Shattered Grace (Fallen from Grace) (42 page)

Grace stood a couple of feet away, and waited with a hand on her hip for instruction. Quentin closed the gap between them, intending to be intimidating, but Grace refused to cow. “The first thing you need to know about krav maga is that it is an aggressive, hand-to-hand combat sport.” She swallowed, but stayed firm where she was. “Its focus is to neutralize any kind of attack. To disable or kill your enemies.”

Her eye ticked at the mention of killing anyone. She hoped it never ever
came to that. She thought back on the night of the accident, and remembered how easily it could have been her or one of her friends that died, which restored her resolve. “Okay.” With a nod, she stood firmly rooted to the floor.

An hour later and Grace was overwhelmed with the hand-to-hand stuff. She figured he’d be the one touching, not the other way around. So, when it was her turn to replicate the moves he was teaching her, the rush of his emotions was a little much. She did note, however, he was no longer struggling when it came to her. He seemed perfectly unaffected by the close contact. The only emotions she was sensing from him were irritation and fortitude. He better not be irritated at me, she thought.

Bent at the waist and breathing heavily, Grace was glad they were done for the night. She’d never worked out so hard in her life. Forget boot camp, krav maga was definitely the harder workout. A neat stack of snowy white towels sat on a shelf next to the water cooler. Grace grabbed one and wiped the sweat from her head and neck.

As she stood there waiting for Quentin to tell her she could leave, a voiceless whisper beckoned her to the security room—an ethereal voice scratching at the surface of her mind, but not really saying a word. It was the eeriest feeling. Panicked that someone was down there with them, she searched around for Quentin. When their eyes met, he grabbed the blades he was putting away and was by her side a second later. “What is it?”

How could she explain it without sounding like someone who needed to be in a straitjacket and locked in a rubber room? “Um…I don’t exactly know.”

He took her by the elbow. “Try.”

She walked toward the apartment door with Quentin close on her heels, and spoke over her shoulder. “Something in there is calling me.” She turned to see his reaction. His features had softened.

“
That’s Pandora. Unnerving, huh?” he said with a grin.

“
Yeah, just a little. It’s like I can hear her. Only, it’s in my head.” Grace’s voice shook a tiny bit.

Quentin grabbed the knob, and nodded toward the door. “Come on, let’s go check on her, because if you don’t you’ll be too restless to sleep.”

Pandora was right where she’d left her—in the back of the laser-beam-guarded security room. While Grace stared at Pandora, she wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered. She hoped Quentin could teach her some Jedi roll or something…just in case he was wrong about the laser guards.

For two weeks, Grace spent her time either at school or in the gym below the house. On the weekends, she and Quentin spent twice the normal time training. Deep down, Grace figured Quentin planned it by design, because every time Darius called to see if she was busy, she was too tired to do anything. The couple of times Darius snuck over completely surprised her. He’d say, “Texts just aren’t good enough.” Then he’d leave her standing at the door with a kiss that left her thinking of nothing else but him.

In the end, Quentin was right. The more he pushed her, the faster and better she got. At first when Quentin told her she was Chosen, she didn’t feel different. However, the knowledge that she was rapidly becoming a neutralizing machine capable of thwarting any attack with her bare hands, coursed powerfully through her veins. It was mind-blowing and totally cool.

What didn’t feel awesome was Quentin’s continued emotional distance. She would try to talk, and he’d only nod or grunt. He didn’t act mad
per se
, but he didn’t exactly seem thrilled to be so close to her either. When they sparred, she sensed the same feelings as day one of training—irritation and fortitude. Two emotions she didn’t know what to do with.

At the end of every training session, it was the same—Pandora’s siren call pulled Grace to the security room while Quentin waited for her. Afterward they’d walk the passageway to the top and he’d tell her she did well and he’d see her the next night. And true to his word, she wouldn’t see him, but she knew he was there. She could feel him all around. Grace wished they could get back to the way they were. Sadly, she realized she was becoming more accepting of the way things were, and gave up trying to talk to him about it.

Sometime during the last two weeks, Amanda had started warming up a little. They weren’t back to being buds, but Amanda did stop acting like Grace didn’t exist. It was a start. Regardless of how tired Grace was, she noticed something was off with her. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she knew there was something wrong. Since she and Amanda weren’t exactly on speaking terms, she didn’t push her about it.

