Disobey

Chapter 14- Paige

*Leo*

Friend-ish. I got her to say it.

Every time I thought about it there were little butterflies in my stomach and way too much pride.

Then I was slammed into a mat.

"Come on!" Tori yelled, not bothering to give me a hand. "Just because Miss Paige is gone doesn't mean you get to slack off. If you get hurt while you're under my watch then I'll be the one getting in trouble. Especially if you die." She turned to face my beloved doctor who was laying face first on a mat. "That means you too, Kyan."

He grumbled in response.

A day ago, not long after I'd worked up the courage, some would argue stupidity, to hug the Ice Queen, she'd pushed me in Tori's direction along with a strict schedule. Most of it involved training or being locked up in an office. Sometimes, though, I got to follow Tori around and see what she actually did. It was, honestly, boring. Like Paige, she did a weird amount of paperwork.

Today's brutal training had started exactly and hour ago, and both Kyan and I were absolutely done. The training room in New York was a lot like the one in Miami, but the Black Hands were different. In Miami, no one was in any particular hurry to get better. Here? Everyone was training like they might have to fight a war tomorrow. Which makes sense, because they actually might.

The best part, though? They'd all already noticed me. I'd been on the receiving end of one or two brutally rough should bumps, I managed to see one of them coming with my magic, but that got me even more glares. Even though Tori had clearly announced that I was 'Paige's property' that hadn't stopped the brutal glares.

"Where, exactly, is Paige?" I asked, after finally turning away from one particular buff man who'd been staring at me for an uncomfortable amount of time, and I had a feeling it wasn't because I was incredibly adorable. "I know you said she had a job and all that, but like, where and what and how much danger is she in?"

Honestly, I half expected her to punch me. Even if my magic only reacted when people actually intended to hurt me, I could see it in her eyes.

That, and she told me she wanted to punch me every once and a while.

She scowled at me, but answered. "That's classified, even to me."

"Is that... a normal thing?"

"Depends on the high commander." She calmly watched as Kyan's training partner slowly showed him how to flip someone over a shoulder. "My last one, almost never. There are some that go out so often that you never hear from them. Sometimes you think they're dead until they come back later, missing an arm. Paige, though, she's really really tough and really really smart. She'll be fine."

There was an underlying probably that I chose to ignore.

"So, that missing an arm thing? From experience?"

Her gaze slid to me for a second before going back to Kyan.

"My brother. He was a commander, but well on his way to high commander."

"Was?"

"I told you. He lost an arm. He's good, though. Lots of workers comp."

When she smiled, she finally looked the age she actually was. Which was, as far as I knew, young.

"That's enough of a break. Let-"

The particularly buff man, who was also bald which added to his badassery, walked over to us, followed by one small, thin girl with deep chocolate skin and eyes. They both had their eyes on me.