WITSEC

Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Wednesday after school, I successfully made it to the gym for Keelan’s class. I wore all black—black leggings and matching top—to match Keelan’s black gi. Stephanie was sitting at the front desk when I entered. I said hello but got nothing in return. Instead, her eyes followed me as I rounded the desk and headed for the hall that led to Keelan’s office.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked as I was about to walk down the hall.

I stopped. “To see Keelan.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“I don’t need an appointment,” I said.

“Yes, you do, and if you try to go back there, I’ll call security,” she threatened.

Done being polite, I brought forth a smile I’d seen on Shayla a million times. I called it her bless your heart smile. “Go ahead.”

I continued down the hall. I went to Keelan’s office and found it empty. Then I went across the hall, to Knox’s office. He was on the phone. I took a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk and pulled out my new cell phone from my gym bag. I sent a quick text to Keelan, telling him I was in Knox’s office.

As I waited for Knox to finish up with his call, I scrolled through my phone. I tried not to be rude and listen, but I did. He was talking to someone about a mud run.

When he hung up, I had many questions about it. “Desert Stone is sponsoring a mud run?”

He just looked at me.

“That’s like a marathon in the mud, right?” I asked next.

He picked up a yellow flyer off his desk and held it out to me. “Yes, we’re sponsoring it and it’s an endurance run with muddy obstacles.”

I took the flyer and looked it over. The mud run was being held in October just before Halloween. “This sounds like a lot of fun. Are sponsors allowed to participate?”

“If by sponsors you mean Colt, Creed, and Keelan, then yes.”

I pouted a little. “You don’t want to do it with us?”

“No,” he said, completely unaffected. “Even if I did, I couldn’t. I need to man our table at the event. We’ll be advertising our gym and offering membership discounts to anyone who signs up at the run.”

“Poor Knox. All work and no play.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Keelan said as he walked into Knox’s office. He kissed the top of my head before taking a seat in the chair next to me. “What were you two talking about?”

I showed him the mud run flyer. “Want to do this with me?”

Keelan took the flyer. “The mud run, huh? You get really dirty doing one of these.”

“So? Getting dirty sounds like a fun time to me,” I said.

They both snorted.

“It usually is,” Keelan said, making Knox chuckle.

Realizing that they were purposely misconstruing what I had said, I ripped the flyer out of Keelan’s hand.

Grinning, Keelan stood from his chair. “I’m only teasing, Shiloh. Of course I’ll do the mud run with you.”

“Good,” I said, standing. I set my gym bag on the floor in front of Knox’s desk. “I’m leaving my bag in here, Knox.”

“I’ll leave my door open in case you need to get it and I’m not here,” he said.

“Um…about that,” I said apprehensively. “Can you introduce me to Stephanie? Because she’s been acting like she doesn’t know me and threatened to call security on me for coming back here.”

They both just stared at me in disbelief. Then Knox stood and walked ahead of us out of his office. Once we were out of the hall and by the front desk, Knox said, “Hey, Stephanie?”

She spun around in her desk chair with a bright and friendly expression. “Yeah, boss?” The way she looked at him brewed some major jealousy within me. It didn’t help that she had the appearance of a blonde, busty model. Her skin was flawless. Not a blemish in sight. I went to touch one of my scars on my wrists, then stopped myself. I shouldn’t compare us. It was stupid and unfair to do that to myself. I tore myself down enough as it was. Comparing my beauty to someone else’s was not something I wanted to add.

“Have you met Shiloh?” Knox asked.

“No, but I’ve seen her around,” she replied. “Is she a friend of yours?”

“Something like that,” Knox said. “Anytime Shiloh is here, she’s allowed back in our offices, even if we’re not back there.”

She gave Knox a sugary-sweet smile. “You got it, boss.”

Knox looked down at me and I gave him a tight smile. Keelan threw his arm over my shoulder and steered me away. As we walked through the gym, I battled not to frown. Stephanie had made me look like a lying idiot.

“What’s wrong, baby girl?”

“Nothing,” I lied.

He pulled me closer and I had to wrap my arm around him to keep myself from tripping. “Come on, out with it.”

“My mom always said that if I had nothing nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything at all.”

He chuckled. “You don’t have that kind of restraint when it comes to Knox.”

“Knox is a special case.” Saying that made him full-on laugh.

When we made it to the room for Keelan’s class, there were already a bunch of women waiting inside. Keelan greeted them as we took off our shoes. Most of them said hello and a few of them whispered to each other and giggled. Keelan and I waited in front of the class for the rest of the students to show up. “I’m going to pull your hair today,” he whispered suggestively in my ear. “A lot.”

