*** DISCLAIMER ***

I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.

I finally updated!
Sorry it's took so long guys, I've been so busy for so long with college work.

Hope you enjoy this chapter, I'll try and keep regularly updating.

Inside the ring of the training room there were two boys currently involved in a fight and the other initiates were gathered around it watching, also on the sidelines observing were Adam and Four.

Nix watched from afar, from where she stood just behind the edge of the entrance to the room.

At least two minutes had passed since she'd arrived at the doorway but she couldn't bring herself to go inside just yet as her encounter with Eric was still bothering her...he had thrown her out, literally, thrown her out.

She could still feel his fingers from where they had roughly grabbed and dug into the skin of her arm as he pulled her towards the doorway of his apartment.

She looked down at her arm and saw the fingermarks that he'd left behind, they weren't as visible as they had been but they were still there.

As she looked at the marks on her arm the reason for them being there began to play out in her head and then it replayed and replayed again, she thought back on the whole thing too...running off, him finding her, standing in his apartment, what they said to each other...the kiss.

The kiss.

That damn kiss.

Her eyes closed briefly as every detail of it replayed in her head, it had been her first...well not her first but it was her first proper one, one that she'd actually wanted...despite the fact she'd been mad and confused about it and trying to push him away when it first happened, she couldn't deny that she had wanted it.

She probably would have let it continue if the fact that it was him hadn't been running through her head at the time, him, him who is not just anyone...he's one of the leaders.

The whole thing just seamed ridiculous to her, she's a stiff and an initiate...and he's a LEADER.

Despite how nice the memory of their kiss was for her she began to realise that the more she thought about it, the more confused she became.

How he could be so...was tender the right word? How could he treat her in such a tender way one minute and the next be so horrible?

She felt hurt.

The way he had treated her since she transferred made her feel hatred towards him, she'd grown up being taught to think of others above herself and hatred wasn't something she'd ever thought she'd feel towards another person.

She had though, before she transferred but that was worse than hatred...that was MORE than hatred.

She'd LOATHED him.
She shook her head to rid herself of that time in abnegation and thought once more about Eric, he'd gone out of his way to single her out over everyone else in her class, he'd treated her the worst from the start and it upset her, it wasn't fair.

It had made her dislike him more and more but then...he had moments where he wasn't being mean or horrible to her and that made her head spin, she'd questioned whether she really could say she hated him or not.
It was those little things he'd done, when he had halved his food with her or when he'd showed her the combat defence position before training began which kind of acted like a warning in some way, those things weren't anything to get excited over as they were insignificant but the fact that he'd done them had been surprising and really made her think...was she exaggerating when she though of him and hatred together?

Whatever the reason however she knew now that it wasn't the case, if she'd really hated him then she wouldn't have allowed what happened inside his apartment to happen, it hadn't taken her long at all to reciprocate to him.

If Eric had been HIM...there was no question about it, she would have been screaming at the top of her lungs and fighting with everything she had to get out of there, all because she HATED him.

But Eric.

No...she didn't hate him, especially not after that kiss...she couldn't, the memory of it would forever be burned into her brain.

She looked at the fingermarks on her arm again and let out a sigh, why had he done it?

Why had he thrown her out and spoken to her in such a cruel way when only moments before he had been holding her as if she was made of glass?

She placed a hand on her forehead, gave it a rub then ran it through her loosened hair briefly, the whole thing along with trying to figure him out had given her a headache, with another sigh she pulled her hair loose from it's ponytail then quickly redid it.

Once her hair was sorted her thoughts once more drifted to Eric and she frowned, had he thrown her out because she was leaving? Because he wasn't getting...what he wanted?

Had he even wanted it?

The thought worried her, he didn't hate her like she thought...or so he said, he could have been tricking her, telling her what she wanted to hear.

Did she want to hear that though? She couldn't deny that her stomach had fluttered when he'd disagreed to it, it was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Whether he was tricking her or not he'd liked her enough to kiss her, he wouldn't have done that if he hadn't wanted to...right?

