Page 11 of Teach Me
Because he didn’t sound like he was completely dreading it, and his frown lightened considerably when he held out his hand to her, Jess decided to let it all go and focus on what she’d come here for. “Yes,” she said and put her hand in his.
He led her onto the mats. She took her shoes off where he indicated, and followed him on socked feet to the center of the blue landscape, all the while worrying about what was to come. She’d never taken self-defense classes before, but she did have some clue where this was going. There would be touching, she knew that, maybe even full-body contact. Her awareness of him hadn’t died with the knowledge that he wasn’t interested in her—how could it, with what those shorts did for his butt? The thought of trying to keep her physical reactions hidden while he taught her already had her sweating.
Pretend he’s Steven or something, for goodness’ sake. Don’t embarrass yourself any more than you already have.
Steven. No embarrassment. Right. “Conlan, thank you for doing this.”
His sexy black eyes met hers. “My pleasure.”
I wish it was.
So not what she should be thinking right now.
Con indicated for her to sit, settling himself directly across from her. “Tell me about the bastard. He’s why you’re here, right?”
“Right.” Hearing Brit called a bastard shouldn’t make her feel good, but it did. Now if she could just figure out how to explain. Not that she didn’t want to be truthful. There were just some truths that were too humiliating to share. “About eight weeks ago I broke things off with my boyfriend, Brit. He…wasn’t happy about it.”
“What did he do?”
Jess shrugged. “Hit me.”Basically.
There was that growl again, the one he’d given Jack earlier, only this one sounded mean. Dangerous. It sent a shock jolting through her, that this man could feel that deeply about something that’d happened to her. Heck, after Brit’s attack, no one but Cris and Steven and Saul had even seemed outraged on her behalf.
“And now he’s back to sniffing around.”
“Yes.” She told him about Brit following her home yesterday. “He… I’m just scared. I’m not going to lay down and give up, but I don’t really know how to take care of this myself.”
“Well, you don’t, not if you don’t have to. Always go to the police first, get help, find someone nearby. Never face an opponent alone if you don’t have to. But if you have to,” Con said, his voice dropping into soft reassurance, “I’ll show you what to do.” He pushed into a crouch, obviously preparing to stand. “Any physical issues I need to be aware of?”
Jess followed Conlan up. “Um, ribs? They still aren’t… They’re healed, but they still hurt sometimes. I’m told that’s normal.”
Conlan froze, eyes unblinking. “He hurt your ribs?”
She nodded.
“How bad?”
Swallowing hard at the angry note in his voice, she barely managed a whisper. “Two broken, some bruising. Nothing too—”
“Don’t,” he barked, cutting her off, “say ‘nothing too bad.’” He turned to stalk away from her, his hands rubbing hard over his face and into his hair, which he fisted. “He broke your ribs? You said he hit you; I assumed it was a slap. Not that that’s any better, but it’s not broken ribs.”
Jess cringed. She didn’t dare move, waiting instead until Conlan released a huge sigh and slowly faced her. One look at her face had him moving back to her. “Jess.” When he got close enough, he cupped her jaw, his touch tender. “I’m sorry. The thought of him… Jesus.” His hand tightened briefly, then let go. “Okay, be careful of the ribs. Anything else?”
Nothing that still hurts.Without speaking, she shook her head.
Conlan gripped her wrists. His thick fingers felt tighter than handcuffs but stayed gentle as he positioned her body, hands raised near her face, feet in a sort of elongated L shape. Her palms were sweaty again.
Here we go.Her breath got shorter.
“Jess.”
She sucked in a gulp of air.
Conlan tipped her chin up until their eyes met. “It’s scary. I know. I’ve worked with a lot of women who’ve been abused. Whether it was once or a hundred times, it doesn’t matter. You’ll be afraid. That’s okay. It’s part of working through it and getting your power back.”
Was that what she was doing? All she’d really considered was trying to survive. But he was right.
The thought steadied her. “Okay.” She nodded, not sure if she was trying to convince him or herself. “I can do this.”
