by Honor James
“I never think anyone isn’t a threat, it’s kept me alive this long. Even you can be a threat,” he told her. He got her settled in place, kicking her feet out a bit. “If you ever need to face off with someone you want to keep your feet out under your shoulders, knees slightly bent, and your weight on the balls of your feet. This allows you to pick one leg up if someone does a leg sweep for example. You still have a foot on the ground because in most cases an attacker won’t get close enough to take out both your legs when you’re positioned as such. With your weight over the balls of your feet you are balanced, and able to move in any direction you want. Whereas if you are back on your heels, you can’t move ahead as quickly as you might want to be able to. You also want to have your weaker side forward with your stronger side back.” He showed her the position with his left side turned more to her with his right side away from her.
“This gives you power through your strong side, for example if you’re throwing a punch you can put your entire body into it. Now, there are several key areas that anyone can target on a person to cause harm, but you need to be observant as well. The arch of the foot is great to stomp on, if you have really good shoes on and they are not wearing a boot. Always look your opponent up and down, taking note of their clothing, their footwear, and how they are holding their hands. Brawlers tend to have their hands in fists when they face off, so you need to watch for punches. Martial artists tend to keep their hands loose at their sides. There are a lot of key tells that will let you know which martial art, but that’s for another time. As I said, the arch of the foot is good. The groin is better on a man. The throat is another good spot, and of course the eyes. If you get stuck in close to your opponent the gut is another spot to aim for, but try not to get that close. You don’t want them wrapping you up in their arms and limiting your motions.”
He made a few adjustments to her stance before settling in front of her again. “If you can, aim for the groin. Then when your opponent grabs the family jewels, he’ll naturally curl into himself. Doesn’t matter how long he’s been training for, that shit hurts. When he does that, you put a hand to the back of his head and slam your knee up into his face. You’ll bust up his nose and make his eyes water, and you can run for your life while he’s fighting to breathe through all the agony you’ve just delivered. Don’t ever go up against anyone with a knife unless you’ve had a lot of training, and never take a knife into a fight as it will more than likely be turned against you. Clear so far?”
“Yes, that makes perfect sense actually. I knew about the arch of the foot, I knew about kicking them in the balls, but I didn’t know about the knee to his face when he lands on his knees.” She winced and nodded. “Yes, I know about knives, sadly. I have thirteen stitches from a time when I was held captive.”
She saw Slater throw a look toward where Elliott was sitting, and then he lifted a brow. “I don’t think he knew that,” he said quietly. “If a guy comes at you with a knife you do have some defenses. If you’re wearing a jacket or a sweater, take it off and wrap it around your weaker arm at the forearm. This way if he’s slashing at you, you can use it as protection. It won’t hold up forever, but maybe long enough for you to throat punch him. No matter what, when your life is on the line, do not ever hold back. You hit anyone who’s out to do you harm as hard as you damn well can.”
“Yeah there is a lot that he doesn’t know. I might have been keeping tabs on him and you guys but sadly I don’t think that he’s been able to keep them on me.” She took the information that was given to her and moved the way she was told to move. “Thankfully that’s about the worst that I’ve had, the thirteen stitches that is. One of the other women that was with me had severe burns around her ankles and other places as well. He focused more on her than any of us.” She thought about the guy who’d been convicted of several crimes. With her testimony, along with those of the other three women she was held captive with, he’d been put away for several years. She made a mental note to check up on his incarceration later that night.
“You may want to let him in on anything else. Because he’s really not looking overly pleased at the moment,” Slater warned her. “Biggest mistake rookies make is tucking their thumb in when they make a fist. That will only break your own thumb, so don’t do it. Also don’t clench your hands into fists until you’re about to land a punch. Putting that much pressure on your hands is exhausting to your body.” He showed her a loose fist. “This is how you want your hand until you are in the middle of throwing a punch, then you tighten, land the punch, and draw back, loosening up the hand once more. Got it?”
“Got it, on both counts.” She would tell Elliott everything, later. It wasn’t like there was a lot to tell aside from when she had been held. For the most part she really had led a boring life. “Okay, now what?”
“Punch me,” he said. He pointed to a spot on his chest. “Right here. I want you to hit me as hard as you can.” All emotion slipped off his face as he stared at her. His arms were down by his sides as he stood waiting. It was a trick, she knew it was, she just didn’t know to what end.
Clara frowned and watched the man. She didn’t want to punch him. “I think that if I were to punch you it would hurt me more than you.” The man looked like he was built out of marble. She was worried if she punched him she would break her hand.
“You’re only going to hit muscle, not bone. That’s if you manage to actually hit me. Personally I’m betting you’ll just spin around like a top from the momentum. Your other lunch date is coming out of the change rooms, so you may want to speed this up. Better to embarrass yourself in front of only one of them instead of them both,” Slater said.
He was smug, too smug. She realized the game he was playing, though, and moved. She feinted to the left and then actually moved to the right. She reached out and connected to his chest, her hand landing there lightly, but landing all the same.
