He lets out a breath as he fixes me with a strange look that I can’t work out. “Bianca, I see you heading down this destructive road that I’m not sure you’ll be able to get yourself back from, and honestly, I expected a lot more from you. You’ve got the potential to go so far and yet all I can see is you starting fights, going to parties, and stealing cars.”
I sit quietly and I know he’s right. I’ve spent my last two weekends getting drunk and partying to try and forget the world around me. But Rylan’s words hit me hard, the disappointment lacing his voice rips right through to my soul and in that very moment, I swear to myself I will do whatever it takes to never feel like that again. “You’re right,” I say, looking down at my hands. “The other night was stupid. I just wanted to have fun and forget about everything.”
Rylan takes a steady breath. “I get it, it wasn’t that long ago when I was seventeen,” he says with a small smile and hesitates before he starts again. “Look, I knew a girl who reminds me a lot of you. She was very motivated, she wanted to be the best fighter in The Guard and she had all the potential to make that happen. Then her senior year came and she fell in with the wrong crowd. She was drinking every weekend, neglecting her studies and training, and eventually she was thrown out of The Guard before graduating. She wasn’t allowed to go home to her family or see her friends. She was to be outcast from The Guard and we never saw her again,” he says with sadness in his eyes. “It was awful and I don’t want that to happen to you. You’re so much better than that.”
My future flashes before my eyes and I know I need to turn things around before I head down the same track as the girl from Rylan’s story. Though I know at this rate I’m hardly going to graduate anyway. My fighting skills are just not strong enough to be in league with the boys in my class. I’m weak and my moves are slow and predictable. Sure, I’m pretty good with the gun and throwing a knife at a target, but anyone could do that. I need to turn my life around and I’ll never be able to do it on my own.
I look up at Rylan and I see something in his eyes that shows he believes in me. “I don’t know what to do,” I confess. “I’m so far behind the boys, I’ll never be strong like them. I’m just not made that way.”
“You’re right, you’re not built the same way, but you need to learn how to use your size as an advantage rather than a burden,” he says. “And if you’re serious about graduating, not just at the same level as the boys, but graduating top of the class, then I’ll help you. But… if you get in trouble or if you don’t put the effort required into your training, then you’re on your own,” he says, looking at me and urging me to make the right decision.
He’s practically handing my future to me on a silver platter. I’d be stupid not to accept his offer, though I know spending more time with him isn’t going to help me get over him, but on the other hand, it’s a risk I’m willing to take if it means I will actually get where I want to be. “Ok, I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Rylan gives me a brief nod. “I’m serious. If you start to slacken off, the deal is off.”
“I got it. I won’t let you down,” I promise.
“Good,” he says as his dark eyes flash with pride. He starts to leave and I follow behind. “Bianca?” he asks, stopping and turning back to me. “How come you never told anyone about your Dad?”
His question catches me off guard and I have to think about my answer. “I don’t know. I guess, Mom was dealing with enough already, my sister was way too young to know something like that, and I just couldn’t bare telling Jacinta something so awful, her heart would have broken.”
Rylan’s face is thoughtful as his eyes meet mine. “That was very brave, protecting your family like that, and dealing with it on your own, especially at such a young age. It very selfless.”
I give Rylan a sad smile as I consider his words, the thoughts of being brave or selfless never once having entered my mind. To me, I was just doing what I thought was right. I look up at him, hoping I’m not about to cross any lines. “Is that girl you were talking about your sister?”
His eyes widen in surprise. “Yeah, it is,” he says. “How did you know?”
I cringe, hating to be the barer of bad news. “There’s a lot of rumours going around about you. You’re kind of the campus celebrity,” I inform him.
“Great,” he groans, quietly.
“If you don’t mind me asking…” I say slowly. “What happened with your sister, I mean… after?”
I see the regret in his eyes almost immediately. “I don’t know,” he admits. “I haven’t seen her in ten years. Don’t let that be you.”
“I won’t,” I say, giving him a small smile and heading for the door. I stop and turn back to him, immediately catching his eyes. “I know I haven’t known you long, but for what it’s worth, I imagine you’d be a pretty cool brother and I think she’d be happy to have you in her life again. Don’t give up on her.”
He gives me a small nod and I turn and walk away before I say something else that would potentially cross the line of student teacher relationship.
“Bianca,” Rylan calls once more. I turn back to see a smile lighting up his face. “7 am in the gym. Don’t be late,” I give him a quick nod and turn to leave. I exit the combat room with my emotions running wild as I try to process everything that’s happened this afternoon.
Chapter 11
I dash around my room on Tuesday morning, as excited as can be. I feel giddy at the thought of meeting with Rylan one on one. My body fills with nerves as I wonder what his sessions will hold, and not to mention, how he’s going to treat me. Will he be my tough love Instructor that I have become so used to in Combat Training or the kind friend that I shared my secrets with yesterday?
I get dressed into my workout clothes and throw my long hair up before leaving the room in search for the gym. I make it out into the cool summer morning air with the breeze feeling magical on my skin. I walk further into the center of the quad and stop myself. Now, if I were a gym, where the hell would I be? On the junior campus it was pretty well hidden away behind the training rooms so I’m assuming it might be around there somewhere.
