by Tijan
We’d started ten minutes ago.
“Sorry.” I heard Heather say to someone just behind me.
“No, no. This is entertaining as hell,” an amused guy responded. “I think I reached my black belt just watching her.”
“Hi-ya!” I leaped again, rounding back on whoever was behind me, and I pretended to ram my elbow into his chest.
Two guys were there, smiling and looking me over approvingly. The first one, who looked a little like Mason, smirked and stepped even closer. If I shifted an inch, my elbow really would’ve been pressed against his chest.
“What’s your fighting name?” he asked.
I paused, frowning. This didn’t feel right.
A door slammed behind us, and Heather cursed under her breath.
“Ninja Sam,” I said, a death warning on the tip of my tongue. But three things happened then.
First, the guys looked over my shoulder and paled, stepping back. Then my hair stood on end, and finally, a strong and masculine arm wrapped around my waist. It lifted me and threw me over a shoulder. My mind considered struggling, but my body was already melting. It recognized its mate.
“She’s mine,” Mason growled.
He carried me across the sidewalk and into the opened back door of Logan’s Escalade. I glimpsed the yellow, then Logan’s smirking face before Mason climbed into the backseat and lifted me onto his lap.
“Hi, Logan.” I waved a hand.
His eyes met mine in the mirror, but he only shook his head and waited until the rest of the girls got in. Once the last door was shut, he took off, and I curled into Mason’s arms and rested my head against his chest.
I looked up at him. “What are you doing here?”
His arms tightened around me. “Logan got a call to pick you up. I made him pick me up first.”
“Yeah?”
I smiled at him, and I knew I probably looked ridiculous—wasted and dreamy—but I didn’t care. I reached up and touched his chin, his very strong and hard chin with a dimple in it, and I let out a sigh.
“Thank you for coming.” We were broken up, but I didn’t care at that moment.
There was a lot I didn’t care about, but none of that was Mason. I was all sorts of caring about him.
His eyes darkened. “You had fun tonight?”
“I was missing you, then I was dancing.” I nodded, closing my eyes. “Then I became Ninja Sam.”
He chuckled, the sound washing over me and warming me. “Ninja Sam, huh?”
“Yes. She comes out when she has to take care of a problem.”
What the problem was, I couldn’t say.
Maybe I was missing him. Maybe it was because I wanted to call him, but knew the girls wouldn’t like that idea. Or maybe they would? I didn’t know. Or maybe it was just because I had too much alcohol in me, and I wasn’t thinking and just feeling, or no—I sat upright. My eyes opened wide.
“Sam?”
“Raelynn.”
Courtney, Grace, and Heather all turned around.
“What about her?” Courtney asked.
“Who’s Raelynn?” That was Heather.
“She was there.”
“What?” Courtney turned fully around, her hand holding onto the back of the seat between us. “Are you sure?”
“No.” Grace shook her head. “She’s injured. I talked to some of the girls, and they said she was still limping and stuff.”
“No.” I was certain. “Well, she might still be injured, but she walked past me. I was leaving the bathroom, and she was going in.”
“Did she see you?”
I frowned. “I recognized her, but I don’t think she did me. Her eyes were glazed over. She was holding hands with another girl.”
“Faith?”
“No. Someone else.” The more I thought about it, the better I remembered. There was no limp, no hesitation. She walked as freely as I did. “I guess she’s all healed up.”
“But that doesn’t mean anything. Walking doesn’t mean she can run.”
“Yeah.” I felt a pang in my chest. I nodded, moving my head against Mason’s chest. “You’re right.”
“Who is Raelynn, and who has faith?”
Grace started giggling at Heather’s question.
Even Courtney was fighting back a grin as she tried to explain. “Faith is the girl who—”
“Faith is Kate, but instead of Mason, it’s their cross-country team,” Logan cut in.
Heather nodded. “Ah. Got it.” She looked at me. “What a bitch.”
“Faith didn’t jump me in a bathroom.”
“That’s good.” Heather narrowed her eyes. “For her.”
“You were jumped?” Courtney asked.
I nodded. “I never did get her back.”
“We did.” Logan met my gaze in the rearview mirror. “We took care of her.”
That pang was there again, flipping over in my stomach now.
I peered up at Mason again, letting out a soft sigh.
His arm tightened around me. He dropped his head, murmuring into my ear so no one else could hear, “You okay?”
I looked back up to him, saw the concern, and the guilt went away. I said, so softly, for only him to hear, “I missed you tonight.”
He turned his head, just slightly. His lips almost touching mine, and he said quietly back, “I missed you too.”
I did not want to be broken up anymore. I rested my head on his shoulder, my lips grazing his neck. “How long do we have to do this?”
His lips touched mine, just barely. “I don’t think we have to anymore.”
“Yeah?” My eyes found his. Hope came alive in my chest.
“Yeah.” He nodded, his eyes dark with lust and love.
I felt the tingling in my body. It spread all the way to my toes and fingers. Even drunk, I could feel it. I shifted closer to him, bringing our lips in contact, just for a second. I was forgetting where we were.
“Did you fix it?” I asked.