Smiling, I shook my head.

“Last week, I asked them what they were most worried about when it came to being attacked. The majority said their hair being grabbed,” he whispered.

That made sense. Hair was an easy thing to grab. I guessed it was fate that my hair was in a ponytail.

When the last of the class showed up, Keelan stepped forward and I watched him shift into teaching mode. “Afternoon, class. I want to start off by introducing my new partner, who will be helping me teach this class.” He gestured to me. “This is Shiloh.”

I waved at them with a smile.

“Feel free to ask her any questions you have. She’s here to help,” Keelan said, then gestured for me to move to the center of the room. “Okay, everyone, circle around,” Keelan instructed. I lay down on the padded floor with my knees bent, feet flat on the ground. Keelan knelt between my legs and began explaining what we were going to do to the class.

He wrapped his fingers around my ponytail and tugged a little. “If your attacker has you on the ground like this…” He went on to explain what I was to do. “Shiloh and I are going to demonstrate and then slow it down.” His grip on my hair pulled and my need to act took over. I grabbed his arm connected to my hair, jerked my hips to the side out from under him, and threw one leg under his neck and the other across his chest. Still holding onto his arm, I pushed him up using my legs and hyperextended his arm. I stopped before I could hurt him. Had he been a real attacker, I would have continued to push him away with my legs until I’d broken his arm.

He tapped my thigh, signaling for me to release. I let him go and dropped my legs. He surprised me a little when he grabbed me by the thighs and slid me around on the floor, getting us back in position. I fought to not smile and remain professional. I thought he noticed because the corner of his mouth twitched.

“Okay, we’re going to slow it down,” he said and grabbed my hair again. I grabbed his arm and he had me pause. “See how she’s grabbing my arm that’s got her by the hair,” he pointed out. “That’s to keep me from pulling or letting go. It also helps Shiloh slide her hips out from under me so she can throw her outer leg up and get it under my neck.” Moving slow, I did everything he was explaining. When I had my legs under his neck and across his chest, he had me pause again. “Next, Shiloh’s going to push up with her legs and she isn’t going to let go of my arm. She’s going to extend it and if she pushes far enough, she could easily break it in this hold.”

We repeated the scenario a few more times before Keelan asked the students to pair up and try. Keelan and I split up and moved around the room, helping those who were having trouble. After a little bit, Keelan asked the pairs to switch positions, so those who were playing the attackers had a chance to practice.

As I was walking around, I heard someone say, “Mina, it’s okay. Look, I’m not touching you.”

I turned around and saw a woman lying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling, panting. I recognized the fear in Mina's wide eyes. Her partner, playing the role of the attacker, was next to her, trying to console her.

I rushed over and knelt next to her. “Hey, you’re okay,” I said calmly. I grabbed both of her hands. She was young. She didn’t appear to be much older than me. “Can you hear my voice, Mina?” I asked her.

By the terror in her eyes, I knew her mind had taken her away from the present. Then she began to cry out.

“It’s not real, Mina. You’re safe. Squeeze my hands and you’ll see,” I told her. She continued to cry but she squeezed a little. “Tighter, Mina. Feel that you’re here with me and not there. You’re safe.” She squeezed my hands even tighter. “Keep squeezing. That’s it,” I encouraged. “You are safe, Mina,” I reminded her over and over because I knew how important it was for me to be reminded of that.

Her cries eventually turned into deep breaths and she blinked her wide eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice cracking.

I helped her sit up. I would have hugged her, but I was worried touching her like that would trigger her again. I settled with squeezing her hands. “You have nothing to be sorry about.” A bunch of voices agreed. I did a quick glance around and noticed that we were surrounded by the class. “Can someone get her some water?” I asked.

Her partner, who was paired with Mina, took off toward the cubbies where everyone left their shoes and water bottles. She quickly returned with a water bottle, which I assumed belonged to Mina.

A hand came down on my shoulder. I peered behind me and saw that it was Keelan. “Are you her friend?” he asked the partner. She nodded as she handed the bottle to Mina. “Why don’t the two of you come sit off to the side here? We’ll make sure that no one stands in the way so that you can still see the lessons. And if you feel comfortable enough to try again, jump back in at any time.”

Mina nodded and her friend helped her move to the side of the room. I ran my fingers over the thick scar around one of my wrists as I watched them, my thoughts threatening to drift to my own trauma.

Hands went under my arms and I was lifted to my feet. I knew it was Keelan. I spun around to face him.

He stared down at me, eyes full of concern. “Are you okay?” he whispered.

I nodded. I would be. “What’s next?”

“You’re going to show them how to put me in a choke hold this time,” he said.

