CHAPTER THIRTEEN

It's been a week since I and Mikael moved into Ian's house, Mikael was ecstatic, he was so happy to be here with both his parents. That and he didn't have to go to school, I'm sure it felt like Christmas to him. I contacted his school and we managed to come to an understanding, I will hire a teacher for him, and then when it's time for examinations and continuous assessments, a teacher will be sent to the house with scripts. As for my work, my supervisor has given me some sort of leave, I will only come in when I must come in, otherwise, I am to stay indoors.

It was a weekend, the first weekend of living with Ian, it wasn't exactly easy especially during the mornings when he comes down in shorts and a tank top or sometimes shorts and nothing else, showing off his muscles and making me want to jump him. Several times, I had to go back up and take a cold shower after already taking a shower, and for the last two days, that has proved to be somehow ineffective. I just lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of how to get through the morning with the heat already pooling between my legs at the visions that gathered in my head but my daydream was interrupted by sharp knocks on my door.

"Who is it?" I knew full well who it was, there was no other person in the house who could knock like that, I just wanted to ruffle his feathers a little bit.

"Seriously, Arizona?"

"Yes, Ian. For all, I know you've killed my son and his father and you're here to do the same. So, who is it!?"

"That you just called me by my name is all the proof I need that you know exactly who is standing on the other side of this door, so, do us both a favor and come open it up before I do."

I grudgingly stood from my bed and opened the door, and everything I knew was going to happen happened. Ian was in just shorts this time and had sweat glistening on his chest, I could tell he had just come from the gym.

"You enjoying the view?"

"Don't flatter yourself, rookie. I've seen much better." His face fell and his demeanor became cold and distant, I didn't want that but it was best that way.

"Well, I came to tell you to meet me in the basement in an hour."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"You need to train."

"No!!!"

"Yes!!!"

"But what about Mikael, I need to see to him. I'm sure he's still in bed and he needs to eat and brush his teeth and take a bath and oh! He needs a haircut…"

"I've seen to Mikael's morning needs, just in case you haven't noticed it's past nine in the morning and your lazy butt is still in bed."

"Arizona Anderson, you either have yourself down in the basement. If you make me come back up here, may God help you…God help me because I'm hauling your ass down."

Ian stormed out of my room, gently closing the door behind him. I stared grudgingly at the door before throwing a tiny hissy fit, I thought about throwing a bigger one, one that would bring Ian back here and make him leave me alone. But I wasn't five anymore, I had to put on my big girl hat. I sighed and went into my bathroom, after brushing my teeth and taking a bath, I ran a brush through my hair, dried it, and put it up in a loose bun. I threw on a pair of black, ankle-length tights and a matching black sports bra. I looked at myself in the mirror, I was ready to go.

I looked at the time, I still had about thirty minutes to spare so I rushed to the kitchen and had a bowl of cereal. I quickly rinsed off my plate and went in search of my baby boy. I found him in front of the television watching only the Lord knows what, I sat beside him and threw him across my lap on his back, and tickled him. He giggled and wiggled.

"Hello, Mommy."

"Hello, Munchkin. How are you this morning?"

"Not so well, Mommy."

"Why, what happened!?"

"Well, it's just that I miss you. You don't want to see me anymore; you don't even want to have bath time with me anymore…"

"Baby, it's not like that, I swear. Mommy has just been tired and stressed these days. I've been thinking of you, I've always been thinking of you."

"Really?"

"Yes, baby. I and your father have been making arrangements for your education to resume." Mikael groaned and tried to move away from me but I pulled him back and hugged him even tighter, placing kisses on his cheeks and hair.

"Ugh, Mommy, I don't want to go to school!!!"

"But baby, you have to go to school."

"Why?"

"Because…you have the most intelligent brain in the whole of the United States, if you don't go to school, you'll become a dummy. Do you want to become a dummy?"

"No!!!"

"Good, also don't you want to become like me. Smart and young and with a good job?"

"No."

"What?"

"I want to become like my daddy."

"Oh, what does he have that I don't?"

"Well, I want to be like him when I grow up because he's so smart and he's so cool and he has a big house and a cool car. And because…he told me about his job and what he does, I think it's the coolest thing in the world."

