Page 34 of C is For Corruption (Horsemen #3)

Victoria

“Rise and shine,” Az’s voice held a bite of command.

Noticing the lack of warm bodies beside me, my hand snaked out and gripped the blanket, tucking it under my chin. Cracking open one eye, I noted the time on the clock read five a.m.

“Go away, it’s too early.” I grumbled, snuggling further into the bed.

“Not happening, Love.” Az replied just before I felt a sharp tug ripping the blanket away.

I flopped onto my back, arms and legs spread, resembling a starfish, as my eyes popped open wide in shock. Craig’s chuckle drew my attention to him first. He stood near the dresser, wearing a pair of basketball shorts with a T-shirt in his hand.

“Move it, Princess.” Az barked, dragging my attention to him. He was dressed similarly to Craig and clearly ready for a workout.

“Fuck off, Az-hole. We barely went back to sleep an hour ago after you two wore me out.” I snarked, sitting up and reaching a hand out to try and snatch the blanket back.

Az jerked the blanket further from my reach before tossing it toward the bedroom door.

“I told you, you’re training to be one of us starting today.

You can get your ass up and dressed, or I’ll be left to assume that you’d prefer to sit at home when we conduct business.

And just so we are crystal clear, if you aren’t dressed and ready in ten, this is done.

No more going with us on interrogations, no training beyond your basic self defense, you will, for all intents and purposes, be a mob girlfriend and nothing more. ”

The urge to needle him died under his intense stare, and I found myself climbing from the bed instead. Craig offered me a sheepish smile and a kiss on the cheek before bending down to grab his sneakers and strolling from the room.

“Ten minutes, Victoria. Be out front in ten minutes or we leave without you.” Az said, following Craig from the room.

I hurried to throw on undergarments, yoga pants, and a t-shirt, making a mental note that I would have to educate Az on how much time a woman actually needed to get ready.

Grabbing a pair of socks, almost as an afterthought, I rushed to the bathroom.

It was like I could feel the time counting down as I brushed my teeth and fought to get a brush through my curls.

Stomping my foot as the brush caught on a particularly rough snarl, I tossed it down and used my hands to gather my now poofy hair into a messy bun on top of my head.

“Ten minutes, fucking hell,” I grumbled to myself as I headed to the living room to put on my socks and shoes. “I need ten minutes to deal with my hair alone.”

I made it outside just in time, based on how Az scowled when he looked up from his watch and saw me exiting the front door. Shooting him a self-satisfied smile, I strolled toward the SUV we’d taken to the warehouse the day before.

“Uh-uh, Love. We’re not driving.” Az chuckled darkly.

“What do you mean? I thought we were supposed to be hiding out. Walking out in the open doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if we don’t want to be seen.” I shot back.

“We’re fairly safe here, Bunny.” Craig interjected.

“We’re a little more than an hour outside of Sacona, and when Rich bought this place, I did a deep dive on all the residents.

No gang connections, no felons, just good, wholesome people.

Between that and all the work I did to keep the deed from ever being connected to us, we can safely wander around town. ”

“Oh really?” I asked, with a brow arched in his direction.

“Yes, really,” Craig laughed. “Just take a burner with you to be safe if you decide to go exploring. There’s a stash of them in the top right drawer of my dresser.”

“All this time and I could have taken a fucking walk.” I muttered.

“Enough chit-chat.” Az barked. “Let’s get moving. We’ll run to the diner, stop there for breakfast and then head over to the boxing club to work on some refreshers, they have an MMA setup that’s perfect for takedowns.”

Everything he said sounded miserable, and we were only halfway to the diner, by Craig’s estimation, when the misery started to set in.

I’d never been a distance runner, even my treadmill workouts were focused more on bursts of speed and high inclines.

It didn’t help that the concrete under my shoes wasn’t nearly as forgiving on my joints as the moving belt.

The boys might as well have been out for a routine morning jog through the park, the way they chatted while eating up the pavement ahead of me.

Craig’s gait was easy and fluid, even with the fresh white bandage peeking out beneath the hem of his shirt where the fabric had ridden up.

