by D. C. Ruins
"Not silly," Heath said slowly as his mind whirled, filing away all of the information she had so helpfully and unknowingly provided. "I don't know shit about dance but that makes sense to me. It's kinda like with Connor's trainer, Frank. He likes his fighters to train to Beethoven, to calm them down and focus on their movements, to relax and be patient. What you said made me think about that." While Heath still wasn't Frank's hugest fan, he always had to admit that Frank's way of training was unique and clearly helpful, as evidenced by Connor's win over him at Ultimate Warrior.
"It makes sense," Drew said. "That's a very interesting way to go about training."
"Well, anyway," Heath said, snapping out of his reverie. "Don't stop looking at spaces. Okay? I know you had your heart set on this one, but it's not the end-all, be-all. You can still have your Inspiration Dance Academy…just in a different place."
Drew smiled at him again. "I know. Thanks."
"We could go look, sometime," he went on, hoping he wasn't being too obvious. "At different spaces, I mean. I'd like to go with you."
"I'd like that," Drew replied, squeezing his thigh again. "Thank you."
Heath's face remained stoic, but inside, he was grinning like a little kid.
***
Heath's first order of business, after officially starting as the sole owner of the 17th Street Boxing Gym, was to organize the women's self-defense course. It didn't take long to put together and pull in the right people; Drew volunteered to put the slides together for the classroom portion once Heath completed his research, and he enlisted the help of Connor, Rex and Jameson to work on the physical portion of the lesson. He held it over a weekend, two four-hour days, and started with two hours' worth of classroom information.
He organized the classroom lesson into three categories: Case Studies, Situational Awareness, and What To Do. He spent a solid week working on little else but the research. The physical portion, six hours' worth in total, was extremely important, obviously. However, he didn't want to skimp too much on the case studies, theories and other valuable information; women needed to know exactly what could, and frequently did, happen to them and how to avoid bad situations altogether.
He briefly thought about asking if Drew would allow him to use her story for one of the case studies, but he immediately nixed that thought. It was still too fresh, too personal, and since the details of her case had been broadcast, even if he changed her name, people would still likely be able identify her. He did decide to run all of the case studies he found past her, though, wanting her input. They spent several late nights together, alternating between his place and hers, working on the slides.
On one such night, at her apartment, he'd tilted his head back against the sofa seat from his place on the floor and glanced up at her. "Are you okay with this stuff?" he had asked her quietly, gesturing toward his research on his laptop.
"I'm fine," Drew had replied, glancing down at him from her perch on the couch. "In fact, I, uh—I was thinking. Since my little secret isn't so secret anymore, I thought that maybe—if you think it's a good idea—I'd be willing to talk a little bit about what happened to me. No real details, but sort of from a 'lesson-learned, this can happen to you' type of stance."
"Seriously?" Heath asked. "You would do that?"
She had averted her eyes back toward the television she was watching, but nodded. "Yeah, I would. I think it's about time I spoke about it."
"As long as you're fine with it, I think it's awesome," Heath had said. He felt then, and felt now, immense pride in her bravery.
Now, on Saturday morning, he stood before the group of participants and eyed them. He and Connor had cleared an area to put down folding chairs and set up a slide projector in the middle of the gym and had run off copies of the slides and provided pens in case anyone wanted to take any notes. Drew was sitting in the very back and he caught her eye, nodding slightly. She didn't smile, but gave him a wink and returned his nod.
As he began his introductions and moved into the lesson, he was pleased to see that all of the women were very interested, and asked plenty of questions regarding the material he had provided. When it came time for him to introduce Drew, a hush fell over the audience as she walked to the front. Heath was pleased to see that she walked confidently, and she didn't seem to be nervous. He nodded at her when she came to stand next to him, and took a seat off to the side and behind her.
She began recounting her story to the group of women. She talked about how she'd always been somewhat innocent and naïve about her surroundings, hearing of the awful things that happened to women every day in the world but not really applying them to herself or accepting that she, like so many other women, could ever fall victim to such horrific circumstances.
"But I did," she told them quietly, clasping her hands behind her back. "Someone noticed me, little, innocent, naïve, unobservant me. And he pounced. I almost lost my physical life. I definitely lost my sense of self; I stopped caring about things that once made me happy. I suffered from horrible PTSD. It took a lot to get me where I am today, able to live a relatively normal life, although I still have occasional panic attacks. But the fact that I can talk to you about this today is a testament to the fact that there is life after an attack. But our focus today is to teach you how to be situationally aware to avoid something like this altogether. And later on, show you some techniques that, with practice, can help save your life or get you out of a bad situation if you find yourself unable to avoid it." She paused, glancing around. "I implore you to make practicing the things you'll learn this weekend part of your daily routine. You ladies are mothers, wives, sisters, daughters. Friends. You're needed and loved; each and every one of you. You have touched and are touching people's lives every day—why wouldn't you do everything you can to make sure you're still around for the people that you love and who love you?" She paused briefly again, then nodded and took a step back, giving the group a little wave to signal the end of her speech. The women began applauding, and Heath was surprised when many of them rose to their feet. Drew looked completely embarrassed, but Heath was incredibly proud of her.
