Chapter 22 CHAPTER 22: Friction
Andy''s POV
I didn't do jealousy. I did control.
Or at least that was what I tried to assure myself that I was doing.
Which was why the sight in front of me was inconvenient.
Elizabeth and Kae were close. A little too close. It wasn't one of the things that I liked to see. And it wasn't the first time that they were doing this.
People have been talking. And now that I saw it for myself, I could see why they were actually talking. The whole thing looked a little too intimate.
I was standing in the distance, and my hands were folded in front of my chest. I wasn't showing any expression on my face. Or at least I hoped that that was what I looked like.
“And then you extend your leg…” Kae was saying, and I closed my eyes at the sound of his voice. Nothing happened whenever I listened to him in the past. So why was I suddenly feeling weird now. Why didn't I want him speaking?
His hands grazed against her skin, and I noticed the way she closed her eyes for just a second. Of course, she was focused. But that didn't mean she wasn't affected by the touch. She was just a little too good at hiding it.
I inhaled slightly.
It was okay. They were just training. He was teaching her the right things. He was helping her. And it was going to benefit all of us. Except that we weren't even a team.
He adjusted her stance again, without asking if he could touch her. He was supposed to ask for permission while doing something like that, right?
But our dearest Kae didn't.
Her breath hitched every single time his hand touched her. She couldn't mask it anymore.
After what happened the last time that I walked her over to her dorm, I wanted to feel more than I did that evening.
But now, she didn't even want me walking her back. She was the first to walk out of evening classes, and the last to come in.
Very smart, Elizabeth Siege.
This game was going to be fun.
I looked back at them, and I curled my lips in disgust. I couldn't help but feel irritated. Slightly.
Not because Kae was helping her, but because she was allowing him to help her.
I took a step forward, and I could tell that they both felt it.
Kae was the first one to notice, and he turned in my direction. He didn't step away.
The bastard.
Elizabeth turned to look at me as well, and I didn't know if she saw the look on my face. But there was a smirk threatening to spill on her lips.
She knew what she was doing.
“Are you here to interrupt? Or just to watch?” She asked, and her tone was sharp. But slightly playful.
I didn't answer her immediately. I walked in a circle around her instead, looking at her from head to toe.
“Your stance is wrong,” I said, and I felt Kae stiffen.
“It's not,” he said in a clipped tone. His jaw tightened, and I could feel the rush of joy in my veins.
“It is,” I argued.
The silence snapped between the both of us, like a wire drawn too tight.
Elizabeth looked between the both of us. “If you're both going to fight, then do it somewhere else.”
I took a deep breath. “No,” I answered calmly. “There's no need to do this somewhere else. It concerns you.”
She threw her arms in the air. “Well, everything seems to concern me.”
I ignored that, stepping closer to her and pushing Kae aside in the kindest way I could muster.
“Try again,” I told her, and she hesitated.
She looked over at Kae, and then she took position.
Her arms were balled into fists, as she raised them in the air like she was more than willing to deliver a punch.
Her hands were balled perfectly, but she looked weak.
And I knew that she was anything but weak.
I straightened one of her legs, while extending the other.
“How does that feel?” I asked, and she closed her eyes. By the time she opened them again, she looked more in control.
“I feel in control,” she whispered. I could feel her energy shift. She was more precise. More in control.
But I wasn't even done yet.
I straightened her elbows, making it point at the tips, and giving her more leverage to throw a blow perfectly.
“And now?” I asked.
“I feel the power spread through my body.” she whispered, almost breathless. It was overwhelming, so I let her relax just a little bit.
“Allow it to flow. Don't hold back. Let it take over every part of your body.”
She looked at me for just a second, with tears in her eyes. She blinked them back, and gave me a stiff nod. I could feel the power pulse through her now.
I turned around to look at Kae, and I was sure that he could feel it too. He just wouldn't want to admit it.
Fuck, I was proud.
“Now, throw a punch.”
She threw it in the air, but I was so sure that it was going to hurt.
She didn't even wait for me to ask her how it felt, before she gave me her answer.
“I feel good,” she said, smirking at me.
I could practically smell her energy now. It felt slightly controlled. And cleaner.
Kae huffed so loudly that I could hear him.
Elizabeth went back to a standing position, and she turned to look at him.
“Done?” Kae asked, with his voice on edge.
I stepped back slowly, sporting a smirk.
“For now.”
Elizabeth exhaled, and I didn't need anybody to tell me that she even felt refreshed after everything that we had just done.
She looked more relaxed, and I could tell that her energy was refilled. Her muscles were stretched, and the hair that framed her face fit her perfectly.
Her cheeks were red, and she heaved a sigh of relief, as she looked down at her arm. It was almost like she was still in shock that she delivered that blow to begin with.
Kae stepped closer to her, but I wasn't even sure that he was confident enough to teach her anything else.
Very well then.
It might have been pretty. If they were going to try to get close to her behind my back, then maybe it was right about time I showed her what it actually felt like to be in control.
A part of me liked the fact that Lucif barely even cared. I was sure that he was going around her, but he wasn't doing it as actively as Kae tried to do it. He could only do as much as get close to her for magic.
He was a selfish computer wizard. We all knew that about him. He had been battered in ways that I hated to even think about. I didn't know how he managed to stay there in the school to begin with.
He was a lot stronger and carefree than he bothered to show. And he believed that words weren't meant to be wasted.
He had barely even been in class, and I wanted to believe that he was somewhere hacking systems for fun. And now doing something that was going to be related to Elizabeth.
But then, he wouldn't waste his time on that.
Of course, I didn't like competitors. And I took the utmost pleasure in showing them their place. Which was exactly what I was going to do to him.
He was already on edge. And it was definitely going to be that way for a while.
This time, it wasn't about her power. It was about who managed to get closer.