He touched my hand, locking our fingers. “I’m trying to.”
God.
I wanted that so much. Maybe too much. The need for him swam in me, intoxicating me all over again.
“That’d be wonderful.”
“Sam.”
“Yeah?” I sat up, straddling him and not giving one shit who was with us in that car. I was selfish in that moment, and everyone had better be looking away.
He stared right back at me, and his lips curved in a smile. “I think we’re going to be okay.”
“Yeah?” I matched his smile.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
Screw it. I sank against him, letting my body mold to his, and my lips fused with his. Just fuck it. I couldn’t stay away any longer.
Mine. That was what he’d said to that guy, and I pulled back just enough to tell him, “You’re mine too.”
“Always.”
I nodded. “Always.”
Then we were kissing again, and I didn’t think anymore. I was too busy being happy.
I was stretching on the floor the next morning, getting ready to run, when I heard Mason moving on the bed. I reached for my foot and twisted so I could see him peering at me from above.
“Morning.”
I should’ve been hung over, but I couldn’t stop the pep in my voice. I was going on a run. I was itching for it. It’d been a long two weeks.
He frowned at me. “You’re annoyingly chipper.”
“I know.” I switched feet, reaching for my other one, and laughed, shrugging.
He was right. Everything felt right. He and I would be fine. Whatever my freak out had been—and I still didn’t understand it myself—something in my bones told me everything would be fine. I only had one dilemma left to deal with, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to Faith. I didn’t even know if I had to say anything. I was clueless, but I was ready.
My life wasn’t going to fall apart, and now I needed to run. I just needed to feel that burn in my legs, wind again
st my cheeks, and the sense of freedom. It wasn’t flying, but it was the closest thing I could get.
He sighed and lay back down. “It’s five in the morning. We fell asleep two hours ago.”
It was less than that. Logan had picked us up at one thirty, but I went home with Mason and hadn’t let him sleep till an hour ago. I grinned, my body warming as I remembered straddling him. I wanted to dominate, and Ninja Sam took on a whole different meaning last night—or technically earlier this morning.
“Go back to sleep.” I stood, bending my knees and hugging them to my chest one at a time. “I have to run. I haven’t gone for two weeks.”
“You haven’t?”
I paused, hearing his surprise. I felt my throat thicken. “If I started, I wouldn’t have stopped.”
“Oh.”
I grinned. “We should probably talk again.”
He growled, flipped over, and buried his head in the pillow. “Yes, but not now. God, not now.” The blanket moved off his back, slipping down to rest just above his ass, and I sighed.
Goddamn. That ass.
I bit my lip. I knew what he looked like from the back as he thrust inside of me. I’d watched in the mirror a few times, and I now had the urge to drag him into the bathroom.
“I’m too tired.”
I laughed. “What are you talking about?”
His head was under the pillow, and his voice came out muffled. “I know what you’re thinking. I can feel your thoughts, and I’m calling for a ceasefire. I’m tired, woman. Some of us are human.”
Human? I mouthed that word, still grinning to myself. He was calling me the non-human? Him? Who could outrun and outmuscle so many football players? Who was good enough to go to the NFL? Who the coaches would go to such great lengths to keep on their team? Him?
He was the machine, but I’d take the compliment. It just added to my morning. I was already on top of the world.
I reached for the door, but paused, my eyes tracing up his back. He rolled over, his eyes meeting mine with a twinkle.
The grin tugging at the corner of his lip had my lips twitching to mirror his, and the ache between my legs blossomed into an overwhelming love for him. I could feel everything inside of me soften.
“I love you,” I said softly.
“I love you back.”
“We’re going to be okay?”
He nodded. “We’ll be fine.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I felt the flutter in my stomach as I smiled back.
His words were a blanket that I wrapped around myself. I felt them as I left and started down the street.
It felt good to run, but after a five-minute sprint, I stopped.
No one else was up. No cars. I didn’t see any lights in the houses. It was just me, just the street, and I breathed it in.
I closed my eyes, spread my arms wide, and tipped my head back.
I was ready to fly.
“Okay,” Faith grumbled as she found me on the park bench. “I’m here.”
I’d called her after a couple miles. I was going to demolish this girl, but I wanted to meet with her first.
She sat down on the bench beside me, yawning, and rubbed under her eyes. “Why did you demand I meet you here? It’s Saturday. You know we have a race today, don’t you?”
“You and I don’t.”
“Yes, we do.” Her yawn stopped abruptly. Her mouth flattened, and her forehead wrinkled. “We can’t miss any qualifying race.”
“We’re going to miss one.” I stood and jumped up and down. I was antsy. “You and I are going to have our own race. Right here. Right now. And this is the last one.”
“What are you talking about?” She stood too, more cautious.
“You want me to help you? You want to make me motivate you?”
“Yeah, but you’ve been gone for two weeks. Coach said something happened.”
She wanted to know what, but she wasn’t asking. Good. I wouldn’t have told her anyway. My hand rested on my hip. “I saw Raelynn last night.”
She didn’t move, but I felt her attention snap into focus. “Yeah?”
I waited, studying her, and then I saw the guilt. My lip curled. “You’re such a liar. You never went to see her, did you?”
