Little Fury: Book 1 of The deadly Little Thing Trilogy
Little Fury: Chapter 16

I sit on the couch in the gym, absently spinning the ring on my finger. I can hear Marcus before I see him. He and Parker are debating how effective some new computer program is. They have been arguing about it for the last three days. It’s annoying. “Oh my god, you two! No one cares! No one wants to hear it anymore. You both have valid points. Now hug it out and move the fuck on.”

“Ava!” I hear, and I groan, rubbing a hand down my face. “That is not how you have been taught to behave. Or the type of language you are to be using.”

“Seriously? How do you sneak up on people in those shoes.” She’s wearing a stunning pair of stilettos in a gorgeous shade of navy.

“If you would practice more like I have instructed you, you would also be able to sneak up on people.” She tells me using air quotes to show her distaste for the word “sneak,” as it is used to describe any movement she has made.

“Miss Bennett, you know what Harry does here, right? Like you know, he is truly teaching me, Marcus, and everyone who comes here how to kill people?”

“Yes, dear, I am aware,” she says sweetly. “Let’s go,” she says, her words dripping in venom.

Her tone surprises everyone, and I look over at Parker and watch as he stares at her like she hung the moon. That man has it so bad for her.

“Yes, ma’am,” I say as I stand up. I hear the chuckles from behind me. “It’s ok; you guys can laugh all you want. But tomorrow in the ring, remember this laughter is the reason I knock you on your ass. Have a good rest of your day, gentlemen.”

I make my way to Miss Bennett’s office. Her office is stunning; it’s white and crisp. It has windows from floor to ceiling in the back, showing off a fantastic view of the mountains. Everything about her office is perfection. To be honest, everything about her, is also perfection. That is what she teaches, after all. Perfection. She teaches women like me how to be impeccable. To be the most exquisite and beautiful creature ever created. Here, I’m taught how to ensnare. How to use my face and body to get me close to whoever my target is. I’m taught how to dress, how to speak, how to carry myself, how to do my hair and makeup. Here, I learn multiple languages: German, Russian, Mandarin, French, and Japanese.

If I’m being honest, what I’ve learned from Miss Bennett over the last five years will serve me better in the future than a fair amount of what Harry and the guys have taught me. Sure, I need to be able to handle a gun and knife, and I need to know how to fight and defend myself, but as a woman in this world, I must use what I have. My looks and body are my biggest advantage.

There are two facets to this world; there is the mafia side that Marcus is from. Families like the Rossi’s and the Sokolov’s are not quiet. They make a lot of noise in the world. They let everyday people know they’re there, and they handle the law and order the regular folks enforce. They also have very little use for women. A woman’s worth is determined by what she can secure through an advantageous marriage or by what she possesses between her legs.

Then there’s the side Harry is from and teaches. It’s made up of people like Miss Bennett , Theo and Sebastian. They do what they do quietly. This side, my side, strives to remain unnoticed by regular folks. They are trained and work arduously to make as little noise as possible. They don’t want anyone to know they were there when they kill , steal, or kidnap your grandfather.

So, while I may resent this part of my training and be pissed off that Marcus doesn’t have to do any of it, I know that 75% of the time, this training will save me and make me more effective at what I do. Even today, with Sebastian, he knows me. He has been training me for years. He knows my skills and style. I was still able to bring him down because men will always underestimate me. I am, for all intents and purposes, “a small, weak woman.” And Miss Bennett has taught me how to weaponize that miscalculation.

“Ava?”

“Yes, Miss Bennett?”

“Where is your head today?”

“Why do you hate me?” For the first time in five years, Miss Bennett’s composure slips. For the briefest of moments, I see her shock at my question.

“I do not hate you. You are easily one of the most talented and spectacular women I’ve ever met. You are the most remarkable student I have ever taught.” She pauses for a moment, looking me up and down. “Because of that, I’m hard on you. You pick up languages like no one I’ve ever taught before. You can emulate me or whatever persona I’ve given you in any situation I’ve put you in.”

I stare at her. In five years, I don’t think she has ever even cracked a smile at me. Maybe a few nods here or there to signal I didn’t wholly disappoint her. But nothing, would have told me she liked me, or thought I was anything other than mediocre at best and inferior at worst.

Miss Bennett chuckles, and I have to sit down. “Can I have some water, please?” She nods, pours me a glass of lemon water, making sure to add four strawberry sections. She brings the crystal tumbler to me and places it on the coaster on the table in front of me.

