Spy Out Of Water

Chapter 7

The next morning, I got dressed for my daily workout. I grabbed a water and a granola bar from the fridge, sitting at the bar. Norman came bouncing down the stairs with a huge smile on his face.

"What's got you all happy this morning?"

"It's the weekend, Finny-bear! Which means no school!" Norman claps his hands. "Plus we've got your spy hottie coming over in about five minutes."

"He's not-" I start to argue but I'm interrupted by the doorbell. The TV turns on, showing Jax and Toby on the screen. The scanner scans them, showing their information that was now in our database. Norman uses the remote to approve them, disarming the security measures before going to open the door.

"Welcome!" Norman swings open the door, holding his arms out. Does he always have to be so dramatic?

"Hey guys, come on in," I tell them. I hop off of the stool I was sitting on and walked over to them.

"Ooh! Mr. Howley sent over this new surveillance equipment. There's one camera so small, it can fit in a button undetected!" Norman leads Jax upstairs to the tech room leaving me and Toby standing in the doorway.

"Wanna be my sparring partner?" I ask him, breaking the silence.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Toby looks flustered for a second before maintaining his composure. "But I gotta warn you though, I was the best at hand to hand combat back at my academy," he gives me a cocky grin, following me to the workout room.

"Oh really?" I raise a brow. I hadn't gotten a chance to practice combat with an actual person since I came here. I was a little out of practice, but I was the best at combat at my academy.

We both stood facing each other in the middle of the large mat in the gym.

"Okay, so how do you want to-" Toby started to ask, but before he could finish, I threw the first punch, which he effortlessly blocked.

Toby smiled with a determined look on his face. He did a foot sweep and I jumped before he could trip me. I spun around to kick him, and he grabbed my foot, pulling it towards him so I fell onto the mat.

"Surrender?" Toby asked. I shoot him a sly smile before flipping myself back up, kicking his chest as I do so. This sends him back a couple of feet before landing on his back. He gets back up and we continue throwing and blocking punches. We match move for move and neither one of us seemed to be giving up anytime soon.

Eventually, I'm able to grab hold of his arm, maneuvering myself under him to flip him over my shoulder. But he doesn't let go and drags me down with him, turning his body so that I land right on top of him.

I meet his bright blue eyes staring intensely at me. We're both panting, out of breath from the fight. I don't think I've ever had to spar anyone as good as him.

"Hi," Toby's voice was soft. He tucked a strand of hair that had fallen into my face behind my ear.

"Hi," I whispered back.

I cleared my throat and quickly moved off of Toby. I didn't know how to deal with all of these new feelings. I was trained to take down trained assassins and spys with just a paperclip and a lighter but boys? That was one thing the academy did not prepare me for. Not only was this all new territory for me but I also reminded myself I was here for a mission, one that we have yet to complete and that's where all my focus needed to be right not.

"Um, thanks for...uh..sparring with me. You're one of the best sparring partners I've had in a long time," I avoid meeting his eyes.

"Thanks. You too. You're better than any of the guys I've ever fought," Toby tells me. "Hey, Finley I-"