Page 119 of Say You Will

Paint It Black | Hidden Citizens, Ranya

Istand on thesmall front lawn of the cabin, wearing comfortable pants and shoes, with Henry’s black fleece jacket over my own long-sleeved T-shirt. It’d be a nice day to be inside with a good book and a cup of tea. We’ve been out here for forty-five minutes already, and my knees, hips, and knuckles ache with the cold.

“Again.” Henry grabs my ponytail and pulls me backward.

I turn rapidly in a quick circle, twisting under his arm. He keeps his fist in my hair, resulting in him yanking his own armbehind his back. When he bends to relieve the pressure on his shoulder, I fake a knee to his nose.

Releasing my hair, Henry straightens. “Good.”

He’s wearing contact lenses, as he often does when we practice, though he’ll take them out the moment we’re back inside because he can’t stand them. He looks naked to me when he takes his glasses off, and Henry naked is hot as hell. The glasses are also a turn on for me. Who am I kidding? I never find himnot sexy.

Henry lifts my hands and pulls them to his mouth, blowing on my swollen knuckles to warm them up.

“Am I ready to kick somebody’s butt?” I wink.

He doesn’t smile. “Not even close, but that doesn’t mean you’re helpless. You have tools to escape.”

Henry would protect me with his last breath, but we both need to know that if he’s not with me, I won’t be a sitting duck.

“You don’t think the danger is over now that Lawrence has been arrested?” Henry’s people dug around and found evidence of Lawrence having been into some shady business. According to reports, he was taken into police custody last night.

“It may end up enough for Grandmother to remove him as a prospect for MPD, but we haven’t found any link yet between him and our attack. The crimes he was arrested for are unrelated. More importantly, there are a lot of strings someone can pull from behind bars. So, no. It’s not time to relax.” Henry comes at me, and I evade his grasp.

“Your grandmother will be that upset over his arrest? It’s not like she doesn’t at least have a vague idea that you’re not always on the straight and narrow, yourself.”

He circles me, and I move in response.

“She won’t like it, but it’s not what he’s done or even the drugs or evidence of his violence and temper tantrums. It’sthe embarrassment and scandal. Right now, I guarantee she’s grateful he doesn’t share our last name.”

He lunges at me again, and though I don’t manage to avoid his side headlock, I have enough time to lift my shoulders at the last second to improve my chance of keeping my airway unrestricted. I turn my head toward him to make breathing easier and graze him with a fake punch to the groin.

He bends over and loosens his hold slightly but doesn’t release me. “Good. What if I’m a woman?”

I’ve never had a woman come at me physically. But his point is, if the dick punch doesn’t work, keep going. So I slide my arm closest to him behind his back, and reach over to grab his face, yanking his head backward on his neck. The body follows the head, and he bends backward and loses his grip. He twists and changes his hold, yanking me into a different position. I respond.

I take his lessons seriously. I’ve had too many incidents in my own life not to understand the value of being able to defend myself.

When I break away from him, I straighten and shake out my arms.

“Keep going,” I say.

He comes at me again. And again. Different grabs. Different responses from me.

A half-hour later, I’m bent over wheezing. “That’s enough for now. I need a break.”

He runs his hand over the top of my head. “You did well.”

As the distinct reverb of a helicopter in flight slowly reaches my ears, I turn toward the airfield and landing pad to observe Dante and Spencer’s arrival.

Henry checks his watch. “Right on time. I’ll head over to give them a hand.”

“Do you need help?”

“No.” When I shiver, he rubs my biceps in an attempt to warm me up. “You get inside. You could put the kettle on for some tea?”

“If you cut yourself, do you have blood left in you, or do you leak Earl Grey?”

“Let’s not find out.” He drops a kiss to my nose, then indicates the landing pad. “This should only take about twenty minutes.”

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