Page 72 of Intertwined Souls

I block his hand and sidestep him before spinning around and kicking him directly in the ribs. He grunts but remains on his feet. When he goes to attack again, I can faintly hear Axe talking to Presley and Raven about what I’m doing, but I block out his voice to focus on Stone.

I’ve trained and sparred with most of the guys now, but not Stone, and I have a feeling he holds nothing back. Good. I prefer it that way.

Stone makes a move to grab my arm, but I’m luckily quick on my feet and dodge out of the way. I don’t realize that Stone is just as swift; my mistake. And he gets behind me, wrapping his arm around my neck putting me in a chokehold.

I breathe deeply and focus on getting out of the hold, not letting any panic in.

Swinging my elbow back, I attempt to jab him in the ribs, but he jumps out of the way while still keeping a hold on my neck. I bring my foot up to slam it down on top of his, but he kicks out my leg that is still on the ground, causing me to lose my balance so he can easily throw me down onto my back.

Landing with a grunt, I take a second to catch my breath, not used to getting caught off guard so easily. The noise in the room comes whooshing back in, and I realize that Ryker has joined us now and isn’t happy.

Chapter Eighteen

Harley

“Take it fucking easy,” he growls.

I sit up and quickly get to my feet, finding Ryker in Stone’s face, his nostrils flaring in anger. But Stone, per usual, looks like he doesn’t give a shit.

“Relax, Ryker. Harley can handle herself,” Noah says, amusement clear in his voice.

“That’s not the point. She doesn’t need to be thrown around like a fucking ragdoll,” he seethes, gesturing towards me.

I roll my eyes and notice Noah’s gaze on me.

“Box with me, princess. I think Ryker can spar with Stone for a bit.” He winks.

Ryker literally growls and goes to move past Stone, but Stone shoots his arm out and shoves Ryker back a step.

“Calm the fuck down,” he chides. “I understand the protectiveness, but it is unnecessary in this room with these people. Harley was in complete control of herself the whole time and never showed any signs of panic or stress.”

My eyebrows shoot up at the observation Stone makes. He’s right, but I didn’t think he was in tune with me the whole time.

“This is hard on all of us,” Axe adds from across the room. “But no one is in danger or harm’s way when they are here with us. Spar with Stone and fucking calm down, or I have no problem telling Rage you don’t need to be going tonight.”

Noah gently pushes me towards the wall where all the gloves are, and we wrap our hands before putting on boxing gloves.

I watch Ryker the whole time we get ready until Noah blocks my view. “He’ll be fine. You can tend to his little heart later. Let Stone beat the shit out of him for now. Focus on training with me. It’s good for you, and it’ll be good if you can show the girls a few things. They are kind of a pain in the ass to teach.”

He grins when Raven scoffs from the side of the gym and mumbles asshole.

Walking to the mats that are set up to practice boxing we get into position while Raven, Axe, and Presley stand off to the side to watch us. Someone turns on music over the speakers, and I block everything else out and just focus on Noah.

Noah grins at me and hits his gloves together, bouncing on his toes. “Let’s show them some body shot combinations.”

I nod, and we begin the drill where our focus is solely on body shots, homing in on the other person’s midsection. Noah jumps right in for an attack, so I go on defense and work on blocking and slipping.

After a while, there is a light sheen of sweat on my skin, and I feel lighter, like I can breathe again.

Noah and I stop for a moment and drink from the waters Axe tosses at us. He has Presley and Raven off to the side in boxing gloves practicing the same thing as us, just on a much lower level and not trying to fully hit the other person like we are.

Noah tosses the water bottle onto the ground and smirks at me.

“Come on now, princess, let’s see if you can get any good shots in.” He opens his arms wide and waits in the middle of the mat.

Rolling my eyes at him, I get back into position, but this time we have switched rolls. I attack, he defends. Noah lets me get a few hits in, not really trying to block them.

“Noah! Stop going easy on me. Fucking defend!” I yell, and the asshole just grins and then starts defending for real and blocking almost every shot I take, which makes me more determined to find his weak spots and land hits.

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