Page 12 of Ride Forever
“Besides, it’ll give us something to keep our minds off the avalanche of shit hurtling toward us.”
“When you say it like that…”
He rose from the lawn chair and held out his hand. I grasped it, and he pulled me upright before kicking away the chairs.
“We’ll be okay up here?” I asked, shielding my eyes from the sun.
“No one can see much of anything,” Chaser replied, clearing away some of the ruined furniture. “I haven’t seen a single other person come up here.” He pointed toward the main office. “I overheard the clerk saying the place is only at a quarter of its capacity. We’re good.”
“You’re good at ‘overhearing.’”
“Surveillance,” he corrected. “We don’t want to draw too much unwanted attention.”
“Brilliant,” I drawled. “I don’t want anyone seeing me get my ass kicked, so that’s perfect.”
Chaser went over some basic self-defense moves with me that he’d learned as part of his basic cop training. He’d worked on the beat in LA before doing the whole FBI thing, so he assured me he knew a thing or two about subduing little shits who thought they were big men with their guns and knives.
“Most of the time, you only have a few seconds to react,” he began. “A fight is about gaining control and dominating, even if it’s just about getting away and not…”
“Killing?”
“Yeah, that.” He pursed his lips before continuing, “Aim for the parts of the body where you can do the most damage while anticipating his or her moves.”
“Sounds easy when you put it like that,” I said.
“It takes a lot of practice. Whatever you do, don’t step any closer than you have to. Here,” he said, wrapping his fingers around my wrist. “When you go for the upper half of the body, use your hand. Your palm goes up to crack the nose. The outer edge can strike the neck. Or a fist to the throat.” He pressed his fist under the curve of my ribcage, putting light pressure beneath my lungs. “With enough force, you can push the air out of your attacker’s lungs.”
His pointers made a lot of sense. I thought about some of the situations I’d found myself in, and an image came back to me of the night I’d first met Chaser. I’d intended to pack up and leave rather than be dragged back to Fortitude, but unfortunately, the Hollow Men, who I’d thought Chaser was making up, had found me first.
“Do you remember that night at Teasers?” I asked. “When Pube Face Bailey had me…” I gestured, my hands waving in the air. “You know…”
“I know.”
“How would I get out of that?”
“Bent over with a knife at your throat?” He raised his eyebrows. “With a lot of trouble.”
“So, I was screwed…” I glanced away.
“Sometimes, you’ve got to take a hit to get out of a situation.”
“You think I should’ve let him…” I choked and felt like giving him a back eye to match the one he already had.
“I’m talking about the knife.” He strode toward me and curled his hand around the back of my neck, then tugged me forward. “Know where your veins are. This one…” He traced a line down what I supposed was my jugular. “This one you protect. It gets cut, you bleed out in seconds. If you tilt your head the other way slightly, you just get a knick, but you gain ground on your attacker.”
I nodded, swallowing hard. “Maybe we should…try something else.”
Chaser’s eyes darkened, and I felt his free hand trail a line down my back and over my ass.
“Are you hard?” I asked, my mouth falling open. “At a time like this? This… This is serious business.”
“Can’t touch you without getting hard,” he murmured, lowering his lips toward my ear.
“You’re insatiable.”
“Hmm…”
“We can’t do anything without an orgasm, can we?” I asked with a smirk.
