The Gender Game Bella Forrest (best young adult book series TXT) 📖

full appearance for the first time. They looked unkempt and were dressed in similar rough fashion to the men I'd had a run-in with the night I ended up in the alley in my effort to avoid Cad. And they also had matching tattoos, only they weren't squares on the neck. They were small black triangles etched beneath the right eye. The square and the triangle must have been symbols of two different gangs.

Viggo stopped, leapt off the motorbike and raced after the men. "Stop where you are!"

He shot a bullet into the ankle of the shorter one, causing him to yelp and stumble. Before I could witness the fate of the other, a click sounded just in front of me. The trunk of the car pushed open and out climbed… two more men.

They took one panicked look at me before slipping round the side of the vehicle and darting off in the opposite direction.

I wasn't sure what possessed me, but the next thing I knew, I was darting down the street after them. "Hey!" I yelled.

They shot glances over their shoulders, eyes widening as they realized a woman was on their tail.

"Violet!" Viggo yelled behind me, but I was already turning a corner and chasing the criminals down another road. A dead end, the three of us realized. They stopped short and did a one-eighty, running back in my direction. They obviously thought they could just push past me.

After quickly verifying that their hands were devoid of weapons, I went charging at the nearest one to me. Diving for his knees, I floored him. He thrashed as he landed on his back, attempting to grip my throat. I grappled with him, twisting myself until my legs were in the perfect position to stretch out his arm and trap him in an arm bar. I tugged hard, tightening my hold and straining his ligaments. He grunted in pain.

Footsteps bounded down the street toward us. I glanced up to see Viggo's stunned face.

"There was another one!" I shouted. I hadn't managed to witness where exactly he'd run.

Viggo raised his phone to his ear while he continued to stare at me. "Need backup on Sullivan Street. Three detained criminals by the junction, and another one escaped on foot."

He slid the phone into his pocket before lowering and grabbing the man beneath me. I untwined my legs from the criminal and released him so Viggo could stand him upright, at which point he'd stopped attempting to struggle.

A sense of euphoria filled me, not so different than what I’d felt during my secret gym fight. I'd taken down a criminal—a male criminal, in Patrus. I'd looked him in the eye and shown him that I could match him. I could barely even bring myself to wonder what the consequences of this act might be. I was sure none by the law, since I was under Viggo's watch and guardianship.

Even as we escorted the criminal back to where Viggo must have cuffed and left the others, Viggo remained gazing at me.

"I feel like there's something you're not telling me, Violet," he muttered as we turned the corner.

I feel like there is, too.

20

As backup arrived, both of us fell quiet. We returned to his motorcycle and headed to the lab, where we found Lee waiting in the parking lot.

Lee's face brightened. "How did everything go?" he asked. He must've been wondering why we were late.

"No doubt your wife will tell you," Viggo said. He nodded his head, his eyes flitting from Lee to me, where they lingered for a few seconds more before he revved his engine and sped away.

After Viggo was out of sight, we mounted Lee's motorcycle. "Why are your clothes torn?" Lee asked.

It was my knees—my pants had gotten frayed. "We, uh, got into an altercation on our way back here. There was an attempted kidnapping. Viggo went chasing after the guys involved and, well, I ended up helping a bit."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes," I said, a tad hesitant in spite of being proud of what I’d done. I wasn't sure how Lee was going to react.

"How did you help?" he asked.

"I tripped up one of the guys. Just held him down until Viggo arrived."

"And how did Viggo react to it?"

"He didn't really say much. I already mentioned to him that I took a few defense lessons in Matrus when I was younger, just like a hobby thing."

"Hm," Lee murmured, looking worried. "Then I guess it worked out okay… But getting involved the way you did was risky. Unnecessarily risky."

"I don’t plan to do it again," I assured him, although I would like to, if the opportunity arose. "It was a spur of the moment thing; Viggo had brought me along on his motorcycle anyway, right into the heat of the scene, so helping him hardly seemed like a big extra step."

“Hm,” Lee said again.

He went quiet and focused on the road for the rest of the journey. When we arrived back home, we cooked and ate dinner together, and then I retired to bed.

The next day, I awoke to the sound of drilling for the second time since my arrival here. I groaned, sitting up in bed and rubbing my face. Lee's darn mechanic.

After brushing my teeth and showering, I headed downstairs to the kitchen to find Lee awake and eating breakfast at the table.

"Viggo called," he said, as I took a seat beside him.

"What did he say?"

"He can't take you today until the afternoon," Lee replied. "He said that he'll pick you up during his lunch hour."

"Oh. Okay." I felt disappointed. This meant that I was going to have to find something to do with myself for the entire morning.

"Also," Lee added, "he's got a later shift tonight, so you can stay with him for that if you want. He said he'll drop you back afterward, say, around half past midnight.”

"Okay." Late night with Viggo. I couldn't deny that this prospect excited me.

"Mr. Bertrand?" a