HARLOW

Once I wake up in the morning, I decide that I'm not going to mention the tower to anyone and that I should probably just investigate the situation myself, knowing they most likely won't answer me truthfully, or at all. I quickly head over to Everett's room and knock on the door, hoping he isn't still asleep. The door opens upon me knocking and I furrow my eyebrows in surprise as I lean around the door frame, looking inside to see where he's at.

"Everett?" I call out.

Suddenly, someone taps me on the shoulder and I gasp in surprise, whirling around. I sigh when my eyes land on Everett, who's standing there smirking with a cup of coffee in his right hand while wearing a white hoodie with light grey writing on it with ripped black jeans and black combat boots.

"Not funny," I frown and he chuckles.

"I just went out to grab a cup of coffee. I don't like the kind we have at the house," he says and I sigh.

"And you left your door unlocked?" I raise a brow, thinking that's out of character for him.

"Yeah," Everett shrugs and takes a sip of coffee, "why not?"

"Well, alright then..." I trail off. "Are you ready?"

"Why do you think I got the coffee?" Everett muses, raising a brow as he takes another drink and I lightly smack him in the chest.

"I'm tiring, I get it," I roll my eyes and begin walking towards the stairs. "So, where are we going?"

"We're heading to a place of mine," Everett says as he holds up his left hand, a set of car keys dangling around his ring finger. "I was going to stop by and wake you up actually, but when I saw you in the hallway I couldn't help myself."

"Ha-ha," I laugh mockingly and glance over at him with a slight glare before I descend the stairs, Everett following behind me.

We head out the main doors of the house once we're in the primary room and I glance around, shoving my hands in the pockets of my white skinny jeans and wishing I had brought a winter coat to put over top of my dark blue sweater. Everett leads me over to the garage area and I watch as he types in the code for the doors to open. My eyes widen when I finally see all the cars that are lined up in the garage. In the garage, there's four rather expensive sports cars of varying colors. There's also a black motorcycle and a few bikes for trail riding stacked next to each other.

"So..." I trail off, my eyes darting over to the motorcycle, "why do I get the feeling that's yours?"

"What am I to you, just a stereotypical brooding bad boy?" Everett feigns hurt as he presses a hand against his chest before he chuckles. "You're right, though."

Everett grins as he heads over to the motorcycle and starts it up, turning the keys while the ignition hums to life.

"Let's go, Red," Everett glances over at me with a raised brow, the corners of his lips twitching with amusement.

"Red?" I question, raising my eyebrows as I make my way over to him.

"If that's okay with you," Everett says, his eyes searching mine.

"It is. You just...caught me off guard," I murmur, feeling my face heat up as I climb on the back of his bike and wrap my arms around his waist.

"Alright, just making sure. Hold on tight," Everett instructs as he puts up the kickstand and revs the bike before he takes off out of the garage, Aithne pulling up to the house in a dark blue car as we rush passed.

Aithne waves to us and I smile, removing one hand off of Everett to wave to her in return as she heads into the garage before I go back to holding onto Everett tightly. Everett flies through the open gateway and down the road into traffic where he swerves effortlessly around vehicles in passing zones and makes sharp turns. After about ten minutes, we pull up to what seems to be a dark grey warehouse made of bricks with multiple windows lining the building up high, the door to the building being a white garage door. Everett stops the bike a few feet from the door and he gets off to knock on the door a few times while I climb off the bike.

The door opens slowly, loud metallic sounds coming from the system that opens the door as it raises up. As the door goes up, I'm able to see a pair of tan boots and light blue jeans standing behind the door before the door fully rises to reveal a blond with his arms crossed against his chest, white suspenders hanging from his ripped stonewashed jeans, a tan jacket with white fur covering his white v-neck that's underneath, and a pair of silver dog tags hanging around his neck. I also notice that he has silver piercings in both of his ears in the cartilage and the lobes, the cartilage piercings being two small hoops and the lobes having two small studs each. He also has a bar piercing running through his left ear. He raises a brow at the sight of me standing there with Everett, his blue-green eyes seemingly amused.

"Everett," the blond says with a nod, his accent similar to Everett's, and his eyes flicker between me and Everett. "Who's the lass?"

"A friend of mine," Everett shrugs and shoves his hands in his pockets as he rocks back and forth on his heels.

"You don't seem to have many of those," the man muses.

"What does that say about you then?" Everett raises a brow.

"That I have poor judgement?" The man laughs before he comes forwards and claps Everett's shoulder jokingly. "It's good to see you, Everett. What's up?"

"I need to use your warehouse, Destery," Everett says and the man sighs, digging into his pocket for something.

"Fine," Destery shrugs as he pulls out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, taking a cigarette out of the box before he shoves it back into his pocket, "just be out of there by five. Got it?"

Everett nods as Destery flicks open his lighter, the cigarette now placed between his lips as he cups a hand around the cigarette and lights it with the other before he flicks the lid shut, moving to the wall of the warehouse and kicking his one foot up on it as he breathes out a cloud of wispy smoke.

