The contact with fist connecting with his face made Jonathan more surprised and a bit dizzy, but he got up and finally understood this was a test. He lunged with his fist towards her but she moved her head back in time.
“Rule number one, follow orders,” her hips swayed slightly as she hit him again this time her fist made a harder contact with his face. She circled him, assessing him completely; he seemed naturally strong but lacked the confidence. He lunged again aiming for her stomach but she jumped back in time. He bent and looked at her legs for a little bit, strong tanned legs. Jonathan stepped away from her, they circled each other.
Determined, he watched how she moved. Elegant, subtle, silent, she made no noise with her heels and was breathing evenly. He was agile in his movements, but not as quick as she was. His knee made contact with her abdomen; she groaned but jammed the palm of her hand to his chin. Catherine felt out of breath but she knew better than to back down, she was just getting started. Jonathan was amazed at her resistance and aimed a fist to her ribs, but she ducked and elbowed him hard in his back. Jonathan nearly lost his balance but he got back up.
“Rule number two, never be misguided by appearances.” Stepping back from him but not in time before his fist touched her jaw. “The most innocent looking girl could be a killing machine,” she unwounded the ribbon from her wrist and held it in one hand. It looked innocent, but once Jonathan stood up, she grabbed it and jumped to be behind Jonathan, forcing the ribbon to his neck, nearly cutting off his airways but she didn’t add any pressure.
“Rule number three, expect the unexpected from you opponent,” Jonathan jabbed his elbow into her stomach and ducked away, but Catherine managed a spin kick towards his side and cracked one of his ribs. Jonathan groaned and touched his ribs. They were definitely broken, he gasped for breath, and straightened himself up, looking right at her. She was good, he decided that, but it wasn’t enough for him to back down. He ducked and outstretched his right leg and knocked her off her feet, groaning she rolled back. Catherine was back on her feet in seconds, she aimed a jab at his fractured ribs then she turned but he grabbed a fistful of her hair. He had her back to his chest,
“I won’t back down easy, hot stuff.” She hissed and slammed her heel into his instep, and her elbow into his solar plex. Groaning he let go of her hair, but pulled something out of his belt, Catherine knocked his gun away hard, and he felt his wrist burst in pain.
“Rule number four never rely on a gun.” He hit her in the face with his good arm, already had enough and her decision made. Catherine snapped her fingers and in seconds had a gun pointed to his collarbone a sly smile on her face, her chest heaving from the harsh breaths.
“Rule number five, never stop relying on a gun. Man power is great but to finish someone off, always use a gun. “She clicked the bullet into place and Jonathan froze, but she set the gun down, panting trying to not show any weakness from her sore face and knuckles. Unclicking the bullet she nodded at Dmitri, “He’ll help you wrap you up. I’ll be in my room. Don’t disturb me.” She walked away, taking her heels off and walking out her feet bare.
One man held the door open for her and she headed to her room without another word. Looking up the door and undressing so she stepped into the shower. Rubbing her knuckles until she felt them more sore than before and she washed her hair as if she was going to be able to get off all the fighting. Catherine knew she was feeling OCD but the memory was playing in her mind over and over again. The flecks of blood on her face, she was always careful on not making an opponent bleed unless she was using a gun. But she used it so rarely she had learned how to control her strength and now wouldn’t cause any blood to protrude from her opponent.
Shaking away her memory she stepped out of the shower wrapped herself tightly in a towel and sat down on her bed dripping wet, closing her eyes as if she could focus more. Taking a deep breath she got up from her bed and dressed in pajamas. It was time for supper and she was willing to eat and talk to her father before going to bed.
Jonathan laid in the hospital bed, in the small blue room, his left side was bandaged tightly but he still had trouble breathing. The girl had serious moves, his face felt swollen but the ice pack he held to it swelled down.
He couldn’t really remember when did he decide to join something that would definitely upset Lorraine, but he had to acknowledge Lorraine was gone. He had to let her go the same way, he had done when his parents had died. Nobody could’ve stopped her even if she left, not even himself.
Jonathan closed his eyes and tried to make sense of what he had done before. He had followed orders, but he had hit a girl. His mind wandered if she was okay, but then he remembered how strong she had looked in front of him. She must be alright. He tried to roll over to get some blood down his side, and avoid staying numb, but he could barely move without actually letting his side burst into flames of pain. His mind began wandering like it usually did when he was lying in bed for more than an hour. At first it was Lorraine smiling down at him, then it was the girl. The girl with sapphire blue eyes and long brown chocolate hair. She was a sight, and he didn’t understand why he wasn’t comparing her to Lorraine. He didn’t even know her name.
Jonathan sat down on the table that had plates with all the basic needs for a healthy meal, the men were congratulating him. This was a good sign, he was in, he hoped. Everything seemed serve yourself, so he piled food on his plate. Enough carbs, enough vegetables enough proteins. He had never eaten much but his guess was that he had finally started eating normally, which was almost a relief if it wasn’t for the guilt washing through him. Eating a meal healthy, while his wife was lying underground; he pushed the thought away. One of the men spoke, a big looking guy with short black hair.
