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Sunset Volume 1: Sunrise
Sunset (Sunrise) Vol 1. Issue 10.

Sunset (Sunrise) Vol 1. Issue 10.

LAHQ. Saturn Department.

Grace did a double-take at her desk, seeing Mackenzie walk by her office.

“Ma’am?” she called, getting up and going to the doorway.

Mackenzie heard her and stopped. Grace hadn't seen her since she’d used her knack and she looked frailer than before. Her clothes looked a little big on her, her eyebrows were unplucked, and her hair had grown out. Still, behind that, her eyes were sharp, in contrast to thin lips curved up in a smile.

“I didn’t think you were going to be back in until next week,” Grace said.

“I’m not, technically, but they picked up the last of the gens this morning. Josh called me and I wanted to come tell you all myself.”

Grace felt her shoulders drop two inches with relief. “Oh thank god.”

She nodded. “They’re home safe now.”

“Thank you, Ma’am. For telling us and for everything you did to help pull it off.”

“If you had my knack, you would have done the same.”

“I’d like to hope so.”

“So have I missed much office drama?”

Grace tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You know I don’t keep up with that kind of stuff.” She did not put in any effort to lie well.

She gave a great laugh. “Spill.”

“Actually,” Grace admitted, “there hasn’t been as much yet as you’d expect. Every department has had these kids in our minds.”

Mackenzie raised an eyebrow. “Yet?”

She bit her lip. “You didn’t happen to come across insights about Neptune while you were combing through your notes?”

Her face was unreadable. “The department or the man?”

“Technically both, I suppose.”

“Regarding?”

“The title?” she hazarded.

Mackenzie crossed her arms. “How did you know Rich was retiring before anyone else? I have to know. ”

She’d be nervous if Mackenzie didn't look so proud. “I ran into Fredericka in the hall the other night. She was in a bit of a state and trying to hide it, but that’s not her training. It’s a recognizable look.” The distinct rage of being passed over. She knew Mackenzie would understand.

The playfulness left her face. “Whatever Rich’s reasons, you know that I’ll never do that to you, right?”

She did. If Louis ever moved on to head up Saturn in a different office, she had no doubt that Grace would become Second—a fact that thrilled and terrified her. Grace would remember for the rest of her life the talk Mackenzie had with her when she was promoted to Third. She’d stood in front of Saturn’s large, intimidating wooden desk, her stomach in knots, thinking about how she couldn’t possibly pull this position off, knowing there were people in the office who were positive she wouldn’t.

‘Let me put it this way,’ Mackenzie had said to her, ‘it physically pains me that you’re not fifteen years older so I could have met you as a child when I met Louis, to groom you for the job the way I did him. I don’t love that a man will succeed me. Whatever platitudes Sol feeds you, never forget that there is no equality between men and women. Not ever. If a woman is deemed equal to a man in skill or strength, she is better and stronger than him because she had to fight harder for it. They will forget but I want you to remind them. Eat them alive. Grind them under your heel. It’s the language they know and they will choke on it when we’re done.’

“I know, Ma’am,” she said finally, back in the present. “But for the moment, if it’s okay with you, I’m happy to go back to my normal workload.”

“I am too, if I’m honest,” she laughed.

“It’s really good to see you.” She could have hugged her if it didn’t seem out of line. “Louis did a more than admirable job, but you’ve been missed around here for other reasons.”

She smiled wryly. “Such as?”

She glanced around awkwardly. “We like you?”

Mackenzie laughed loudly and hugged her tight.

“What are you doing here?” Louis popped his head out of his office, brow wrinkled. He must have finally heard them.

“We’ve got the twenty-one all accounted for,” Mackenzie smiled.

“All of them?” he asked, scared to believe.

“All of them,” she said. “And after Marek told us about Jane Doe, I made sure to check— no other losses. They’re all safe and sound.”

Grace hadn’t seen Louis grin like that in weeks.

---

LAHQ. Mercury Department.

Freddie hated being late, but there wasn’t a helluva lot she didn’t hate lately and these monthly Seconds’ meetings weren’t new to being on her hated list, either. She got into the small meeting room in Mercury, sat down and glanced around.

The room was oddly empty and she wondered if she wasn’t as late as she knew she was.

“Alright,” April, Mercury’s Second, said, a touch of annoyance in her voice. “That’s everyone.”

“Is it?” Marek asked, sitting up.

She glanced around the table. Almost all the departments’ Seconds were there. “Still no Venus or Saturn?”

