Dangerous Lovers (3 page)

As I got closer, I realized she wasn’t alone. She was talking to someone. I could tell by her posture that she was uncomfortable. When she saw me, her unease grew visibly. I picked up my pace. Before I got too close, I picked up bits of the conversation they were having.

“I really can’t. I’m sorry. I just have other things to do that evening,” Nelly was saying. “Maybe some other time.”

As she started to walk away, the guy grabbed her arm. Nelly’s unease grew once more, but she didn’t resist. I was moving faster now. The guy had his back to me, but once I heard his voice, I knew who it was.

“Wait,” he said. “I wasn’t finished talking to you.”

At last I reached them. I grabbed him by the back of his jacket, jerking him away from Nelly.

“Yes, you are,” I said, stepping in between them and shoving him hard in the chest. He stumbled back several feet.

Riley’s face showed surprise, then pure hatred. “No one was talking to you, freak,” he spat.

I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Leave her alone. Unless you want everyone to see you get knocked out by a girl.”

My tone was casual, but my blood was boiling. Nobody touched Nelly.
Nobody
. Disturbing thoughts raced through my head, every one of them intriguing. Riley definitely was bigger and stronger than me, but I was pretty confident I could hurt him. That thought alone erased any possibilities of fear. I guess my mother’s training was good for something. I was no stranger to battle. I was conditioned for it. And mostly, I just wasn’t concerned with the consequences.

“Watch it,” Riley said, through gritted teeth, “unless you want to end up with
two
black eyes.”

I shrugged. “You are most certainly welcome to try.”

Riley lunged for me. I’d been expecting this. I’d learned long ago to anticipate attacks, and he had nowhere near the amount of combat skill my mother had. My respect for her grew a little.

I managed to side-step his attack and push Nelly out of the way in the process. This was not something
he
had been expecting, and he stumbled a little before regaining his footing. As he spun around to face me, the anger that had been on his face before had turned into rage. I flashed him a toothy grin, egging him on.

This time he stepped forward and swung his fist out toward my face. Again, I had been expecting it. And the fact that he would hit a girl justified my next actions. A hazy sort of anger came over me. It was so intense that I felt it thrum in my veins, like it was vibrating under my skin.

I made my decision. I wanted very much to end this circus show he was putting on. I moved so fast I don’t think he ever saw it coming. I slammed my fist so hard into his face he lifted off his feet and fell back on his butt. His head hit the pavement with a sickening thud, and I stood frozen to my spot. I knew I could fight, but the strength it must have taken to knock someone down twice my size impressed even me.

I felt myself move forward, and then I was standing over Riley. My mind snapped back to the blackbird. His nose sat at a funny angle and deep crimson flowed out of it. He was unconscious. My left eye twitched. I felt one side of my mouth pull up into a crooked smile and just barely managed to stop it before it turned full-fledged.

Then Nelly was tugging on my arm, her voice panicked. “Alexa, we have to go. Now.”

I looked up at her and finally began to take in the scene around me. Students stood around us, dumbstruck. No doubt they had just seen their all-star receiver get knocked out by a girl. A relatively small girl at that. I took one last look at Riley. My mind snapped back to the blackbird.

I heard myself say, “Run, Nell. We have to run.” We did.

Chapter Four

We were both panting and covered in sweat by the time we made it back to the house. We’d taken the long way home—through the woods instead of following the road that led past our house. I shut the door once we made it inside and slumped back against it.

Nelly stood directly in front of me, with a look on her face that I had never seen before. She looked both proud and… scared. Was she scared of me or of the trouble I was going to be in when we returned to school tomorrow? Probably both.

Still breathing heavily, I looked down at my hands to see they were trembling. Now that we had stopped running, the reality of what I had just done had caught up to me. How badly had I hurt Riley? What was wrong with me? More importantly, how badly would I have hurt him if Nelly hadn’t pulled me away? I would like to say I would’ve been able to walk away on my own, but some small part of me knew that was a lie. Another part of me was disgusted by this. And yet, another small part of me was left feeling disturbingly unsatisfied.

Glancing back at Nelly, I had the feeling she was aware of this. I’m not sure what my face looked like, though I did my best to keep it reasonably void of any expression at all. But, Nelly knew me. Sometimes, I felt like Nelly knew me better than I knew myself.

She came forward and took me into her arms. I let her hold me, and actually took comfort in the embrace. My mind seemed to relax a little.

“Girls? I’ll have dinner ready in a few minutes if you want to go wash up and—”

Upon seeing us, my mother stopped abruptly. Her eyes narrowed slightly and my back went rigid in response. I tried to prepare myself for what was to come. No point in lying to her. She would find out from the school soon enough.

“What happened?” The threat clear in her voice.

“I got into a fight.” I didn’t know what else to say. Besides, I kind of felt like I deserved whatever punishment she gave me.

My mother remained deathly still, waiting for me to elaborate. I was so shocked that I couldn’t even think past that initial thought. I honestly thought I wouldn’t have to. I had been expecting her to drag me outside right then and there.

It was Nelly who came to my rescue.

“There was this guy at school who was messing with me,” she began. “He grabbed me and Alexa yanked him off me. She tried to tell him to leave me alone, and then he attacked her… so she… stopped him.”

Okay, that may have been a little bit skewed, but it sounded better than
Alexa may have just seriously injured someone with an extremely badass punch to the face
. Nonetheless, I was glad she spoke up.

