Page 30 of Anders and the Girl Worth Fighting For
He grabbed my arm before I could move away. I tried to yank myself free. His grip was tight, but not painful. I couldn’t get out of it. He used the leverage of his grip on me to pull me closer to him and twist me so my back was to his front. From there, he wrapped his arm around my waist, trapping my arms, and used to the hand that had grabbed me to wrap around my mouth.
I made a startled sound of protest and tried to get free. I tried to kick my legs out and push away from him. I tried to dislodge his arm around my waist and pull his hand away from my mouth. Nothing worked. His grip on me was tight, almost too tight. I had no way to get free. He easily lifted me off the ground and I lost all leverage I might have had. I was well and truly trapped.
I did the only thing I could think of at that moment. I licked his hand.
He laughed at that but didn’t put me down yet. “Got you.” He said into my ear. A shiver ran down my spine and I stopped struggling. I leaned my head back on his shoulder so I could see him. He looked at me, his eyes intense and his face slightlyflushed.
He removed his hand from my mouth and traced down my jaw to my neck. He didn’t hold my neck or apply any pressure, but just placed his hand there over my fast-beating pulse.
“Give up?” he asked, low and husky.
For a moment, I couldn’t answer. The words wouldn’t come. I was right. I was going to burn from the inside out, being this close to him.
Finally, I nodded. I had a reason to be here. I had to learn to defend myself, and clearly, I had a lot to learn.
He set me down gently, but didn’t move right away. When he finally did, he said, “Stay there. I’m going to come at you from behind for this one.”
This time when he grabbed me, his arms came around my shoulders at a slight angle with his chest against my back. I grabbed his arms and turned my head to look at him. I tried to break free of his restraint again, but he squeezed me tighter and his arms crept up to my neck. Just before he could choke me, he let go and stepped back.
“You just gave up,” I accused as I turned to him.
“I knew you couldn’t get out. There was no point in continuing to go on. I’d just end up choking you,” he said sheepishly. He turned away from me and walked to the opposite side of the room, grabbing a cup from the upper cabinet.
“Come get some water and then we’ll get back into it,” he said after a moment.
Chapter Fourteen
this woman was going to be the death of me. I’m a goddamn grown-ass professional with over a decade of experience fighting in the most absurd, difficult, ridiculous, strenuous, and extreme environments on earth, and I couldn’t keep it together just because I held a pretty lady in my arms.
Who am I kidding? It’s because it’s Grace.
I took several deep breaths, willing myself to calm down before I could move again. The cool drink of water sliding down my throat helped. Maybe some ice would help, too.
“Ready for more?” I asked when I was sufficiently in control of myself again.
“Yes,” Grace said with a determination that filled me with pride. She might be going through a lot, but she wasn’t a quitter, and she wasn’t weak.
“This is a move that someone might do if they want to take control of you in a public space without drawing too much attention to themselves or what’s happening,” I said when we got back to the middle of the living room.
I moved to her side and threw my arm around her shoulders. From the outside, I knew it looked like a familiar gesture of a lover or friend. I held tight, though, and steered us to the side. I easily moved her exactly how I wanted her, and that scared me most of all. She struggled to get away, even elbowing me in myribs, hard.Good girl. I still held onto her and walked her over to the kitchen before I let her go.
“What the heck,” she said when I let her go. For a moment, I thought she was angry with me, but then she continued. “How is that even possible? You just walked me right over here like I didn’t even have a choice.” Her eyes showed her disbelief, and I smiled at her.
“Exactly. And I’m being nice. I don’t really want to hurt you.” I pointed out to her.
“Right.” Her shoulders slumped. “I haven’t been able to get out of anything,” she said, sounding so defeated.
“No, but I would have been very surprised if you could. Your instincts were very much average and what I would expect from someone who hasn’t had to fight off an attacker before.” As I said those words, a small part of me unclenched. In the back of my head, I had always feared that Bill physically abused her, besides his obvious emotional abuse and manipulation. If he had been beating her, she would not have reacted how she had. Though it’s only a minor comfort that she hadn’t been in physical danger. I’ve seen the effects of emotional abuse on some guys in the Corps. In some ways, it was worse.
“I guess that makes sense,” she said, bringing me back to the situation at hand. “So what now? Now that we know I’m starting from nothing. What do I need to do?” She bounced on her feet as she said this. Like she was warming up for a fight. God, I loved this woman.
Oh.Oh.
Oh shit.
“Now, I teach you how to get out of things,” I said like my entire world didn’t just turn on its head and reset itself. I should have seen this coming, and yet somehow actually thinking those words to myself made it all so real.
We started with her grabbing my wrist as I had done to herfor the first move.
