Watching Brie struggle was an interesting prospect, Ashe decided. The girl knew how to defend herself, that much was clear, but she wasn’t really trained to fight. She’d learned on the streets how to get away from men that crossed the line or tried to make her do something she didn’t consent to. That didn’t translate well to Kyle’s methods, or Eric’s for that matter.
So, when he moved to throw her to the ground, she twisted in Kyle’s grip and attempted an unorthodox blow to his family jewels. She didn’t manage to land it, but the enthusiasm was there, and against any regular opponent, it might have worked. That didn’t stop her from being slammed to the mat, however.
Ashe winced at the impact, the sound echoing through the empty hall. Kyle quickly stepped away, avoiding the mistake of attempting to pin her further from there. He’d learned how bad of an idea that was the first time when she just outright bit him. PTSD was a bitch like that, and he at least tried to be respectful of boundaries while teaching.
That was why she would have to teach those sections to Brie, because she didn’t see Ashe as a potential threat, even in a heated spar. It made little logical sense, but some people didn’t take to being held by someone who was obviously male, even if they were gay. Ashe found it flattering that Brie didn’t see any hint of maleness to her, that she trusted her enough to do full contact sparring.
“You are tenacious,” Kyle said, offering his hand to help Brie up. He was grinning despite what was no doubt several new bruises forming across his body. “Where the hell did Ashe find you?”
Brie glared up at him, and slapped the hand away before standing. “Naked and surrounded by other abused girls.”
He at least had the decency to wince.
Brie stomped over, and Ashe held up a water bottle that she snatched away and began to gulp down.
“It’s complicated,” Ashe interjected. “And it shouldn’t be hard to figure out when and where if you’ve paid any attention to my exploits, so please drop it.”
Kyle nodded, stepping back towards his boyfriend who was still playing with one of the rubber knives. Ashe was convinced it was a nervous tick at this point. They were also short on time for the current lesson. Crystal was bringing Jason and Todd for their own lesson which would follow this one.
They refused to leave their loved ones vulnerable, not after whatever happened with Robbie. They checked in with each other every two hours, barring planned disruptions like sleep or meetings. It was overly cautious, but the last thing they needed was someone else vanishing without a trace.
Ashe’s phone dinged, and she was happy to see that Crystal had arrived with the boys. That meant that she and Brie were free to start on some of the other things while the elder’s mentored the baby gays in how to survive in Jericho. Well, the training was more for Todd, given that Ellington no doubt had some of the best martial trainers drilling his son from a young age.
Kyle still was eager to put him through his paces, and Ashe had to admit that she too was curious to see what he could do. She’d only been learning for a few months and already she could handle most people hand to hand assuming she wasn’t already injured going into the fight.
Not that she had yet to actually win a spar with either of her instructors. They were both experienced soldiers, they knew their craft inside and out, she wasn’t going to beat them for years to come. That didn’t mean she was going to stop trying, just that she had to keep going. Good enough was only such until it wasn’t, and then you were dead.
She refused to end up like Robbie, disappeared and his murder used as a prop in someone’s scheme. A scheme that she was forced to play along with for the time being. Yessina was still leaving them alone, and Alejandro hadn’t attempted anything to her knowledge.
Ashe continued to expand slowly, which was part of why she was sticking around, Todd was starting to move the drugs she had given him, and it turned out his little circle all had big money and were willing to pay a shitload of cash for their drugs. That more than half of his claimed clientele went to her school was something that amused her to no small degree.
Even Gray was buying her stuff, through an intermediary of course, but that didn’t change things. If he continued to pose a problem, she had an easy option on the table for getting rid of him. He just wasn’t a threat compared to the other players on the board, and once she was out of school, he wouldn’t matter at all.
Just a few more weeks and she would be free of that hell. That still left her college plans, because she could admit there was still much she needed to know about running a large organization that she could pick up from potential business management courses. The part she was dreading was talking with her parents about her change in plans. Jericho had proven actively dangerous to her, and convincing them that she would rather stay would be a challenge without revealing exactly why she wanted, or rather, needed to stay.
