“This is fun!” she shouts, a smile plastered across her face.
“I’m gonna have a heart attack if you don’t slow the fuck down and stay far away from those trees!” I shout out the reminder, again.
“Come on, Nova. Live a little,” she giggles like she’s a villain and I’m her hostage.
“I’ll live a little when I don’t feel like I’m about to shit my pants, Chaney!”
“Next time, we’ll get you some adult diapers to wear,” she bargains.
“Next time,” I splutter, my eyes widening at her indication that this won’t be the last time she checks to see if my heart still beats in my chest. “Deer! Watch the deer!”
“Where did that come from?” she asks as she turns the wheel causing the bed of the truck to turn as we go onto two wheels, leaning sideways. My side is closer to the ground than hers and I see my life flash before my eyes. This is not how I thought I’d be taken out. The truck stalls when it lands back on four wheels and I take a minute to catch my breath before leaning over and yanking the keys out of the ignition.
“Never. Again,” I growl.
“That wasn’t so bad,” she reckons, which has me choking on my spit.
“Not so bad?” I parrot her words, thinking I’m lucky to still be breathing instead of laid out on a slab at the club’s mortuary. “That was reckless. You didn’t listen to a single one of my directions, Chaney! You could’ve gotten us both killed with your negligence.”
“You’re being dramatic, Nova,” she decrees.
Before I get a chance to respond, my door is yanked open and I’m staring into the frightened eyes of Freyja. “You almost died!” she shouts. I turn around to Chaney and give her a ‘told you so’ look.
“Okay, so maybe I should’ve listened to you,” she says, trying to rectify this situation. “Next time–”
I reach my hand over and cup her mouth, leaning forward to where we’re nose to nose, saying, “There will be no next time. Not with me, anyway.”
“Aw, Nova,” she whines. “I promise I’ll listen to you if you give me another chance.”
Gritting my teeth, I announce, “Never. Again.” As I go to step out of the truck, my legs give out and my knees buckle. I hit the ground and have never been so thankful in my life to feel the pain from the jarring on my ass end as I land on it. Repeating, “Never.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
CHANEY
Nova has been tense since Christmas Day, and apparently, him teaching me how to drive added to his stress. Each time I glance anywhere near where the keys are hanging up with longing in my eyes, he walks over, rips them off the holder, and pockets them. I may have been alittleambitious, but I’d never felt anything as enthralling and freeing as I did while having my foot on the pedal and the wheel grasped in my hands—I took it too far, and now, he’ll never give me another chance.
There have been a lot of secret phone calls he takes in his office, and each time, a shiver races up and down my spine. I know it’s about our father, and until he’s caught and locked away, I’ll always be watching Freyja’s and my back. I overheard a part of his conversation once, and it had cold chills dancing along my flesh. Nova, and whomever he was talking to, theorize that the reason he wants us both back is because he planned on selling us to the highest bidder once he was ready to release us from his custody.
Since then, I’ve been more vigilant and more determined to learn how to fight and protect me and my sister should we ever find ourselves alone. When I approached Nova, telling him Iwanted to learn some self-defense, he recoiled and tried to talk me out of it. But once I laid out my reasons, first and foremost that I wanted to be able to defend myself if I came across someone whose intent was to cause me harm, he caved and agreed that I should be able to protect myself. Freyja had zero desire in learning alongside me, but I finally talked her around and for days now, we’ve been getting lessons.
“Protect your face!” Indiana shouts at me as I lower my guard. “If your opponent is able to blind you by punching you in the face, you won’t see what’s coming at you and that’s when they’ll get the best of you and take you down.”
“Sorry,” I apologize as I reposition my arms. Sweat glistens on my skin as I crouch down in the protective stance he’s all but hammered into my head. He wants it to become natural, instinctual, he wants it to seep into my mind after doing it enough times—not wanting it to be something I have to stop and think about.
“You’re getting better about it, Chaney. Just stop thinking and letting your brain overrule your instincts, start reacting,” Indiana instructs.
The next few hours are grueling as he takes me through one exercise to another. By the time we call it a day, I’m a limp mess. My arms and legs are flimsy and walking is nearly impossible. But I refuse to give him any reason whatsoever to stop instructing me so I force one foot in front of the other as I ambulate into the house. Freyja isn’t having as difficult a time as I currently am, but that’s mostly because she’s in stamina training, not hand-to-hand combat like I am. Indiana’s goal with my sister is to build her muscle tone and strengthen her lungs.
“I’ll be back in a couple of days,” Indiana tells me as he packs his bag with his gloves, tape, and other supplies. “I want you to run while tossing punches, hit the mat and practice your popups, and for fuck’s sake, try to get it through your thick head to shield.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” I inquire.
“Have Freyja and Nova toss some practice jabs at you,” he suggests. “I’d rather them be unsuspecting, and randomly done. I don’t want you to have time to prepare or watch for them. I’ll talk to Nova about it and he and your sister can come up with a game plan.”
“Okay,” I agree. Hopefully, their random attacks get me out of my head and I’ll learn to listen to my gut instead of letting my mind command me.
