“What the hell? Not a chance,” Artur snaps.
“Then let’s carry on and stop getting distracted,” he teases.
“I want to learn,” I say, distractingbothof them from their little spat. They look at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“Who are you going to fight?” Artur snaps. “I’mnot teaching you. It’s a waste of time.”
“Is it?” I stand up and walk over to them, crossing my arms across my chest and jutting my hip out as I glare at him. I refuse to let him walk all over me. “I think that if I’d known how to defend myself when those men tried to kidnap me, I could’ve at least delayed the whole thing by putting up some kind of fight,” I snap.
“She has a point,” Benedikt says, unwrapping the guard tape from his fists and wrists and flexing his fingers out.
“No, she doesn’t,” Artur groans, but I can see he realizes that I, in fact,dohave a very good point. He sighs and rolls his eyes.
“Go on, give the girl a lesson,” Ben winks at me.
I scrunch my nose. “Can’tyouteach me?”
“Sorry, baby bird, I have a call coming in this evening that I have to take. Artur isn’t as bad a fighter as you just witnessed. He’ll be a good teacher,” he muses.
“Fuck you, big bear,” Artur huffs sarcastically.
“Big Bear,” I muse, “Ilikethat.” I grin at Benedikt, who looks like he might blush.
“Artur, give ourwifea lesson in self-defense and stop messing around. She’s right. It’ll be good for her to know how to defend herself,” Benedikt demands.
He walks toward the bench to grab his water, wiping his face with a towel. As he passes me, he touches his finger beneath my chin and says, “Cute outfit.”
I glance down at my pink and black gym tights and matching sports top, and my cheeks glow pink. No one compliments me, so I never know how to handle it and end up just grinning and blushing like a schoolgirl. Especially when the compliment comes from one of the four sexiest men I’ve ever met in my life.
I bite my lip and watch him walk away.
“Hurry up,” Artur growls. “Let’s get this over with.”
I’m still grinning when I step onto the mat to stand in front of Artur.
He pulls a sour expression of pure distaste as he studies me. “Have you ever doneanykind of fighting at all?” he asks coldly.
“Nothing,” I answer, ignoring his attitude. I’m excited to learn. And I’m desperate for anything to do to pass the time, so this is pretty much the perfect opportunity for me, and I won’t let his bad mood ruin it like he ruinseverything.
“Great, well, try and keep up. I’m not going to repeat myself,” he snaps.
I pull the corner of my lip up and roll my eyes, making ablah blah blahsound in my head.
Benedikt is watching from the bench.
“Thought you had a call,” Artur growls at him.
“I’ve got some time to watch for a bit. Go on, let’s see what you’ve got,” he says.
Artur tosses me a pair of gloves without any warning, and one hits me in the face.
“Hey,” I scold him. “Didn’t anyone teach you any manners?”
“Maybe if you were more interested in the lesson you so badly want than watchinghim,you’d have caught the damn things,” he scolds back.
He stands right in front of me, towering over me and scowling down at me. “Lift your hands, hold them in front of your face,” he demands, grabbing my wrists and tugging them up.
“Ow,” I complain, pulling my hands back. “Stop being such a bully. You canteachme, you don’t have to bemeanabout it,” I huff.