I stand on the spot and circle around when I hear the distinct noise of a door closing. I look over to where the sound came from and find Rylan exiting out of the staff housing looking as glorious as always in his t-shirt and track pants that hang dangerously low. He sees me standing in the middle of the quad and stops in his tracks, giving me a questioning look.
“What are you doing?” he calls, making his way over to me.
I start towards him, burying my hands into my jacket pocket. “I was just admiring the beautiful brickwork of the academy,” I say with a smile like it was the most obvious reason.
He lets out a laugh that wraps my body in pure joy while shaking his head at me in disbelief. “You have no idea where the gym is, do you?” he asks, smirking.
I break into a huge smile, shaking my head, which has him laughing once again. “Come on,” he says, heading off in the same direction as the combat room. We make it to the gym, which I'm pleased to find is literally right next door to the combat room, and to tell the truth, I feel like the biggest idiot for not knowing this earlier.
Rylan holds the door open for me and I make my way in. The very first thing I notice is that we are completely alone. I take a good look around and find the room is full of mirrors, everywhere I look, I see not only myself but Rylan’s reflection as well. There’s no hiding in here. The room is packed with all the typical gym equipment, treadmills, weights, benches, and bars. All of which I have no idea how to use. I walk deeper into the room, giving everything a good look, trying to work out what the hell they are used for.
“You look lost,” he says with humour.
“Would you be surprised if I said I’ve never actually stepped foot in a gym before?” I say, realizing, there’s no point hiding this information from him, he’s bound to work it out for himself.
Rylan doesn’t answer,
just gives me another shake of his head, though, clearly amused. He pulls a bench up and sits down while instructing me to stretch. I sit on the floor and begin my stretching routine as he gets started.
“Ok, so what is it that makes you different from the boys?” he asks, as if it is a trick question.
I raise my eyebrow, a cheeky response dying to come out. His lips tighten and he fixes me with a serious look, knowing me a little too well for my own good. Ok. Time to be serious.
Hmm, let’s see, apart from my great rack, toned ass and lack of penis? “I’m small and not packed with muscle.”
“Exactly, so you need to learn how to use that to your advantage and the best way to do that, apart from sparing, is to work on your strength, endurance, and agility,” he says, giving me a solution to all my questions.
“That easy, huh? And how do you suppose I’m going to do that?”
Rylan digs into his pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper before handing it to me. “You’ll do all that by following this,” he says as I open up the piece of paper, studying what’s inside. “Now, this is just an outline, but apart from when you’re meeting with me, this is the stuff I expect you to be doing. I’ll take you through it all so you know what it involves.”
“Hold on a second,” I say, interrupting him. He stops what he’s doing and fixes me with an impatient stare. “It says swimming on here. Now, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the senior campus doesn’t have a pool.” Rylan’s impatient stare quickly turns into a full blown grin. “What am I missing?”
“There’s a full sized Olympic pool two buildings over,” he says as smug as can be.
I get back to looking at my training schedule and avoid any eye contact with Rylan as I nurse my ego back to health. I finish stretching and hop up, ready to get started with whatever Rylan has planned for me on this fine morning.
“Ok, you good to get going?” he asks. He takes me around the gym, pointing out the few things he wants me to work on today, stopping at each, to make sure I know what I’m doing. I get started on his work as he watches and gives me pointers and tips along the way. Once he’s confident that I am doing more good than harm, he takes himself over to the other side of the gym and gets started on his own workout.
I focus on what I’m doing, watching myself in the mirror and making sure I’m doing it all correctly. I feel powerful and energetic and can’t understand why I’ve avoided this place so long and stuck to running laps around an oval and the occasional sit ups beside my bed. I work hard and feel amazing.
I take a quick break in between sets to get myself a drink of water and catch Rylan’s reflection in the mirror. He is laying down on one of the benches, lifting weights above his head. I’ve never known what that exercise was called, but seeing Rylan in action like that with his muscles out on display and his arms glistening with the slightest bit of manly sweat, has my body wanting him in a way that I’ve never wanted anybody before.
“Everything ok?” he asks, catching me looking at him, a small smile on his lips. “You need help?”
Crap. Busted checking out my instructor.
“Nope, all good,” I say, quickly turning as a grin spreads across my face, which I realize a little too late he can see in my reflection. Damn it. I get back to my workout, doing everything in my power to avoid looking in his direction. Fighting the temptation is harder than the exhausting workout I’m putting my body through.
After an hour, I have completed my workout. Rylan comes over to see how I went and excuses me to get ready for my day. I leave the gym feeling amazing and exhausted at the same time. I head up to my dorm room and get straight in the shower, letting the hot water rush over me, getting out only when I hear Jacinta banging on the door.
“About time,” she says as we switch places in the bathroom.
A half hour later, we make our way down to the cafeteria with my mood still ecstatic as I fill her in on my morning. Jacinta meets up with Trey and we all sit down to eat breakfast together, still no sign of Daniel.
