Chapter 39
She wasn’t coming.
Hmm. That surprised him. North didn’t think she would chicken out. Jared stepped into the gym and North raised an eyebrow at him.
“Came to watch,” Jared explained.
“Want some pointers now that you’re getting older?” North asked.
Jared was ten years older than him. Twelve years older than Angie.
Not that that mattered.
North had lived a thousand lifetimes in his twenty-eight years. He no longer considered himself young.
“I think I’m good,” Jared said.
Jared had grown up with a violent, powerful narcissist for a father. He’d never wanted for anything material, like food or clothes or a place to sleep.
But he’d also never been safe.
North had to fight for everything he had. Sure, he’d been pulled out of an orphanage by The Collective and set up in a foster home where he’d been fed and clothed.
But nothing had been his unless he took it.
His life had never been normal or easy. But neither had Jared’s.
He wondered if that was why they were drawn to each other.
“Where is she?” Jared asked, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
“I don’t know. I guess she must have decided against coming. Probably smart. She could get hurt.”
“You wouldn’t let her get hurt.”
Hmm. Sometimes he wondered why Jared had so much confidence in him.
North twirled one of his knives. He didn’t usually play with them. But he had a surge of restless energy.
Strange.
It had to be all the issues he was facing right now.
Like how to keep Jared safe from The Collective. From the person who was paying to have him killed. The only way to figure that out was to talk to his handler. V.
V hadn’t replied to North’s message, but when he did North had to be prepared to do what needed to be done.
Even if it went against all his training.
Suddenly, the door slammed open and Angie rushed in. She was wearing a pair of shorts and a workout T-shirt.
Yes, he’d bought her all sorts of clothing.
Her face was red and she looked grouchy and cute.
No! Not cute.
Since when did he think someone was cute?
“You’re late,” he told her in a voice that said he could care less.
The truth was something else that he didn’t want to examine too closely.
“You guys are the ones that gave me bad directions,” she grumbled, walking over to grab a water from the small fridge.
North glanced at Jared. What was she talking about?
“We didn’t give you bad directions,” Jared told her.
“Yes, you did. I’ve been running around trying to find this room. Do you think it’s funny to trick me?”
“No one is tricking you,” North told her. “We gave you good directions. You just got lost.”
Jared shook his head. “Has your sense of direction gotten worse?”
“It has not! You guys are just teasing me.”
“We’re not,” Jared told her, reciting the instructions they’d given her.
She seemed to think about that for a moment, then her shoulders dropped. “Oh monkey-farts.”
North shook his head. What was she even saying? “It’s all right if you’re having second thoughts. I won’t think less of you. Much, anyway.”
“No, I’m not chickening out,” she said. “Let’s do this.”
She went into a half crouch, moving her weight back and forth from foot to foot.
“What are you doing?” North asked, eyeing her skeptically.
Jared bit the inside of his lip to stop himself from laughing. He didn’t want her to think that he was laughing at her.
Even though inwardly he was.
“This is my fighting stance,” she explained.
“How many fights have you been in?” North asked.
“A few.”
All right, all of his interest in laughing was gone. A few?
“Who?” Jared barked out.
She startled and straightened, staring at him. “What?”
“Who did you get into a fight with? Who hurt you?” Jared demanded.
“Um, why do you want to know?”
She had to be kidding him, right?
“So that I can make them pay, of course.”
She waved her hand in the air. “It was years ago when I was a kid. If those people are still alive it would be a miracle. Let’s do this.” She stretched out her arms and tilted her head from side to side. “I’m warmed up.” She crooked her fingers at North. “Come on. Come at me.”
North shook his head. “We’re going to have to work on some things. If I came at you right now, you’d be dead.”
Angie made a scoffing noise but Jared nodded. “North is right, you’re leaving yourself open to attack.”
“Ahh, yeah, Ammo was always talking about that. He also said that I needed to listen more and talk less.”
“Smart man,” North said drolly.
She shot him a look that would have felled a lesser man. But North was immune to such things.
Jared watched as North took her through the knives he’d laid out and how to hold them properly. Then he moved on to stabbing techniques, critiquing Angie as she tried to mimic his movements.
Jared could feel himself growing increasingly more tense as time went on.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Jared said as North corrected her stance, talking to her about the best places to stab a person if you wanted to kill them versus just injure them.
“Why? Do you think I’ll use my new skills on you?” she said with a grin.
He scoffed. “No. But I don’t want you getting hurt. If you pull a knife on someone, then you need to be prepared to use it.”
“I know that,” she said.
“Do you?” North asked. “Could you actually stab someone?”
Something came over her. A hard look filled her face. “If they threatened someone I cared about, yes.”
Jared moved closer. He didn’t care that she was still holding a knife. He was certain she wouldn’t use that knife on him.
In fact, he had his doubts that she actually could use it on anyone.
North moved in to crowd her from behind and he could see her swallow.
Was she nervous?
Scared?
Or turned on?
“Could you really stab it through skin?” Jared asked her, taking hold of the knife and pressing it against his stomach. “Could you jab it into me?”
“Stop that! I don’t want to hurt you!”
He raised his eyebrows.
