Love in the Shadows

Chapter Twenty-Six

(Lucy's POV)
"No fucking chance that I'm letting you have all the fun." There wasn't exactly a way that I could force her to hide behind me and I didn't know if I was going to be able to take on two men that were twice my size anyway.

Sam will never forgive me if I let something happen to his best friend.

I shoved any worries that I had for Tasha to the back of my mind and focused on the problem ahead of me.

My gaze tracked the two mammoth sized men currently rushing us. A flare of silver fIashed in Tasha's hands and I decided I needed to trust that she knew what she was doing. It appeared that the woman next to me was no stranger to violence.

She called it fun. She's got this.

Our attacker's came in hard and heavy, yet silent. It was obvious that they were no strangers to a good fight.

Who the hell are you? Obviously we've gotten someone's attention here.

I filed away observations. They were similar in size, probably similar to Wolfe's height and weight. Both wore ski masks but the skin around their eyes, let me know they were white.
They separated, each taking on one of us and the eyes of the man in front of me widened as my fists came up, ready to defend myself.

His gruff voice rang out with a light British accent, "Remember only a beat down."

Interesting. Just trying to scare us. Why? Are you the boss?

Tash's snarky tone filled the air. "Remember, maim but don't kill. You don't want to worry about the paperwork right now." I snorted at her instructions, admiring the fact that her humour was still intact. Then they were lunging at us and I couldn't focus on anything but the attack.

The one that I'd determined was the boss had targeted me. He fought with his body weight, charging at me and trying to use our size discrepancy to his advantage.

Not very original.

Rather than letting him overthrow me, I pivoted, kicking out and pushing him forward with my foot, using his momentum against him. Then while my foot was connected, I followed with a high knee and before he could get his balance, jumped back.

He let out a grunt that spurred me on, moving me forward to punch again. Over and over I lashed out, punching, kicking. He let me stay on the offensive and I couldn't help but feel he was holding back.

What is the purpose of this?

I couldn't figure out if this was some kind of test, but something was off and I was getting fed up with this dance.

On my next swing, I added a quick elbow and was rewarded with the satisfying crunch of his nose getting smashed. I backed off again, waiting to see what he did next.

He was mad but still didn't pull a weapon.
Has to be a choice, no way he's not packing.
I couldn't see under his mask, but I would imagine his nose was gushing blood. His eyes flashed with anger and then tagged over to brute number two.

I let my gaze trail sideways as well, noticing that his friend was cradling a hand that looked like it had gotten a good slice from Tash's knife.
"That's enough. Let's go." His accent was thicker. This boss man was not happy.

Tash and I stood, watching their retreat. Not bothering to chase them as they made their way back to their vehicle.

They hopped in the SUV and the buddy yelled out "I'd watch your backs around here ladies!" They pulled a u-turn and sped away.

Tash laughed. "I think they need to watch their backs, no?"

I turned fully, taking a wheezing breath through a laugh. "You okay."

"Are you kidding me? He couldn't have taken me down on my worst day." She waved her knife in the air and then slid it into her own holster.

I could feel the weight of mine, still holstered on my waist. I hadn't pulled it out, choosing to wait for him to pull a weapon first. "Holy shit, Tash." I got a chance to really see what she was holding and shook my head, gesturing towards her weapon. Her very illegal weapon. "Where the fuck did you get that?"

She quickly pulled her shirt back down and tossed me a wink. "Get what?"

Her butterfly knife was better than my own and I swallowed my blade envy. "I have no idea where you fucking found that, but I'm sure you know you could be arrested for carrying it."

She gave me a knowing smile, "Bet you're glad I brought him today though, right?"

"Him?"

She tapped the weapon under her shirt. "I like to call him slick Pete."

My breath hitched and then I had to bend over with laughter, "Of course you do. Rest assured, I would never fuck around with slick Pete. He's all yours."

I was very much aware that she had just stood next to me, ready to battle. Whether their intent was really to hurt us or not, I wasn't going to fault her for having a weapon that helped protect us.

I stood up fully and finally got a good look at her arm, reaching out. "Shit. You got knicked."

"No." She gave me a little shake, obviously realising that my panic needed to be reigned in. "It's all his blood."

She gave me a nudge. "You saw my skills. There wouldn't have been any slicing." Her eyes widened. "What about you? You can fucking fight, eh?"

I shrugged. "He wasn't giving it his all."

"Nope. Don't be humble. You didn't even pull a weapon, you can kick ass."

I couldn't help but admire the calm way she was handling an early morning attack and said as much.

She shrugged and then explained, "When you are in my line of work for as long as I've been and try as hard as I do to be a truth teller, you're not exactly everybody's favourite person."

We were slowly making our way back to Rose and Lily's house. Neither of us mentioned wanting to run again, I was pretty sure that was enough action for this morning. "Well you are officially my favourite person today, Tash."

She threw me a wink, "Oh god. Sam will never forgive me if I steal his woman."

I shook my head, laughing. I didn't think I had ever laughed so hard after a knife fight nor had I ever experienced any heart flutters.

She'd called me his woman.