"-me. It's like the walls are caving in, som-" I reached over and slid the dismiss button on my phone. It was 5:30 in the morning, I grabbed my phone and pulled up the agency's report and found Braxton's number.

Me: meet me at the gym in twenty.

Rolling over, I looked and saw that Jeremy was still asleep. I think I tired him out last night. Laughing I grabbed his arm that was wrapped around me and moved it off so I can get up. Just as I was going to get up, his hand came back and pulled me flush against his naked body.

"No, don't leave, you're too warm." He whined.

"Jeremy! I have to go." I replied as I moved his arm off me once more. He groaned, then rolled over and got out of bed as well.

"Make sure you get the kids to school on time". I reminded him as I went over to my closet to get my gym clothes on.

"Yeah, yeah I'll get them there. Don't worry." I smiled and pulled on my sports bra, underwear, and some leggings. Punching in the code I open up the wall and grab a knife that I strapped to my hip. I was just about to close it but decided to grab two more just in case. I stuffed one into my boot while the other one I put in the back of my sports bra. Next I went to the bathroom and used it, and then I went over to the mirror to put mascara on.

"Are you going out? Jeremy asked when he came into the bathroom.

" Yeah, I recruited someone so now I have to train him." He nodded.

"You sound thrilled about that."

"Yep I'm stoked." I replied sarcastically.

"I can tell." Smiling, I gave him a brief kiss, then headed out to my car. It was a short ride over to the gym and when I got there Braxton was already standing outside. Oh, he's early.

"It's closed." Dominic opened the gym at six but sometimes he opened it early. He wasn't here yet but I had a set of keys to it.

"Not for long." I said as I fumbled around my keychain for the right key, then opened the door. Once it was open I motioned for Braxton to come in. I walked into the locker room and opened my locker, so I could throw my key in.

" What time do you have to be at the school?"

"Around seven or so."

"Okay. Do warm up for like 10 minutes, then meet me on the mat." He nodded then walked over to the treadmill. Interesting choice. I shrugged and walked over to the punching bags, wrapped my hands, and went to town punching and kicking the bag.

"Hey Bay!"

"Hey." I said without bothering to look up, because I knew it was Dominic. I checked the clock and saw that ten minutes had passed, so I motioned for Braxton to join me in the matted area of the gym.

"Okay, here are the rules. First, no taking it easy on me. Second you win once I can't physically move anymore and vice versa. Third, no crying. Got it?" He nodded.

"So you just want me to hit you?"

"Correction, try to hit me but yeah." Shaking his head he threw a weak punch at my face, which I easily dodged. Rolling my eyes, I leapt forward and threw it right and a left rabbit's face, then jumped back.

"Come on, you can do better than that." Grumbling, he jumped forward like he was going to punch me but he ducked down and swept under my leg, but I jumped up at the same time, then landed and kicked him in the face. He stumbled backwards,

"What's your foot made of? Stone?" I laughed.

"Okay, let's try something different." This clearly isn't working.

"Block me." I said then without warning I threw a right jab at his face, surprisingly he stepped back and avoided my punch. Then he jumped forward and jabbed his knee into my stomach, which caused me to double over.

"Like that?" He said snarkily. Laughing I hugged around his waist and drove my knee into his groin. He immediately bent down as well, smirking, I brought my hands up and clasped them together, then I slammed them down onto his shoulder blade. He let out a cry then fell down completely, while holding his shoulder.

"I think you broke it."

" No I didn't, I just dislocated it." I said while walking over to him, I grabbed his arm and moved his elbow to his side, then I jerked it up towards his back, it made a loud popping sound and went back into its socket.

"Thanks," he muttered before reaching behind and grabbing my knees, I fell backwards. Braxton quickly hopped up but so did I. Not bad, but not good either.

"Nice try"

"Thanks."

"You still suck though." he opened his mouth to say something but I ran him and tackled him to the ground. Leaving me straddling his waist, I immediately delivered several blows to his face. I went to throw another punch when he grabbed my arm and tossed me on my back. Now he was straddling me and went to punch me in the face but I swung my legs forward and clamped them around his neck. Then I did a crunch and started punching him in the stomach. After about 20 seconds I let go of his neck and stopped punching him.

"Go get cleaned up." He rolled around on the floor, then got up and went to the locker room to go wash the blood off of himself.

"He's a new recruit?" Dominic asked while pointing at Braxton.

