Page 49 of Unmade

I threw an arm over my face.

Nope. This wasn’t relaxing one bit. I climbed out of the bed again and rolled my shoulders. I might as well head down to the basement.

I took a leak first and then went back to grab my bag, and despite Beckett’s weird warning, I opted for the stairs.

My knees were fine.

I met up with Tanner and Gabriella on the way, and they were visibly excited to get started with Krav Maga. We’d received our protective gear already, along with instructions not to put anything on yet. Mouth guards, cups, shin guards, gloves… Special shoes too.

We wandered into the martial arts studio, and I eyed the dirty-blond guy with a bunch of tattoos. That had to be Shay Tenley. He sat casually in one of the chairs that lined the western wall, and he was texting.

Coach and Beckett soon joined us, and that was when Operator Tenley put away his phone and rose to his feet.

He had an unreadable look on his face, and he looked totally badass. I estimated he was around thirty or so, and his muscles were defined but sleek. Zero bulk, kind of like me.

“Listen up, everyone!” Coach hollered. “This is Operator Tenley, and he’s our new martial arts instructor at Hillcroft. For the last couple of months, he’s put together a new self-defense system based primarily on Krav Maga—not the Americanized version—and you will listen to every word he says.”

I dropped my bag at my feet and folded my arms over my chest.

“Floor’s yours, Shay.” Coach nodded for Tenley to begin.

“Thanks.” Tenley took a couple steps forward, his bare feet sinking down an inch or so into the mat. “On that note, you can call me Shay. Operator Tenley sounds…older.”

Coach coughed behind a chuckle.

Tanner raised his hand. He always had something to say.

Tenley lifted his brows. “Yeah?”

“Didn’t you pass final selection with my brother this summer? Finnian Kelley,” Tanner said.

Tenley nodded with a dip of his chin. “I did—which I’m guessing you already knew.” He rubbed his hands together absently and glanced out over us. “How many here have trained Krav before?”

I looked around to see Miguel and Riley raise their hands.

“Okay, noted,” Tenley said. “We tend to claim that Krav Maga doesn’t have any rules, and it’s true to a degree. It’s not a sport or a ceremonial art—it’s a system created to avoid and, if that’s not possible, quickly defeat an enemy. But with that said, Krav has a set of core principles, and we’ll discuss them today. By next class, you will have memorized them.” He paused for a beat. “Are there any questions about the protective gear you’ve been given?”

Maxine spoke up. “I noticed we got cups too as women. Was that a mistake?”

Tenley clasped his hands behind his back. “Would you like to get kicked in the vagina?”

I smirked, and Tanner and Zander struggled to keep their amusement bottled up.

“Women need that protection too,” Tenley finished before moving on. “However, we won’t focus as much on groin kicks as they do in the Westernized version of Krav. We’ll definitely cover it, and it’s an important move—but there are much better targets. A swift kick in the balls will hurt like a motherfucker, but pain isn’t always as crippling as it should be—and I’ll use an example. Say you get attacked by a mugger chasing his next fix. If he’s high on something, his pain receptors—or nociceptors—might be numbed. So, the fraction of a second you spend on ramming your shin up his dick, he could get the upper hand to end the fight. But if you instead kick him in the knee in a direction it’s not supposed to bend, it’s not about the pain. Hewillgo down.”

Huh. I hadn’t considered that before—and we sure as shit hadn’t learned this in the Army.

“Let me ask you a question,” he continued. “In an attack, who gets surprised—the victim or the attacker?”

Rhetorical question, then. The victim, of course.

Tenley didn’t wait for anyone to answer. “Krav is about building up enough knowledge to overcome shock and surprise as quickly as possible in the event of an attack. It’s about turning the tables and walking away with little harm done. And the only way to do that is to come prepared.”

I nodded, liking what he was saying. Get intel before you dig trenches. Understand the attacker before you defeat him on the battlefield.

Tenley took a step back and gestured to Beckett. “Operator Beckett is going to demonstrate a slow-motion attack with one of you, and I want you all to observe and think about his weak points—where the victim should strike to defend themself.”

Oh crap.

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