A Job Like Mine

I was panting as I ran down the hill; this was my tenth lap around the two-mile long track that ran throughout the woods that covered most of the property. I was tired and upset, anger having started in the pit of my stomach somewhere around my fifth lap, and by now it was a good blaze.

The boys had finished their prescribed three laps, while for some unknown reason; the head of the squad had given me fifteen. If anyone else had dared to give me that much extra work, I would have put him in his place so fast his head would have spun, but seeing as I didn’t have a death wish, I listened when Zion, the head of the squad, told me to.

Stumbling over something, I was going to assume it was a rock, I grunted as I caught my weight on my hands. “Okay, that hurt.” I grit out under my breath as I tried to get back on my feet. I knew what would happen if I didn’t make it back to the starting point in a couple of minutes.

The boys would come looking for me, and upon finding me resting, would go back to the babying I had just managed to shake off. God, I couldn’t go back to the babying, it was the worst. They would make sure I never lifted anything over twenty pounds and didn’t do anything fun.

Getting to my feet, I took off running again. Trying to prove myself to these guys was like running up a down escalator. I knew it was pointless, but I had skills I could contribute to the job and I would make them see it even if I had to pound it into their thick concussion ridden skulls.

Rounding the corner that led out of the trees, I watched the surprise that showed on the faces of the four men who were waiting for me. They had expected me to give up a while ago, and the fact I was still going must be confusing the hell out of them. “Baby sister, how the hell are you still running?” One of them called out to me as he straightened from his leaning position against a tree.

I grit my teeth and tried to keep going. “When I get bored and y’all are out I run this thing, not as much as this, but enough.” I called out as I ran past, my lungs screaming at me to shut the hell up.

The male who had stepped forward looked shocked as he moved back against the tree, his head shaking in disbelief. But still I caught the grin that covered his face, the one that was so similar to mine. His eyes were the same dark brown and his hair the same pressed copper as mine; we had the same long and thin body type with muscles under our skin. But while my muscles were slight, Mathew’s were obvious.

Re-entering the trees, I poured all my attention on continuing to run and breathe. There was a deep pounding in my head that kept in time with my heart. When this was over, I was going to eat as much food as I could find, take a bath, and then pass out.

Of course that was only if Zion, correction Leader Gains, didn’t have anything else for me to do. He probably would though, since he had made it his personal mission to get me to drop my insane idea to join the squad. I didn’t see what made it so insane, I had grown up with this life, and the dangers it put me in on a daily basis.

Ever since I had walked in on their briefing two days ago and told the boys that I wanted to join, Leader Gains, actually screw it, I was going to think of him as Zion, had given me what he assumed as impossible task after impossible task. None of it had worked in getting me to stop, and he was getting more and more pissed the longer I held on.

Caught up in my thoughts, I barely noticed Marc, one of the others in the squad, running up beside me. In fact if he hadn’t spoken up I probably wouldn’t have become aware of him. “Lace, Leader Gains says that it’s okay for you to stop.” The older man told me as he easily kept pace with my slow jog; I was too exhausted to go any faster.

I faltered for a second, my body screaming out hallelujah even while my mind pointed out that it could be a test. But I had been trained to follow what my brain told me, and ignore whatever messages my body was telling me. “No, I was told to do 15 laps.” I told Marc.

Zion hadn’t made it an order; therefore it was most probable that this was a test. I reasoned as I ran, my legs starting to feeling like jelly.
Glancing towards the male who ran beside me, I would have smiled if I had the energy. Marc’s features were set in definite shock, his green eyes puzzled.

Marc was, to put it kindly, rough. With green eyes and blond hair, he was well muscled and had tan skin. However, the looks didn’t sit well on him, his eyes seemingly two different shades of green and his hair in a perpetual messy state. His upper body was almost as long as his legs and his nose had obviously been broken many times before. If it weren’t for the fact that he oozed confidence and strength, he would easily be considered ugly.

Although for all that, he was nice, like a giant teddy bear, but once you got to know him you realized he was like a land mine-ready to explode if you so much as shifted wrong. His identical twin William, who was also part of the squad, had a completely different nature. Will was rough and tough from the second you met him and then on.

I glanced away from Marc then back quickly, realizing that he had started speaking again at some time when I had been thinking. “-Gains doesn’t want you to pass out.” Marc said as the two of us passed the spray painted orange tree that marked the halfway point of the trail.

“What?” I asked once I had gotten enough oxygen in my lungs to pronounce the one word.

Where was the damned water station? Every time I ran this thing, it seemed like it was getting further away.

Marc shot me an odd look as I slowed again, my eyes landing on the blessed station a few seconds after the though had gone through my head. Or had it been minutes? “I was sent to stop you; Leader Gains doesn’t want you to pass out.” He said as he watched me drink a cup of water in about two seconds.

Shaking my head as I crumpled the cup and stuck it in the trashcan that was drilled into the tree and had a two-pound lid, I said, “No, I’ll finish the run.” The lid closed with a bang.

Marc blinked at me. “Your serious about joining aren’t you?” He finally asked as I started running again.