"Oh…"

"But it's okay, Mommy, I still think you're the coolest person in the world and I still love you so much."

He launched himself at me and we hugged for God knows how long, we broke apart at the sound of Ian clearing his throat. I turned and saw Ian standing in the doorway dressed in sweat pants with his arms crossed.

"You ready, Arizona?"

"Yes."

"You going to be okay, Mikael?"

"Yeah, I will just be sitting here watching TV."

"Okay. And prepare your mind, your home tutor will be here in four days."

I stood up and followed Ian down into the basement. The room was just like a gym and was well lit. Weapons, ranging from guns to knives, bow staffs, and even nunchucks, were hanging on a wall. A boxing ring sat in the center of the room, along with mats and dumbbells, lifts, and virtually everything else.

"Wow…"

"Wow's right. You like it?"

"Yeah, I mean it looks okay…and a bit cozy." Ian chuckled a bit and drew me into the boxing ring.

"Believe me, by the time we're done, you'll be feeling anything but cozy."

"Okay, what exactly are we going to do today?"

"We're going to work on basic self-defense skills, then we'll move up from there."

"Hmm, that sounds like something I can do. I must warn, I learned more than a few things, just enough to take you down." He cocked a well-curved brow at me and chuckled, the arrogance was rolling off of him in waves…makes me want to slap it off his pretty face.

"Don't take it easy on me, cupcake. Show me what you've got, all of it."

And so, I did. I swung my fist at him, hard but he deflected it and I caught myself just in time from falling face down. He had already bounced to the other side of the ring and was waiting for my next move. I came at him again, swinging and missing every single time. I was sweating profusely while Ian had not even broken a sweat. I just bounced around the ring, trying to figure him out and then I swung at him, I missed again, and this time I went down…hard.

"Ouch…" I heard him chuckle from behind me before I felt him sit beside me.

"You alright, Ari?"

"What do you think?"

"I think your ass looks too damn good in those tights; I wonder if it still feels as good as I remember."

I froze for a second as I tried to comprehend what he said to me. I turned my head to look at him and he was intently staring at my ass. I ignored all the pain in my body and sat up, besides me.

"Well, I guess we'll never know."

"Hm, but I'm sure you want me to find out…" His voice dropped a little, and just like all those years ago, it did strange things to my body. After all these years he still had that control, the power to flip my switch whenever he wanted to.

"I don't want to I want you far away from me."

"Really, but your body is saying otherwise." Ian reached out his hand and rolled my right nipple between his fingers through the flimsy material, I inhaled sharply and grabbed his hand to remove it but instead I found myself pushing my chest into his hand and massaging his fingers.

"So much for your body not wanting this."

"I don't want to have sex with you, it's been years since I've had any. I'm sure my body would react that way with any man."

That got to him and he withdrew his hand from my person and stood up, extending his hand to help me get to my feet. His demeanor changed and I knew it was back to business for him. I stood up and every muscle in my body protested.

"I'm going to teach you how to attack, whatever it is you were doing some time ago doesn't quite cut it."

"But it was enough to take down the guy who tried to kidnap Mikael."

"They sent an amateur because they were not expecting to have an intervention. They must have been monitoring the school, so they knew the time you usually came to pick him up. They thought it would be an easy pick, they were not counting on you coming early to pick him up."

"So?"

"So, the next time they attack, they'll be sending in their finest. You need to be prepared, not just for yourself but for Mikael too. I can't lose you…"

My breath caught in my throat at the confession. I needed to stop doing stuff like this to myself…overthinking things. He probably didn't mean it the way I'm thinking it, right?

"Oh…"

"Yeah…I meant that I can't lose you AND Mikael. Because, well…without you, Mikael is going to be a huge mess. He loves you so much." The disappointment hit me right in the gut, and for the second time in the space of seconds, deprived me of air.

"Yeah, I get it. Besides, you probably wouldn't know what to do with him anyway."

"So come on, let's get to work. I think we'll skip the defense for now and work on building your muscles, they're incredibly weak."

And that was how the next hour went. Muscle building. My muscles didn't like the idea because I struggled to get up the stairs to my room. After a hot bath, I felt a little better, enough for me to spend the rest of the day with my son. With Ian sitting across from us, staring intently.