Az kept pace beside him, perfectly upright, the bastard, barely even sweating.

Meanwhile, every step I took sent a dull throb up through my ankles and into my knees like I was being punished for some long-forgotten crime. My lungs burned. My mouth tasted like pennies. And the early morning chill had nothing on the heat radiating off my skin.

“You’re doing great, Bunny!” Craig called over his shoulder, turning to jog backward for a few paces to flash me that annoyingly sincere smile.

I knew he was trying to be helpful, but I hoped he’d trip.

Az reached out and whacked him in his shoulder, which caused him to stumble a little, and I almost felt vindicated until Az opened his big mouth.

“That’s not treating her like every other initiate, dude.” Az called out loud enough to know I heard him.

Craig grinned at Az, then held up his middle finger like he was doing all this for fun.

“Fuck off,” I panted, more breath than voice. Craig might have been lying, but it was a nice lie.

Craig and Az both chuckled as Craig turned back to face forward.

I could have sworn they picked up the pace as the road curved into a slow incline.

My feet started to feel like lead, and my pace began to slow as my stomach revolted.

I managed to pull a mocking face at Az’s back and flip him off with both hands just before my stomach forced me to stop and dry heave on the side of the road.

This was it, this was how I died. Not a kidnapping, not a fire, not some random gangster taking me out.

No. This fucking run that Az insisted I go on to learn the ropes.

The only ropes I was learning were the ones that lined the staircase to fucking hell because this definitely was not heaven.

“I’m dying.” I whimpered just as another dry heave wracked my body. “I’m just gonna lay down here and die.”

“You’re not going to die,” Craig’s voice came from behind me before I felt his hand on my back rubbing in comforting circles. “You’ve already done the hard part. You just have to keep your feet moving.”

“I can’t,” I whimpered, debating whether my stomach was done trying to turn inside out. “Just leave me, let the vultures have me.”

“That’s not very gangster of you, Love.” Az snickered.

“When I throw up, it’ll be on you, Az-hole.

” I lifted my hand and flipped him off without looking at him.

“You’re lucky I like your dick because I am pretty fucking convinced I hate the rest of you right now.

I should just,” I straightened up, curled my hands into claws in his direction, and twisted my face into an irritated snarl.

“Alright, Love, you’ve had your little bitching session. Time to keep moving. For the record, you don’t have to keep pace with us, you just have to keep moving.” He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head, watching me sternly.

“And how exactly am I supposed to know where to go when you two disappear off into the sunrise, fucking speed demons?”

Craig chuckled and shook his head. “Well, for one, we’d never actually let you out of eyeshot, and two, it’s literally just straight down this road. You can’t miss it.”

“Now, move it.” Az snapped, slapping my ass hard.

I managed a middle finger for both of them before starting again at a slow pace.

Both of them laughed as they passed me, looking fresh as fucking daisies.

I decided right then and there that I wasn’t going to put out for either of them if they kept this torture up during my ‘training’ period.

When the diner finally came into sight, I had thoroughly murdered both of them in multiple ways in my imagination.

I may have even buried them alongside the hellish path they’d taken us on.

To my dismay, they both appeared to have barely broken a sweat, Craig slightly more than Az, while my feet were attempting to refuse to even walk the last few yards to the diner door.

They went from sluggish to cement-heavy and then to full-on mutiny as I slowed to a stop outside the diner.

I bent forward, my hands on my legs, trying to breathe through the burning in my lungs and the nausea clawing up my throat.

“I hate both of you.” I muttered between gasps of air as I all but limped by them through the door, collapsing into the first empty booth I saw.

Az shook his head, sliding into the booth across from me and waving down a waitress.

He didn’t bother giving anyone a chance to look at the menu, rattling off an order that sounded meant to feed a football team.

Fortunately for his safety, he ordered me a coffee.

I suppose the evil glare I was giving him was enough for him to know I would commit murder intentionally if I didn’t get my caffeine in my preferred method.

“Nope,” He said, snatching the sugar and cream out of reach as soon as my coffee arrived. “Unless you want to actually vomit, you’re going to need to take it black.”

