Chapter Twenty #5
“It’s not always that simple. Without the use of magic, it’s rare for anyone to deliver an instantaneous death.
It’s going to take them a while to die even if you get a good spot,” Charlie said.
“Minutes to hours, depending on the wound. A centimeter can mean the difference between life and death for some people, but you just need to get far enough away to find help.”
Charlie talked about this like he knew, and he probably did. He’d lived life on the streets for years without magic. I knew he’d been in enough brawls and knife fights to understand what he was talking about.
“What if they knock me out of my chair?” I was terrified of getting pinned. Being held down was my worst fear. It had happened to me one too many times, and I never wanted it to happen again.
“That’s gonna be a bit of an issue. Usually, you’d put your legs against the ground and push up to throw them off, but that’s not gonna work with you,” Chancey stated. “And pinning your wrists isn’t the worst thing that can happen.”
Didn’t I know it. I’d been punched and choked when John had held me down. I wanted to avoid that situation entirely, but if I couldn’t avoid it, I at least wanted to know how to fight my way out of it.
Charlie put a hand to his mouth as he thought it over.
“You’re gonna want to shoot your arms out to the sides, straight out, to get them off balance.
Then you’re going to sweep your arms back around in a circle, grab on to their middle and twist until you’re on top.
Then you grab whatever weapon you can get your hands on and keep striking until they’re done. ”
“That sounds impossible to do without any leg movement,” I replied. “I can’t use my legs as momentum to propel myself over.”
“You’ve still got a bit of strength in your hips. You’re gonna have to use it.” Charlie scowled, like he already thought the chances of me pulling this off weren’t high.
“She does that, she’s gonna have to move fast. She doesn’t have a second to make a mistake,” Chancey said.
“What if I only get one hand free?” I asked.
“You start striking,” Charlie said. “Go for the eyes and throat again. If you can, take your hand, find the outline of their windpipe in their throat, and crush it. If they’re not breathing, they can’t hurt you.”
There was silence for a moment, before Chancey asked, “You… okay with doing all this, Ava?”
“I did a lot of this before in Cellblock 9,” I said quietly. “It’s not all that different.”
“You shouldn’t have to, though.” Charlie’s protests were faint, like he considered himself personally responsible if something happened to me, because he’d failed to stop it.
“It’s the world we live in. The Warden and his cronies aren’t willing to play nice.” I grabbed an arrow and held it like a blade. “Let’s practice.”
We rehearsed the self-defense techniques for a little while until I demanded that we try the escape method for pinning. I climbed out of my chair and lowered myself onto an exercise mat until I was flat on my back. Charlie stood at the edge of the mat, hesitating for a beat.
“Well?” I pressed. “Are you going to pin me down, or what, Charlie?”
I couldn’t understand why he was holding back, because I had to learn this shit. It could literally save my life one day.
Chancey leaned over to whisper something to Charlie that I didn’t hear, then nudged him in the ribs. Charlie snapped to attention. He carefully stepped onto the mat, then lowered himself on top of me.
By the ancestors, when his weight pressed into me, his hesitation made all the sense in the world. Every muscle in my body reacted to the memory of his proximity, causing my heart to race— not out of fear of being pinned down, but out of an unsatiated desire to have him close to me once again.
The scent of bergamot surrounded me. His weight was so familiar that a million memories came flooding back through all the senses of my body as passion came springing back to life.
My nipples hardened against his muscled chest. Charlie let out a wavered breath.
For a moment I swore I could feel his heart rate pulsing across our bond, before remembering that was impossible.
He was so close I could sense every heartbeat, and I was sure he could hear mine.
What had I done? I was insane to think I could fight Charlie off, when all I wanted to do now that I had him in this position was drag him closer.
Charlie moved slowly to wrap his fingers around my wrists, applying soft pressure as he lifted my hands over my head to pin them to the mat. My body shuddered beneath him. I hoped he hadn't noticed.
“This okay?” Charlie asked, so gently I could swear the training arena had disappeared around us and we were somewhere else entirely.
Heat pooled between my thighs. For fuck’s sake, it was the most sensation I’d felt below my hips in months.
Instinct told me to arch my back and press into him, to let out a moan and beg for his cock to satisfy my aching need.