He caught her eye. That's my girl, he thought. He applauded her as well and gave her a little half-smile as she walked past him, amused by the look she gave him, as if to tell him to stop.
After that, they moved the group to an area with large, thick mats set up, and began the physical training. Heath was slightly disturbed to see that many of the women there lacked simple, basic upper body strength with absolutely no knowledge of how to throw a proper punch or manipulate their arms and legs properly. He knew it was going to be a long weekend.
By Sunday, he could tell that many of the participants had gone home from the first day to practice what they'd learned, and he couldn't hide a grin as he overheard stories of some of them trying out their moves on their poor, unsuspecting husbands. He was pleased that so many of them felt so empowered after only two hours of training the day before, and in that moment, he made up his mind to create a special series of classes geared toward women's self-defense tactics, and he planned to make this seminar a monthly occurrence. The more women he could help, the better.
Their final test was to "spar" individually with him, Connor, Rex, or Jameson. He and the rest of the guys donned heavy padded armor and face masks. Heath told them that they would be required to apply all of the tactics they learned over the weekend in this final fight. The object was to avoid getting taken down, but if they did, they had to show that they could get away, off the ground, and run away.
He knew it was intimidating for them to face-off, one by one, with a large man who had training they didn't possess, in front of everyone. He did that on purpose to try and stress them out and shake them up. It recreated, on a very small scale, the type of stress they would feel in a dangerous situation. He advised the women that while the men wouldn't be really hurting them, they weren't going to go easy on them either. The first match was between a woman in her early forties name
d Mal and Connor. He made sure the woman was ready, and then he looked at Connor and nodded.
Mal had barely any time to open her mouth to shout and say "no" as Heath had taught them. It was cheesy and cliché, but the harsh shout, as opposed to screaming for help, had shown in case studies to momentarily throw the assailant off track. There was a difference between a confident, harsh command and a scared scream. Heath bit his lip, biting back a grin, as the woman let out a startled grunt before Connor rushed her. He was proud when she collected herself, bellowed "No!" and then hit an angle against Connor's left shoulder. His older brother was thrown off balance as she swooped past him. She reached up to grab the back of his face mask and quickly brought his head down, kneeing him in the side of his padded suit hard. Connor let out a surprised groan before he grabbed Mal around her waist and then proceeded to take her down. Heath winced, but he appreciated the way that Mal kept kneeing Connor, even on the way down to the mat. Once there, Mal squirmed like mad underneath Connor, who was attempting to pin her arms. She managed to clock him with her elbow and duck underneath one arm, and then wiggle out of his grasp and run off.
The entire room exploded in applause, and Mal blushed, waving everyone off. Connor made a show of extravagantly bending to kiss her hand, and Heath clapped her on the shoulder as she walked past, blushing like mad but looking very pleased with herself.
The four men took turns testing the women. Overall, Heath was pleased to see that the vast majority of women applied most of the techniques they'd been taught. A few of them panicked when they laid eyes on their opponent, and seemed to forget everything. Heath intervened in these cases and helped walk them through their techniques to jar their memories. Once they shook themselves out of their nervousness, the women did fine.
By the end of the four hours, everyone was sweating, but the women seemed exuberant. He liked the way they supported each other despite the fact that many of them had been perfect strangers just yesterday morning. Now, they cheered each other on, clapped for each other, helped each other out. He announced at the end that they'd all "passed" and he had Rex and Jameson pass out personalized certificates of completion to each of the women. He told them he'd be starting up special self-defense classes and that anyone who was interested should write their email address down so he could send the schedule out once it was determined. Every single woman present signed up, promising to bring sisters, mothers, friends, neighbors.
Heath had decided to have the gym open only for the seminar that weekend. He'd announced via email and posters around the gym to his clients that due to the "special event" of the self-defense course, the gym wouldn't be open for business. Once the day was over, he'd been glad he'd made that call—he was thoroughly exhausted. When everyone had left the gym, he thought about doing some paperwork in his office to catch up a little for the following day, but he felt restless despite his tiredness. Instead, he sauntered through the gym, wrapping his hands as he went. A few rounds with the bag would be exactly what he needed to burn off the excess energy and allow him to unwind.
He stripped off his shirt and put his gloves on, then went to work on his favorite bag. He was so intent on his task he didn't hear the footsteps behind him, until he heard a throat clearing itself quietly. He whirled around, seeing Drew leaning against one of the posts of the ring in the middle of the room, her arms folded over her chest.
"Hey," he panted. "I thought you'd gone home."
"Nope," she replied. "Just went outside to talk to some of the women before they left. Looks like you're going to have a big roster for those classes."
"Good," Heath replied, raking a hand through his hair. His chest and back were covered in fine beads of sweat and his arms and shoulders ached slightly; he must have zoned out during his impromptu workout and gone harder than he'd planned.
Drew cocked her head, drawing her lower lip between her teeth as her eyes slid down him slowly. "You know, I never got my one-on-one final test, Teach."
Heath immediately felt a surge go through him at both her words and the look in her eyes. "You didn't?" he asked. "Huh. My mistake."
