Three
The days started to blur together. I'd wake up early, meditate for thirty minutes, then I'd shower and get ready for the day. Before the clock struck nine, I was the first lined up at the training rooms stretching for our morning run. My time was slowly getting better, but I wasn't too obsessed with it. Dom arrived with a novel in his hand, plopped down on the dewy grass, placing a stop watch on his left knee as he began to read.
I stared at him long enough that he noticed. He finally looked up with a smirk. 'Are you looking or buying?' The way he said it made my stomach flutter but I ignored it.
'You must take sick pleasure in making us run for miles.' I muttered ignoring his comment.
'Look at that, I don't hear anyone else complaining.' He replied sarcastically, keeping his gaze locked on the page as the other trainees walked out of the building.
'Like they'd say anything to a bear like you,' I countered glaring at him.
'True, but you know better than anyone that running can save your life.'
I bristled as I fought to stamp on the images rushing to the surface of my mind. 'Thanks for the reminder,' I snarled at him.
Dom returned to his book unaware of the battle erupting in my mind. Once the trainees had done some stretches, he looked up. 'Everyone ready?' He asked picking up the stopwatch. 'Go.' Everyone took off, the boys surged forward. Within seconds, I passed Allie and Camilla steps behind the boys. The images pounding in my head, made it difficult to see while I battled to control my breathing. I don't know how or why the fear spiked inside me, but once the images were in my mind, I couldn't stop from remembering what it was like running in that forest. I didn't even remember asking my demon buddy for more speed, but seconds later I was passing the boys, even Demetri. The pounding of their feet behind me urged me on, and I asked and then begged my mori for more speed. I knew I was really pushing it and I would pay for it later, but as I burst through the trees, racing past Sara and Nikolas's house, I didn't pause to wave at them like I usually did. I raced ahead, my feet sinking into the soft gravelly sand-like stuff that felt damn good on bare feet.
Sometime soon, I made it around to the other side of the lake, racing towards Chris's house. Pounding feet made me turn and I saw Cameron hot on my heels. He grinned and I watched as his face contorted into the master's face. Something screamed inside me, or was I actually screaming? I couldn't remember but in that moment my Mori gave me another burst of speed as I turned back to run to safety, to Dom.
Half a minute later I was back in the trees, racing well ahead of the pack, I saw the clearing ahead. I didn't even stop when I reached Dom and crashed into him. I hit him with such force, I bowled him over.
'You pushed yourself too hard.' The worry in his voice made me look up
'He's behind me.' I said shaking away the exhaustion ignoring how blurry my vision was becoming.
'Who? Belle, who was behind you!'
'The master...' I mumbled as white spots appeared in my vision. A second later, everything went white.
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I wasn't sure when, but I became aware that I was lying in my bed. Had I been dreaming? And why did I feel so damn hungover? When had I gotten drunk?
'Belle?' A faraway voice asked softly. After some irritating moments, I forced my eyes open.
'Daddy?' I mumbled.
'Yes, sweetheart, I'm here.' He whispered smoothing my hair out of my eyes. 'You had me worried for a while.'
'I feel hungover. I'm never drinking again.' I mumbled shutting my eyes.
'You're not hungover, you just overtaxed your mori.'
'Oh.' I frowned as images appeared in my mind. 'I was racing.' Correction, I was running, running from Cameron who I had thought was the master. What the actual...Goddamn it, I was going crazy. Rage surged through me and I felt my mori shift inside of me.
'Yes, and you won.' Dad said as he sat down on my bed and took my hand in his much warmer one. Why didn't anyone see the battle inside me? Why were they ignoring it?
'Mmm.'
'Why did you use your mori?'
'Dom never said I couldn't.' My tone told him that I wasn't happy but he continued on without pause.
'But why push it so much?'
'When Cameron was behind me, he turned into the master.'
Desmond sighed. 'You've never really liked forests.' Seriously? That is what he had to say to me? I had a fucking flashback that turned into a delusion and he was going to ignore it?
'I do, they're pretty.' I bit out, wanting nothing more than to punch him.
'No, I mean you do not like being in them.'
'Oh, right, yeah cause that's the only reason that matters.'