"Come on," Everett says quietly and grabs ahold of my hand, leading me inside of the building.

"Who was that?" I whisper once we're inside of the building, Everett closing the door by pressing a button on a hanging control panel.

"A friend of mine," Everett shrugs. "His name's Destery, as you've probably gathered. We go a long way back. He fought in a war a few years back and his family's pretty rough around the edges, but they're not bad people. They're vigilantes of a sort. He used to be a gunner for airplanes."

"Oh," I say simply, wondering how they met.

Everett leads me further into the warehouse until we're in a pretty open area before he turns to face me.

"Alright," he starts, "stand still for a minute."

I do as instructed and Everett walks around me until he's standing behind me and he presses himself flush against my back as he grabs ahold of my arms and gently positions them where he wants them, which mimics a boxer's pose. He then adjusts my legs before he walks around me and takes a few steps back, placing his hand under his chin as he tilts his head to the side, deep in thought. After a few moments, he nods in approval.

"Alright," Everett says, "the way you're standing right now is a basic offensive pose. You're fairly light, so I would focus on using things that will give you more power. Use your elbows because I can guarantee that your fists won't do much unless you're using your abilities. But as for now, we're focusing on basic combat, so no abilities involved. Got it?"

I nod and Everett decides to continue.

"Good," Everett nods. "Now, since you're lightweight, I'd also focus on tiring out your opponent. Get the best of them, make them wear themselves out by exerting energy, use that against them. Predicting, blocking, and dodging will suit you well. It's not always about being the strongest, it's about being the most efficient. If you can keep your energy and make calculated moves and counters, you'll last a good while even if you don't get any good hits in."

"Got it," I nod.

"I want you to close your eyes," Everett instructs. "I want you to focus on me, focus on my voice. I want you to follow my voice and my footsteps and I want you to predict where I am. I'll go easy on you at first, don't worry."

I nod and close my eyes, following Everett's instructions.

"If you can predict where I am without sight, you'll be able to predict my movements easier when it comes to using sight," Everett says, his voice echoing throughout the warehouse as he moves around me in slow circles.

Everett makes a move southeast of me and I manage to move out of the way in time, leaning to the side as I feel wind rush by my face from his movements. Everett then aims for the other side of me and I move out of the way once more before he makes a sweeping motion towards my legs. I leap up into the air in anticipation and manage to jump over his kick, but my foot that's closer to the ground gets caught on his legs and I trip a little. Everett then swings another punch towards me and I predict where it's coming from, my eyes flying open and burning with determination as my right hand shoots out and his fist connects with my palm. Everett's lips twitch into a small smile before we dance around each other for a few hours, dodging and taking hits on both sides.

Eventually, Everett manages to sweep me off my my feet because I accidentally time my jump wrong and my eyes widen as I stumble. Everett's eyes widen as well as he runs forwards, placing his arms around my waist to catch me as I lean backwards. I squeak in surprise and throw my arms around his neck in an attempt to balance myself. Everett's lips part lightly as his eyes flicker between my eyes and my lips, and the Adam's apple in his throat moves as he swallows.

"Oi," Destery calls out to us from outside, banging on the door, making us both jolt in surprise. "I need this place in a half hour. Think you could finish up?"

Everett's eyes flicker to the door before his gaze goes back to me and he slowly releases me, smiling sheepishly as he does so.

"Come on," he says, and I breathe out a sigh as I follow him to the door of the warehouse.

Everett presses the button on the panel and the door opens to reveal Destery standing on the other side, his hands shoved in his pockets, and he grins upon seeing us.

"Nice seeing you as always, Bougainvillea," Destery chuckles and Everett nods in return.

"You too," Everett says as he lightly pats Destery on the chest. "Stay safe, man."

"Always," Destery grins mischievously before his eyes flicker over to me. "It was nice meeting you, Miss."

"My name's Harlow by the way, and it was nice to meet you too," I smile and follow Everett over to his bike, Destery smiling as he watches us leave.

I climb on the back of the bike and wrap my arms around Everett's waist once more as he starts up his bike and drives off. After he heads around the corner, he drives straight and turns right instead of left in the direction of the manor. I frown and furrow my eyebrows, wondering where he's going. After a short five minute drive, we pull up to a diner and I raise my eyebrows in surprise as he parks.

"I figured we could get dinner," Everett says as he glances at me from over his shoulder. "It's about time, and besides, we trained for a while. It's always good to have a nice meal, especially after a fight."

"Yeah," I smile warmly, glad for his thoughtfulness as he climbs off the bike and offers his hand to me, "thanks."

I gratefully take his hand and climb off of the bike before he leads me inside the unfamiliar restaurant.

Everett Bougainvillea, I know your dirty little secret. You really aren't as bad as you want to be seen, but I've known that for a while now. I think, deep down, I always knew that too.