Grounded (Grounded #1) (11 page)

Chapter Fifteen

I decided to start the day by taking Jensen on a tour of Delaware to get him acclimated, although there really wasn’t much to show him. As I made my way to his room, I got shanghaied by my mother outside one of the sitting rooms upstairs. She was so quiet that when she said my name, I jumped a mile and yelped. She asked me in and, as with my dad, I always knew when it was an order masked as a request.

The light green room wasn’t good for anything other than sitting, entertaining guests you don’t really want to stay long, or reading. It was really nice to curl up in front of the fireplace with a good book and a warm blanket on your legs in the middle of winter. We sat in those chairs, the air conditioning working overtime to keep the house cool.

“I’m very glad you’re home,” she said.

“Why didn’t you tell Dad that I emailed you regularly?” I asked right away. He’d been extra mad that I stayed out of contact, but I’d assumed she’d at least mention some of my emails. “He was pissed.”

She gave that look of disapproval. ‘Language, Alyssum,’ she usually said.

“If I had, he would have sent Sage and his men after you. Your emails were best kept between us, don’t you think?” I nodded. I would’ve been mortified and humiliated if I’d been stalked down and dragged back by Sage, as Flint warned. And no, it didn’t escape my notice that I had effectively stalked Jensen and brought him back. “What I want to ask you has nothing to do with the political atmosphere out there,” she said, pointing at the door. “I want to ask you about those boys.”

Trying to stifle a smile at her tone, I shifted uncomfortably and asked, “What about them?”

“Are you really going to make me spell it out, Alyssum? I could read you the minute I saw you in the hallway.”

I rolled my eyes. It kinda sucks to have a mother who can
feel
things. “Then I don’t really need to explain, do I?”

“But I’m getting…conflicting information.” She watched me intently. Even a couple of deep breaths couldn’t calm my nerves under her motherly eyes.

“Well, don’t be conflicted. Jensen and I are together. Aric and I are friends. Close friends, yet just friends.”

Falling back in my seat, I folded my hands over my stomach, still not willing to look at her and still feeling her eyes all over me.

“How together are you?” Eying me suspiciously, her face smoothed once she got her answer. I didn’t say anything and hoped I was successful at keeping the blush from my face. She was satisfied nonetheless. She knew there was still a line I hadn’t crossed. Thanks, Mom.

“Happy?” I snapped once I realized she was done reading me.

“If you are. Just…be careful.”

“Yes, Mother. We’ve had that talk, thank you.” I wanted out of the room, away from her so my feelings could be mine again.

“About the other matter, I feel you should know that your father has information he hasn’t given you yet, in regards to Heath.” She put her hand up to stop me from correcting her, as I’d already done several times. “Sorry, Jensen. I don’t know that it’s relevant, but if you hit a brick wall at some point, go to him.”

She stood, smoothing her dress before heading to the door.

I hopped up after her. “What is it?”

“I don’t actually know. I ‘
know
.’” Code for it’s one of her feelings again. She never gave specifics. “We missed you.”

My mom, unlike my dad, was always truthful. If she didn’t want me to know something, she’d just say it. There were no lame excuses.

“I missed you, too. Even Dad with his booming ‘do what I say’ voice,” I said. She raised an eyebrow at my admission to missing my dad. He and I butted heads pretty often. She probably suspected that I would have reveled in the time apart. “Trust me, I was as shocked as you are about missing him. I now know how it feels to be homesick. Satisfied?”

She didn’t answer. By her face, I could tell that she was. I got an image of her and Dad praying for me to be miserable in New York, or where ever he thought I went.

“Hey,” I said as she turned to go. “Do you think it’d be okay for me to show Jensen around?”

Mom thought about that question. “I think it would be. Security has been stepped up and other than that one breach while you were away, things have been quiet in town. The violence has been mainly out at the mines, so don’t go there and don’t leave Delaware. Otherwise, I think it’s a good idea.”

“I won’t take him out to the mines, I promise,” I said, but that wasn’t good enough. She cocked her head at me, looking expectant. “And we won’t leave Delaware.”

She nodded and I let her leave after that. I took just half a minute getting Jensen.

We walked, his arm around my shoulder, through the part of town where the little market sat nestled between a small library and a bar. We might not have much, but we have a bar. It was used mostly by the men. I made a joke about finding him there if he ever came up missing. He scoffed. That hadn’t been his scene back home and he certainly wasn’t going to start now, he said. The first break on our journey came when we approached the building used as a school.

Small kids, Kindergarten through second, ran around in the bright sunlight, chasing each other in a fervent game of tag while a few of the boys, although much too short, still tried to toss the basketball through the hoop. We stopped at the fence surrounding their concrete and grass playground, watching them. A breeze blew my hair off my shoulders and sent it back around my face. Jensen looked at me as if he appreciated the effect.

We started moving again, which gave me the opportunity to explain that, while I didn’t see the fighting from the last war, I saw the aftermath. It took years for us to put ourselves back together, even though we technically won. My father bore that sadness ever since, which only got compounded once Glen and Saffron Sorrel died.

After all the heavy stuff, I thought I should try to lighten the mood just a bit.

“Plus, getting to kick some Gobel ass is super fun.”

It didn’t work. He didn’t break a smile. When we headed back for lunch, I hoped I hadn’t scared the crap out of him.

The afternoon activities promised to be a lot more fun than ‘A Brief History of Gremalian/Gobel Strife that Includes the Death of Your Biological Family.’ At least for me. I wasn’t sure what he’d think about it.

Aric spent the morning holed up in my dad’s office, answering any and all questions he could about the Gobel government and people. I rescued him, saying he was imperative to my plan for Jensen. Which wasn’t a lie. I knew Aric would be much more open to fighting me than Jensen would be. That way we could show instead of tell.

