Chapter 108

“Nicholas? What are you doing here?”

Crossing his arms, he tilted his head to the side. “Mark told me you asked him to teach you self-defense, but his duties are too essential to allow for the time to teach you. But, I do think it’s valuable for you to learn. So I’ve decided to step in instead.”

I wasn’t entirely sure he was being honest here. Yes, Mark did have important duties, but surely so did the prince? For Nicholas to be here instead of Mark made me wonder if there was more to this than he was saying.

“I’m still mad at you,” I said. My hurt from the day before didn’t magically disappear.

“I’ll make it up to you.” He came closer. His eyes were earnest, even if his face was impassive. “I’m proud of you, Piper. For how strong you are, and how far you’ve come all on your own. But I hope you will let me help you now.”

My cheeks burned a little. “Just teach me, okay?” I didn’t know what else to say.

He smiled a little, at the corner of his mouth. “Whatever you say, Piper.”

In one corner of the basketball court, some servants began to put down soft mats that we could practice on. That way, if we fell, neither of us would get hurt.

When the area was set up, Nicholas led me over there.

I was wearing a comfortable pair of sweatpants with a tank top. He wore some loose-fitting pants with a white t-shirt. I noticed just how tight it was when he turned his back to me. The shirt struggled to stretch across the width of Nicholas’s shoulders.

I swallowed hard and averted my eyes.

When we were on the mats, Nicholas turned to face me again.

“Okay, now, for the first move. I want to show you how to stop someone who is reaching for you. Say you are just standing there, and I try to grab you.”

He directed me where to stand, and then made a grabbing motion for me. A move, unfortunately, that I had experienced many times before.

“Now, place both of your hands on my arm near my wrist here.”

I did as he said.

“Now twist.”

I twisted.

He hissed in pain as I turned his arm in an awkward angle.

I immediately released him. “I’m sorry!”

“No,” he said. “That was good. Perfect even.”

Over the course of the next hour, he showed me many different defensive stances and tricks.

“Always play dirty,” Nicholas said. “If they are coming for you, it’s not a fair fight, so you don’t have to treat it as such. Go for the groin or the eyes. Don’t ever back down.”

He was a good, patient teacher and I felt myself retaining most of what he said.

Eventually, we moved on what to do if someone trying to grab me, to what to do if they already had me.

“I’m going to grab you from behind. Show me how you would try to get away.”

He walked around behind me, moved close, and then wrapped his arms around my waist. He locked his hands together in front of my stomach. His hard chest pressed against the line of my back, and for a moment, my thoughts went very quiet.

“Okay,” he said. His breath was hot on the shell of my ear. “Now try to get away.”

His words called me to action. I placed my hands on his wrists and tried to twist, but his grip was too strong. With his arms locked like this, I couldn’t get the leverage I needed to hurt him that way.

But honestly, in this position, I struggled to get my thoughts back online to think of anything else to do, so I ended up simply shoving at him halfheartedly.

When I started to twist my body, he made a cut-off choking noise.

I stilled at once. “Nicholas?”

His voice was rough when he said, “Keep trying.”

I struggled and he struggled too. Eventually we were both panting a little. But his arms around me were no looser. The only difference was the heat within me was swelling, nearly unbearable.

“It’s like you aren’t even trying,” he teased, and he wasn’t entirely wrong. At this point, I didn’t want to be away from him, I wanted to be closer.

In my movements, I inched my ass backwards. It rubbed against the front of his pants, and I felt the hardness there.

Nicholas grunted.

Oh, God. He was as worked up from my closeness as I was from his. And he liked my movements, no doubt, or he would have told me how to break this hold by now. I was glad he hadn’t. I didn’t want to get away yet.

Somehow the moment, I twisted in his arms so that I was facing him. And suddenly, I gave up all pretense of struggling. I looked up into his eyes as he looked down at me.

His grip loosened a little. He placed his hands flat on my back instead. It was even more effective.

His gaze dropped to my mouth. I licked my lips.

“Piper…”

He leaned down, his mouth coming closer to mine. My heart pounded out of control.

I held my breath.

His lips brushed mine.

“Miss Piper, there you are! I have a message for you!”

Nicholas’s hands dropped from my back and I jumped away from him in a flash. My face burned in embarrassment.

The official messenger looked embarrassed too, face likely mirroring mine in redness.

Only Nicholas seemed to maintain his cool, though he crossed his arms and glared at our intruder.

“I, uh… Apologies, your Royal Highness. I had not meant to interrupt.”

“He was teaching me self-defense!” I shouted a bit too loudly.

The messenger looked between me and Nicholas, and then bowed. “Of course, Miss. My message, Miss. Um…”

“Go ahead then,” Nicholas said.

“Y-Yes, Sir. Uh, Miss Piper, you are to meet Prince Julian and his two other selected candidates for your assigned date, after lunch, in the parlor.”

“Okay,” I said, slowly collecting myself. “Thank you.”

He bowed. Then bowed again. Then kept bowing all the way back to the door.

When he was gone, I looked back to Nicholas. He wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“We better end our lesson, then,” he said. “So that you have time to clean up for your… date.” He said date like it was dripping in venom.

He didn’t wait for my reply. Instead, he turned on his heel and left me standing in the middle of the gym alone.

After lunch, I headed to the parlor room as I’d been instructed. Julian and the other girls were already there. A table had been set up in the middle of the room with four chairs around it. The girls sat opposite each other, with Julian between them, leaving the chair opposite him open.

There was also a camera crew in the room. A producer whispered in the ears of the cameramen, who shifted angles and zoomed in for the best shot.

Obviously, Julian and I wouldn’t be speaking about secret things today. This date was more for the public, then each other.

“Piper, welcome.” Julian stood up. He motioned toward the empty seat.

I walked over to it and sat down.

Julian produced a deck of cards. “Ready to play a game?” he asked us.

I lifted a brow. Seeing my expression, his smirk grew wider.

“I propose a game of wits and edge. A game of lying.”

“Lying?” said one of the girls.

“Mmhmm. One person puts down a card face up. Others will take turns placing down cards of the same suit, facedown. If anyone else thinks they are lying, you call them out.”

“I’m not sure I like this game,” said the other girl.

Julian winked. “It’s a test of character.”

Curious, then. Did Julian want us to lie or tell the truth? Or maybe he just wanted to watch the chaos.

I swallowed my nerves and accepted my cards.