Page 82 of The Scars of Us

My heart stuttered in my chest, my breath catching at the tenderness of his words.What would I do without him?

His hands left mine, but he continued to talk to me. “I’m going to put the prop to your throat now. Remember, it’s not real, and I would never hurt you.”

One of his hands came up to grip my shoulder as he brought the fake knife to my neck. Stiffening as I felt it push against my scar, my heart started to beat erratically.It’s not real. Don’t freak out over nothing.

“It’s just me, baby. Relax. You can do this.”

I eased against him, focusing on his words.

“Good, now grab my arm with both hands, one hand on the outside, one on the inside, pulling it away as you throw your head back.”

Doing as he instructed, I fit my hands around his bulky, inked forearm, near his wrist, and threw my head back. Ryker angled to the side so that he wouldn’t get hit, expecting my move.

“Good, now after you connect, step to the side opposite of the knife, lean forward, and push that sweet ass into me.”

A laugh burst from deep in my belly because of his words. Feeling the tension leaving me over the whole situation, I followed his directions, rubbing my ass against his growing erection as I leaned over. A low, strangled groan came from him as he buried his head in the middle of my back.

“You okay back there?” I asked in a teasing tone, loving the reaction I had caused.

“Great,” he replied before clearing his throat. “Now, use your left hand to throw a hammer-fist to my groin. If I were using my other hand to hold the knife, you would use your right hand instead. After you connect, use that same arm to elbow me in the stomach and or face.”

I performed all the moves lightly, so that I wouldn’t hurt him. Ryker continued his instructions, moving on to the next step, “Keep your hands securely around my wrist as you rotate your body outward, away from me, twisting my arm around. You should end up facing me with my arm upside down in front of you, between us. From here, kick the groin and then keep twisting my arm in the opposite way from its natural bend until I fall.”

Believe it or not, I made Ryker fall flat on his ass when I did that, but he probably fell for my benefit.

“Now, you can either kick me in the ribs a few times, pry the knife from me and run, or both; your choice. I would do both just to be safe because you don’t want them to chase after you, especially if they still have the weapon.”

Opting to do both like he suggested, I completed the maneuver. Ryker stood and came over to me, wrapping me in his arms and praising in my ear, “You did it, baby. You did it.”

Squeezing him back, I held back the tears that were trying to escape. They were happy tears, but I still didn’t want to cry in the middle of class again.I did it, I really did it.

Ryker pulled back, smiling proudly at me. “You wanna practice it again?”

“Yeah. Let’s do it again.” I smiled back.

“That’s my girl. I knew you had it in you, Warrior.”

As we continued to practice the routine, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.

The following Saturday morning, loud banging on my front door woke Ryker and me. The sun was barely creeping in my window, so I could tell that it was still early.

“Who the fuck is that?” Ryker muttered groggily.

I started to get out of bed, but Ryker pulled me back into him, wrapping his arms around me and burying his face in my messy hair. “Let Kamden get it.”

Kamden’s footsteps sounded a few seconds later, so I snuggled into Ryker and closed my eyes to go back to sleep. The sound of yelling caused them to snap back open again moments later.I know that voice.

Outraged and shocked, I threw the covers off me and flung open my door. I could hear Ryker calling after to me, but I stormed down the hallway towards Kamden and the person he was arguing with. My mother.

When she saw me, her face reddened in anger as every feature tightened. Pointing her finger at me, she screamed, “You! This is all your fault.”‘

My fault? Is she fucking serious?“None of this is my fault. Kaleb did this to himself!” I shouted.

“Mom, you need to leave,” Kamden replied stiffly.

Our mother ignored him, and instead of doing as he requested, she lunged for me. Ryker stepped in front of me as Kamden grabbed our mom around the waist and pulled her out the front door.

“No! This is all her fault. My baby is stuck in there because of her! He’s devastated!” she wailed before Kamden slammed the door.

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