The King's Den ||h.s||

nine

Here I was back again. I wasn't very excited but if I get the money that I got last time, maybe, just maybe, it won't be so bad.

This time I got much better apartment given at the Den. It looked like a mini hotel room.

I was trying to take a nap, very much unsuccessful.

In moments, Niall came barging in.

"You're back!" he says.

I sat up, "Yepp I'm back."

He hugs me, "good to see you again. I can't believe you're actually back."

"You were right, I'm gonna be here for a while," I sighed.

He chuckles, "it won't be so bad."

I rolled my eyes, "Niall you know me as Julia not Marcus. The rest of the guys know me as Marcus, remember?"

"Oh yeah, are you ever gonna tell them?" he asked.

"No, I don't think I can. I feel it's either they find out or no," I admit.

He nods, "well you have me and Liam to protect you from that."

I smiled, Niall was a sweet guy. Liam was too, but he was more like a protective brother to me. I'm glad at least someone knows my secret, someone I seem to trust.

"So do you know what my job is today?" I asked.

He nods, "it's not a job, it's training. Harry wants you prepared as quickly as possible so we can start the actual work. "

"Sounds good," I say.

"Let's get going then, Harry doesn't take tardiness very well."

***

I sat in a room, several other men I have never seen sat on benches off to the side, I take a seat and Niall takes one next to me.

The room wasn't very bright, but it was like a gigantic gym, sort of. Weapons hung on walls and there was a huge mat in the middle. But there were weights, workout machines as well.

"What is this place?" I whispered.

"This is our training room, we train our new men in here as well when we need to work out," Niall answers.
"Who's training me?" I asked.

"I think Harry himself."

Lovely.

Everyone quiets down the moment Harry steps into the room. Men who are probably bigger got quiet, almost in fear. He was clearly respected.

"Proceed to your training," Harry announces. In

He was dressed in basketball shorts, his hair was up in a bun. He didn't look scary but the vibes he gave were.

"Marcus," he greets me. "Niall."

We both nod.

"Niall you are a handy man with a gun. You will be helping me, that's why you're here, am I correct?" Harry asks.

"Uh... Yeah, " Niall shrugs.

"Alright, first things first. The use of a gun. Niall here is very decent at it as I am, " he explains. "We will figure out the use of the gun, what gun suits you and how to use it in a situation where you are running to save yourself."

I nodded, "okay."

Harry nods, "let's start."

*

Two hours later and I'm still struggling with using a stupid gun. I had shit accuracy, I wasn't even close to the body sometimes and now I can tell Harry and Niall were getting frustrated.

"Again, this time try to actually hit the target," Harry says.

I sighed, "I'm trying."

This gun was heavy, my arms were starting to hurt, and now I was getting frustrated.

I managed to finally hit the target, "finally," I breathed.

"That's enough of that for today," Harry says. "Niall you can leave, I have to work on his combat skills now."

I knew one thing for sure, I had no strength whatsoever.

I followed Harry to these punching bags, Harry grabbed some gloves and handed me them.

"Put these on," he grumbled.

I was getting more irritated now that he clearly didn't want to be here, "can't we just take a break? You're clearly getting annoyed."

He stops and looks at me, "the real world doesn't have breaks, mate."

I just rolled my eyes and put on the gloves. The barely managed to fit my hands, most the guys hands here and the size of my face where mine might be half their size, if not smaller.

So they were a tad bit loose.

"They're big on me," I say.

He shakes his head, "don't worry. I can tell you have no upper arm strength. You'll be using your legs to kick more, your arms will be used to block."

"Okay... " I say.

"Here hold your arms up like this," he says, demonstrating himself.

I copy his pose, "good. Okay Now I want you to use all your energy into that one leg and you kick release that force." He again, demonstrates kicking into the punching bag. You can easily tell he was strong.

"Okay, I'll try, " I say. I try to focus, and when kick I barely even move the bag. "What the hell?"

"You need to put more force," he says. His eyes were furrowed, carefully watching me.

I tried again, a bit better but still horrible.

"Pathetic," he says chuckling. "You clearly don't work out much, do you?"

"Can't you tell?" I laughed awkwardly back.

"Well you'll clearly need to keep working on that, " he chuckles again. He was being rather friendly, more than he has with me before, he wasn't so uptight.

"Okay so I basically have to keep working on... Everything?" I asked.

"Pretty much, yeah," he answers.

"This is a whole lot harder than I thought," I groaned. And we continued practicing for another hour.

'That'll do for today, I suggest you keep practicing," harry nods.

"I got that," I say.

He nods and leaves the room. I once more stood by myself, staring at him leave, leaving me at awe.

***