Anything For Grace

Chapter 17

Elijah's POV...

My days without Penelope were long and shitty. I didn't bother putting the position of assistant up because I didn't trust anyone to do the job like her. Not that she was over-qualified, but it's just this was her position. I would sit in my office all day and hate my mornings. She wouldn't come through without knocking, but bursting in another energy. I was crazy to treat her like an inferior worker when she didn't deserve it. She had bite, she could fight back and that's what I needed. I needed someone to tell me what I needed to hear, not what I wanted.

I chew on my bottom lip, which is a rare occasion but it showed I was nervous. My fingers itched to give her a phone call, asking if she was alright, but she purposely placed Harper's phone number down. I didn't want to get Harper involved, but she was my only choice. Why doesn't Penelope have her own phone number? Does she, but is not willing to give it away?

I would go through the whole week without hearing from Penelope. Did she find another job? Was she satisfied? Was the other job giving her that I wasn't? Probably manners.

Every time my fingers would grab my phone, I would try to dial the number, but my brain had to retract. It wasn't her number. There was no way to contact her; I'm sure she abandoned her work email.

I'd drive by her home in the dead of night, just to see if her bedroom light was on, but it was always off. I had to wait for a week to go by to see her again. I'd hold my breath for a whole week until I could see her again. I wished things were different, that I wasn't infatuated with her presence, but she was different, private.

This whole week, she's been training with Déja and I couldn't attend her lessons as Alexa has been itching to kill. If only my sister was stable enough to be normal in these situations, I'd spend my time intrusively watching Penelope.

Finally, it was Friday and it was a normal day. There weren't a catastrophe waiting to happen and I had time to go see the last view moments of Penelope's training. I haven't seen her fight since her and Alexa's match, but I would hope it would have made a difference.

I walk into Déja's gym and see Penelope getting flung around like a rag doll. She's been enduring these types of rehearsals for a week now and has yet to improve. It may be longer than we expected, but she's a fighter, theoretically. I sit down on the bench, watching as Déja try to teach her how to effectively defend herself in that type of move. Penelope's drenched in sweat and tired, but willing to learn.

Alexa sits next to me, sipping on her water bottle as she blots her forehead with her towel. "How's training going?"

Alexa nods her head. "She's actually not that bad. When did you get in?"

"Just now."

Alexa nods her head. "I knew it."

"Knew what?"

"That it would take only a week for her to start getting some moves down." Alexa approves, shrugging her shoulders.

I squinted my eyes in confusion. Unless it was a part of the plan to get tossed around like a rag doll, I would beg to differ. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"It's a part of the process." Alexa rolls her eyes. "They've been at this last part for about ten minutes. Your girl will be able to spar after this last demonstration. Trust."

I rolled my eyes and continued watching. Penelope notices I'm sitting and loses her focus once before returning back to Déja's instruction. "Any word about our experiment?"

Alexa sharply swallows before nodding her head. "Yeah and I'm super excited."

"Why are you excited?"