'I'll let you get some rest.' He said softly, kissing my head. I don't know what I threw at the closed door but it shattered, the tinkling noise surprisingly calmed me down a bit. After the rage, came the exhaustion. I didn't want to go back to sleep but I could feel sleep coming on to drag me down, down, down...
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I woke around noon, refreshed. I showered and walked to our kitchen, growling at the lack of food. Slamming the fridge door, I stalked out of our apartment and jogged to the kitchens.
Abby, my favourite chef in the world, beamed as soon as she saw me. 'There you are!' She said pulling me into a tight hug. Like all warriors she was tall and slender, and I stared at her bright purple hair done up in two French braids.
My emotionless face must have told her everything because she hugged me again. 'You've lost some weight sweetie, come on I'll make you a snack.' She trilled, pulling me to one of the large work benches. Minutes later I was tucking into a turkey and cheese toasted sandwich and a strawberry milkshake. Finished with my plate, I walked over to the first dishwasher that was being stacked, a guy, whose name I didn't know took my plate with a lopsided grin. His dark blue-green eyes were striking and gorgeous.
'Hey, I haven't seen you around.'
'I'm Belle.'
'Drew.'
'Short for Andrew?'
'Nope,' he said with a wicked grin, 'but you can call me whatever you like.'
Abby snorted. 'Belly-boo, I have some potatoes here with your name on them.'
'Okay. Please tell me you're doing your famous scalloped potatoes.' I replied distracted from the guy who was trying not to be obnoxious about the way he was staring at me.
'Er no, you are.' She grinned her wicked smile.
'Oh no, everyone's gonna hate me.' I whispered in mock shock while she laughed and dragged me back to the bench. Shaking her head, she set me to work. As I fell into the task of peeling two bags of potatoes, I felt my body relax. There was something calming about being in here. I made a note to return to kitchen duty. Abby started up the CD player in the corner. My lips twitched when she began playing ABBA. After thirty seconds, Drew walked over and pressed skip. Yup it was the mixed CD I'd made for her a few years ago.
'Don't change my music!' Abby squawked angrily as she darted back to the CD player, pressing a button and Abby was instantly singing loudly to Pink. It was a good thing she had a very nice voice. Stamping her foot, she air guitared her way to me, grabbed a wooden spoon using it as a microphone and holding it out to me.
The other chefs went about their business shaking their heads at us, while Drew stood watching us in amusement.
'I've got a bad, bad feeling...' I sang hoping I didn't sound too bad. We sang the entire chorus together. This was one of my favourite songs in the whole wide world. I returned to peeling the potatoes and singing as Abby's voice trilled over my own. I was just trying to match Pink, which was hard because I was sure I couldn't sing in her range or whatever. Abby finally stopped rocking out and settled next to me with a grin.
'See? It's more fun to be in here than sleeping.' She must have heard about what happened. I'd probably have to tell her the whole story later.
'Don't I know it.' I said as I narrowly missed slicing my thumb. Shoot, I needed to be more careful. Abby smirked.
'Stop thinking about boys.' She whispered loudly.
'Was not.'
'You are now.' She whispered back. Dang, she had me there. Drew wandered over and began to help us. He smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back at him. There was something about him...
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An hour later, I was placing a generous amount of scalloped potatoes onto my plate. Adding steamed veggies, I scooped up a small heap of steaming alfredo pasta, I walked to sit down at the table. Usually, I ate in the apartment with dad, but as the trainees trickled in, I sat at their table. Minutes later, Allie and Cameron joined me. I was sure those two were an item or would be in the future. Shaking his shaggy light brown hair at me, his dark hazel eyes blinked at me. I was expecting to see him turn into the master, and fear welled up inside me but I didn't see him again. Okay, so maybe it was a once off thing but I wasn't sure. What if my PTSD was getting worse? I needed to talk to someone but who, the one person I usually went to had completely glossed over what I'd told him.
'Say, how did you beat me the other day?'
'I use my mori all the time.' I muttered. The only way to get stronger was to work with the demon. I returned to my food. No way, I was not going to have a freak out here. I'd been doing so well this year and now it was all falling apart.
'We should go shopping this weekend. I need more boots.'