Once we got changed into more comfortable clothes, I led them to the garage. It wasn’t used for parking cars or working on machinery. It was clear of all clutter with wrestling mats covering the floor and four chairs off to one end. We use it for learning how to fight like a Gremalian and use our power properly. It was the training room.

We told Jensen he’d just watch. I was getting pretty rusty from all those weeks of being docile in New York, which made me pretty antsy to punch something or someone. At first, Aric and I just stalked each other since our kinds are both taught not to attack unless absolutely necessary. It’s always better to see what the other guy’s gonna do first. At some point, I decided fuck that; it was on.

Using my small size to my advantage, Aric never expected me to hit right at the waist. He hit the ground hard with a loud grunt. I knocked the wind out of him, but he was back on his feet before he could get a breath. He charged.

Jumping out of the way, I didn’t see his leg jut out, sweeping behind my knees. My butt hit the hardwood. That would leave a mark. Time to get my energy out.

I threw a punch to his gut, hard and on target. He doubled over and took me with him, flipping my body across his back, twisting my arm and pushing me face down to the floor.

Most of my punches hit their mark and, though Aric was strong, he groaned or stumbled with each punch. A right elbow—blocked, left punch—hit his jaw. A sweep of the leg behind his knee brought him to the ground.

He recovered quickly, flipping me over his back again. I landed on my ass with a thud. With the number of times I met the wood, I think that body part was numb. Since Aric was Gobel and knew all the Gobel tricks, he never told me to stop no matter how many times I hit him. This training would be the only way I’d be able to anticipate every one of the Gobel moves when the time came for the big fight.

I didn’t cry uncle either, although I think he was going a bit easy on me. Before we started, I asked him not to take it easy on me and hoped that when he agreed, he meant it. Of course, I’d never know for sure.

A right hook made contact just under my eye and it stung the most out of all of the hits. I felt a trickle of blood run down my cheek. In the end, I was able to overpower him. His shoulders cracked against the floor and I landed on top of him.

Face to face, we came out of battle mode and started laughing so hard we almost couldn’t breathe. I was in the zone during the fight and forgot that Jensen was leaning against the wall, hands clenched into fists and shoved in his pockets, watching us. We quickly hopped to our feet.

The look on Jensen’s face was priceless. His eyes were wide, mouth gaped. Maybe having him watch Aric try to kick my ass wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had, but Jensen needed training even more than I did. He had to learn. It wasn’t just a regular school yard fight. Gobels could be tricky.

“I think we broke him,” I said in a poorly concealed whisper.

Aric coughed to cover the laugh and grabbed my shoulders to turn me toward him. Studying my face, his eyes honed in on the spot where his best punch left its mark. With a gentle thumb, he wiped away any blood that remained. His eyes darkened, which meant something significant. He was mad at himself, probably for listening to me about the training in the first place. Aric said he didn’t want to hit a girl, which made sense. He’s a good guy. However, this was the first opportunity I had to train with a Gobel to fight Gobels. It had to be done.

When Jensen cleared his throat, Aric took a step back. The moment between us felt very intimate. He left the room without another word.

“So…” I said, smiling past the sharp pain in my cheekbone as I bounced over to him. He was focused on the abrasion that Aric had wiped the blood from. “Don’t worry, I’m a quick healer.”

Before he could respond, I heard my dad’s voice just outside the garage. I pushed Jensen into the equipment closet behind us.

“What are you doing?”

“Shhh.” I put my finger over his lips, effectively cutting him off. “My dad,” I mouthed.

“He knows I’m here.”

I nodded. “And he’s happy about that, but if he sees you, he’ll just want to watch us training or give us shit because you haven’t done any yet. Or ask questions or be himself.”

Once the voices were far enough away, we scurried back inside the house to the kitchen. We filled our arms with drinks and snacks, then tiredly climbed the stairs, heading back to my room. Well,
I
climbed tiredly. He just walked slowly so he could be next to me.

After dropping our goodies on the table by the window, I grabbed a bottle of water along with a small bag of chips and hoisted myself up onto my much too large bed. I hadn’t realized how late Aric and I had trained or how much it’d taken out of me, so the firm comfort of my mattress felt good enough that I think I just about melted. Jensen did the same, flopping onto his stomach next to me. We snacked in silence…well, without talking. The crunch of our chips was actually quite loud.

“What’s up with your dad?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it’s like being the daughter of the president or something. He’s never really had much spare time unless it came to training.”

“You mean, like, you and Aric were just doing?” I nodded. “Your dad hit you?”

“Yeah, but it’s not like that. There are some dangers that come with being Gremalian and even more if you’re the kid of the head of The Council. It really was for my own good.” The look on his face said that didn’t make it any better. “If it helps, I totally kicked his ass when I was ten.” Finally, he smiled. “Hey, I’m gonna hop in the shower really quick. I need to wash this sweat away.”

“Okay.” He pushed up off the bed, like he was leaving.

“I don’t want you to go. I mean, you can if you want, but I won’t be long.”

I had a feeling my eyes betrayed me. Jensen obviously knew how I felt and I think the look I gave him was a bit more pleading than I’d ever usually be.

“Then I’ll stay.” He lowered himself back down.

I gave him a quick peck on his cheek and searched for some comfortable pajamas that didn’t make me look like a bag lady. I found a set that I’d never worn before, pants made of thin cotton and a matching t-shirt.

After starting the shower, I began to undress and noticed that I hadn’t shut the door all the way. I knew Jensen; he wouldn’t be anywhere near the bathroom, so I didn’t bother closing the door. I took the extra time to shave my legs—not that they needed it, but there was a boy in my room. You just never know. I quickly blow dried my hair. It was still damp when I was done, but at least not dripping wet.