Page 4

Chapter three

Mika

I parked my car in the garage attached to Three Bears Tactical Services. I sat there and waited until someone else parked and got out of their car so we could walk in together. Telling myself I was being chivalrous so they wouldn’t have to walk in alone made me feel a little better, but the truth was parking garages creeped me out. I’d probably watched one too many movies where someone was attacked in one or something.

When Denise pulled in with her daughter, Chelsea, I got out of my car and joined them for the walk inside. Once we were in the building, I felt more secure. I waved at the guy sitting behind the desk in the lobby. He wore a uniform that made it clear he worked there. He nodded at us as we walked by and went right back to watching the bank of monitors on the desk in front of him.

“Stairs or elevator, ladies?” I asked.

“I hate elevators.” Chelsea glanced over at the silver doors that would take us up to the second floor where the gym was.

“Then stairs it is.”

We hurried up the stairs and through the door that opened into the training area. The only other people there right now were students, which was kind of a shame because I wouldn’t be mad about watching a few of the guys who worked here work out. I don’t know if being drop-dead sexy was a requirement to work here, but I swear every single one I’d seen fit the description.

Around me, a group of women—because of course I was the only guy here—chatted while we waited for the instructor to arrive. And then Hawk walked in, and all the chatting stopped. He just had that kind of presence that demanded your attention, and he had mine, no doubt about it. I might have sworn off big burly men who were strong enough to break me in half, but that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the view.

He wore a dark green t-shirt that stretched across his chest, highlighting a physique that didn’t need any help standing out. He had a military sharpness about him—focused, confident, and commanding—that, no matter what I’d said to Mars the other day, I found incredibly sexy. His normal partner was with him, and she stood off to the side while he started the class.

“All right, everyone,” he said, his deep voice reverberating through the almost-empty training room. “Just a reminder”—his gaze flicked to me briefly, making my stomach flip—“we’re here to work on practical self-defense. The goal isn’t to fight. It’s to control the situation so you can…” He paused and waited for us to finish the statement.

“Get away,” we all said in unison.

“Right. Now, last week, we worked on attacks from behind,” he continued. “This week, we’re shifting focus. What do you do if you find yourself face-to-face with your attacker? It’s totally different. So that’s what we’re gonna work on today.”

He walked to the center of the mat, his movements smooth and deliberate, and gestured for everyone to spread out.

“Here’s the thing. You don’t want to fight power with power. If your attacker’s stronger than you—and let’s be honest, that’s often going to be the case—you can’t win by brute force. Not even Tucker here can do that, and she’s highly trained.”

She stepped forward. “As you can tell, this giant is not only way taller than I am, but he’s probably twice my body weight. If I tried to use nothing but strength to take him down, I’d be in trouble. It’s about controlling the energy.”

“Exactly. Now, the first thing we want to go over is your stance. Let’s say you’re talking to some guy, and you’re getting that feeling that something’s off. You know that feeling, right?” he asked, and pretty much everyone in the room nodded.

“So Tuck and I are talking, and she’s getting a bad vibe from me.” She stood there with her hands in her pockets and one ankle crossed over the other. Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed her, and she pretty much fell forward when he gave her a tug. “That’s what you don’t want to do. Now, Tuck, show us how you should stand.”

Tucker stepped back and moved her feet a little apart, hands out of her pockets. She still looked casual, but she also looked alert. He reached for her again, and this time, she jumped back and moved away.

“You need to keep your balance centered and your hands free,” Tucker said. “There are a few different ways you can accomplish that. Let me show you.” She moved through a couple of different stances, and each time Hawk grabbed for her or tried to push her, she was able to stay on her feet.

When she was finished, Hawk turned to look at us. “Okay, now that you’ve got that down, we’re gonna work on what you do next. You ready?” He looked at Tucker, and she nodded.

I watched as they demonstrated what we should do, her movements precise and effortless as, over and over, she broke free of Hawk’s grip. I had to admit her moves were impressive, but I also wondered if they’d work as well if the guy attacking her didn’t care if he hurt her—or, even worse, enjoyed it. Lord knows Butch had gotten some kind of perverse thrill out of hurting me.

They paused, and she addressed the group. “If he grabs you, don’t waste energy trying to pull him off. Instead, focus on what part of him you can control. Maybe it’s his other wrist, his balls”—she threw a fake punch at his groin. He flinched, and we all chuckled—“or his balance. Remember, we’re not fighting here. We’re getting away.”