He might have just done it purely because...he felt the need to, she was there, she was a female...she was available to him.
She knew that men became frustrated when it came to...that.

Tease.

Luring goody-goody.

Sweet talker.

Intriguing.

No.

Eric was different.

Eric didn't say those things to her, she hadn't broken out in a cold sweat around him, her skin hadn't crawled when he'd touched her.

She didn't feel frightened about wanting to leave him, he never made her feel like she wasn't allowed to go.

He had to have thrown her out of his place for some other reason...at least she hoped that was the case.

"Nix!" Andie's voice whispered shouted and she was suddenly brought out of her daydream, she glanced over at the ring briefly to see that the fight had finished and the other initiates except for the fighters were all heading back to training on the bags or sparring with each other, the fighters in the ring were sat on the ground listening to what Adman was crouched down saying to them, she looked back at Andie who was walking quickly towards her.

"What were you thinking?!" the former amity girl demanded and Nix started to speak but was cut off, "Where did you go?"

"I just needed." Nix said as she walked into the training room and towards the punching bags, she then let out a sigh, "To get away for a bit."

The other initiates in the room gradually began to notice her return, most had stopped what they were doing and were openly whispering with each other about her.

"You walked out...on Eric!" Andie said wide eyed as they approached a free punching bag, she had been stuck to Nix's side since she re-entered the training room and at her mention of his name Nix felt a pang in her stomach and she really hoped that she didn't look as upset as she hated to admit she was feeling, she simply shrugged then began to punch the bag and Andie shook her head before she said, "To be frank Nix, I'm scared for you, what if he kicks you out for that? Or worse...what if he kills you?"

"I'm not scared of Eric." she replied a little too quickly and the statement made her halt her punches, she stared at the spot on the bag where her fist had just been connecting and thought about what she'd just said.

'I'm not scared of Eric'...words that she never thought she would ever say aloud as she assumed that it would imply to the other initiates when they teased her about it that she actually was, some of them would have probably run to him and told him what she'd said and he'd in turn probably publicly humiliate her for having the nerve to say that.
She never imagined she'd say those words without hesitation like she'd just done as before today...since day one really, he had frightened her, really...who did he not frighten?

He was a very intimidating man, however, he'd allowed her to see another side to him today...a side that now made her chest hurt to think about and knowing that that side of his personality existed...she could never be scared of him again.

Despite him throwing her out the way he had she was almost certain that he would never deliberately physically hurt her, he had treated her too gently when she was alone with him for her to imagine ever being hurt by or scared of him again.

What she also knew was that she'd probably never see that side of him again and that thought, she was surprised to admit, was extremely disappointing.

"You're back." a voice said from behind her, it was Four, she hadn't seen him when she'd come back into the room as he'd disappeared from the ring, he moved around to stand beside her and when he did he looked her up and down, "You managed to avoid Eric?"

"He came after me?" she asked a beat later then swallowed as she fought against the blush that was threatening to appear on her cheeks at her words.

"Yeah!" Andie replied, "He left about a minute after you did and boy, he did not look happy at all."

"You realise you're in deep trouble with him don't you?" Four asked her and she stared at the bag infront of her briefly before she nodded, "It's out of my hands, whatever punishment he gives you for this I won't be able to intervene...he doesn't tolerate disobedience."

"I understand." she replied and he nodded at her.

"Will he kick her out?" Andie asked him.

"That's a bit dramatic." he replied.

"You said he doesn't like disobedience." Andie stated.

"That's true but he's more likely to make her suffer for the remainder of training because of it." he said to Andie then he glanced at Nix, "More than normally that is."

Nix gave him a weak smile before Andie asked, "Suffer how?"

"Keep practising." he said to her, ignoring Andie's question and then he walked away toward someone else, Andie watched him go before she turned to Nix and made a face because he didn't answer, she then went back to punching her own bag.

