Ramshackle (Raegan of Ruin #3)

24. Raegan

Chapter twenty-four

Raegan

Kellan roars, the sound echoing through the training room like thunder. His fists fly at a punching bag in the corner of the room, pummeling it at an angry pace. He yells again and pulls one fist back, throwing his back into the next punch, and the bag snaps off its hanger and slams into the wall.

He stays like that, his exposed and tattooed chest rising and falling as he catches his breath. There’s the faintest sheen of sweat glossing over his bronze skin, catching the overhead lights so every muscle is highlighted and shadowed in greater definition.

It reminds me of the times on the island when I’d caught him working out before, how I couldn’t take my eyes off him. It’s the same, if not worse, now.

But I’m here for a purpose, and this seems like my chance to interrupt.

I push the door open to the training room. I’d been watching him through the window in the door when I first arrived. Too scared to try entering again at first, and then all those thoughts fell away when I heard him.

Kellan’s head snaps up when he hears me enter, his focus melting into a shit-eating grin. “There you are. Ready to train again?” His eyes drop to the brace that Aiden gave me, but he doesn’t change his mind and turn me away at the reminder of my bum knee.

My steps clomp across the lacquered floor, and the normally quiet sound now makes me feel like I’m wearing wooden shoes on a stage. My heart beats faster with every step as I move further into the room. Bad memories are clawing at the edges of my mind, trying to slip through the preparation I’d put in place to keep them out.

Ready or not, I’m here.

“Yeah. Put me to work.”

Kell grabs a small towel from the bench along the back wall, patting the sweat from his skin and throwing his head back to guzzle water. His throat works, drawing my attention there and then trailing down his chest.

“See something you like? We could do another sort of exercise to warm up if you want, beautiful,” he drawls thickly.

Focus. I’ve been awake for over a week, and it’s time to get off my ass and keep preparing for the fight with GE. “Nope, just looking for your weak spots,” I shoot back with a saccharine smile.

He laughs and tosses bandages at me. “Wrap up, then. We both know you won’t find any, but I dare you to try.”

I start weaving the fabric around the first hand, and my smile increases another notch. “Oh, I think you’ll find I’m a bit different from the last time we trained.”

“Oh?” Kellan slaps a mat down on the floor, then pauses with his hands on his hips to look at me from head to toe. “And how’s that?”

“You’ll see,” I answer cryptically.

He shrugs, unbothered, and waits patiently for me to finish getting ready. “Start on the mat. We’ll try to keep our fighting there to warm up. Then feel free to use the rest of the room.”

Considering the training room is the size of a football stadium, that’s a lot of room for two people. But would it be any different fighting on an island? If someone is chasing me or I’m chasing them, I need to figure out how to close the distance as quickly as possible to use my gift.

I scan the rest of the room to see what we’ll be working with, taking a long breath to settle the nerves still lurking beneath the surface.

This is fine. I’m fine. Just concentrate on Kellan.

I step onto one end of the mat.

“I’m going to set a timer for ten minutes. Whoever has the advantage at that time or gets the other person to yield before then wins the match,” Kellan explains. His thumb compresses the button on the side of the timer as he shouts, “Go!” before he tosses it to the side.

I run at him, ignoring the initial twinge of discomfort from my knee while keeping close attention to Kellan’s hands and arms to try and read what his first move will be. He pulls his right arm back, and I drop under it before it swings out, then pop up in front of him to throw my own punch. It nails him in the jaw.

But aside from turning his face away, his body doesn’t move.

Kellan smirks and rubs his jaw, raising a taunting brow. “Is that all you’ve got?”

I smirk in return, and this time, while his guard is down, I fill my fist with my gift and knock it into his stomach.

He falls backward, his hands automatically moving to his abdomen as he hunches over it. In seconds, his thick, golden skin takes its place over where I’d hit him. Kellan’s grin when he looks at me is wild. “Oh, I see how it is. If that’s how we’re going to play…”

He rushes forward, and I dive to the side, curling up to lessen his chances of landing a strike against me. He keeps coming, and I keep dodging, all while I struggle to find another opening to hit him again.

“You can’t win if all you’re doing is running away!” Kellan challenges, pushing me around the mat. “If you can’t find an opening, then you need to make one!” he bellows, his fists swinging harder.

I plant my feet this time, throwing my arms up like a wall in front of me, and lighting them up with my gift. His fist slams into them, but then he roars and pulls it back. I felt the impact from his punch, but my gift took the brunt of it and allowed me to keep my balance. My knee is screaming from so much activity, but I refuse to miss this opportunity and clench my teeth through the pain.

