Beauty And Her Beast

30 - Future Complications

Hey my little mobsters <3

"Again," Ray breathed. He should have been panting by now, his skin glistening with sweat and his heart thumping, but instead he was completely cool and he moved with a casualness that almost made him seem bored.

Danny on the other hand, was teetering on the edge of exhaustion and it was a wonder that she'd even made it this far. She found her fist forward and pain sliced through her as Ray caught her movements. He side stepped her punch easily, caged her wrist within his grasp, and in one swift movement he had her legs ripped from under her and her back slammed hard against the mat beneath them.

A mat, that was not helping to cushion her falls at all.

"You're to predictable Danny. Your eyes give you away before you even make your move."

If she had the energy too, Danny would have protested that he couldn't have expected much more from someone with absolutely no fighting skills and his way of training was border line abusive and cruel and unusual punishment, but all she could muster was a pathetic little whimper as she rolled over onto her stomach.

After being gone for two days setting things in place and making sure once this was all over the people Ray cared about would be protected and secured, Ray had come back to Rico's with yet another realization.

He couldn't be by Danny's side every waking moment.

"Come on Danny, a few more times."

"Ray," Danny panted, pushing clumps of damp bangs from her face, "I have literally fought and gotten my ass kicked by every man down here. Rico almost broke my bones, Freddy tossed me around like a rag doll, and now you're laying me on my back. Can't we stop?"

The room they'd been using to train was a wide open space with gym equipment scattered around sparsely. There were just a few mats on the floor and off to the far right wall there was a stack of towels and a fridge filled with energy drinks and Gatorade. With a soft sigh, Ray grabbed Danny a towel and Gatorade as well as a bag of ice. Coming back to the center of the room, he sat down on the floor next to her and set the ice pack on the small of her exposed back.

"It's not like I'm enjoying this, babe," he mumbled, sliding her shoes off her feet and unwrapping the gauze covering her knuckles. Danny could only mewl in response as he did with her limp body as he pleased. He set the towel under her head like a pillow and forced her to sit up just long enough to take a drink. Capping the bottle back up, he moved down her body and grabbed her legs first, making Danny moan softly as he began to knead and massage all the worn muscles in her legs.

"Then why are you torturing me?" Danny asked, her voice a hoarse whisper as she sucked on an ice cube. She was pouting and even though Ray knew past her chubby cheeks and doe eyes she really was mad, he couldn't help but chuckle softly, his fingers pressing into the heel of her foot.

"What's gonna happen if you get cornered one day and I'm not there? If someone attacks and I'm already occupied fighting someone else off? Hmm?"

"Then Rico will be there."

"And if he's not?"

"Freddy?"

"Nope."

"God?"

Ray made a sound between a laugh and a scoff and Danny pouted even more. "I don't expect you to become some world class fighter overnight, Danny. Hell, I really don't even plan for you to be in a situation where you have to fight, but if worse comes to worse I need to know you can at least hold someone off until I can get to you. I need you to be able to defend yourself."