I crack up with laughter, something that feels alien now, if I’m honest. The thought sobers me, but I don’t dwell on it.
“That looks like a maple Danish to me. I’ll let Delphi know you liked them.”
“Like? That might be an understatement.” She takes another big bite, and her eyes practically roll into the back of her head.
“I love them too. But I’d have to add another hour to my workouts to eat them because I can never just stop at one.”
She pauses before looking up at me. “You work out?”
I lift my T-shirt and show her my abs. “I wasn’t born with these, angel.”
She stares at my stomach before swallowing. “I mean…Do you work out at the gym? Where you work, right?”
I nod, frowning. “Yeah?”
“Do you fight there, too?”
Before I can ask her why, she jumps in, almost as if she’s afraid she’ll lose the courage to ask otherwise.
“Will you teach me to fight?”
I lean back and take her in. Her whole body is tense as if she’s expecting me to tell her no. Doesn’t she realize yet that I’d give this woman anything she asked for?
“Fuck yes. Anytime.”
Chapter Five
CITI
I nodin thanks and feel something inside me swell at the thought. I’ve spent a lifetime being weak. Yeah, some of that was down to my height and malnutrition, but most of it was down to my fear. I was just a little girl when Jasper took me. It was a dynamic between us that should have disappeared as I got older. But it didn’t, mainly because he enforced those roles. I was always a child to him, property to command. Though I fought back hard in the beginning, I did learn some lessons. Sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do is fight or run. Even at my young age, I figured out that the only thing keeping me alive was my submission. My ego stroking made him feel like the big man that he could never be outside that house of horrors. I’m not dumb. I knew I’d outgrown him the moment I became an adult, but by that point, he had become as reliant on me as I had on him.
“Citi?”
“Sorry, lost in thought. You’d really teach me how to fight?”
He moves closer until he’s standing right in front of me. “Yeah, Citi, whatever you need.”
“Thank you. I don’t know if I’ll be any good, but I’ll work my ass off?—”
He dips his head, his nose skimming mine. “You’ll get no pressure from me, angel. I want you to feel confident, that’s all. Fighting can give you that for sure.”
“Will you teach me how to get away from someone bigger and stronger than me?” I ask in a whisper.
His hands move to my shoulders before he tugs me in for a hug. “You bet I fucking will. I’ll teach you how to get out of holds first because in a fight against a man, the best thing you can do is run.”
“And if I can’t?”
“Then I make sure you know dozens of ways to disable one so that you can.”
“I like the sound of that. Havoc offered to get me a gun. Kruger has been letting me use the gun range with his work friend to see how I handle one first.”
“Nathan?”
“Yeah, him. He’s been helping me learn to shoot.”
“I’ll come with you next time. I strive to stay up to date with my skills. Fighting comes naturally to me, but shooting, not so much. It’s something I have to keep practicing at.”
“That sounds good. I think Havoc and Kruger thought I might get overwhelmed if I went when most of the club brothers go. They have a day when they all go to shoot, right?”