Shame filled her eyes. I saw it for a brief second before she looked away. She swallowed, and when she turned back it was gone. She’d gotten herself under control, and she raised her top lip to match mine.
“What about it? Why do you give a shit? You haven’t gone to see her either. Did you talk to her last night?”
“No, but that’s not my job. It’s yours. You were her best friend.”
“It’s weird!” she yelled, throwing her arms out.
“Get over it. She’s someone who loved you. She had your back against me. You don’t throw people like that away. You keep them close, and you have their back too. Trust me.” I felt a lump in my throat. “I’ve had my share of people who said they loved me, but when things got bad, they couldn’t leave me fast enough. When someone’s hurt, you shield them, you don’t hurt them further.”
Her head hung. “That’s not what I did.”
“It is, but you keep telling yourself whatever excuse you’ve thought up. That’ll be there long after you chase any other good person away.”
“Goddamn it!” She threw her head back, eyes blazing. “What the fuck is your problem? Why are you on my ass about this?”
“Because I’m changing to!”
I stopped, wide-eyed. I could feel the intensity in them. My blood was pumping. Everything stopped, and I felt it click.
“What?” Faith’s eyebrows pinched together.
Mason had to change. He needed to find the line with me, and hold it. But I had to change too. And Faith wasn’t another Kate. I had been looking at her, anticipating it, but she wasn’t. She wasn’t a great human being, but she wasn’t going to plot against me. She was all bluff.
I was calling her on it.
“You’re never going to actually hurt me, are you?”
“What?” Her head craned backward. “No. Who do you think I am?”
“People from my past.”
“What?” Her eyes grew wary.
“I have been plotted against. I have been hurt. Everything you’ve threatened has already happened to me. I took your threats seriously.” But I didn’t have to anymore.
I was changing.
I was growing up.
What happened to me before wasn’t going to happen again, and I could see it now. It was clearer.
“You aren’t Kate, Jessica, or Lydia. You’re not even my mother. You’re just . . .” I looked at her again, feeling my loathing gone. Faith just looked sad now. She was a girl, her brown hair pulled up in a braid. She had a pronounced jaw, maybe a little too square for a girl, and she was thin. I would’ve thought she had a problem if I didn’t know how strong her legs were. They were shaped and firm, like a professional runner’s. But . . . she was just a girl.
All the fight I had stored for her fled. “I’ve been picking fights with you, haven’t I?”
She closed her mouth, then lifted a shoulder, but she kept a cautious eye on me. “I’ve given you reason. I’m a spoiled brat, and I might tell people not to talk to you, but I’m not vindictive where I want you to actually get hurt. I just say things. My sister keeps saying my big mouth is going to get me in trouble. And you’re right.”
I glanced at her.
She rolled her eyes, her lips strained in annoyance. “You have made me question a couple things, and who I have in my circle is one of them. You’re right. Raelynn always had my back, and I knew she loved me, but she never did anything about it. She just supported me.”
“She just loved you.”
“Yeah. She did.” She let out a sigh. “I’ll make it right with her.” Her eyebrows pulled together. “You saw her last night? Where?”
“A nightclub.”
“Which one?”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t pay
ing attention to much last night, but she was more drunk than I was. She walked right past me without blinking an eye.”
“She doesn’t pay attention. When she goes out, she purposely gets in her own head. I don’t know why she does that, but she does. Always drove me crazy.”
I heard the fondness and added, “She was holding hands with a girl.”
Her head lifted up. “Yeah?”
I nodded.
“Good for her, if that person is more, you know. She better be a damned good person. Rae deserves it.” She waved that off, or tried. Her hand stopped mid-wave. “She deserves more than me as a friend too.”
I didn’t know what to say, but I didn’t think Faith cared. We stood in silence. Faith was with her thoughts, and I let her be.
After a couple minutes, she coughed and refocused. “Uh. Why did you want to meet this morning again?”
I gestured down the running path. “From here, if you follow this path until it stops, it’s seventeen miles. We both skip today’s race. This is ours. You and me.”
“Why? I mean, you’re just going to beat me.”
But she started stretching again, and so did I. My body had begun to cool. I needed to warm it up again.
I grabbed for my toes. “Because this is it. This is our race. I’m going to beat you—”
“Don’t get cocky or anything.” She laughed.
I ignored her. “But it’s up to you by how much. And after this, we’re done. We’re not rivals anymore. We’re teammates. All the petty, catty bullshit is over. Got it?”
She paused, her eyes narrowing, and then her head bobbed up and down. “Got it.”
After we finished stretching and started off, I said, “I should probably tell you something.”
“What?” She grew wary again.
“I haven’t run for two weeks.” I smirked at her.
She groaned. “You’re such a bitch.”
I didn’t care, and I laughed as I pushed forward. It wasn’t even thirty yards before I couldn’t see her anymore, and when I got to campus, I did another bitchy thing.
I had time to go and pick up some breakfast—for one. I went back to finish it, and I ate the last crumb when she showed.
“You’re such a bitch.”
I handed her some water. “I have to rub it in. This is my last time, remember?”