31. Elle
31
ELLE
M y heart patters nervously as I walk up to the door. But I’m committed now. I need to do this. After I managed to yet again avoid expulsion, Tristan is no doubt going to come for me even harder. And I need protection. Which means that I need to prove to John that I’m worth his investment.
The metal door to Fighter’s World looms before me. I pause with my hand on the handle and draw in a bracing breath. I’m not a member of this gym, but this time, I’m at least dressed in my workout clothes so that I will blend in better. And I’m hoping that that, combined with a confident stride, will fool people into thinking that I belong here.
After giving myself a determined nod, I pull the door open and stride in as if I know exactly where I’m going.
My gaze sweeps across the room as I quickly take in the layout to figure out where it is, in fact, that I’m going.
The space before me is one massive room. A variety of punching bags and other equipment line the walls while the floor space in the middle is taken up by a whole bunch of fight cages. They’re round, or maybe octagonal, with walls made of chain-link fence. And the floor inside the cages appears to be made of a, at least somewhat, padded material.
Just as I guessed from the outside earlier, there is a type of one-way mirror film on the windows, because from in here, I can see through them clearly. Afternoon sunlight shines in, illuminating the room without the need for having the lights turned on.
I scan the people in the gym while I walk towards a random piece of equipment along the wall. I already know that Tristan isn’t here right now. It’s why I chose to come here now, after all. He would recognize me immediately, and I need to be able to discreetly check out this place to see if there is anything of interest that I can report to John.
My pulse flutters nervously when I finish scanning the room and realize that the only people in here are men. I quicken my step. Since I will stand out by being the only woman here, I will need to finish this before people start taking notice of me.
There are some rooms at the back of the gym. I set course towards them.
I keep my back straight and my chin raised as I stride across the room, but it is taking everything I have to fake that confidence right now. Because I still haven’t recovered from the surprise visit from my dad a few days ago.
Dread twists inside me at just the memory of it.
It’s insane how one person can have so much power.
In the past few weeks, I had finally started to feel strong and free in a way that I never had before. Even despite all the things that Tristan has done to me. Or rather, because of them. Because of him .
I never feel like I need to pretend with him. I never have to put on a mask of perfection. I can just be me. And I can handle all of the insane things he throws at me. These past weeks with him have pushed me so far out of my restrictive little box that I don’t think I will ever be able to fit inside it again.
I’m done pretending. I’m done being the mayor’s perfect daughter. I am my own person.
Or so I thought.
I was feeling so free and strong and determined… And all it took to shatter it was one visit from my dad.
One look at his disappointed face was enough to transform me back into my old self. The girl who is desperate to prove that she can live up to everyone’s expectations. The one who bends over backwards and twists herself into knots to fit into the restrictive mold created for her.
I’m sorry. I promise that I will do better from now on.
Fury streaks through me like lightning. I hate myself for saying those words. I shouldn’t have apologized. I should’ve told him to fuck off.
But when he looked at me like that, when he berated me like that, I suddenly felt like I was ten years old again and was being admonished for receiving my first B on a test. All I wanted to do was to burst into tears and then do everything I could to make him proud of me again.
It’s pathetic.
But that’s how it works.
I would like to think that I can just take one giant step out of the suffocating box I have lived in all my life. But it’s not as simple as that. Especially with something that I’ve spent years being trained into doing.
The past is a messy and complicated thing. And progress is not a straight line. There are some steps forward and some steps back. But at least I finally feel like I’m moving in the right direction.
A loud thud sounds from next to me.
It startles me so much that I almost jump.
The guy who hit the massive punching bag glances towards me when I flinch like that. Then he does a double take when he sees me. I quickly hurry past.
Crap . I need to act more natural.
When I finally reach the first door, I don’t pause and check over my shoulder. Instead, I simply push down the handle and open the door as if I’m perfectly allowed to do that.
Spare pieces of equipment stare back at me from inside the small room.
I quickly close the door and continue on to the next one.
More people have started to glance in my direction now. Their eyes burn holes in the back of my head, but I keep my chin raised as I stride to the next door and open that as well.
It’s a storage space full of cleaning supplies.
Frowning, I close the door and turn back towards the main training area. There is nothing of interest here. It really is just a gym full of guys who practice martial arts.
I’m not sure if I’m disappointed or relieved.
On the one hand, it means that I don’t have anything of value to report to John. But at the same time, it means that I don’t have to betray sensitive information about Tristan. It should?—
“Who the hell are you?”
I jump at the sound of a man’s voice behind me.
Whirling around, I find a muscular guy glaring down at me. He’s only wearing a pair of shorts, and his hands are wrapped like a boxer before a fight .
“I, uhm…” I stammer as all of my braincells suddenly freeze up in panic. “I’m a new member.”
Several other guys behind him laugh. I flick a quick glance over them. At least they don’t look angry. The man in front of me does.
“A new member, huh?” he says, his pale eyes locked on me. Cracking his knuckles, he takes a step towards me. “Then you know what you need to do, right?”
