Defiance | Book 1 [EXTENDED]

CHAPTER 27

We sat at the table. My hair soaked my black T-shirt making it stick to my skin. We were both silent. But I knew we were thinking the same thing.

Finally I said, "We have to use this mind-communicating thing an advantage,"

"Practice. We need to master it, learn how to control it,"

"Make it hurt less"

"That too," He said leaning back in the chair, " but first, you need to learn self-defense,"

"I know how to defend myself," I say getting up,

"Is that a challenge?" Max says getting up,

I stood with one foot in front of the other, rooting myself to the ground,

"I'm going to go easy on you," he said circling me. I watched him. He darted at me but I managed to do a side-step.

"Good," He said, "Your reaction time is good"

He struck again. This time he got me. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him. My back was to his chest and my arms were crossed in front of me, held by his hands. I tried to wriggle away but I was held tightly against him.

"Now first what you want to do is try to free your hands. Tilt your head back quickly then you can hit mine, then when I loosen the grip, push my hands away and knee me in the balls,"

"Did you just ask me to knee you in the balls?" I say laughing,

"Don't actually do it, just pretend to, even though I have balls of steel" He laughed back, I rolled my eyes and chuckled,

I did as he said, I threw my head back and hit him in the nose. I pushed his arms away, freeing mine and then proceeded to 'pretend' to hit him in the nuts. He let out fake cries and sat back down.

"You did fine, for your first time. But you did actually hit me in the nose pretty hard,"

"Sorry"

"Do you want something to eat?"

"what do you have?"

"What about... An omelette?"

"You have eggs?"

"I told you. Craig supplies us with resources,"

"The last time I had an omelette was, like, forever ago,"

"I have never met anyone so enthusiastic about an egg before"

He walked over to the tiny refrigerator that was actually cold, and pulled out two, perfectly oval brown eggs.

"Have you ever had genetically modified eggs before?" He asked, cracking them over a stove that actually produced fire from gas.

"No"

"Well after the war livestock struggled to survive and eventually died out. But we had DNA and all that science stuff that helped us create new modified products,"

"So these aren't natural?"

"Basically"

I heard them sizzle in the small round pan. I walked over and stood behind him and was immediately hit with the gentle smell that lingered in the air. He turned to face me, letting it cook slowly, "We're limited to a specific amount of gas use, because of the-"

I cut him off, "...I'm sorry,"

"For what?"

"For everything"

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I was assigned to kidnap you, to take you back to Craig"

"But you didn't,"

"But I could have"

"And my feelings for you...well they're too strong to ignore"

"Alex, you know how I feel about you" He said stepping towards me, taking my hands in his,

"Even though I feel the same, this could never work, I mean come on, think realistically. It's not like we're going to settle down and have a mutant/human family. Craig is just going to be after us,"

"But all that doesn't matter. We'll find a way take down the system, I can find a way to be human again. And about the having a family part... if I stay a mutant, it's impossible,"

"What do you mean?"

" Craig has shut down the ability for my reproductive organs to function correctly. Mutants aren't supposed to reproduce. The mutant part of my brain has overcome it,"

"At least you don't have to worry about protection," I say jokingly, trying to break the awkwardness, but he looked at me seriously,

"Honestly, it's not funny. It's really freaking shitty actually. I want to start a family, I want to find love, be free not to have some microchips float around my brain. I found you and it made me feel almost completely human again,"

"Max I-"

Before I knew it he kissed me. It was what I was waiting for, what I was hoping for. I took him all in, returning every movement. His lips in unison with mine. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in close. I gasped for breath and went back for more. What was I doing? I was a complete savage. Greedy for more, I kept at it. What were we talking about? It didn't matter. Everything was lost between our lips. He carried me over to the couch and dropped me down, his body still attached to mine. His face above mine, our kiss finally separated.

"Love me" He pleaded gently kissing my skin,

"I love you" I whispered accidentally, I didn't mean to say it aloud but it just escaped me, and I loved the way it sounded,

"Good," he said looking down at my grinning face.

I felt the thoughts race through my mind. Kiss me again. Kiss me again. Over and over. This was the most intimate moment I had had with him. Our bodies together, and his lips on mine, I let myself go, I loved him and that was all that mattered.