April sighed. “Louis’s still behind, making up ground from being acting Saturn—”

“That poor fuck,” Marek interrupted.

“And Venus’ choice for her new Second is heading up the Venus wing at the Kyiv office, so he’s tying up loose ends before the transfer.”

Freddie swallowed. “Right.”

“So,” April continued, “I think we’ve all been dealing with the same issues this month. Who wants to start?”

“Yeah, I’ll go,” Marek said, leaning back. “You’ve probably heard, but our Comets have located all twenty-one gens with the immense help of Saturn. Twenty were found alive and all have been placed with foster teams, which was a helluva thing. My and Logan’s people deserve about sixty medals of honor for their hustle.”

Logan, Terre’s second, flushed, turning the bright blue pigment of his skin to a purple hue. “It wasn’t easy,” he said, “but they’ve been placed and will be monitored and evaluated—and we’ll bring in Neptune as needed.”

Freddie nodded. “I’ll be working to get more of our agents comfortable with Integration of youths, to keep things moving smoothly with this spike in volume.” She touched the hair at her temple, tucking a stray piece behind her ear and steeled her face. “On that note, I do have news to report from Neptune.”

She saw April bite her lip. It made sense that Mercury would have told her. She was grateful that there would be one less person in shock.

“Neptune is announcing that he’s stepping down. Mercury has known for a while that this was coming and Richard is unwilling to postpone retirement, despite all the Venus drama.”

There was a moment of silence.

Marek scratched his nose. “Holy shit.”

“Does that mean this is your last Second’s meeting?” Simon, still in his Pluto scrubs, asked.

She kept her face rigid. “You’re stuck with me I’m afraid.”

Simon hadn’t expected that and his shocked expression was beyond satisfying.

“Rich says he can’t lose me in Reintegration so he’s bringing in someone from Chicago.”

“Jean?” Marek asked with a grimace. He’d worked with her before his transfer to LA, but, while understandable, it wasn’t a remotely professional thing to say.

“Sage del Sol.”

Marek tilted his head. “Should I know that name?”

“No reason you would.”

Simon’s face was pinched. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said firmly.

“I know Jean’s upper-level staff,” Marek started. His tone was sympathetic at least. “Is this just some agent?”

She took a breath to answer, but April took over. “He’s not just ‘some agent.’ Sage ranks in the top ten agents of Neptune, and my understanding is that the only reason he hasn’t been tapped for leadership already is because of his age and his value in the field.”

“But apparently not as valuable as I am in Reintegration,” Freddie added. “Thank you, but I can defend my own department. He’s good at what he does. Rich and Mercury agree he's the right choice.”

“Oh god, is he younger than you?” Marek grit his teeth in empathy.

Freddie surprised herself by laughing at the sympathetic dread in his voice.

“Let’s move on to the practicals of what this transition is going to mean during this time, shall we?” April pressed.

Freddie sighed. Probably for the best. Sage was set to arrive in a few days. The last thing she wanted was to appear disorganized when he got here. It was less to do with making a good impression and more with intimidating the hell out of him. She felt confident she could do that. Freddie sat back and settled in for a long meeting.

---

LAHQ. Neptune Department.

Sage straightened his tie and fidgeted with his shirt collar as he stood outside the door of his new office. Well, Neptune’s office. It would be his in a few weeks. He couldn’t get used to the idea. Neptune had already cleared it out for him and had been spending his last weeks traveling between company locations, to prep the departments. He had suggested that once Sage wrapped things up with his team, he should head to LAHQ to meet Fredericka and get settled into his new office.

“Learn the ropes, get your passwords set up, all that. Move into your new quarters,” Neptune had told him. “When you take over, there won’t be time for an adjustment period, so you need to be ready to go. Besides, I don’t really need the office anyway. You’ll find your laptop will be your best friend. The office is really just a landing pad.” And then, like it was no big thing, he’d handed Sage the key and left. And now, after too long a time getting lost in the halls of LAHQ, Sage found himself unable to walk in.

Just as he got ready to finally reach for the door knob (or at least that’s what he told himself), the door swung open. He stood there, eyes wide, hand still on his stupid tie.

Fredericka stood there, tense and stern looking. She folded her arms and then immediately caught herself, placing them back by her sides to try to hide her annoyance.

“Sir,” she said.

He couldn’t quite find his voice, but he tried to stand a little taller.

“Can I help you?”

He winced. “Ah. Yes, um, I was told I should go check out my office, so. But you’re using it, or…?”

“This is my office,” she said. Blunt. Annoyed.

