Chapter Twenty-eight
~ Lexa ~
“Harder!” Will called out as I moved to hit his gloves again.
“Better,” He called out again as I threw another punch.
The truth was, neither of us really needed to be training. We had been training our whole lives. And yes, we needed to get better, but both of us were going over the top with it. We spent hours and hours in our make-shift gym away from everyone. I had taken a run earlier around our perimeters with Will and Grace this morning. And we were going on hour 6 today of a grueling workout. Any second we weren’t on duty or supposed to be asleep, we were training.
I was grateful that Grey had decided to creat
Chapter Twenty-Nine~ Aspen ~“That was a bit mean, don’t you think?” I asked Grey once E and Will were out of earshot.He bent down to pick up a pair of boxing gloves that they’d left on the squishy floor. It was a weird mixture of rubber and plastic that almost bounced under our weight.“Lexa doesn’t take care of herself.” He held the gloves out for me to take. “So I usually have to.”I nodded in understanding and slipped my hands into the gloves. Even if that wasn’t true, I knew Grey felt responsible for everyone under this roof. He did have a soft spot for E, though. The two of them were close in their own weird wa
Chapter Thirty~ Lexa ~“Lexa?” It was Jax who opened the door this time.I had thought Will would come after me, but the feeling in my stomach said maybe he would never follow me again. Maybe no one should.“Yea?” I called out, trying to keep my voice even.“Are you okay?” He asked as he sat down on the bench next to me.“I’m great. Never better.” I answered, but even I could hear the slight shrill in my voice.“Oh, so you’re not mad at Grey?” Jax probed.
Chapter Thirty-One~ Aspen ~I think it was safe to say that my plan backfired. I hadn’t seen E or Grey for several hours. I tried asking Jax what happened, but he just kept saying he didn’t know with a lazy shrug. Will was useless. He’d been sitting up on the rooftop deck since the fight. He was moping and I didn’t feel it was my place to interrupt.I’d kept myself busy making sure the twins found their parents and that everyone else got dinner for the night. More and more, it seemed like things were falling on me. I didn’t necessarily mind, but I didn’t know if I was up to the task either. At least not by myself.I understood that Will, Grey, and E were all dealing with their own demons. That much w
Chapter Thirty-two ~ Lexa ~ I couldn’t sleep after my conversation with S. I knew her goal was to push us all together. I had no doubt that she had made her rounds to the others already. She was right. We were acting like children. We practically were children. No matter how much we pretended, we had no clue what we were doing. There was a knock at my door and I whirled my chair to see who it was. “Hey,” It was Jax, and my heart sank. “Hey,” I replied, feeling a little self-conscious about how I had acted earlier. “It’s your shift.” He told me, “But if you're tired, I can wake Grey.” “No,” I said as I pushed myself away from the desk. “I’m fine.” “Did you get any sleep?” Jax questioned carefully. “What can I say that won’t have you yell at me?” I tried to kid. “You know I don’t yell.” Jax answered seriously. “I know,” I sighed. “About earlier, I’m sorry. I’ll try harder.” Jax held his hand up to stop me from rambling. “Lexa, I don’t want you to try harder, I want
Chapter Thirty-Three ~ Aspen ~ I let out a harsh breath as I recoiled back. The hit to my ribs caused a sharp pain to vibrate through my sides and down my spine. I gasped for air and placed a gloved hand against the tender spot. “Geez, chill out.” “Do you think your enemy is going to chill out?” Grey rolled his eyes and lifted his hands back into fighting position. “What does that even mean?” I rolled my eyes right back and tried to catch my breath. We’d been training for at least an hour now and I was exhausted. He wasn’t taking it easy on me, which I guess is better in the long run, but damn was it tiring. And painful. I knew he wasn’t hitting me nearly as hard as he could, but I would still have bruises after this. I took a step forward and tried to land a hit but, of course, he dodged it. He caught my wrist easily and jerked me forward. I lost my footing and slammed into his chest so harshly it knocked the air from my lungs. I placed my free hand against him and tried
Chapter Thirty-Four~ Lexa ~I immediately felt guilty as S ran out of the room, but I was mad. She could have gotten herself hurt. It would not have been hard to tell one of us she could fix it. She’s the one who just a single night before had lectured me on needing to work as a team. Whatever this was, it was not my fault. “Now you’ve done it,” Grey snapped as he exited the room, but I didn’t move. I was still fuming. “Breathe, Lex,” Will whispered in my ear. I shot him a deadly glare. How dare he tell me to breathe? She could have endangered everyone. “How is this different?” Will prodded. He knew he was in dangerous territory with that question, I could tell by his face, but what he meant, I had no idea. “What?” I snapped. I could hear the anger in my voice. “How is what she did any different than what you do every day?” “That is not a fair question, William.” I replied coldly. “Why not?” He questioned, his voice calm with just a smidge of an edge. “You make risky choice
Chapter Thirty-Five ~ Aspen ~ I woke with a start, bolting upright as my heartbeat painfully in my chest. I assessed my surroundings quickly and tried to slow my breathing. I was safe. I was laying on the disgusting forest floor, covered in freezing mud, but I was safe. I’d been walking for I don’t even know how many days at this point. I needed to find a permanent place to rest, and fast. I’d eaten nearly all of the food I packed, so I wouldn’t last much longer in the elements. Winter was closing in and fast. The temperature was dropping significantly each day. My head twisted to the side painfully fast at the sound of leaves crunching behind me. I was currently sitting with my back up against a tree, and whatever had made the sound was on the other side of it. My heartrate picked up again as I pulled myself up onto my feet and held my breath. I squeezed my eyes shut in an effort to gain some courage before peering around the tree. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that it h
Chapter Thirty-six~ Lexa ~I was breathing hard. There was little to no room to go. A stranger was not welcome at the market and I was worse than a stranger. I was a traitor. A no good. A nobody. Nothing was worse than a girl stuck in a cage. But I had much to learn here in the city. Despite how hard everyone tried to keep to themselves, they were all gossips. Harry was getting married this weekend to a girl his mother hated. The poor girl was as nervous as a cat in a thunderstorm. Then there was Jem who was cheating on his girl with Olivia. And the Harrison’s were in the middle of a nasty divorce. But beneath the shallowness there were secrets. And plans that no one was too keen on keeping a secret. But yet they were life changing. And they had to do with my people. “Did you hear Lisa Harris’ daughter is now under investigation?”“Wow, that's really young to be found with the sickness. She’s what? 3?”“It’s disturbing.” “Did you hear about the Carter’s son? They’ve been looking f