Page 67 of Inception

“That’s right, I have a pulse. I’m not your type.”

“Exactly.”Wait. “What—?”

“That’s enough, Julian.” Gabriel put himself directly in front of me. “If you’re unable, or unwilling to perform your duty, I’ll be more than happy to have the Council reassign you.”

“That won’t be necessary,” replied Julian, looking embarrassed now. He quickly shifted his attention back to his magazine and didn’t say another word to either of us.

Gabriel turned back to me, his eyes doleful. “Come on,” he said, ticking his head towards the mat.

The truth was, I still wanted to ram the magazine in Julian’s big mouth but figured it would only make things worse for me. I tied my hair back into a ponytail and followed Gabriel instead. “So...where do we start?”

“We start by assessing what level you’re at physically.”

“That’s easy. I’m the level rightbeforebeginner.”

His mouth hitched up at the corner. “I was hoping for something a little more concrete.”

“What did you have in mind?” I asked, uneasy.

“I was thinking we could simulate an attack.”

I shook my head. “No. No way.”

“Why not?”

“Because...” I wanted to tell him that I was too afraid, that I didn’t want to be reminded of the way I felt that night, or the time before that—scared, powerless, weak—that it was already enough that I had to relive it every time I closed my eyes. But all I could manage to say was, “Just because.”

He grimaced, examining me as though he might find the rest of my answer hidden somewhere on my face. “Look, I know this is difficult for you,” he said after a thoughtful pause. “And I imagine you’d rather not be in that position again, but...”

No buts. I hate buts. “But what?”

“But it’s going to happen again whether you want it to or not,” he said candidly. “I’d rather it happen here first—with me, so that I can teach you how to take control of the situation and get out. That’s all this exercise is about.”

That didn’t sound nearly as bad as what I’d envisioned in my mind. “So what your saying is, I won’t be suffering any traumatic brain injury or blood loss tonight?”

“Of course not. I would never hurt you,” he assured. A slow moving grin appeared. “In fact, I wantyouto do the hurting.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that.

“If you start to feel uncomfortable or it becomes too much for you, just say the word and we’ll stop,” he added, raising his hands in a solemn gesture. “You have my word.”

I couldn’t explain why, but I believed him. Iknewhe wouldn’t hurt me. I knew he’d stop if I told him to. I knew I’d be safe as long as he was near me.

“Alright then, let’s do this,” I said, feeling a false sense of bravado wash over me. “Show me what you got.”

His eyebrows shot up in surprise—or amusement—though I could tell from the shrewd way he began to circle around me that he meant business. Not wanting to feel like his prey, I mimicked his moves and circled right along with him as my heart rate nervously kicked into overdrive.

“I’m going to come at you from the back,” he warned, his lips slightly turned up at the corners. No doubt he was in his element. “I want you to try to break out of my hold, okay?”

I didn’t have a chance to respond. One minute we were circling face to face, and the next, he was behind me—one arm around my collarbone and the other one around my waist, pinning my arms to my side.

I gasped in surprise.

“Break out of my hold,” he ordered when I did nothing but stand there frozen in his arms.

Ah, hell.

I immediately began pushing and squirming around in his arms, doing everything I knew of to try to free myself from his death grip, each time ending up with nothing to show for it but a bruised ego. Even when my squirms morphed into a full body buck, the only damage I managed to produce was self-inflicted pain from my own burning muscles.

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