Great, Sage thought to himself.

Fredericka gestured with her chin to the next door over. “Yours is that one. The one that says ‘Neptune’ on it.”

Sage felt himself wince again. “Right. Of course.”

Fredericka’s glare took a moment before it softened. With a sigh and a barely concealed eye-roll, she said, “It’s fine. Come on, let me show you around.” She hesitated. “You know what? Actually, you look like you could use a drink. My office. Now.” She pointed backwards to her open door with her thumb and stepped aside to let him through. He hesitated and she raised her eyebrows. She was intimidating, and Sage wished he had any idea how to deal.

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“Is this a trap?” He asked.

She shook her head and walked inside. Her voice called from inside the office. “Nope. You may not be Neptune just yet, but I’m not stupid. Come on. Come in or don’t, but I have better things to do than wait. So do you.”

Sage took a deep breath. He stepped inside.

Her office looked about as welcoming as she was. It was sparse, sleek. There was a black desk and one black wall, a few toweringly large windows. One sad houseplant (a spider plant? Sage couldn’t really tell because it was so brown and dry) sat in possibly the darkest corner of the room. Looking around, he said, “It’s nice.”

She snorted. “Thanks, it came like this. I haven’t really touched it since I moved in, except for all the piles of files and stuff. I mostly use the sub-basement office in Reintegration.” She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a half-empty bottle of Scotch and two black coffee mugs emblazoned with the Neptune logo. “Shit,” she said. “You don’t have to look so nervous. It’s dusty, see?” She held up the bottle and blew on the glass, letting out a poof of dust particles. “I never have time to actually drink the stuff, and especially not on the job. But this seems like a special occasion. Sit.” She gestured to the chair on the other side of her desk.

Sage sat. She poured and handed him a mug. He wasn’t much of a drinker, but for some reason he took it anyway.

“Congratulations on the promotion,” Fredericka said.

“Thanks. Sorry. It should have been you.”

“Then why’d you take it?” She asked.

He hadn’t expected that level of frankness, but he was starting to get a good sense of her. She wasn’t the kind of person to beat around the bush, and in any other circumstances, he’d have appreciated that. Right now, though, he kind of wished she were a little more politic. He said, “When Neptune says you’re up, you can’t exactly say no.”

Fredericka laughed, somewhat humorlessly. “Oh, you absolutely can say no. I do it all the time.”

Sage balked at that, but held his tongue.

She sighed. “Did you even want this job? Because I’d kill for it.” He must have made a face because she added, “It’s a figure of speech.”

“Sorry,” Sage said again. He was apologizing too much.

“Well?” She asked.

“Oh! Sorry.” Damn it. “Of course I want it.” He heard his own voice say it, and he knew immediately she would see straight through him.

“Look, if we’re going to work together, you’ve gotta be real with me. I’m going to be your Second in like, a matter of days, and I’m not letting you replace me—”

“I would never—”

“So you have to just loosen up and pretend for two seconds like I don’t scare the shit out of you. I’ve read your record. I know you’re good and I see why he chose you—sort of. I want to respect you, but you’re doing a piss poor job of commanding that respect right now, I’ve gotta say.”

“Sorr—”

“See?” She said, “That. That, right there. Stop it.”

Sage swallowed another apology. Apologizing for apologizing. He was a walking cliche.

Fredericka raised her mug to her lips and took a sip. “So tell me, honestly. Did you want this job?”

Sage took a leap of faith. He was going to have to trust this woman eventually. “Yes and no.” He watched as she settled back in her seat, nodding. Her dark eyes were sharp. “It’s not that I’ve never thought about it, but it was also never a realistic ambition. I’m—I don’t know that I’m really leadership material. Not on this scale. I know I can lead a team well. Daydreamed about eventually becoming an officer, maybe. But this is something so completely different. And even at that, I still get… I mean, I still need—” he cut himself off, not sure how to continue.

“Therapy?” she finished his sentence for him. “I know, I’ve read your file. Not like, your therapy notes,” she added quickly, placating his growing panic. “But Rich had me look through your file and some evals, and I saw your referrals to Pluto in there. Anxiety, right?”

“And depression,” Sage said, nodding. “And panic attacks.” He felt himself flush. “So I really don’t know how I could possibly be a good pick for this. But he’s Neptune. He told me I was getting this job. It didn’t feel like a choice.”

“There’s still time to back out,” Fredericka said.

“Is that what you want?” Sage asked. He wasn’t sure what he hoped her answer would be.