That conversation wasn’t something she was looking for, and had already put it off for far too long as it was. At least the arrival of her girlfriend was a good enough excuse to put those thoughts aside. She was wearing sweatpants and a tank top, her hair freshly buzzed on one side while the blue shone deeply with the fresh dye job on the longer side.
Trailing behind her were Jason and Todd, the latter of whom’s eyes were darting across the room between her and the instructors. Eric whispered something to Kyle that made him snort then elbow his boyfriend. Ashe wanted to recruit them to her cause, but they had worked with the Viuda for over a decade, getting them to quit wasn’t something she thought she could manage. Even bringing it up was too much of a risk as it could cost her the best instructors she could have ever asked for.
She didn’t have the support to depose Yessina either, she was universally liked among most of the membership. Alejandro’s group was openly peaceful with them as well, something that hadn’t been true about her predecessor, and the foreign cartels that backed the city’s drug trade also backed her.
Really, there wasn’t much Ashe could do without considerable proof, and even that would be dubious at best. Criminals didn’t tend to have moral hangups about general crime, no matter how detestable. There was no proof that Yessina was linked to the abductions, especially with their employing known Iron Patriots to do the dirty work.
The warehouse they hit had no such signs of trafficking, which was a small comfort. She half expected there to be a stash of girls hidden somewhere, but the ease of which Brie was able to lure in more than half of the men posted there was probably the biggest hint that they wouldn’t find anything.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Ashe, you’re getting stuck in your head again,” Crystal said softly.
Blinking, Ashe realized that she had and let out a quiet groan. “Sorry about that, just a lot on my mind.”
“I would have never guessed,” Crystal said, pulling her into a one armed hug. “Want to talk about it?”
She did, but wasn’t sure where to start. “I don’t think I can leave Jericho.”
“Of course you can’t,” Brie cut in before Crystal even had a chance to react to her statement. “You’d miss my charming personality too much.”
“Like you wouldn’t just follow me,” Ashe said, rolling her eyes. “But seriously. Like it or not, I’m laying roots here, getting tangled in all sorts of responsibilities. There’s too many people that are coming to rely on me to just pull a runner, and uprooting my entire organization wouldn’t be viable for several more years.”
Ashe glanced over where Todd was being led through the motions of one of the first techniques Ashe had been shown all those months ago. Jason on the other hand was going hard against Eric with their rubber knives.
“True,” Crystal said, watching her brother with a sharp eye. “Jason had to learn to take care of himself, and once he shook the shock off, he did step up. I’d almost feel safe leaving him after seeing all of that, but he’s still my only living family that I am willing to claim. I can’t just leave him to my father’s mercies.”
Jason was definitely better than Ashe was with a knife, there was no disputing that as he actually gave Eric a workout. Sure, Eric was winning most exchanges, but Jason still managed to land the occasional hit. If anything, it just encouraged Ashe to redouble her efforts in the training, hand injury be damned.
“I get that,” Ashe said, snuggling closer. “And I’d never ask you to make that choice.”
“God, you two are sickening,” Brie said with a roll of her eyes. “I think I would rather wrestle with the big one again than watch you two be all gay for each other.”
Ashe stuck her tongue out at her minion and friend, which prompted a double salute of middle fingers fired back, Brie walking backwards and away from their group. “I’m gonna hit the treadmill, enjoy sucking face.”
“You’re just mad you have other sucking lined up,” Ashe quipped back. Brie pouted at that, turning away with a huff. The girl might have enjoyed her work, but that’s all it was to her in the end.
It was payday for the police, which meant that her most frequent customer would want something special to celebrate with. She’d dropped the hints to him about extra ways to make money, or earn favors from her, but hadn’t acted on them yet. It might be a dead end, but it was still a source of gossip, as he loved to bitch about his day as pillow talk.
With Ashe spending so little time at her parent’s apartment, she wasn’t hearing as much gossip. She and Crystal were going to have dinner with them at their apartment, but work gossip wouldn’t likely be one of the major conversation points. No, the upcoming prom would probably be what dominated the evening, and Ashe wasn’t looking forward to that.
