Day Break Academy Series book 1

Chapter 10: It's official, I'm falling

"Excuse me?!" I choked with bugging eyes.

"Relax, I brought you joggers," he laughed.

The hard cut of his jaw and chin relaxed when he smiled, lighting up his face into a softer mask of handsomeness. I caught myself slowly smiling in response. His iridescent eyes met mine, and I felt a tremble roll through my core. His tongue ran along the bottom edge of his lip. My eyes followed the movement and my lips parted on their own accord.

He cleared his throat and I snapped my eyes back up to his. Crimson bloomed across my cheeks and I accepted the pair of pants from his outstretched hand. Something in his eyes like humour told me he was well aware where my mind had just gone to.

"Where should I change?" I asked sheepishly.

He turned away from me and stared at the opposite wall in response. Okay then… I quickly tugged the tight jeans down my legs, and yanked the soft track pants up over my hips, never taking my eyes off his back.

This new relaxed Jet was definitely a change from the hostile one I'd encountered before. As much as my heart leapt at the change of pace, his previous behaviour hinted at a temper I should stay wary of.

Remembering the abilities of a shtriga I quickly stopped my thoughts in their tracks, hopefully the last five minutes my thoughts had been quiet.

"Ready" I announced.

He turned around and gave me a slow assessing once over, the side of his mouth tilting up as he went. When his eyes reached mine I had to do a double take. They were darker than before, almost a liquid silver. If I had a beating heart, it would be tearing through my chest right now.

"That's more like it. Alright we're going to start with basic drills. The course is set up for a beginner level run through. If you can make it through in under five minutes we'll amp it up to intermediate. Ready?"

I assessed the course quickly, it resembled a mud race challenge I had done with my lacrosse team when I was twelve, and I chuckled to myself. Piece of cake.

I got in position and gave him a confident nod.

"Alright. Ready, set…and go!"

He hit the stop watch and I took off, aware of his gaze penetrating my every movement.

The first obstacle was a row of monkey bars, and I was suddenly thankful for the gloves. My eyes had deceived me at the size of this course, this may be harder than I'd anticipated.

I swung through the bars effortlessly, and let go, landing on a platform. It swayed side to side, and I instinctively squatted down to keep balanced. The next part was a bit higher up, I'd have to scale a rope.

I bit my lip, crouched low and leapt up as high as I could, grasping tightly onto the fraying fibres. I'd made it up maybe eight feet when I could no longer keep going. My legs quivered around the rope, and my arms felt leaden. Sweat ran in rivulets down my face, and stung my eyes. I let out a huff of defeat, and slid my way down to the mat below.

Jet stifled a laugh behind his hand, and I gave him the most challenging glare I could muster.

"Bruce Lee could never hold a candle to you" he chuckled as I walked towards him.

My irritance waned, and I caught myself grinning back.

"Hey now. I'm just a little rusty, I didn't have gym last semester," I pouted.

"Well get ready, because you have it everyday now, and I fully intend to take your body to its absolute limit." His smirk dropped and he quickly started backtracking. "In training I mean, in the gym."

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and shot a look towards the doors. A nervous smile tugging the edge of his full mouth.

My eyes dropped to the floor, and I felt my core tighten in response to his words. I quickly tried to change the topic.

"Um, could we also work on mind reading, and blocking? I've had a couple instances now where blocking could have come in handy." I mumbled.

His awkward smile turned to a concerned scowl. Well at least that told me Jet wasn't playing in my mind...

"Someone invaded your thoughts? Who?" He demanded.

"A guy in one of my classes…It wasn't a big deal, I just want to know how I can avoid letting anyone and everyone in." I peered up at him hopeful.

"Ava, who was picking in your head." He asked again.

"Um, you know that guy from the cafeteria yesterday afternoon?" somehow admitting it was Lex felt like a betrayal to him. I know he shouldn't be playing in my mind, but I don't think he meant harm, it actually felt more flirtatious than anything. Maybe it was worse than I thought, and I was being naive…

The set of his jaw hardened, and his eyes visibly darkened a shade.

"Pick this up tomorrow, same time ok?" Any trace of humour gone. He grabbed the duffle, and began walking to the gym doors.

I quickly ran past him, and stood in front of them. He looked at me questioningly.

"Please don't go starting anything over me, I just got here and I really don't want that kind of attention. Sure it was a d**k move, but I think he was just trying to be funny, he didn't deny doing it or anything." I tried.

"You don't know him Ava. He's not exactly someone you want to play and have jokes with. In fact he shouldn't be anywhere near you." He huffed.

Despite his protective flattery, I felt a jolt of irritance. I wasn't some little woman he had to make a statement for. If I didn't like something I could damn well say so myself.

"Seriously. I got this alright? Besides I've already been warned about him, it's not like we're braiding each other's hair, and having slumber parties. He's not exactly my type." I stated.

He assessed my words silently before speaking nonchalantly.

"So who here is your type exactly?"

Glad he let the Lex thing go I visibly eased.

Grinning on the inside I kept my outward expression passive, "it's only been a couple days, guess we'll have to wait and see. Same time tomorrow? I asked, leaning on the door bar.

"Looking forward to it." He smiled, tongue caressing the point of his canine.

Our little exchange had me jumping and squealing inside, but I simply gave him a coy once over as I pushed the door open, holding it for him to exit.

His silver eyes held mine as he slid past me, and I watched his back heatedly as he made his way down the hall. Glancing to the right, my eyes landed on the glass doors of the main office. slicing through the pane at me with unabashed poison and hatred was none other than Twyla. My smile fell and apprehension took its place. Torri's warning came back to me suddenly. "She's obsessed with this guy named Jet..." s**t.