His hand caught her wrist, and a quick look into his eyes made her realize she’d been played. He used her momentum to spin her around so her back landed to his chest, and his arms locked her own arms around her body. “Now what do you do?” he asked her. “And remember, you actually kick me in the balls we’ll be having words, lady.”
“Stomp on your instep, kick you in the balls, and then knee your face. Right?” she asked as she was held there against the man. “That or ask my other date to take care of you,” she said with an easy grin and winked at Yoshi as he walked out of the showers and toward them.
“Only problem with that is you are barefoot, as am I. Which means that you’ll hurt yourself just as much, if not more than me. Plus you’re counting on the fact that I’ll let you go when you step on my foot. Which I may not, I might instead tighten my hold which means you can’t kick me in the balls. If you’re in this position you need to think smart, not just react. The best play if you’re ever in this situation is to play dead. Or rather, dead weight. Let yourself go completely loose. Most people don’t expect it which means they need to adjust their hold. As soon as you feel the grip around you loosening to make the proper adjustment you throw yourself forward, or if you have the advantage you stomp on my foot.”
“Oh, good point.” She wasn’t a huge woman, but dead weight was even more difficult to handle. She did what he said, however, and went completely limp in his arms, her feet not even holding her weight just the man who was holding onto her.
“Everyone discounts the good old-fashioned methods. Use every trick at your disposal,” Slater advised. He let her go, a hand on her arm steadying her until she had her footing. “As a woman you have a number of tools at your advantage a man does not. Making your opponent believe you are injured when you are not is a good way to make them cocky, and make them do something idiotic like getting too close where you can then strike. The easiest is the cramped, or lame leg. Being sneaky is half the battle to winning against someone bigger than you. The other half is thinking everything through carefully, but quickly. You have to train your mind
to assess a situation in seconds, with only a glance. Knowing where exits are when you enter a room, how many people are in there, and then assessing them for threat levels. Everyone can cause harm to another if they are in the right circumstances. You need to be the smartest person in the room, or at least the most observant. Go for your lunch. And when they bring you back around come find me, I’ll show you a few more things that they definitely won’t want you knowing.”
“Why wouldn’t they want me knowing things that would help keep me safe?” she asked as she stepped away from the large man. “And thank you, by the way,” she told him with a smile. She felt, more than saw, Elliot move up behind her and wrap his arms around her middle. She leaned back against him and nodded. “I will come see you,” she assured the sniper of the group and then turned to look up at Elliott. “Ready?”
“Absolutely,” he said. He dropped a kiss to the end of her nose. “Why are you seeing Markham again?” he asked curiously. Obviously he hadn’t heard everything the large man had said to her.
“He’s going to show me some more self-defense moves,” she told him and wiggled. “Now, I’m starving.” She walked away from the men and to her shoes. Stepping into the heels, she was once more in control of herself and watched the men as they stood there chatting. “Lunch?” She reminded with a bit of a grin.
“Right, food,” Elliott said. He waved her toward the doors with a grin. “Lead on, sweetheart,” he told her. He leaned into Craig and said something that had the other man chuckling. All she got by way of any explanation was a wink.
“You are both so bad. Good thing that I like bad boys.” She moved back so that she was walking along between the men. “So where are you taking me for lunch?” There was a cafe not far from where they were at the moment, as well as an intimate restaurant a block away.
“There’s a restaurant up the block. If you’re okay with walking in those heels that far, I thought it might be the place to go. Should be quiet enough that we can actually hold a conversation, and the foods pretty damn good, too.” Hooking his arm through hers, Elliott caught her hand with his and gave it a squeeze.
“I’m totally good with the shoes. Trust me, I could run in them if I wanted to.” She reached out and took Craig’s hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. “I don’t bite, I promise,” she assured the other man who seemed to be keeping a wide berth from her.
“Not what I’ve heard on the rumor mill,” he told her. But he did move in a little closer to her as they walked out of the building. Heading up the street he shot her a curious look or two, but held his silence as they reached their destination. Elliott pulled open, and held the door for both her and Craig to go through.
Clara didn’t speak again until well after they were seated. Their drinks and appetizers were ordered. She looked to Elliott and then Craig. “So what has Elliott told you about me?” was how she started the conversation with the man.
“Likely more than you’d like,” Craig told her. Taking a sip of his water, he grinned while Elliott groaned from her other side. “He mentioned that you two practically grew up together, got into more than a bit of trouble together, and then lost touch when he joined the corps. He’s been a bit like a kid in a toy store, all excitable and twitchy, since he found you again. It’s actually cute in a totally unmanly way of course.”
“I’ve missed him. He is right, the two of us were inseparable when we were kids, but things change. People change. Right?” Not a great deal, but she had grown into her own woman just as he grew into the man she knew he always would be.
“True enough, he’s definitely not the same person I met in basic training all those years ago. For one, he’s actually matured in some ways, not in all, mind you, but in some.” Craig shot a grin toward Elliott before turning his attention back on her. “I do have a question though. One, I, and the other guys, have all wanted to know the truth about. Did you really try to push him out of a two-story window without anything to break his fall when you were eight?”