“It was impressive what you did with Ms. Romanov. She has never backed down easily, I’m even surprised that she didn’t pull the trigger,” Just as he had spoken, he looked past Jonathan and his eyes widened before dropping back to his plate. Jonathan half turned and saw the Catherine walking. Wearing pink plaid shorts and a matching camisole. Pajamas. All the eyes in the room turned away from her, it must’ve been out of politeness but he could tell how all the men shifted uncomfortably on there chairs that they noticed that she wasn’t just a girl. Already a woman. Eating already as she walked, or practically glided over the wooden floor.
“Very true Malcolm, I would’ve pulled the trigger.” She had a crooked smile, “Next time don’t pull my hair. I work hard on it.” Everyone in the table laughed Catherine felt warm and safe in here, Jonathan was still looking at her face trying to find something, anything that would tell him who she really was in this entire organization. “By the way, I’m Ekaterina; but I prefer you calling me Catherine or Ms. Romanov,”
“Guess you know my name is Jonathan, and there will be a next time?” she smiled fully and brought her fork filled with greens to her mouth.
“Much more than a next time, Malcolm.” Malcolm looked up, his chin covered with salad dressing, almost laughing she tossed him a napkin. “Learn to eat with your mouth not your chin, and set up Fresh Meat over here with what he needs.”
Again the boys chuckled, and she had the crooked smile. Catherine enjoyed this part of the day where everyone was relaxing.
“Cat, your Father is on the phone.” Setting her plate down she ran on the tips of her feet, towards Dmitri who was holding a wireless phone. She stopped to whisper in his ear and her hand on his chest made Dmitri’s breath catch.
“Call me Cat in public one more time and you will find trouble.”
“If trouble is you, I will call you Cat only in private.” Blush swept through her cheek and neck and she went upstairs already talking on the phone.
You could hear the “Hi daddy!” As she was going upstairs, Jonathan and Dmitri looked after her, their gazes meeting for a fleeting second. Then looked away Jonathan was trying to look busy eating Dmitri grabbed Catherine’s plate.
“Dmitri! You eat my food you will be sleeping outside!” he chuckled and shook his head also turning to head upstairs but stopped in his tracks when he heard Jonathan ask,
“Is Ms. Catherine and that man together?” Someone snorted and he looked at a man who was wiping his hands already having finished a particularly large piece of meat.
“Dmitri only wishes to be with her but Ms. Catherine is out of everyone’s league.” Jonathan looked away trying to seem like he was paying attention to his food. The men snickered as they saw Dmitri flip them the finger as he went upstairs.
“Kyle has a very valid point, Catherine Romanov has the blood of the Goddess Zaria, nobody can be compared to her in elegance and beauty. She is nothing compared to us mere mortals.” Dmitri yelled from upstairs.
Malcolm turned to Jonathan and lowered his voice,
“She is off limits; not only because she is your boss’s daughter but because she has never looked the same at any man since her six month boyfriend broke her heart on her sixteenth birthday. Little bastard chickened out once he realized how good she was. She can shoot, fight, wrestle, run better than anyone you will ever meet. The only men that ever get close enough to her is her Father and Dmitri. Unless she beckons you, go to her. But apart from that stay as far away from Catherine Romanov as possible. “
“I’m not interested in Ms. Catherine.” But even Jonathan knew that, it was a poor lie.
“Don’t lie to yourself, even to yourself. Lying is a poor choice in this job.” Jonathan took a bite out of his food and ignored the dinner chatter. He tried thinking of Lorraine. But Dmitri was right, everybody dimmed in comparison to Catherine Romanov.
Catherine was talking to her Father on the phone, sitting down on her bed, looking out the window.
“How’s Monterrey, daddy?” she asked, hearing the busyness of whatever her father was doing with one of his clients.
“Everything is going as planned, Ekaterina. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be heading home in two days. I’ll be staying there for a couple of months to check on things. I think Daniel can handle things for a while.” Having a Russian heritage Nicholas Romanov preferred to call his daughter the Russian version of her name, like it was still a link to his past, but also because Ekaterina was as much as a beautiful name as his beautiful daughter. Catherine knew him well enough that he wanted to know how his new recruit had passed his daughters test.
“Jonathan passed, he lacks confidence and thinks I’m just a little girl with a basket of goodies,” her father chuckled smiling at her from the office in Monterrey. “Took him twenty minutes to finally get a gun; not too bad.”
“Do you think Ekaterina Romanov can fix that lack of confidence?” she snorted making her father smile even wider at her boldness.
“I basically have Dmitri eating from the palm of my hand, I can fix up Fresh Meat in a couple of days. “
“That’s my girl,” A man came to talk to Nicholas and Catherine sighed disappointed. She knew she had little time, but her father understood her in ways she didn’t understand. “Yes, Ekaterina. You can go, have some fun. Enjoy your youth. I’m sorry. “
“It’s alright Father, The deed has to be done.”
“Very true, daughter. G’night sweetheart, sweet dreams.”
“Good luck Father, be careful.” Then the line went dead. Sighing she leaned back against the very large pillows on her bed. There was a small rap on the door and she said, “Come on in Dmitri.”
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