Our Riley (Reverse Harem Mafia Romance)

Chapter 16 - Riley's POV

Riley's POV

I woke up to the sound of yelling downstairs, and looked over at the clock in my room. 10am? Shit, I slept in. I quickly slid out of the bed and into the bathroom, brushing my hair and teeth before getting dressed in clothes suitable for weapons training with Damien.

I tie my hair into a ponytail on my way down the stairs. I can hear arguing so I stop before turning the corner and listen in.

Dom's voice erupted and he slammed a dish into the sink, "No! No way- it's too dangerous"

"Damien, how long until you can have her trained enough to carry a weapon and know how to use it?" I recognized Victor's voice, he sounded tense.

"I should be able to assess her abilities and have an answer for you by the end of the day" Damien's cold monotone voice answered.

"You can't be serious about this" Lucas sounded angry, which wasn't an emotion I had seen him display before.

"You all understood the deal when I allowed her to stay with us. We can't get close enough to this guy to make the kill. He's strategic and has more resources than us, we need to use Riley. He's never seen her before and has no idea she is with us, it's the perfect element of surprise." Victor sounded very matter-of-fact.

"There has to be something else she can do '' Dom was pleading. That's when I turned the corner and entered the kitchen.

"I'll do it. Damien will train me in weapons and Dom can show me some self defense techniques. I can do this." I had all four men's eyes on me. Victor was nodding and the others looked like they just got caught talking shit about me.

"No," Dom said, looking directly at me.

"I don't think you have any say in the matter," I said, staring right back at him.

He dropped the plate he had in the sink and brushed past me, storming up the stairs.

"Drama king" I rolled my eyes, "Ready to start?" I looked at Damien now and he nodded, told me to meet him in the backyard in a few, while he grabbed things we needed for today's training session.

I poured a cup of coffee to pass the time and I could feel Victor's eyes on me. But when I lifted my head to meet his gaze our eyes only met for a moment before he turned away and went down the hall in the direction of his study.

I sipped my coffee in awkward silence with Lucas until he spoke up, "I like your hair like that"

I reached my hand back and ran my hand through my ponytail to remind myself what I did with it on the way down stairs. I opened my mouth to thank him but was interrupted.

"Backyard, Let's go" Damien was walking to the back sliding glass door with a duffle bag.

It was a nice day outside, cool enough in the shade and just warm enough with the sun out. I followed Damien out to the middle of the insanely green grass and watched him sift through the duffle bag.

He threw something at me and I barely caught it before it hit my chest, "A plastic knife?"

"Silicone."

I sighed, bending the tip of the fake knife, watching it practically fold in half. "How is this supposed to hurt someone?"

"I will hand you a real knife once I feel like you're skilled enough with the fake one so you don't hurt yourself." He tosses the duffle bag to the side.

"Or hurt you, right?" I met my eyes with his.

"No. You can't hurt me, I'm incredibly skilled and you have no training." He always sounded so matter-of-fact. "But give it your best shot" A smile curled at the corner of his mouth as he stood with his arms crossed on his chest, waiting for me to make a move.

I gripped the handle of the silicone knife and raised my arm, bringing the knife down aiming for his neck. Before I could make contact, Damiens hand grabbed my wrist stopping me. "You're too obvious," He grabs the knife and twists me around, pressing the fake blade against my throat, "and slow."

He released his grip on me and pushed me forward, I stumbled a bit but caught myself. He was still holding my knife, "You can't give away your next move, you need to be quick and precise," He does the move I was trying to do but in the matter of seconds and before I can blink his lips are inches from mine and he has the knife pressing into the side of my neck. "Like this."

He stays there for a moment, I see his eyes travel from mine, to my lips then back up. I feel out of breath and all I can think about is how close he is and how his hands feel on me. He steps away and tosses me the knife. "Again."

We go back and forth for a few hours and then he eventually switches out the fake knife for a real one. I'm sweaty and there's sweat coating his face as he pushes back his hair. "Feel the weight in your hands, practice the moves I showed you and then once you're comfortable you can practice on me."

He watches my stance and my repeated jabs into the air in front of me. "Stop." He walks up behind me, sliding his hands onto my hips and moving them, adjusting my stance. I completely lose focus and chills roll up my back. "You need a stronger stance, like this." His hands grip my hips as he turns them slightly more. I notice how his hands linger there for a moment longer than needed before he steps away and nods, motioning for me to continue.

After a while of practicing he stands in front of me, "Okay that's enough." He turns around so he's facing away from me. "Try me."

I'm looking at his back, holding the knife tightly in my hand. I charge towards him and bring the knife around trying to put him in a choke hold but he grabs my arm and flips me onto my back. I gasp from my breath being knocked out of me and he holds the knife that was in my hand, to my neck. For a moment he looks like he might press down and kill me until he makes eye contact with me and his eyes soften. "Try to get out of this" He stayed put, knife to my neck and I took a deep breath thinking about everything he taught me today.

I make a move that pushes the knife away from my neck and I wrap my legs around him like he taught me, throwing my body weight to flip him onto his back and within seconds I'm on top of him. Straddling one leg on either side of his torso with the knife pressed to his neck, "Good girl, you're learning" I assume that means training is over so with that I smiled and pulled the knife away from his neck and stood up reaching a hand out to help him up. He takes my hand and pulls me down, pinning me below him, "Don't lose focus"

We're both sweaty and breathing heavy, his hands are pinning my wrists into the grass, his face is inches from mine.

"How's it going out here?" Victor was standing beside us looking down at us and Damien quickly moved off of me. I sat up and crossed my legs in front of me.

"I'm kicking Damien's ass," I stand up and dust off my pants.

"Looked like Damien was kicking yours," Victor laughs and reaches a hand out to help Damien up to his feet.

"She needs a few more training sessions but she's a fast learner Sir. She should be ready for the job soon," He was back to his monotone voice.

Victor nods and looks at me, "I think that's enough training for today, go shower, you smell."

I mockingly put my hand up to my forehead in a salute position, "Sir yes Sir."

"Watch it, little one," Victor stares at me for a moment before going back inside.

I helped Damien gather the props we used, "Why do you always call him Sir?"

"He's my superior." A quick response.

"But the others don't call him that." We walked side by side back to the house.

He opens the sliding glass door and lets me in first before closing it behind him, "It's about respect."

Damien disappeared towards the armory and I went upstairs to shower but on my way I ran into construction workers walking through the house and looked at Lucas for an explanation.

"Victor is adding a ...." He stopped himself like he wasn't supposed to tell me, "an addition to the house."

"Like another bedroom?"

"Something like that. I gotta go." He was acting weird but I chose to ignore it.