"Did it really look like I wasn't trying to fight?" Nix asked Andie after a moment passed, she had looked briefly over her shoulder and saw Caroline sparring with another girl, from what she could see there were a few marks on the girls face and arms but she seamed more than okay.

"No." Andie replied, "I mean...you probably could have used a little more force on her but you did try, there's no denying that, don't listen to what Eric said...you won that fight fair and square."

"Start running laps." A voice that didn't belong to Four suddenly called out to everyone and Nix's movements stilled, she didn't need to turn around to see who the owner of that voice was...she already knew, "Don't stop until I say."

Andie and the other transfers stopped what they were doing and looked over at him and as they did gasps from some nearby transfers could be heard.

"Oh no." Andie whispered and took a hold of Nix's arm, "Come on, let's get going."

Nix didn't move, she looked over her shoulder and immediately her eyes met Eric's, she noticed that Four had walked towards him and was stood infront of him saying something but the whole time his eyes were on her where she stood across the room beside Andie.

Tom and the rest of his candor friends hadn't joined in with the other initiates that had started running, they were stood in a group with smirks on their faces looking back and forth between her and their leader.

The more she stared at him the more she felt her heartbeat pick up as the memory of being inside his apartment with him began to play in her head again, the way he touched her...the way he kissed her.

"Nix." Andie whispered and started to move a few steps away, "Let's go."

Having had her thoughts interrupted Nix fully turned around and glanced at her friend then looked at him again, he was still staring at her and Four had turned around to look at her also before he spoke again and whatever he said grabbed Eric attention, the leader's glare was no longer focused on her but on Four instead.

"Nix please." Andie urged her some more so Nix started to jog off, the former amity by her side as she did, "Let's just do as we're told and stay out of his way."

"We still have to run past him." Nix replied, it was a statement more for herself than it was for Andie.

"Keep your eyes on his feet incase he tries to trip you." Andie told her after making a groaning noise.

"Trip me? I doubt he'd do that." Nix said with a grin which disappeared when she glanced at her friend to see that she didn't find it amusing, the thought of Eric childishly sticking his foot out as she ran past just sounded absurd.

"Just be careful Nix, he looks like he wants to kill you." Andie said and this time Nix simply nodded.

It was hard to focus on running knowing that Eric's eyes were on her as it caused a feeling of unease to wash over her, she wasn't sure why...maybe it was the anticipation that he'd do something to her infront of the others to keep up appearances that he was mad.

Or maybe it was because she feared that he actually was mad, she couldn't tell.

She shook her head and attempted to ignore his presence, gradually it worked as she she managed to set herself an easy pace as she and Andie had almost completed their first full lap.

She and Andie both jumped a little when Eric barked at the candor transfers to get moving as none of them had started yet and not surprisingly due to the tone of the command, none of them protested.

Andie moved when she and Nix were on the straight to pass Eric and Four where they were stood, she moved so she was on the side closest to Eric and Nix had wanted to tell her that she didn't need to do that but instead she concentrated on her breathing.

No matter how hard Nix tried to focus on what was infront of her she found her eyes still being drawn to Eric who she found was watching her like a hawk, his eyes narrowed in a glare as she passed and Nix could tell that Andie was more nervous about that than herself.

They both passed him without hassle, he didn't do anything.

"Man that was intense!" Andie said once they were out of his earshot, Nix didn't reply she just kept her eyes on where she was going and eventually they passed by some of the other transfers and as they did they were suddenly joined by some of the candor transfers.

"Hey stiff shouldn't you be further ahead right now? I mean you've already managed to outrun Eric once today and you made it back without him catching you." Tom said as he ran beside her and he moved closer so their arms were brushing each others as they moved.

"Go away." Andie said as both she and Nix simultaneously picked up the speed to get away from the candor's but they sped up so they were once again running at their sides.

