Page 30 of Raze
She doesn’t react since we both know her gift isn’t active, but I like having her undivided attention like this. “You need to remember that your gift is a part of you. It’s not something made and attached to you. You were born with it. Like two arms and two legs. Stop hiding from it and being afraid. Learn it for yourself. Test its limits.”
Raegan pulls her hands away and tucks them under her arms. “It’s not another arm. It’s a weapon that I’ll only use when I have to,” she replies stubbornly.
I sigh. “Alright, I’ll train you to fight. We’ll do it every night after dark. So, if there’s anything you were planning on doing today, I’d hurry and get it done because as soon as the sun goes down, I’ll be hunting you down to start, no matter what you’re in the middle of.”
Her mouth parts at my taskmaster attitude, but little does she know how excited I am by the prospect of making her a badass. Grappling with her and potentially fucking during the session is nota bad idea. “Well? Go!” I turn her around and smack her on the ass to kick-start her. She jumps and looks at me with mock surprise and heat in her eyes.
Hell yes, this is going to be fun.
The firehouse is quiet when I finally call it quits on training. The building is huge, so it takes a lot to add noise to it, but it’s also a feeling that there’s not a lot of life or activity going on in here.
I stride into the large living area and find Dane taking a break from the kitchen backsplash tiles and tapping away on his laptop on the large sectional couch. He glances over at me, his eyes raking over my dirty state, but for once, he keeps his mouth shut about it.
“Where is everyone?”
“Jack’s still sleeping. Raegan left a while ago, and I think Aiden went after her.”
She left?
My hands clench open and shut at that bit of information, and Dane watches me with a look of disinterest, but it’s a show.
“Order pizza for lunch. I’m going to take a shower.”
“It’s closer to dinner now,” Dane argues, like it matters.
I just shrug and turn away to head for the common men’s bathroom and the showers. One of the downsides of this location is that the dorms are tiny-ass rooms with nothing more than a bed and a dresser. I feel like I’m almost the length of the room and mightkick a hole in the wall in my sleep. The shared bathrooms aren’t great, either. At least Raegan knows she has one to herself. It’s been unspoken that we won’t use the women’s bathroom even if she isn’t in it.
Depending on how long we’ll be staying here, we’ll need to talk about knocking down some walls and adding more individual bathrooms. We don’t need ten bedrooms between the five of us.
I take longer in the shower than usual to make sure all the dirt and grime is washed away, pull on some sweats, and then fall unceremoniously onto the couch a few feet away from Dane. There are already pizza boxes stacked on the table, so I dip right in to grab a piece and take a bite.
“No bottle?” Dane questions with faux innocence.
I finish my fourth slice and wipe my hands on my sweatpants before turning on a video game and grabbing a controller off the table. “I don’t need it anymore.” I used it to numb the pain and the emptiness of my life without Raegan in it. But she’s here now. And I’ve found my purpose again.
Like I’d say any of that to him, though, with the chip on his shoulder the size of the Grand Canyon.
“Besides, I need to be fully alert for training Raegan tonight.” He swivels his head at that. “She asked me to help with her fighting skills. You should join us. We haven’t worked on that in a while, and I’m sure your technique has suffered.” I shoot him a grin. It’s a point I’ve made to him on numerous occasions, even when we were actively training. Everything starts off well and good, but as soon as something trips his temper, it’s like everything he’s learned goes outthe window, and he just throws his fists around to win any fight.
Dane frowns at me but doesn’t rise to the bait and goes back to whatever hacking or research he’s been doing on his computer.
Huh.
“Something on your mind there, Rapunzel?” He’s too quiet. Something’s wrong.
“Do you actually care about Raegan again, or is she just your next fixation now that Aiden has put an end to street racing while we’re here?”
Now we’re getting somewhere. My eyes don’t leave the screen as I mow through a swarm of zombies. “I’ve always cared about her, just like you. She was never anything temporary, and that’s not what this is now. I’m done with all the distractions and bullshit I’d been doing before. I’m ready to take the fight to GE, but Thorne proved we all need more work before we can get there.”
“I may have cared about her once, but not anymore. She’s dead to me.” His voice is cold and hard. Even though I know he’s just having another temper tantrum, albeit a less in-your-face one, his words hit me like lightning.
I chuck the controller down, and Dane jerks his head around at the clatter. “That’s it. I’m sick of your fucking attitude. You heard her say it was an accident. She didn’t just wake up one day and decide to murder Vera. Stop acting like that’s what happened. And stop taking out all your pain and grief on her for your own fucking issues. She wassixteenwhen it happened. When we still didn’t really understand our gifts. We were dumb and didn’t push her more for answers back then, and she kept the reason to herself to protectyourfeelings.
“Your hatred of Raegan is a piss-poor excuse for avoiding what you’re really feeling, and you need to figure out a way to get over it. Because if I hear you talking about her like that again, I will beat the shit out of you.” With those words, I storm out of the room.
Chapter eight
Raegan
