Everyone but Gabe and Riley cheered.
* * *
Half an hour later,no one was cheering, and everyone was sweating.
“I have glitter in my dentures,” Fred complained. “Can I go brush it out?”
“Do you think you’ll have time in a firefight to call a time out and brush your dentures?” Canon responded.
The guy came across like an unhinged drill sergeant.
“I guess it depends on what a firefight is,” Fred mused.
“Wrong! Show me the moves again.”
“Stab. Poke. Swipe. Stab. Poke. Swipe,” the over-eighty crowd shouted, wielding canes and walking sticks.
“Is this absolutely necessary?” Riley huffed, putting her boxing-glove-encased hands on her knees and trying to catch her breath.
Nick lowered the pad she’d been assaulting for the last five minutes and glared at her. “Do not ask me that, Thorn. I wanted to handcuff you to me and get on a plane, but instead I’m teaching you how to defend yourself.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Not that you’ll ever be alone again. I’ll be there when you shower. When you work. When you sleep. When you’re peeing.”
She shook her head vehemently. “No way. I draw the line there. If you want this relationship to work, we’re putting off the peeing in front of each other as long as possible,” she insisted.
“I will be there when you go to yoga,” he continued. “When you visit your scary grandmother. From now on, think of me as a pissed-off appendage.”
She took a breath and blew it out again. “I’m not going to point out that I think you’re overreacting.”
“Good.”
“But Iamgoing to point out that you have cases of your own to solve. How are you going to track down Larry Rupley if you’re busy watching me shower?”
“Don’t worry about the logistics. I’ll take care of those. Now, get back on that mat with Josie and prove that you can escape a rear naked choke hold so I can sleep at night.”
“That sounds like you want us to get naked and wrestle around. Are you sure this is self-defense and not some male fantasy?”
He growled at her, and she wisely decided to do as she was told.
“Just stay away from my vagina,” Riley warned Josie when she stepped on the mat they’d unloaded from the back of the Humvee. “It got a workout last night.”
“Nice job, Nicky,” Josie said with a rare grin. Which disappeared immediately when her open palm connected with Riley’s face.
“Ow!”
“That wasn’t hard,” Josie scoffed.
“No! You hit the mosquito bite Nick slapped last night.”
Josie’s eyebrows were the only part of her face that showed interest. “You two are kinkier than I thought. Nice going.” She slapped Riley on the other side of her face. “Now, put your damn hands up and block me.”
She tried. She swore she was trying. But Josie managed to get her tattooed arm around Riley’s neck every time, and Riley couldn’t break free.
“My turn,” Canon said, gesturing for Josie to step aside. “You don’t know me. You won’t be worried about hurting me.”
Nick was watching them closely with a fierce frown.