"Aren't you worried? I mean...he looks as if he wants to murder you." Tom said, amusement evident in his voice, "I'd watch my back if I were you."

"You're warning me? Really? Is it because you're concerned or because you're hoping to witness it?" Nix said as she picked up her pace some more, running ahead of Andie and the candor transfers, Tom was the only one that caught up with her and he let out a laugh as he did.

She was on the straight now, about to pass Eric and Four again and again they were both watching her coming around, Four looked slightly apprehensive as his gaze shifted between her and Eric, Eric's eyes were glued to her and she noted that he looked even more furious at her this time.

"Believe me I'd love to watch and I'd grin whilst I was doing it." Tom replied once they'd passed by their instructors, he'd leaned his head close towards her so his mouth was at her ear as he spoke and once he had he stuck his tongue out and licked it.

She immediately elbowed him away from her in disgust and turned her head to look at him, he had a smirk on his face, she faced forward again and pushed herself on so she was almost sprinting away from him but he followed her, matching her pace.

"I'd actually offer to help him." he said when he was once more at her side, she chose to ignore him but when he reached around her back and ran his hand around her waist she stopped dead which caused him to bump into her and before he'd managed to steady himself she shoved him away from her.

"Keep your hands off me." she snapped at him as he almost tripped.

Most of the other initiates were still running and Andie and the other candor transfers were just passing Eric and Four on their second lap but they saw it, they along with Andie slowed down then eventually stopped to watch which swiftly earned them an order to keep moving, they did but they kept their pace slow and kept looking over at where Tom and Nix were.

Tom smirked at her again then took a step towards her, he was trying to frighten her and the fact that he was taller than her was slightly intimidating but Eric was taller and bigger built than he was, if she could stand up to that man then she could do it to this guy.

She stood her ground and looked up at him as he inched closer, his smirk turned into a leer and then he reached a hand out and began to run it up her flank, immediately she shoved it away and he glared at her.

"I said...keep your hands off me." she said firmly and when she made a move to run again he grabbed her forearm and twisted, she gasped in surprise more than pain.

"You think I want to touch you?" he asked, practically spitting the last word at her as if it was something disgusting.

She narrowed her eyes at him then yanked her arm back without giving him an answer, she then took off running again, making sure to go fast so she didn't have to be near him but he swiftly caught up to her, thankfully though, he kept his mouth shut.

She was about to complete her third lap by almost running past Four and Eric when Tom shoved her hard in the side, a noise left her throat as she fell head first over a bench, her shin had smashed hard against it and caused her to flip over and land on her back.

She let out a loud gasp when her body hit the concrete floor of the training room, she just made out Andie shouting at Tom before she inhaled deeply then coughed.

Four's face suddenly appeared above her own, "You alright Nix?"

"What the hell?!" Andie said angrily to Four as she appeared at Nix's side.

"What is it amity?" Eric demanded before Four could say anything and Nix noticed him roll his eyes before exhaling deeply.

"I'm fine." Nix said and accepted both of his hands that he offered her, he pulled her up onto her feet and she thanked him.

"Is your back okay?" Andie asked her as she went to touch it, it was a little tender but wasn't too bad, her shin hitting the hard bench seamed to hurt more.

"It's fine." she replied and Andie nodded before she looked at Eric once more, he had his arms crossed over his chest and he was glaring.

"He deliberately tripped her up." Andie replied hesitantly, her anger seamed to have rapidly disappeared.

Nix rubbed her back then glanced at Eric who had turned his gaze on her and she watched as he ran his eyes up and down her body slowly before he said, "All I saw was the stiff being clumsy."

At his words Nix scoffed under her breath then looked down for a brief moment before she glanced at Andie just as Eric said, "You don't agree?"

Nix looked at him and he raised his brows at her questioningly, she opened her mouth to speak then closed it before she shook her head lightly and looked at Andie again.

"I asked you a question." Eric said firmly and Nix looked back at him.

