“What about that door?” I asked. I assumedit was a closet, but I wanted to be sure of everything in thishouse.
He sighed heavily at me but gave in to my demand.
“I’m only showing you this to put yourcuriosity at ease.” He tugged me along to the door and stoppedright in front of it. “But know this. If I ever catch you in hereor lingering at the door for too long, you will be punishedseverely, do you understand?”
“Yes,” I said a little confused. Jesus, whatthe fuck was he keeping in there?
He gave me one last warning look, and I knewhe was serious. He opened the door with a fingerprint scanner andled me inside, tightening his grip on my hand. Inside was a verybarren room with glossy wooden floors, mats, more mirroredwalls, and more hanging punchingbags. There were also several variations of Wing Chun dummies andat least five cork dart boards screwed into the walls. But then Inoticed what was hanging on the wall closest to me and my jawnearly hit the floor.
Weapons. Lots of them. Not guns or rifles,no, these were weapons for a martial artist and my mouth dropped inenvy at the vast selection he had in his possession. There wereseveral sets of katanas strategically placed on the walls andvarious bo staffs standing tall in a beautiful wooden rack, some for show and some for actual battle.There were even sais, commas, arnis, nunchakus, shurikens and small throwing knives all hangingfrom the walls. I could feel my hands twitching to get a hold ofone of them. It all looked so beautiful and tempting.
“Wow,” I whispered under my breath, taking asmall step forward, true appreciation seeping through. “Now, thisis impressive.”
Darren coughed, and I was brought back frommy trance. I turned to look at him, realizing he had been studyingmy reaction the entire time.
“Did you ever train with weapons?” he askedin a very serious tone. I thought about lying, but maybe he wouldbelieve a partial truth.
“Only a little.” I shrugged. “I've had sometraining with the bo, but that’sabout it.”
I had a lot more than “some” training. I hadbeen practicing it since I was eleven years old, and it was one ofmy favorite weapons. I had dominated in competition with it andhoped none of those videos were online. I had also dabbled a littlewith the sais and the sword, butthat really was the extent of my weapons training. The rest of mylife got in the way.
Darren nodded at my answer, thankfullyseeming satisfied. “This is where I like to train, and you are notever to disturb me when I am in here. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand.”
I didn't know why he was so nervous about meknowing about this room. Obviously, he did still see me as quite athreat should the right weapon ever come into my hands, but in allhonesty, when it came to my escape, I wouldn't be going for aJapanese sword. I’d be going for a goddamn gun.
“But there is one contradiction I can’t helpbut point out,” I dared.
“And what is that,” he asked narrowing hiseyes at me. This was his warningstare; I had that much figured out.
“You do see me as a threat. Otherwise, you wouldn't forbid me from thisroom.”
I didn’t know why I was provoking him, butif ever there was an opportunity to build myself up, I would takeit, even if it meant Darren’s retaliation.
His sigh was heavy and filled with annoyanceas he rolled his eyes. He took both of my hands in his and strokedhis thumbs over my still bruised knuckles and fingers, examining myfreshly manicured nails and lingering on the busted knuckle frompunching him in the mouth this morning. I noticed the swelling inhis lip had gone down a lot since then.
“These are going to break,” he whisperedunder his breath.
“Huh?” I replied, confused.
“Okay, Jaden,” he said. “I’m going toindulge the little fantasy you have where you think you can beatme. I’ll warn you right now, you can’t, but I’m fine with lettingyou try so that you can see for yourself which one of us is thesuperior fighter. If this is what it will take for you to realizethere is no escaping me, then so be it.”
He let go of me and walked to the center ofthe room, his hands fucking with his phone before taking off hisjacket, shirt, and tie and tossing them to the floor by the wall.All he had on now was the black tank top he wore under his clothesand his dress pants and shoes.
“Pick one,” he said, waving his arm to thewall of weapons.
Had I just heard him right? He was reallygiving me the opportunity to fight him with a weapon? Fuck, thiswas it. I was finally going to unleash all my skill on this son ofa bitch, and I would show him what it meant to be superior.
My confidence shone brighter than thefucking sun as I headed straight for one of the bos and walked into the center of the room. Idecided on the weapon I had the most skill with. The thought ofbeating Darren to death was far too enticing for me to pass up.
The bo Ichose was tapered oak and a bit too big for my size, but it waslighter and, therefore, faster.Unfortunately, it wouldn’t hurt Darren as much when I struck him ifI had chosen the straight bo, butthey were heavier, resulting in slower movements, and I felt Ireally needed speed for this fight. Typically, I trained with astraight bo
