Chapter 7| He Is Hot

Nova

I pause my coffee mid-air when I see Kelly walking into the kitchen looking like she walked out of a spy movie. Blake leggings, T-shirt and jacket. Her hair is in french braids and she has black sunglasses sitting on her nose.

"Why do you look like that?" I ask laughing slightly. Placing my hot coffee cup down on the counter safely.

"What? I thought it would make me look scarier." She shrugs, walking over and taking a sip of my coffee.

"Why do you need to look scary?" I look at her and can't help but laugh.

"I'm going to be surrounded by mafia people. I need to look scary." She looks at me as if I'm crazy.

"I could never see you as scary." She glares at me.

"I can be scary. Plus you're going to love the outfit I put out on your bed." She smiles at me with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

I groan. "What have you done?"

I can hear her laugh as I make my way to my bedroom. I shake my head as I see black workout clothes and sunglasses laid out.

"Only for you." I curse myself as I do as Kelly wishes.

I get changed out of my sweats and large top and into my black spandex shorts and black sports bra. I zip the jacket up halfway and scrape my hair into a ponytail. I look at the glasses with a frown. This is going to suck. I place them on and laugh at myself in the mirror.

"Happy?" I ask Kelly as I walk back out into the kitchen.

"Yes!" She smiles at me. Rolling my eyes I grab the keys off of the table.

"Come on." We walk out of our cabin and make our way to the training area.

"Do you think they'll be mean to me?" Kelly asks as we come closer to others.

I look down at her small frame and know she's going to be a target. "If they do anything tell me. I'll fuck them up." She nods her head smiling.

"Great! I think everyone is here." A woman with brown hair and a strong build claps her hands as she looks over us all.

"Shall we start?" A man says beside her. He looks like the fucking rock.

"Right! You'll be put into groups and you will work together and against each other, we will assess who works well together and you will be paired up to complete jobs." He explains to us.

"What if we get split up?" Kelly whispers beside me.

"Don't worry. You with me." I assure her.

If anyone tries to separate us I'm having a fit. God knows what will happen if she is left alone.

"Okay listen in." The woman shouts gaining everyone's attention.

She holds a clipboard against her arms as she starts to call out the names of people and their groups.

"Group A! Nova Quinn. Eva Duke. Ethan Langston. Grayson Blackwell. Finally Liam Hale." She finishes reading off the names.

My eyes widen when I hear his name being called. Is he here? Where? I look around the crowd trying to find him. I stand on my tiptoes searching for the dark-haired, green-eyed boy I haven't stopped thinking about.

When my eyes connect with the same ones I saw in my dreams my heart beats against my chest at a fast pace. He looks even better than the last time I saw him, with a loose black T-shirt and grey shorts that show the band of his boxers. I come to believe he was here, this can't how this should be. It was supposed to be one night.

"Nova?" Kelly shakes me. I look away from him and down at my friend.

"Yeah?" I ask my mind foggy.

"Come on." She takes my hand and drags me to a secluded corner.

"What the hell!" She whispers and shouts.

"What?" I'm confused by her outburst.

Her eyes widen at me. "What the hell is Liam doing here?" Realisation takes over me.

"Oh!" I completely forgot that his name was called.

"Yeah 'oh'!" She flies her arms in the air.

"Maybe he's coming along like you are?" I shrug. She can see right through me and gives me a 'really' look.

"Please tell me he isn't in on all this too." She sighs.

I don't know what to say. Because he is. She takes my silence as my answer. Her shoulders slump in defeat as she frowns at the ground.

"Of course he is." She whispers sadly.

I rub my hand up and down her arm in a comforting manner. She lets out a sigh and composes herself. Looked at me like nothing ever happened. "Let's go." She smiles as walks ahead of me.

I follow behind her as we make our way to our group. The six of us all stand in a close circle and what I'm guessing to be our trainer stands in front of us all.

