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Stephen suddenly looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “You guys don’t care?”
Viktor looked at him, seriously. “The only thing I care about is that you kept it from us for so long. You could’ve told us before now. It wouldn’t have changed anything. But I have to say I’m impressed you hid it so well. We had no clue.”
I cleared my throat. They all looked at me. “Well, it should come as no surprise to anyone, but Sephie knew. She just wanted Stephen to feel comfortable enough to tell you guys himself.”
They all said, “Of course” at the same time. Stephen, curious, asked, “When did you figure it out, Seph?”
“Not that long ago, honestly. When we were at the club with Trino. I saw you talking to one of his guys while we were making bets at the bar. He was also very attractive. You like them pretty,” she said, grinning at him. Stephen stood up and went to her, pulling her into a hug. “Thank you. For letting me tell everyone in my own time. And thank you for showing me how much more awesome it is to just be yourself all the time,” he said. She hugged him tightly.
He walked back to his seat, visibly lighter. I smiled to myself thinking about how Sephie had brought out the best in all of us. I remembered Ms. Jackson’s words from so many months ago. She’ll show you the best parts of yourself, if you let her. I hoped she’d never stop.
Stephen said, as he cleared his throat, “Back to Mike. You add in that she’s affectionate with all of us, while usually in the same room as her boyfriend and Mike just assumes that something else is going on with Seph and all of us, which proves to further his original assessment that she’s the weaker of us and using sex to gain favor.”
Ivan looked to Stephen, “So how do we check Mike more forcefully, so he learns his place?”
Stephen thought for a moment. “I only have one idea so far, but I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”
“Let’s hear it,” Sephie said.
“I think you’re going to have to kick his ass,” Stephen said.
I watched Sephie’s reaction at Stephen’s solution to the Mike problem. She thought for a minute, clearly unsure about it.
“I don’t know how I feel about this,” I said. “It’s one thing for you guys to spar with her. I know you guys won’t hurt her. I don’t know that I can say the same for Mike. If he hurts her, he’s a dead man.”
She leaned into me, smiling sweetly at me. She had that spark in her eyes that only I could see. I felt my heart jump in my chest as I looked at her.
“Mike doesn’t have the same training as Sephie does now,” Viktor said. “This could actually work out really well. I was going to have them start training with us starting Monday anyway.”
“Sephie can be his first test. I heard him trying to convince you that he didn’t need any training. Tell him if he can best her, then he can skip it,” Ivan said, a sly smile stretched across his face.
“But what if he really can best me?” Sephie asked.
Misha and Andrei looked at each other, laughing loudly. “Gazelle, you don’t need to worry about him besting you. We need to worry about being able to pull you off him, so you don’t seriously injure him.”
“But he’s not you and Bubba. He’s not going to know what to say to piss me off. I don’t know how to just summon the anger,” she said. She still had a worried look on her face.
“That’s what we’re for,” Andrei said. “We’ll get you to see red and throw you in there with him.”
Stephen had been quietly contemplating this plan, as he was wont to do. He looked at Sephie, “From the impression I got from talking to Keith, Mike is more talk than anything. He likely did well on the force in the small town, but it’s not saying much when you’re King Turd on a pile of shit.”
“Okay, one, it’s going to be extremely difficult for me to not call him that to his face from now on, so thank you for that. And two, he’s still a dude and bigger and stronger than I am. Biology can’t be ignored,” she said.
“He’s bigger and stronger, but you’re lighter and faster. That’s always your advantage, spider monkey. That’s how you keep all of us on our toes. We have brute force, sure. But it’s harder to move that much mass as quickly as you can move your lighter, smaller body. And when you’re angry?” He scoffed, “You’re, like, lightning fast. That’s why me and Misha enjoy pissing you off so much. You’re a serious challenge when you’re angry,” Andrei said.
“If you fight him like you did Misha on the beach, Mike won’t know what hit him. That’s the best I’ve seen you look, princess,” Ivan said. “If Keith is right and Mike never really took his training seriously, it’s going to be painfully obvious very quickly. And something tells me that you don’t need to worry about being able to summon your anger with him. I don’t even think you’ll need Andrei and Misha as backup to make you angry. I’m fairly certain Mike is going to inevitably say something to piss you off, even more than we’re able to.”
Stephen said, “I feel like this definitely needs to make it to the white board. Both for how long it takes her to take him down and for how long it takes him to say something that will unleash the fire we all know is in there.”
They all ended up looking at me, as they knew it wouldn’t happen if I didn’t want it to. I looked to Sephie. “This only happens if you’re okay with it and want to do it. I have zero doubts that you’ll be able to handle him. He does strike me as more bark than bite, but we don’t know that for sure either.”
She looked at me for a moment. I could still see the uncertainty in her eyes. She then looked at each of the guys. “You’ll all be there?” Everyone nodded. She looked down, her hands fidgeting in her lap. She took a deep breath, then said, “I’ll do it.”
The guys all erupted in elated yells. I couldn’t help but laugh. I knew Sephie would be able to handle herself. My guys were trained by the best and they trained her. I’d seen what she could do and I knew she was still holding back. This might even be good for her.
I was worried, however, about controlling my own temper in the event she got hurt. It would take all five of the guys to pull me off Mike and Ivan still only had the use of one arm. The odds were in my favor and I knew it. That didn’t bode well for Mike, if it came down to that.
Sephie couldn’t help but smile at the guys’ reactions to her agreeing to this. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it could be good for her. She was holding back, but only because she didn’t believe in her abilities 100 percent. Facing someone she knew nothing about could be a major confidence boost for her.