Drew smiled and reached up to tug on one of the ring ropes. "Maybe we should do that now, while all the information and the techniques are fresh in my mind." Before he could reply, Drew pulled herself up agilely and ducked between the ropes, heading for the center of the ring. She turned around and met his eyes, then pulled her workout T-shirt over her head, revealing a white sports bra she wore with her tight black yoga pants. He watched as she kicked off her running shoes and socks, then rolled her head around her shoulders as she stretched her arms.
"Come on, Yoda," she called.
Heath joined her in the ring, wearing just his basketball shorts and his shoes. He copied her movements and removed his shoes and socks as well, stretching out his own arms. His eyes moved over her frame, appreciating the way low-cut sports bra showed plenty of her ample cleavage, and the way her black pants clung to her hips and the lovely, perky curve of her bottom. As his body stirred below the waist, inside his shorts, he thought that perhaps this particular test would end a little differently than the others had.
He dropped into a fighting stance, playfully circling her. "I don't have the armor on," he reminded her. "So no knees to any places you're gonna end up regretting later."
Drew smirked, then dodged in lightning fast, slamming against his shoulder, throwing him off balance, and cutting an angle before dancing away.
"Very nice," he murmured. "Very fast." Drew hopped lightly from foot to foot, and Heath reminded himself that she had had boxing training, once upon a time. He'd never really seen her in action this way before, but he could tell from her stance and movements that she'd had a good teacher.
He was momentarily distracted by the way her abdomen contracted when she moved, and how the air conditioning made her nipples suddenly come alive through the fabric of her sports bra, and missed her next lightning fast lunge inward as she lightly smacked his temple with the back of her hand before moving away just as fast. He shook his head and glanced at her face, seeing she was unsmiling, but her eyes were dancing merrily. She loved that she'd caught him off guard twice now.
No more, he thought, his slightly competitive nature rising to the top. He lowered his head and studied her shoulder line intently, still circling her as he brought his hands up loosely into guard. He feinted to one side and she fell for it, moving to block, before he lunged from the other side. He kicked her feet out from underneath her then caught her before she could fall over, gently pushing her away as he playfully smacked her bottom. He laughed at her expression before his eyes slipped down her body once again, unable to resist checking her out for the umpteenth time. The heightened tension and the light physical contact was distracting and was doing nothing for his hardening length; this was almost—almost —as good as foreplay.
He circled her as she danced around him, and they took turns feinting and lunging with no real contact. She skipped in toward him, ducking to one side before leaning back the other way and kicking the back of his knee, making his leg buckle before she twirled away. He growled, righting himself, and began circling her in a way that had her back against the ropes in a matter of moments. He lunged, and she ducked swiftly under his arms. Fast, he thought, impressed. But not fast enough.
Before she could dance out of reach again, he grabbed her around the waist and hauled her back against his chest. For a moment he held her there as she looked back at him. He pressed his hips forward slightly, right into the soft, curved flesh of her bottom so she could feel him. Her eyes hazed out for a moment, the warm, bright brown color darkening as she felt him pressing against her. Then, they sharpened with focus as a startled look entered them when he lifted her high into the air. He grinned up at her, then slammed her onto her back onto the mat, like he had when they had played together in the ring the first time so many weeks ago.
Air expelled from her lungs when her back made contact and her eyes went wide. She let out a
breathless laugh and Heath leaned over her, his hands planted on either side of her.
"I guess I failed the test, huh?" she asked throatily, looking up at him. He looked at the fine sheen of sweat on her arms and chest and stomach and licked his lips.
"I accept extra credit," he replied, then dipped his head to run the tip of his tongue up her sweaty throat to her pulse.
She bit her lip and made a noise of pleasure, then grabbed him by the back of the head and pulled him down toward her as she lifted herself up on one elbow. Their mouths crashed together and for a moment all Heath was aware of was their lips, tongues and teeth, pulling and pushing, nipping and licking frantically. It seemed they were both on a mission to get into each other's mouths as deeply as possible. She tore her mouth from his and then licked down his neck, her tongue and lips moving lower over his chest as she tasted his sweat. Her hands slid over his back and her nails dug in when he gripped her jaw in one hand and forced her mouth back to his, reaching in deep with his tongue.
He reached down to grip one of her thighs hard, then used his knees to roughly push her legs apart. He looked down into her smoldering eyes before he thrust his hardness right up against her, and she gasped sharply. Most of the sound disappeared into his mouth as he claimed her lips with his own again. He felt her hands gripping and sliding over his sweaty skin and he sucked against her lips before licking down over her chest, lapping up every bit of her sweat he could taste. He dipped his tongue between her breasts and she groaned. She lifted her head and grabbed the side of his face, forcing him to look at her. Lust made her eyes flash urgently.
"I want it now," she whispered raggedly. "In this ring." Before he could move she reached down to yank her sports bra up over her head before moving to tug her pants down her hips until she could get one leg out. The other leg remained inside the corresponding pant leg, shoved down to her knee. Heath bit his lip as she reached for the waistband of his shorts, taking in the sight of her. She wore a white thong and nothing else, and he let her push his shorts down as he lowered his mouth to one breast, teasing the nipple and tasting more of her sweat.