Chapter Fourteen



Justin's P.O.V.

Finally she's fallen asleep. I've been laying still and silent for a long time, listening to Ariya recite something under her breath. It's like she's deliberately trying to keep herself awake. Is she really that troubled about being in the same room as me? Am I really that terrible? Surely I'm not being too tough on her? She did break the rules by leaving; even if she did come back. She deserves a harsh punishment, but maybe the strictness is becoming counter productive. Maybe the homes were too strict and she naturally rebels against that now. It is a possibility, and something I need to consider. Honestly, Ariya is a bit of a learning curve for me. I've never had such a tough nut to crack, with the rules I've currently got. Sure, I've had my fair share of cocky soldiers, but I've been allowed to do pretty much anything to break them. Somehow, I don't think that treatment is going to work with Ariya. I have to learn a new way of figuring things out, so I'm just feeling my way in the dark here.

Just as I'm drifting off to sleep again, I hear Ariya's breathing turn erratic and she jumps up, like she's searching for something. The Marine in me automatically assumes she's heard something, so I question, “Ariya?”

She seems shocked at my voice and it takes her a minute to find her voice, “Yeah...”

“Everything ok?”

I'm pretty sure there's nothing outside or I would have heard it, but something has spooked her.

She clears her throat, “I thought I heard something, sorry.”

Wow, an apology. I think she's totally off guard at the moment and she probably thinks I'm going to take advantage of that. For that reason alone, I'm not going to ask her about it.

“Want to take a look with me, just to be sure?”

She looks shocked at my question, but quickly masks her expression before saying, “I can just look out of the window.”

“Sure? I'll take a walk if you want to.”

If checking the perimeter will make her feel less panicked, then that's what I'll do. Her sarcastic side filters through, letting me know she's starting to feel more like herself.

“You can't exactly go on your own to take that walk...”

She holds up her cuffed hand and her trademark smirk is back. I'm actually pleased to see that right now.

“Good point. Let's check the window then.”

Once we scan the perimeter, she sighs and then turns to go back to her makeshift bed on the floor. Surely that isn't comfortable, so instead of questioning her about her jumpiness, I say, “You really don't have to sleep on the floor, Ariya. We can make a wall of pillows if you want. The floor can't be comfortable.”

Maybe she isn't quite back to her usual self, because she quietly admits, “It's not that bad actually.”

This leads me to believe she really has seen worse. Again, I don't question it. I have a feeling that whatever I just saw is the reason she doesn't sleep well and the reason she doesn't want to share a room with me. However, I'm not backing out of my punishment now. It might just be the thing that helps me to get to know this mystery girl a bit better. She lays back down on the floor and I lay on the bed, waiting to see what happens next. I pretend to fall asleep, but I know Ariya hasn't gone back to sleep. Her breathing is getting more and more erratic, like she's fighting back some form of emotion.

My Marine training comes in handy here, because it prepared me to be patient; to wait for the enemy to show it's hand before acting. I think that pushing Ariya or not letting this situation play out, will seriously backfire. I fake sleep for probably almost an hour before she does anything. If I wasn't so acutely aware of everything, I would almost miss the fact that she's slipped her cuff, leaving my arm still dangling but not attached to anything. I don't know how she gets out of the bracelets so easily and so stealthily.

I listen carefully, expecting her to go out the window or even the bedroom door so she can make an escape, but she doesn't. Instead, I hear the bathroom door open and then quietly shut again. There's silence for about a minute. Then I hear the familiar sound of someone hitting something and the controlled breathing that goes along with it. She's covered her hands with something though, because the hitting sounds are muffled. At first I leave her to it, but my instincts are telling me she needs someone to fight this out with or maybe on. If she wants to hit me, then I can take that. There's obviously something very seriously wrong with this girl, and I wasn't lying when I said I want to help her. If us sparring in the middle of the night helps her, then so be it. I think I'm starting to understand how she works a bit better.

After about 20 minutes, I don't hear any signs of Ariya letting up, so I make my way to the bathroom and call through the door, “If you wanted to spar, you should have woken me up instead of slipping the cuffs. I thought we'd spoken about that.”

She's silent for a minute before quipping, “No, you spoke about it. I pretended to listen.”

