“Are you sure you’re up for this?You seem to be the one that needs tonight off.”
“No, I’m good.Totally focused.”Maybe if he kept reminding himself, he would be.
“Good, because I’d hate to cut that pretty face of yours on accident.”She smiled, holding up her knife near her head, the handle balled in her fist looking like a serial killer about to stab him.
“Let’s go over some basics before you start trying to turn me into Swiss cheese.”
“Alright.”June lowered her weapon and flipped it closed.He felt more comfortable with it closed now before she was properly trained with it.
“Start in this position.”He didn’t have a knife with him, so he just held up his fist in front of his chest.
June’s eyes watched his hands as she got into position.Her face focused, her body ready to learn.
“Now thrust forward in a straight line, grip firm but not too tight.No white-knuckling it.”June adjusted her grip and followed his motions.“I’m surprised Jack didn’t offer to teach you.”Rob scolded himself for bringing up Jack.It wasn’t his place.Both Jack and June were his friends.If they wanted to hang out more or do lessons together, it wasn’t his business.
“He did, but I declined.”
“You did?”He shouldn’t be surprised, but he was.They had seemed like they were getting along so well.Better than he and June did.“Why?”He found himself curious to know the reason.
“Because you were already teaching me.I didn’t see the reason to stop seeing you to start seeing him.”
So, it was out of some sense of duty instead of enjoying their time together.He didn’t like that at all.“We’ll work on some blocks.Most people who attack on the streets are looking for a quick score.Money, jewelry, that sort of thing.They are not out to intentionally hurt you.Some aren’t skilled with knives and just use them as scare tactics.But should you ever be in that position again, I want you to be prepared to protect yourself.The hand-to-hand you’re well adept at.We just need to work on knife skills a little.I’m not expecting you to be in a full-blown knife fight, but I want you able to defend yourself if they come at you or know where to strike so you can get away unharmed.”
“Okay, I’m ready.”Rob didn’t know if she was saying that more to him or to herself.
“Alright.”Rob came at her slowly and slid his hand around her neck.He didn’t apply any pressure but just held his hand in place.Her skin was velvety soft.He barely resisted the urge to stroke his thumb against her pulse point he could feel fluttering under his hand.He felt June swallow under his palm.He was making her nervous.Whether it was their close proximity, or he was bringing up painful memories, he didn’t know.
“You okay?”he asked her.If she was too uncomfortable, he would back off, and they could try something else.
“Yeah,” she said, sounding a little breathless.
“If this is too much—”
“No, I’m good,” she rushed out to assure him.
“Okay, now from here, there are a couple of different things you can do.You always want to go for the vulnerable spot.”
“But I can’t knee someone between the legs.”She argued, looking frantic for a moment.
“No, but you can kick them in the shin.Titanium will hurt anywhere.”Metal against bone always hurts.It didn’t matter where she struck.“But that wasn’t where I was talking about.What I was referring to was their face.Eyes and throat to be more exact.”
“Eyes and throat,” she repeated.His eyes lowered to her throat.Her pulse was still erratically beating against his hand.
“Poke the eyes, punch or jab the throat.”
“What about the knife?”
“They’ll be momentarily blinded or incapacitated, which gives you the chance to push them back and get away.”
“But they could come after me or catch me before I get too far away.”
“That’s where the second part of the attack comes in.You can apply these moves in one go instead of waiting for them to chase you.Incapacitate, they lower their head or stumble back, that’s when you grab their wrist and twist out as you duck under their arm and bring their arm behind their back.If you apply any pressure to their wrist, it will cause them pain, and they’ll drop the knife; you win.”
“You make it sound so simple.”She chuckled.
“It is with practice.Now let’s try.”Once she got the hang of it, she would see.
June punched him in the throat, not using her full strength like she had with his ribs earlier.She always started gently when learning as she practiced the moves and got more comfortable with them before using more strength.