"Yeah, he is."

"Want to have a go at it? He asked while pointing at the mat, I nodded. As soon as I stepped onto the mat Dom's fist slammed in my face. I stumbled back a few steps but quickly regained my footing. Laughing, he lunged forward and threw a left hook up my face but I saw it coming and put my arm up to block him. As I did that I sent my right fist in his abdomen, twice, then jumped back. Grunting he came towards me with both fists raised, he went to throw a punch but faked me out and swiped his leg at my knee causing me to fall.

When I realized he wasn't going to come over I turned towards him then got up. He rushed over to me but I stood up quickly enough, so I kneed him in the ribs. Then I turned around abruptly and grabbed his neck, next I dropped down and used the momentum to throw him out to his back. Then I stood up and waited for him to get up as well. When he did I immediately jumped forward and swept my leg under his knees, causing him to land back on the ground. He went to get up again but this time I didn't let him and kicked him in the throat, then dropped down to my knees and pushed my elbow into his shoulder. He was now on his hands and knees, I kept one elbow on his shoulder blade then used my other hand to pull his arm out from under him and brought it against his back. Then I kneeled down on his arm and pinned him down to the ground.

"Do I win or do I need to bash your head in?" I asked when it was clear that he wasn't going anywhere.

"You win, but I call a rematch." He huffed while getting up once I had gotten off of him.

"Why? You want me to beat you again?"

"I was going easy on you."

"Sure."

"See you later, Bay." He gave me a passionate kiss then turned and headed into his office. When he left I saw that Braxton was leaning against the wall.

"You're good at that."

"He was going easy on me today."

"Still. Where'd you learn how to do that?"

"From him."

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"Nope, friends with benefits"

"So when do we find my father?" He asked after a minute of silence.

"After this week. Also I swear to God if you ask me one more question I will stab you."

"I only have one more."

"Go ahead," I sighed.

"When do I have to, you know, have to kill someone?" He whispered as he stepped closer to me so no one would hear.

"When you're ready."

"Well when will-"

"Don't know, that depends on you."I grabbed my stuff and walked out the door, with Braxton close on my heels.

"Same time tomorrow?" I nodded, then I hopped in my car and drove off. Man pulled into the driveway, I saw that Damon was sitting down on the porch, and he looked angry. Oops, I forgot that we did this!

"What the hell did you do!?" He shouted as soon as I had stepped out of the car.

"What?" I asked, looking puzzled.

"I'm getting calls left and right from the principal and my parents!"

"Well there's no way I've known which Damon it is, so chill." Too funny!

"They do!"

"They do what?" I asked while holding in a laugh.

"They have a video!"

"Well you had the phone!"

"Yeah, well somebody turn them on!"

"Well it wasn't me!"

"And how do I know that?" He shouted while taking a step forward me until our noses were almost touching.

"So what if I did. You can't prove anything." I replied evenly, then turned on my heel and walked inside. He followed me and then grabbed my shoulder and pushed me against the front door.

"I may not be able to prove that you did it, but I know you did."

"And your point?" I plastered a bored look on my face. He didn't say anything, I rolled my eyes and pushed him back and walked away.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

"Hey Dad!" I said as I answered the phone.

"Something tells me that you had something to do with putting Damon up to vandalizing the school."

"Yup."

"Explain." He demanded, although he didn't sound mad.

"Give me one sec." I went into the office where it was soundproof.

"He bet me that he could bench press more than me, and I won."

"Can't say I'm surprised by that."

"Yep. Oh, hey, I stopped over to Jeremy's house and the kids can't live there, so I made them stay here. Jeremy should have everything back together by the time you guys get back though."

"Okay, that's fine."

"Good. I feel bad for them, I mean they're just kids and Jeremy didn't ask for any of this."

"I know Lee. It really isn't fair, but it is what it is."

"Yeah."

"Anyways I have got to get going. I'll talk to you later Lee."

"Yeah, talk to you later. Bye." I hung up. I went to the kitchen to make a grocery list. When I was done making it I ran upstairs to grab a quick shower. After I was done in the shower I wrapped a towel around my body and went up to my closet to pick out my clothes. I decided to go with black jeans, a black T-shirt, and black combat boots. I unlocked the weapons vault and grabbed my favorite gun, a Glock 22 Gen 4. It also had a threaded barrel which was nice. Then I restrapped two knives to my ankles and put one on my side. After that I shut up the vault and headed downstairs.

