“Unya I know that this is only really our second official time meeting, but I must say that I have taken quite a liking to you and I hate the idea of you befalling the same fate that led you to my door a second time.”
“I thank you dearly for your hospitality Kat and I really do appreciate it but please do not worry about me. I have no intention of going back to that hag’s house unless I am heavily protected first. The only thing is, she has access to money that was left to me and she will keep on spending it until I turn eighteen. I can’t allow her to have that luxury any longer, that’s if she even survived the onslaught that I managed to deal her in return,” I replied, forgetting to apply a mask of fake emotions as I did so.
“There is something different about you Unya, it’s almost as though you are unaffected by all the atrocities that this world has. How is that even possible, I mean are you really unaffected by it all or do you just hide it really well?”
Kat had been so nice to me that I did not want to lie to her or blatantly refuse to answer her question, but I couldn’t think of a way to answer it without revealing my secret. It had taken me many years to finally confide in Addy, how could I now possibly do that to someone that I barely even knew.
“I can’t explain why, but it really doesn’t affect me Kat, I have lived through so much pain and anguish that I guess I have become a little numb to the horrors that are still around in this world.” Once I said this, I plastered on my best fake smile and pulled her into a friendly embrace.
“You need a way to protect yourself physically if you ever want any advice on self-defence, don’t hesitate to stop by. I’m familiar with a couple fighting styles and I’m sure we could find one that would suit you,” she stated with a mega-watt grin before awkwardly patting me on the back and moving out of my way, so that I could exit her room and make my way to her front door.
“Leaving already?”
I spun around and my gaze locked onto the steel grey of Lawson’s, I nodded sharply, but found that I did not have a single word to utter in response.
“Well then you should be careful, I won’t always be around to protect you,” he stated in a tone that was full of condescension.
“I have never asked for your protection, you just keep on throwing yourself in the middle of my life,” I stated, trying to act like I was pissed off by his manner.
“You may not have asked for it, but you have clearly needed it every single time. Pull your head out of your arse and realise that you are not invincible and one of these days, the grim reaper is going to be pounding on your door.”
Once he said that, he turned his back on me and slowly started to walk away. I wanted to let him go, but a little voice inside of me just kept saying ‘how dare he’ where the hell did he get off, talking to me like that. I mean it’s not as though we were even friends, to be honest I had no idea what kind of category to put us into.
I silently marched over to him, wanting to catch him off guard, when I placed my hand onto his bicep and spun him around towards me and then I came up short.
His eyes were full of fire as anger pulsed its way through him, he grabbed both of my biceps in turn and slammed me into the wall that was next to us.
He pla
ced the palms of his hands either side of my head, effectively trapping me in place as his eyes locked onto mine and held them captive.
His breathing was ragged and I could feel the warmth of it caressing my face, as he leaned his forehead against mine. The anger was still clearly raging behind his eyes and I kept quiet as the battle waged inside him.
“You really shouldn’t sneak up on me darling,” he started as his breathing began to steady out and the battle in his eyes had clearly been won.
“Yeah, I kind of gathered that, in the aftermath,” I replied, noticing that our positions had not changed.
I placed my hands on his chest, getting ready to push him away when his fingers curled around my wrists and held them in place.
“I meant what I said Unya, you do need to be more careful unless you desire your life to become forfeit.”
“I Don’t have a death wish, if that is what you are trying to insinuate, I just seem to find myself in precarious situations,” I stated this, as I glanced down at out positions.
A sly grin donned his face, but he slowly backed away as he released his hold on my wrists.
“Kat said that she would help me learn to protect myself better, do you think it would be wise of me to accept her offer.”
He made a clucking sound with his tongue, before slowly shaking his head.
“Kat can look after herself perfectly, but I don’t think her style would suit you very well,” he stated, barely meeting my gaze anymore.
“How could you know that?” I enquired, actually genuinely curious.
“Because I helped her train, when we first met, she only knew a few basic moves. Enough to keep her safe sure, but there was no flourish to it, thanks to me she can now brandish a knife like a pro.” He said this with a smug air around him.
“Would you help me then, I mean I can throw a mean left hook, but that’s about where my skill ends. If I can get to them first then I know I’ve won. But clearly after what happened with Jackie and Martin, I don’t know enough like I once thought I did.”
“Trust me Unya, even if you managed to land a few strikes with me, that would not set you for a victory. But as to your query of assistance, I don’t think it would work out very well. I’m not an easy trainer, I will throw you in at the deep end and if you were to drown, I wouldn’t be there to pull you out.”