Page 76 of Chasing Sarah

I snarl then push myself to my feet. Sweat rolls down my forehead and I blink the burn away when it falls into my eyes.

“Give up yet, baby?” The amusement in Rhys’ eyes only serves to piss me off more.

Swiping my brow with my arm, I settle back into a crouched fighting stance. I slowly bounce on the balls of my feet.

Rhys mirrors my stance.

“I’m not giving up until I kick your ass,” I snap.

His chuckle covers me from head to toe in a warm embrace.

Stop it,I chastise myself.

My emotions are all over the place, but the one I’m choosing to focus on right now is anger. I’m angry at the life Paige has been forced to live. The fear in which she lives on a daily basis. Even on a good day, her past eats at her. And I can’t save her from it.

The first time Paige woke up screaming from a nightmare scared the absolute shit out of me. I didn’t know what to do at the time but climb into bed with her and hold her. I kept repeating that she was safe and at home with me. She calmed down and we fell back to sleep.

Eventually that became a norm for us.

She doesn’t know about my nightmares. I don’t always wake up screaming. But when I do, I just pretend it was because I was watching something on my phone or saw a spider. Luckily my lying has somewhat improved since I was a teenager.

I’d been awake for several hours by the time Paige woke up this morning. My mind replayed Xander falling through the floor before I finally startled awake after dreaming of myself jumping out of the window.

Sometimes I dream that I never made it out of the house, and I just burned alongside my brothers.

Those are the ones I struggle to forget about the most.

Why couldn’t it have been me? Why did I survive but lose my entire family?

“Hey, you okay?”

Rhys’s voice brings me back to reality. I hadn’t realized I zoned out. His gaze is filled with concern that pierces me right in the chest.

“I’m fine. Just got distracted. Let’s do this.” I send a jab toward his face. Of course, he dodges it with perfect precision.

He hasn’t hit me back; he just avoids my punches and kicks and wrestles me to the ground. I’ve told him many times already that I need him to actually hit me for this to give me more benefit.

He disagreed immediately. He apparently thinks I need to learn how to better handle moving targets.

Either way, I’m annoyed.

I spin, maneuvering into a roundhouse kick and he catches my leg.

He smiles wide and shoots me a wink. Using the training Dani has beaten into my brain. I flex my foot behind him and pull him toward me while reaching to grab the back of his head. He releases me and I send my knee into his ribs.

When my feet meet the mat, I jump back, out of his reach.

Pride shines brightly in his emerald eyes. “That was amazing.”

I huff out a small laugh, my already heated face seeming to reach a new level of hot. My annoyance slightly dims.

Rhys rests his arms at his sides for a moment then takes slow, measured steps toward me. I lift my chin to keep eye contact. The way he looks at me is as if I’m the only person in the room. If my heart wasn’t already galloping from the sparring, it would be when he lifts a wrapped hand. He gently tucks a loose strand of my hair behind my ear.

“You’re amazing, Sarah,” he whispers.

Instead of lowering his hand, he rests it on the side of my neck. His thumb caresses my jaw.

My eyes dip to his mouth for a split second when his tongue swipes across his bottom lip. The energy between us hums with electricity.

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