Chapter 57 Teaching her to fight better
Sage's POV
"I need you to train me properly." I said to Ryder when I found him outside later.
Ryder looked up from the engine he was working on. Grease covered his hands and there was a smudge on his face that darkened his cheek.
"We've been training before now. You can do a lot of things, from shooting to hand combat."
"No. You were reminding me of basics that I already knew. I need much more than that." I moved closer. "If I'm marrying Diego, I need to know how to really defend myself."
His jaw clenched at the mention of Diego's name. "You're not marrying him."
"We have been through this Ryder. His deadline has already passed and I've given him my final answer. You were there at the meeting barely an hour ago."
"The better plan is for us to run."
"We've been over this." I grabbed his arm."Please. Just teach me how to fight better. Show me how to really defend myself against danger."
Ryder wiped his hands on a rag. "You want to learn how to kill someone?"
"If that's what it takes. Then yes."
He stared at me for a few seconds. Then he nodded.
"Okay. We start immediately, but we do this right. There will be no holding back, no going easy because you're scared or tired."
"I won't."
He led me to the gym in the back of the clubhouse. The room was empty at this time. It was just us and the mats and the heavy bags hanging from chains.
"First lesson," Ryder said. "Forget everything you learned about fighting fair. There's no fair in a real fight. There are no rules whatsoever. It's strictly just survival."
He demonstrated how to go for the eyes, throat and groin. The vulnerable spots that could drop someone fast.
"Don't punch unless you know how. You'll break your hand." He showed me how to use my palm instead. "Drive up through the nose. Put your whole body behind it."
We practiced the motion over and over. My muscles burned but I pushed through.
"Good. Again."
I drove my palm up into his blocking hand. The impact jarred my arm.
"Harder. Like you mean it. Like your life depends on it."
I hit him again. This time with everything I had.
"Better." He moved behind me. "Now someone grabs you from behind. What do you do?"
"Stomp on their foot. Drive my elbow back into their ribs."
"And if that doesn't work?"
"Drop my weight. Make myself harder to lift."
"And then?"
"Go for the eyes. Fingers hooked. Rip."
Ryder's arms wrapped around me from behind to demonstrate. I followed through with the moves, stopping just short of actually hurting him.
"Good. But don't hesitate. In a real situation, you commit fully or you die."
We ran through scenario after scenario. Someone attacking from the front. From the side. When there could be multiple attackers or attackers with weapons.
"Kitchen knife is better than a gun," Ryder said. "With a gun you need training, distance, and a clear shot. With a knife you just need to get close."
He showed me where to stab for maximum damage. Heart, throat, femoral artery, armpit.
"Don't stab once and pull back. Drive it in and twist. Make sure they go down."
The clinical way he described killing should have horrified me, but instead I felt powerful. It was like I was finally taking control instead of being a victim.
We moved to hand-to-hand combat. Ryder came at me for real this time. Not gentle or teaching like he used to other times when he was teaching me. He was actually trying to take me down.
I blocked and redirected and then used his momentum to throw him off balance.
But he was faster and stronger and he had me pinned down in seconds.
"You're thinking too much," he said from above me. "Stop trying to remember the moves and just react."
"I can't just react. I need to know what I'm doing."
"No you don't. Your body knows. You just have to trust it."
He let me up and we reset. This time when he came at me, I stopped thinking and I stopped planning my next moves.
I just reacted.
My elbow caught him in the ribs and my palm drove up toward his face. He blocked but I followed through with a knee to his stomach.
Ryder grunted and stepped back. But then pride flickered in his eyes which he showed through a very wide smile.
"Now you're getting it."
We kept going over and over until sweat soaked through my clothes and my muscles screamed. But I didn't stop and I ddn't slow down.
Because if I was walking into Diego's world, I needed every advantage I could get.
Finally Ryder called a break and we collapsed against the wall, both breathing hard.
"You're good," he said. "Much better than I expected."
"Good enough to survive?"
"Good enough that you'll make someone work for it if they try something."
I turned to look at him. His gray eyes met mine and something shifted in the air between us.
"Thank you," I said.
"For what?"
"For taking me seriously. For not treating me like I'm fragile."
"You're the least fragile person I know."
He leaned closer and I met him halfway. Our lips crashed together and suddenly we weren't training anymore.
His hands fisted in my hair and mine clawed at his shirt. The kiss was desperate and hungry and full of everything we couldn't say out loud.
Ryder pushed me back against the wall and I wrapped my legs around his waist. His mouth moved to my neck and I arched into him.
"We can't," I gasped. "Not here. Someone could walk in."
"I don't care."
"Ryder—"
The door to the gym opened.
We sprang apart but it was too late. Snake stood in the doorway staring at us.
For a long moment nobody moved. Nobody spoke.
Then Snake stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
"I don't think that was a good idea the both of you.”