A whistle blew.

Our trainer stood in front of our group of ten volunteers. He was a big man with a eye patch over his right eye. Some people lost more than an eye.

He introduced himself as Sergeant Kent.

"Listen up trainees, this is no joke. You will be going through hell, however, training in hell is going to seem like the heavens once you get on the real battlefield. If you want to leave then leave now because after this, only death can get you out," he warned.

I can tell he's only partly serious. He was being like this to scare us. And it worked. Some people looked nervous. Some looked ready to leave too. I stood my ground. I've gone through that hell he was talking about, I can handle it. I had to. Adam needed me.

Jax looked at me, daring me to leave. I clenched my jaw stubbornly. He gave a chuckle. He was really enjoying this.

"Who's laughing?" asked the sergeant.

This time I gave Jax the daring look. He smiled at me as if he's saying dare accepted. Ah shit.

"It was me sir," Jax said, a little arrogantly.

"What's your name rookie?" asked Sergeant Kent, his face giving away nothing.

"Jax Ryder," he replied smoothly.

"You find other people's lives a joke Jax?" asked the Sergeant, this time the irritation was clear in his voice.

"No sir," said Jax, his confidence beginning to dimmer.

"Then what can be so funny, I don't seem like the type of guy to be making jokes so what else could be making you laugh so hard that you cannot contain it in my presence?" he asked.

"It's just my roommate sir, I don't think she is qualified to make it past training," Jax replied, he did not look at me but continue to bravely make eye contact with Kent.

I gave him points for honesty, but way to throw me under the bus. If I could get my hands around his neck by the end of the day then this night might be the first night I sleep happy.

"Jax's roommate, speak up," he said, looking around

"Sir," I said confidently.

"State your name," he ordered, looking me up and down to see if Jax might be right.

"Tess Michelson," I said. That should do the job.

"So you're the legendary Michelson," he chuckled lowly. "Well Mr. Ryder, it looks like you have serious competition. Tess here scored the highest score in IQ, she's natural born profiler who will be your instructor in that department, and her physical test scored in fifth. The only thing you seem to be ahead in is being second in physical skills. In due time and with training, that will change."

Jax looked shocked, worried and embarrassed. Serves him right. Honesty really is the best policy. The smug smirk threatened to break out on my lips, but I remained serious.

"Being the genius that he is and this being a team effort, because of Jax's sexism views in a time of war, the whole team has to run laps around the perimeter until sunset. Welcome to the team Jax," he said and blew the whistle for a final time.

I gave him a nice big mean smirk. He was beaming with anger. Serves him right.

"Welcome to the team Jax, way to leave a great first impression. Don't worry I'm sure they're all gonna love you," I said, with a playful wink. This was going to be fun.

Jax clenched his jaw in anger.

Someone 'bumped' into him and growled. "Thanks a lot."

Jax and I ran at a separate pace, I sort of felt bad for him. No one seemed to like him. Serves Mr. Arrogant right though. I knew guys like him. Sometimes he had to learn that he was not king of the world.

Sunset had finally come but people have long gone collapsed, three had run themselves to exhaustion and two had quit. Only five can make it to the scavenger unit. The scavenger unit needed to find people who were on our side and interrogate them before we bring them into our home. My profiler skills have me set for that position but I can't get on the field unless I'm physically capable.

The only people that survived the run were myself, Jax, a girl with a short cropped blonde hair, the guy who pushed Jax earlier, and a guy with a sleeve tattoo. My odds for the scavenger unit seemed clear to me.

Jax came up beside me as everyone hit the showers. "So I underestimated you Miss Michelson."

"At least you know it, seems like I get to stay here, find my brother and get saved from a date from hell," I gave him a sickly sweet grin.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, what did you do? Cheat on those tests?" he snorted.

I sighed. Here we go again. "You have a close body posture, meaning either your insecure— obviously not— or your hiding something—there your face just told me you are. Now your face is telling me you're impressed and amused, you're remembering something now."

He smiled a tight lipped smile. "New ground rules. You never read me, not even by accident."

That sounded close to impossible.

"I can't just stop myself from doing it," I argued. It was natural mechanism.

"If I feel like you're analyzing me then I'm going to have to break a few ground rules myself," he said looking at me up and down. He was trying to intimidate me. With the way he was looking at me, it was working.

"Fine! I won't! Just stop looking at me like that you creep," I said crossing my arms over my chest trying to shield myself. This made him chuckle. "I'm taking a shower first, don't peak in perv."

I sped to the room trying to get as much space between us as possible. Oh god he doesn't even hide it. I couldn't just stop profiling, it was like he was telling me to stop walking- I can't just cut off my legs. I got this curse from my dad, it's what got him and my mom divorced, I've lost so many friends and love interests because of it. If I could stop it, I would have.

I wished I could take a long shower but I couldn't waste the water, we had to savor every bit. When I finished I realized I had forgotten my clothes inside. I was in too much of a rush to remember. How could I have been so stupid? I only had my towel which I wrapped around me.

"Jax?" I called out. Please don't be an ass about this.

No answer. Maybe he's gone. I peak through the door. He wasn't there. Good. I was lucky. I walked to the little shelf beside my bed. I only had three sets of clothing like all people involved with the army, everyone else got two. I grab the casual outfit set, a loose grey sweatshirt and pants.

Just then Jax opened the door. I shrieked as I tugged the towel tighter around me. His mouth dropped as he turned beat red. I felt myself turning the same colour. He then turned around and I ran to the bathroom. I got dressed, but was too shy to come out. What felt like not enough time came to an end and I had to come out.

Jax was smelling the shirt in his hand. He turned to look at me with a smirk. "If you really wanted to seduce me you could of asked me into the shower with you."

He was an ass about it.

My face felt like it was on fire. I couldn't help but gasp at his crudeness.

"I'm going in now you sure you don't want a peak," he teased.

"Hey!" I yelled as I threw my now damp towel at him.

Jax started laughing. Oh he was really getting off my embarrassment. "I'm joking with you keep your panties on, or off, I'm fine with both."

Ugh!

I stormed out of the room with a loud slam of the door with the sound of his laughter echoing behind me. Jerk.

This was not going to be easy.

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