Now!

I jump forward, my gift already active, as I start fighting him with everything I’ve got. For a second, I think I have him on the run as he tries to fend off my blows.

His leg kicks out, and I fall forward. The mat dusts when I touch it and push myself up.

Kellan laughs. “No mats for your training anymore, beautiful.”

With the mat gone, our fight spreads through the rest of the room. I clench my teeth when he easily evades me with all the room we have now. It’s harder to strike him when he’s no longer within jumping reach, and I don’t have speed anywhere in my gift. I could send it to him through the ground, but then I’d ruin the training room.

“I see the wheels in your head turning. What are you going to do now?” he taunts, suddenly behind me.

I whirl around, throwing my punch before I can even see him and hitting golden scales. Again! I keep attacking him now that he’s close, but their impact is like a regular punch now that his gift is active. At least it can still affect him. Without my gift, he wouldn’t even feel anything .

He doesn’t run away anymore, letting me get my shots in before he flips me up and drops me to the ground. He straddles me, his golden hand with sharp scales along the back of it wrapping around my fragile neck. His hand twitches around it, and it’s enough to cut off my airflow.

Kellan’s blue-green eyes are dark, glowing in their ferocity as he leans over me. His voice comes out in a deep rumble that I can feel straight to my core. “You’ve learned some fun new tricks but forgotten all the fighting techniques I taught you.”

The timer goes off. Cheers erupt around us. Kellan grins, releasing me and stepping back so I can look around. A crowd has gathered at the doors, which have been propped open so more people can watch without entering the room.

“That was amazing!”

“I want to learn how to fight like that!”

“Did you see what she did to that mat?”

“Can you believe she kept up with Kellan?”

“Kellan, you look so cool!”

“Raegan’s so strong!”

My face burns, and I throw my hands up to cover it. “How long have they been here?” I whisper roughly to Kell.

Kellan helps me to my feet. My knee throbs, the pain sharp like broken glass, but I draw a slow breath to keep my expression clear. Kell drags my arms down while laughing and walking us away from the peeping Guild members to the bench. “Around the time you got your first punch in.” He knocks the back of his knuckle atop my head. “They shouldn’t have surprised you like that. Don’t lose your focus in the fight, but still stay aware of your surroundings,” he chastises.

He hands me water that I guzzle down, then work to unwrap my hands. The Guild members at the door stream inside.

“Kellan, can you train me next?”

“If I go change, can you train me too?”

While he’s surrounded by eager Guild members, I hurry to put my things away and sneak out when a girl stands in my way. “You were so cool! I’m Trinity. How did you learn to fight like that? Do you think you could help me? Kellan’s going to be so busy with the others…”

“Uh, I’m not really that great at fighting yet. I think he’d still be a better teacher…” I skirt around her until she’s no longer between me and the door. A couple others catch my eye and start walking over.

Nope. This is too much.

“Sorry, I uh, I have somewhere I need to be.” I hurry from the room, keeping my pace just under running but fast enough to avoid anyone else. Even after I pass the doors, another group of members exit the elevator. I switch to the stairwell instead, hobbling up a few flights and picking a random floor when my knee can’t take anymore stairs.

The floor seems calm at first, but five minutes in brings a new group who notices me and tries to wave me down.

This is why they told me not to wander on my own .

I curse my knee for slowing me down, turning down a hallway and then another in my attempt to lose them. I pause after the third hallway, listening for following footsteps.

“—gan! Wait!”

Ahh. Why?

Just as I rush back into a fast walk, something grabs me and yanks me into another room.

The door closes after me, cutting off any source of light. I struggle against whoever grabbed me. “Hey—!” I shout before a hand slaps over my mouth.

“Shh!” a voice hisses in my ear.

The pounding footsteps of the others who followed me get closer. They call my name again.

Is it GE? The spy? Were they just waiting for me to be alone out of my room?

My gift heats in my gut. “Let me go, or I’ll kill you,” I speak into the hand, but it comes out garbled and far less threatening than I’d like.

“It’s me, Rae. Just stay quiet until they’re gone,” Dane whispers. I pull my gift back in and scrunch my nose. His citrusy scent is more noticeable now that my heart rate is slowing, but what is he doing ?

Oh, fuck. Is he trying to get us away to find Vera again? This is just like those times when he’d pulled me aside to keep his promise of bringing me with him.

The Guild members run by whatever room we’re in, their steps getting farther away until we can’t hear them anymore.

