Ruin - By N.M. Martinez Page 0,67

mouth as if he might need to bite something, just as Maria and Aaron start.

They circle each other. The corners of Aaron's lips are turned up as if he were waiting for her to make the first move. When her face is towards us, I can see her eyes narrowed in deep concentration. My head starts to swim and I remind myself to take a breath, and that's when Aaron jumps at her.

Maria sidesteps him neatly, expecting his move, but it doesn't throw him off balance. He spins quickly and jabs her in the shoulder with a fist. It isn't hard, but it's enough to throw her off balance for a second. Instead of fighting it, she lets herself go, falls to the ground and rolls back away from him.

My fingers are in my mouth and I gulp a large ball of dust tossed up by her dropping to the ground. There's no way she can fight him, but she doesn't stop. She stands up again and waits.

She doesn't have to wait long. Aaron attacks again. I suck in another breath as he hits her again, too fast for my eye to see where it landed. She winces, but she doesn't fall back and she still doesn't quit.

Alex shifts his weight from one foot to the other and then back again, fidgeting. I glance up and catch Mitchell glaring at him.

There's some movement on the other side of Alex, and I hear Angel's voice. "What is your problem, man?"

"He is in my space."

I step back and look around Alex. Angel now stands in Mitchell's place, facing Alex, and Mitchell is behind Angel with a worried look. His hands hover at his side as if he might try to pull Angel back, but he hesitates, and the look on his face makes me think it's Angel that makes him pause not any feelings he has about Alex.

Angel gives Alex a shove, and out of the corner my eye, I see Aaron's blond hair, shimmering in the bright sunlight, turn towards the sudden movement, just as others turn. Brandon's eyes catch mine as I jump back, but then Maria's voice pierces the chaos and everything stops again.

"Ha!" She stands with her fingers on Aaron's throat.

No one says anything at first. Aaron is the first one to smile as Maria draws her hand and stands up. Aaron straightens out too. "Respectable. My fault for not giving you the full attention you deserve. Jimmy has been working with you?"

"Some."

"Why do I feel as if I've been set up?" Aaron relaxes and a grin spreads fully across his lips, crinkling his eyes. He doesn't take his eyes away from Maria. They're sharp and light blue like the sky above. I've seen plenty of blue eyes. Brandon even has blue eyes, but Aaron's are almost unnaturally light.

He moves fast again. Faster than my eye can follow and Maria is on the ground, his hand on her throat, his large body over her with a knee on her chest. She squirms, but she doesn't struggle. Still it looks painful.

"Just so we're even. I'll remember to pay better attention next time."

Alex and Angel's disagreement is forgotten under the show of strength and power. I hide behind Alex, ashamed that I'm so weak, but at the same time aware that one key to survival is being able to admit your weaknesses.

Alex feels me behind him, and he grabs me by the arm and walks me past Angel, Mitchell and Kyrene before Aaron has even let Maria up from the ground. In front of Brandon and Jimmy, he says, "She should not be here."

Jimmy actually smiles and Brandon frowns, the two of them apparently unable to even come up with similar feelings about the same event.

"I'll take her back." Brandon is ready to step forward, but Jimmy stops him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Let him take her back. C'mon. You and me have a match due anyway."

Alex holds on tightly to my arm. It doesn't seem to escape Brandon's notice. He looks from Alex's hand to me. "Are you okay with that?"

I just want away from Aaron, and I almost don't care how though I do think about it for a good second. "Yeah."

Brandon doesn't relax even once I've agreed to it. "Straight back to Henri's, Alex. Nowhere else."

Alex nods and then we walk off, back towards Henri's. His hand slips from my wrist down to my hand when we're out of eye sight, and we walk that way,