Kelly nudges my shoulder and points her head to the trainer. Oh, I know. He is tall and has muscles everywhere, his Sandy hair is pushed back showing off his defined facial structure. Pretty blue eyes, high cheekbones and a great jaw.

"He is hot," Kelly says rather loud.

"Agreed," I say as we both eye our trainer.

"Hey!" Eva comes up to us with a smile. I'd never met her before this, but I know everyone.

"Hey." Kelly waves to her.

"I don't know you?" Eve looks at Kelly trying to put a name to the face.

"Kelly." She holds her hand out for her. Eva takes it with a smile.

"You must be Nova. I've heard loads about you and your family." Eva turns to me.

"That's me." Eva looks back at Kelly confusion laced across her face.

"She's my friend." I break her away from staring at Kelly.

"Oh! That makes sense now." She nods her head.

"So what we're you guys talking about?" I and Kelly look at each other and then point to the trainer.

"He is hot," Kelly repeats her words. Eva stands next to Kelly so we're all facing him.

"Oh my. He is yummy." I nod my head still looking at him.

God took his time on this one.

"You know who is hotter?" Eva asks.

"Who?" Kelly asks.

"Blackwell." The moment she says his name my eyes dart over to him. He stands there looking rather angrily staring right at me.

"No way," Kelly says in awe. I already know what she's going to do.

"That's the guy!" She shouts gripping my arm.

"Yes. That's him." I smile as she starts squealing.

"What about him?" Eva asks confused.

"She had sex with him!" Kelly shouts.

I close my eyes letting out a breath. Shout louder Kelly don't think the people on Mars heard you.

"Oh my god!" Eva shouts.

I open my eyes my cheeks slightly red from embarrassment. I don't dare to look over at him, knowing him he's probably smirking.

"You had sex with Blackwell!" Eve shouts again.

"Okay! We get it. We had sex stop screaming it." I shush her and Kelly.

"When?" I look around and connect my eyes with the smirking asshole.

"At the ball," I say, turning back to the girls.

"I can't believe it." I laugh at their dropped jaws.

"Right! My name is Alex, I'll be your trainer for the time." Alex introduces himself, stopping us from our conversation.

"So, let's start with introducing ourselves." He looks at us all and stops at Eva.

"Why don't you start." Eva sighs but smiles anyway.

"I'm Eva." She smiles at the group.

Alex gestures for the next to go.

"I'm Kelly." I glare at Liam as he avoids her eyes.

"I don't have your name here, Kelly." Alex looks down at his clipboard with a frown.

"She's with me." Alex's head shoots up to me.

I smile as he just stares at me. I keep eye contact even though his staring is starting to annoy me. It's kinda creepy.

"You done staring perv?" Grey glares at poor Alex who looks a little flustered.

"Uh..sorry." He clears his throat.

"Well, I'm Nova." I smile at the tense atmosphere.

"Liam." Liam nods his head to Alex.

"I'm Ethan."

"Okay, let's get you guys to the mats." We all follow Alex into a cold building. Goosebumps travel across my skin as the harsh air blows down onto my body.

We walk down a hallway barely lit by light, making me hyper-aware of my surroundings. He opens a door as we all file through. The room is big and open this time the whole place is lit with lights. In the centre are matte and around the room are walls filled with knives and other weapons.

"Cool." My hands trail lightly over the dangers.

"Ah, you won't be using these straight away. Learn the basics of fighting and self-defence then we'll add weapons." I barely listen to Alex as I pick up a large dagger.

The handle is soft in my hand as my fingers grip the red wrap. My finger slides lightly over the black smooth steel.

"Be careful with that, princess." I look up to see Alex watching me with a smirk.

I look at him surprised. "What this?" I twirl the dagger around my finger.

"You're going to get yourself hurt." I roll my eyes. Clicking my tongue against my teeth, narrowing my eyes in annoyance.

Lifting the dagger so it's level with my face I look at Alex and flick my hand forward the dagger flying out of my hand and skimming past Alex's head. A loud bang is heard when the dagger sticks into the wall inches away from his head.

