Page 177 of His Virgin Romance Series

CHAPTER12

Abby

The training ringwas empty today, and I took advantage of the peace and quiet. I had come to genuinely enjoy training, and sometimes I would sneak in on my own to train by myself for a little while. With each passing day, I felt stronger, more confident, and more in control. A lot of it had to do with Ryder’s training, but it was also more than that.

It had been three days since Ryder had barged into my room and demanded that I tell him why I had freaked out on him and run. We had been avoiding each other a little bit, coming together only for training sessions and going our separate ways immediately after.

That conversation I had had with him had opened my mind up, however. In the aftermath of it all, I had sat on my bed and had an epiphany. I had only been making excuses, hoping he would buy one and leave, but in the process, I had stumbled across a few unpleasant truths. Everything I had told Ryder was the truth. I was attracted to dangerous men, and a huge reason for that was because I believed they would protect me.

I had hung my hopes on men my whole life, and they had always and unfailingly let me down. In fact, they had done more than just let me down. They had used me and abused me and taken advantage of my trust. Now I realized that I couldn’t count on anyone else; it was up to me to take control of my life and to protect myself. I needed to stop looking to others for protection, and I needed to start protecting myself.

This realization had set off a burning new determination inside me, and whenever I had a spare minute, I would train. I would read up on fighting skills. I would go over my weak points and my best moves in my head until I was dreaming of daggers and defensive positions and fancy kicks.

If Ryder noticed my new zeal for training, he didn’t mention it. It seemed he was also preoccupied with his own shit, and I wasn’t about to pry. I had my secrets, and he had his, and neither one of us were ready to share just yet. That much was obvious.

“Hey.”

I turned in the direction of the voice and found Devon standing there by the ring, observing me with a look that suggested he was surprised to see me there.

“Hi,” I replied, relaxing my position and walking towards him. “What are you doing here?”

“I asked where you were, and the boys pointed me in this direction.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I thought I’d get in a little extra training.”

“By yourself?”

“Why not?” I asked. “I’ve been reading up too… so I have more teachers than just Ryder.”

Devon nodded, and he looked a little thoughtful and amused at the same time.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s just… when I first brought you here, I thought you’d be a fish out of water. And you were… at first. But now… look at you.”

I actually looked down at myself. “Why… what do I look like now?” I asked.

“You look like you belong here,” Devon pointed out. “You look like you could be part of this lifestyle. Which is only funny because you hate it so much.”

I frowned. “I don’t… hate it.”

“No?” Devon asked, with raised eyebrows.

I smiled as he entered the ring and sat down by the ropes. I joined him on the floor and set my dagger down. “Well, there are aspects of it that I still don’t like much,” I admitted. “But I think living with your guys these last couple of weeks… it’s made me realize certain things.”

“Like what?”

“Like maybe this kind of living isn’t all about fights and violence and big dick contests with rival clubs,” I conceded. “There’s a sense of camaraderie and brotherhood that even I can feel. You guys band together for each other. You guys are there for each other.”

“That is the point,” Devon nodded.

“I guess I just didn’t get it because I had only the stereotypes to fall back on,” I said. “And maybe… I was being a little judgmental.”

“A little?” Devon asked, raising his eyebrows.

I laughed. “Ok, fair enough. I was really judgmental. But I’m man enough to admit that I was wrong.”

Devon nodded. “I wish that I had some good news to tell you,” he said. “But unfortunately, we still haven’t been able to dig up anything on Walter Black… or whoever his real name is.”

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