"Where are you going?" Damon snapped when I came downstairs and grabbed my keys.

"To get groceries. What's your problem?"

"My problem! What's my problem? Well let's see, first you-"

"Forget I asked." Then I turned to walk out the door.

"Wait. I want to come too." He said as he jumped up from the bar stool he was sitting on.

"Fine. But if you annoy me I'll make you walk home."

"Whatever."

"Wait in the car I'll be there in a sec." I told Damon when I saw Jeremy come up to the front door. Damon huffed then went outside.

"Hey. What's up?" Jeremy asked when he came in.

"Slight change of plans. You are doing your original job, Lillian is going to pick them up and bring the kids to her house."

"Okay. Where are you going?"

"The store. Want anything?"

"Not in particular."

"Okay. See you later." He nodded, then I left and went to the car. The ride to the store was completely silent.

"Well that was an awesome car ride!" I said sarcastically, Damon just rolled his eyes. When we got inside I grabbed a cart then started heading over towards the medicine and beauty section.

"What do we need?" Damon asked while peeking over my shoulder at the list I had in my hands.

"Advil, kids shampoo, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. I think that's all we need from over here unless you can think of anything else."

" Well we could get you some makeup, but I don't think there's any fixing.. this." He said as he waved his hand around my face in a circle, I rolled my eyes. Once we had gotten everything Damon popped his head over my shoulder and looked at the list again.

"How about you give me half the list and we meet up in about 30 minutes?" Damon suggested.

"Good idea, give me your phone number and I'll send you the list."

"(252)-414-4412" Damon said once I had pulled up my contacts.

"Okay sent. I will get all the stuff from bananas and down." He nodded then went to get another cart, then started shopping. I got all the groceries on my half of the list, it only took me 20 minutes so I headed over to get the kids some new clothes. I knew around what size they were, so I got them all a couple of shirts and a couple pairs of pants. I went to go get them shoes but I wouldn't have gotten the right size, so I called Damon and told him I was ready to go.

"I'm done." I said when he answered.

"Yeah me too. I just finished, I'll meet you at the checkouts."

"Okay, I'll meet you there." Then I hung up and made my way over to Damon, then we checked out. We loaded all of the groceries into the back of the car then I went to put the cart away. When I came back I couldn't see Damon in the car, then I heard grunting.

"There a problem here?" I asked when I saw that Damon's arms were being held behind his back by some guy while two other guys were standing in front of him with their fists balled.

"Mind your business lady." The guy holding Damon's arm said.

"Get to the car Bailey, now." Damon said, it sounded like he was in pain.

"Nah."

"Just go please." He looked worried.

"Oh, this is new. Who's your friend Damon?" Asked a guy who looked like he had just robbed a bank.

"I would like to know what my idiotic step brother did to deserve this. Other than existing, that is." I smirked at Damon.

"That's none of your business."

"Well, I suggest you run along and go mess with someone else." The guy laughed.

"Bailey! Seriously go. Right now." Damon pleaded.

"No can do. My dad would kill me if I let you get the living daylight kicked out of you. Besides, I like doing that myself."

"I hate to break up the sibling rivalry here, but since Damon here seems to care so much about your well-being, I think we'll just have some fun with her. Maybe then you will get us our money."

"Rob, don't. I'll get you the money. Just leave."

"No thanks."

"Well, would you look at that, at least you still have some manners." I said snarkily.

"Bailey, please go."

"Pretty sure I've already answered you on that one."

"Would you look at that boys? She has a mouth and likes to play the hero." Rob said while laughing. Rob moved his head towards me and the other guy next to him came towards me. He went to grab me but I punched him in the bridge of his nose. He howled out in pain then charged at me, I simply stepped to the side and he came crashing into the cement wall of the store. Idiot.

"Grab her!" Rob whisper yelled. The guy got up and threw a right hook at my face, but I shot my arm up and blocked it, then I used my free hand to punch him in the throat. Next I swiped my foot under his knee, he fell backwards and hit the wall, the blow knocked him unconscious. I felt someone come up from behind and bear hug me, then I simply drove my head back and hit him in the face. I looked over and saw that Damon had broken free and was now in a fist fight with a guy who had been holding him, they both seemed to be losing. He really sucks at fighting. At the corner of my eye I saw Rob pulling a knife from the waistband of his pants then charging towards me. He went to jab me in the face with it, but I moved my head and grabbed his arm. I brought my other hand up and slammed it down onto his elbow, causing him to bend his arm.

