.
The boys are quiet for so long, I fall back asleep.
I’m woken again when I feel a hand squeeze my own. My eyes easily open this time and I glance around the small room to find Rylan sitting in the seat next to my bed and no sign of Daniel. “About time you woke up,” Rylan murmurs.
I gaze at him and find all sorts of hurt behind his dark eyes. I lace my fingers through his. “Hi,” I whisper.
“I’m so sorry, Bianca,” he says. “I would have never pushed you that hard had I known you weren’t well. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Well, you know me,” I joke, not wanting to admit I thought I had a headache because ‘that time of the month’ was due.
“Do you have any idea how dangerous and stupid that was?” he scolds.
“Yeah, I’m kind of seeing that now,” I admit, pulling on his hand to bring him closer.
He leans in and gives me the smallest kiss on my temple. “I was so worried about you,” he says, settling himself back into his chair.
“I, um…I’m sorry I called you an asshole in front of everyone,” I say.
“Don’t be. I deserved it. I was being an asshole,” he smiles and I know all is forgiven.
The sound of the
door opening prompts Rylan to let go of my hand just in time to see Dr. Mandoza, our resident Doctor, walking in holding a clipboard.
Rylan’s eyes flash to mine conveying just how close we were to being caught.
“Ah, Bianca,” Dr. Mandoza says as she closes the door behind her. “It’s nice to see you again, though I wish it had been under better circumstances,” she adds, sitting on the end of the bed.
“So, I’ll get straight to it so you can get out of here,” she says. “You’re extremely dehydrated and overworked. I’m assuming you were training day in and day out preparing for your examinations last week and after a few days off, the exhaustion has finally caught up to you, which explains the migraine and dizziness. When was the last time you ate?” she asks.
I look down, unable to meet her eyes, knowing what’s coming. “Last night,” I confirm. I hear Rylan cursing beside me and refuse to meet his eyes.
“Well, that explains why on top of everything else, you collapsed,” Dr. Mandoza says. “Now, I know I don’t need to lecture you on looking after your body,” she says.
“I know,” I defend. “You don’t need to worry about that, I’m usually quite a pig.”
“Okay. I’m assuming you took this last weekend off?” she says as my cheeks flame at the reminder of my weekend making me refuse to meet Rylan’s eyes for a whole new reason. “But apart from then, when was the last time you took a day off.”
I glance down once again in guilt. “I honestly don’t know,” I say.
“What do you mean?” Rylan cuts in. “You take the weekends off.”
“Yeah…no, I don’t,” I cringe.
Rylan’s eyes heat in anger. “Bianca,” he groans.
“Okay, I’ll let you guys hash this out later,” Dr. Mandoza says, chiming in. “But for now, you’re going back to your dorm, having dinner in bed and relaxing. I want you off any intense workouts for the rest of the week, including the weekend,” she scolds. “You may participate in any basic skills and light work, but I want you back here next week to get clearance before you return to your usual training.”
I groan knowing this is going to be the hardest week of my life. The doctor excuses herself and leaves me with a scowling Rylan. “Bianca,” he starts before launching into a lecture on my health as he helps me out of the bed. I nod along as he walks me back to my dorm, this time with a good excuse to take me through the door, rather than the window.
Not long after, he sits me up in my bed with Jacinta watching our every move together while rummaging through our little kitchen for something for me to eat.
“So, I’ll see you in the morning?” I ask hesitantly.
“No,” he scoffs. “You heard the Doctor. I’m canceling all your morning sessions for the week.”
“What?” I screech. “She said I could do basic skills.”
“I don’t care,” he deadpans. “I’m not risking it.”
I huff and puff, whining about how the world is not fair. He bends down and gently kisses me. “I’m so angry with you, but I’m glad you’re okay,” he says then whispers, “I love you.”
Heat fills me. “Love you, too,” I respond, kissing him once again.
He gives me a small smile and makes his way to the door. “Wait,” I call, stopping him in his tracks.
“Yes?” he asks curiously.
I reach over into my bedside table and pull out his iPod. He gives me a funny look. “I’m guessing that didn’t accidentally end up in your drawer?”
“Nope,” I smile. He steps forward and takes it out of my outstretched hands with yet another curious look. “I might have updated it a little bit.”
“I don’t know whether to thank you or be scared you destroyed my iPod with crap,” he says.
“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” I grin.
He gives me a knowing look with a twinkle in his eyes that melts my heart before he turns and exit’s the room, leaving me to a gawking Jacinta. “What?” I ask her.
She comes and sits down on my bed looking dumbfounded. “I knew you were together, but hearing and seeing it. Woah, so not the same thing. He’s like crazy in love with you,” she observes.
“Yeah, he is,” I smile. Jacinta bends down and pulls my laptop out from under my bed and squishes in next to me before pressing play on a movie. “So, I was kind of pretending to be asleep and I overheard Daniel telling Rylan that he’s been in love with me for the past few years,” I tell her as the movie plays in the background.