'A girl can never have enough boots,' I said thankful that Allie had noticed my unease. 'I'm in.' I replied as her eyes looked up at a spot behind me. I don't know how I knew Dom was in the room but as soon as a shadow fell over me, I knew.
'How are you doing?'
'I'm good as new.' I lied, taking a small bite.
'Good, so can I join you?'
'Are the twins sick of you already?'
'Yup, she's back.' He muttered to himself as he walked away. Allie stared after the guy.
'You never did tell me his story,' she reminded me as she took a bite of potatoes and moaned a little.
'Um, Dominic saved my life.'
'He's that warrior?'
'Uh huh.' I said forcing myself to eat another bite.
'And you were going to tell me when?'
I swallowed hard. 'There's nothing to tell. I mean we're friends, but he's so damn protective.' I knew it would get worse if he knew what he'd unintentionally did to me. In fact, he'd probably be overcome with guilt.
'I think there's a touch of possessiveness to it.' She replied knowingly, shooting Cameron a look.
'That's absurd.' I muttered looking down at my plate.
'No, it's not. You like him, hell you don't look at anyone else the way you look at him.' She pointed out while Cameron rolled his eyes.
'Someone likes the teacher. Saucy.' He added as Allie elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
'That, that is why I don't look at immature boys.' I pointed out while he grinned goofily at me. The other trainees joined us and thankfully the subject changed to planning for the weekend. Returning to my food, I finished off my plate in silence. Dominic came back and snagged the seat next to mine. He had two plates of food. Silently, I watched him put it all away. No matter how good a metabolism I had, I couldn't or wouldn't eat that much.
'What did you do in the afternoon?' He asked between bites.
'I was in the kitchen with Abby.'
'I thought these potatoes tasted different,' He teased while I tossed my hair over my shoulder.
'So, do you know a guy called Drew? He works in the kitchen. Kinda gorgeous.'
He froze for about a second but continued eating as if I hadn't said anything. 'Nope, what about him?'
'I don't know there was just something about him. I can't put my finger on it.' I said shaking my head. I froze when I noticed he was staring at me from the corner of his eye, the way he did when he was pissed off. The Frey brothers got that look from their father. I shuddered.
'What is it?' I whispered as he forced himself to go back to his food.
'It's nothing.'
'Are you jealous?' I asked wondering if that was what set him off. Wait if he was jealous that would mean...
'Belle, it's nothing like that, I just don't like the guy.'
'Yo, Belle, you coming on Saturday?' Billy asked leaning over the table with a wink. I nodded sending him a grin before turning back to Dom.
'What's happening on Saturday?'
'Boise. Shopping. You know the usual.'
'The last time you went shopping you got attacked. I don't think it's a good idea.'
'Well, that's too damn bad. I'll go with or without permission so don't bother going behind my back.' I smiled punching him on the shoulder. Standing up, he shook his head up at me while I gathered my plate and glass.
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Abby was sitting in her apartment reading when I walked in without knocking.
'Coulda been naked.'
'Yeah, that would be a tragedy. Look, I need to talk, something happened...I think my PTSD is getting worse.'
'That, is obvious.'
'What? You know?'
'Well yeah, this is the month where things get really bad but I don't know, you're different. Is it because of Dominic? Is he the one that reminds you so much of what happened? Or is it something else? Come sit, talk it out with me.' She said patting the spot on her seat next to her. I sat down beside her wringing my hands.
'Dominic hinted at something that triggered my fear and when we were running, I heard Cameron behind me, I don't know how but he turned into the master. I'm having delusions now. I tried to talk to dad about it but he glossed over it and said the forest caused it.' I confessed to her. Abby's eyes blazed.
'Men,' she growled shaking her head, 'no wonder you're so pissed off.'
'I am?'
'Babe, your silence speaks volumes. I know when my girl is hurting.' She said giving me a gentle hug. Closing my eyes, I breathed in her rose scented hair and felt my body relaxing for the first time in a long time.
'I don't want to be broken anymore.' I whispered.
'Babe, you're not broken, you just went through a trauma and your brain is trying to comprehend it.' She promised me releasing me to look me in the eye. 'Enough with the heavy, let's go make cookies.'
