I should let someone else take over training Eliza as I knew if Markus somehow got to know about this, that's exactly what would be happening. But I couldn't give her up, I didn't want to. I felt an intrinsic bond with her that I could not, would not ignore. We had to sort something out to make it work, and that was behind my resolve.
“Come, sit down.”
I beckoned her over to the table and when she sat down I placed myself on a chair opposite her.
“Look. We had a moment of insanity, fuelled by the adrenaline and relief. You were feeling vulnerable and I took advantage of that, and for that I'm incredibly sorry. Please forgive me. I'll understand if you want someone else to train you, though I'm hoping we can forget about our, or actually my, momentary lapse of control. It won't happen again. I promise.”
I looked her in the eyes and tried to gauge her reaction. It was full of contradiction, quite hard to decipher and her silence didn't help. I could see she was trying to gather her thoughts and gave her time to reply so I sat back and waited for her to say something. After a few minutes she spoke.
“Oh Zack...." she sighed deeply with frustration.
“It's so typical of you to try and take the blame for it all, but I was there too. I jumped on you the minute your lips touched mine! At least you managed to regain control pretty quickly, otherwise our clothes would have been strewn across the floor by now and I would've gone all the way before realising what we were doing.”
She blushed whilst she looked at me through her eyelashes, killing me once again. I had to breathe deeply and focus as she carried on.
“So, I want to thank you rather than forgive you and no, I don't want to forget about it, because it happened. It's life.”
She paused but I knew she hadn't finished so I waited, feeling nervous.
“I would like to keep it between us. No one else needs to know. It'll be hard to conceal when asked, but why would anyone ask? I want you to carry on with my training and I promise to work hard at controlling my urges. What do you think?”
I felt relief flooding over me, she was just amazing; so wild and yet so sensible and I felt privileged to be able to carry on working with her. That made me much happier than it should have, once again reminding me my feelings for her were running far deeper than they should ideally be. However, I could deal with that. I would just have to. Besides, I knew she was having feelings for Zaphire anyway, and I detected her guilt, talking about keeping our little adventure quiet.
“I can work with that. However, I must warn you I have to be as strict with you as I have been. That's not going to change. There are a couple of things we have to talk about tomorrow involving some of your actions and their consequences and you're not going to like it. Can you cope with that? I don't want you to think you can give me attitude or use my transgression against me, as the moment that happens we will be done. I would have to resign as your trainer. Understood?”
“Of course, Sir" she answered a bit too eagerly, trying to show me she wouldn't have a problem respecting me.
She smiled her beautiful smile and just as I thought we had more or less resolved things, there was a soft knock on the door.
For a moment I thought about refusing whoever it was entry especially as I suspected it was Zaphire. But it was too late, it was her alright and she had already opened the door. She came in with a beaming smile on her face meant for Eliza, which instantly disappeared as she entered.
“What the fuck is this?" she hissed threateningly.
“The smell of pheromones is so thick you could build a wall out of it!" she exclaimed, waving her hands around agitatedly.
“What the hell have you done, brother. Where the fuck is your honour!”
She paced around the room, absolutely fuming. I moved towards the door to make sure she wouldn't run off before we could talk to her. The last thing we needed was a raging Zaphire stomping straight to Markus. Still cross from having been told off by me earlier, that was a clear possibility.
“Sshh, shhh, calm down sis. Nothing happened. Don't worry." I tried to temper her fury.
“Don't lie to me." Her voice low, eyes glowering.
“You can't hide it. I can smell it all around you." she accused, as she sniffed demonstratively around, glancing at Eliza, trying to work out how involved she had been.
“Eliza, what happened? What did he do?" she asked more empathetically, but still on edge.
She was trying to work out Eliza's feelings and I could start smelling the scent of jealousy creeping in, and anxiousness. She was feeling betrayed and she was trying to work out how mutual the incident had been, clearly hoping it had been my lust, rather than Eliza's desire.
“I..., I don't know what to say Zaphire. I am so sorry. I was overwhelmed by my senses and Zack happened to be the person I unleashed them on." Eliza whispered, barely audible.
The pain on Zaphire's face was excruciating. I felt it in every bone of my body and soul. It was crushing to experience. Eliza felt it too, and was barely able to cope. The intensity of all these emotions were just too much for her and she fled back into the bathroom.
“We stopped it Zaphy. We came to our senses. Nothing happened apart from a kiss. We knew it was wrong. I'm so sorry." I pleaded hurriedly.
“You're just such an arsehole! You just couldn't help yourself, could you!" she sneered,
