Page 37 of Dark Knight

I hopped up on the treadmill and did as he asked. He lifted weights, having presumably already warmed up some time earlier. Unlike Hud and Dylan, his t-shirt stayed on, even as he sweated and it began to cling to him in places. I couldn't stop myself from sneaking a look every now and then.

Judging from the weights he was lifting, Theo was much stronger than I expected. He may have been skinny, but he had a wiry kind of strength I wouldn't want to test now that I'd seen him in action.

When I was done, I moved to stand in the center of the mats. He joined me a moment later, wiping the sweat from his brow and slicking his hair back.

"What are the weakest points on a body?" he asked suddenly, as though it was a pop quiz.

"Eyes. Groin."

"Good. There are more, but that's a good start." He nodded, encouraging me. "The first thing about self-defense is knowing how to use everything at your disposal. Claw, bite, kick, punch, elbow, knee, keys, books, purses. Anything can become a weapon if you need it to be one."

"Okay." This wasn't exactly what I'd had in mind. I’d wanted action oriented steps, ways to hurt someone who was trying to do the same to me.

He looked at me carefully, his blue gaze piercing me and holding my own. "I'm going to try to attack you, and I want you to stop me from kidnapping you. If you can, get away before I get to the elliptical machine."

He pointed to the machine in the corner as though I didn't know what it was. "If you can do that, you don't have much to learn. If I get there before you can get loose, we have a few things to work on, and I’ll have a better starting point. Deal?" He was so formal and businesslike. It was surprising coming from this punk rock, loner kid. I didn't really know what to make of it.

"Deal. Do I get a warning or..." The words died on my lips as he circled me on the mats. "I guess not," I mumbled to myself.

There was no indication when he attacked. Just a quick lunge forward as he grabbed me around the chest with both arms in something akin to a reverse bear hug.

Theo was easily able to lift me off the floor, and though I struggled, I couldn't figure out how to get loose. Panic rose in me, clouding my thoughts as my mind flashed with the memories of being taken to the auction.

I kicked him in the shin with my heel a couple times, which made him curse in my ear. I even tried to throw my head back to hit his nose, but I wasn't able to connect. Unsure what else to try, I pulled at his arms, trying to get them to loosen even a fraction of an amount.

Theo was steadily making progress toward the elliptical machine, while I squirmed like a cat getting a bath. His breathing was heavy in my ear, and as much as I hated myself for it, because I knew Theo wouldn’t really hurt me, the heavy breaths made me think of other things instead of fighting for my life.

"And I win," he said, his voice almost a growl. His arms released me immediately, and I slid down his frame until my feet touched the floor once more.

It was the briefest of contact, and I stepped away immediately because I knew he wasn’t my biggest fan and probably didn’t want me clinging to him like a koala. I couldn't deny that it made me curious though. He was stronger, and much more powerful, than I expected. Just what was he hiding under his oversized t-shirt?

"Let's try that again, but this time I'll talk you through some tips you can use to get out of my hold. Okay?"

We walked back to the center of the mat to give ourselves plenty of space, and Theo moved to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my chest once more. The height difference made things a little awkward, but we did the best we could. He had one arm above my boobs and one below, like steel bands going around my chest.

"First thing, you're never going to be able to pry my arms open. I'm much stronger than you, and it's probably safest to assume that your attacker would be as well. You want to look for other openings and use your hands and feet in a different way. You did well with the shin kicks, that was a good step. Something else you can do is to try to move to the side. Move your hips, I mean."

I was up on my tiptoes from the way we were standing, but I moved slightly to the side. His voice was even as he continued, "Then with the arm that's still in front of my body, and please don't actually do this, you could bring your hand down in an open palm smack to my groin." His words grew stilted at the end, and the businesslike facade melted slightly.

"You mean like this?" I asked as I let my hand fall, stopping just before I hit him in the dick. I felt him tense and flinch behind me. "Sorry, that was mean." I couldn't help the grin that spread over my face.

"Thank you for not actually hitting me," he said, though his tone had a grumpy edge to it now. "The other thing you can do is use gravity as your friend. As soon as you feel arms go around you, you could try to let your weight carry you to the ground, but you really have to commit. You have to go full ragdoll, and that can put you in a dangerous position.

“If you lift your elbow up like this and turn into the hold, then you would be able to push against my chest and use that to get some distance. You could also knee me in the groin. If you can get your hands up through the hold, then you could give me an open palm slap on the ears, which would disorient me.

“You could also use your palm to strike upwards at my nose or chin. Of course, there is the other soft spot you mentioned earlier, the eyes. You can claw and press and do whatever you need to to cause enough pain to make your attacker release you."

He released me and moved to stand in front of me. My head was already spinning from all of the options.

"Now, let's say I'm coming directly at you instead of from behind. One thing you can do is what's called a hammer strike. You want to ball your fist up, obviously with your thumb on the outside, but instead of punching like you're boxing, you'll bring it down, like you were throwing a ball almost, and use the meaty part on your hand to hit your attacker. The important thing with this is to recoil as fast as possible so they can't grab you by your wrist.

“If you have keys or a pen, anything that you might be able to use as a weapon, you could grip that in your hand and have that strike into your attacker as you bring the hammer down."

Hud wasn't kidding when he said that Theo knew what he was talking about.

"One thing I forgot to mention with the bear hug is to try and bend forward so you can keep your attacker off balance. Obviously, this is difficult if they pick you up immediately, but it is something to keep in mind. If you can bend forward, it'll pull them forward and then you can use the way they are off balance to attack them with your elbows or something like that. Plus, if you can turn toward them and push, that can often loosen their hold."

I watched as Theo mimicked each movement like he was shadow boxing, only he was pushing and turning and striking his imaginary foe with his hand.

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