There was a beat of silence before Four cleared his throat, Eric looked at him as he said to the girls, "Get moving Andie, Nix...if you need it you have a minute."

"Stiff." Eric said and Nix sighed before she looked at him, he was still waiting for her answer but he turned his attention to Andie, "Why are you still here?"

Andie frowned at what he said and looked at Nix who gave her a light defeated shrug and indicated for her to go, she gave a reluctant nod then began to move after Nix mouthed 'it's fine' to her.

As she was passing her she whispered, "You'll be able to catch me up."

Nix nodded and watched as she ran off before she looked at Eric once more and she found his eyes on her, still waiting for her response, she inhaled deeply then said to him, "No."

"No?" he asked with wide eyes then held his hands out, "Well enlighten me stiff, if that wasn't clumsiness then what was it? Was it...just a mistake?"

Nix's eyes narrowed briefly at the question then realisation suddenly hit her, he'd deliberately emphasised the word 'mistake'.

Now she understood.

She closed her eyes for a beat then opened them as she exhaled a deep breath, Eric was glaring at her again and he indicated with his head that he expected her to answer him, she didn't, instead she held his gaze for a long moment then looked at Four who had moved to stand at Eric's side again, he glanced between the two of them curiously before he looked back at the other initiates running.

Nix looked back at Eric and noticed that his jaw was firmly clenched along with his fists, she then finally whispered her response to him, "No...it wasn't a mistake."

Her answer seamed to anger him more as he inhaled deeply then folded his arms across his chest tightly, she noted Four glance at him then her before he looked once more at the initiates running and when he did she saw him roll his eyes.

She followed his gaze and when she saw Tom about to complete his fourth lap she narrowed her eyes at him and said to both him and Eric, "He shoved me...it was no accident, he did it on purpose."

Four acknowledged her with a brief glance in her direction but Eric, even though he heard her, ignored her.

She looked from Eric to Tom once more and she inhaled as she watched him then let out a deep exhale as she thought to herself, let it go...just let it go, letting it go was the mature thing to do, however, as the boy got nearer to where she was stood he lifted his hand and flipped her off with a smirk.

Nope.

Screw being mature.

She moved to pick up a full bottle of water from inside the cooler next to the bench that she'd tripped over then pulled her arm back and threw it at his retreating form.

She heard Four say her name in what should have been a chastising way but he'd let out a sigh which told her he wasn't too concerned by it, not that it would have stopped her if he was.

She smirked when the bottle bounced off of the back of Tom's head and he let out a loud yell as he lost his balance and tumble forward to land roughly on his stomach.

Some of the other transfers that witnessed it let out chuckles, among them was Andie whose very loud and amused laugh echoed throughout the training room, Nix bit her lip when she felt a laugh of her own bubbling in her throat and looked over at Four and Eric to see them both trying to hide their smiles.

Both.

They BOTH were trying not to laugh.

Four's smile faded pretty quickly as he looked over his shoulder at Tom where he lay on the ground but Eric's didn't, he followed it up by giving her a subtle nod before he too looked at Tom, the boy had just gotten up from the ground and when he did his eyes zeroed in on Nix.

"Bitch." he said loudly and she responded by smiling sweetly in a way that said 'Who? Me?' then flipped him off, he began to march towards her saying as he did, "You think that's funny?"

"I thought it was hilarious." Andie said as she was passing, still laughing, she also reached out to high five Nix who happily returned it.

"Shut up." Tom barked at her then a beat later he reached Nix and shoved her backwards, because she hadn't been expecting it she stumbled a little.

"Hey, get moving." Four said but the boy ignored him and stepped towards her some more so he was right infront of her.

"You won't get away with that." he told her in a low voice, "Remember...I know where you sleep."

Her eyes almost widened at his threat but instead she swallowed then crossed her arms over her chest, hoping to look unaffected by it, "That was only a bottle and I nailed you with it...you should really think twice before threatening me again or I might just demonstrate to you personally how good I am at throwing knifes."

