Chapter 216: I Just Don't Like Cheats
Chapter 216: I Just Don't Like Cheats
Camilla
NOTE: Additional characters will be added as the story is taking another dimension.
I can still remember what my father told me when I was a little girl that all of my dreams would one day come true. But he forgot to mention that nightmares are also dreams. White cotton shirt with sleeves that end at your forearm, identical pants that are loose everywhere but the snug elastic of the waist. The meals provided at eight, twelve and seven run like clockwork, closing exactly twenty minutes after the doors open.
Order is consistently at The Safe and it has a rule I have made a mockery of enough time to be fully responsible for the additional lines that have appeared on the skin of my father's forehead. Whether he has finally caught on to my opinion about this place or not, it didn't matter to me.
The Safe was completed and utter bullshit and I had every intention of leaving once I was off the stupid probation I had earned myself.
"You are off your game today, Ranger." Jacob tuts as u spin away from his strike, the knuckles of his index finger just barely breathing past the curve of my jaw.
I blew out a huff of irritation as the strands of my ponytail moved with me, grazing across my collar bones in the process avoiding his follow up attack right afterwards. He shouldn't have even been able to even get close to me to start with, so the fact that he did only made me more frustrated.
"Or maybe, I am just sick of never having a real challenge, Pope." I shoot back, adding a lot of emphasis to his last name because he knows it pissed me off when he uses mine.
His easy infuriating smile served as encouragement as I offered no warning and lunged at his knees and predicted his side-step to the right. I have spared him enough to know his thoughts now and as I played the attack off into an easy roll, I spun my leg out on the ground. Even if he saw it coming, it was too late to avoid me as I kicked at the backs of his knees, the loud thump of his body being driven to the ground softened only by the padded blank mate below us.
"Are you okay there, tough guy?" I grinned as I fluidly stood back up, not offering my hand because I knew he would use it against me.
"You are looking a little flustered."
There was one rule for those on the mats and it was that any attacks were fair game until either one person resigned unconscious or stepped off the black border entirely. He got back up just as easily but there was a little bit of pink now to the hard edge of his cheeks, not out of embarrassment and rather in the need to get even. Lucky for him, it was the exact kind of distraction I was looking for.
"I am not flustered." He said as he walked back into position across from me.
I already knew a jab was coming at me by the time he opened his mouth, his confident smirk showing me he had already brushed off his fall.
"I just don't like cheats."
Raising my eyebrows at him, I moved as we began to circle each other defensively. So what if I had a history of cheating during our fights, if life has taught me anything, it is that the world doesn't favor those who are fair over those who aren't, otherwise nobody would need to get dirty to survive.
"Or maybe you are just a score loser." I cocked my head, waiting for him to come to me.
"Still not over the party?"
The event where he asked me out and I respectfully explained I wasn't interested in relationships. He was good about it but anything more than sez was off limits and even then he wasn't my type. Reaching just a few inches above six feet, the man was covered almost entirely in tattoos, barely a single section remaining uncovered by muscles and ink.
He was undoubtedly nearing a power builder on this side of work, it was impressive but simply not my taste. Not that I had ever admitted the impressive part.
"The last time I checked, it was you who had the shifty experience at that party." He smiled a second before he stepped in, faking a punch to my head just to bring his knees to connect with my stomach.
The force was held back significantly considering the damage we both knew he was capable of but I still felt winded as I twisted to the side to soften the blow.
"You are just jealous that I am actually getting some action in my life." I wheezed slightly over my laugh, trying to regain my breath and my balance.
It didn't take long before I landed two hits to his side, enjoying the way his smirk dulled just a little, not that it lasted though. That party was the reason I was on probation or rather the fact because I accidentally set off the fire alarm to the entire building of people at my father's event.
"Right, because giving head in the hallway is exactly…"
I could see we now had an audience as quickly as the sound of the entrance doors clicked open and while I already knew who it was, I suppose I could admit Jacob was right about something. I was a bit of a cheat.
"Hey, father." I said, raising my hand to wave at the person walking towards the two of us.
Stella wasn't my father by any means but the man in front of me didn't need to know that. Jacob had some weird thing with always tipping his head down when my father walked into the room, something about a display of respect for his family's alliances with mine. I didn't see the point but I did plan to exploit it. As expected, Jacob dropped his guard at the belief it was Lucas Brown responsible for the whoosh of the swinging doors, likely very quickly realizing it was Stella by her lithe form and silent stride alone
It didn't matter, he didn't see it coming as I sprung at his back, using my weight along with momentum to take down what is probably more than two hundred pounds of his body.
"Cheat," he jolted as I pinned the back of his neck down with my knee, my hands holding his right arm in an uncomfortable lock behind him.
We both knew he would have to tap out or I had dislocated his shoulder and when he reluctantly did, I felt incredibly better than a few seconds ago. Rolling off at his resignation, this time I offered him a hand up once I had gotten to my full height, not that he needed it but he still accepted though.
"Thanks," he grunted, releasing my hand the second he was standing again.
He turned to get his water on the side but I was moving towards Stella instead. I had been a little lost in the fight when I was sparring Jacob just now. However, I could tell she meant business and not pleasure from a closer look. Her dark hair looked almost black as she approached, ending at just above her shoulders. She wore her usual leather jacket over the fitted crop of her t-shirt but I could still see the small head of the tattooed snake peeking through the cuff.
I guess I could call her a friend despite our interactions being mostly just for work. Stella immigrated to Dubai with her mother and brother when she was a child but she has been on her own for as long as I have known her. How she ended up working for my father, I don't know. Although it is also none of my business. That is kind of the way things are between us.
We have gotten together from time to time and that was it, no expectations, no commitment and no feelings. Right now, she was here on business and that was it.
Jacob," she nodded at him in acknowledgement as he returned to my side even though it was obvious she didn't like him much.
Considering he was part of the requirements of my lockdown, I have kind of been forced to get used to him this last month whether I wanted to or not. Our correlations with each other had pretty much everything to do with the alliance our father made, and the one thing we both had in common was that we wanted nothing to do with it.
"Nice to see you are still getting your ass handed to you." She shot a taunting grin before leaving things at that.
It was me she looked to next, Jacob stiffening slightly at the obvious dismissal he had just received. I probably would have laughed if I didn't think something more pressing was going on.
"You had…." Jacob began but I cut him off before he could go on a tangent about how he had liked to see her do any better. We both knew she could.
"We will pick this up later, okay?" I said, knowing it probably wouldn't be the last time we would spar together.
If it weren't for the way Stella's posture was a little bit straighter than usual, I probably wouldn't be so curious about what she was here for.
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