By the afternoon, my body is aching and exhaustion is starting to take over. I make my way to the Combat room, dreading another workout. I enter the room and am not sure what I’m going to get from Rylan. During our combat training sessions he’s always been a bit of an ass, though the handful of times we’ve been alone, he’s treated me as a friend. I make my way deeper into the room.
He sits on the stairs waiting for the class to saunter in as Tessa explains something with as much animation as possible to Luke and Alex. He gives me the briefest glance and immediately looks away. I guess during Combat training, he’s nothing but my hot, jerk instructor.
Daniel and Trey make their appearance and Rylan is immediately on his feet with Tessa following behind. “Alright guys, we’re shooting today. Let’s go,” she calls as the room erupts into excited noise. My body fills with relief knowing I won’t be expected to fight this afternoon. I make myself a mental note to go to bed earlier tonight as there’s no way I will be this lucky again tomorrow. We follow behind our instructors to the shooting range and get started on the day’s session. Daniel in the lane beside me, ignoring me like the plague.
With my long day finished, I curl up in my bed and let the exhaustion claim me as I fall into a heavy sleep.
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The next morning I am up and ready for my next session with Rylan. My body aches from yesterday’s workout but that doesn’t stop the excited nerves flooding through me as I push through the gym doors, wondering what today’s session will hold.
I’m ten minutes early, but I’m not surprised when I find Rylan already here, finishing up his own workout. “Good timing,” he says mostly to himself, grabbing his water bottle and taking a quick drink.
The sight of his glistening body, muscles on full display makes me weak in the knees. I give him a smile and head straight for the floor, starting on my stretches to remind him just how serious I am about being here.
Rylan takes a seat on the same bench as yesterday. “How are you feeling today?”
“Sore,” I say honestly.
“Thought so,” he smiles. “It’ll take a few weeks, but you’ll get used to it.”
Rylan sits patiently while he waits for me to finish stretching and warming up, then hops up and heads over to a bag, pulling out a pair of boxing gloves.
He walks over to me and holds the gloves out. “Now, I’m assuming you know what these are?” he asks with sarcasm dripping from his tone.
I take the gloves from him. “Ha… Ha… very funny,” I respond flatly, sliding them on.
“Good,” he smiles. “No better way to work on your strength, agility, and endurance all at the same time.”
Rylan gives me a brief explanation on how the session is going to work, but after growing up with boxing as one of our main forms of learning about fighting, I’m feeling very confident. Rylan grabs himself some pads and we get straight into it. He pushes me harder and faster than I’ve ever worked before, testing my limits. Adrenaline pulses through me with the need to prove my worth and keeps me going until I can’t physically push myself any longer.
My hour with Rylan is over way too quickly. I lay down taking advantage of the cool floor on my back, tossing my gloves to the side. “Is it always this quiet here in the mornings?” I ask, not ready for our time to be over.
“Yeah, most of the boys tend to come in the afternoon, after training,” he says, picking up the gloves and pads and putting them away. He walks back over to me and stretches his hand out before me. “Come on,” he says. “You’ve got to get ready for class.”
I reach up and take hold of his hand, taking absolute pleasure in the feel of his skin on mine. He pulls me up off the ground in one easy go and before I know it, we’re standing face to face. His proximity has me frozen in place as he holds onto my hand for a fraction longer than necessary. He looks me steady in the eye. “You did good today,” he says, his voice like velvet on my skin as he gently releases my han
d.
I give him a soft smile, wondering just how inappropriate it would be to throw my body at him and crush my lips with his. “Thanks,” I say, grabbing my things and heading for the door before I do something stupid.
“Bianca,” he calls. “Take it easy today, we’re sparring this afternoon and you’ll need your energy.”
Oh no. After this morning’s effort, there’s no way I’ll be able to beat the boys. “Will do.” I say with a salute, hoping to God that I make it through the day.
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As I had expected, the afternoon was awful. I got my ass kicked by Trey, though I could tell he was taking it easy on me. Which is pretty much how the next few days went. I met with Rylan in the mornings, who worked me harder than I thought possible while I swooned over his glorious good looks and took pleasure in his newly discovered amazing personality, which I’m yet to completely figure out. Then the afternoons were filled with exhaustion and disappointment as Daniel continued to avoid me, Rylan went back to his tough instructor role, and of course, getting my ass kicked.
So, after I spent my Saturday morning running laps, I was more than happy to stand with Millie at the gates of the visitor parking as Mom pulled up for her weekend visit.
“Hi Girls,” she calls, running over and throwing her arms tightly around us at the same time, then all too quickly, stepping back to study our faces. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much,” she says, giving me a concerned look as she, no doubt, notices the collection of bruises I have covering me from my head to my toes.
“We’ve missed you too, Mom,” I say, giving her another tight squeeze, reassuring her that I’m ok. I head over to the car and grab her things as she holds onto Millie for dear life.
“Thank you, darling,” Mom says, taking her bags from me. “Now, shall we get settled in my room?”
We walk down to the guest housing where Mom will be staying and let her unpack as we chat endlessly about all the important things happening in our lives. Millie fills Mom in on her classes and I let her know about my arrangement with Rylan. She seems surprised, but knows it’s going to help me get to where I need to be.
Destruct: The Guard Trilogy Page 16