Page 90 of The Other Guy

Neil shakes his head. “You’d hope that’s all it would take but when they’re in a defensive position, especially if the attacker is bigger than you, that’s only going to make them take a step back. And that’s if you have enough strength to do it. There’s also the risk of him grabbing both of your hands.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Melody says and looks a little deflated, maybe embarrassed.

Neil picks up on it immediately and reassures her. “It’s a great question and often our first instinct. It’s not impossible for it to work, we just know there are other ways. That’s why we teach the more effective tactics.”

“Gotcha. Thanks.”

“No problem. Ask all the questions you want. So, this first one is the hammer strike. Now, it used to be that we could use our car keys but now that most of us have key fobs, keeping something similar in shape and size with you is smart and will do the trick.” He lifts up a key ring that has a StrikePen attached. “This is something we’ll send home with you. Our gift to you.” He smiles and the girls exchange glances with smiles of their own.

He goes on to show them all that the StrikePen can do and then hands one to each of them. “Like I said, this can be used in the hammer strike. You’ll want to hold it in your fist,” he says, showing them what he means, “and strike downward.”

Neil demonstrates the hammer strike with Melody, Ashley and Lexi watching closely. After the two go over it several times, I nod. “Good, good. Girls, let’s have you try, also.”

Ashley takes the lead, fisting her hand around her new StrikePen and twisting just slightly as she strikes downward in my direction. She doesn’t shy away from my touch when I demonstrate different ways that the action could go wrong, rather just shakes it off and tries again.

After the three seem to have it down, we continue on to other moves. “As I mentioned, the groin is going to be sensitive assuming you’re defending yourself from a male. Kneeing him should only be used if you’re already in close proximity. Be mindful of where his hands are so that he doesn’t grab hold of your foot in the process. Repetition and practice will help you feel confident if you’re ever in a situation where you need to lean on what we’re teaching you. Let’s go through both of those before we move on.”

I notice Ashley seems more confident when it comes to practicing than Lexi is and I wonder if I read the situation wrong.

After we’ve gone through the heel palm and elbow strikes, we finish up for the day. I’m happy to see how seriously both Lexi and Ashley took the class. That isn’t always the case with teenagers who think they’re invincible or know everything.

“Next time we’ll review these first before we teach you a few others. How to get out of a situation where your attacker has you in a bear hug or has your hands or head trapped in some way.”

“Holy crap,” Lexi whispers. “That. I want to know that.”

I look at her and see Neil paying close attention out of the corner of my eye. I want to pry and ask questions, but I’ve learned it’s best to let them open up on their own, if they even have anything to open up about. If someone would have outright asked my mother if she’d been abused by Vince, she would have denied it until she was ready to admit it to herself.

“Next week,” I promise her.

“Awesome. This was so much fun.”

“It was,” Ashley agrees. “Honestly when Mom told us we were coming I was kind of pissed but that was awesome.”

“Awesome, glad to hear it.” Neil chuckles at my use of the same word both girls just used.

“Totally awesome,” Melody agrees with a grin. Her daughters roll their eyes in tandem like they’re well-practiced at it.

“Girls, go on out to the car. I need to make sure we’re settled up with the payment.”

“Okay, Mom. Bye, guys. Thank you, again,” Ashley says, taking the keys from her mom.

“Yeah, it was great. Thanks!”

“See you soon,” I say to their backs as they walk out the door.

As soon as the door closes behind them, I turn to Melody. “What’s up? I know you’re settled for payment because we discussed it when you got here.”

“I wanted to thank you again. Ashley and Lexi, they’ve been through a lot in the last few months. Lexi was dating someone who… well, he only tried to use his size against her once. But that’s all it took. Thank God, Ashley was home and stopped anything from happening. Well, at least anything that couldn’t be undone,” she says with a quiver in her voice. Her eyes flood with tears and she looks away for a few moments, wiping a tear from her cheek.

“They were terrified to go anywhere alone for weeks, afraid that he would be around. Or his friends. He got a slap on the wrist because nothing actually happened,” she explains sardonically.

I resist the urge to clench my fists and put one through the wall. I hate that people can get away with being an asshole because of a technicality.

“And of course, it was Lexi’s fault because she showed him too much skin and teased him. She was asking for it. Ashley attacked him but pulled him off her. Then he said that if Lexi dressed like her frumpy sister, this wouldn’t have happened. That’s when Lexi attacked. My girls, they haven’t let each other out of their sight aside from when they’re in the bathroom. Today was the first time I saw them back to themselves. So thank you, Neil and Jack. In one hour you gave me back my girls.”

I swallow down the emotion clogging my throat. “It was our pleasure.”

If I shut down the gym today and never returned, I’d be satisfied. Bringing people back to themselves after someone knocked them down, that’s my purpose in life. It’s why I gave up my dream of becoming an executive chef at a five-star restaurant. Because this, right here, is all I need in life. Well, out of my career, anyway.

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