She studied him for what felt like ages before opening her mouth, taking a breath, and then shutting it again, clearly thinking better of what she was about to say. Eventually, she said, “I’m not going to answer that.” Sage endured another awkward silence, not knowing what to say to that. Then Fredericka continued, slowly, “But I know who his second choice is, and it’s also not me, that dick. So I guess, no.”

Sage nodded. “Well,” he said, “I can promise you that you won’t get passed over a second time.”

“You don’t even know me. I might be a bitch.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re looking for me to agree with you, but I’m not taking that bait.” It surprised Sage that he’d said that and he immediately wished he hadn’t. But she laughed, which made him relax.

“You’re catching on.”

“Well,” Sage said, “How about this? I know I’ve got the title, and I know it’s not fair in the least. But I’m going to need a lot of help and I’ve never been very good at hierarchies. I get that it’s all basically lip service to say that, since at the end of the day, here we still are. But once I have the leeway to do it, we’re re-negotiating your salary. I’ll take a pay cut. And I’ll keep that promise.”

Sage took a small bit of satisfaction in the look of surprise that crossed her face. She raised her mug. “I’ll toast to that.”

He nodded and joined her, taking a sip and trying not to wince at the taste. He said, “So, my office is the one across the hall, then?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Here, I’ll show you around.”

---

Beatty, NV.

“Hey,” Gareth stuck his head into Alex’s room, a little apprehensive, given the loud dragging noises that were coming from it.

Alex was in the process of dragging his bed across the room and he didn’t seem to be having an easy time with it. His real bed had come in, and the sheets and blanket they’d gotten for him looked way more reasonable than on the dinky little cot they’d hauled up from the basement.

“Yeah?” Alex glanced over at him, bent over in a full shoving position.

Gareth watched him put all his weight into it and slowly push the thing across the floor. It’s not that he wasn’t strong, but there was so little to him. It was going to take a bit to bulk him up. “Need a hand?” he asked, trying to not sound too amused.

He turned to face Gareth and huffed. “Does it look like I need a hand?” He cocked a hip and gestured to his room in disarray, and his posture collapsed. “Yeah, Jesus, come help me.”

Gareth smiled at that, even though Alex backed away from him, wary, as he entered the room. He got a grip on the footboard. “Where’s it going?”

Alex pointed. “Against that far wall? Reeve had his desk where the bed was and there’s all this Story of him typing and it’s driving me crazy. What was against that wall?”

“A bookshelf.”

“Perfect, nice and boring.”

They got the bed where Alex wanted it and put his chest of drawers where the bed had been.

“Like, I appreciate the furniture but did it have to be made of lead?”

Gareth chuckled. “Come on, put some shoes on. It’s time for your first lesson with me.”

“What?” His face genuinely looked shocked. “Lesson in what?”

“Well, we’re all going to do a little of everything, but we’re going to work on your hand to hand.”

“You’re joking. You want me to let you try to punch me?”

He saw Alex’s eyes make contact with the door behind him as if he was ready to run. Gareth took a breath. “Technically I want to teach you to punch me.”

“You’ll kill me.”

“Would you rather Reeve teach you how to fight?” he deadpanned, not sure the joke would land right. Hannah would have laughed.

Alex jutted his chin out. “You think I don’t already know how to fight?”

“Oh, I think you definitely know how to fight, but it’s our job to make you even better.”

He looked a little caught off guard by that. “It seems like Reeve thinks I don’t know how to do anything.”

Gareth held back a laugh. This kid probably knew more real world stuff than Reeve knew anything. “No, Reeve thinks you don’t know how to do calculus, but joke’s on him, I don’t either.”

Alex narrowed his eyes at Gareth. “Then why the fuck aren’t you in summer school too?”

“Because I fight well enough that Sol doesn't care.” He pointed his thumb toward the door. “So let’s go.” He watched the internal struggle happen and, in the end, Alex sat on his bed to put on his sneakers and followed Gareth outside to the area of bare dirt by their car.

“Alright, let me see how you punch first.” He held out a hand, palm facing Alex. The last thing he wanted was this kid touching him again, but he was going to have to get used to that too.

Alex shaded his eyes from the sun with one hand. “Can’t I just gouge your eyes out and kick you in the nuts and call it a day?”

“Sol’s gonna want you to be able to hit someone, but those aren’t bad options if it comes to it.” He patted his own palm. “Come on.”

Alex glared at his palm, made a fist, but only half raised it up before rolling his eyes. “This is embarrassing. Is this how you learned to fight?”