“Now you guys pair up and try it,” Hawk said.

My partner for the day, a woman named Marcy, smiled nervously, so I smiled back in a way I hoped would be encouraging. “Why don’t you try grabbing me first?”

She let out a breath and nodded. “Sounds good.”

She rushed at me and grabbed my arm the way Hawk had grabbed Tucker’s. The first time, I couldn’t get loose, so we did it again, and I managed to twist out of her grip on the second try—not gracefully, but it worked. Of course, Marcy was only a few inches taller than me and didn’t outweigh me by much, so that didn’t really make me feel confident I could escape a guy Hawk’s size.

We swapped off, and Marcy took her turn to break free. We repeated it over and over a few times until Hawk’s voice interrupted our practice. It was as if he’d read my mind about Marcy being too easy.

“You’re overthinking it, Mika. Here, let’s try something.” He reached out and grabbed my arm, and my whole body tensed. “Relax. You’re too stiff. Remember, this is about controlling the energy—not just the attacker’s, but yours as well. You need to stay limber so you can move quickly and easily.”

I forced my body to relax, which wasn’t easy with him standing so close to me. He let go of my arm and took a step back. Then he grabbed for me again, and this time, I forced myself not to tense up and twisted free in one smooth motion, just like we’d practiced.

“Nice work,” Hawk said. “I knew you could do it. Now you two keep practicing. And remember, stay limber.”

My cheeks burned, but I managed a quick nod. He lingered for a moment, his eyes catching mine in a way that felt like a split second longer than necessary. Or maybe I was imagining things. Either way, I didn’t trust my voice, so I turned back to the drills, my heart thudding a little harder than it should have been.

By the time Hawk called an end to that drill, both Marcy and I were finding it pretty easy to break the other’s hold.

“Good job,” he called out to the group. “Now, I want to try one more move tonight. This one’s a little scary, but it’s important.” He glanced back over at Tucker. “You ready?”

“Yep. Let’s do this.”

And quickly, without warning, he spun her around and pushed her against the wall with his hand on her throat. “We’re gonna show you how to break a hold like this.”

I gulped and watched as the two of them demonstrated the maneuver that was supposed to get us free from someone with their hands wrapped around our throats. One thing I knew for sure was that Marcy and I were gonna nail this one because there was no way I was letting that man pin me against the wall and put his hands on my throat like that—and not because it scared me.

Hawk

I lowered my hand from Tucker’s neck and turned to face the class. “That’s a very scary position to be in. Especially when it’s someone like me who has you pushed up against the wall, and I’m sure Tuck looked pretty helpless there for a minute. But she isn’t, and we’re going to show you a few things you can do if you find yourself in that situation.”

I kept my voice calm and measured, aware that many of my students were here because they’d been in frightening situations before. I didn’t want to trigger anyone, but they had to confront their fears if they wanted to protect themselves.

“We’re going to move away from the wall here just so you can see what we’re doing. So, there are a few options that can possibly get you out of the chokehold. And what’s our main objective?”

“To get away,” they all said again. I knew they probably thought I said this way too often, but when you were in a situation like we were training for, it was easy to go into fight mode and forget that what was most important was getting away.

“Right. Now, there are more advanced moves you can use after a lot of practice, but tonight, we’re going for some simple techniques you can use immediately.”

Tucker stepped forward. “A lot of those more elaborate moves require a lot of strength and speed. They work if applied correctly, but in a situation like this, the last thing you need to worry about is remembering pressure points and shit. What you want is to get the asshole’s hands off your throat so you can make a run for it.”

“For tonight, I’ll be the asshole.” I winked at them, and they all laughed. “Now, the first thing you can try is to bring your arm up and knock his hands away. Which arm you use depends on which hand is on your throat because you want to hit that spot right between his wrist and his thumb.”

I looked at Tuck and nodded before lunging at her and grabbing her by the throat. Just before I got a good grip, she swept up with her right arm, knocking my hand away.

“Good job. Now, after that, you can duck and run, or you can kick out quickly… aiming for the groin area.”

We demonstrated again, and this time, she faux-kicked at my balls. I dropped to the ground dramatically before hopping back up and turning to face them.

“That was pretty effective. Now, there are a couple other things you can try, but first, I want you and your partner to try that until you’ve got the move down.”

They all split up and moved around to the outer edge of the room. I stepped back to watch—and if I spent a little extra time watching Marcy and Mika, it was only because we didn’t have male-female pairings in class that often. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t triggering for Marcy and that Mika wasn’t taking it too easy on her.

