Crossfire - a sizzling slow burn with supernatural powers

'We'

His eyes glinted with the blue power within. I wanted to throw myself at him. That always sounded fake to me in movies or books, but now I understood the urge. I didn't know where we stood after the night in the meadow and the awkward drive back. I didn't even know if there was a 'we'. I just knew I wanted or needed to be closer to him. 

We met in the middle of the lobby, the two men keeping us apart.

"Give us a moment fellas," Brandt said. The two men backed off and Brandt approached me.

"What are you doing here?"

I could see his different layers. The hard exterior armor was tough and apprehensive and below was the softer Brandt, the caring Brandt, whose touch made my heart beat faster. I was falling for him, even knowing what I knew about him.

"Your father wanted to chat."

"Threaten, you mean. I won't let him hurt you, I promise."

As we spoke we inched closer to each other without being deliberate. Our fingers touched. They crawled closer still. His hand cupped my elbow.

There was so much I wanted to say. I want to see you again, even though your father said not to. I like you.

"We've got to go." One of the men said, addressed more to Brandt than to me. They knew who he was. Brandt lifted my hand to his mouth and gave it a kiss. Moments later the two men guided me to the SUV, and we drove off.

Every fiber of my being wanted to scream with frustration, if fibers could scream. I sat in the back seat, not outwardly reacting. Inside a storm was brewing. There was a 'we'. Even if Neil Duncan wanted us to stay away from each other. Why in the grand scheme of things, would he tell us to stay apart? He knew I was empowered, although he most likely didn't know my power. I didn't have the blue lightning that the Duncans possessed. In the grand scheme I didn't matter, Brandt did. Brandt had acted against Neil Duncan, when we ran away. That was also the reason we had to go back.

The SUV stopped in front of my house, and one of the men opened the door for me. He handed me my phone, before they drove off. There were a number of messages from Andrea and Penny asking, if I was okay. I typed a quick message back,

"Long story short. It was a misunderstanding. See you tomorrow."

Right now I understood Brandt's need to let out his frustration in the meadow. I needed to do the same. I went inside and changed to my running tights and a t-shirt. I was by no means a runner outside of forced running during P.E., but it was a physical way of letting off steam. I ran through the woods, feeling what I was feeling, oblivious to the twigs hitting my legs and torso. A half hour later I returned pulling too little oxygen from the air and completely drenched in sweat. I flopped down on my bed, waiting for my pulse to normalize. Conclusion: I wasn't in good shape, when I couldn't run as long as my frustration took to dissipate. I could a: not run in the future b: train and get better. I couldn't find an option c. I pulled out my phone.

"Hi Mats. It's Harper. Do you know a good gym near my neck of the woods?"

Mats chuckled happily on his end,

"You betcha. I'm glad to hear you want to train. An old army buddy of mine has a gym. I'll give him a call, so he knows you're coming. He's a normie, but he's seen some weird stuff."

In other words, Mats' army buddy didn't know about the empowered, but had probably seen Mats' strength or witnessed something else during his service. I thanked Mats and sent my regards to Sylvana.

I tried to stay busy in order not to think about Brandt. School and a few weekly runs through the woods formed the basis of my day. Somedays, I began to hang out with Andrea or Penny, which became so much easier with the small, electric car, my mother supplied. We would meet at a cafe in town or the sandwich place.

And then there was Titan Fitness. The first time I walked through the door, I was a sure I had taken a wrong turn. Titan Fitness was situated away from Main Street on an industrial street with a number of vacancies. It was a far cry from a branded gym with bright lights and squeaky new machines. Titan Fitness was rougher and battle worn. The people inside looked equally battle worn and were all veterans.

"You look lost, puppy." One guy said to me as my eyes adjusted to the inside of the gym and I took it all in. The center of the gym housed a boxing ring and along the walls was gym equipment and punching bags. It was nothing like Mats' state of the art training center and nothing like the run of the mill gym with people in Lycra on treadmills. This was worn in and the clientele seemed to be male bulldozers.

A muscular guy came from the office to meet me with his hand out-stretched.

"You must be Harper," he said and introduced himself as Dingo.