Seraphim: Chapter I

I hit the floor. Hard.


You would think the rubber-like material that fighting rings are made up of would soften the impact, but there's no such luck. Black dots danced in my vision.


"Up, Jadyn!" I heard Chad's voice bark at me from outside of the ring, and struggled to pull myself to my feet. Jared was grinning at me from the other side of the ring, bright red mouthpiece jutting out through his lips.
Jerk. I thought. So much for being a part of the same team. Jared took any chance he could get to throw us to the ground. Especially me.
"Jared!" I heard a deep, scolding voice behind me, and didn't have to turn to see the unhappy expression Nathan was wearing.
"I'm fine." I snapped, shaking myself as I stood to my feet. I wobbled back to the center of the ring, dropping into a defensive stance as Jared joined me. He watched, waiting for me to attack, but I had to intention to.
Jared's fatal flaw in his fighting was his impatience with his opponent. He couldn't wait forever for the other fighter to make the first move. And I only had about three seconds . . . two . . . one . . .
With a frustated grunt, Jared threw himself at me, long legs spinning toward me. I ducked and fell back, throwing my leg straight up to catch the inside of his thigh. He cried out as he fell, managing to land on his feet.
But in that instant in which he stood unstable, I dropped down and swung my leg around to knock his feet from under him. As he toppled backwards, I swung around, bringing my calf down onto his abdomen with full force, pushing him down with even more power.
I felt his rock-hard abs against my leg, but the breath still left him in a rush of air as he slammed onto his back. I leaped to my feet and danced away, but he couldn't get up, turning onto his side to cough up a lung.
"That's enough," Chad ordered, "We're done for today." Our instructor turned and left the room without another word, as always.
I turned to see Nathan grinning at me from where he leaned against the side of the ring. His eyes flickered to Jared. "You all right there, hot-head?" he called, and Jared was able to muster up the energy to flip Nathan the bird.
Nathan chuckled and pulled the ropes aside for me to step through. I bent down and stuck on leg through, but one of Jared's cheap head-shots caught up with me and the room spun. I lost my balance and fell forward.
"Hey, now!" Nathan released the roped and moved to catch me, easing me down onto my feet. "You all right?" He pulled the moutpiece out of my mouth and smoothed my sweaty curls from my forehead, looking at me with concern.
I mustered a smile. "Fantastic," I answered, glancing over my shoulder at Jared as he recovered.
Nathan smiled as well, his hand remaining on my hip. I used to get self-conscious whenever I was around him like this; red-faced, sweaty, make-upless, and dressed in fighting attire. But that was just part of our lifestyle, and I got over it quickly.
And I definitely didn't mind his fighting look--shirtless, so his perfectly-sculpted muscles could be seen, and a thin coat of glistening sweat over his tan skin. His dark brown hair was plastered to his forehead, and I pushed it away from his eyes.
"You still up for a night out?" he asked, steering me away from the ring with a hand on the small of my back.
"As soon as I get cleaned up," I answered, pulling at my black tanktop. Even though I didn't care how I looked in front of him I could only handle feeling nasty for so long.
"I'm fine with anything," he chuckled, pausing in front of the lockers to fish out his bag as I collected mine. "Harper in?"
"She's got individual training with Chad tonight," I said, trying to hide the smile that pushed at my lips. "Declan?"
"Work," Nathan didn't bother to hide his smirk. "Guess it's just us tonight, then." He sighed dramatically. "Whatever shall we do?"
"I'm sure we'll think of something," I let him pull me against his chest, uncaring of the sweat that moved from his bare skin to my tank top. He leaned down to kiss me, but stopped suddenly.
"What about Jackson?" he asked, and I remembered my brother with some disappointment.
"Jackson . . ." I pulled back, looking up in thought. Then I shrugged. "He can make a night without me. Jared and Luke could always use some extra company."
Nathan grined and quickly leaned forward to press his lips against mine, arms snaking around my waist. His sweaty hair was cool through my fingers, the cold lockers sending chill bumps down my arms as the metal touched my bare shoulders.
"Seven?" he murmured beneath the kiss.
I nodded and pulled backfrom the embrace.My heart pounded as he smiled his sweet, heart-wrenching smile, face inches from mine. I move to walk away, but he abruptly leaned forward to kiss along my neck to my jaw. I laughed and allowed one more kiss before I pushed him away. "Seven." I said over my shoulder, "Don't be late."