I stumble back as he continues advancing on me. “No. Look, I’m sorry, I just realized that I need to?—”
“All new members need to prove themselves,” he cuts me off while he keeps backing me across the floor.
“I really don’t think…” I trail off and blink in surprise.
Snapping my gaze down, I find that the ground underneath me is now softer.
Alarm pulses through me as I realize that the guy has backed me into one of the fight cages.
I try to dart back around him, but he’s blocking the way out with his body.
There is a dangerous glint in his eyes as he closes the chain-link door behind him, sealing us in. Panic courses through me like live wires.
Metal rattles as my back hits one of the chain-link walls. I cast a panicked glance behind me, but I’m trapped now.
The guy stalks towards me, a cruel smile on his face. “Like I said, all new members need to prove themselves.” He cracks his knuckles again. “So, let’s see what you can do.”
Pressing my back against the metallic net behind me, I raise my hands in front of me and shake my head. “No. Please. I didn’t mean to?—”
“To what?” He stops right in front of me, so close that he’s almost touching me. Lifting a hand, he takes my chin in a firm grip. “Did you really think that you could just come in here and?—”
The rest of his sentence is abruptly cut off as he’s yanked away.
I jerk back in surprise as he stumbles across the mat from the force of the throw. Then my mouth drops open as I see who was responsible for it.
Tristan.
“Back the fuck off,” he snaps.
I stare at him. He is only wearing a pair of black shorts and a set of trainers, as if he was about to start sparring as well. His tattoos shift as he flexes his hands, and his green eyes are burning with rage.
The guy in front of him stumbles to a halt and then straightens. Outrage flashes across his face as he scowls at Tristan. “Hey, what the hell?”
“Do not touch her,” Tristan growls at him.
Disbelief pulses across the guy’s face. Puffing up his chest, he storms back towards Tristan and shoves him. “Who the hell do you think you are? Huh?”
Tristan responds so quickly that I barely have time to see it. One quick strike to the face and another to his solar plexus, and then the guy collapses to the ground in front of Tristan’s feet. Tristan kicks him in the chest, making the guy flip over on his back.
Cold fury burns in Tristan’s eyes as he places his foot on the guy’s throat and presses down. The guy, who has barely had time to recover from the three previous hits, snaps his gaze up to Tristan. Alarm flashes in his eyes, and he reaches his hands towards Tristan’s ankle to get his foot off his throat. Tristan just pushes down harder.
“If you ever so much as look in her direction again, I will fucking kill you,” Tristan says, his voice dark. “Understood?”
Since the guy can’t speak with Tristan cutting off his air like that, he just nods frantically instead.
Tristan takes his foot off his throat and kicks him hard in the side. “You’re lucky I didn’t break your fucking hands.”
Then he whirls towards me.
I flinch at the intensity of his stare.
Stalking forward, he grabs me by the arm and then drags me out of the fight cage. I stumble along beside him as he hauls me out of the gym and into a side alley outside the building. I try to yank my arm out of his grip, but his hand is like a steel band around my arm.
When we reach a secluded spot where we can’t be seen from either side, he throws me up against the wall and then gets right into my face.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demands.
I drag in unsteady breaths as I stare up at his furious face. My head spins. I try to formulate some kind of answer, but all I can think about is his words from in there.
Back the fuck off.
Do not touch her.
If you ever so much as look in her direction again, I will fucking kill you.
Tristan slams his palms against the wall on either side of my head, caging me in, and then leans down until I can feel his breath against my lips. His eyes still crackle with lightning as he snaps, “Answer me.”
God, I can’t think when he is this close.
“I, uhm…” I begin, scrambling to get my brain to work again. But instead of finishing the sentence, I blurt out, “Why did you protect me?”
Something, some kind of emotion, flickers in his eyes for a second. But it’s gone so quickly that I can’t even begin to decipher it.
Blowing out an annoyed sigh, he pulls back a little. It’s enough for his breath to no longer caress my lips, which helps my scattered mind to recover a little.
“Because some of the people here are dangerous,” he replies. Drawing his eyebrows down, he locks a hard stare on me. “You shouldn’t follow me.”
“How else am I going to know when you will screw me next?”
A hint of amusement flits across his face, and it looks like he’s suppressing a smile when he arches a dark brow at me. “I think you mean screw me over .”
Heat flushes my cheeks as I realize what I said. I drop my gaze from his face to avoid his intense stare, but that only makes me take in the sight of his body. Which makes me acutely aware that he’s shirtless.
I quickly snap my gaze up to his face again, my cheeks now warmer than before.
“Well?” he prompts. “Which is it? Do you want me to fuck you over?” A sly smile tugs at his lips as he takes one hand from the wall and slides it up my throat until he can brush his thumb over my bottom lip. His eyes glitter as he holds my gaze. “Or to simply fuck you?”
Grabbing the back of his neck, I yank his stupid troublesome mouth down to mine.