She didn't like speaking in such an arrogant way in regards to her training but she was good, everyone was always complimenting her on her knife throwing and asking her for tips and she had to stand up to him, she couldn't let him think she was scared of him.

He stared down at her for a long moment before a smirk appeared on his face and then both of his hands shot forward to grab her roughly between the legs and by the ponytail, a gasp of fright died away in her throat when he pulled her forwards and pressed his lips to her ear, "You really think that scares me stiff?"

She tried to push him away from her but the grip he had of her hair disappeared and he moved his arm around her back so she was trapped against him.

An involuntary whimper left her lips when he started to move the hand between her legs around, "I'd have you before you could even react."

The initial shock of him trying to interfere with her had terrified her but it also angered her, once he'd finished speaking she clenched her fist ready to throw a punch at him but before she was able Eric had grabbed him by the shoulders, yanked him back from her and stepped between them.

All at once she felt irritated at not being able to hit the horrible boy for his indecent actions but also relieved that Eric had stopped him from further violating her.

"You heard Four." he said and there was anger in his voice, it was clear for anyone to hear.

A beat passed before she peaked her head around the side of his body to see Tom begin to head off but before he could Eric halted him by saying, "And if you ever do anything like what you just did again...your ass will be out of dauntless, Effective immediately."

"What the hell man?! It's the stiff, what do you care-" Tom began to reply but stopped mid sentence when Eric took a step towards him, he then backed away and swiftly began running his laps again, he must have received an extremely sour look to not finish what he was saying.

Another beat passed before Eric moved back a step then turned around to face her and when he did she was very aware of how close they were, she could touch him if she wanted to and in that moment she really wanted to, she wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold on tight.

Tom doing what he did caused her heartbeat to pick up and her throat go dry, a shiver had come across her body too.

She swallowed then looked up at him and, it helped, the fear she felt was gradually disappearing just looking at him.

He stepped in and prevented Tom from harming her, in WHATEVER way he'd been planning to, she didn't feel frightened when he was near.

The memory of being in his apartment started to flash through her mind again and she inhaled deeply as she imagined reaching up and pulling his face towards hers so she could smash her lips against his to show him just how grateful she was for his help.

He tilted his head to the side a little as she stared at him and as if reading her mind the angry expression on his face gradually turned into a grin.

"You okay Nix?" Four asked as he suddenly appeared at her side and she immediately stepped back from Eric.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she replied after a beat and gave him a nod.

"Did he...try to touch you?" Four asked as he glanced down, he then shook his head and looked at her face again with a glare on his.

"He succeeded." Eric answered for her and she noticed Four's glare turn into surprise at Eric's tone but it didn't last long his expression changed to a determined one.

"He'll be punished for that." he told her.

"Keep him running today and after he drops or is sick, he will continue." Eric said to him before he'd even finished speaking.

"He's to keep running until lunch?" Four asked after a beat.

"He won't behaving lunch or taking part in weapons handling after it, he'll be running through both." Eric stated matter of factly and looked back at Nix, she looked up at him and the urge to reach for him was stronger than before.

"You're going to have him miss a day of training to run?" Four asked and Nix saw Eric roll his eyes before he turned his head to look at Four.

"I just said so didn't I?" he demanded before he added, "And he won't just be missing training, he will be running until his curfew."

"Until his curfew." Four repeated after a beat, "You expect him to run all day?"

"He WILL run all day, you'll will be here to supervise." Eric replied as he looked back at Nix, she found herself biting her lip and she noticed his eyes move to look at her mouth briefly before he made eye contact with her again, "That's his punishment."

Four sighed beside them then spoke to Nix, "Are you ready to run again?"

Nix looked at him then released her lip from her teeth and said, "Yes."

"Get going." he replied and she gave Eric one last glance before she took off running once more, she felt his eyes follow her the entire way.