The Agents

Chapter Thirteen

I was having a really good dream. It was so good that I wanted to stay there forever. I wanted to give up the joke of a life I was living and spend eternity locked away in the dream. It was a really good dream. Then, Drake and Jaxon had to ruin it by dumping a bucket of ice cold water on me.
My eyes snapped open, and I shot out of bed. The water soaked through my hoodie and dripped into the sweats I had fallen asleep in. Taylor was standing beside me, also soaking wet. The other female recruits were staring at us, woken up by the boys' laughter. Jaxon and Drake were standing in front of us, each holding a now empty bucket and clutching their stomachs. Their laughter echoed around the room.
"Did you forget the part about drying off when you got out of the shower?" Drake joked, making them burst into a whole new round of hysterics.
Taylor and I turned towards each other, communicating with our eyes. We turned back towards the boys, our glares turning into smirks.
Drake and Jaxon's laughter slowly died down, coming to a stop as their amusement turned into fear. Glaring they could handle because it meant that's all we were going to do, but smirks meant we had a plan.
"What are you going to do to us?" Drake asked, his voice losing all of its bravado.
My smirk grew as I shrugged and said, "Nothing."
"Nothing?" Jaxon asked, his voice betraying how scared he was.
"That's right. Nothing," Taylor replied. With that, we grabbed some dry clothes and headed to the bathroom, leaving the boys worried for their lives and the recruits confused as to what just happened.
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I was standing in my usual stance, feet spread and arms crossed, wearing a pair of track pants and a long sleeve t-shirt again. Looking out at all the recruits standing before me with Taylor, Jaxon, and Drake leaning against the wall off to the side, I said, "All we are doing today is simple weight training," I gestured to the equipment I had Drake and Jaxon set up earlier. We had bench presses, pull-up and chin-up bars, home gym machines, dumbbells, treadmills, and anything else you can think of. "Any questions?" I asked.
Aaron raised his hand and I nodded at him to continue. "What happened to your hand?" he asked, pointing at my wrapped hand.
I smirked and said, "Spread out."
They all scampered away, and I walked over to a bench. I did a couple sets before sitting up and turning towards the three agents still leaning against the wall chatting. I pushed the hair out of my face and called to them, "You know you are welcome to join us."
Drake's eyebrows knitted together as he said, "But... That sounds like work."
Jaxon chuckled, muttering something about Drake being too lazy for his own good. He stood up from his relaxed position against the wall and walked over to me. Taylor followed, dragging a complaining Drake over to some other machines.
"Well, are you going to move? Or am I going to have to make you?" Jaxon asked with amusement, sounding hopeful about the second part.
I stood up, gesturing for Jaxon to take the bench. "Go ahead, your highness, let's see what you've got," I said, the challenge evident in my voice.
"I like your highness, and you've already seen what I got," Jaxon replied instantly.
"Just lift the weights, Steele," I said with a roll of my eyes. He chuckled, but, much to my relief, he picked up the bar.
"Good luck keeping track," Jaxon said; his voice full of confidence.
I laughed as he started his sets. This was going to be easy.
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"I had that."
"Sure you did," I said.
"You only did more than me because Drake distracted me," Jaxon defended.
Drake's head snapped in our direction at the mention of his name. "Dude, don't even try dragging me into this. That was all you."
I laughed as Jaxon and Drake went off into a fierce debate over whether or not Drake had, in fact, distracted Jaxon. If you ask me, it sounded more like two four year olds arguing over who broke the toy.
"Carter!" I looked over to see Victoria with a very red face as she attempted to lift the fifteen pound dumbbells. "When are we going to stop?"
"Yeah!" Austin added, "I'm hungry."
"Fine, go stuff your faces."
They all stopped whatever exercise they were doing and ran to the kitchen. I shook my head, a smile on my lips. Taylor turned off her treadmill and walked over to us.
"Are you going to get something to eat?" Taylor asked, pausing when I didn't follow her to the kitchen.
"I think I'm just going to stay here and use some machines while they fight over who gets to make their sandwich first," I said.
"Suit yourself. I'm going to go make sure none of them try to eat my grapes," she said, smiling before turning and walking to the kitchen. I laughed again as I walked over to one of the machines and continued my work out.
As I went from machine to machine, the recruits started filing out, one by one. Victoria, Austin, Josh, and Anna sat cross legged in a little circle with their plates resting on their laps, much to my amusement. They chatted loudly as they ate, laughing every few seconds. Jennifer, Stacey, and Aaron sat with their backs against the wall, chatting quietly as they ate.
I walked over to a pull-up bar and pulled myself up so I was sitting on it. I was about to drop and hang from my knees when Drake, Jaxon, and Taylor came out of the kitchen.
All the recruits stopped talking to watch as the three came out carrying a picnic basket and a blanket. Drake spread the blanket out over the floor before sitting down and Taylor set the picnic basket in the middle. I went into a fit of hysterics as Jaxon and Drake started pulling out candles, a bottle of sparkling cider, a tray of sandwiches, and a plate of grapes. The recruits were looking at them like they were crazy as Taylor pulled out four champagne glasses and started filling them up.
"Care to join us?" Jaxon asked, acting like it was perfectly normal to be having a picnic in an underground bunker.
I stopped laughing long enough to say, "No thanks. Something about the fact that we are in an underground bunker just puts me out of a picnicking mood."
"I don't know, I think it makes for a great mood," Jaxon said. I muttered of course you do before dropping down so that I was hanging on the bar by my knees. I started doing sit ups from where I was hanging.
"You know, you are welcome to take a break," Drake called, copying my words from earlier.
"I don't know," I called back, pausing in my workout, which left me hanging upside down. "That sounds like relaxing."
We all laughed, and I continued with my sit-ups.
"Want a grape?" Taylor asked as she popped one into her mouth.
"Sure," I said, again hanging down. She picked up a grape and threw it over to me. It went a bit high, so I pulled myself up and caught it. I went back down so that I was facing them, the grape between my teeth. I let it fall into my mouth before smiling and saying, "Thank you!"
"Way to show off, Jay," Jaxon said, chuckling.
"Me, show off? Never!" I replied as I took a leg off the bar so that I was hanging by one leg and started swinging.
"Just wait till you fall," Drake said. "You won't be quite so quick to show off."
"Please, I'm not going to-" My leg slipped off the bar and a gasp escaped me as I started falling. Everyone's joking smiles fell with me.
My foot caught onto the bar and I crossed my ankles so that I was hanging still. "Oops, false alarm," I said, laughing.
"Jeez Jay! You almost gave us heart attacks!" Drake exclaimed, trying to sound annoyed, but I could hear the relief in his voice.
"One day, you actually are going to fall when you do that," Taylor warned.
"Maybe," I said, swinging before letting go of the bar with my feet and flipping in the air. I stood up from the crouch I landed in and looked at Taylor, "But not today."