Chapter 9 Good Girl
Good Girl
Executions shall be carried out in public within the confines of each region’s Unity Square, under the supervision of leadership from the National Stability Force.
The morning of my third meeting with Lucas Scott, trepidation returned.
The whole affair was wearing on my flimsy rationality.
I hated the lack of control, and in a dark, unhealthy part of my mind, I wished he was the man I’d been expecting, the one who would use and abuse me, the one who’d enjoy my pain.
It would have been a relief to let pain erase the sadness for a bit, to let my hatred of him cloud all the other negative emotions.
But no.
He couldn’t even give me that.
As I headed toward the underground exit, Zara caught me. “Sophia, wait!”
I turned slowly, already dreading the encounter. Other than a few superficial exchanges, we hadn’t spoken much of late. Not that I was avoiding her. I just… Grief had stolen my ability to small talk.
Her brown eyes turned luminous as I met them. “Where are you headed?”
“Just need a walk.”
She smiled. “Want some company?”
“No.” At her confused look, I added, “I-I’d like to be alone.”
She gripped her elbows, frowning. “You’re always alone. I’m here if you want to talk, Soph. Like we used to.”
Like we used to.
Before Tekqua had been captured. Before everyone had died.
Managing a smile, I bobbed my head. “Maybe tomorrow?”
Her smile lit up her whole face. “Yes, that would be wonderful.”
Guilt flooded me. I’d had no real intention of seeking her out tomorrow, but that joy on her face was like barbs in my overburdened soul. She was so kind, and I was so, so broken.
Muttering some acknowledgement, I hurried away before she made it worse.
I’d dressed as Lucas asked me to, wearing a pair of black scrub pants and a loose hoodie—not the one he’d given me last week.
The warm weather broke a sweat on my back beneath the unseasonal clothes, and the roots of my long curls were damp by the time I arrived.
I rushed up the steps and slipped into the house without knocking, refusing to surrender to the desire to run the other way.
Lucas was sprawled on the sofa, flipping through a book. He didn’t even bother to look at me. “You’re late.”
“No, you’re early.”
“It’s 7:04.” He stood and tossed the book onto the cushions, then scanned my outfit with a hint of surprise. “Look at you. At least you know how to obey.”
“What?”
“You seem like the kind of woman who prefers noncompliance over intelligence.”
Glaring at him, I managed a slow inhale for patience.
“I’m wearing the clothes you wanted me to.
I showed up when you asked me to.” I pulled the knuckles from my pocket.
“I’m armed with the weapon you chose for me.
I’ve done everything you asked, like I promised I would.
Can you stop insulting me and just give me your information? ”
His eyes flashed, but not with anger. No, it was something…else. “I did some research on you this past week.”
All the blood drained from my head. He did what?
With a nearly imperceptible smile, he lifted one eyebrow. “Sophia Elena Reeves. Twenty-five next month. Born in Virginia. Joined the Defiance mere weeks after the Fracture. Been at the center of the resistance since its inception. Soldier turned medic, though the records aren’t clear why.”
My mouth fell open. Did they have that much information about all of us? “How…?”
“Did you think I wouldn’t research the woman I’m entrusting my life to?”
Where would he even find that information? I hid my unease with a snort. “Entrusting your life? What about my life?”
“What about it? Do you feel endangered, Sophia?”
“Yes,” I said, even though it wasn’t technically true. “You are the most dangerous man I’ve ever met.”
He had the gall to laugh, bitter and disbelieving. “This from a woman in close contact with Theodore Harrison?”
“I’ve seen you murder people on live TV.”
His jaw went rigid. “No one forced you to watch.”
I fought the urge to stomp my foot. “Would you just give me your fucking information?”
He offered no indication whether he wanted me to sit or go to the kitchen like before. His head canted in a silent show of interest. “They’re planning to move on your base near Knoxville in the next few weeks. Warn your people to reinforce.”
I remained quiet, waiting for more, but he gave nothing else. “That’s it? That’s all you got?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “Now I’m going to teach you how to fight.”
My breath caught in my throat. “Wait. What? No.”
“No? You don’t get to say no to me.”
Well, that was a really great way to get me to fight him, the asshole. Miraculously, I held myself back. Not silently, though. “Fuck off, Blood Colonel. That wasn’t the deal.”
He stole the tiniest step toward me, and I took a larger step back.
“I’m adding a requirement to my cooperation.”