Dane sighs with relief. There’s a soft click, and a dim light fills the room in a haunting glow. His hand falls from my face.

“Please tell me we aren’t sneaking away to meet with Vera again,” I rush out first.

“What? No. I saw you were running from them and thought I could keep you hidden until they were gone.”

“Oh.” That’s a relief. I look around the room—closet, I amend—and the organized shelves of cleaning supplies as well as a floor covered with buckets, mops, brooms, vacuums, and...

I shift back to get a clearer picture of the room with what little light the small bulb is giving us, and Dane reaches for me. “Wait, don’t—!”

Whatever I step on rolls, and I fall back. Dane throws himself at me, his hands cradling under my head as we topple to the floor, and the mess of cleaning supplies crashes down on top of him.

His amber eyes are locked with mine while we both catch our breath. There’s a look in them that sends a rush of heat through me. It’s a look he hasn’t given me in a long time. One that had always been there on the island. I thought it was just what his eyes looked like back then. Hot as fire. Like melted gold with burnt edges and flecks of green.

The look that causes me to melt in return when it’s pinned on me, raising my body’s temperature until I think I’m also turning to liquid from the inside.

Those eyes flick to my mouth, so close to his, before they return.

He licks his lips, and it’s like he’s imagining what I taste like.

My heart skips.

“Rae, I…” He pauses, his face lined with concentration as if all the things he wants to say are firing rapidly through his head, and he’s struggling to pick one at a time. “Thank you.”

Even though my head’s fuzzy with his proximity, the words shock me enough that I immediately fight them on reflex. “What? No, you shouldn’t—”

His palm covers my mouth again. “Let me get this out. I’ve been meaning to say this to you since we got you back, but you’re either recovering or not alone.”

I offer him a short nod, but he doesn’t remove his hand.

“I never thanked you for saving me that time in the lab. I know…the result of saving me messed everything up between us, but you were doing it for me. And then…when you were with Gordon…all of that was because you chose to save me. You had to go through everything because of me. You gave yourself back to him to save me and the others and to give me a chance with Vera.”

I try to argue into his hand, but his fingers press more firmly to keep me quiet.

He’s making me sound like more than I am.

It was simpler than that.

“You’re amazing, Rae. The strongest person I know. You’ve been through hell and come out stronger. Only you could turn everything on its head and stand taller because of it.”

His hand slides away, but his fingertips linger along my jaw. My cheek.

“I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. I don’t deserve you in my life, but I’m a selfish fuck and I want you anyway.”

I stop breathing.

His fingers slide under my ear, weaving into my hair at the nape of my neck.

His face draws closer.

“Rae…” he breathes.

My lips part on instinct. Maybe in the hopes of him resuscitating me, because I’ve gone numb with shock.

Did he say…he wants me?

But what about Vera? What about everything bad I’ve done? Those couple of things can’t possibly outweigh everything else. I must’ve misheard him.

My chest tightens. “You…want me?”

My words don’t stop the measured crawl of him closing the distance between us. He moves in slow motion, his lips edging closer to mine while all I can do is fall into his molten gaze.

“I—” he starts to answer, and then the door whips open. Bright light pours over us, eclipsing the warm glow of the room. Fresh air sweeps in, inducing a cool shiver to run through me.

“Oh, dear. I thought I heard someone in here,” a female muses.

Dane jerks back. He climbs to his feet and snaps at the woman, “And that gave you permission to barge in? There’s no lock on the door. We were fine.” He helps me to my feet next, and I’m careful to put some space between us.

My heart is still jumping around my chest, but the fresh air is clearing my mind. I don’t know what was happening in there. He thanked me. And then…he was going to kiss me.

And I would have let him in that moment. I wasn’t going to stop him.

But now that I can think again, I remember the reasons why I shouldn’t. He may see some glorified version of me right now, but I know he’s only looking at one side of me. And I can’t forget what I did to his sister.

He knows I’ve been with Kellan, too, but that wasn’t stopping him.

“Rae?” I jerk my head up to find the woman gone and Dane watching me worriedly. “Is it what I said? I’m not taking it back. I meant every word in there.”

He reaches toward me, and I step back. His face falls.

“Sorry, I just need a minute to process everything. Do you mind if we…finished this later?”

Dane runs his outstretched hand through his hair. “Yeah. Sure.”

I nod awkwardly. “Thanks. I’m going to head back to my room for a shower. I’ll, uh, see you in a bit?”

He nods, and I take that as my cue to walk—the normal speed—to the elevator so I can be alone and figure out what the fuck just happened.