Page 42 of Grace of Spades
"I left him bleeding on the floor," I admit.
"Do you need some help with the issue?" He presses.
"No. It seems he wasn't in class for the rest of the day." I shrug with a tiny smile. Richard smirks and nods his understanding.
"You know, you have everyone fooled thinking you're thislittle girl scared of her own shadow." He muses. "When I led you to the parlour that first day you didn't look scared at all. You were looking at exits and cameras and your surroundings. You are a smart girl. Use the innocent mask when you can. I know you saw through my mask that first day too." He smiles getting up and raising himself into pull-ups. I fucking knew it!
"Thank you. I could use a friend who understands all this." I hope he takes the olive branch and doesn't rat me out.
"You have more than you know." He smiles.
"Any chance you're going to tell me who?" I ask.
"Let's just say, if there was ever a place for... someone of yourtalents, it's here." He evades. "You have some aggression you need to get out. Would you like to spar?" He asks.
"I have a fight tomorrow. Don't injure me too badly." I smile. I'm serious though. He has a foot on me and at least a hundred pounds of muscle if he can just throw himself into twenty pull-ups without even breathing heavily.
"I would never dream of hurting you, Grace. You make too many people happy, myself included." He grins. I try to ignore that comment mainly because I don't know what to do with it.
"Alright, let's go," I say walking over to the mats and fighting off the feels. We bump knuckles and start circling.
He comes at me quickly and tries to put me in a choke-hold but I tuck my chin and drop as I reach for his head throwing him to the mats.
"Excellent." He beams and gestures for me to attack. I see he's feigning a weak left knee. He didn't have a bad knee before. So I look him over and don't see another weakness. He is a wall. Okay, he's taller and heavier than me but he's not big. So he'll have some flexibility but probably not as much as me. I am younger and female which puts me at an advantage for flexibility.
I charge forward and slide through his legs and land hits with my middle and index knuckles to the backs of his knees. He drops to them and laughs turning to grab me. I grab his wrist and pull it back and send him forward into the mats forcing him to tap out.
"You are really good." Richard crows.
"I told you," Andras says from the doorway. Jesus, I didn't even see him. "I'm glad you guys are getting along but Ruby says dinner is ready."
We make our way to the table. Ruby made chicken pot pies. Jai must have left while we were in the gym.
"So, how do you know Mr. Tanaka?" Andras asks.
"We met at one of my fights."That's enough, right?
"He asked me for my blessing to ask you out." He smirks. Jesus!! Why!?
"Great..." I mutter stabbing at my dinner.
"I've had a lot of those this week." He mentions casually.
"I heard," I mutter.
"And?" Ruby asks excitedly.
"I... I'm not interested." In dying.
"No one?" Richard asks with a raised eyebrow. Gossips! The lot of them! "Remember what I said. You have more friends that understand than you think." He smiles gently. Fine! Here it goes.
"Okay, so here's the thing. The guys I'm interested in and that I know are interested in me are all from mob families." There! I said it! Happy?
"All of them?" Ruby asks.
"Yes. I've been saying no all week." I explain.
"Shit," Andras mutters.