He’d pinned my wrists over my head like this a million times, but we were never in a training arena.
We were in bed, tangled between the sheets while he was inside of me and his mouth was fused to mine.
It took everything within me to hold myself back. I couldn’t be sure what I would’ve done if we didn’t have an audience.
“Yeah. It’s…” I couldn’t say perfect. “Fine.”
He remembered, too. There were ghosts in his eyes, but they faded as he murmured, “Get your wrists free, then sweep your arms around and twist me off.”
At least one of us was thinking straight. My head was spinning so fast I’d forgotten I was supposed to be fighting him off.
I didn’t want to push him away, but this wasn’t a game.
I had to learn this if I wanted to know how to protect myself.
I attempted to yank my wrists out of his hold, but they didn’t budge one bit.
It was like trying to drag my arms out of concrete that had already set.
Fuck, he was so strong. I wasn’t able to wrench my wrists free. I didn’t know how I could.
I began wriggling my torso to give myself some leverage, which undeniably made my hips move. Instinctively, he sank downward onto me, pressing himself against my body. Without thinking about it, I pushed my hips upward to meet his.
Shit. My mouth ran dry, and I watched as he swallowed.
This was all I wanted. Him to make me feel like I was being dominated, while I knew he was fully under my control, trapped within my spell.
His skin heated against mine, and my breasts strained against his chest as he held me down.
His soft breaths turned into gentle pants, and I was certain mine did too.
I pretended not to notice, still doing my best to fight out of his hold.
“Well, Ava’s doing great, so long as she never gets pinned by anyone but you and you’re both in the mood,” Chancey drawled, clearly unimpressed.
Eventually, I gave up. All I was getting as a result of my struggle was frustrated and horny, and that was never a good combination.
“I can’t do it.” I laid there uselessly, figuring if anybody else got me in this position I was done for.
“Get clever,” Charlie said. “What can you do that’s going to force me to let go?”
I tried using my head. Without pausing to overthink, I sank my teeth into his wrist, and he gasped as he let go of one arm.
“There you go,” Chancey praised.
With one arm free, I wrapped my hand around his throat, finding the soft length of his windpipe.
I didn’t press, just simulated pressure.
Charlie let go, and I managed to wrap my arms around his waist, using my upper body strength to pull myself up so my face was tucked into his stomach.
I did what I could to twist my hips, and felt him give way as he fell under me, though I was pretty sure he’d let me do it.
If he’d been resisting, I wouldn’t have been strong enough to turn him over.
We repeated the process a few more times, with Chancey and Charlie alternating spots. Even Oberi joined in, though it was hard to focus when he kept licking my face and making me laugh while I was trying to grab him.
Chancey was a lot harder to push off, because he was bigger and heavier. I didn’t know how Ivy didn’t get squashed underneath this guy. They needed vampire strength to do missionary with this monster.
Chancey was more professional, though. He kept his body off of mine, hovering over me instead of pinning me, lecturing me on all the ways I wasn’t striking him right.
Charlie was different. Each time he pinned me down became more forceful, yet more seductive. His grip tightened on my wrists, and his lips drifted across my hair as he forced me to the floor.
I was aware this was far past being appropriate for training, but I just wanted him to touch me again.
I wanted it so badly. If I could use this as an excuse and pretend we weren’t using this session as a simulation for something else, and if he ignored what was obvious just as plainly as I did, I was taking the opportunity for my body to feel acknowledged.
Charlie pressed harder into me, grinding into the area between my legs. I didn’t think he did it on purpose, because I noticed the flash of surprise, and hesitation, cross his face.
Shit, he was getting hard. Even though all I wanted to do was beg him to rip my pants off and get inside me, right now, fuck that Chancey was in the room or not, I needed to back off.
Charlie knew it, too. There was a haze in his features that I’d long missed, but he did what he was good at doing, shoved it down, he propped himself upward off of me. I reached up to grasp his middle, twisting him back under me again. I laid on top of him, looking into his deep brown eyes.
He couldn’t look back, but the quickened breaths he gave as his chest rose up and down told me he wished Chancey wasn’t here, and that we were alone, if only so he could try to make a move… even if I rejected it.