“You are ruining any scrap of enjoyment I have left.” I hissed before letting my eyes slide to where Craig sat next to him. “And you’re just letting it happen. Fuckers.”

Craig shook his head and laughed. Az started droning on about the plan once we got to the gym, but I tuned him out.

After the run, his voice made me want to dump my hot coffee over his perfectly styled blond hair.

He became a chorus of wa-wa-wah-wa’s until he finally shut up when two waitresses appeared at our table with trays of food.

A plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes was set before me, and a second, along with a glass of orange juice, was slid in my direction before I’d even taken the first bite.

“Eat as much of that as you can. You need the fuel to get through the rest of the morning.” Az ordered.

I waved my hand over the plates in dismay. “I can’t eat all of this. I know I’m a big girl, but fucking hell, that doesn’t mean I eat like a damned linebacker!”

“Just eat what you can, Bunny.” Craig said. “Az is just overcompensating for being so hard on you. But make sure you drink the juice.”

Az growled something at Craig I didn’t care to pay attention to, but otherwise didn’t correct him.

I tried to take my time eating, hoping that if I just took long enough, Az would call it a day and we could go back to the Innocenti’s.

My plan seemed to backfire when Az lifted the glass of juice to my mouth and demanded I take a drink before reaching for my fork.

“Do it and I will stab you with it.” I snapped, but I got the hint and finished what I could of my food.

“I’ll pay the bill, you two head on over to the club. I’m sure Leighton is wondering where we are.” Az said when I’d finally eaten all I could.

The boxing club was caddy corner from the diner, which was both a relief to my feet and a death sentence to any hope of dragging out my reprieve.

I followed Craig inside and spotted Leighton almost instantly.

He was facing our direction in the ring that took up the center position of the club, squaring off bare-knuckled against someone I couldn’t make out through all the padding they were wearing.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised by the grin on his face as he sparred.

It wasn’t nearly as feral as the fight he’d taken me to as an apology or the way he dove into the firefights we’d lived through, but it was one hundred percent him.

“There you are!” He called out, hopping from foot to foot as he spotted us entering the club. He made a hand signal to the person in the ring with him and practically sprang over the ropes, landing on the floor next to the ring. “I was starting to think you murdered Az and ran away for good.”

“I was very tempted.” I huffed. “Still might.”

“That’s my girl,” Leighton smirked, leaning forward and planting a chaste kiss on my lips. “Az tell you the plan here?”

“If her face was anything to go by, she completely tuned out everything he told her out of spite,” Craig chuckled, causing me to scowl at him for being right.

“Well, quick run down time. We’re gonna work on takedowns, breaking holds, and hitting. If you do really well, I’ll even hold Az in place so you can use him for real world punching experience.” Leighton grinned, waggling his eyebrows. “I reserved this ring for the next couple of hours for us.”

My eyes went to the ring farthest away, and I felt a pang of longing for that one. I didn’t particularly want to have my ineptitude on display for everyone to see, and the ring Leighton picked felt like it was under a blinding spotlight with its positioning.

“Let’s go, Ma Petit ,” Leighton said with a clap.

I begrudgingly followed him to the ring and let him help me into it.

It didn’t take long for my embarrassment to fade into the background as I worked to focus on not letting him put me on my ass.

Just when I thought I had the hang of it, he turned me to where Az and Craig stood waiting behind us in the ring.

The three of them put me through my paces, making me do the moves repeatedly until I got them right.

I was fairly certain I would be sporting a myriad of bruises by the time we exited the ring and got to work at the punching bags.

“That’s enough.” Az said finally when my arms felt like they were going to fall off. “You’re heading back with Leighton to work on spotting. Expect this to be your routine for the next little bit with some weight lifting mixed in.”

“I thought you said you’d hold him so I could get real world practice.” I pouted at Leighton.

“I said if you did really well.” He winked. “Come on before he decides to make you lift weights today .”

“All three of you better sleep with one eye open, I swear to God.” I huffed, drawing a laugh from them before Leighton led me from the gym.