Chapter Twenty #6
Maybe I wanted him to. Maybe that was okay to accept.
“What have we here? Marriage back on?”
Danny’s Irish brogue cut through the training arena. I swept my hair out of my eyes, trying to catch my breath. This was a lot of work.
“Go away, Danny,” Charlie growled. “We don’t need you here.”
“Apparently, ye do.” Danny frowned as he shoved his hands in his pockets, looking me over. “What’s all this?”
“What does it look like? We’re teaching her self-defense,” Charlie spat.
Danny threw his head back toward the ceiling.
“Ye gobshite, do ye have any sense? She’s a little thing with no legs.
Any brute is gonna be able to toss her around like a doll.
Hand-to-hand combat should be her last resort, ye big thugs.
Thinking with yer cocks and not with yer heads I see, as usual. ”
“What do you suggest?” Charlie snapped. He helped me up from the floor and back into my chair.
Danny smirked. He dug in his pocket, tossing a tiny box into the air. “Throwing knives. They’re faster to draw than a bow, easy to carry, and she can dual-wield them with both hands if an opponent gets close enough for her to cut. My personal weapon of choice.”
Danny’s logic was hard to argue with. Even so, I could practically hear Charlie’s teeth grinding as he said, “Fine. Show her how.”
“I’m working on it, bullocks for brains.” Danny knelt by me, placing a knife into my hand. It was smooth, fit easily in my palm, and was so sharp I was certain it could cut through the stone skin of vampires.
“First things first. You’ll want to relax, but have a straight posture.
Know where yer throwing— pick a spot, draw the blade back behind your ear, and throw it with enough force to hit your target, but not so much you fail to be precise.
” He demonstrated the movement, pulling my hand back and moving my arm in a distinct, seamless flow.
“There ye go, princess. You have nice skin. Such pretty hands are made for killing.”
I was keenly aware of Charlie absolutely seething behind me, but I ignored it. “What do I do with my wrist?”
“Keep it straight. Throw with a smooth, overhand motion. You’ll want to let go once your arm extends.” Danny demonstrated, taking out a knife from the box and tossing it at the target. It sank smoothly into the bullseye. “Now you try.”
I did, tossing one of the knives. It fumbled out of my hands, nearly cutting my fingers before falling near my feet. “Ah!”
“She’s going to hurt herself,” Charlie snapped.
“Let her have a go,” Danny scolded. “I know she can do this.”
Charlie huffed, but didn’t say anything more.
I kept at it. I fumbled the first few tries and the knives clattered against the floor.
I learned a few new Irish curse words before I finally sank my first knife into the target, and it was close to the bullseye.
The grin on my face widened the minute the knife sank in.
“There, see! You’re already a professional.
But of course you are, because you’ve been taught by the best.” Danny yanked the knife out of the target and handed it back to me.
“These will be a lot quicker to wield than those arrows you’re shooting.
Arrows are great for long-distance targets, but the knives will be useful for close combat. ”
It was a lot easier to wield the knives than it was to try and push the guys off of me. “Thanks, Danny. Hopefully I’ll never have to use these, but if I do, this helps.”
“Always keep one of the knives on you, in a concealed place nobody will take a look,” Danny said, and his voice turned serious.
“It’s always good to have at least one hidden knife, so if they think they’ve taken all yer weapons, they haven’t.
Then, when someone rolls on top of ye that ye don’t like, instead of trying to toss them off, ye just stab them like so, and keep stabby stab stabbin. ”
“Where do you keep your secret knife?” I raised an eyebrow.
Danny’s fangs glistened as he laughed. “Right next to me cock.”
I wrinkled my nose. “No you don’t. You’re lying.”
“You’re always welcome to check.”
“Ugh. Go away,” Charlie growled.
I spared a quick glance at Charlie. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, acting like he wasn’t listening to us, but I knew he was. His expression was absolutely fuming.
Was he jealous of Danny? Or, more likely… jealous of the attention Danny was getting from me?
