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Pesky, unwanted jealousy weasels its way up my spine. My feet move on their own accord, carrying me across the mats to where Vito is chatting up Aspen.
Like a dog fighting for his bone, I head straight for Vito with my teeth bared. Only when he looks over at me in amusement does the fog of anger lift from my brain, and I come to my senses.
“Vivo, is it?” I say his name wrong on purpose.
“Close, it’s Vito.” His accent is surprisingly faint, which means he’s either been in the US for a while or has a damn good tutor in Italy. “Nice to finally meet you, Quinton.”
Vito holds out his hand to me, and I take it without breaking eye contact. My hand wraps around his fingers, and I squeeze, envisioning his neck in my palm instead. The asshole merely chuckles. Fuck, I hate this guy.
Suddenly, Quan appears next to us. “I guess the extra student leaves us with an uneven number. One of you three can train with me.”
“We’ve already partnered up,” Vito announces, pointing between Aspen and himself.
“Um, yeah… I told him yes. I mean… it was okay… to partner,” Aspen stumbles over her words, her eyes ping-ponging between us nervously.
“No problem.” I force a smile and step away before I slam my fist into Vito’s teeth.
Quan moves us away from them, but I motion for him to stay closer and position us so I can monitor Vito. Luckily, Quan doesn’t object.
We run through the new moves Quan showed us just a few minutes ago with ease. My body moves quickly and fluently. My counters are a little more forceful than necessary, as my mind is consumed with anger.
Quan grunts as he dodges one of my kicks, but it’s not loud enough to drown out Aspen’s giggle at something Vito says. Is he fucking flirting with her?
Irritated, I try to listen to what they are talking about, but there is too much noise around us to make it out.
I watch as Vito shows Aspen the moves slowly. His hands are on her body, and my blood boils in my veins. My fist slams into something with bone-crushing force. I don’t even feel the pain, but I hear the gasps around me, when I realize I just hit Quan in the face.
“Shit, sorry,” I apologize to Quan, who is pinching the bridge of his bleeding nose with two fingers.
“I think we’re done for today,” he grits through his teeth.
I’m not sure if he is pissed at me or mad at himself for letting me get a punch in. After all, he is the one who is supposed to teach me, not the other way around.
Quan walks off to lick his wounds, and I take a moment to grab some water from the fountain to cool off. The cold liquid quenches my thirst, but it does nothing to simmer down the burning rage inside of me.
When I turn back around, Aspen is giving Vito an awkward wave goodbye before scurrying away as fast as she can. She already knows she made a mistake. One, I’ll make her pay for later.
The rest of the students leave slowly, but Vito doesn’t make a move. He simply remains standing casually with his hands folded behind his back. I approach him slowly, wanting the rest of the people to be gone so we can talk in private.
“I hope everyone has been welcoming,” I offer, once we’re alone.
“Very. Especially Aspen. She is very nice.” He smirks, and the urge to rip his eyes out almost overwhelms me.
“Seems that way, but you should be careful with that one. Her family are known traitors.”
“Thank you for the warning, but I assure you, I can take care of myself. Besides, I’m well aware of who Aspen Mather is and what her father has done.”
Another wave of anger washes over me, making it hard to stand still and listen to this fucker. “You seem to know a lot for a guy who just showed up.” Something is off about this guy, and I don’t like him being here one bit.
He simply shrugs. “I know enough.”
“Why are you really here?” I don’t expect him to give me an honest answer, but he might give me a clue without meaning to.
“Same reason everyone else is here, I guess.” I almost snort at his washed-down answer. “I have to get to my next class. I’ll see you around, Quinton.”
I give him a small nod and watch him walk away before I cross to the corner of the room. I pick up a pair of boxing gloves and slip my hands inside, tightening the velcro using my teeth.
There are multiple setups for solo training, including boxing and mixed martial arts stations. I rotate, using all of them. I let my anger out on the leather-covered pads and punching bags until my muscles ache and sweat runs down my face.