“No, I’m not fighting you.”
He hesitated, his colorful gaze examining my resistance with curiosity. “Last week, when I realized how poorly trained you are, you asked if I wanted someone else.”
Prickles woke along my spine. “Yeah, so?”
“If I demanded a new contact, what would Harrison do?”
“He’d find you someone else.”
His eyes narrowed. “And what would he do with you?”
I started to answer, then paused as I realized I didn’t know what to say.
Theo and Williams had been explicit that this assignment with Lucas was top secret.
Other than the three of us, no one knew about the traitor Blood Colonel handing over information through me.
If Lucas requested someone new, that would make me superfluous.
It would mean I knew something I shouldn’t. It would make me a liability.
Theo wouldn’t punish me for that.
Williams, though?
I said nothing, but Lucas seemed to see the answer on my face. He smirked. “You will take my training, or I’ll ask for someone else, and we can both learn how the Defiance deals with information spillage.”
My shoulders fell as I surrendered to his logic. “I don’t like training.”
“It’s more appealing than the activities you imagined would happen between us, right?”
“No activity with you sounds appealing, Lucas,” I said, scowling.
His brow raised.
I threw my hands up. “Fine. You’re right. Fighting you is better than fucking you.”
We stared at each other a beat, unmoving.
After several breaths, he finally spoke, his voice like satin over a razor blade. “Remember what I said about thinking before you speak?”
I clenched my teeth so tight they hurt.
“If you challenged any other NSF soldier like that, he’d shove his dick so far down your throat, you’d suffocate.”
A muscle near my eye twitched as I imagined it. “Good thing I have teeth.”
He sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Are you brave or just stupid?”
“Impulsive and reckless.”
My mind threw a memory at me as I said it, a day in the field with my squad, when I’d been deployed far too soon after recovering from the flu.
I’d known I was too weak for the mission, but stubbornness compelled me anyway.
We were nearly caught by a Hunter patrol, and I fell behind as we ran for cover.
Tekqua was the only reason I lived that day.
She covered me while I was too breathless to speak, resting my hands on my knees.
She’d let someone braid her hair into badass zigzagging plaits that hugged her scalp, and wore a tight black turtleneck and tactical pants.
Armed, straight-backed and strong, she was the very picture of a Defiant.
And I couldn’t even stand upright.
It was the first time the notion had drifted through my brain that while Tekqua Madden had grown into a competent soldier, I didn’t want to be good at it.
And I never would be. Not even with this predator’s training.
In Lucas’s endless silence, I murmured, “They’re not ideal traits in times like these.”
He did nothing but watch me, and the fabric of my scrubs strained in my fist until he turned toward a hallway leading to the back of the house. “Fine. Let’s see if I can train them out of you.”
My breath released, and I followed, trying and failing to decipher the title of the book he’d been reading. Was he a novel sort of guy? A history buff? What books did Lucas Scott the psychopath read in his spare time?
The mystery boggled the mind.
We wound up in a room near the back of the house—a dark, empty bedroom with an expanse of cushy gray carpet compressed in places by the furniture that used to be there.
He toed off his shoes, and I did the same.
With his expression hidden in the darkness, the deep resonance of his voice vibrated through my spine. “You ready?”
“No.”
He slammed into my shoulders hard. It knocked me backward, and we fell. His leg pinned one of my arms, and his hands were free to choke me. They slipped around my neck, but as soon as he had the position, he let go.
“Wow.” He ran his hands through his wavy hair. “You’re terrible.”
“I am not!”
“You didn’t even move. You just stood there and let me maul you.”
I scowled and rose to my feet, resetting my position as he did the same. “You surprised me.”
“Attacks don’t come on a schedule.” Before the words had left his mouth, he pummeled me again.
I threw one foot back to brace the blow.
When I lifted my arms to fend him off, he pressed his hand to my face.
My head jerked to the side. I stumbled. He grabbed my curls and shoved me face-first against the wall, his body molded to my back.
“It would be that easy, Sophia. Even if you don’t fight back, you have to know how to get away. ”
He retreated, and we did it again.
And again.
Once he learned my skill level, he slowed and showed me techniques to evade him. It worked fine in slow motion, but when he put in some effort—any effort at all—I found myself disadvantaged and helpless beneath him.
But what did he expect?
He was a ranking officer in an army created solely to commit human atrocities. I would never be like him.