He couldn’t be more obvious about it. Oberi wagged his tail as if he thought it was funny.
I studied the knives again. “These are pretty useful. I should get myself a set.”
“Keep them, sweetheart. I’ve got more than enough extras. They aren’t even my main knives.” Danny gave me a wink alongside a dazzling fanged smile, and I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Danny flirted as a hobby and for no other reason. He could philander with a cactus if it never talked back.
We practiced drills for a few hours until I started to get tired. Danny had moved on to teaching Chancey the throwing knives, though the angel was clumsy with them and kept giving himself little cuts on his palms as he dropped the knives over and over.
“They’re too small for my big hands! I need a meatier weapon,” Chancey argued.
“I’ve got one for you if you’re willing to see red hair in a place you never have before,” Danny teased.
“You know I’m spoken for.” Chancey’s voice was rough, nearly on the edge.
“You and Ivy? They told me you’d broken up for good,” Danny said skeptically. Even he didn’t believe they were over.
“Doesn’t matter. Can’t get over them,” Chancey said. Danny let it drop.
I glanced at Charlie and gave a sigh. He was still leaning against the wall, ignoring the rest of us. “Yeah. Me, too,” I whispered quietly.
I rolled over to where Charlie was. “You can stop pouting now. Danny isn’t touching me.”
He couldn’t suppress a bitter smile, shaking his head. “I can’t tell you what to do, and I don’t want to.”
I knew what he was trying to pull, and his attempt at pretending to not give a fuck was pitifully obvious. “I’m not into red-headed men who speak exclusively in sarcasm and sexual innuendos."
“A pity for you, dear. I’m dashing,” Danny called across the training arena. His vampire hearing had allowed him to overhear, but I didn’t care. Danny and I were just friends, and we knew that, but apparently, Charlie had convinced himself otherwise.
Charlie scoffed. “Yeah? And who is your type?”
Nobody but you. My heart whispered the words quietly, but the words that came out were, “I’m never getting married again if this doesn’t work out, actually, so consider me permanently off the market.”
The confession dawned on him slowly, softening him up. “You really mean that?”
“That’s what I said. You’ve ruined everyone else for me, thanks.” I grabbed my wheels and turned around, heading for the exit.
He didn’t mean for me to hear him, but I did anyway as he whispered, “I’m not getting married to anyone else, either. Nobody compares to you.”
My heart ached when he said those words. One of Danny’s throwing knives could’ve pierced it, and the blade wouldn’t have struck as true to the core of me.
I put on a cheerful demeanor, moving to exit the arena. “Well, if nobody compares to me, then you’ll be thrilled I’ve moved all my stuff back.”
He froze in shock. “Wait? You’re moving back in?”
“Yep! Came back last night!” I called over my shoulder.
“Last night— Ava!” He hurried to catch up with me as I rolled out the door. “When were you planning to tell me you were moving back in?”
“I’m telling you now,” I said. “I figured you wanted me to move back.”
Charlie gaped. “Of course I do, but—”
“But what? But nothing. We’re in counseling, we’re trying to work it out, so I put my stuff back. End of story.” I continued down the hall, and he moved to keep up with me, I tell you.
Charlie babbled on, completely baffled. “Okay, so we’re back to living together. Are you sure we’re ready for this? We’ve only had one counseling session.”
I didn’t know why he was hesitating if we both wanted this. “If we’re fixing our relationship, we should try to be in the same space. We’ve spent enough time apart. It’s been months. We’ve gotten some distance, now we should try to close the gap.”
I paused. I hope I wasn’t misreading the situation. “Unless you’ve been enjoying our time apart. Then I’d understand.”
“No!” he said quickly, practically groveling at my feet. He obviously wanted me to stick around. “How did you move everything back so fast? You have a lot of stuff.”
“I just… took what I needed.” I wasn’t ready to tell him about the Hawkei tradition, or that I’d given all my things away in the hope we could stay together.