He shrugged and dropped his hand. “Yeah, I took martial arts classes when I was a little kid.”

“Of course,” he muttered.

“Alright,” Gareth argued, doing his best to keep his voice from sounding frustrated. “Well, doing nothing isn’t an option, so how do you want to do this?”

Alex chewed his lip, thinking, and Gareth was sure he was going to counter with something like, ‘Here’s a neat idea, let’s do nothing.’ Instead he finally settled on, “Can we just kind of spar like Hannah and Reeve did here?”

“What?”

He pointed to the dirt. “You know, when Hannah knocked him on his ass.”

Gareth laughed, remembering. Okay, so there were some positives to psychometry—never letting them forget the stupid shit Reeve did. “You aren’t afraid I’ll kill you?”

“I guess if you wanted to, you wouldn’t be standing out here sweating and trying to talk me into punching you,” Alex admitted. “But if you actually try to hurt me, I will rip your balls off and feed them to the vultures.”

“‘Kay.”

Alex wiped his forehead. His hair was already getting stuck to it. “Is there a good reason we’re doing this out here and not in the basement? You know, where there are practice mats and air conditioning?”

Gareth squinted in the sun. “If you learn to fight in the heat, it’s easy to fight in AC.”

“Ugh. So, no, is what you’re telling me. There is no good reason.”

“If you get one good hit in, you can go inside. And kicking and scratching don’t count.”

“Fine.”

Gareth shook his head at his own damn self. This is a mistake. “Okay.” He put his hands up in loose fists and Alex did the same.

Nothing happened. Alex looked side to side anxiously.

“Well,” Gareth said after a minute. “You’re the one who’s got to hit me. I’ve got no reason to start this.” Alex grit his jaw and started to circle. Gareth moved with him, watching his feet. “Balls of your feet,” he offered. If nothing else, it might make the kid pissed enough to actually want to sock him.

Curling his lip, Alex stepped in and leveled a test punch. Gareth met it with his palm to feel how it landed. Heavy to the outside, but at least his arm was parallel.

“Good,” he said, putting his guard back up.

“No, it wasn’t,” Alex snipped.

Gareth smirked. “Alright, no, but your wrist was nice an’ straight. Just try to make contact with your center knuckle more.” He tapped his own against his other palm to demonstrate. “If you hit with your pinky side, you’re gonna break your fingers.”

“Like this?” Alex asked, and kicked him in the shin.

Gareth hopped back, grunting through tight lips, and instinctively grabbed at his leg. When the wave of pain started to ebb, he looked back at him. Alex had jumped back and away. His eyes were tense, but his brows were lowered. He was clearly scared of how he’d retaliate—Gareth recognized the look from his time at Entropy. He’d made it himself more than he cared to remember.

“Yeah,” Gareth replied, stepping back within range, keeping his fists up by his face to signal he wasn’t about to suckerpunch him. “But next time, take the opening and actually hit me. You could be going inside right now.”

The kid glared at him. “You’re crazy.”

Gareth threw a lazy kick, and Alex side-stepped. “Come on, don’t wait too long.”

Alex huffed, but when he put his hands back up, Gareth could tell he was taking this more seriously. This time, when he sent a kick out, Alex was aiming for Gareth’s knee, which made sense for someone used to fighting people bigger than him. Gareth stepped back, then came back in with a jab toward his cheek, mindful of his force. Alex threw his palm out, mirroring the way Gareth had parried him, and Gareth made light, careful contact.

“Good, but if you don’t meet with equal force, I’m just going to hit you in the face with the back of your own hand.”

“Sure, equal force to you, no problem,” Alex laughed.

“I just mean, don’t think about it like you’re trying to catch a ball, think about it like you’re trying to bat it away. Hit back.”

Gareth threw a couple more slow, light jabs in a row so he could get the idea.

Alex narrowed his eyes. “Did we stop sparring or are you really this bad?”

It was impressive that the mouth on him hadn’t gotten the kid killed yet, growing up how he had. He threw a right hook with a little more bite and popped him on the cheek with enough force that he could feel it.

Alex yanked his head back, stung, and Gareth worried he’d gone too far. Alex gave him a dirty look and bent to scoop up a handful of sand and threw it in Gareth's face. Squinting and sputtering, Gareth waved a hand in front of his face to try to clear the dust, but Alex had taken his advice about not missing an opportunity and socked him in the gut.

The kid was so scrawny it felt like a tap. He'd retreated away from Gareth again, but was looking less like he thought he was about to get clobbered for getting a hit in.

"Does that count or what?" Alex demanded.

