Riaz’s Point Of View
“Are you sure you wanna do this?” He asked for the umpteenth time and I nodded.
“I am,” I told him as I wrapped the bandage around my palm down to my wrist.
“But you’ve never trained in martial arts.” He said and I nodded.
“I’ll start from somewhere,”
He looked hesitant. “Don’t go easy on me,” I said as I took a fight stance.
“I don’t wanna do this,” he said and I smirked. “Riaz, maybe you should-”
Before he could complete his statement, I threw a sharp punch to his face. Alexa gasped loudly in shock as Ace almost fell to the ground.
“What the fuck!” He exclaimed and I grinned.
“Are we gonna do this or not?” I said tiredly and he frowned.
“Fine,”
He threw a punch at my face but I dodged it swiftly and proceeded to hit his abdomen but he was quick to dodge it. We began to exchange punches. He wasn’t ready to give in, and nor was I. He tried to grab my shoulder but I grabbed his hand halfway and twisted it to the back. He turned to the opposite side and in turn twisted my hand. He swept my leg off the ground, aiming to make me fall but I wrapped my legs around his torso and brought both of us down together.
He tried to wiggle out of my grip but I wasn’t ready to give in.
“Ace, are you okay?” Alexa called out but Ace could not reply. He was busy struggling to wiggle out of my grip. Just then, I felt his hand at my ear lobe. He smirked mischievously as he twirled it in his hand. My body weakened as my body started to heat up. Seeing this as an opportunity, he wiggled out of my grip and pinned me to the ground. And if there’s one thing about Ace, if he pins you down, escaping is going to be hard. Nearly impossible. Only Alpha has ever beaten him.
“What is wrong with you?” He asks me, breathing heavily.
“What do you mean?” I asked him back as I tried so hard to escape his grip.
“You’ve changed lately.”
I raised my brow. “how?”
“You just seem…” He trailed off, his eyes staring intensely into mine. “You seem..” he drawled, his eyes zeroing on my lips.
“I seem what?” I asked, my heart rising and falling heavily. We had stopped struggling.
“I don’t know. You just seem like a different person, you know?” He said, diverting his gaze from my lips to my eyes. I hated the fact that he looked at me with such a gaze but still claimed I was like a brother to him.
Slowly, I reached his face. I felt him stiffen when I placed my hand on his cheek and pulled him close. “Different as in I don’t seem like a little brother anymore?” I asked him and I gazed seductively into his eyes.
“Huh?”
He was dumbstruck. I trailed my hand slowly down to his chest and smirked as I felt his heart beating wildly against my palm. He’s this affected but he’s trying so hard to deny it.
“Is this a training ground or a flirting ground?” I snapped out of my trance at the sound of alpha’s voice. Ace quickly got off me and stood with his hand folded at his back. I got up and stood beside him.
Alpha glanced at Ace and then at me. “You guys know this is a training ground right? Not a bedroom.”
“Gosh, why did you have to interrupt the drama?” Alexa said as she came to join us. Oh shit! I’d completely forgotten that they were still here. My cheeks reddened in embarrassment.
“Ooh, Riaz, never knew you were such a man,” Alexa teased and I got even redder. I glanced at Ace who had a blank expression.
“Play time’s over. We have a funeral to prepare.”
Oh yes. Maribus’s funeral.
“It’s the full moon tonight. We can’t miss it.” Xena said and I nodded.
“I’m gonna go wash up.” I announced and alpha nodded. I patted Cyan’s head and jogged out of the training ground to my room. I’m sweaty and sticky.
I stripped off my clothes and washed up. I came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my waist. I stopped in front of the mirror. I touched my hair and smiled as a memory came to my head.
“Why do you like Raya so much?”
“Raya? Well, she’s pretty. She has big blue beautiful eyes and her hair is perfect.”
“Her hair?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Her short hair fits her small fave and makes her eyes pop,”
I had blue eyes like her but he didn’t like me as she did to her so I thought maybe if I cut my hair, he’d like me too but it never happened. I feel stupid just thinking about this. All my life, I’ve only been trying to please him and not myself.
“I should get a wolf cut.” I told myself as I left the front of the mirror. I was about to take off my towel when I knock came on my door. I wrapped the towel back and went to open the door.
“Ace?” I called in surprise as I saw him. “What are you doing here?”
“Why? I’m not welcome here?” He asked as he came in fully.
“Well, you never come here,” I said.
“I do. We spend most of the time here back then?”
I smiled in remembrance. “Yeah, you’re right.” I said. “But everything soon changed.” I said bitterly.
I turned to him. “Why are you here? Do you need anything?” I asked him.
“We need to talk.”
“About?”
He stood up and came to stand in front of me. “Riaz,” he began. “I’m tired of these games.” He said.
“Games?”
“I’ve been trying so hard to ignore it but I can’t ignore these feelings anymore.” He said and my heart picked up its pace.
Is he finally accepting his feelings? My lips were beginning to curl up into a smile.
“I know you have feelings for me.” He said. “But I don’t,”
My smile faded instantly. “Huh?”
He sighed deeply. “I see you as a brother, Riaz, and…”
“Brother?” I scoffed in disbelief. “does your heart race for your brother? Do you gaze into your brother’s face lovingly like he’s the only thing on earth?”
“Riaz…”
“Don’t give me that bullshit!” I fired. “Are you kidding me, Ace? I don’t care you’re rejecting me before I even declare my feelings to you but how dare you call me your brother? That night! That night that you kissed me, was that a mistake too?”
His brows furrowed in confusion. “Kissed? I kissed you?”
Tears stung my eyes as I remembered that night. He was drunk. But he recognized me. He called my name so lovingly and kissed me. He said he couldn’t remember anything the next day. I thought he lied so he wouldn’t admit what he did.
“Yes, you did!” I screamed out in tears.
“Riaz, I..”
“You know what? Fine! You want me to kill my feelings for you? I will! I will so just leave here.”
“I don’t…”
“Leave! Leave my room!” I screamed at him as I threw anything my hand touched at him.
“Riaz…”
“Leave!” I yelled at him. I fell on my knees the moment he left. I hugged a pillow to myself and cried into it.
Ace!
You bastard!