CHAPTER 10

Before I knew it, I was led onto the sparring mat. Sienna, I presumed, looked more than a little excited to take me on and there was something a little feral in that look she gave me. I made a mental note that if I got in, I better stay clear of the male that she clearly had dibs on, no matter how ridiculously attractive he was. Trouble always followed guys like him, and Sienna definitely seemed like trouble. Not that I was even thinking of guys after everything with River. But a girl could look.

I cleared my mind and took a deep breath. It had been a long time since I had trained with Xari but I was going to need everything I'd been taught to keep up with this girl.

We took our places. I stood across from her, on the edge of the mat. Thea stood to my left, arms crossed; I was guessing that was her signature stance. I didn't know why my brain took note of all these useless pieces of information right before I was about to battle a girl who clearly wouldn't go easy on me in front of a small mob of strangers. But here I was. I also noticed Mr Tall, Dark Dangerous was sticking around for the show, standing slightly further back behind the mass of watchers. He sat on the edge of one of those large gym foam blocks, arms resting on his knees and his chin in his hands. He looked bored, although that clearly wasn't going to stop him from watching.He gave me a small wink, which did nothing to help my nerves.

Okay, get your shit together, Vee. Time to focus.

I took my stance, matching hers; legs spread apart, my right foot before my left. With hands out and fists ready, I channelled the inner bad bitch Stone woman that I had to have somewhere in my DNA. Even if it was deep, deep down.

The whistle blew.

She lunged at me. I ducked right. I shot back up. Right punch. Right punch again. Duck left.

She came at me hard this time—and fast. Three strong punches in a row. I wasn't quick enough to block and she got me right in the gut. I bent over in pain but didn't have time to waste. From where I was, I quickly launched my left fist up—an uppercut right to her chin. She wasn't expecting me to bounce back so quickly and I used that to my advantage. She staggered back a few steps, clearly shocked. I heard the crowd mumble in surprise.

I quickly hit her with a few more punches. She was enraged. She swiped back at me: left, right, left, left. I blocked the first few but missed the last and I was sucker punched, right in the cheek. The pain seared through me and my face went numb. The bitch had no morals and went in for more while I was clearly dazed.

She swept her foot under mine and I completely lost my balance. I crashed to the ground.

Before Sienna could have another go at my prone body, the whistle blew; and I knew so did my chances of staying here—my future, my legacy.

"I'm sorry, I can do—"

I was cut off by Thea's raised hand—a signal for me to shut the hell up. "You're in."

It was all she said before walking away. She strolled to the mysterious sliding door. Stopping momentarily, she threw a glance over her shoulder towards Mr Mysterious. Her tone commanding—expecting—she called out ‘Griffin' in his direction before disappearing. It appeared to be an order, but I didn't know what for. I looked after her, dumb founded.

I then turned toward where I knew he was sitting—Griffin. He slowly lowered himself off the block, and strolled towards me with a sexy half smile.

Everyone else had dispersed. Sienna was off to the side, drying off and talking to a group of girls that seemed captivated by whatever she was saying. There were three of them with her; a Hispanic looking brunette, a platinum blonde and a coppery redhead. With her mean girl demeanour, I was guessing Sienna was probably their leader.

Griffin now stood above me, hand reached out. "Welcome to hell, angel." I tried not to wince at the nickname that River always called me as I grabbed Griffin's outstretched hand and he pulled me up effortlessly.

"How?" I asked.

He drawled, "You only needed to survive a minute in the ring. Thea likes to see potential and Sienna is one of our most experienced fighters. You held your own. We'll teach you the rest." His thumb slowly reached out to my face and I flinched back. He continued forward anyway and I couldn't lie and say I didn't get butterflies as he brushed it across my cheek where Sienna's fist had connected. When he pulled away there was blood on his finger; my blood. Seeing my reaction—the slight blush—he smirked. "Follow me."

And for some unknown reason, I did.

Griffin led me towards the ominous steel sliding door in the centre of the room. I was more than a little enthusiastic to see what lay behind it, momentarily forgetting about the pain radiating from the side of my face or the blood that he had gingerly wiped away.

I touched my cheek. The bleeding seemed to have stopped.

Griffin slid open the door effortlessly. It opened to a long hallway, the same concrete theme as the previous room. Light filled the far end on the opposite side, illuminating the walls with a soft ethereal glow. Along the right I could see two doors. On my left there was a large dark sliding door. He moved towards the door and slid it open revealing a beautiful and enormous lounge area.

My mouth ajar, I took in the view from where I stood in the doorway. A black steel staircase against the wall directly in front of me caught my eye first. It was one of those industrial, uber-modern types that was open and airy with a sleek minimal design—the type that if you were clumsy enough you could definitely fall through. It led up to an open loft that ran along the width of the area all the way to the three beautiful arched windows along the wall to my far right at the end of the building. I turned my attention towards them. Each window was wide and tall, reaching all the way past the loft, ending just before the ceiling—which was much lower than in the training area we came from but still extremely high. Between me and the windows were two large sitting areas. The first, in the middle of the room, was a gorgeous sunken-in lounge. The lowered space housed a U shaped couch that almost resembled an oversized, extremely long bean bag with its rounded edges. It looked like you'd sink right in. To my surprise, it faced an enormous projector screen, forming a cosy cinema area. There was a large white marble coffee table on the plush dark grey rug. The large couch was a similar dark grey suede material that looked as soft as a cloud.

