“Tempting me?” Seven scoffs. “You thinkyouwere temptingme?”
His jaw tightens and his eyes narrow as his lip curls up against his teeth in a display of disgust.
“I don’tthinkI was tempting you,” I say, growing bolder, “IknowI was.”
I watch as Seven’s fingers twitch and he takes a menacing step forward as if I’ve just threatened him.
What the hell are you doing, Evelyn? You’re playing with fire, here.
“Wow, she’s definitely figured out how to get a rise out of you, hasn’t she,” Luci chuckles darkly, pushing away from the wall. "How about giving me a turn with the girl?"
Without taking his eyes off me, Seven throws his hand out to the side, stopping Luci in his tracks with a blade to his throat.
"No, I haven't finished training her for today."
"Fine, then hurry up and finish," Luci says, throwing his hands up as he backs away again.
Seven slips his knife back into its sheath as he cocks his head to the side. Lowering himself slightly, he readies himself as if he's about to lunge at me.
"What do I do?" I ask, panic rising in my chest again as I realize just how dangerous my jabs at Seven's pride may actually be.
"Nothing’s changed. Just escape," he says, suddenly lunging forward to grab me.
I duck, barely missing his arms as they rush past the top of my head. Glancing over my shoulder, Seven's already turned to barrel toward me again, this time tackling me to the floor before I have a chance to move.
"You're crushing me," I gasp as he leans over my shoulder, my arms pinned beneath me.
"Stop looking back," Seven growls in my ear before pushing up off of me and getting to his feet. "You're so concerned with what I'm going to do next, you forget that your goal is simply to save yourself. Stop focusing on me, stop focusing on the knife, and focus onyou."
"How is that supposed to help? How can I focus on myself when someone ten times my size is trying to take me down?"
"Use your size to your advantage. Don't let me get on top of you. As soon as my weight bears down on you, it's over. Now, try again."
At least that’s one thing I can truly admire about Seven, he does take training me very seriously. Never once has he tried to go easy on me.
He doesn't help me up, instead lunging at me as I try to get to my feet. I'd expected as much, though, and instead of scrambling to get to my feet or out of the way, I drop back down to the floor.
Seven sails over me, rolling over his shoulder and onto the floor as he wheels around to look at me, a grin slowly spreading across his face.
"Now that's more like it," he purrs in approval before diving for me again.
I'm already rolling out of his way, but he manages to catch my ankle in one hand.
"Hey," I cry out, clutching at useless handfuls of the rug as he begins dragging me across the floor toward him. I clench my thighs together in an effort to hide myself from his gaze as the shirt rides up around my hips.
"Evi, focus onyourselfand what you can do. Stop worrying about what I'm doing to you … or going to do to you," Seven growls, pulling me closer. “You’re the only thing that you can control.”
I stop clutching at things as I try to clear the panic from my mind and re-assess the situation. His advice is surprisingly simple, but gives me a new sense of clarity as I suddenly realize what he means.
I kick out at him with my other foot. My heel meets with his lip, and his hand releases my ankle as a trickle of blood finds its way down his chin.
"I'm sorry," I gasp.
"Stop saying you're sorry," Seven hisses, wiping his thumb over his lip and readjust a lip ring before looking at the blood staining his fingertips. He looks up at me, his dark eyes burning with an all too familiar fire as a grin pulls at the corner of his mouth before he sucks the remaining blood from his lip. “Again.”
I barely have time to pull my legs out of his reach this time as Seven grabs for me. I scramble to my feet, hurtling across the room as I hear a throaty growl of approval from Seven somewhere behind me as he pushes himself up off the floor.
Scanning the bedroom, I search the space for something to use to my advantage and my eyes zone in on my armchair.