“And what happened in this vision?” I ask her when she finally looks at me.
Slowly, she starts, “Well, we were walking along the beach, and I used my magic on you and then I ran away laughing. You started chasing after me,” she licks her lips and looks away, “and I ran into the house and leaned against the kitchen counter. You came in a couple seconds later, soaking wet. I grinned at you while you stood in the kitchen, dripping water everywhere. You told me that…” she trails off, biting her bottom lip. The corner of her mouth is slightly upturned; she is trying to hide a smile. I move my hand up to frame the side of her face.
“What did I tell you?”
“You told me that since I was…pregnant, you’d let me get away with that and then you kissed me.”
Pregnant? Ryanne and I will have a child together. In the future. We’ll get to have a life together and be happy. We’ll have a family…we’ll be a family.
I hear a knock at our door, but I don’t pay attention to it. “Are you sure?” I ask. When she nods, I can’t hold in my smile anymore. I bend down and pick her up, spinning in a circle. I hear the door open, but I don’t care. Ryanne laughs in my arms. I put her back on the ground and lean down to kiss her. She moans against my lips and leans into me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
When Ryanne hears a sigh behind us, she pulls back and looks over her shoulder. Seeing Emma and Natalie standing in the doorway brings back that beautiful blush. She turns around and buries her head into my shirt, laughing.
I look over Ryanne and see Emma smiling at us, while Natalie has an envious look on her face. “You guys ready?” Emma asks. Natalie blinks and regains her composure. I laugh and start walking toward the door. Ryanne walks backward—her face still buried in my chest from embarrassment. She doesn’t like attention, and PDA definitely brings it. I bend down to pick her up and carry her out of the room. She squeals and lightly hits me on the chest. “Put me down!” I smile at Emma and Natalie as I walk past them. They both laugh and follow me downstairs. “Colton!” she whines and starts struggling in my arms. I tighten my grip on her and continue walking.
I make it downstairs and walk to the backyard. Everyone is already standing outside, waiting. “Ready?” I ask. David and Liam both give me perplexed looks since I’m still smiling. Ryanne hits my chest again, but I can tell that she is giving up.
“Pleeeease, put me down.” I shake my head and continue walking. As we pass Bragden, he laughs at her. Oh, he shouldn’t have done that. I set Ryanne down and watch as she turns and waves at him sweetly. She slowly walks over to him, and he watches suspiciously as she approaches. When she stops in front of him, she throws her hands up in surrender but motions for him to come to her. He crouches down slightly, and she stands on her tiptoes to whisper something to him. She steps back and nods at him. He starts shaking his head while she begins to take small steps backward. I don’t know what she said, but she thought it was hilarious. She runs past us laughing and stops beside Liam.
Emma bumps into my side and casually asks, “So, why are you so smiley?”
“I’m not smiley.”
“Colton, you’re still smiling,” she says as we enter the training center. I look over toward the far corner and see Liam and Natalie already over there.
“Oh, sorry. I have to go over there and help train Natalie!”
“Don’t worry, I’m patient.”
“Get rid of the space between I’m and patient and you’ll have what you are: impatient,” I yell over my shoulder as I start walking away.
Chapter Fourteen
I’m taking training seriously today. There aren’t any jokes played. I actually train. I really want to be able to do what I did in the vision, and to do that I need to be confident in my abilities. Bragden will come at me slowly, and I have to block his advances. We aren’t working on weakening our opponent. Bragden wants to make sure I can block and defend myself effectively.
“Blocking an attack is very important. If you’re able to block any advances, your opponent will start to get desperate. They’ll make careless mistakes, which will give you the upper hand. If you let yourself get hit, you’ll tire out much faster. You need to be able to defend your body.” He comes at me again, and I am able to block most of his attacks, but I still land on my butt more times than I can count.
Bragden swings another punch at me. I bend over, dodging his throw and jump back. When he comes for me again, I use my forearms to block his advance. I turn to the right and try to block his kick, but my arms don’t want to listen to me, and I make it halfway there before I get hit in the shoulder again. I stumble backward, and Conner catches me. “Ugh, I can’t do it.”