Then I used my hand that was holding his arm to jerk it backwards, I heard his wrist snap at the sudden movement. Ouch. He fell to the ground clutching his wrist, so I went over to help Damon, who now had a knife in his hand and was circling the other guy who also had a knife in his hand. I snuck up behind him and kicked his knee in at the same time that I grabbed his hair and jerked him back. He brought his hand back to cut me but I grabbed his arm mid air and slammed my foot into his shoulder, which broke his arm. I looked over to find Rob but apparently he had run away.

"Let's get out of here!" Damon said urgently, I nodded then ran to the car. When we both got in I turned on the engine and drove away. We sat and silence for a minute, I felt Damon's eyes on me so I looked over at him. We looked at each other for about ten seconds and I burst out laughing, he just looked at me like I was crazy, then joined in.

"You're bleeding." Damon said, he looked worried.

"It's not that bad."

"Let me see."

"Not while I'm driving." He nodded.

"Thanks for, you know, helping me back there."

"To be honest it was pretty fun."

"Fun! You call that fun!"

"It is when you know how to fight, but I guess you wouldn't know anything about that." I said back with a smile tugging at my lips.

"Teach me."

"What?"

"Teach me how to fight."

"Okay."

"Wait really?"

"Yeah, you think I'm going to pass up an opportunity to beat the crap out of you?"

"Fair point. Why did you learn how to fight?"

"I was mad, so I went to the gym, which Dom owns and he taught me how to fight. Now I just beat the crap out of people and get paid for it."

"You get paid?"

"Sometimes. The gym has competitions and if you win you get a cash prize."

"Does your Dad know about it?"

"No, I don't want to keep it that way. Only a handful of people know."

"Well I won't say anything if you don't."

"Deal." When we got home Jeremy came out to help carry the groceries in.

"What happened to you two?" Jeremy asked when we stepped out. Damon opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off,

"Some guy was mad because I flipped his daughter off when she cut me off. He wouldn't stop yelling at us so I punched him, then this happened." Jeremy just chuckled. I went to grab some bags to bring in but Damon cut in front of me and motioned for me to go inside. I shrugged then went inside and started to unload the groceries they had brought in.

"That's not what I meant." Damon said when he saw me.

"I hate to break it to you but you look a lot worse off than I do." Damon had a cut on his lip and one across his forehead. Judging by his walk he either had a bruised or broken rib, or two. Once we're done putting everything away, Jeremy went and got our first aid box, it had stuff for every kind of wound, which came in handy alot. I opened it and grabbed the peroxide and slowly dumped some down my arm, saying it's stung was an understatement. I hissed a little then went to the sink and rinsed it off, next I patted it dry.

"I'm going to need some help wrapping it, I might need some glue on it as well." I said to Damon.

"I can wrap it, I just don't know how to glue it though." Damon said as he came around the counter to where I was.

"It doesn't need stitches but I don't want it to break open and bleed. All you do is hold it together and put a line of glue on, then once it dries you put on the bandage." He looked hesitant but picked up the tube.

"You good?" He asked when he pulled my skin together and put the glue on, I nodded.

"Your turn." I said when he had finished putting the bandage on my arm.

"Okay," He said hesitantly. I grabbed the back of his head and poured a little peroxide on the cut that was on his forehead, he winced but didn't say anything. Next I got a cotton ball with peroxide on it and dabbed it on his lip, then I got a warm washcloth and got all of the peroxide off of his forehead, dried it, and put a Band-Aid over it.

"You're going to need glue on that." He nodded, I opened the glue and applied it to one side of his lip, then gently squeezed them together. I could feel his muscles tightened and I looked down to see him squeezing the countertop.

"Done. Take your shirt off." When he did I could easily tell where he had taken hits. I gently pressed my hand into his lower left ribs and he immediately winced and tried to pull my hand away but I used my free hand to grab his.

"Don't." I continue to feel around.

"Okay, nothing's broken. I'm going to wrap it up though."

"I don't ne-"

"Yeah, you do." I grabbed the bandage and wrapped it around his ribs.

"All done. What did the guys want?" As soon as I asked, his demeanor changed suddenly.

"Don't worry about it." He snapped then grabbed his shirt and stormed up to his room. That struck a nerve!

