"Do you not know how to knock?" Scarlett snapped at him once she regained her thoughts.
"I tend to forget the habit when I'm in MY gang house," Cayden commented dryly, emphasising the "my" to state his point before pushing away from the door.
William moved to stand next to Scarlett, overlooking Cayden with wary eyes as he laced his fingers together in front of him. With the sudden movement, Cayden's eyebrows crashed down as his eyes flickered between the two of them, those same eyes not blinking once.
"Now, as you so subtly managed to avoid answering, I'm only going to ask one last time: what is going on here?"
Scarlett pursed her lips, her brows quirking in annoyance. "Nothing."
"We're training."
Both of them speak at the same time, but Cayden chose to ignore Scarlett and only focused on the latter instead.
"What? William, you don't need training." He turned to look pointedly at Scarlett. "He doesn't need training."
"Well, seeing as fighting is one of his weaker skills, I really think he does."
Cayden glared at her, no doubt irritated with her for constantly arguing with him over his rules.
"No, he doesn't. He's never part of the field missions, because that isn't his job. We'll protect him if it's necessary so he really does not need any type of physical training."
"And what, if you do not mind me asking, is his job Mr. Carlisle? You can not just promise him that and expect everything to go right."
"I'm the ha-" William tried answering for himself, but Cayden wasn't having any of it.
"This is where you keep quiet, William. The adults are speaking."
With that simple demand, William immediately submitted as he stepped back and dropped his gaze to the ground. He looked almost... hurt and Scarlett frowned, feeling a sence of protection towards him.
"No, please state your opinion, William." She grabbed his arm and roughly pulled him back into the position next to her. "Cayden has no right to control-"
"-Oh, yes I do!" He reached out his arm before doing the same as Scarlett by pulling William over to his side. "He is a member of the gang, not to mention the same gang that I'm controlling so if you please... we will now be leaving without anymore arguing or unreasonable training."
Cayden then proceeded to make his way to the door, dragging a very confused nerd after him.
Anger sizzled hot and her muscles tensed. She breathed in one long draught and then released it as she found her hand automatically reaching for a weapon in her backpack. "Cayden, that is where you are wrong. This "gang" that you are controlling, will always be just as strong as their weakest member. You may keep William from training because you think that you are protecting him, but when it comes to the final decisions, I think that he has a right to make them himself. I do not want to cause unnecessary trouble, but putting him in a position where he can not defend for himself will leave your whole gang vulnerable."
"Whatever you do and whatever you say will not change my mind. I stand firmly with my beliefs when-"
His words were abruptly cut off by the entrance of the gym as he came face to face with the blade of a dagger protruding from the wall, still swaying back and forth from the recent throw. Cayden growled lowly in his throat, almost threateningly before shoving William towards the stairs leading to the ground floor. "Leave us."
"That's it, I'm done with this chapter..." William mumbled as he left, dusting metaphorical dust from his hands.
Scarlett smirked as she spun another dagger in her hand, ignoring the substantial steps Cayden took on his way towards her.
Though, just before he reached his intended destination, she managed to grab the hilt of the said dagger firmly before bringing it up and positioning the glistening blade at his throat, stopping a hair's breadth away from his skin.
"You're pretty handy with your little playthings, aren't you?"
"I do not know, depends on whether or not that is a trick question?"
Cayden scoffed before slowly bringing his hand up and wrapping it around the blade of her dagger. He then managed to push the weapon away from his neck, the rehearsed movements bringing back old memories from their intense night a few days ago.
Scarlett cleared her throat, lowering the weapon for the first time at his demands.
"I learned a thing or two in the past. It is always handy to know new skills when you find yourself on the battlefield most of the time."
"That's the thing. How is it possible for a woman like you to know these advanced skill sets?"
"Girl Scout." Scarlett shrugged like that was basic knowledge that he should've known.
Cayden eyed her curiously. "You know that's not what I meant. You're not supposed to be found near a 'battlefield', Scarlett."
Scarlett scowled. "Mr. Carlisle, I would have though that you learned from our first encounter that I am not a huge fan of sexism. Just because I am a woman does not necessarily have to mean anything. I am the best at what I do, especially when it comes to throwing my "playthings" and that is it. No other reasons needed."
Cayden took a menacing step closer before leaning down to whisper in her ear,"Care to wager on that?"
