Chapter 6
Mia
“Fuck, Briggs!” My vision turns static as my back hits the mat and my teeth sink into my lip. I instantly taste copper. Anytime my mind wanders, I’m taken out. And my mind has been wandering nonstop since my encounter with Aiden Foxx this afternoon.
My braid sticks to my sweaty back as I sweep Briggs’s leg out from under him.
He goes down like a sack of rocks, letting out a deep grunt when his heavy body hits the floor.
Then I’m on top, straddling him and leaning in with my blunt-tipped blade at his throat, ready for the kill, and he’s helpless to stop me.
“Christ, you fucking got me,” he bites out. I sit up, smiling, smug with victory. Big fucking mistake.
Briggs sweeps the back of his bulky forearm against the outside of my ribs, and my back and head hit the mat again before I can even blink. My ears fill with a dull buzz as he leans in. “Never fucking celebrate,” he grits out.
I know he’s right. It doesn’t matter how many times I get the better of him. The second I gloat, it opens the door for him.
He flops down beside me, both of us breathing heavily for a moment.
I need this after coming face-to-face with my new boss.
I know what’s at stake here. Foxx is a president, a leader, and yet I can’t stop myself from digging.
The budding investigator in me needs answers.
If he was involved or even knew about Nic’s rape and didn’t stop it, he’s going to die.
“I think you almost cracked my rib.” I rub my side as I push Aiden from my head.
Briggs chuckles. He doesn’t take it easy on me. My second week training with him, I had a professor ask if I needed to talk to somebody. She saw the bruises and thought I was being abused.
“Still got ya though, even if it only was for a second.” I grin up at the clear blue sky as the sun threatens to sink.
“Doing your best to give me a concussion won’t make you feel better tonight, Tyler.
You should be with your family.” He knows we had my sister’s celebration today, and he says it with concern, calling me by my last name.
I turn to him and swallow back my grief, pushing it to the place in my heart I don’t touch, along with the never-ending promise to cry tomorrow instead of today.
“This isn’t a therapy session.” I reach over and lay a light, friendly smack on the side of his face, but just as it lands, he grabs my wrist and twists it, stopping just before the ominous crack that would follow if he applied any more pressure.
“I’m happy to keep reminding you that I can still kick your ass.
” He pushes my hand away and stands, wiping his face with a towel.
He’s a true mountain of a man. At six foot four and two hundred and fifty pounds, he isn’t super defined, he’s just big.
His red hair is lined with flecks of silver now, as is his long, thick beard.
His brown eyes are caring as he analyzes me.
“If you try to incapacitate him again tonight, I’ll be forced to step in and kick your ass. I need my steaks grilled,” Patty Briggs says as she comes into their yard from the house and raises her glass toward the barbecue.
I prop myself up on my elbows and look around at their fully off-grid property, where they train soldiers and teach self-defense.
Briggs is a patient teacher, and the land is private with a full-size shooting range.
I spit blood into the grass and wipe my chin with the back of my hand.
“Congrats, you made me bleed,” I tell him.
Briggs is built like a tank, so when he pumps his fist and gives a little kick with his foot before he says, “Still got it!” in a pre-teen girl kind of way, I have to smile. The moment I do, I cringe, because I definitely split the top of my lip open.
His meaty hand comes down now to help me up as Patty moves toward us with glasses of electrolyte drink.
“You earned this.” Her dark hair shimmers in the morning sun. She’s a pretty woman, stout and strong, a few years younger than Briggs, and I wouldn’t put it past her to kick his ass if he didn’t do what she asked.
Briggs fought with my dad in Desert Storm, and he’s truly been my mentor. As long as I can spend my spare time here, I don’t need therapy. I’ll survive.
Briggs’s motto is “Your opponent only has as much power as you give them.” It sticks with me every day and helps me move forward.
I needed to be reminded of that today, and even if the session was quick, it helped to clear my head.
Any attraction I felt toward Aiden was simply because I felt fear, and for me, those two things go hand in hand.
Now, I’m convinced it had nothing to do with Aiden himself. Because here, all I feel for him is hatred. I’m reminded of who I am, what I’m capable of, and it puts me in the right headspace to cross over enemy lines tonight. I’ll smile pretty to get the attention of that piece of shit Disciple.
This time, I won’t let you down, Nic.