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“Begin,” he ordered.
He maneuvered around me like I was back in the first day of training. His movements, which had him barely breaking a sweat, were no match for my delayed and slow offensives.
Instead of thinking about the best block against the captain’s lunging offensive, I thought of Vanessa. How she turned with her hair flipping while she waved to the crowd. The smile on Noah’s face. The distance growing between us. The pain I felt losing someone close to me. This was why it was always better to be alone. Then these feelings of jealousy and rage over a stranger wouldn’t be here.
Captain Coltrain grew less forgiving with each reset, and this time was a new record for him losing his patience. With two swift lunges and his leg coming out to trip me, I was once more on my back.
I liked the captain a lot. He was the first person who’d treated me with kindness in Faerie after I was pushed around and treated like a criminal simply for appearing here.
But right now, that admiration was waning.
He stared at me, looked as though he wanted to say something, and then changed his mind. Instead, he turned around and noticed everyone watching. “Everyone take five more minutes to get yourselves together and when you get back out here to actually do some work, I better see something worthy of my time.”
The captain tossed some of his gear near the mat before he made his way off to the side.
And straight to…Nicole.
I rose to my knees and then up to my feet, getting used to the sensation of allowing full breaths to return to my body.
His stance was almost protective, shielding her body from anyone else while he spoke quietly to her. I walked toward my own mug and pitcher and poured a glass of water.
She looked at him sincerely yet with a serious expression on her face. When she smirked, her gaze turned to something different altogether. The captain touched her leg since it was right at his hand level, and then quickly walked away.
The moment he’d left, Nicole jumped off the table and made her way over to me. She avoided my eyes, which I knew she must have felt trained on her the entire time. She was careful and clever. I had no doubt she knew her surroundings more than she let on. Just as I had no doubt she was purposefully avoiding looking at me as she approached.
She sighed once she’d poured water into her own glass and leaned back against the table. “Okay, spill. What’s going on with you?” she asked.
I turned to face her, looking her dead in the eye. “What’s up with you?” I asked back, deflecting completely. “You and Aron.” I waved between her and where the captain had made his way to on the training field.
The malice in my voice was unnatural, and Nicole gave me a double take.
“I’m sorry?”
I bit my tongue and took in a breath through my nose. I wasn’t mad at Nicole. Acting aggressive toward her would do nothing but make me feel guilty later.
“Standing close, lowered voices, making eyes up at him?” This time I tried to smile at her, and she relaxed enough that a blush spread over her face.
“Since you won’t seem to drop it as this is the second time you’ve made sly comments at me about Aron, there might be something casual there.” She took a longer than necessary sip of her water as I gaped at her.
For a moment, my stress subsided and I wanted to know more, to talk to Nicole, to get to know this side of my closest friend.
“Something casual? Those come-undress-me eyes weren’t looking very casual when he was speaking to you,” I said and nudged into her.
She snorted. “You're terrible at girl talk.”
“I never had a girl talk before I met you, so deal with my learning curve and stop avoiding my question.”
“Oh, the I’m-a-foster-kid card guilt trip.” She huffed, but the smile on her face told me she’d spill on Captain Coltrain any second. “Let’s just say I may or may not have spent many nights lately warming the captain’s bed.”
Not even attempting to contain my shock, I slapped her on the arm. “Are you kidding me?”
Nicole looked at me quizzically. “Did you just hit me?”
“Look at him. If I said Nicole, I’m sleeping with sexy, rough, and quite large Aron Coltrain, you wouldn’t hit me too?”
She snorted. “Fair enough. He is pretty sexy. And quite large in more than one way.”
I choked back my water and giggled, which turned into a laugh once I saw Nicole covering her mouth, trying to keep it together when my laughter caught said captain’s eye.
