Ruin - By N.M. Martinez Page 0,65
hands again. Maria gives him a shove. "And who invited you? What're you doing here?"
"Kyrene said I could participate."
"Ah, Kyrene, of course. You two are screwing, then?"
"I've heard that is not an appropriate thing to ask."
"That means yes, doesn't it? She invited you to make Brandon jealous, I bet."
A third voice snaps off one word. "Maria." I look up and see a woman not too far off with a hand on her hip. She wears a tank top, pants cut off on the thigh, and an old pair of laced up boots, but she is gorgeous. No dirty, scruffy clothes, can hide it. Her dark hair, messily pulled back into a pony tail, doesn't even detract, it only adds. She is stunning.
"You're as inappropriate as Alex," she says with a scowl.
Behind her, Brandon clears his throat and swipes at his nose with his hand, but I catch the tiniest bit of a turned up corner of his mouth, partially hidden behind his fingers. He sees me and walks over right away to greet me and give me a hug as if he hasn't seen me in a while. And I guess he hasn't. It's been a week or two. It's so easy to lose track of time at Henri's house.
"Hey, are you okay? Glad he hasn't had you for breakfast yet." He ruffles my hair and pulls me away from Maria and Alex to the side of the building. "Really, how're things going? Are you okay?"
The sudden change in his voice, from friendly greeting and even teasing to suddenly serious has me worried. "I'm fine. Why? Has Henri said anything?"
"Mr. Smith in public." Brandon ruffles my hair again and then turns to face the others. "Let's start. Angel and Mitchell should be here soon."
Kyrene steps out with a smile at Alex. "C'mon. Let's go."
He glances at me and Brandon before he strides out of the shade of the building and a nearby tree and into the sunlight where Kyrene stands waiting for him with a smile over her shoulder. He takes his place in front of her, and she falls into a natural fighting stance, her body tight yet fluid.
"Just remember to keep it clean guys," Maria barks with a laugh as she takes her place next to me.
Brandon leans back against the wall of the building and crosses his arms, some of his hair falling over his eyes. His normally bright and friendly eyes squeeze narrowly as he watches the two of them facing one another. Most likely it's from the sunshine. I try to hold that thought and ignore his look, but I can't help wondering if Maria isn't right after all.
Alex stands with his back to us as he takes his position, bending his knees and spreading his feet, his hands hovering in the air in front of him as he watches Kyrene with her tiny little smile. On his back there is a long dark tattoo, the length of his spine. It looks like a long braid that tapers off just above his waistband. I choke on a bit of dust. Both Jimmy and Brandon have large tattoos. From what I know of the two of them, I'd guess it has to do with rank. But everyone here has similar tattoos except for Alex, and I wonder what it means.
Alex jumps at Kyrene who easily dodges him by dropping to the ground. The two move fast and kick up a lot of dirt. For each of his lunges forward, she finds a way to effectively dodge him, even almost twirling at one point like a dancer. If he's touching her, he's not having an effect on her, her soft chuckles the only indication that he's getting close to catching her.
Maria turns, and I look her way. Angel and Mitchell have shown up and just like Brandon, Angel's eyes are on the fight, almost mesmerized. He watches them closely even as he walks towards us with Mitchell.
"Wow, he's good. We've never seen Alex fight, have we?"
Brandon walks over to Angel. "I've seen him fight. And this is just play."
I shudder.
Mitchell steps past me and takes Brandon's place with a shy grin at me and Maria both. That's all that passes between us, a nod and a smile and then the three of us are back to watching Alex and Kyrene.
The two of them are completely unaware of us, but it seems they've moved just a bit farther away in their dance. Kyrene has become more aggressive, reaching