Wearing the Red Hood

Chapter 19

This chapter is dedicated to @DahliaSalcedo thank you for all the votes you've le

Jason

The third time my body hit the mat with a loud thud, I couldn't take it anymore.

Growling, I got up to my feet and faced a smirking Cass. Her expression irked me further, while Tim and Asteria stood behind her, also sporting looks of amusement. Beyond them, I could see Razel's familiar brown hair in my peripheral vision. But I knew looking at her would distract me further.

"You're supposed to be training me," I complained in frustration to Cass, who crossed her arms over her chest and raised a challenging eyebrow. "Not beating the crap out of me the day before I have to face your mother."

"This is training," Cass replied, uncrossing her arms and shrugging. "You need to learn to deal with the pain, because you'll probably get a lot more from my mom."

I scowled at her words, but deep inside, my heart felt heavy. Somehow, I already knew things weren't going to go my way at tomorrow's mission. "How encouraging," I commented with heavy sarcasm.

Asteria finally stepped forward, probably taking pity on me. "Alright, Jason. You have to remember, Shiva is one of the best martial artists in the world. And she's very patient. If you're too rash, she's just going to hand your ass to you."

"Her daughter already seems to be doing a good job of it," I muttered angrily under my breath. My hand automatically went to rub my back, which still hurt after the last time Cass threw me.

"Imagine what'll happen if you actually face her," Tim chimed in with a grim expression.

As usual, my impatience and annoyance won out. "Screw this. I don't need to save that asshole anyway," I spat before walking off the mat and storming out of the training room. Once the doors slammed shut behind me and echoed in the hall loudly, only then did I realize that what I said could've hurt Razel very badly.

Why does it matter? You never cared about hurting anyone before Jason, I told myself.

And yet, even as I tried to convince myself to walk away from a task that could quite possibly get me killed, my feet slowed down and eventually stopped. It was as if knowing Razel was on the opposite end of the hall kept me tied to the place. Because if it weren't for her, I would've grabbed my helmet and gotten on my motorbike- long gone before anyone finally had the guts to come after me. That's what the Red Hood would've done. Hell, that's what Jason would've done. After meeting death once, I wasn't keen on doing it again. Screw Peter Pan. Death is not a fun adventure.

I sighed, once again feeling like I should keep moving forward yet being unable to. It felt a lot like the time when I had to decide whether or not to tell Razel about my nightmare. When my fight or flight instinct came out to play, flight had always been the easier option. But ever since I met Razel, I felt more like fighting.

God damn it, Jason! You sound like a lovesick fool! I gritted my teeth and ran my hands through my damp hair in frustration. I tried to focus on quieting my riot of thoughts, and that's when the sound of soft footfalls met my ears. I turned around just as Razel came walking down the hall, looking uncertain with her bottom lip underneath her teeth.

She stopped short when she saw me standing there and already looking at her. I saw her slender neck move a she swallowed hard before my eyes met her brown ones. "What?" I snapped when she didn't say anything, making her flinch in surprise. Of course, I felt awful afterwards and released a loud breath to calm myself. "I'm sorry," I said tightly. "Why are you here, Razel? Can't you tell I want to be alone? Or was me walking out of the room not enough of a clue?" Still being a douche, but at least I wasn't shouting at her.