"What are you intending?" She placed her palms against his chest and gave a forceful shove, but he only laughed and took a step back himself, loving the way she reacted to him.
"Let's see if you're really as good as you say you are with knife-
"-dagger!" Scarlett pointed out rather harshly.
Cayden paused, considering her words before nodding in confirmation. "Excuse me, with "dagger" throwing. To be honest with you, I'm not bad at it myself and I think it'll be nice to test my skills as well. You in?"
"Depends on what you choice the wager to be..." her voice died down as she patiently waited for him to finish.
"Why don't you choose instead?"
Scarlett gave him a suspicious look. "I do not understand why you make the bet in the first place if you want me to choose, but it sounds pretty fair to me. If I win, I get to continue my training sessions with William."
The smirk was immediately wiped from Cayden's face as he scowled, but still he didn't back out from his own bet. "Fine, but if I win... you tell me your real intentions with joining my gang and don't even try lying about-"
"I do not waste my breath with a lie, Mr. Carlisle. I never lie, because I am many things, but I am NOT a liar. And, furthermore, I have no reason to exaggerate or invent such things." Well, most of the time. Scarlett snickered at the voice in her head. It was true, she didn't lie. She just kept important information from people because it generally didn't concern the likes of them.
"Deal. Anything else?" She asked, clearing the target prior to their bet.
"Yes, actually. I think we should make this a little more interesting." Cayden followed her to the other side of the room. "How about removing a piece of clothing every time we miss the target? It has to be in pairs, though. Otherwise we'll be here all night. First one to reach the nudity stage, loses."
Scarlett scoffed. "What are you, ten? Honestly, the methods you use to get girls to sleep with you is hilarious and quite entertaining."
"If it means getting what I want, then I'm not bothered with them being 'hilarious', as you would say." He deadpanned. "I don't see a problem with this, though. You didn't seem to be complaining the other day?"
She chuckled. "You have a gorgeous chest, so I will never complain about the eye candy, but very well then. It sounds pretty fair to me. I really can not picture you winning this anyways."
"We'll see," Cayden stated as those sexy lips turned up in a knowing smile. He then stepped out of the way before motioning to the target. "Ladies first."
"Yeah... no. I am hardly a lady so please be my guest and take your lucky turn. That is... if you are not too scared?"
Cayden laughed this time, but unlike Scarlett his laugh sounded sincere and from the bottom of his stomach. "Hardly."
He stepped up and held out his hand for her dagger, not breaking eye contact until it was absolutely necessary for him to focus on his throw. When he tossed the knife/ dagger, it swirled through the air at an incredible speed that even Scarlett was impressed with, before impacting hard on the outter rim of the target.
Scarlett blew out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding. "Not your very best start. I can almost say that you are slacking on purpose."
"Give it some time. I'm just warming up."
Scarlett shook her head before taking her own dagger. She threw it and impaled the weapon in the centre of the target with ease.
Too easy...
"Remind me to never play with you," he said, eyeing the different results between the two of them. "You're defenitely not just a 'Girl Scout'."
A smirk made its way to her face as she turned to give him a triumph look.
"I think that you are going to end up naked a lot faster than you anticipated. I told you... I never lie about my dagger throwing abilities."
"We'll see." He repeated as he left their position to retrieve their daggers. Somehow, Scarlett took notice of a devilish glint swirling in the depts of his eyes and immediately she knew he was up to something.
"If you so much as-"
"Throw the knife, Scar." He smiled, but still didn't try hiding that obvious glint.
She frowned. "Dagger!"
Cayden rolled his eyes, "Dagger, whatever." and threw the weapon, getting another fortunate hit on the edge of the target.
"Beginner's luck, I guess..." Scarlett mumbled as she took his place.
This time, when she threw her dagger, it also made its shot at the rim of the target seeing as Cayden made a very obvious coughing sound. With quick movements, she spun around and glared at him. "Cheating, seriously? Is that how you plan on winning?"
He was trying to distract her. She knew it, even though he alone already managed to do the job by just being there, but it was an odd feeling. She had been trained-
"That cough was not deliberate, I can assure you that much. I'm not that big of an asshole." He was saying one thing, but the smile and the glint in his eyes said another. Scarlett also didn't try pointing that out for him, because she also knew that he was very well aware of this himself.
