Heya, sorry for the long gap between now and my last update, my internet has been offline! But I'm back and I hope you like this chapter!
Yassen woke up next morning with stiff joints and an aching back, and a huge feeling of satisfaction. He rolled out of bed and ran his usual path along the beach and up the hill. He found that if he stood on tiptoe, he could see the top of the wall and one of the gleaming metal posts.
He made it back to the hotel in good time for breakfast and crunched his way through four slices of toast before racing out to meet Hunter. He was standing in the car park, facing the sea, and he seemed lost in thought. Yassen crept up and stood beside him, waiting patiently until Hunter noticed him.
"How long have you been there?" he asked as he turned and almost stood on Yassen's foot.
"A few minutes, sir," He said, falling into step behind Hunter as he set off over the car park. Damn! He had to do that bloody assault course again.
They jumped over the fence, Yassen managing to avoid ripping another pair of jeans, and weaved between clumps of spiky marram grass to the course. Hunter gestured and Yassen set off, spraying sand as he crawled under the nets. He reached the wall and leapt, hooking his outstretched fingers over the top and hauling himself up, minimum effort. He grinned and dropped to the ground again.
He pounded round for as long as he could, which was considerably longer than he had the day before. Finally he stumbled up to where Hunter was lying on the sand and sank to the ground, gasping for breath. His legs were burning again, but he noticed the difference from yesterday. Still, it was only because he'd eaten. Hunter looked at him and stood up.
"Come on. That was better then before, you know why?" Yassen nodded and spat on the sand.
"It's because I got in early enough to eat." He said, feeling the cold air rasping at his throat as he sucked it in. Hunter stood over him, watching as Yassen brought his breathing under control.
Finally he straightened up and looked Hunter in the eye.
"Ok. I'm fine now." The older man turned and walked away, Yassen followed on autopilot, his legs responded before his brain had a chance to interfere. Hunter led him over the fence and back to the beach.
"Right then," he said, turning. "Meet me here in an hour. Go back and eat. Remember the chocolate!" He called after Yassen's retreating back.
He ran over the hard wet sand at the water's edge and then pounded up the slipway, turning his ankle on a rock once. The pain subsided quickly and he didn't stop, but he watched the ground more carefully after that.
He ate quickly, more salad, and then went up to see Holly. He found her in the lounge, sitting on the windowsill again. He was going to call out but decided to see how quiet he could be. He moved forwards carefully, his feet pressing on the carpet. His breathing was silent and he took a long time, but Holly didn't realise he was there.
"Hi!" he said brightly, dropping down beside her. She leapt off the sill, her hand slicing through the air. Yassen threw himself backwards, his spine creaking as he twisted away from her hand.
"Oh God! Sorry!" Holly squealed as Yassen thudded onto the floor. "Are you alright?" Yassen propped himself up onto his elbows and laughed.
"Yeah, I'm fine; it was my own fault anyway." He hauled himself up and brushed himself off. "That was an impressive reaction by the way."
"You too, I didn't realise people could bend that way."
"Trust me, they can't," he said, massaging his now aching back. Holly cringed and apologised again. "Look, I'm fine! Well, fine-ish." He laughed and Holy grinned, though a little guiltily.
"So what have you been doing? You're covered in sand, well, you were until you hit the floor." Yassen glanced down and hastily spread the sand around with his foot.
"I've been doing an assault course with Hunter. It's hard work and, yes, I get covered in sand. I don't know what I'm doing this afternoon, I went shooting yesterday but I don't think I'm doing it today."
"You're really lucky; he's one of the best in the world. He was a marine, I think, then SCORPIA recruited him and he never looked back." Holly's voice dripped envy and awe. Yassen laughed,
"So it's nothing to do with the fact that he's over six foot, muscular and, I would imagine, totally gorgeous in your eyes?" Holly blushed and looked determinedly everywhere except Yassen.
"Of course not, what do you take me for?" She asked, sounding affronted, "No, don't answer that!" she yelled as Yassen opened his mouth with a cheeky glint in his eyes. He sniggered and danced out of reach as she hurled a cushion at him.
"Now now, calm down, you're not meant to try and kill people with cushions! And I have to go back now." He added as he dodged cushions on the way to the door. He caught the last one and tossed it back at her before racing down the steps and out the door.
He flew along the beach and skidded to a stop, spraying Hunter with sand.
"Sorry sir." He panted. Hunter smiled at him,
"No problem. Now follow me please." Yassen obeyed, wondering why Hunter was suddenly acting so friendly.
He found out soon enough, there was a large canvas sheet laid out on the sand just around the headland at the far end of the beach. They had to wade through the water to reach it. Yassen eyed the round sheet nervously but followed Hunter to its edge.
"Ok then, you need to have a basic knowledge of martial arts so I'm going to have to train you up. And," he held up a hand as Yassen opened his mouth," I know that you can fight, but it's street fighting, you'd be killed before you could blink if you came up against someone trained. Sorry to burst your bubble."
Yassen shrugged and copied Hunter, slipping off his shoes and stepping onto the canvas. The sand underneath was soft and the sheet moulded to the shape of the ridges. Hunter stood in the centre of the sheet, poised and tense. Yassen walked over to him and stood silent while Hunter adjusted his stance, making sure that his centre of gravity was low.
Hunter showed Yassen some basic moves and then they had short fight. Yassen was knocked to the ground more times than he cared to count.
By the end of the afternoon Yassen had amassed a huge number of bruises and his whole body ached. The tide had come in while they had been fighting and the two men had to walk over the cliffs and sand dunes to get back to the hotel.
Hunter formed in into another training method and yelled Yassen up the rocks and along the paths. Hunter had gathered up the huge canvas sheet and carried it over his shoulder as if it weighed no more than a feather.
They quickly fell into a pattern; they would do the assault course ever day, but they would do shooting one afternoon and fighting the next.
When Holly joined them, Yassen found himself working harder and harder to keep ahead of her. Outside the training however, they were getting closer and closer. Yassen found himself with something he had never had before: a best friend.