Looking back to see three heads bobbing nodding, she went over to the window and tried to open it. Her gloves slipped on the polish surface so she yanked the right one off with her teeth and opened the window fully before yelling, "Get your ugly arse in here!"
As everyone looked at Aislyn questioningly, Tamani was observing her hand. It was a mess. In the centre of her hand, was a large circular scar that stretched taunt whenever she used her fingers. Fingers that looked like they had been broken at least once.
All head snapped towards the window as a flying black object swooped across the room and hit Aislyn in the face.
"You dirty, rotten, minging shit-bag!" she spluttered, wiping the mud out of her eyes.
Their attention suddenly turned as a formidable figure clouded the light filtering through the door. The figure had massive bulging muscles and cropped black hair. With eyes as dark as obsidian, he looked ferocious with features that looked like they had been carved out of marble. Although Jackson was taller, this man was far more muscular.
"You nosey little prick," she scolded, flinging some mud she scraped off her face in his direction, "you were eavesdropping."
Shrugging he entered the room and stood next to her, "Not my fault that you squawk so loud," he said in an accent similar to her own.
Elbowing him the ribs Aislyn said, "Don't be rude," gesturing to Galen, she continued "I met him a year after I was taken, we both found ourselves in... similar situations. Anyway, he's been glued to my side ever since. Can't seem to shake the flea"
Barking out a laugh, Galen gave her a push and said, "That's only because she'd be lost without me."
"Whatever floats your boat."
Pointing at each person, Aislyn began a short, brief introduction, that consisted of naming each person.
Jackson, however, noticed that after she had introduced everyone, she had subtly turned to Galen.
From where he was sitting, he couldn't clearly make out what she whispered to him, but it sounded along the lines of, "Don't forget to call me Aislyn."
"Right!" she announced, "I'm starved, so I'm going to go raid the kitchen. Galen can you," she gestured towards the scrapbooks, "show them the books? He basically knows everything so I'm positive that he's more than happy to answer any questions you may have, wouldn't you, hun?"
Giving him a shove towards the sofas, she started towards the door.
"Eat something healthy," called out Jackson, out of old habit.
"Hahaha good one," was the only reply he got.
As Aislyn sauntered out of the room, Galen picked up one of the books and lay it out on the middle of the floor, "She's so damn unorganised," he grumbled.
Despite his intimidating exterior, Galen was a very sweet person. Almost like the opposite of Aislyn, although it was clear they had the same humour. As he began pointing out some picture Aislyn had drawn, Tamani picked up the other book and opened it to the first page.
On it, were random objects varying from old leaves to torn pieces of fabric.
Running his hand over the page, his heart clenched seeing a little portrait she had painted of her standing next to Galen.
"She did that the first day we started our training," added Galen, looking over Tamani's shoulder.
Sitting down next to him, he asked, "May I?" Gesturing towards the book.
Tamani handed it over to him and Galen let out a chuckle, "I still remember the day I met her. Very bossy. She helped me out of a tricky situation. We camped out for a few days before we got picked up by Serilda. We started to... train right away."
Galen trailed off as he flipped through the pages, memories rushing back to him.
"Who's Serilda?"
"Uh, she was our tutor... of sorts."
"And what were you tutored in?"
Shit. Galen didn't know how much Aislyn wanted them to know. Glancing in the direction he had seen Aislyn disappear down, he saw her reappear, miming some actions.
"Uh...punching?"
Jackson, Tamani and Logan all shared a confused look amongst themselves.
Aislyn smacked her forehead.
"Slapping?"
With an exaggerating movement, she began to spell out a word in the air.
"Bo-bod...body-"
The three men all turned to see what Galen was looking at.
But Aislyn had slipped back into the kitchen.
"Bodyguards!" Exclaimed Galen, loud enough to startle everyone, "We were trained as... bodyguards?"
Seeing Aislyn poke her hand through the doorway, holding up her thumb, he added a nod, looking like he was trying to convince himself rather than them.
"You and Aislyn were bodyguards?"
"Yeah. She was far better than me though," added Galen with a laugh.
"We talking about the same Aislyn here?" Sniped Logan, "I mean have you seen yourself."
Galen let out a chuckle, his deep voice silky and smooth.
"Sure. I have the brute strength but she has the skills."
Flipping through the book, not looking for anything in particular, he continued, "We were trained in self-defence and combat. And well, Aislyn's a fast learner; within a few months, she was able to beat anyone that challenged her. That's why she's the favourite."
"So why were you two taken in the first place?," asked Tamani, "It's not exactly as if there's a lot of similarities between you two."
Or so he thought.
Galen took notice of the pointed cough coming from the other room so he just shrugged his shoulders.
"Beats me."
But he lowered his voice. Leaned forward.
"Just don't push her to tell you something she doesn't want to. There are just some things she may never tell you. But I can tell you she missed all of you. When I first met her, all she did was talk about you guys," looking over the door, he continued, "she got into some... thing a year ago. And well, she told you what happened. Just, please don't go digging into why she got sent to prison, okay?
Galen raised his voice to its normal volume again, "So, um, Serilda also wanted us to have weapons training. Personally, my strong suit is hand to hand but Aislyn was pretty much perfect at everything. The know-it-all twat," he mumbled.
"Do you know who kidnapped you?"
Tapping the side of his nose, Galen continued skimming through the album. Gesturing to another painting, Galen let out a deep laugh, "but deep down she's still the same. Still a little freak-"
"I'd prefer being a freak to a pig," interjected Aislyn, eating a chunk of bread.
"Oh, I'm the pig when you're the one stuffing your face?" retorted Galen.
Aislyn stopped for a moment before shrugging her shoulders, "Fair point," she conceded.
Plopping down next to Galen, she wiped her hands on his shirt, ignoring his shouts of protest. She took the album and flipped through until she came across a splattered stain, "See here?" She asked, pointing to it, "that was the first time Galen and I sparred. Knocked him on his arse in under a minute. That's his blood."
With a smug grin, she handed the book over to Tamani, "The other book is mostly the same to be honest, just more of Galen's defeats."
"Why did Serilda need bodyguards?" Jumped in Jackson.
Aislyn threw her legs over Galen's lap and leant back with her arms behind her head so she was facing the others, "Serilda was- is- a bitch. A brilliant teacher but a bitch nonetheless. But being a bitch is a dangerous thing to be in her line of work."
"What's her line of work?"
Shit.
Aislyn's eyes widened and she looked to Galen.
"Security," he answered, "She provides a security detail."
Not fully a lie but not the whole truth either.
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