“You told him that there was nothing down there?” She shook her head and laughed. “There was a truck down there with mattresses and goose feather pillows just under us.” She smacked Elliott’s arm lightly. “You dirty dog. Did you tell them that I jumped and then you followed?”
“That was the second attempt, Clara,” Elliot said. “The first attempt you were pushing me out the wrong window if you recall. Or not since you seem to only be remembering the second run. On the first go-round there was no way in hell I was going out the window. I was even trying to tell you it was the wrong window as you were shoving at me with all you had.”
“I apologized,” she grumbled. Looking to Craig, she rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt him. I would never hurt him.” Elliot meant too much to her for her to hurt, even back then. “And you have to admit, it was a lot of fun.”
“Well yeah, out the right damn window. The first one would have seriously sucked,” he muttered. He put a hand on her arm and rubbed lightly. “So you see, Yoshi, it’s true. She damn well tried to kill me. But I was kicking and screaming the entire way. Hell, I’m pretty sure there are still my fingernail marks in the window frame from where I clawed at it in desperation.”
“I apologized, a lot,” she grumbled and felt her face heating up with a blush. “So again, I’m sorry,” she said again with a sigh. “Will you ever forgive me for that mistake?” She wanted to know, needed to know so that they could put it behind them.
Lifting his hand to her cheek he rubbed his thumb to her skin. “It’s already forgiven. I know you meant no harm, sweetheart. You were excited, and overly eager to take the leap.” Leaning in, Elliott kissed her forehead. “Think no more on it, Clara.”
“Okay.” She closed her eyes and sighed at the affection in his tone. “Thank you by the way, for not letting me jump out of the first window as well.” Because if so she would have gone splat and that would have been bad, all around bad.
“Of course I didn’t let you dive out. God I still get palpitations whenever I remember how you headed for it. You scared me bad that day, Clara. Try not to do that anymore if you would. I’m getting old, and all that excitement is bad for my poor already abused heart.”
“Promise, no more jumping out of windows,” she assured him. “Besides, I’m a lot older now and I have, hopefully, a lot more to live for now than I did back then.” As a kid she had never realized just how good she had it with having him there with her day in and day out. “And what do you mean, your already abused heart?”
He waved off her question. “It’s a figure of speech, so don’t go getting up in arms.”
A look to Craig didn’t tell her any different but Clara had the distinct impression there was something more there.
“Well at least now I can tell the other guys he wasn’t pulling our legs. Timmons used to share stories of your misadventures of childhood with us when we were out in the field. Had us in stitches on more than one occasion I have to tell you. Though I’m guessing he might have embellished a little from time to time. Hearing this one cleared up, I’m doubting it was as much as originally figured,” Craig said with a grin.
“I was a bit of a hellion, I won’t lie,” she admitted with a shrug. “I wanted to live life, though, I wanted to experience everything that there was to experience. I think that’s what has given me my lust for life now. I think that my experiences with Elliot when I was younger have made me the woman that I am today. Still a woman who wants to live life fully, and knows what I want in life.”
“So what is it that Clara Smith wants in life?” he asked her curiously. “I’m thinking it’s a little beyond jumping out of windows blindly. So tell me what it is that you want out of this life that you haven’t yet experienced.”
“Honestly?” When Craig nodded she took a deep breath and made her admission to him that she had already given to Elliot. “I want a relationship with two men.” There. She wanted to make sure that he knew exactly what she wanted and felt. “I’ve just
never been able to find the right two men. I want to find a love that will never end and be loved for the rest of my days.”
Craig nodded slowly as he stared at her. “I’m guessing that Timmons is one of those men, which means the other position is still open. You wouldn’t by chance be accepting applications to fill said position would you?” His lips curled into a slow grin and he lifted a brow slightly.
“Actually I am accepting applications for said position and yes, Timmons is one of the men.” She reached out and put her hand onto Craig’s to give it a squeeze and then released it. “Know anyone who might be willing to apply for the position?”
“I might know one or two that are possible candidates. Though one definitely surpasses the rest in charm, good looks, and conversational skills. He even has the added bonus of being very flexible.” He was grinning at her now, and wiggling his eyebrows comically.
Clara laughed. “I like him already,” she said with a smirk. “So do you think that he would be interested in me?” She wanted to know. “Just asking. I would really like to be able to know if the man would be willing to have something with me.”
“He’s definitely interested in you. Greatly interested in knowing all about you,” he said softly. Sliding his hand over the table he squeezed her fingers gently.
She turned her hand so that their palms could touch and nodded. “That’s a good thing.” She suddenly felt as if she couldn’t breathe. She felt warm and needy which had her shifting slightly in her seat. “Should we ask the silent one what his thoughts might be?” It was unusual for Elliot to be so quiet, but then again she supposed that this was a conversation she had to have with Craig.
“We could definitely ask, it would only be polite after all,” Craig said.