Page 19 of Marked for Execution

Rolling my neck, I got back into a fighting stance, and we circled each other. My eyes were scanning for any possible openings or advantage points. Reed was almost as big as Eliseo, outweighing me by almost a whole other body. Most of the men on the team did. At five foot four, I stuck out like a sore thumb amongst these guys.

I lunged and twisted at the last minute, dodging his block, spinning until I could leap onto his back and wrap my arms around his neck and head with a firm grip.

He used his strength to bow and threw me off. Landing on my feet, I lunged again towards his right leg, pulling him onto the ground where I straddled him with my hands around his neck.

He stared at me with his chest heaving, nostrils flaring, but something else happened. His eyes flamed with something I couldn’t name, and it scared me. My grip loosened, but he grabbed my wrist before I could pull away, keeping me locked in position.

The tension in the air between us became thick and heady, my own chest rising and falling more than it should. Suddenly, I was pulled off him by the back of my shirt with a hard jerk, landing on my ass.

“Alright, that’s enough. Get your ass up, Reed. You’re embarrassing me. You just got your ass handed to you by a girl.”

Reed chuckled and continued to stare intensely at me beside him. “I’d gladly let the kid do it again. She’s getting better, quicker.”

“She’s going to spar with one of the other guys,” Eliseo barked out. What’s up his ass? Reed had been the easiest to work with. His instructions were the simplest for me to understand with how he broke things down.

“Whatever you say.”

“I don’t—” I tried to pipe in.

“Gunner! Get your ass over here!” Eliseo instructed after staring down Reed with more attitude than normal. What the hell was happening right now?

Gunner ran up, his forehead already gleaming with sweat from sparring with Samuel. “Good. That asshole Samuel fights dirty and always smells like pussy. I’m tired of that shit.”

A laugh burst out of me, and I doubled over after just standing up. We all knew it. We all thought, it but to hear it out loud was something else.

Eliseo’s scowl softened right before he chuckled along with me, his eyes scanning me from head to toe. He was such a hardass most of the time, it was rare to hear laughs slip out of him like this during training sessions.

“Alright, Gunner you’re with Sili. Reed, with me.”

“You got it.” Gunner slapped me on the shoulder, and I almost fell over. Geez. He laughed it off before getting into position.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the way Eliseo tackled Reed with full strength, taking him down and grappling. It reminded me of the first time he took me down, and my heart kicked up.

“Pay attention!” Gunner yelled before he swept my feet from under me, landing me on my back again.

I didn’t know how I felt about a group of men actually being kind to me. It had never happened before. The last man that was kind to me ended up in a pool of blood—

“Sili. Quit standing around staring off into the distance. We got a trip to prepare for. Go get strapped up!”

Lifting my lip in a curl, I stared daggers into Eliseo, who only chuckled and waved me off. We had come to more neutral ground between one another, my initial paranoia about him dissipating the more I was with him. He had taken a sort of fatherly role with me since I joined his team. He always made sure I stayed on my toes and kept others away from me when I started to get overwhelmed.

He was still an asshole, and still got on my nerves from time to time, though. I didn’t think that would ever change.

The men were already strapped and headed to the front community gates. I jogged back toward my house and up the stairs. I slipped some blades into my boot, pistols into the waist of my pants, and grabbed the crossbow and bolts we found on the last trip. The weight felt good in my hands.

I ran downstairs with renewed energy and almost slammed into a large body. The masculine musk hit me before the tanned, tattooed arm that held me steady.

“You need to pay more attention to your surroundings.” Eliseo’s deep timber was so condescending. Or maybe my pride was hurt by his assessment. I was trying to hurry my ass up because he told me to.

Not only had I been forced to learn all forms of weaponry, but the guys had also been challenging me with hand-to-hand combat in case they didn’t get to me in time during reconnaissance. My head was swimming with so much knowledge that I occasionally became distracted by what was expected of me.Who was he to nitpick my weaknesses?

I said nothing. Eliseo hated insubordination, and always had a gleam in his eye when my mouth got the better of me. It sent chills down my spine in more ways than one.

Thinning my lips, I shouldered my way past him with emphasis. He chuckled behind me as he locked the door and slammed it shut. When we both reached the front of the community, there was already a good group forming.

“What took you so long, kid? Was Eliseo holding you up?” Reed grinned, and his face softened. He was quite a handsome guy when he let his guard down.I shouldn’t be thinking about how handsome he is.

Shrugging one of my shoulders, I broke his eye contact by pretending to pat myself down to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be.