His To Save

29) Trick or training

           ***3rd POV***

A bead of sweat rolled down Noah's temple and continued south, collecting smaller sweat beads till it grew larger. It trickled down to his chin before bidding his skin a forever goodbye, falling to its demise on the mat.

    He was panting
Every muscle in his body was screaming.

"Ten more!" Matt hissed through gritted teeth. He was furious that Noah had reduced him to a personal trainer.
Noah had laid out that condition if Matt wanted his signature on that damned treaty.

   Being the loyal guard he was, Matt had agreed. Now he couldn't break his word, for they had signed a contract. He would be Noah's physical trainer till the day Noah would learn how to fight properly.
  In simple terms, Noah had bought off Matt for an indefinite future period.

     The half-naked male didn't complain, he started another set of push-ups, ignoring the pain crawling under his skin just like the thin layer of sweat covering it on the surface.

He tried to regulate his breathing but it came out hard and fierce.
There was only determination embedded in his blue eyes and success written in his heart. He wanted to be stronger. Wanted to stop relying on other people for his protection. If he could fight half like Matt, maybe people would stop looking down on him.

     Noah had witnessed Matt's journey from a scared 'scarred' little boy, to a dependable loyal man. He knew Matt's history even though he'd never admit it to his face.
And he felt sorry for him. For all the things his father put Matt through.

   When the pushups were completed, Noah lowered himself down to the floor, panting like he had run a hundred miles. He pushed his body to roll and then lay facing the ceiling.

His chest rose and fell rapidly, all the exhaustion now licking in.
   "Goddammit!"

Matt walked closer and halted by Noah's side like a titan giant, ready to devour him.
   He had nothing on other than a black vest and a pair of gray shorts Noah had lent him. But that was enough to display his well-taken-care-of body that could drive any sane woman crazy(or man).

"You're too slow," Matt mocked in a low voice, his green eyes casting a disdainful shadow on Noah's soul.
  
   Noah's pink lips stretched out in a smile, loving the way Matt appeared when he had those loathing specks in his green eyes from Noah's own torturing.

  "Help me up," Noah grunted lifting his right hand to Matt.

The younger male had the urge to slap the hand away and snap his neck before leaving, but, he shut those demons away and bent over to take Noah's hand.
As soon as he made that contact, Noah quickly snatched and pulled him down to himself. Matt tried to snap away from the sneak attack but Noah had the upper hand.

He pushed Matt to the side right before he fell on him, and then rolled on the prey with all of his might. He had been working out for a few days and had unlocked some of his body's potential.

   "Never lower-" a pant interrupted, "-your guard do-"

Matt didn't wait for any speech, he flipped both of them over in a blink, having him on top of Noah with an arm slashing across his neck dangerously.

    Noah chuckled from beneath him, delighted by Matt's agility.

"Incredible," praised Noah as his harsh breathing subsided.

  Matt glowered at him, wondering why he had agreed to this particular deal. Why hadn't Noah chosen something engaging like assassinating someone or delivering secret goods?
    
    He looked away to avoid Noah's eyes, and the older male took advantage of that. Noah knocked the arm placed lightly on his neck away with one hand while his other slid off Matt's other hand from the floor which he was using as a support.

Matt hadn't expected this. It took him by surprise, making it impossible to regain his balance. He saw his face falling straight for Noah's, and he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

             
    Whatever Noah was up to didn't play out as it should have. He realized his plan would be a disaster a little too late.

Their noses struck each other and parted immediately.
Their lips collided.
And their eyes grew to the size of saucers as they stared at each other.

   A kiss?

An accidental kiss.

But still a kiss.

Noah quickly pushed Matt off of him, and groaned to the needles of pain from his nose and his mouth. Their clash had caused more than a kiss.
He could taste the rusty sourness of blood from a collision between his teeth and the inner lip in his mouth.

    It was a sharp needle-like pain that shot straight into his chest like a flame.

Holding his mouth, he threw his gaze at Matt and wondered if he had suffered as he had! Did he blame him for the kiss?
     Did he mind?

"Do you like to stop here?" Asked Matt without sparing Noah a single glance.
   He just sat there, half his back at Noah and his eyes on the equipment in the gym.
Noah didn't see the clenched fists, or the fury boiling in Matt's eyes, nor the thin trail of blood coming out from the corner of his lips.

       "I can go a few rou-"

"Two hours a day. That's what's in the contract."

Noah frowned. The damned male was speaking just fine. He still had his foul attitude, he must have been okay.

   He wants to leave.

Noah sighed and pushed his body off the floor against his wailing muscles. "You know your way out. I'll go get a shower." With that, Noah dragged himself out of the room and shut the door.
Once he was in the lonely silent hallway, he exhaled deeply and glanced back at the room. What the hell had just happened?

   Would Matt have any ideas about that unplanned intimate contact?

He certainly didn't seem like a lady's man, let alone thinking about men. His devil of a father had scarred Matt's soul at a young age.

Pushing the incident aside, Noah forced his legs to walk away. A shower wouldn't do. He needed to soak that worn-out body in a tub and lay there for hours if not days.

--------------------------------

    Bam!
    Bam!
   Bam!

The resounding echo of the gunshots filled the room. A sound that never failed to help Matt calm down. He kept firing at the moving cardboard targets without the need for any noise-cancellation headphones.

  For years, he had endured the vibration of a gunshot that he adapted to it.

    He continued shooting, training his focus to only the target. But occasionally, a certain image kept flashing in his memory.
  An image that kept making him shoot off the board.

He fired till there were no bullets left.
A mind lost to a single distracting image.

Matt tossed the gun on the ground as the targets swung closer for inspection. To his dreadful surprise, he had only hit one bullseye. Only one.

       "Fuck it!" He cursed feeling heavily disappointed with himself.

No, he was not allowed to have his mind clouded by anything else. And yet, he couldn't stop wondering why Noah had done what he had. None of them had ever shown any interest for each other. Hell, Matt wasn't even into men...or women.
   
   The only woman that mattered to him was Annie. And it wasn't out of any lustful thinking. She mattered because she had saved him. He owed her nothing but absolute loyalty. If the need for dating ever did arise, he'd need to have her permission to pursue it.

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