Page 97 of Losing the Rhythm

“It was only a couple minutes, not an hour.”

“My arms say otherwise.”

“Come on, she’s going to go over some moves. I think you’ll like it.”

“Oh, she’s going to more than like it,” Miya said, coming with a look that was way too mischievous. “You’re my volunteer today, Justin.”

Justin grimaced and suddenly he managed to look a lot less enthusiastic than I did.

“Come on, Cadence. You get to watch him be punished for dragging you here and daring to call it a date.”

“I like the sound of that.” I grabbed the hand she held out to me. Without any assistance from me, she had me on my feet in moments.

Everyone gathered back in the middle of the room. Justin stood by Miya, looking absolutely miserable and that oddly made me happy.

The next little bit, I got to watch Justin get flipped over repeatedly as Miya demonstrated how to handle attackers from different directions.

Then she began taking volunteers. I tried to stay tucked away at the back, but Miya wouldn’t have it. She didn’t give me a chance to object as I was pulled to stand next to Justin.

“Now, of what I showed you, which method would you like to try?” Miya asked me the same question she asked the others.

“Bear hug attack,” I said, swallowing hard.

“Good one.” Not many of the others had chosen it. “Justin, strap up. Headgear and the groin guard.”

Justin went over to the different pieces of equipment and I had to hold in a laugh as he put on the groin guard. When he came back over, he raised an eyebrow at me.

“You look squishy,” I said.

“That’s the point,” he replied.

“Love the face cushion.”

“It’s headgear.”

“Face cushion.”

Justin rolled his eyes as he moved to stand behind me. I became super aware of his position, the back of my neck prickling, letting me know someone else was there. But it was Justin and I trusted him.

“Now, as we have talked about, a bear hug attack is when an attacker grabs you from behind.” Miya waved at Justin to do as she said.

He wrapped his strong arms around my waist, locking his hands together at my stomach. My breathing suddenly felt restricted even though I knew it wasn’t anything that Justin was doing. Having him at my back like that was making me feel like I was going to be abducted all over again. Even his scent wasn’t enough to completely calm me down and make me feel safe.

“Are you okay?” Miya asked, no doubt noticing the change in me.

I nodded, unable to say anything verbally.

“Cadence, it’s a rule that I get a verbal response.”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Now, the danger of this move is that he restricts your movements as best as he can and tries to destroy your center of gravity so you can’t get any momentum. What you need to do is shift your weight forward so that he can’t pick you up. It also creates more room for you to move, allowing you to throw elbows at his face. Once you have enough room to get out of his arms, turn and hit him in the groin and try to get him on the ground. Then you run.”

Bend forward, throw elbows.

I couldn’t do it. I was getting used to Justin being behind me like this and I didn’t want to do anything to hurt him.

“Do your best,” Justin whispered. “You can do it.”

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