Page 10 of Marked By Night

I motion for him to start. “Come on, let’s go again.”

He strides toward me, making adrenaline flood my veins. I breathe it in, relishing in the rush. “Chin down! Hands up!” he barks, correcting my positioning with a light touch against my fists and chin.

Then we break apart and he instantly goes on the offensive, making me duck and weave to avoid his fists. I growl, narrowing my eyes on him as he dances from foot to foot. The dick knows I’m still a little frazzled under pressure, and he’s going for a quick takedown. Not tonight, buddy.

I push my body to go harder and faster as he throws jabs left and right. We’re a flurry of movements as we whirl across the training room floor. A punch to the left, I dodge to the right. A kick to the right, I jump to the left.

When he steps back to recover, he leaves his side open and I take the opportunity, sneakily striking my fist into his ribs. He grunts, giving me a head nod, but I’m sure it didn’t faze him. The dude is a freaking tank.

I’ll have to do better than one jab if I want to bring Ben to his knees. The man moves with refined grace and precision that only comes from years and years of practice. He’s the best in the business for a reason. There are no useless moves in Ben’s playbook. And it is exactly why I chose him to be my personal trainer despite everything.

“What the hell is wrong with you tonight? You’re off your game,” he taunts.

Sadly, he’s not wrong. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the sexy strangers that keep appearing in my life—and in my thoughts.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say back, sidestepping a well-aimed fist making him double his efforts to take me down.

Another streak of lightning shoots across the night and the responding clap of thunder shakes the ground so hard that I stumble. Sheesh, one of the Gods is angry tonight, huh? I don’t necessarily know what I believe in, but there has to be more than one God, right? That’s the only thing that’s ever made sense to me.

The power flicks off leaving us in total darkness once more. I bite down on my frustration and close my eyes since they’re useless anyway.Feel for him, Sadie. Feel the change in the air.

There! To the right.

I strike first, calculating where his stomach is based on my memory alone. Unfortunately, he catches my fist with his palm, blocking my hit like he knew it was coming. He’s always one step ahead of me, and two steps ahead of everyone else.

Plan B time.

I manage to get my fist out of his hold and since he’s still in my range, I feint left then drop under his arm. Then I shift my weight to the balls of my feet to help with the impact. He grunts as I slam my shoulder into his middle—likely not expecting me to go for a full takedown. I’m smart enough to know not to let him get his hands around me. It’s over if he does. I drop like a sack of potatoes and roll out of his reach.

The lights burst to life once more and Ben’s sight recovers first. He snarls, furiously stalking toward me. I hop to my feet, barely sidestepping his retaliation. When my eyes finally clear, I’m forced to suppress a shiver. His grin is vicious.

Somehow, I avoid his next swing by dodging at the literal last second, and still, his knuckles graze my cheek.Phew, that was close.I shudder to think what would’ve happened if he’d stuck that hit. Lights out for Sadie for sure.

He’s on me in a blink, not giving me any time to think or recover. I grit my teeth to keep from crying out when he hits me in my ribs for the second time. While I’m stunned, Ben drops, and in a physics-defying move, sweeps my legs right out from under me. Like he’s in the damn matrix or something.

My arms fly out to catch myself from face planting as I flail unhelpfully before landing in a heap. A groan escapes my lips and when I look up, I find Ben hovering above me looking way too smug. That look makes me want to break his freaking nose or wring his freaking neck. Or both. Like he senses his safety is in question, he disappears from my line of sight. Smart man.

I drag myself up off the floor, ignoring the bone-deep exhaustion riding my body. When I turn around, I find Ben with his back to me as he fiddles with the tape on his hands. An idea forms in my twisted little brain because he’s committing a cardinal sin, one he preaches to me at least twice during our training sessions.

Rule number two: Never turn your back on your opponent.

Should I take advantage?

On the one side he’s going to be pissed, and on the other—eh, screw it. There is no way he’d pass up the opportunity to teach me a lesson if the roles were reversed. And he’s always preaching about showing your foes no mercy. Seems like a win-win.

On silent feet, I cross the gym. As soon as I’m directly behind him, I rear back and kick him straight in the fucking balls, putting a littleextrastrength into it but not enough to show that I’m not entirely normal.

Yeah, there’s something off about me. Enhanced strength, healing, and intuition. Only my best friend, Ashley, knows about these abilities, and I intend to keep it that way. When you are unusual or unique it tends to cause panic amongst people, and I don’t plan on disappearing bymysteriouscircumstances any time soon.

Ben cries out in pain, crashing to his knees. “Fucking hell,” he croaks, cupping his balls like they’re worth their weight in gold. Gross. “That was a cheap shot.”

“I learned from the best,” I say, shifting so he can see the wicked grin splayed across my face like the evil bitch I am. So, I’m a little giddy about catching him off guard. Sue me.

Ben stumbles back to his feet, sans my help, and gives me an appreciative head nod while cupping his balls. “Very nice. But you won’t find me off guard like that again, so enjoy the feeling while it lasts.”

“Oh, feeling cocky, are we?”

“It’s not cocky if you have the means to back it up. Do you want to keep going?”

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