“Yes, I think I could help if y’all gave me the chance.” I told the older male. The one-cup of water had poured a bit of life back into my aching muscles, but I doubted the boost would be long lived; for that to happen I would need a Red Bull, or fifty.

Marc was silent just long enough that he had me turning my head in interest as to what he would say. “What skills?” He finally asked.

Giving a small smile I picked up my pace. “Marc, I love you, but talking isn’t easy right now.” I told him instead of answering the question. I had something, and I was good at it too. However, it would be better if they didn’t know how good at it I was until I was ready for them to, because if they knew, they would try to find someone better.

Marc nodded his head towards me before he took off, showing his true speed as he quickly left me behind. He was probably going to report every word I had just said to Leader Gains, who was then going to give me a few more laps just for the fact that I could still speak.

Oh I couldn’t wait!

A few minutes later, or however long, I rounded the corner to start my twelfth lap. My vision was starting to become black on the edges and I had my eyes focused on the ground in an attempt to trick my body into thinking I wasn’t going that far when I literally slammed into a person.

Twisting around as I fell, I caught myself on my hands a second before I was jerked to my feet and whirled. With stars dancing across my vision, I held back a squeak as a fist headed for my face. Instead of issuing the girly noise, as I wanted to, I twisted my body around so that I avoided the punch, my legs going wobbly now that I had stopped running.

Barely avoiding the first punch, I was soon moving again as another was thrown towards my stomach and legs kicked out towards my knee. Side stepping the blows, I glanced away from the arms and legs of the person attacking me and towards the face, to meet the teal blue eyes of the Leader.

Putting this down as being some knew hell he wanted me to endure, I moved out of the way of more blows, not sure whether he wanted me to fight back or just avoid the blows. Soon, Zion answered the question for me, his fist coming so close to my head that I could feel the air move.

Jerking away from his fist, I threw my own towards his head even as I slid around towards his back.

Easily avoiding my punch Zion pivoted in an attempt to keep my in his sights, but the slight second his eyes had been off of me had been enough. Gathering all my strength in my legs, I launched myself towards him, my fingers curled and aimed for his eyes, even as I kept my knee low.

Through all this I made no noise, my body hitting his and my momentum taking us both to the ground, where I attempted to both claw out his eyes and knee his groin.

Bringing his hand up, Zion caught my hands and managed to block my other shot with his own leg before twisting the two of us so that my back was to the ground and he was pinning me. “You gave me the upper hand when you failed to return blows at the beginning of the attack.” He told me as he held me to the ground. Zion was 6’2” of muscle, and all of that was heavy.

I panted below him, too tired to answer his accusation. Instead to I did the only thing I knew how to do to distract a guy.

Wiggling under Zion, I let all my muscles relax even as my eyes went hazy. Rolling my wrists under his grip I raised my body until I was pressing against him, I flickered my tongue out over my lips. “Didn’t know what it was you wanted from me, mix signals are a very confusing thing you know.” I drawled out as I met Zion’s pretty colored eyes.

Shock and heat flickered beneath the iris, because no matter how much control he might have Zion was still male, and I knew I was an attractive girl, no matter how much I might try to hide it.

Lowering my eyelids so that they partially shaded my eyes, I poked my lower lip out in a mock pout face. “Next time I’ll try harder.” I murmured, my eyes moving along Zion’s handsome face to rest on his lips. “Promise I will.” I added, my voice dropping a couple of octaves as it went slightly rough.

Zion tensed above me for a few seconds before his muscles relaxed. I took the opportunity to move, jerking my body around as much as I could until I had enough room to scramble out from under the shocked, and quickly recovering, Zion.

On my feet, I jerked around brought all 100 pounds of my on top of Zion’s back. Moving I tangled one of my hands in his black hair.

Jerking my arm back so that his head was pulled away from the ground just enough that if I brought my arm down with enough force it would knock him unconscious, I put my other hand between his shoulder blades. “Now that this is over, can I go take a nap?” I asked the next second.

“Damn, where’d you learn to fight like that I?” Will’s voice called from the other side of the clearing, as I moved off of Zion and held my hand out to help him up.

He had gone easy on me, I knew because there was no way I would have been able to beat him if he hadn’t. Still, there was shock in the squad leader’s eyes as he took my hand.

Turning away from Zion, I flashed a smile at the other three boys. “Mostly from watching you,” I informed him as I moved towards them.

Matt was shaking his head even as he smiled. “Not that seduction part, none of that could have pulled that off. We’re going to have a conversation about how you learned that later.” He told me as he went from smiling to glaring in about two seconds.

Marc sniggered behind Matt as I rolled my eyes at my brother. “I find it funny that Zion went for it.” Marc told them all as I headed for the house. Screw food and a bath, right now I wanted sleep.

Shaking my head at the boys’ teasing, I yawned. “I’ll tell you later,” I promised as I opened the door and headed for my room. “Right now, I’m going to sleep. I’ll finish the laps when I wake up.”

I hadn’t forgotten I still had four laps left to do.