Page 31 of Anders and the Girl Worth Fighting For
“The key is to take back control of the situation and yourself,” I said as I countered her move. I did it quickly the first time, so she knew it should go fast. “By extension, you should be able to take control of your attacker as well.”
I got her down to her knees before helping her up and resetting the move. I showed her slowly what I did to get free. I showed her how to grab my hand, twist my wrist, and push me down to the ground, using my arm as leverage.
“The point isn’t to overpower your attacker for long or to beat them up. The point is to give yourself a head start.” We did the move again and again until she picked up speed with it and could do it quickly. We’ll have to practice regularly, so the moves are second nature to her.
Once she could get free of me, I had her practice running to the door or the window and pulling out the ladder.
“Is that part really necessary?” She asked when I told her what I wanted her to do. “I know how to run away.” She had rolled her eyes at that and the sass was adorable.
“Yes, it’s necessary. The more you have to stop and think about things, the more likely you are to mess up or give your opponent time to catch you again,” I explained.
“Fine.” She ran. Each time she got free, she picked a direction and ran. Good thing these floors are concrete between levels.
After she mastered breaking free of my grip on her arm, we moved on to the other two moves I had used on her. “The technique is similar for both. Your goal is to drop your weight and use that against your attacker.” I showed her how to avoid choking by turning her head and dropping so she could get free of the arm around her neck. I then showed her how to use my arm around her to bring me to my knees so she could get away.
We went over every move until she could get out and runaway without any coaching from me. We had both worked up a light sweat. “We still have a lot to learn, but would you like to take a break and get something to eat?” I asked as I grabbed my glass of water off the counter. I hadn’t even noticed the time passing as we worked through the exercises.
“Absolutely. I’m starving,” she replied. She came up by me for a drink of her own and the sun came in the window at just the right angle to bathe her in its golden light. Her blonde hair practically glowed. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
“Ugh. I’m all sweaty and gross,” she said when she finished her water. “I’m going to shower while you order us some food.”
She walked out of the room, her ponytail bouncing as she went, and I had the sudden, childish urge to tug on it just to see how she reacted.
“Take that bad guy!” Grace shouted as she got out of my hold and twisted me down to my knees. We were working on a new set of scenarios today after a quick review of the last few days’ worth of lessons. I added shouting really loudly. I expected her to say things like “no” and “get away” and “fire.” She added a dramatic flair to it and it made me chuckle.
“Bad guy, huh?” I asked, while kneeling at her feet. A position I didn’t mind one bit.
“The worst,” she said. She didn’t run away like we practiced and had her hands on her hips instead. I lunged up to her and brought her down to the ground, so I hovered over her.
“Now,” I said as I held her hands above her head, “if you don’t get away and they get you on the ground, what do you think you should do?” I held myself just above her. I knew if anattacker got her in this position that they wouldn’t be so nice, but I didn’t think my sanity could handle pressing down on top of her.
“Well, since your knees are outside of mine, I would bring my leg up and knee you in the balls,” she answered. These self-defense lessons have calmed her and brought out a playful side to her I very much enjoyed.
“My balls thank you for describing that and not doing it,” I said with a laugh. “What if my legs were on the inside?” I tried not to think about her legs wrapped around me as I repositioned us so she couldn’t just knee me.
“I would try to get you off balance,” she answered after a minute of thought. “I would bring you in closer.”
“Ok. Good.” I saw her flush a little at the compliment. “You’re getting it. Show me.” I didn’t move and braced myself mentally for her to wrap her legs around me. She got her legs up around my waist and used them to pull me off balance. My arms gave out, and I came down and back, exactly where she wanted me.
“Now, your hands are free. What do you think you do next?” I asked. “Let’s say I’m angry now and I try to choke you.” I move to put my hands around her neck. I didn’t add weight to her neck, but to her shoulder just below.
She took a minute to think through what she would do before she brought her arms up and put pressure on my elbows, bending them in a way that was not natural. The pain of it caused me to lose all strength, and she twisted her leg around to unseat me.
“You’re really getting the hang of this. I didn’t even need to show you how to do that.” My praise brought another flush to her cheeks and a wide smile to her lips. I made a note to myself to praise her as often as I could, just to see that smile again. “In an attack situation, you won’t be able to think it through, though.You will have to react quickly. Let’s try that again and try a few different positions and see if you can get out of them.”
“Any updates on who might be after me?” Grace asked after we sat down to eat dinner. She poked at her food, pushing it around her plate instead of eating it. I couldn’t tell what bothered her more, the food, the lack of progress, or being stuck here with me. We had been cooped up in this apartment together for five days. Five days of self-defense lessons. Five days of takeout pizza, Chinese, and donuts from the corner store I ran to while the world slept. We couldn’t last much longer like this.
“Tink and I have narrowed down the search and rule out several names on the list,” I said, wanting to bring up my suspicions about her ex, but not wanting to upset her more.
“Who’s left?” She asked. She still hadn’t touched any of her food.
“Do you want to go out? Maybe we can go to a grocery store and get some actual supplies.” I evaded the question. I knew it. She knew it. The only names left were the ones closest to her. The ones that had the most power to devastate her. I didn’t want to break the news. It would hurt her. I know it made me a coward, but I would have done anything to avoid hurting her.
“Anders,” she said. Her tone conveyed that she knew I was dodging her question. “Tell me who is on the list.” She found her backbone somewhere over the last few days. I knew she was right. She deserved to know.
“Your mom, George, and Bill.”
Tink had cleared everyone else on the list. They either received what they expected from the will or were surprisedanyone would think they would be in her will at all. We probably could have saved a few days of research and gone with my gut, but I wanted to be sure.
