Page 16 of The Scars of Us

“You’re the instructor?” she asked in disbelief.

“I am,” I grinned.

Mumbling something indiscernible, she set her gym bag down on the hardwood floor against the wall before making her way toward me. As she neared, I saw small cuts on her face, and I couldn’t explain the anger that filled me at the thought of someone hurting her.

“What happened to your face?” I all but spat.Calm down.

Her eyes widened, my question taking her off guard. “Why do you care?” she retorted defensively.

Why does she have to be so stubborn?“Just tell me. It’s suspicious that you want to start my self-defense class after getting those cuts on your face.”Yeah, that’s the only reason I want to know.

Her face relaxed as her features returned to normal. “Uh, my cat scratched me.”

Her voice lacked confidence. I didn’t believe her for a second, but I didn’t want to press the matter. If I wanted to get closer to her, have any kind of chance with her, I needed to gain her trust. I couldn’t push her away by interrogating her, even though I really wanted to know what happened.

“I think you need a new pet,” I joked.

She gave me a small smile as she fidgeted nervously with her hands. But without missing a beat, she changed the subject, “I’ve never taken a class like this before. Can you tell me what to expect?”

“Well, we start off with warming up on the bags,” I answered, gesturing to the standing punching bags along the walls of the room. “I demonstrate different combinations you can use, and you perform them on the bags. Having the foundation of knowing basic punches and kicks will help you in any situation because you can’t predict what an attacker will do. I want to give you as many tools as possible to help you defend yourself, and kickboxing is a great platform for that.

“Then, we have an open request forum. I take requests from the class and show techniques on how to defend yourself in specific situations, which you will then practice with me or one of the other instructors.”

Her eyes widened apprehensively, showing fear from my words. I had to stop myself from trying to comfort her.Why do you care?

“Everything okay? You look conflicted.”

“Maybe this isn’t for me—I don’t like to be touched, especially by strangers.”

Interesting; she didn’t seem to mind me touching her the other night. Well, until the end. I wonder what the story is behind that.I shoved my concern for her away as I stated, “If you don’t like to be touched, you need to know ways to prevent it from happening, to protect yourself from the people that don’t care what you want.”

Uncomfortably sighing, she asked, “Can you work with me? I don’t think I’ll be comfortable with anyone else.” Her eyes widened, her cheeks flushing red as she stammered, “Only because I already know you. Not because I want you to touch me or anything.”

I chuckled before replying, “Whatever works for you—I want you to be comfortable. If you’re not comfortable, then you’re less likely to come back.”

She nodded before exhaling a heavy breath. “I’m really nervous.”

“Don’t be—we’ll take it slow. I try to give specialized attention to all the students based on their strengths and weaknesses. I’ll help you every step of the way.”

A small smile graced her beautiful lips, causing my stomach to tighten.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it,” she said softly.

“No problem—just doing my job. Go ahead and get stretched out before we get started.” I turned to walk away, but stopped and asked, “Do you have gloves?”

“I didn’t know I needed them. Can I still take the class without them?”

“Yeah, I have some. They’re old and worn, but they’ll work until you get some of your own,” I said as I walked to the small closet in the corner of the room. Rifling through my storage of kickboxing supplies, I found some gloves that I thought would fit Kaiya’s small hands.

When I exited, Kaiya was bent over, touching her right foot gracefully with her fingers as she stretched. Her ass was to me, and I couldn’t help but imagine entering her from behind, sinking my dick inside her pussy as I pounded against that sweet ass.

Fuck, stop. Focus—you’re about to teach a class.

I cleared my throat before I spoke, my voice slightly cracking, “Here are the gloves.”

Straightening, she turned and took the gloves from me, barely brushing her fingers against my palm. “Thanks.”

Giving her a slight nod, I turned away and walked back to the supply closet again, trying to distract myself from thoughts of Kaiya and sex.

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