Fateful Hindrance

11. Is It Bad To Forget Your Own Birthday?

Chapter 11

Is It Bad To Forget Your Own Birthday?

 

 

“Again,” I growled out, pushing myself up from the mat.  My ears were still ringing from my head slamming back into the mat, but I made myself brush it off. 

“Em, let’s take a break,” Ryan pleaded.  He reached up to gently touch the new bruise forming above my left eye, wincing.  “We’ve been at it for two hours now.  That last hit looked like it hurt…sorry about that, by the way.”

“You heard the princess,” Jamie called from the side of the mat.  She was standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, watching me carefully.  “She wants to go again.  You know it’s the last day for full hand-to-hand combat training.  She needs to get this move or else we can’t move on.”

“And for once, I’m actually agreeing with her, no matter how bitter the words are coming from my mouth,” I said, looking up at Ryan.  “I’m fine.  Let’s go again.”

He sighed, but moved into position anyway.  “Stubborn as always.”

I winked, grinning.  “And you know it.”

In the three weeks that had passed, my training had gone a lot smoother than the first day, despite the few cuts and many bruises I received.  My busted lip had healed and the bruises on my chin and neck were all but faded, though I had plenty of others to sport, though. 

Instead of Jamie acting as my opponent, it was Ryan, while she coached from the sidelines.  Sure, we had to spar a few times when Ryan had to leave a little early for meetings with the council, but it never got as bad as the first time.  Juliet must have really gotten to her for that to happen.

As for training in general, most of my days consisted of spending my time in the gym after my and Ryan’s morning runs.  It was definitely getting easier for me and Ryan even changed up our route after a week since I was barely winded by the end.  And despite his ‘no chit-chat’ rule, we found ourselves talking back and forth while we ran.  Mostly it was from Ryan, telling me all about Pallandino in general and more about what it was like growing up there.  We’d make little pit stops at some of the shops, like the bakery or the butcher’s, and even ran through some of the farmland.  And with everyone speaking Italian most of the time out in town, I was starting to pick a little up, even making Ryan teach me a few words and phrases. 

I was finding it easier to be with him, too, just the two of us.  Though I knew it probably wasn’t the same for him, I was starting to like him…though in the totally platonic, brotherly way.  Because in a way, he was like my big brother, constantly being overprotective and making sure that I smiled and laughed as often as he could make me.  And with him acting like a goofball almost constantly, even during training, it really wasn’t that hard to do. 

I was getting used to having everyone else around also. 

Kate was pretty much took over the role of my surrogate mother, making sure I was feeling okay, that I was eating enough, and scolding Ryan when I’d come back to the house with a new bruise. 

Aiden and Sterling were at my side whenever they could and, yes, they finally got me to play with them, though it pretty much consisted of running out in the rain to play in the mud puddles, climbing things there were way too high for five-year-olds and even me, or bugging Ryan…with I was up for after seeing what they would do to him. 

Tory, Jude, and Jamie were quickly becoming permanent fixtures in my life.  Tory and Jude came to my training sessions as often as they could, cheering me on whenever I’d take Ryan down or giving me a few pointers.  And though they lived with their families in houses just down the street, they were over for breakfast the majority of the week and even came for dinner most of the time also.  Jamie was there, too, though she treated me as if I were invisible.