reached for the tie, wanting to rip it from my face and burn the material.
This is what you wanted.
Telling myself that was the only thing that stopped me from tearing it off. I could deal with this. I had to. I just needed my heart to stop pounding like it was going to throw itself out of my chest, and for the choking feeling in my throat to ease up.
Zayne’s hands landed on my shoulders, causing me to jerk. “Are you okay?” His voice was soft, and I had no idea if Roth could hear him. “We can try this another day.”
Another day as in never again sounded like a wonderful idea, but another day meant I was one day closer to doing this all over again. I was eventually going to run out of days.
I took another breath and focused, breathing in and breathing out—
Oh my God.
All at once I realized why Zayne wanted to put the blindfold on. He’d cut two minuscule holes in the tie, and somehow he’d lined them up perfectly with my pupils, and I’d just been too panicky to notice. I couldn’t see much with such restricted vision, but if I focused, there was still a tiny amount of light, like there’d most likely be once retinitis pigmentosa ran its course. Zayne must’ve done some research on that laptop of his, and that meant the world to me.
Emotion clogged my throat, but those nearly insignificant holes helped me breathe easier. “I’m fine.”
Zayne squeezed my shoulders. “Let me know if that changes.”
I nodded.
“I stand corrected,” Roth said from the sidelines. “This is sexy.”
Zayne sighed from behind me. “I wonder what Layla would think about that.”
Roth snorted. “She’d probably want to try it out.”
“Thanks for sharing,” I muttered.
“You’re very welcome,” Roth replied. “Angel Face is way more polite than you, Stony.”
“Call me Angel Face one more time, and I’ll show you how polite I am,” I warned as I felt Zayne move from behind me.
“That would be scarier if you weren’t standing there blindfolded.”
Zayne snickered. “I’m in front of you.”
Before I could tell him that I could vaguely see that, Roth spoke up. Again. “Doesn’t telling her where you are defeat the purpose of this?”
“Shut up,” Zayne and I said in unison.
A laugh came from the general direction of where Roth sat. “You two are on such the same page.”
Proving just that, we both ignored him and got down to business. “Without your vision, you have to rely on your other senses. They’re just as important in hand-to-hand combat.”
I wasn’t so sure that was true, but I nodded nonetheless.
“Hearing. Smell. Touch,” Zayne went on. “All of those things will give away your opponent’s next move.”
“Especially if they smell bad,” Roth added. “Or they’re loud and clumsy.”
I grinned at that.
“You’re going to need to concentrate really hard to do this,” Zayne went on. “And I mean really hard.”
The corners of my lips started to turn down. “Okay.”
“You cannot allow yourself to become distracted. Everything in this room, especially the uninvited third wheel, needs to fade away.”
“Hey,” Roth scuffed. “That’s offensive.”
“This is my I-don’t-care face,” Zayne replied.
I planted my hands on my hips. “I think I know how to concentrate, Zayne.”
“And I think I’ve been around you enough to know that you have the concentration level of a puppy on its first car ride.”
Roth laughed.
I opened my mouth and then closed it. Could not argue with that observation. “I feel personally attacked by that statement.”
There was a low rumble of a chuckle from Zayne. “Once you concentrate, you’ll notice things you haven’t before. Okay? Let me know when you’re there.”
I stood there for a few seconds. “Ready.”
“You sure?” Zayne sounded doubtful.
“Yes.” I shifted into my stance, bracing myself as I waited for—
Zayne’s hand hit my forearm, startling me. I reached out and ended up brushing my hand over his chest, which meant he’d made his move. We tried again, breaking apart, and then he was on me once more. Again and again he moved, and I... I just stood there, missing his every move and virtually blocking air. Worse part was, he was pulling his punches and kicks.
“I can’t see you,” I said, dropping my arms. “At all.”
“That’s the point,” he reminded me.
“Well, yeah, but...” I trailed off, shaking my head as I opened and closed my hands.
“You can’t get frustrated already.” Zayne stayed close this time, not backing off.
“I’m not.”
“Sounds like it,” Roth chimed in.
“Am not.” I jerked my head in his direction.
Fingers curled around my chin,