Page 61 of Hearts Held

“All right,” I state and deliver a hard, swift punch to Marcus’s diaphragm. He keels over, gasping for air. He tries to back away, finding purchase on a chair, but ends up knocking onto his rear end.

I move toward him; I didn’t realize how hard I could actually punch.

Whoops.

Bobby and Tilly cease their training and stare in our direction.

“Jesus, Bri, you had to hit him that bloody hard?” Bobby asks with his eyebrows nearly hitting his hairline.

Tilly comes to my side and pats me on the back. “You go, lady. That was bloody fabulous!”

Marcus heaves out some air and glares up at me.

“What!? You told me to!” I shout with my arms out.

“You did, dumbass,” Bobby states to Marcus, who has now regained some composure and stands.

Marcus shakes his head. “I did. I did. Fair. All right, let’s keep going.”

We go through various blocks and other maneuvers. Marcus and Bobby teach Tilly and I various punches and kicks, and remind us to utilize our knowledge of the human anatomy regarding pressure points.

By the end of our training session, I’m drenched in sweat, looking less ladylike than after a shift at thehospital.

Biscuit stands and says, “Good work, all! You could start your own fighting team and we could make some bets!”

Bobby pants with his hands on his knees. “You sat there the whole time, you lard ass. You didn’t do shite!”

Biscuit shrugs his shoulders as Tilly and I grab a drink of water.

Before I go to the kitchen, Biscuit pulls out a small .22 caliber pistol and gently grasps my hand. The cool metal skates across my palm.

“I’ll be teaching you how to use this, missus. No one will fuck wit ya without consequence.” Then he winks at me as I blink back tears that threaten my eyes.

“Thank you, Biscuit.” I turn and clasp my arms around his thick neck, pulling him into a sweaty hug.

“Oh! Oh!” He chuckles and carefully hugs me with one arm.

Bobby’s voice comes from behind me. “You bettah be careful, don’t mention she hugged you, Bis. He may cut that arm off for touching ’er.”

I can feel Biscuit’s burly chest rise and fall with his laughter, “Oi! Damn hugfrom ’er is worth it. Sweat and stink included.” Playfully, I push Biscuit away as we all share a small laugh.

“What you doing for the rest of the night, hon?” Tilly asks me as we grab our drinks from the kitchen.

“Oh, I’m actually going to go to the winter solstice party,” I reply.

Tilly looks at me with some confusion. “Bobby! Why can’t I go to the winter party thing?” she asks.

“You can’t be going to that,” Bobby states as he comes in, taking his shirt off, the sweat glistening off his sculpted abdomen as Tilly raises her hand to her mouth, which is partially agape. He wipes the sweat with his shirt, then glances over at Tilly and gives her a devilish smile.

“See something you like, ma’am?” He winks at her.

Tilly shakes her head, trying to stifle a grin as she bites her bottom lip. “You’re going to be the death of me, boy.”

He invades her space, towering over her. “Yeah? Well, it’d be a shame if you keel over before you finally sayyesto my proposal and we waltz down the aisle.”

Tilly grabs Bobby’s wrist and stands on her tiptoes to loudly whisper in his ear, “Let’s go home, and you can show me all the ways you can make me sayyes.”

I nearly choke on my water.