"I'm not a princess, I don't need saving. I'm a queen I get shit handled." I glare at him as I continue to walk around the room.

"Uh..okay. Gather up on the mats."

My eyes connect with Grayson, he stands opposite me with a gaze that has my insides fluttering. The way he stares at me makes me feel like I'm the only person he sees. My stomach twists and flips, it's as if his eyes say everything.

"Nova." I shake out of it and look to Alex who gestures for me to get on the mat.

"Liam," I smirk as Liam nervously steps onto the mat. I slip my shoes and socks off kicking them to the side.

"I want you, Liam, to act as the attacker. Nova Liam is your target. Ready, go!" When Alex shouts Liam doesn't waste a second and has me in a bear hug.

I slip my foot around his leg bringing him down. I take his hands and hold them down on his back. Pressing my knee on his back the other providing me support on the Matt.

Liam grunts as he struggles to get free of my grip. I lean my head down and smile as he glares at me.

"Okay, let him free." I do as Alex says and climb off of Liam.

"Okay, that was great!" I roll my eyes at Alex's surprise.

"Kelly would you like to have a try?" Kelly looks at me and shakes her head.

"Come on kids." I hold my hand out for her.

"There's no way I can go against you." She tips her head back.

"I'll go easy on you" I wink at her playfully.

She lets out a sigh and steps forward on the mat.

"Okay, this time Nova you're the attacker." Kelly lets out a whimper when Alex says this.

"Nova take Kelly into a choke hold." I do as Alex says not applying too much pressure to her neck.

"Kelly turn your body towards Nova. This is to keep your airways open." Kelly does as Alex says, turning her body towards mine.

"Great. Now strike Nova in the gut or ribs." He nods his head at both of us.

"You mean to punch her!" Kelly shouts.

"It's fine, just do it, Kelly," I reassure her.

"Are you crazy? I'm not going to punch you!" She shakes her head rapidly.

"I'll be fine. Do it!" She continues to shake her head.

"Imagine it was the bad people Kelly. Go back to when they hurt you. What would you want to do to them?" My voice softens.

She freezes, closing her eyes and collecting her breath. "I would want to punch them." She whispers.

"Then do it." I encourage her.

She forms her hands into a fist and strikes me in the ribs. I groan and feel my ribs begin to burn from the punch.

"Good! Now reach Nova's head and push it away. Remember if it's life or death use your two fingers to gouge their eyes. In this case, don't." Kelly does as he instructs.

Her hand pushes on my jaw moving my head back away from her. "Now stand straight and strike her again."

Not even after Alex tells her what to do she strikes me in the stomach. I groan folding forward. "This would be the time where you run and escape."

"Yeah! I just did that." Kelly cheers.

I hold a hand to my ribs the other resting on my knee. "Great job kels," I say breathlessly.

"Shit! You good?" She rubs my back.

I stand back up and hide the wince when I do. "Perfect." I give her a tight-lipped smile.

"Okay! Well, I want to see everyone work with each other so I can have an idea of who works the best together." Ignoring Alex, I walk into an office like room and see a mini-fridge.

I open and see ice packs, I place them on my ribs and sigh when the cool soothe my burning ribs. Kelly's got a punch.

"You okay?" I turn around and drop the ice pack when I see Grayson.

"Uh..yeah." I scramble to pick up the ice pack.

"That looks painful." He comes closer lifting my jacket off my shoulders.

"I guess.." I breathe out.

He looks up, one move forward and I would be able to kiss him. I feel his hand slide up my stomach and his fingers tracing over my red stomach. He placed his hand there, his warm touch creates goosebumps all over me.

"I guess not next year." I let out a chuckle looking into his eyes.

"I guess not." He leans in closer his breath fans my face. My lips part on their own accord, and our noses skim against each other. My eyes flutter closed eager to have his lips on mine. Just as his lips hover over mine gently, I'm ready to stop all the teasing and hesitation and smash our lips together.

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