Reign (Riders of Apollo #1)

Chapter 47: Peyton Lennox

It's no fun sitting in one position all day staring at the same screen, especially when your boyfriend is out killing people and blowing things up without you. It's depressing not only because I don't get to blow things up - which I very much enjoy by the way - I'm worried that he will get hurt.

Every other mission we've been on I've been the one to save him, I know he's perfectly capable of keeping himself safe and alive but still. 

Why does he get all the fun?

I've been hacking banks and twisting codes all day, Romeo beside me fuelling me with energy drinks and lollipops. So, I'm buzzing for a fight, for movement. "Right, I'm taking a break Romeo. I'm gonna go find Runner and beat the crap out of him."

I skip out of the office and into the main part of the clubhouse, this is where basically all the men are hanging out. Bar a few since they're still out on mission. Roman is on the armchair with a beer in hand and I drop a quick kiss on his cheek before grabbing Runner and dragging him with me to the training room.

"What is up with you?" He asks me as I twitch for like the seventh time, I really should cool it on the energy drinks and excessive amount of sugar but it's the only thing keeping me awake. I think I am now addicted to caffeine, I'm not sleeping well enough to maintain my job and staring at screens all day is more exhausting than one would think so if anything, I need it.

Unfortunately, I did not need four of the bastard things in about three hours alongside a large amount of candy that Romeo keeps handing me. I don't think I've even eaten a vegetable in the last week or so, this job is making me so unhealthy. Not that I mind, besides before I lived mainly on Krispy Kreme, iced coffee and spite.

I guess this is a glow up. "I had too much sugar slash caffeine and now I need to spar."

"And you chose me? You know I'm not that good in hand to hand."

"How about you have a knife and I won't? I think it'll help you fight me anyway, just imagine that I have a knife too."

"Are you training me as well?"

"Not if you don't want me to, I just figure that you can show the guys that you are actually capable since they're being assholes. Do you remember that time that Bear was being a complete dick about you? I thought that was mean so if we train you up, you can beat the shit out of him in a sparring session in the future."

"Fine." He settles into an awful defence pose and I raise an eyebrow. I step over to him and adjust his posture, I could knock him on his ass way too quickly and I need a good fight.

"Hands up." He nods and does as told before launching himself at me. No wonder he has a bad defensive pose, he's always on the offensive, though I suppose he's normally in the room with a fuck off, great big gun. "Protect your right side, move your body into the strike for more power."

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"Oh, yeah!" He starts dancing excitedly when he realises he got the drop on me for two seconds. I shrug and start dancing with him, he almost knocked me on my ass after two and a half hours of training so I'm pretty proud of him.

He has more talent than our brothers give him credit for and it hurts my heart for him. I know that they know he's gay and Runner says they don't have a problem with it. I don't know I'm probably reading into things.

The guy I was trapped in Russia with came out as pansexual when we were fifteen and the beating he got was unreal. I didn't think he was going to make it through the night, I stayed up and waited for what felt like forever.

We still talk now and he tells me that he has so many problems in his type of work because of his sexuality and I worry that Runner is being sidelined for the same reasons. I can't generalise though, either way I'm still pissed that he gets treated badly.

"High five, buddy!" The loud clap resounds heavily across the gym and he gasps, his hand swings down to his side with his face contorted in a wince. "That hurt, mate?"

"Just a little bit, jeez you're vicious and I'm exhausted. I can't believe I lasted that long against you to be honest."

"I'm not, I told you that you're actually pretty good. Especially with weapons, you need to give yourself more credit."

"Come on you two, we're gonna go and grab some dinner in about twenty minutes so go change!" Lexie shouts from the balcony and Runner and I jump out of the ring, racing each other to the door.

I trip him so he shoves me and we both fall through the doorframe together. "See you there, bestie." I punch his arm and he smiles.

"See you, Sav." I hurry back to my house and find Roman half asleep on the couch. I kiss him gently before skipping up the stairs to have a quick shower.

I slip on a white dress and throw a burgundy long shirt over the top, cinching my waist in with a belt and the chains Lucia gave me attached. I slick on a little bit of make up and tidy my hair before dashing down the stairs and throwing myself on Roman.

He groans into a laugh as he wraps me in a tight hug, kissing my neck and tickling my waist. I squeal and smack his hands away, "We're all going out to dinner so get your ass up."

"Can't we just stay here and sleep? We see them all the time."

"No, come on. We never get to go out to dinner with them, plus it's free food. How can you miss out on free food?"

"Fine," He groans, "Let's go."