Page 102 of Us Dark Few

“Glad to hear it.” She turned around, giving him the same courtesy he gave her that morning.

“Wait.”

Her fists tightened at her sides, but she hesitated, her body acting on instinct before her mind could catch up.

Slowly, she turned to face him, and raw emotion lingered in Takeshi’s gaze.

“The truth can’t be taken back, Kanes. It had to be done. And if you think watching your face that morning didn’t make me want to destroy something, you’re wrong. But the idea of not having one more moment where I’m just your trainer, and you aren’t my prisoner, makes me want to kill someone.”

She pulled back like his words struck her. Her forehead pinched together, and her mouth hung slightly open, his voice doing weird things to her chest. What he was saying didn’t make sense.

Because her heart ached the same.

Maybe heart wasn’t the right word.

When Takeshi walked away from her that morning, she felt it in the back of her throat, in the cracks between her lips, in the heavy joints of her shoulders. All the inconsequential parts of her were brought to life around him, like her body would rather burn than be invisible.

“Takeshi, I…”

She didn’t dare finish speaking.

One more syllable would destroy the remnants of her strength. Completely eradicate her control. As it was, she wasn’t ready to turn away. No, Takeshi’s gaze alone held her feet stapled to the ground.

He was the anchor when her resolve threatened to slip away in shrouds of dust. She bit her lip and lifted her gaze, preparing to be sliced open. Her body would accept nothing less.

Traitor.

“One last time,” she agreed.

Takeshi didn’t speak. His expression was focused and controlled, but his eyes flickered with a slow-burning fire.He nodded his head, sealing their pact.

She exhaled deeply as they made their way toward the training room. They walked in ponderous, deliberate steps. Slower than usual.

Like time was their enemy, more than prison ever was.

Takeshi opened the door to the gym, and it was like coming home. Home is not where the heart is.

Home is the place that accepts the worst of you: the ugly crying where snot streams down your face, the anger when your fists clench to connect with something physical, the floors your knees fall to when life wins the prize for the biggest bitch on the planet.

The smell of sweat and pine drifted to her nose, and she inhaled deeply like it was perfume. Khalani walked past him and squeezed through the rubber bars, stretching her arms across her chest as she walked into the center.

The place was the same, but something was different. An air that had Khalani’s muscles tightening and the pressure in her lungs increasing. When she turned around and saw Takeshi easily step over the bars, his body relaxed but gaze glued to her like he could see through the back of her skull, she knew the answer.

You didn’t have to physically be with someone to know them intimately. When someone touched your mind, kissed your memories, and licked your dreams, you became intertwined in ways beyond the physical. And that was the problem. Being intertwined with Takeshi would lead to her own destruction.

She quickly changed into clean clothes and joined him in the center.

“So,” She lifted her hands out to her side. “How should we do this?”

“We play a game.”

She scoffed. “Since when did you ever make training a game?”

“Life is nothing but a game consisting of winners and losers,” Takeshi replied in all his muscley wisdom.

“Fine.” She succumbed. “What’s the game?”

“It’s simple.” He cracked his fingers, staring down at them like he was relaxing under the sun. “A hit to the body equals a point. The firstto five points wins.”

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