“Unless you hurt me. Then I’d do it.”
Jared studied her for a long time. “All right. But you have to be careful. If you pull a knife, you must be able to hold onto it. Otherwise it could be used on you.”
“I know.”
“Good girl. I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”
He could see that she had questions she wanted to ask, but his phone started buzzing. Fucking hell.
It never ended.
“I have to take this. North, show Angie how to get back to her room.”
Angie watched as Jared left the room.
Her mind was still spinning from having him so close. He’d been staring down at her like he wanted to . . . like he wanted to eat her alive.
And she would have given him anything he wanted. And then she would have turned around and kissed North.
Holy heck.
What was she thinking?
This was crazy.
She forced herself to focus as she watched North pack up his knives. “Can I have one?”
“No,” he said.
No?
“I mean, not one of yours,” she said, feeling embarrassed. Like he was going to just give you a knife.
“I’ll buy my own.”
North shot her a look. “You will not. Come, follow me.”
“What do you mean I will not? If I want to buy a knife, I can. I have money.”
Well, she had Zander’s credit card. She'd normally feel bad about using his money, but it might be quite amusing to see his reaction to her using it to buy a knife.
He’d likely approve.
Although she still didn’t know where her handbag was.
“Do you have my handbag?” she asked North.
“Yes.”
“Can I have it?”
“No.”
“You are a very frustrating man!” she cried.
“I’m aware.”
“I want to buy a knife,” she told North.
“You will not buy yourself a knife. I will get you a knife.” North walked out of the gym and she trailed along behind him.
How the heck did he move that fast? She struggled to keep up.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“You’re not getting a knife unless I buy it for you,” he told her. “And I’m only getting you a knife when I believe you’re ready for it.”
She frowned. “And how long will that take?”
“As long as I say it will.”
Rude.
She gave up trying to keep up with him. She’d manage to find her own way back to her room.
It wasn’t like the house was that big. She’d just become temporarily disorientated before.
That was all.
Oh, there was the library! She loved the library.
Stepping in, she ran her fingers over the spines of the books. She’d almost gone through all the books that North had given her. Maybe she’d choose some more.
She wrinkled her nose at the choices. Why was there no romance? The titles were all so boring.
“What are you doing?” North suddenly asked.
She jumped with a yelp, spinning to look at him. “Jesus. Do I need to put a bell around your neck or something?”
He just gave her a look like he thought she’d lost her mind. Yeah, she probably had. But now she wanted to giggle at the idea of him wearing a collar with a bell on it.
“You were supposed to be following me to your room,” he stated.
“Well, if you want someone to follow you, then you should walk at their pace instead of a hundred miles an hour,” she complained. “And I don’t want to go to my room yet, anyway. I’m going to do some reading in here.”
North shook his head. “No, Jared wants you in your room. He has someone coming to visit. Now, come along.”
“No.” She stared at him sassily. What was he going to do if she refused? Pick her up and carry her to her room?
Seems that was exactly what he was going to do.
She let out a cry as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
“Let me down! North! Put me down!” She slapped her hands down on his back, trying to wriggle free.
“Stay still,” he ordered. “Before you fall and hurt yourself.”
“If you just put me down then I wouldn’t be at risk of falling and hurting myself,” she complained.
“Quiet,” he ordered as they walked down the hall. Well, she guessed that was what they were doing.
“North! Let me down!”
“What is going on here?” Jared asked.
Uh-oh.
Daddy sounded mad.
And why did she just call him Daddy?
She whacked her forehead with her hand. What was wrong with her?
“I’m just taking her back to her room. She refused to go,” North explained.
“I didn’t refuse to go!” she complained. “You left me for dust! I couldn’t keep up. And then I wanted to read in the library. But you went all alpha on me and picked me up and carried me. I could get sick up here, you know.”
“North, put her down.”
North suddenly set her on her feet, making the room spin slightly.
Shoot.
“Are you all right? Angie?” Jared asked.
He slowly came into focus.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“I need you to go wait in your room for the next hour,” Jared told her. “I have to have a meeting and I don’t want you seen.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s one of the family and I don’t trust them with you. So go with North.”
Why did he sound so cold? So different than he had earlier?
“Fine,” she grumbled. “Come on, North. Keep up.”
She turned away, but Jared reached out suddenly and grabbed her wrist.
She flinched and he quickly let go, something flickering on his face. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to scare you. But sometimes, I just need you to do as you are told to keep you safe.”
She nodded with a sigh. “I get it.”
North followed her. At the base of the stairs, he held out his hand.
Another sigh escaped her but she took hold of his hand. “I’m surprised you’re not just throwing me over your shoulder and carrying me up.”
“I thought about it. But you would probably wriggle too much. I don’t want to drop you on your head.”
“You know you can’t hold my hand up and down the stairs all the time, right?”
“I could make it a rule . . .”
“North!”
He walked her to her door, opening it. “Remember, stay in here. Most of Jared’s family aren’t trustworthy.”
“Oh, I know. Trust me. I don’t want to speak or see any of them.”
“I’ll come back for you when the coast is clear. Then I’m sure Jared will take care of your punishment.”
Yay.