My mother’s gaze snapped to me. I met her eyes and nodded. And then, to my utter astonishment, she gave a small nod and… walked away.

Chapter Five

Later, I was sitting in my bedroom staring at the wall, when someone knocked on my door. Opening it up, I expected to see Nelly standing there.

Except it wasn’t Nelly.

It was my mother.

“Mom, I didn’t mean to—”

“I know, come with me.”

I grabbed my shoes and followed her without protest. I knew she wasn’t going to let something like this slide, but from her reaction earlier, I guess I was just
hoping
she would.

She led me out to the backyard of the house, and I knew what was coming. Time for her to teach me a lesson. I pushed my chin out and wiped my face clear of any expression, refusing to showcase any fear. The effort had me clenching my teeth.

But instead of stopping in our usual spot where we did our training, she just kept going.
Oh god
, I thought,
maybe she’s taking me somewhere to kill me
.

I laughed out loud at this morbid thought, and my mother turned her head, giving me a slightly confused look. I shook my head and mumbled an apology as I continued following her to the unknown destination.

We walked for what seemed like an hour through the woods in the back of our house. With every step my unease grew. I felt like I was on some impromptu death march. To make things even weirder, my mother kept pointing out certain markers, telling me to commit them to memory. I did. I was never sure why she did the things she did, and by this point in my life, I’d learned to just roll with whatever she threw at me.

At last, we emerged at a small clearing. It was beautiful. The ground was packed with wild honeysuckle and dandelions. And straight ahead of us was a small hill surrounded on all sides by tall trees. There also seemed to be an opening at the foot of it, as if it housed a small cave.

“Wow.” I didn’t know what else to say. I almost smiled. Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe she just wanted to spend some time with me. As happy as that would have made me, the thought alone made me suspicious.

But, when my mother turned to face me, she had the same expression on her face that Nelly had earlier when we’d first entered the house. It was a mixture of pride and fear. A second later, it was gone, replaced by her usual serious expression. I decided I must have been mistaken. I doubted this woman even knew what fear was.

“Do you remember how to get here?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Good, it’s very important you do. This is where I want you to come if anything ever happens to me.”

“Why would anything ever happen—”

“
Why
is not important,” she replied. “What is important is that if anything ever happens, you run. You run and you bring Nelly with you to this spot.”

I gave her what must have been a wary look, because she was in front of me, faster than anyone should have been able to move, and she was gripping my shoulders. It was an unpleasant, tension-filled touch, much like the rub of denim on sunburned skin.

“Alexa, I need you to tell me you understand. I need you to promise me that you’ll do as I say.”

I looked her straight in the eyes, refusing to let her scare me. I wouldn’t be scared of her anymore. She had to know that. “I understand.”

What I thought looked like more pride flashed behind her eyes, and this time, I was certain I saw fear. “Good,” she said. “Let’s head back. It’s time to practice.”

Chapter Six

Nelly was sitting on the back porch when we returned. She was expecting us. This was the time of day our mother always made me “practice.”

Nelly gave me a big smile. I was surprised to feel a huge weight lift off my shoulders. I guess I hadn’t realized how worried I’d been that she might be angry with me about the fight earlier. I smiled back and then took a deep breath, preparing myself for what was to come.

Ahead of me, Nelly’s smile faltered, and I knew what that meant. I swung around fast, and just barely managed to dodge a strike from my mother.

I spun to the side and my hands went up. I met her eyes. The woman who had just led me through the forest was gone; now she was just a predator. I was used to this look on my mother, and it never failed to scare the shit out of me.

But, somehow, today was different. I was still scared, and she hadn’t changed any from yesterday or the day before that. It was me who seemed changed. I felt that maybe today, when my mother stood across from me on the beaten-down grass that served as our practice area, she might just feel that she, too, were staring down a predator.

She didn’t move again, and neither did I. We stood still for several seconds, watching each other. Looking for a weak point, an opening.

She broke first, rushing forward and swinging with power and skill. Seeing this made me think of Riley, and that seemed to release something in me. The world slowed. I dodged, moving with what felt like superhuman speed. And then I saw it.

My opening, her weak point.

Everything became a blur. Instead of slowing down, the world sped up, pulling me along with it. I remember moving as I had been trained, throwing all of my weight and strength behind my fist, the motion all too familiar. I remember it connecting, crashing hard into what seemed to be a solid surface. But I didn’t feel any pain. Not right at that moment. I didn’t feel anything.

Then my mother was on the ground, lying in much the same position as Riley had been just hours earlier. And I was standing over her, not quite sure I could get my muscles to move. Not really trusting myself to move.

So, I just stood there, until Nelly spoke from somewhere behind me. “Mom, are you okay?” Her voice was calm, maybe a little too calm.

My mother sat up and gave her head a sharp shake. A red welt was already swelling up on her face.

I finally found my voice. “Mom, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” she replied. “Well done. I can’t believe you inherited your strength.”

Beside me, Nelly nodded in agreement. I furrowed my brow in confusion. What an odd choice of words.
Inherited your strength.

“Although, I do have to say I feel sorry for that Brockman boy if he took a blow like that,” she continued, pulling herself unsteadily to her feet. “You need to be careful with whom you choose to fight. Not everyone is built as sturdily as we are.” She started heading back to the house. “And be careful who sees you fight too. Your strength may seem…. unnatural to them.”