Rising from ashes

Chapter 5

Dom

I was at the gym by 4am doing my daily routine. Most people at the Cave got up and worked out at around eight or seven but I liked to do it early in the morning. It was both to stay fit and stay on the look out. It had been years since I was on the streets but my caution and alertness never disappeared. I didn't think it ever would.

I set a timer to ring after every 30 minutes so that I could change the work out. I needed to keep my body balanced and fit for the war we were about to start. You never knew when you would be attacked. Better safe than sorry.

Later on while I was doing pull ups, I heard very faint footsteps behind me. Without thinking, I grabbed the dagger on the table and threw it in the direction of the noise. The minute I let the dagger go, I realized who it was.

Shit.

Sky ducked her head and the dagger impelled itself into the wall.

"Every time." She said laughing her head off.

"Well if you would just walk in like a normal person I wouldn't try attack you. Ogle infront of me instead of trying to be sneaky about it because that will get you hurt"

"I was not- I didn't-"

Sky Silvestri was stuttering. I never thought I would see the day when she wasn't composed. And to think it was because of me confronting her about her not so secret ogling every morning. My mouth pulled up on one side enjoying how flustered she was. My smirk pissed her off more.

Sky grabbed my arm and flipped me over. I landed flat on my stomach with my arm pinned to my back. "You are exhausting" she whispered still pinning me down.

I put all my weight on my free hand and pushed off the ground. Sky slid to the other side before I could pin her down and stood. She started a high kick which I attempted to dodge but her stance changed and she landed a punch to my torso. I gabbed her wrist and span her around making her back flash against my chest. "And you think I'm hot." She let out a frustrated groan and swept my feet of the ground. I landed with a hard thud. Sky stared down at me with the biggest smile on the planet. She opened her mouth to speak but I grabbed her foot and tripped her. Before she could catch her breath, I used one arm to pin her arms over her head and the other to hold her down by the waist. She struggled under me and I let out a satisfied chuckle before I realized what position I put us in.

We both became very still. Silence overcame the room as we stared into each other's eyes. Sky briefly glanced at my lips before staring at my face again. My breathing deepened as I thought about how much I wanted to kiss her. My grip on her arms loosened as we stared at each other but she didn't move them. I glanced down at her lips and she let out a shaky breath. I leaned in really slowly giving her time to stop me but she didn't. Just before our lips connected, the timer went off startling us both.

I jumped off her instantly and stood up. Turning off the alarm, I turned back to see Sky still sitting on the ground. Heading towards her, I stretched out my arm to pull her up. "No it's ok, I got it" she said waving me off.

"Umm did you want to train?" I asked trying to fill the awkward silence.

"No-I umm... I need to talk to V about her upcoming mission so, I'll see you later?"

"Yeah ok" I responded rubbing the back of my neck.

Sky scurrying towards the door and slowly closed the door.

I stood there for a good five minutes not knowing what to do. I'd known I liked Sky for years now but it had never been anything but a fantasy. Today's events made me wonder if it still was a fantasy. She could have easily freed herself from my grip but she didn't.

Why?

Sky

I ran out of the gym like I was on fire needing to get as far as I could get. The further away I would be from whatever radioactive source was causing my heart to beat unsteadily.

What happened back there should never have happened. How could I have let that happen? Whatever that was... made certain boundaries seem blurred and I needed to remind myself of those boundaries. Dom was nothing more than my friend. My best friend for that matter.

My best friend and nothing more.

I repeated that sentence in my head as I slowed down. The more one said something the more true it became right? I would calm down and whenever I saw Dom next I would play things cool. There was no need to freak out over a little physical contact.

Despite telling Dom that I was going to see V, I found myself heading for the armoury. I needed to distract myself before talking to anyone about anything. What better way to do it than being surrounded by guns and knives?

It was no surprise that the weapons room was not empty. Someone was always lingering around. This time it was Lorenzo. He had a set of blades on the steel table in front of him and a cloth in his hand as he wiped over one. Lorenzo had light brown eyes and a scarred eyebrow. His short hair had a few strands of grey on them that matched the ones on his beard. He had the date of the fire tattooed on the side of his neck and a tree that stretched all the way round his arm and a tattoo of a lion breathing fire on the same side of his upper body as the other tattooes. He was about 5.9 and really muscled. He used to be my fathers most trusted adviser... before everything happened.

Lorenzo was with me from the beginning and took the role of making sure I didn't die after my parents died.