Page 33 of Angel Condemned

Axton

Jody’s gray eyes filled with unshed tears. Please don’t cry. The last woman I’d seen cry was a little Prinxl with cropped green hair that slit her wrists with the sharp edge of a stone she found in the cell during the night.

I’d tried to save her, but it was too late. She’d been young. Too young to breed in my opinion. Though even if she had been in her prime, I wouldn’t have had sex with her.

Jody blinked rapidly like something was bothering her. I figured she’d tell me when she was ready so I could try to help her as much as I could. What we both needed right now was a distraction. Except that was dangerous. Being around her, being too close to her made me want other things.

Things I couldn’t have.

“A sidekick is a good one too.” I did the move, pretending I didn’t notice Jody was about to break. I had no idea why she was fighting back not crying though. I fought back the urge to kiss her and other things to take her mind off her troubles. There was no room in my life for comfort. “You bring your knee back before you strike, and it can have a lot of power. Potentially knock someone back or even down who isn’t expecting it.”

Her brow furrowed as she concentrated, but the kick didn’t make contact and she fell forward. I caught her and expected her to fall apart like most of the females in here would’ve done. Instead, she straightened and tried again, landing the side of her foot into my gut.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

I let out a wheeze, overplaying a bit for her sake, but she had surprised me. “I’m fine.”

For the next several hours, we kept practicing her fighting techniques including elbows and knees and fine-tuning her kicks and punches. And she never complained or grumbled.

“I think the aphoristic should be abated now,” I said.

“Yeah.” She plopped down on the stone floor. “I’m beat. I don’t think I could do anything except be still.”

She had worked hard. “We need to stretch out your muscles so you’re not as sore tomorrow when we practice again.”

“What? You mean I’m not a black belt by now?” Her grin told me she was joking.

“Not quite. Copy what I do.” I touched my toes, stretching out my back and legs.

She propped herself up on one elbow. “How about I just watch you?”

“Do you want to be so sore you can’t walk or lift your arm?” And as much as I wanted to strip both her and me, I couldn’t. Instead, I gave her a stern look.

“Fine,” she grumbled. “I can’t wait for it to be my turn to teach you something, then gloat about it.”

“I’m not gloating. This is to help you…keep you safe and protect yourself as best you can.”

She rolled over onto her back, placing her arm over her eyes. “What is the use? We’re the Roulex’s prisoners,” her voice caught.

“What did the Roulex promise you?” I squatted beside her, curious as to what brought her here, because it hadn’t been abduction or force. “Money?” Did she have a gambling debt she needed to pay? The thought she’d sell her body to these monsters to pay off bills made my gut tighten with rage.

“My dad.” She hiccupped a sob, tears filling her eyes. “He’s sick and th-they promised us the funds to cover his surgeries. He needs mechanical kidneys and heart.”

“They wouldn’t have completed their part of the bargain. Over my time here, they’ve promised prisoners all kinds of lofty things and never deliver.”

“I screwed up.” She sat up looking at me with wide eyes and tears streaming down her face. “How can you even stand to be around me?”

This time I couldn’t resist touching her. I drew her into my arms, stroking her back and her hair while her cries shook her body.

After a long time, she pushed back. “They said they’d bring my dad here and hurt him.”

I tensed.

“Do you think they will?” She gazed up at me like I was her savior.

I couldn’t even save myself. Yet, I couldn’t make myself tell her the truth that they’d kill her father if it meant she’d do what they wanted. “It’s a ploy to get you to cooperate. Until they show you they have your father, let’s continue to be ready for any opportunity to escape.” I placed my fingers under her chin, rubbing my thumb across a tear that trailed down her cheek. “Promise me that if you get such an opportunity, you will take it. No matter what.”

“But—”

“Promise me.” I placed my thumb over her mouth briefly.

She swallowed and nodded.

Really wanted to believe she’d do as I asked, but my gut said she’d jeopardize herself if it meant saving her dad. We had to find a way to escape before then. Even if it was only to get her out of this hell.

She clung to me,finally falling asleep in the middle of the night. I held her, gritting my teeth not to kiss her. Our training had made her sweat, increasing her alluring scent and I wanted to taste her. It took all my willpower to keep my hands on her back and not to explore her body now that we weren’t practicing fighting.

My arms had fallen asleep and were numb before I started to drift off. The last conscious thought I had was I was never going to be able to sleep again without Jody near me. Without knowing that she would be safe.

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