It doesn’t matter how often I see her, or watch Miss Bennett do anything, even fetching a glass of water; she is mesmerizing. Every movement is a practiced art piece, a study in beauty and grace. I sip my water and place it back on the coaster. Miss Bennett has taken the seat across from me, sitting like sculptured perfection, hands in her lap, legs crossed at the ankles, posture straight.

“Ready now?” She asks.

“Yes,” I say.

I leave Miss Bennett’s and head toward the house. I can see Beth and Harry through the windows. At some point, you would think they’d stop pretending that they aren’t together, but for whatever reason, they seem to think Marcus and I, or the entire ranch for that matter, don’t know they’re together and have been for a while. They’ve gotten sloppy over the years. I can’t even tell you how often Marcus and I have seen them through a window or around a corner. Honestly, it is easily my favourite thing about the ranch. The secret we all know, but no one will openly acknowledge.

Marcus catches up to me. “Pond? Let them have a bit more secret love time?” He asks me, eyebrow raised.

I nod and smile at him. I drop my head to his shoulder, and he wraps his arms around me. “How was your day?” I ask him.

“It was good. I finally cracked that firewall Parker created. He was happy it took me less time than he predicted.”

“Well done,” I tell him.

We sit on the dock, and I take off my shoes and put my feet in the water. My phone dings, and I look at the message. I smile.

“Who’s that?” Marcus asks me.

“Tommy. He’s picking me up in a couple of hours.”

“Asshole,” Marcus grumbles under his breath beside me.

“What? Why don’t you like him? He’s funny and nice, and his mom easily makes the best pie to ever exist.”

“Ava, he’s a dick,” he informs me.

“No, he isn’t. You guys used to be friends when we were in school. What changed?” Marcus looks at me. ‘What? Tell me what happened with you two.”

“Nothing happened, Ava. Just go on your date with your country boy. It won’t matter in a few months anyway. We leave soon. We have things to do, people to see, and debts to have repaid.” Then he walks away.

I sigh. Seriously, what the fuck is up his ass lately? He used to be good friends with Tommy. It makes no sense to me. But he isn’t wrong. We are almost done here. We turn 18 soon, and then Marcus and I will be free. Harry has a couple more things for us to do before he sets us loose on the world, but soon enough.

The next morning, Wes, Parker, and I are sitting down in the mess hall with our food when Marcus walks in. He nods at us before getting his food.

“So?”

“So, what, Wes?”

“How did the date go, Ava?”

“Ah, that. It went well. Tommy’s nice. He’s a good country boy with a body honed from hours on horseback and baling hay. He also started bull riding. The way he moves his hips is a whole other thing. Seriously, guys, do you want to fuck some girl’s brains out? Learn how to ride a bull.” A loud noise startles us all.

Marcus is glaring over at us.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Sebastian loudly asks him from a table over.

Marcus doesn’t reply. He sits down, glaring at me. “Maybe we don’t talk about fucking the local farm boys at the breakfast table. Have some fucking class, Ava. You may enjoy spreading your legs for anyone, but no one needs to hear about it.”

I’m so taken aback by his words that I have no reply. I just stare back at him, feeling the shift at the table as it becomes awkward for everyone.

“Marcus. Man, that wasn’t.”

“Shut the fuck up, Parker,” Marcus says, cutting him off. He stands up, grabs his tray from the table, drops it on the dish cart, slamming his way out of the mess.

“Ava?” Wes says my name. I look at him and smile slightly.

“It’s okay; he doesn’t like Tommy. I should’ve realized he wouldn’t like me talking about it.”

“Ava,” he says again clearly not buying my nonchalance at Marcus’s words.

“It’s fine, really; he was an ass. He’ll apologize, it’ll be fine. I’m going to head to the gym.” I tell the guys as I get up to leave. I see Sebastian and Theo looking at me. I give them the same smile I gave Wes and Parker and keep going. I drop my tray on the dish cart at the same time as Harry.

“Little Fury?” he says an eyebrow raised in question.

“Morning Harry. See you in the gym in a few, yeah?”

“Yup, see you there.”

I step out of the mess and take a deep breath of the morning air.

What the fuck was that?

Marcus is late getting to the gym, I’m already into my run when he gets there. Once we’re done with our warm-ups, we move to the ring. Today is sparring day. I love this day. I really do enjoy beating the men’s asses. We draw names to see who we get. I pull Marcus.