"What's his problem?" Jeremy asked as he came into the kitchen.

"I have no freaking idea."

"He is one odd kid. Anyways I'm going to clean the house up and get ready for my job."

"Okay, sounds good." He nodded, then grabbed his keys and headed out. So I went into the living room and put on a movie, I decided on taken. I had already watched it but that was what was on. After the movie was done I went upstairs to grab the file on my targets and got changed. I grabbed a backpack from my closet and opened up the weapons vault. I already had all the knives I needed on me so I just grabbed another gun and attached a suppressor to it. Then I took the gun out from my back and put a suppressor on it as well, then stuff them all in my backpack. I also grabbed a blonde wig that had streaks of red in it and put it in the backpack. Looking at my phone I saw that it was three. Perfect. So I texted Dominic.

Me: leaving now be at your place soon.

Dominic: Kay

Is it my backpack then went to Damon's room to tell him that I was leaving. His room was right next to mine. I knocked on his door, and on the second knock the door flew open.

"What?" Damon snapped.

"Just letting you know I'm heading out for a while." Then I turned on my heel and went downstairs to grab my keys. Dominic's house was only 10 minutes away so I got there by 3:15. Dominic pulled in at the same time that I did.

"Hey Bay!' He said as I got out of my car.

"Hey."

"What happened to you?" He asked when he saw my bandaged arm.

"Got ambushed at the grocery store."

"Care to elaborate?"

"We got groceries and put them in the trunk. I went to put the card away, when I came back this guy named Rob and two other guys were beating up damon. When I asked what was going on they said Damon owed them and they were teaching him a lesson, then things escalated and this happened."

"I'll look into it."

"Good. Thanks." He nodded then went and unlocked the front door. Dominic's house was pretty small, when he walked in there were weights and gym equipment to the left. Straight ahead there was a decent sized kitchen, to the right of when you walked in there was a couch that had a TV mounted on the fireplace in front of it. Dominic's bedroom was in the back right handed corner of the house and was closed off from the rest of it.

"I want to run over the fire real quick?" Dominic asked while holding out his hand for it. I nodded them and fished the file out of my backpack and handed it to him.

"Okay, Target is Maggie Hill and her son Thomas hill. She is 37, he is 13. Younger son should be at a friend's house tonight. Just the mom and son are home and according to our surveillance team they aren't planning on leaving tonight. They live about 10 minutes away from here. They have no cameras and all their neighbors are home, they do come home or anyone leaves the surveillance team will let us know. So we had better put our Bluetooth in."

"Okay." Everybody from the agency had a Bluetooth that was connected to a secure channel. So that they could contact the agency if they needed help or updates throughout their mission. I usually picked jobs without that though, but this was an exception.

"It says we're supposed to be there at 4:00 but to check in with the assigned IT guy to see if they're home."

"Who is assigned?"

"Brant." Brant was one of our IT guys. The IT guys were in charge of writing codes, surveillance, Maps, and giving the field agents any kind of virtual assistance that they could.

"Okay, I didn't bring my earpiece. I left it at the house."

"That's fine I have extras." Dominic replied as he went and grabbed another earpiece. The Bluetooth connected to the agency's main box and it was always on.

"This is agent 580158. Connect me to Brant" I said once I turned my earpiece on and connected to The Agency.

"Yep one sec, let me switch you over." I heard some shuffling on the other end of the line then it went dead, after a minute a cheery voice came over the earpiece.

"Agent bailey! This is about the Hill case I presume?"

"Yup." Dominic said.

"Who is that? You have a partner listed but don't have a name."

"Agent Holt." He snapped as he rolled his eyes.

"Oh hello sir! What can I do for ya?"

"Are both targets at home?"

"Umm let me check. Well according to the cameras we installed outside their home they entered 20 minutes ago and-"

"I don't need to play by play, just give me an answer." Dominic snapped.

"Yes, they're home."

"And it's just those two right?" I added.

"Correct"

"Okay perfect, thanks Brant. Keep this channel open we will unmute it when we arrive."

"Will do!" And with that we hit the button on the side of our earpieces and muted it so that Brant couldn't hear us, we could still hear him though.

"Ready to go?" Dominic asked.

"Yeah, I just need to strap on my weapons then I'm good." I grabbed my backpack and unzipped it, then pulled out two guns and put one on my hip and one in the holster on my back. Then we got in the car and headed towards the Hill residence.

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