Underground

11

Joel...
I sat on the floor of the training dome in front of the target just staring at it. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for meeting him or him leaving behind that choker. I wouldn't have met Duchess. I pulled my knees close to my body. It was five in the morning. The session starts at six-thirty and I still wasn't able to even touch the trigger with confidence. I'm a failure...

"You're early."

My head whipped around and there he was. Dressed in all black with his arms crossed on his chest and his hair pushed back from his face. He looked good enough to eat. The way his pants hung off his hips—
Dirty! Dirty girl!
He slowly walked over to me and I stood up. I didn't want to move because I didn't want this to be a dream or something cheesy like that. Joel stopped at the table with the guns and then looked at me. "They informed me that you can't shoot," he said with his sexy deep voice.

"Anyone can shoot," I said. "With practice."

"Except you."

I forgot how annoying he could be too. "No. I chose not to shoot," I snapped at him. Joel just stared at me and maybe I imagined the amused look in his eye. I only seen this man laugh once. You only met him once. I looked up at him and I couldn't believe that he was here. "You don't seem too shocked to see me," I said.

He shrugged, "You would have made it here eventually out of that dump."

Why I outta—! The double doors swung open and the other Candidates made their way inside. When the girls spotted Joel they squealed and ran towards him asking questions about his mission and if he was feeling okay. In the middle of all that, Joel looked over his shoulder at me and gave a sly smirk. Cocky bastard! I stuck my middle finger up at him and stomped over to Mitchie and Devlin. "He's popular," Devlin said out loud.

"He's a Mason," I grumbled.

Mitchie smirked, "I want to place a bet that before we graduate one of those brothers are going to want you."

"You are insane. Nicholas is so crushing on her," Devlin chuckled.

"How much you want on it?"

They are not serious. "Two hundred Nicholas cracks first!" Devlin says confidently as Nicholas walks right past us at that moment. Nicholas looks at him and then me. "Cracks at what?"
I shook my head, "I have no parts in this."
He smiled and then nodded at Devlin. "Give me twenty laps, James," he ordered and then looked at Mitchie who jogged over to a station. Nicholas jerked his thumb in the direction of the shooting target and I groaned.

"You know you can do this," he whispered.

"How do you know?" I snapped picking up the Desert Eagle and positioning myself. He leaned into my ear and whispered, "Because you wanted to kill that rapist."

What? "He put his hands on you and you wanted to stab him. You wanted to hurt him," he continued. "In your case, Ryder it might not be a man trying to kill you on a mission. No. He might try to take advantage of you. Is that what you want? A stranger touching you? Forcing himself on you? Are you going to allow it or are you going to shoot his face off for daring to touch you—?"

"Nicholas," Joel warned.

"There have been females in our Underground who were taken advantage of because they weren't strong enough," he chuckled. "Are you weak, Justine?"
My hands started trembling and like a vulture, Nicholas hovered over me closely. If it was a choice between my life and theirs...

"I don't have the stomach for a weak girl," Nicholas scoffed. "Perhaps you should go back to where you belong."

"That's enough, Nicholas!" Tommy growled and Nicholas growled back, "Learn your place, Sergeant! If you continue to feed her the spoon she won't feed herself!"