The second of the two lounging areas was a set of modern grey couches facing the glorious light of the windows. These ones were more firm and square in shape but still looked quite comfortable. The smaller two seater couch and the larger L shaped one formed its own cosy corner with a little black framed wooden side table between them. Along the back wall that ran under the length of the loft were little brown leather arm chairs, but not the old stuffy kind. These were small and square in shape, with modern black steel making up the frame of the chair. There was also a large open steel bookshelf in the corner near the windows, filled with books of all colours and sizes. The rest of the room was in shades of black, grey and brown with hints of white marble decor throughout. It was muted, luxurious and serious-looking, but juxtaposed with the comfy couches and rugs it looked cosy, warm and inviting—and I couldn't wait to fall into those couches.

There were so many different textures that made up the space. The wall with the TV on it was concrete. Across from it, the back wall on the loft side was made up of exposed brick, which flowed all the way to the windows. It gave off a very New York City, Dan Humphrey loft vibe and I was all for it. The ceiling of this area, that rose high above the loft, was made of dark wooden tongue and groove cladding with large black supporting beams and little downlights all throughout, lighting up the room where the sunlight from the windows could not reach.

"It's … it's gorgeous." My surprise was revealed by the way the end syllable of the word rose. Griffin huffed a laugh in response.

"What did you expect? Dungeons and gargoyles?"

"Basically." He wasn't far off. I definitely expected this place to be more like a rundown, gothic castle in the middle of nowhere. Which made absolutely no sense given that we were in Brooklyn. I didn't for a second consider it would be a tastefully designed, upkept industrial haven.

He laughed—a surprisingly light sound coming from someone who looked so serious and domineering. It made me smile a little.

"Come on," his voice went back to its raspy, commanding nature.

I followed him up the stairs and paused momentarily to view the loft, full of cushy armchairs and little round desks lit up by cool golden lamps. Right at the end, facing the window was a lavish looking daybed. I imagined myself cosying up there with a good book and made a mental note that I would do that as soon as I got the chance.

There was a pivot in the stairs and then we ascended further up to a whole new room. This one resembled the first gym area with the same warehouse type vibe: steel walls, high ceilings, industrial style fans and lots of metal beams. Only it was smaller.

Along the wall to my left were more large windows like the ones directly below, but this time they were square shaped and made up of lots of smaller black panes.

Differently to the first area, this room was full of beds. The beds lined the room in rows, each bordered with sleek drawers and bedside tables, creating little private dwellings. I was guessing this was where we slept.

He led me to one in the back corner, furthest from the window; it was no surprise that others had already called dibs on the ones with the natural lighting. "We call this the Bunker. This is where the recruits sleep," Griffin"s lackadaisical voice said. It looked like a beautiful industrial New York apartment, just on a larger scale and with lots and lots of beds.

"Are you not a recruit?" I questioned. The way he used the word hinted that he wasn't. Given he didn't look much older than me, this was surprising. With his hoodie off now, I noticed his hair was cut short at the sides and back. The top was a little longer—messier—and his cool darklocks were shiny and tousled. A silver earring with a dagger hung from one ear and his tragus was pierced with a small silver ring. The planes of his face were cut sharp. He rivaled River in beauty, if that were even possible.

"Why, Rocket? You curious as to where my bed is?" he countered. Another nickname–yay. I blushed at what he was implying but recomposed myself.

"Of course you'd assume that. Cocky much?" I retaliated.

He smirked, raising his eyebrows. "Oh you have no idea just how cocky I am." I fell right into that one. "But no, technically I'm not. I'm a captain. I sleep … elsewhere."

He was a captain? Shit. I'd been talking back to him, all snarky and disrespectful. I did not need to be on anyone's bad side here, I was already going to be the odd one out.

He continued, "No need to worry though, gorgeous. I'm still in training so you'll see a lot of me." He winked. I ignored him.

"Is this my bed?"

"Yes, you can sleep here. Showers are through there." He jerked his chin towards a door on the far corner near the windows. "We're not shy here, everything is shared." He watched for my reaction, which annoyingly was just as he would have anticipated; shocked.

What was up with everyone being so okay with nudity?

"You'll get used to it," he said. "It can be quite … fun." His eyes lingered on my body before returning back to my gaze, the corner of his lips tilted up. "There's some ice in there for your cheek. Get some on there so that pretty face doesn't bruise. I'll get you some new clothes so you can freshen up. Dinner is at six. See you then." All I could do was nod. I was a bit taken aback by everything. It was going to take some serious getting used to. He waited another second, his eyes holding mine, and then casually strolled out of the room, leaving me alone for the first time.