There's a different edge to her voice. Maybe anger or hatred. Despite her wanting to rip us apart on a number of occasions, I've never really heard that tone in Ariya's voice. She always seems calm and calculated when she's threatening to 'rip someone's face off', her words, not mine. I have no doubt that she's a very angry person, but she's too smart to show it all the time. She seems to know that people will use that against her, just like she uses other peoples' emotions to play them. It's like it's her personal game.

“I'm coming in.”

I don't leave it open for discussion and I certainly don't ask her.

I'm surprised that the door isn't locked when I turn the handle, but I guess she thought she'd be able to defend herself if she needed to.

“Let's go. My gym, come on.”

She looks genuinely shocked as she questions, “You have a gym?”

“Yep. Only Mike and I are allowed in it. Well, and now you. Come on.”

She follows silently, but I hear her mutter a 'dude' as we step into the room. It is a pretty sweet setup though, and I'm not fazed by her awe. I have weights, a treadmill, mats for sparring and a number of punchbags and speed balls set up in the room. I do a lot of training in here, trying to keep fit, in case I get called back into service. I make my way to the punchbag and throw some gloves at Ariya before gloving up myself. I warm my arms up on the speed ball while Ariya makes sure her gloves fit properly.

She stands on the mat, ready to fight. The anger and the pain are evident in her stance, her body language and her eyes, even though she's trying to guard her features. She's clever. She knows how to read people, so she knows what to do to hide her emotions and expressions. If I didn't have my training, she would be fooling me right now.

As we go toe to toe, I say, “Do your worst.”

She smirks slightly, but there's no sarcastic remark. Now I know she's not feeling herself.

I don't know if she does her worst, but she certainly doesn't disappoint. She really can fight and I am shocked at the level of her skill. What I don't like, is the fact that she's battling with something. Something she's determined to keep locked up. I'm just allowing her to hit me, and she knows it, so she growls out, “Fight back!”

“No. You need to get this out of your system.”

She throws an extremely hard left job and her voice is stronger, “Fight back!”

“No. Hit me harder...”

Her blows keep coming, but she's angrily begging me to fight back. She's not pleading, whining or complaining; she's pretty much growling and demanding that I hit her back. I don't know why she's so adamant that I participate in this little session, but I stay firm and just block her hits the best I can.

Eventually the wise cracks start. “Stop being such a pansy and hit me, you piece of soldier scum.”

“What? They didn't teach you to fight properly in the Marines?”

“Even a girl can throw you a beat down, coz you're such a sissy.”

“It's not going to work, Ariya. You can say what you want, but I'm not fighting back. You need to deal with this without someone hitting you back. Get out every piece of anger and pain you feel...”

I don't know if she's just sweating, but I see water spilling from her eyes and I'm not sure if they're tears or sweat. Ariya comes across as such a strong person that I don't really imagine her crying. I must be wrong; it can't be tears, right? That would mean she's in a lot more pain than I actually realize. I know she's angry and scared. I know that she has her own set of rules that she and everyone else must live by, but is whatever made her this way actually terrible enough to make her cry?

She fights me for nearly an hour and I don't know how she can keep going for so long. She doesn't get enough sleep to have this much energy. She must be running purely on adrenaline right now and it's got to crash at some point. Not long after the thought passes through my mind, her blows slow considerably and then they stop altogether. I don't comment on her outburst and I don't ask any questions. I simply say, “You should take a lukewarm shower before going back to bed, to help your muscles cool down.”

She only nods. I don't think she's going to cause anymore trouble tonight, so I don't bother putting the cuffs back on her. I'm starting to see that not everything is all it's made out to be in the case of one Miss Ariya Flynn. I think that my whole approach is going to have to change with this one. I will need to talk to her about what happened, but I think I need to plan a better time for that.

I lay awake on the floor while Ariya is in the shower. She has no choice but to take the bed when she comes back into the room. She seems tired as she asks, “No cuffs?”

“No, not now. I'm trusting you to behave, don't let me down.”

She nods, “Thanks.”

Wow, I had an apology and a thanks tonight. That's quite something. The fighting must help to get her anger under control so she can act a little more normal and civil to people. No wonder she likes fighting all the time.



She falls asleep quickly and manages to sleep relatively quietly for 3 hours, which I'm thankful for. Obviously the fighting is the key to her getting sleep. That's why I hear her training and exercising every night; because she can't sleep otherwise.