Love of the elite

Three

I wake up from my sleep. I just spent my first night here in apartment 33. I had the most wonderful sleep.

I crawl out of bed, head into my en-suite and turn the lights to brush my hair before heading into the kitchen.

Finally I get to the kitchen and turn on the coffee machine
"Atwood! Want a coffee?" I call.
"Yes, espresso please" he speaks as he walks into the room.
"Did you know we have a home gym here?" He asks.
"No I didn't actually, where?"
"Down that corridor by my room" he tells me. That's why I didn't know, to be honest I'm a little intimidated to walk near his room after his warnings, I don't want to get off on a bad foot.

"Coffees is done" i announce. He appears from his bedroom once again and grabs his coffee from the kitchen island.
"Thanks" he utters before heading into the living room to turn the tv on.

I decide to join him, Im not ready to use the gym yet. I woke up no longer than 15 minutes ago. I sit far from him on the sofa and sip my coffee. As I stare at the screen I find myself wanting to banter with him.

"So who do you think is going do die then" I ask.
"You" he says casually, however I notice the humour in his eyes.
"Yeah right, as if I'd ever let my self die, plus now that you've said that, I refuse, I'll work my absolute best 100% of the time if I have to"
"Go ahead Kennedy... go ahead"

PING. I glance down at my phone and notice a text.

Alexander(boss) :  agent Kennedy, it's officially your first day on the job, however partner combat training doesn't start until tomorrow, train in the home gym until then.

Kennedy: will do boss.

Alexander(boss): tell agent Atwood that too

"Boss said we have to train in the home gym today" i inform him.
"Okay" he briefly replies. He must just not be a morning person. Speaking of morning. What time is it? I look down at my phone and turn it on. The time reads 8:30am. Perfect. This means I can get in two hours of training and still have time to do something else with my day.

I quickly finish my coffee and head into my room to change into training clothes. Shorts and a sports bra should do. It's summer and it's so hot. I don't care if Atwood has anything to say about it.

I head into the gym and turn on some music. I connect my phone to the Bluetooth speakers and play my workout playlist. It gets me motivated and keeps me focused. It's great.

First I start with cardio. As most people would. I decide that ten minutes on the running machine will do.

"Hey, want a protein shake?" Atwood calls.
"Yes, strawberry please!" I call back. Then the door shuts and I continue on with my cardio.

Around 10 minutes later Atwood opens the door and walks in with my milkshake. Except he's changed into grey joggers and a tight white t-shirt and he is holding two shakes instead of one. Great.

He hands me my shake and steps onto the running machine beside me. The fact that we can see each other in the mirror aligned on this wall makes things awkward. But we have no other choice. I only have 2 minutes left anyways.

Once down with cardio I head over to the corner of the gym. There's a fake dummy and dozens of knives.
"It's for throwing practice Kennedy" he informs me.
"I knew that" I say and pick up a knife. I have to be honest. The violence isn't my forte. My thing has always been the mind aspect of the spy world. I sure do know how to manipulate peoples it comes easy to me.

I glance over at Atwood. I now understand what he said by the fact that he has many tattoos. He has a huge one on his arm. Also one on his stomach. I can tell this because the material of his T-shirt is somewhat see through.

Get your mind off of Atwood's tattoos Kennedy. My inner voice tells me. I should listen to her. But I can't help but study him.

I pick up a knife, stand behind the line and launch the knife. It hits the dummy in the top of the chest. I was aiming for the neck. Which would still kill him no doubt. But still. I'm rather unimpressed with myself.

"Look, move your elbow a bit" Atwood advises as he turns off the treadmill. He takes a sip of his shake and walks over to me to stand behind me. He grabs my arm with his hand and moves it into a perfect position. Then I launch... it hits right on target. Perfect.
"Not bad Kennedy" he whispers in my ear and goes to pick up a knife himself. "Now keep practicing" he demands and hands me the knife. I align my arm, pull back and launch. It's not quite as accurate. But good enough for now.

He hands me multiple more knives until I finally get the hang of it.
"Sit down Kennedy" he tells me and taps the floor beside him. I oblige. But for someone i can't get my mind off of how close my body was to his and that whispering in my ear. God why am I still thinking about this.

"Kennedy, turns out I like you more than my last partner. He was kind of a dick. That's why I feel like you deserve to know my name. My real name. My first name." He explains. Wow. He's really about to tell me his name. What happened to keeping it 'professional'.

"Tristan. My name is Tristan Atwood. God why is it so hard to say that" he laughs. Atwood... Tristan Atwood is really laughing. In the whole 24 hours that I have known him. He hasn't laughed. Not even once. Something tells me he's not gonna do that much. So I should enjoy it. I end up laughing along with him.

"Your name?" He requests.
"Evie. Evie Kennedy"