Of course, I do.

I sigh to myself as I walk over to Sebastian getting him to wrap my hands for me. Wes is helping Marcus wrap his. Harry and Theo enter the gym just as we are finishing getting wrapped.

“They first?” Harry asks no one in particular.

“Yup,” Sebastian tells him. “Okay Little Fury, you’re ready. Don’t take any shit in there from his bitchy ass, okay?”

“Okay.”

I walk to the ring and step in. Marcus does the same. “Living Dead Girl” by Rob Zombie blares over the sound system. I glance over at Theo and shake my head at his early morning choice. He just gives me a “what” shoulder shrug. I chuckle and then refocus.

“Okay, you two, let’s get a move on,” Harry calls out to us. I look at Marcus and nod; he does the same, and we move toward each other.

We don’t take it easy on anyone in the ring, we aren’t allowed to. We need to be able to take a hit, block a hit, and return one. But the first swing Marcus throws is something else. Had I not dodged it, the hit would have knocked me to the mat.

“Jesus Marcus, what the fuck is up your ass today?” I snarl at him.

“Nothing at all Ava. Just here to spar. If this is too much for you feel free to leave the ring.”

I scoff at him, if he wants to do it this way fine, let’s do it.

Fuck him, and his shitty mood.

I step toward him again, keeping my hands up watching him, letting him decide his move first. Marcus is strong and if he lands a hit, it hurts and it can break a bone or knock someone out. So, my speed is beneficial against him. I see him drop his left as he changes his stance, signaling that he’s going for a kick. I drop to the mat to avoid taking the hit and sweep his supporting leg out from under him. I make the choice to let him get back to his feet.

It was the wrong choice.

He comes at me again, fast. He grabs for me, barely missing my arm. I spin away from him, landing a blow to his kidney. He grunts with the contact. I get back in front of him and land a punch to his abdomen.

Marcus responds faster than I expect and that is my first mistake. He grabs me by the neck of my t-shirt. Wearing a t- shirt in the ring was my second mistake. I know better but Marcus never usually spars with me like this. He wrenches back hard on the neck of my shirt, choking me as he flings me down to the mat. I hit hard; my breath knocked out of me. He smirks at me as he steps back. Catching my breath I get back to my feet.

“We done?” He asks me, the smirk replaced with satisfaction. I see the tension leave his body as he extends his hand to me, calling a truce.

“Fuck that,” I say to him.

He smiles at me. “Ok let’s keep going.”

I take my T-shirt off, flinging it over the top rope and onto the floor. Looking around, I see everyone is watching us.

“Good time with Tommy last night, Ava?” Wes smirks at me.

“I guess, why?”

“Just, ah, you’ve got a couple love bites there,” he chuckles.

“What?” He nods at me, and I look down. Sure enough, I see small fingerprint bruises and bite marks on my stomach. “Ha, look at that. Didn’t realize he did that. Bull riders, ya know, strong hands.” I say with a chuckle, moving the waistband of my shorts and seeing the fingerprint bruises disappear down my hips. My third mistake was taking my eyes off Marcus to talk to Wes.

“Fucking motherfucker.” I hear him growl. I see Wes’s eyes go wide. I turn back to Marcus just as he lets a fist fly. It connects with my cheekbone, and it drops me to the mat. My brain is rattled from the hit, and it slows me down; I leave myself open, and Marcus uses it to his advantage, getting himself on top of me.

I manage to get my arms up to block the onslaught of punches he’s raining down. He’s landing blows to my arms, trying to hurt me, hoping I’ll drop them and allow him to hit me in the head. I fight to keep my wits about me as my head starts to clear. I hear the guys yelling our names, but I keep my focus on my best friend as he tries to knock my fucking head off. My vision clears, and now I’m mad. This is not what we do in this ring. Marcus and I have never tried to really hurt each other. But right now, he is trying to hurt me.

Marcus is always all reaction and emotion in the ring, even when he isn’t trying to kill his opponent. His second mistake (his first being trying to hurt me) was scrambling on top of me so quickly that he placed himself too low on my pelvis. I bend my legs, getting my feet flat, and thrust my hips up with all my strength. It’s enough to throw him off balance, and he leans slightly to the right side to place a hand down to stop himself from hitting the mat. That little bit of space is what I need. I roll to my side, allowing myself enough room to get my left leg free and thrust up again, but this time, my goal is to get my leg between us. Small and flexible is the best thing my body is right now. I get my leg between us, my foot on his chest, and I push him off me.