“What?” she screeches, her mouth dropping open in surprise, the movie already forgotten.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I laugh.
“You’ve certainly had a lot of excitement over the last few days,” she observes. “But, I guess that kind of explains why Daniel’s so overprotective of you sometimes,” she considers.
“Yeah, maybe, but I just thought that was his personality, how he treats us girls. I mean, he’s protective of you too.”
“He is, but not in the same way he is with you,” she says. “But who knows, maybe when he adds his brotherly affection into it, I may get the same super-overprotective guy that you get,” she laughs.
“You know what, it’s not always a bad thing.”
“No, not in the slightest.”
Chapter 11
The next few days drag by and as expected it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Being in the combat room, watching all the guys sparring and not being able to join in is like killing me from the inside out. Though I must admit, I’ve enjoyed my morning sleep-ins, not to mention, Trey and Daniel have practically been slaving over me, which Jacinta hates, but I mean, why waste a perfectly good opportunity?
I walk into the Combat room on Thursday afternoon to a room full of students, but no instructors. Everybody lazes around while we wait and a scowl crosses my face when Luke and Alex come strutting over. “What’s going on, Bianca?” Luke asks in a voice that’s desperate for information. “You haven’t trained all week. Are you being punished for your little tantrum on Monday?”
“What’s it any of your business?” I demand, shooting to my feet.
“Feisty today,” Alex says, his eyes widening in excitement. “Nah man, I think you’re wrong. Rylan lets her get away with everything. I think she’s probably on her rag or she got herself knocked up.”
With my patience at the end of the line, my arm instantly snakes out and I hear the satisfying crunch of Alex’s nose beneath my fist. “You bitch,” he snarls as blood begins to pour out like a tap. He launches himself at me and I quickly jump into action, and apparently, after a few days off, my desperate need for action soars way above my control.
Luke jumps into the fight and Daniel instantly involves himself to even the playing field. We all scramble as our classmates desperately begin to pull us off each other.
I suddenly find Rylan standing in the center of our fight. “BACK THE FUCK UP,” he growls to the four of us. We all instantly retreat. “Someone better start explaining what’s going on here.”
Alex immediately pipes up. “She broke my fucking nose,” he snarls.
Rylan’s eyes zone in on me. “I was provoked,” I screech. “And he deserved it.”
“I don’t give a shit. That’s no excuse to break some dickhead’s nose,” he says in fury, not caring that he just called a student a dickhead in front of everybody. He lets out a frustrated groan. Yep. I totally deserved that.
I stand quietly beside Daniel as I wait for whatever punishment is coming next. “Alex, get out of here,” he says. “The three of you will sit out today then all of you will stay after class,” he orders, dismissing us. He walks away in anger to get the class's attention.
“Are you okay?” Daniel asks.
I give him a small nod as I make my way over to the small stage in the room. I sit down and get comfortable for the next two hours.
An hour later, Alex comes back in the room with his face bandaged and bruised. I smirk at the look of pain on his face a
s he sits beside Luke and the satisfaction within me is incredible. “Wipe that look off your face,” Rylan murmurs as he passes me.
I do just that and get back to studying the groups in front of me, learning my classmates' strengths and weaknesses.
Finally, another hour later, the bell chimes signaling the end of the Academy school hours and Rylan makes his way over to give us our punishments. Rylan orders us to clean all the equipment and pack away everything that was used in the day’s session. With the four of us, it really doesn’t take too long, well I guess really three of us as Alex mopes around whining about his nose.
Thirty minutes later, we finish our jobs and sit back on the stage as we wait for Rylan to dismiss us.
He saunters over, not caring that it’s breaking into our afternoon, but to me, it really doesn’t matter. “Someone better start talking,” he says.
I immediately pipe up. “These idiots came over wanting to be assholes and I lost my shit and punched Alex, and of course, he has absolutely no self-control and tried to hit me back, then Luke wanted a little action and insisted two on one was a fair fight, so Daniel jumped in. But, just saying, if they weren’t trying to get all in my business then none of this would have happened.”
Nobody tries to correct or deny my story and Rylan groans at the idiocy of it all. “Everybody agree with that?” he asks the boys. They all nod in agreement. “Right, Daniel, get out of here, you did nothing I wouldn’t have done,” he says and I catch the underlying meaning; not blaming Daniel for jumping into a fight to protect the person he loves.
Rylan turns his gaze on Luke, “You’re an idiot. If I hear you’re jumping into somebody else fight and creating an unfair advantage again, I’ll rip you a new one myself,” he says before dismissing him.
Next up is Alex. “Looks like you deserved a broken nose. Hell, if I wasn’t your instructor and you were constantly in my face, I would have broken your nose as well. Learn to keep your comments to yourself,” Alex nods and quickly disappears out the door behind Luke. Leaving us alone in the big room.
Heart and Revenge: Slayer Academy (Book 2) Page 10