Page 70 of Fighting Gravity
“It means I have very little authority here being from Gathea. Do you know what I had to go through to keep them from taking you from me? Even as urok, I had to find loopholes.”
“Why!? This is the second time you’ve fought hard to keep me. Why, Rhone? Don’t tell me it’s because I have information because we both know I don’t. So why the fuck are you fighting so hard to keep me on your damn ship?”
“You should be thankful.”
His tone was so dismissive like nothing I said mattered. Memories of Rebecca’s altered face rushed back at me and I felt my biceps tense. Memories of the way she turned my whole family against me made my spine stiff. The way they all were so quick to push me out hit me hard. Then Switch came back to me like the rotten cherry on a really screwed-up sundae. And to wrap it all up in a twisted bow was the long list of my mistakes that made it all worse. And they were all screaming for stage time inside my head. I heard Rhone step up behind me like he was going to touch me and my body reacted.
I spun around and slammed my fist into his hard jaw, regretting it as soon as it happened. I clearly had not learned my lesson. I probably never would because there was a large part of me that welcomed confrontation. Pain. Punishment.
Rhone wasn’t happy about my actions.
“I’ve had it with you,” I said. “I’ve had it with everything. So, I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve been dissecting your escape pods again.” I jammed my finger into his chest, despite the look of fury spreading across his alien features. “Because I’ve been working on my shuttle because Iwillescape.”
Rhone stepped forward, squaring his shoulders like he was preparing for a real fight.
“Careful, Quinn,” he rasped.
“Why? Because you’ll punish me?” I said with air quotes.
I turned to walk away when his hand coiled around my wrist to tug me back. Immediately, I went into defensive mode and came back swinging, throwing my elbow toward the side of his head. He crossed his free hand over his chest to catch it, releasing me with his other. I jumped back, fists up, and braced for a real fight. I had no faith I could win. Not after what I’d seen in the arena. But I was determined to show him I wasn’t going to roll over because he made weird sounds with his chest and threw out threats left and right.
Rhone cocked his head at me and then took a scan of my stance. When the corner of his mouth raised, I knew he was amused. I was no threat to him and it was so infuriating to admit.
“Fight me, asshole,” I said through my teeth.
He began to circle me, studying my body. “You think this is wise?”
“Absolutely not, but if I get one good hit in, I’ll die happy.”
He stopped and raised his arms to the side. “Then try.”
I stepped forward and faked a jab. When he parried, I threw my knee into his side, but I telegraphed it. It was a weakness of mine to telegraph my moves in a fight. Against someone untrained, it didn’t matter, but Rhone was a seasoned killer. He saw it coming from a mile away and slapped my knee away, nearly knocking me off balance.
Anger started to burn hotter inside me and made my blood run hot. I growled and spun around, swinging my leg high. He ducked from its path and trotted to the other side of the room, toying with me.
“Is this what the gek should expect from human warriors if we ever have to fight them in the field?”
Shouting, I charged Rhone and faked another jab before ducking to the ground and landing my first hit against the bend of his leg. He grunted, but it wasn’t out of pain. It was out of annoyance because that was all my hit was to him. He swung his fist down toward me and I somersaulted out of his reach, coming into a crouch. Like I was a child playing ninja, he laughed at me and shook his head.
“I’m glad you decided to fight me,” he said. “I needed some entertainment.”
I wasn’t great at containing my rage. It was one of my many weaknesses because it made me stupid. I jumped to my feet and charged him like I’d never taken a combat class in my life.
Only I had.
Rhone prepared to grab me but at the last second, I ducked from his grip and slid between his legs, coming up behind him. Immediately, I went for his bracer where he kept that primitive dagger of his, and swiped it, leaping onto his back.
Big mistake,my brain alerted me, but I couldn’t stop myself.
I raised the dagger up and jammed the length of it down into Rhone’s shoulder. He roared a sound so feral that my whole spine went rigid. He reached back to grab me and I pulled the knife free, bringing it down again.
That time he stopped me, his fingers gripping my hair. Bending forward, he flipped me over his head and slammed me on my back.
That was going to bruise every muscle in my body.
Everything went black for a split second and I felt Rhone rip the knife out of my grip. When he came into view, I was so consumed with frustration that I just kept going. I kicked my foot out at him, landing it just above his groin. His hands trapped it and with a twist, hot pain shot up my leg all the way to my hip. I screamed, the sound shrill and loud, and rolled onto my stomach to keep my ankle from twisting further. Instinctually, I tried to pull myself away when Rhone yanked me back, dragging me three feet across the metal floor.
Rhone’s fingers wrapped around a large lock of my hair and he pulled my head up as his giant body spilled over my back. Fire engulfed my scalp and was immediately soothed by that damn sound coming from Rhone’s chest.