He falls backwards, stopping himself before hitting the mat. He recovers fast, but I’m pissed and react faster. My ass is planted on the mat, and I kick him in the face. Hard. He hits the mat, his hand going to the side of his face, and I just see fucking red. I’m on him fast, but unlike him, I pin his arms down to his side under my knees. Hit after hit, not pulling my punches; I let my fists reign down on him. I only stop when I’m pulled off him. I struggle against the arms holding me, trying to get back to the asshole on the floor.

“Ava!” I hear Harry yell behind me. I don’t stop; I keep struggling.

“Little Fury, you need to take a breath. I’m not going to let you go, so I need you to breathe and hear my voice.” Sebastian calmly speaks into my ear. “Calm down, Ava. Breathe. Breathe Ava.”

I take in a breath.

“Good, take another,” he tells me. His voice is low and calming. The red over my vision starts to abate. I take a couple more breaths as Sebastian continues to hold me. “Good, little one. A couple more calming breaths, and I’ll let you go, okay? Can you do that for me?”

I nod at his words. I take a couple more breaths and feel his arms relax. My body follows his lead, relaxing even more.

“I’m okay. You can let me go.”

“Yeah? no more trying to kill your bestie there?”

“He tried to kill me first.”

“I’m not sure he tried to kill you exactly, but he did try to knock you out.” he chuckles in my ear.

“I’m ok, Seb. I won’t try to kill Marcus anymore today, I promise.”

“Okay,” he says, and he lets me go.

The next morning, I’m sporting a huge bruise on my cheek, and my eye is a little swollen. I didn’t see Marcus at all yesterday after our fight and I have no idea what to say to him when I do. That has never happened to us before. We’ve had fights, sure, but never to the extent where we wanted to physically hurt each other.

Beth is in the kitchen when I come downstairs.

“Hi,” she greets me.

“Hi Beth.”

“Hungry?”

“I am, but I can eat at the mess. You don’t have to cook for me, Beth.”

“Ava, I love to cook for you guys.”

“In that case, what are we having?”

“I have sausages and French toast in the oven.”

“Of course you do.” I laugh at her.

Beth and I sit together and eat. I keep glancing at the stairs.

“He stayed at Harry’s last night. We thought maybe some space would be good for you guys.” she says.

“Oh. yeah, you were probably right.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nothing to talk about. Marcus was in a bad mood. I went out with Tommy the night before and Marcus hates him. I get it. I’m his best friend, and I went out with some guy he obviously hates more than I realized. When I see Marcus today, I’ll tell him I won’t see Tommy again.”

“You don’t think he should apologize to you for anything?”

“Sure, he took it way too far in the ring, but I put him down, so I think I can look past that part. I did whoop him, so it seems even to me.”

“Sounds like you have it all sorted out.”

“It happened. I’m over it,” I tell her with a shrug. I don’t miss her scrunch of her brows at my nonchalance.

Beth doesn’t say any more to me about the fight with Marcus. Instead, we talk about what she has on her agenda this week. Once we have finished eating and I’ve helped her clean up, I tell her goodbye and make my way to the gym. I’m almost to the gym when I hear my name. I turn around to see Marcus making his way toward me. He has a split lip and eyebrow, one of his eyes is almost swollen shut, and his nose is huge. On the other side, he is sporting a bruise on his chin. I suck in a breath when I see the damage I caused.

“Marcus, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you so bad. I was so freaking angry with you. I’m so sorry.”

“Ava, there is nothing to apologize for. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Marcus, look at your face.”

“I don’t need to look at it. I can feel it,” he chuckles.

“Jesus, Marcus, this isn’t funny.”

“It is. You beat my ass, Ava,” he laughs again. “It’s not like I didn’t deserve it.”

“Marcus, I didn’t know how much you hated Tommy. I never would have gone out with him if I knew how much you disliked him.”

“Ava,” Marcus groans, running his hand through his hair and grabbing the base of his neck.

“Marcus, I’m sorry. I’d like to move past this if you’re okay with it.”

Marcus sighs. “Fine.”

“Cool. What do you wanna do today?”

“Ice my face, Ava. That’s what I want to do today.”