Page 58 of Us Dark Few

Takeshi paused, feeling her erratic pulse.

“Total control of your head is necessary to counteract your obvious weaknesses. You’ll likely be smaller than your opponent, so you must rely on speed rather than strength. Although,” his hand moved, andshe got goosebumps as his fingers slid across her collarbone and his calloused palm rested on her arm.

He squeezed her bicep muscles, or lack thereof, giving her a disapproving glance. “This needs work.”

Khalani’s eyebrows pinched together.

She had muscles, just ones that were hidden from the naked eye.

And he was still touching her. They made eye contact, and he let go abruptly, turning around to leave the cage.

“Now that you know you’re not ready to fight, we can move on.” He hopped over the barrier.

She remembered how to breathe in oxygen again and frowned. “Move on to what?”

“If you have a weakness you can control, relentlessly attack it until it becomes a strength.”

Takeshi left the circle and grabbed weights off the rack on the far side of the room. Khalani tucked a couple flyaway hairs around her ears, more out of her league than she thought. Takeshi turned back when she didn’t move.

“These weights aren’t going to lift themselves, Kanes.”

For the next hour, she lifted dumbbells over her head and worked out on several machines, sweating more than she ever had in the tunnels. Takeshi was relentless. With each increase in reps and weight, she cried out in pain, wanting to give up. But Takeshi was always right there next to her.

He wasn’t the type to yell. No. It was worse. He got under her skin.

“You could just make this easy for me and give up,” he whispered.

She glared at him, but the bastard knew what he was doing because she pushed harder each time his insults scraped against her mind.

Khalani was completing the last few of the fifty push-ups. Her arms trembled and shook as her chest bent to the ground. Her baby hairs clung to her forehead, sweat coating her body.

Takeshi lowered on his haunches, surveying her every movement.The effort to push up increased tenfold.

She stared hopelessly at the ground, wanting the torture to be over. She bent down, but her arms collapsed under her. Khalani whimpered and tried to push up, but her arms tingled and appeared to be made of noodles. Moving was impossible.

“You’re not done,” Takeshi chided in a low voice.

“No, I think I’m going to lay here for a while,” she said to the ground. Khalani didn’t have the energy to lift her head up. It was almost comical.

“Get up, Kanes. You have two more.”

“I can’t,” she groaned.

There was a pause and a rustle as Takeshi stood. “What a shame. You almost proved me wrong.”

The words caught her off guard, and she found the energy to turn her head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I knew you couldn’t last a whole session with me. I can spot quitters from a mile away. You’re no different.”

She. Hated. Takeshi. Steele.

Khalani growled and mustered every ounce of strength she had left to bust out two more push-ups. One…come on, Khalani…two. She sighed in relief and even managed to stand on both feet.

His expression was unreadable as she hobbled toward him. “You should prepare yourself for disappointment because I’m going to prove you wrong at every turn,” she panted.

“Good.” His eyes lit with molten fire. “I haven’t even tried making you beg yet.”

His words did strange things to her body. Khalani’s chest tightened as his dominating energy pressed in around her.

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