"Sure... and my great-grandmother just woke up from the dead."
The bet went on like this, pretty much ending with them both coughing and sneezing or making other weird noises to distract one another. Scarlett hadn't had this much fun in forever and pretty soon they were both left in just their undergarments, both of them deliberately missing a target or two just to get one another dressed in their birthday suits.
***
Cayden's breath hitched when Scarlett managed to remove her shirt. Did she know the affect she had on him?
The thoughts kept spinning through his head as he assessed her from head to toe, making it known that he was appreciating the view.
"Like what you see?" Scarlett asked sarcastically as she folded up her shirt and placed it neatly on the ground next to her other garments.
"Very much so... You have a really beautiful body."
"Thanks, you are not so bad yourself, Mr. Carlisle." She gave him a small, hesitant smile.
She then managed to slip past him, readying herself for another throw. She wasn't sure if Cayden was planning on interfering or not, because suddenly the air felt a lot more tense and serious than their previous playfulness from moments ago.
Scarlett breathed in, closing her eyes and envisioning the mark where she wanted to throw her dagger, but got greatly distracted when she felt a warm breath tickling the back of her neck.
"I do not have the type of lifestyle you require to have a fling with me." She was annoyed to find her breath suddenly coming out a lot more swift and eager.
"I wasn't offering a fling..." he murmured against her skin.
Scarlett turned around to face him, her gaze dropping briefly to his lips. "Then what do you want from me?" She looked back up at his eyes and caught him focussing on her lips as well.
"Something else... something that you keep denying between us. This attraction, I know you feel it too. You desire me as much as I desire you."
Scarlett gasped when Cayden pulled her closer to him, his arms winding up around her waist. A jolt of sensation rocketed through her from that small touch and shocked her back into reason.
"What exactly do you think you are going to accomplish right here, then? You want me to just throw you on the ground and straddle your hips? Is that how you saw your little imagination play out? Because, whether I keep denying it or not, there can and never will be anything between us."
"Why?" He whispered hoarsely; his striking eyes shining with motivation at her crudeness.
Scarlett swallowed hard before she answered. "Tell me, Cayden..." She ignored his shivers of pleasure when she said his name. "What exactly about this bet makes you think that we will end up sleeping together?"
"It's not the bet."
"Then what is it?" Her voice was just a breath of sound now, the same as his.
"I told you, your body language betrays you." He loosened one arm from around her waist before bringing his hand up and pressing the pad of his thumb against her lips. "Your lips. Right now they are trembling every time I talk or open my mouth, waiting in anticipation for my next move."
His hand slid along her cheek, his fingers determined against her skin as they slipped past her shoulder blade before moving between the valley of her breasts. "Your breasts are rising rapidly every time you try to catch up on breathing."
He lowered his arm, clasping one of her hands in his before bringing it up for a tender kiss against his lips. "And your hands, they are shaking so badly, wanting and needing to touch me in the same way that I want to touch you."
"I... it is-"
"Scarlett, just give me one night. I don't know why you make me lose my damn mind like this, but I think I'll know if you at least give me a chance to find out for myself. You don't want to do this, I know, but I refuse to torment myself with thoughts about you and what it could be any longer."
Her breath faltered. To hear someone tell her that- that she actually meant something to someone- was like drinking a sour cocktail too fast. The taste was choking her, yet a warm feeling followed after near her chest area, spreading over her body at a rapid speed.
She was losing this fight, she knew this, but for once that thought didn't bother her as much as it was supposed to. Scarlett didn't have the strength in her anymore or she didn't want it if it meant experiencing a normal life for just a few moments longer.
Normal, as in, anything that didn't involve the three S's: Shooting, Stabbing and Strangling. The overwhelming emotion was almost dizzying that she didn't even notice a certain redhead fuming from behind the corner near the entrance of the gym.
"Fuck!" Scarlett suprised them both by swearing and shoving herself forward against his chest, impaling her lips against his for a searing, hot kiss.
Though, much to Cayden's annoyance, Scarlett pulled back a few moments later. "This is not a Romance, Mr. Carlisle. Say something cheesy like that again and I will not hesitate to kill you."
And she kissed him again.
+++
This chapter is dedicated to my parents, even though they never got me that pet unicorn I always asked for.