Gareth couldn't hide a smile. "Well, you hit me but it didn’t feel like anything."

Alex rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you’re like seven of me.”

“Everyone is like seven of you.”

Alex dramatically looked him up and down. “No, really it’s just you, you freaky titan.”

Gareth gave a sardonic smile. “A punch isn't just your fist. If you use your whole body, you can add power. Drive from the legs.” He bounced his weight from his back leg to the front and raised his hands.

Alex put his fists up, but only barely. "This is bullshit."

"You giving up?"

The kid glared at him and Gareth saw his fingers tighten. Gareth feigned left and threw another right hook. Alex had read him this time and threw an arm up to block, but the force of it colliding must have thrown him off balance, because he tumbled to the dirt, hissing as he landed on his bruised hip in a rocky section on the edge of their driveway. He really hadn’t hit him that hard; Gareth stepped in and leaned down with a pang of worry. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” he grumbled as he got to his feet. “Come on.”

Not wanting another mouthful of sand, he kept his eye on Alex’s conspicuously closed right fist. Instead, Alex kicked out at Gareth’s midsection and he was too close now to dodge it well. Gareth bent low and forward to throw his body out of range, which just barely worked, but it had left him off balance. Before he could straighten up, he saw Alex’s clenched fist snap across his face, followed by a bright white flash of pain that obscured his vision. Gareth stumbled back and gave his head a shake to clear away the high-pitched whine in his ears. Blood, oddly cool on his skin in the heat, dripped down his cheek and off his jaw. Once the haze cleared, he looked down and saw the rock in Alex’s fist, his knuckles raw and red.

“That was stupid,” Gareth grunted.

Alex’s nostrils flared, pissed or scared, but he looked down at his feet.

Gareth stretched his jaw. “You used the rock for weight, which was smart, but you still hit me with your fist, so your fingers are going to be all busted up. If you’re gonna hit someone with a rock, hit ‘em with the damn rock.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Well, excuse me for not wanting to fucking dome your skull in!”

“If anyone can take it, I can.” Gareth gingerly touched at the sore ridge of his cheekbone by his eye socket. The blood was already thick and tacky in the hot, dry air. He wiped his cheek off and turned his face to show Alex. Underneath, the skin of his face was unbroken, already healed. There would be no scar or any evidence he’d been hit, besides traces of blood and a fading pain.

Alex sniffed and dropped the rock. Gareth watched Alex flex his fingers once then hold them still, as though they didn’t hurt.

“So you’re thinking that counted as a good hit?” Gareth asked, squinting at the cloudless sky above the roof.

“Yeah.”

Gareth nodded once and rubbed his head. “It does. Go inside and cool off.”

A proud grin broke across Alex’s face and then faded quickly. “I’m not in trouble?”

“For hitting me in the face with a rock?”

Alex nodded and Gareth chuckled. “No, you’re not in trouble. You problem solved, but try to keep that shit to when we’re sparring, huh? That was a fake fall?”

Alex shrugged. “The fall was fake. Me forgetting I had those stupid bruises wasn’t.”

Gareth winced. “Well, you did good. Now go tell Hannah to take a look at your hand. You should get ice on that ASAP.”

“Okay.” The kid took his first couple of steps backward, probably making sure Gareth wasn’t about to jump him when he turned around, and then jogged the rest of the way to the house, up the porch steps, and went inside, passing by Reeve, who must have been standing at the glass sliding door watching.

Gareth met Reeve by the steps. A headache was coming on. “You saw?”

“You alright?” His voice was solemn, but Gareth could see he was trying not to look amused. Gareth ignored the question, so Reeve went on. “So what do you think?”

“I think the chances of me getting out of this training assignment without getting kicked in the nuts a dozen times is pretty much nil.”

Reeve grimaced and it crossed Gareth’s mind that while he wasn’t about to do it himself (anymore), he would pay to watch the kid nail Reeve with a swift kick. It would be good for Reeve’s ego.

“Any other thoughts?” Reeve asked pointedly.

Gareth touched his tender cheek. “Yeah, I can teach the kid to throw a punch. Hannah should teach him throws and holds, and you should be his legit sparring partner. If he trains with Hannah and I he’ll know our moves too well, and you’re a more average size.”

Reeve nodded, too serious again. “Sounds good. But I think I’m gonna stick to the basement where there aren’t a bunch of rocks.”

Gareth smiled at that and headed toward the door. He needed about two glasses of ice-cold water and one beer. Maybe the other way around. “Good idea.”

***