It had nothing to do with the fact that Mika was adorable.

There was just something so sweet about him, but now and then, there’d be a look in his eyes that told me he’d been through some shit. It was that wary, wounded look that had first caught my attention. It made me want to find out who’d hurt him so I could make sure it never happened again. Being protective wasn’t new for me—hell, it was in my job description—but I’d never felt the urge to hunt someone down and seek retribution before. But for him, I did.

It had been that way since the first time I saw him at my friend Samuel’s house months ago, and if he weren’t skittish as a mouse around me, I would’ve already taken steps to make him mine. But he was, which meant I needed to move slowly.

I’d been surprised but thrilled when he showed up for this class. I was hoping that by the time it was over, he’d be more comfortable around me. It had only been a few weeks, and he already seemed to be loosening up.

Tucker sidled up to me and gave me a hip check. “You know we have ten people in this class, not just two.”

I glanced over at her, and she smirked at me. I just rolled my eyes and went back to watching as Mika pinned Marcy against the wall. She knocked his arm away and ducked to the side.

“Good job, Marcy,” I called out—just to make the point that I wasn’t only watching Mika.

Tucker and I continued to supervise the students as they practiced the move over and over, and by the time they all had it down, it was time to end the class.

“Okay, everyone, that’s it for tonight. We’ll see you all back here again next week. Naturally, our goal is to stay on our feet, but shit happens. So next week, we’ll be working on breaking some holds from the ground.”

We watched while everyone filed out, and then Tuck and I took a few minutes to put the room to rights before heading upstairs.

“You stopping at the lounge?” Tuck asked.

I was beat, so the smart thing would’ve been to go straight up to my quarters and get some rest, but it was still early, which meant most of the guys were probably up there hanging out, eating junk they’d had delivered.

“I’ll stop for just a minute, but I have an early day tomorrow, so I won’t stay long.”

“If you say so. You know you’re gonna get sucked into some argument or something, and you’ll be there way past time for you to be in bed.”

She wasn’t wrong. I enjoyed hanging out with the guys, and I often lost track of time when I was with them. Not that I would tell her that.

“Whatever,” I grumbled as I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the ninth floor.

Sure enough, there was a small crowd hanging out in the common area on that floor that everyone called the lounge . It was basically a large communal space with a big television for video games, a pool table, a foosball table, and a poker table. The poker table was my weakness, no matter what game was going on. More often than not, it was spades, not poker, but either way, I loved a good card game.

Unfortunately, no one was playing tonight. Instead, everyone was riveted by some first-person shooter game the twins, Axel and Maddox, were playing.

I flopped down on the couch and let out a sigh, dropping my head back and closing my eyes. This had been a long day. Between helping Crowe out at the camp, a planning meeting for a fundraising gala we were working security on, and then the self-defense class, I’d been at it since sunrise.

“Aww, what’s wrong, Hawk? Did teaching all those civilians how to protect themselves from a big ol’ baddie wear you out?” Rylan asked.

“Nah,” Tucker chimed in. “His eyes are just tired from staring at his boy all night.”

“He’s not my boy,” I growled.

“Ah, it was that class,” Axel said, never taking his eyes off the screen.

“When are you gonna stop watching his cute little ass and actually do something about it?” Gator asked. “He’s seriously adorable. I’m shocked someone hasn’t scooped him up and put him in their pocket.”

I lifted my head and glared at him. “You... shut the fuck up.”

He laughed and shook his head. “You know, I thought about it last fall when I met him up at Mars’ shop.”

I knew he was just trying to rile me up. Gator was charming and never had trouble picking up a guy when he wanted to, but he was like a brother to me and would never poach a guy he knew I was interested in. Didn’t mean I’d let his comment go unanswered, though.

“Well, you can just stop thinking about it. You’re way too hard for him, and you know it.”

“Isn’t that the whole point? To be hard for him? Or am I not understanding how this gay sex thing works?” Maddox looked at us over his shoulder, wearing one of his classic smirks. The smartass.

“That isn’t what I meant, and you know it,” I grumbled. “Mika is a sweetheart, and there’s nothing sweet about this asshole.” I motioned at Gator, and he just shrugged in a what can you do kind of gesture, and I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t worry, nobody here’s going to try to steal your boy. We are , however, taking bets on when you’ll get your head out of your ass and make a move.”

“You’re all a bunch of assholes, you know that?”

“Yeah,” Axel said. “But you love us anyway.”