Chapter Thirteen #2
“The next thing you need to know,” he said as he stretched his arm back over the back of the couch, “is that most likely anyone coming after you is going to be stronger and bigger than you. You won’t be able to fight them off.
Getting away is your best bet.” He didn’t say those words with any kind of malice, just in a straight forward these are the facts sort of way.
I appreciated that he wasn’t putting me down for something I couldn’t control.
I realized that before now I likely would have seen that as an insult. Bill had constantly put me down for things I couldn’t control. My mother put me down for things I could control, but that I wouldn’t let her control. Everyone was always telling me how I was wrong.
Not Anders. Anders said it like it was just a fact, something we had to consider in training, but not like I was wrong for just existing. I swallowed at the lump that formed in my throat.
“When you do your scan, I want you to mark your exits. Always know where to run to so you don’t have to stop and think about it,” he continued, oblivious to my inner turmoil.
“Ok. Run. Good thing I do cardio,” I joked. I wanted to lighten the mood, but I think it was only my mood that needed lightening. His smile came easily at my little joke.
“Where would you run to in this place?” He gestured to the room around us. “Say someone got in here. Where would you go?” I didn’t need to look around. This one is easy.
“The front door,” I said instantly. We did a tour yesterday and there was only one way in and one way out. “And then down the stairs because I would go crazy waiting on the elevator.”
“Good. What about the windows?”
His question threw me off. What did he mean what about the windows?
“We’re four stories up and you said there wasn’t a fire escape for someone to climb up,” I said, a bit defensively. I remembered that well.
“Correct. There isn’t a fire escape for someone to climb up, but did you really think I wouldn’t have a fire escape plan if I couldn’t get to the front door?”
I actually didn’t think about it at all. I watched as Anders got up and moved to the nearest window. “Look here,” he said as he waved me over. “What do you see?”
The sill was deeper than I expected, a faint line running along the middle of it.
“What is that?” I asked as I stepped closer, trying to figure out what I was seeing. Anders came in behind me, close enough for his body heat to seap into mine. I wanted to lean into him, feel his arms come around me, holding me close. I shook it off. Focus, Grace.
“That is an exit plan,” he said. He sounded almost proud. “Push this button here,” he pointed to a button that blended in with the wall and I wouldn’t have known it was there had he not pointed it out.
“It will open the compartment here,” he leaned over me, so tall and big that his chest barely brushed my back as he pushed the button and showed me what he meant.
My breath caught, not from the contraption, but from the warm hand he placed at the small of my back, pushing me closer, crowding into me as he explained.
“From there, you pull out this ladder and drop it out the window. It will get you out of the apartment and down to the landing below.” He pointed out the window and sure enough, there was a landing two stories below.
Far enough that someone couldn’t use it to climb into the apartment, but close enough that we could climb down to it with a ladder.
“Oh! Clever,” I said, impressed with the forethought.
I turned to beam at him so fast he didn’t have time to move his hand and then I was there, in his arms, so close I could smell the fresh, masculine scent of him, feel he breath on my cheek, his arm around me.
Just an inch more and I could taste those full lips, feel his tongue tangle with mine, have his arms wrap around me, pulling me close until our bodies melded into one.
He cleared his throat, let go of me, and stepped back, rubbing the back of his neck before he put the ladder away and closed the compartment with a faint click. “Are you ok with climbing down? I didn’t consider that until now. Are you afraid of heights?”
“No, I’m not afraid of heights. It’s been a while since I’ve had a reason to climb something, but I used to climb the trees at my grandma’s house all the time.
Between that and Bill insisting I stay in shape, I’m sure I could manage,” I assured him.
I didn’t worry about whether I could climb down it.
If it came down to it, I think I could do anything to survive.
“Good.” He clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he moved back to the center of the room.
“Now on to the fun stuff.” He turned back to me with a mischievous grin that warmed me to my core.
I’m not entirely sure how I am going to survive close contact with him without burning from the inside out.
“We will keep things simple. I’m going to come at you in a few different ways, and I want you to try to get out of it. I want to see what you already know and what your instincts are.” He didn’t give me a moment to absorb what he said before he came at me.
He grabbed my arm before I could move away.
I tried to yank myself free. His grip was tight, but not painful.
I couldn’t get out of it. He used the leverage of his grip on me to pull me closer to him and twist me so my back was to his front.
From there, he wrapped his arm around my waist, trapping my arms, and used to the hand that had grabbed me to wrap around my mouth.
I made a startled sound of protest and tried to get free.
I tried to kick my legs out and push away from him.
I tried to dislodge his arm around my waist and pull his hand away from my mouth.
Nothing worked. His grip on me was tight, almost too tight.
I had no way to get free. He easily lifted me off the ground and I lost all leverage I might have had. I was well and truly trapped.
I did the only thing I could think of at that moment. I licked his hand.
He laughed at that but didn’t put me down yet. “Got you.” He said into my ear. A shiver ran down my spine and I stopped struggling. I leaned my head back on his shoulder so I could see him. He looked at me, his eyes intense and his face slightly flushed.
He removed his hand from my mouth and traced down my jaw to my neck. He didn’t hold my neck or apply any pressure, but just placed his hand there over my fast-beating pulse.
“Give up?” he asked, low and husky.
For a moment, I couldn’t answer. The words wouldn’t come. I was right. I was going to burn from the inside out, being this close to him.
Finally, I nodded. I had a reason to be here. I had to learn to defend myself, and clearly, I had a lot to learn.
He set me down gently, but didn’t move right away. When he finally did, he said, “Stay there. I’m going to come at you from behind for this one.”
This time when he grabbed me, his arms came around my shoulders at a slight angle with his chest against my back.
I grabbed his arms and turned my head to look at him.
I tried to break free of his restraint again, but he squeezed me tighter and his arms crept up to my neck.
Just before he could choke me, he let go and stepped back.
“You just gave up,” I accused as I turned to him.
“I knew you couldn’t get out. There was no point in continuing to go on. I’d just end up choking you,” he said sheepishly. He turned away from me and walked to the opposite side of the room, grabbing a cup from the upper cabinet.
“Come get some water and then we’ll get back into it,” he said after a moment.