“One option is to attack his knuckles. You’ll want to dig your nails deep into his skin. I’m talking deep enough to make him bleed. That pain will cause the hand to spasm and open up. Lily, if you would.”
She glanced over her shoulder with her brows furrowed in question. Surely, he didn’t want her to fuck up his hand over a demonstration?
“Come on. Don’t be scared.” A pretty smirk twitched in the corner of his lips. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
“You asked for it.” It wasn’t perfect at first. His fist was facing a different direction so her fingers didn’t lace between his the way they might have if they were holding hands.Maybe that’s the difference between fighting and fucking. Point of view.But once she found the groove of his knuckles, Lily dug in,twisting her nails into his skin until Kieran released her and hopped away.
“So, there you go. That’s one way.” He took hold of Lily’s ponytail again and said, “The other is to break your attacker’s pinky. Lily, if you don’t mind.”
It was easy to guess where he was going with this. She reached back over her head and found the base of his fist. Moving slowly—she would die if she broke his finger—Lily bent it back and twisted it away from her head. Kieran followed, moving to keep the least amount of pressure on the digit.
“The problem with this style of self-defense is it doesn’t put distance between you and your attacker. And if they’re not afraid to break a finger…” His pinky curled inside her grasp. With a solid yank, she lost her footing and tumbled into Kieran.
One arm slid behind her back and pinned both her arms. The other snaked up her belly and between her breasts, stopping at the base of her throat where his hand flared out at her collar.
Kieran’s lips hovered near her ear, his voice low but audible for the camera’s microphone. “Make a scene. Don’t be afraid to be loud. Your life depends on it, and these perps like an easy victim. Hit and bite and spit and scream.”
Lily’s heart thundered in her chest. She could feel every movement Kieran made. Every breath and every deliberate fraction of heat as his fingers traced her throat.
His chest pressed against her back on his inhale. “There’s a way out of this, too. Even with how I have her, she could shatter my kneecap. Come to class next week, and I’ll show you how. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Five thirty.”
Kieran released her, and it was as if all the air rushed back into Lily’s lungs at once. She stumbled forward.
What the hell was that?
Smoothing her hands over her clothes, Lily stepped to her phone and ended the video. She’d have to edit out the ending—almost falling on her face was not the vibe she was going for with this account.
“So, uh—” Lily cleared her throat and tried to slow down her brain from its hundred-mile-an-hour run. “That lesson was pretty good for on the fly.”
“It’s my go-to demonstration.” He shrugged and grabbed the cleaning rag from where he’d left it when she interrupted him. “Usually I do it with Becks, but you’re fine as a stand-in.”
Somehow that word bit deeper than it should.Fine.So, he didn’t care who he grabbed by the throat and pinned against his body? Lily frowned and shoved down her insecurities.It was just a demonstration. Calm the fuck down.Maybe she did need to get laid. She had to be touch starved if a self-defense routine with a certified jerk had her this messed up.
“Has Sebastián talked to you about Saturday?”
The question dragged Lily out of her own head, and she blinked, focusing on Kieran. He was a few steps away from her—hands slung into the pockets of his mesh shorts and the cleaning rag draped over his shoulder.
“Uh, no. Should he have?” She busied herself with taking down her equipment.
“I’m having a barbecue at my place. Most of the gym staff will be there. You work here now, so, if you want to come…” His voice trailed off.
Lily tugged her bottom lip between her teeth. Was that an actual invitation, or had Sebastián given him shit for not inviting her? With two days left until the dinner, her money was on the latter.
Still, she hadn’t been lying when she told Neal she was looking for community. “Sure. Anything I can bring?”
His eyebrows lifted, as if surprised she’d said yes, then heshrugged. “We’ve pretty much got it covered. I guess if you want to grab some drinks? We usually hang out after Neal and the kids leave.”
“Sounds good. Here.” She handed Kieran her phone. “Text yourself so we have each other’s numbers.”
He returned the phone a moment later. When they separated, a million questions raced in her head, but the most important one was—what does one wear to a workplace barbecue?
Lily spent most of Friday curled up by Rachel’s desk with her laptop, editing Kieran’s video. It wasn’t avoidance keeping her from venturing into the inner gym. Not at all. The video needed a trending sound in the background, light filters, and trimming out seconds of downtime to make it as seamless but as short as possible. She dragged the process out for three hours and spent the remainder of her day sorting other footage she’d taken and chatting with members as they signed in with Rachel—getting their permission to appear on video.
She posted Kieran’s video Friday night before bed.
She woke up to over eighty thousand views.
@chevybeatsford: okay but we all saw the way he grabbed her throat, right?
