FOREVER MINE

C H A P T E R 20

ANGELA
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I close one eye as I aim one of my favorite knives at the dart board. When I finally throw the knife it swiftly flies through the air before landing straight in the middle of the board.

The side of my lips tilts upward as I walk over to the board to retrieve my knife.

"You're pretty good with that." Nicole pants as she gets off the treadmill.

"Thanks. I've had lots if practice." I say as memories of training with Jade comes flooding back. My chest tightens thinking about her. I haven't talked to her or Owen in days and quickly made a mental note to check up on them when I have the chance.

Nicole grabs her water bottle and towel and walks over to me.

We've been in the gym since earlier this morning, working out and doing some training. Nicole was here way before me and hasn't stopped to take a break until now. There's clearly something bothering her but I didn't ask her what was wrong. She didn't look like she wanted to talk so I'll just wait until she feels comfortable to talk to me about whatever is bothering her.

"Can I try?" She asks after taking a gulp of water.

"Sure." I hand her one of my babies and she smiles while aiming it towards the board.

When she throws and misses the target entirely, she chuckles sheepishly. "I'm so bad at this. Give me a gun and I'll shoot the target with my eyes closed."

I laugh while shaking my head, "No you're not bad at this. You just have to focus on your stance and stay relaxed." I pick up the knife and hand it back to her. "Here, try again."

She takes a deep breath before aiming the knife again.

"Try throwing it with controlled force and make sure you've got your eye on the target."

She shifts her weight on her feet before correcting her stance, then she aims and throws. The knife goes flying through the air and hits a few inches away from the middle.

We both look at each other as a broad smile stretches onto our faces. I laugh as I watch Nicole do a small happy dance.

"See, you can totally do it. With more practice you'll be able to throw knives with your eyes closed too." I wink at her and she laughs, throwing her arm over my shoulders as we head to the door.

"I prefer her not being good with knives too." Dante appears in the doorway, looking between the two of us before setting his eyes on Nicole. "I wouldn't be surprised if she tried practicing her throwing skills on me."

Nicole glares at him and he raises his hands in defense.

"What are you doing here?" I ask before someone actually gets stabbed.

Dante turns to look back at me after pulling Nicole's arm away from me and wrapping his around her. "Well I just wanted to say hello to my princess." He kisses the top of her head.

"I'm not a princess." She grumbled.

"You're my princess, princess." He kissed  the top her head again, ignoring Nicole's eye roll but I catch the small smile she tries to hide so much.

"I also needed to inform you two that Elijah wants all of us in his office in ten minutes." He says before giving Nicole one more kiss on the cheek and waving goodbye to me.

Nicole just shakes her head when I give her a teasing smile. "Stop it, immediately."

I continue to smile and say, "I'm glad you're not in a bad mood anymore. Dante makes you happy and you can't deny that."