All of the buzz in school today was the gloomy weather outside. There was finally a break in the blazing heat. Meteorologists joked it was a monsoon. If true, it was three months early. The rainy season in Utah didn’t usually start until early July. Perfect, she was parked way out like usual and had no coat or umbrella. “Meet me at the curb,” Zeke said, and ran and got his car, picked her up in front of the school, and drove her to her car. The rain pelted against the car, noisy and relentless. Grace looked up at the sky apprehensively from the passenger window, dreading getting out. “Uh … are you going to see your girlfriend this weekend?”

Zeke’s mouth twitched. “Are you jealous?”

“
What?” Grace asked. “No!”

“
It’s all your fault I’m unavailable now.”

Grace smiled. “Oh? Why’s that?”

Zeke crossed his arms over his chest, and sat a little back in his seat. “Because, if you wouldn’t have left me alone for so long at the party, I could be taking you out tonight instead.”

“
Don’t let
her
hear you say that. I’m guessing she wouldn’t like it.”

Zeke chuckled. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Grace leaned against the door, ready to beeline it to her car. “Thanks for the ride.”

“
No problem. See you Monday.”

“
See ya.” Outside the door of her car, Grace thought of another reason having a newer car would be a good thing—keyless entry. As she fought with the key, the rain pelted against her skin and clothing. Throwing her bag in the passenger seat, she plopped into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut.

Grace made sure the radio was on an even numbered station, and wiped the rain from her face. The music couldn’t drown out the loud rain hammering like a drum line against her car as she drove home. Usually, she parked in the turnaround in front, but today she decided to park in the garage. Quentin, surprisingly, pulled in next to her.

“
Hey.”

“
Hey,” she said back.

“
How was school?” he asked, holding the door to the house open.

It had been awhile since he’d made small talk with her, so she trod lightly. “It was school. How was guarding?”

“
It was guarding. Let me take that.” Before she walked past him, he took her backpack and swept his hand out in invitation. “Go ahead.”

His eyes were as flat as his expression. She opened her mouth to try to talk to him, but thought better of it. “Thanks.” Quentin following behind her made her nervous. Grace went left for the kitchen, and Quentin headed in the opposite direction. Disappointment wrapped its sticky fingers around her heart, threatening to squeeze. The sinking feeling settled in the pit of her stomach when he dropped her bag on the foyer table and took the stairs two at a time. Tears pricked at her eyes. She missed her friend. And it didn’t look like they were going to make amends any time soon.

Quentin gave her the weekend off from training. The plan was to spend the entire time with Darius. Tonight would be the first time seeing him for longer than a kiss in two weeks. Giddiness picked her mood up off the sad floor and whirled her about the house.

A little while later, her phone rang. Darius smiled at her from the screen and the familiar fluttering flipped around in her stomach. “Hello.”

“
Hi, angel face.” His voice kissed her ear, and she shivered. “Do you care if Ari and Lux come with us tonight?”

The question caused the wings of the fluttering butterflies to rip off. They sank, with her mood, to the pit of her stomach. “Oh, of course not,” she lied.

“
Great. See ya in a while, babe.” Grace’s plan of spending all weekend alone with Darius waved bye-bye as it floated before her eyes. She stomped to her room and focused on her makeup, hair, and outfit choice until seven o’clock.

When Grace heard the doorbell, she ran down the stairs to get the door. Quentin came out of his room. “What about flash floods?”

She stopped running and peered up from the middle of the staircase, puzzled. “What about them?”

His eyes narrowed as he looked down at her, the skin over his knuckles tightening as he gripped the banister. “You know, the flash floods that usually come as a result of heavy rain?”

Grace whipped back around, clomping the rest of the way down the stairs. With one foot on the stair and a hand on the banister, she glared back up to Quentin. “If you’re so worried about the water, Quentin, stay home.”

The steel color of his gaze suddenly reminded her of silver bullets, until he finally turned around to go back to his room. “Whatever.” Within seconds, his bedroom door slammed shut like a rifle shot, making her jerk with surprise.

Grace smoothed her hands down her hair, and took a deep breath. She turned her face to the ceiling, blinking the tears back, then padded across the floor. “Hi,” she said, opening the door to a grinning Darius. Grace forced her mouth to form a smile.

“
Hi, yourself.” He leaned in the doorway and placed a feather-light kiss on her lips. The tenderness of it had her heart fluttering and shaking loose the sticky fingers that had gripped it earlier. “Ready?”

She took another deep breath. “Yeah.”

Concern etched his face as he regarded her, but he said no more as he pulled an umbrella from behind his back and covered her as they walked to Ari’s truck.

Ari turned as far around as he could as soon as she slid into the backseat. “Hey.”

Grace smiled. “Hi.” Lux didn’t acknowledge her. Not that Grace thought she would.