Page 25 of The Scars of Us

Stepping in, I turned the handle almost all the way to the left before scouring my skin in the scalding hot water as I cried. My body burned as the heated drops pelted me, feeling like molten lava dripping down my flesh. Sobs shook my body as tears trailed down my face and mix with the spray falling over me from the shower head. Nothing I ever did could totally erase the dirtiness that still remained whenever I had a flashback.How could he do that to me? How could I let him? Why didn’t I make him stop? God, I was so weak! I’m still weak!

Slumping to the tile floor, I set my forehead against my knees, wrapping my arms around my legs. I sat there until the shower ran cold, letting the frigid water numb my skin.If only I can get it to numb my brain and emotions, too.

Kaiya was more uptight than usual during class on Tuesday night, if that was even possible. She angrily hit and kicked the bag aimlessly, and I could tell that something was bothering her.

Sweat dripped down her face as I approached her. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” she snapped, keeping her eyes trained on the bag, panting angrily as she continued to fiercely attack it. As I watched her, I noticed that she was holding her breath.

“Breathe, Kaiya,” I urged, moving closer to her. “You need to breathe or you’re going to pass out.”

Her hands fell to her sides as she stepped away from the bag and took deep breaths. She began to pace in a small circle in front of me as she steadied her breathing.

“Are you sure everything is okay?” I asked again as I handed her water bottle.

She took the bottle, greedily drinking before taking more deep breaths. “Yeah, I just… I had a bad night last night, and it carried over into today.”

I furrowed my brow.I wonder what happened.

“Well, take it easy, alright? I don’t want you to overexert yourself.”

She nodded before focusing back on the bag and repeatedly kicking the shit out of it.

There’s that warrior.

After the kickboxing segment of class, I decided to work with Kaiya on different strikes since she was still so tense—she definitely needed to keep hitting something.

“I’m going to teach you where you should target different hits. First thing I’m going to show you is strikes that are best for the face—avoid directly punching someone in the face because you’ll more than likely break your hand. Only use elbows, hammer-fists, and palm strikes when you are hitting the face.”

I modeled a palm strike on one of our dummy bags, which had the upper body of a man, instead of the regular, cylindrical punching bag. I wanted Kaiya to target the specific areas of the body we were working on. I then repeated the same with elbows and hammer-fists, stopping for Kaiya to practice each one. I loved watching her body move and seeing sweat glisten over her skin.Fuck, I want to feel that body beneath me.

I didn’t notice that Kaiya had completed the last move until she cleared her throat. When our eyes met, she smiled shyly and asked, “What next?”

Smooth. She caught you checking her out. Concentrate.Playing cool, I ignored that she had noticed me looking at her. “You can also use a double palm strike on an attacker’s ears, which will completely knock off their equilibrium. Aim for right here,” I instructed as I demonstrated on the dummy. “Right outside the ear. Slam as hard as you can.”

We continued working on different strikes, and Kaiya’s anger began to slowly fade as she released it on the bag. I didn’t focus on her technique that much because I could tell she needed to blow off some steam, so I just let her. I knew she’d been hiding something beneath her guarded exterior, and whatever it was affecting her tenfold today.

When class was over, I stopped Kaiya as she was about to walk out, catching her at the door. I pulled her to the side as the remaining students squeezed past us and left. “Hey, you want to grab a drink? You seem stressed today.”

“I really shouldn’t,” she replied as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, her tone indecisive.

“You always give me that lame excuse. Just one drink—you earned it after kicking the shit out of that dummy,” I said with a grin.

She rolled her eyes as she fought a smile. “Should you be taking your students out on dates?”

“Oh, so this is a date?” I teased, raising my eyebrows as my smile spread.

“No! I… you know what I mean.” She blushed as she darted her eyes away from mine.

“Yeah, you want me to take you out on a date.” I smirked knowingly.

“No, I don’t,” she blurted as her eyes widened in embarrassment.

“Oh, really?” I challenged as I played with my tongue ring, knowing it unnerved her. I always caught her staring when I messed with it.

As I expected, her eyes darted to my mouth, and her lips parted slightly. With a knowing chuckle, I asked her again, “So, do you want to grab that drink or not?”

Her eyes snapped back to mine. “I need to shower.”

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