She still hadn’t returned to school yet, but she would in the morning. She’d fought for each extra day, and only managed to avoid returning with a well timed doctor’s appointment to be cleared to return. In truth, she was technically good to return a week prior, but the clinic she was using agreed to give her a note for another week to avoid needing further accommodations. That was enough to placate the school, they didn’t want to spend any of their budget going out of the way for her.
Not when they were so close to just being rid of her.
“It’s tonight too,” Ashe said softly. “I’ve been avoiding my parents after they saw that video, afraid of what I might see looking back now that they know I’m a killer. That video made me look like an action movie star, even without seeing my face or posture. I was focused on survival, scared shitless, but I pushed on. They didn’t get to see any of that.”
“Then tell them,” Crystal replied, her head resting against Ashe’s as they watched the boys own lessons. “Not about being Inferno, I don’t think they would overlook that, but about how you felt when you were out there, maybe embellish a bit with your first few nights running with us too.”
That was an option, she just hated lying to them.
“It’s that or talk to them about prom,” Ashe mumbled.
Crystal barked in laughter. “Oh Ashe, you act like they won’t want to talk about both.”
She wilted further, which only saw her girlfriend laughing harder. The worst part of it was that Ashe could only tuck herself into Crystal’s body, which wasn’t helping things no matter how much she buried her head in her girlfriend’s shoulder where she could feel the vibrations of the laughter being sent her way.
“Wasn’t that funny,” Ashe mumbled.
Crystal pulled back, tilting her chin up as she did. Her eyes sparkled with mirth and made Ashe’s stomach do little flips. “Nah, the funny part was seeing big bad Inferno cowering at the idea of a conversation with her parents.”
Ashe didn’t have an answer to that, so instead she decided to live up to her persona and press the attack. She jabbed a finger into a spot that she knew Crystal was especially sensitive, eliciting a yelp from her girlfriend. That opening was then leveraged to roll Crystal aside and hop on top of her.
From her position, she began the merciless assault, fingers digging into the spots that she just knew would give Crystal a proper reason to laugh rather than at her expense. Crystal tried to throw her off, but Ashe had trained hard after her close call, she was much better at close range grappling, and each attempt to dislodge her just led to far worse retribution for her girlfriend.
“Yield! I yield,” Crystal cried out. Ashe relented, but left her fingers firmly in place in the event it was a feint. She looked down at tear filled blue eyes and a wide, dopey smile. “No fair, you know how weak I am to tickles.”
Grinning, Ashe leaned down, her lips against Crystal’s ear. “And I’ll do it again too.”
“Villain,” Crystal grumped, not that there was any heat to it.
“Damn right,” Ashe said, planting a gentle kiss on her girlfriend’s cheek. “I’m simply the worst.”
The idea of pressing further, kissing her deeper, crept into her mind the longer she looked into those radiant eyes. She knew she was in love, that silly, irrational love that ensnared people and made them do stupid things in the name of it. She just didn’t care. Crystal was her everything, had been for months now, even if it had taken them far too long to just let themselves embrace it.
She leaned down, this time kissing her on the lips, savoring the moment.
A throat cleared and Ashe started, almost sitting up where the four men were staring at her, though they were all miming covering their own eyes as they did.
“I feel there’s a joke here about four guys watching two lesbians make out,” Eric said, barely holding back laughter.
“But we’re four gay men,” Todd added, his own laughter joining in.
Ashe rolled her eyes, then went back to kissing her girlfriend just to drive the point home.
“As cute as that is,” Kyle said after a moment. “The gym does have rules against that sort of thing.”
“I did not need to see that from my sister,” Jason added, affecting pain in his voice. “That will forever stick with me, I’ll never be the same!”
He was a decent actor, no doubt tutored on public speaking, but Todd’s barely hidden laughter killed any effect it might have had on them. Ashe looked back down, then kissed Crystal on the nose before getting back to her feet.
The boys were all making noise about girl cooties, so she threw her towel at them.