My part of the ritual involved giving my trust to him completely, and I didn’t feel like my piece of the ceremony was complete.
We had to rebuild that trust before I confided in him about what I’d done, before I asked him to get my things back. That was going to take time.
On top of that, I worried telling him about it now would look like manipulation, and I didn’t want him to feel pressured, forced to provide for me.
This was my gift to him, not a way to trap him or make him feel obligated to take care of me.
For now, I could get by with what I had.
Our home, and our life together, was all I needed.
My worry caused me to come to a stop in the middle of the hall.
“Look, if you’re upset I’m invading your space, I get it.
I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, and the last thing I want is to make you upset.
I won’t infringe on your boundaries. If it’s too much, I’ll return to the Ladies’ Court, no questions asked. ” Though I really didn’t want to.
“Don’t do that.” He jumped to stop me from moving out again. “If you’re ready to start living together again, then so am I. I just… want to make sure it’s the right thing for both of us.”
“I guess we’ll figure that out, won’t we?”
The corners of his lips twitched as he tried to hide a delighted smile. Clearly, Charlie was elated at the news. He practically started skipping beside my chair. “It’s probably for the best right now, anyway.”
“Good,” I said. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
“That almost never happens, so I guess that means we’re making progress.”
“I suppose we are, though I have to admit, there was never a dull moment when we were arguing.” By the ancestors, some of those fights had been so hot.
Just thinking of those times he boxed me in, his hot breath passing over my skin and threatening an endless night of passionate make-up sex made my panties wet.
One of my greatest fears was that once Charlie and I worked this all out, our relationship would get boring.
I wished there was a way to keep that passion alive without taking things too far.
Charlie huffed. “Arguing never did us any good anyway, because Ava always gets what she wants in the end, doesn't she?”
I was taken aback at his sudden shift in mood. “What’s with the attitude? I thought this was what you wanted, too.”
Oberi barked loudly, signaling I was right.
Charlie shrugged. “I just roll with whatever happens. I’m here to serve, princess. Don’t mind me.”
What was up with him? He was acting so… sassy. It was a far cry from the depressed, desperate man he’d been a few days ago. This Charlie had a bit of bite and fire to him… like the person I used to know.
Then I realized… he was acting like a brat. The world opened up to me once I realized this.
Charlie was giving me exactly what I asked for and playing along, and he liked it just as much as I did, because Charlie loved giving me everything I wanted.
If I said I was moving back and that was final, Charlie was going to lap it up because I finally made a decision.
It was just done, and we could move on. Charlie wanted to serve me.
As twisted as it was, Kallie had been right— this dynamic worked exceptionally well for us. Charlie enjoyed arguing, and so did I. It's what made our relationship fun. But this time was different, because we both enjoyed the game, whether he knew we were playing it or not.
Being a brat was a great role— I’d gotten off on every second of tormenting him and telling him no, though his commands were secretly what I wanted in the end. It was all part of the game. If he enjoyed the bickering and the banter just as much as I did, he was going to get it.
“Oh, I’m sorry, your estranged wife is giving you another chance.
That must be so upsetting for you!” My voice smacked with an edge of mockery.
“If you want to make yourself useful instead of standing around, you can get me some water and go pour me a bath, because I’m dehydrated now and my muscles are sore. We’ve been training for hours.”
Charlie made a disgusted noise, but he couldn’t hide his smirk. The man was practically drooling the second I gave him orders. “Fine, Ava. Whatever.”
He stomped ahead dramatically, off to do as I asked. I was nearly certain he was walking away with a hard-on. Oberi followed behind him, happily trotting on his paws with his tongue lolling out.
I wore a satisfied smirk. It didn’t matter if Charlie whined and pitched a fit about my requests, so long as he followed the command. After all, that’s what brats did.
Charlie wanted to play. Bringing the fun back into our relationship was just what we needed.
Or it could blow up in our faces. Only time would tell.