I smiled. “Okay.”

And I did just that. We demonstrated a few other situations of hair-grabbing and what they should do. Overall, it felt good to show someone else something that may help or save them one day. It was a really rewarding experience and I was looking forward to the next class. Mina never did rejoin, but she stayed until the end, watching everything we taught.

Keelan dismissed the class and I plopped down on the floor, feeling a little tired. After the last student left the room, he sat down next to me. “What’d you think?” he asked, lightly bumping his shoulder into mine.

“I liked it.”

“You did good today. Especially how you helped Mina.”

I hugged my legs to my chest. “I only did what I’d want someone to do for me.”

“Hey,” he said, moving so that he was kneeling in front of me. “You recognized what she was going through and knew exactly what to do. You didn’t hesitate and you helped pull her from a dark place. That’s something to be proud of.”

It did make me happy that I’d been able to help her. “I hope she comes back.”

“Me, too,” he said, getting to his feet. He held his hand out to me and pulled me to mine.

“We’ll be teaching something other than hair-grabbing next time, right?” I asked, walking ahead of him toward the shoe cubbies.

“I don’t know. You seemed to enjoy it when I pulled your hair,” he teased and before I could respond, my hair was grabbed.

I whirled around, grabbed a hold of his forearm with one hand, and grabbed the back of his neck with my other. Using all my weight, I pulled him to the ground. He tried to catch himself with his free hand so that he wouldn’t crush me. We both landed with a grunt and I tried to shift out from under him. Recognizing what I was trying to do, he rolled us so that I was on top of him.

He still had a firm grip on my hair. “What are you going to do, baby girl?” he taunted.

“If you were anyone else, I would have hit your pretty face,” I grumbled, making him chuckle.

I did something reckless and let go of his arm that was attached to my hair. Crossing my arms like an X, I grabbed a hold of the collar of his shirt and tried to choke him out. His free hand yanked one of my hands away easily and he pulled a little on my hair. My mind went blank as to what I should do, apart from doing an elbow jab to his face. I didn’t want to hurt him, and I didn’t want to admit defeat, so I kissed him. I could tell I’d caught him off guard, which was the whole purpose of the kiss, but things changed very quickly. He snapped out of the shock. Instead of shoving me off, he released my hair and cupped the back of my head. His tongue demanded entrance into my mouth. Temptation demanded that I open for him and I did.

Submitting to temptation was a slippery slope. It made it harder to be rational and I really, really didn’t want to stop kissing him.

I felt him try to roll us. I quickly came to my senses and shoved his shoulder back to the ground. I ripped my mouth from his. “I shouldn’t have done that.” I scrambled off of him and got to my feet.

“Shiloh.”

I couldn’t look at him and headed to get my shoes.

He caught up to me at the cubbies. Grabbing me by my arm, he made me face him. “Talk to me. What just happened?”

“I crossed a line,” I said and grabbed my shoes.

“I’m not upset, if that’s what you think,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you for the longest time.”

My shoulders slumped. “That’s not what I meant.”

His brow furrowed.

“Colt and Creed…” I stumbled for the right thing to say. “I don’t know what’s going on between me and them. Kissing you…I’m scared it is going to hurt them.”

He straightened. “Can I ask one thing?”

I nodded as I slipped my feet into my shoes.

“Pretend it wouldn’t hurt Colt and Creed—is kissing me something you want?”

I met his eyes and debated whether or not the truth would damn me. “Yes.”

He nodded and ran his fingers through his hair. “You better go because all I want to do right now is kiss you again.”

My cheeks flushed and I slowly backed out of the room. My face was hot and my heart was still racing when I made it to Knox’s office. As I walked in, my stomach dropped. Colt and Creed were both standing around Knox’s desk talking to him.

“Hey, what are you two doing here?” I asked.

They both turned, with smiles on their faces. They looked like they were going to answer, but they paused once they saw me. I wouldn’t have doubted if they’d told me that I had a red letter A stamped on my forehead.

“Why are you all flushed?” Colt asked.

“Shit,” I cursed, closing my eyes for a moment. I opened them again, determined to do the right thing. “I need to talk to the two of you.”

“It must be really serious because she just cursed,” Creed said to Colt.

At that moment, Keelan walked in.

“Oh, fuck,” I blurted.

“Really, really serious,” Creed commented.

Keelan stared at me, probably seeing the sheer panic I was feeling. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at his brothers. “I kissed Shiloh.”

“No,” I said quickly. I wasn’t going to let him take the fall. “I kissed Keelan.”

The room went quiet.

Knox leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. “I knew this shit was going to happen.”

Keelan looked at Knox. “I think it’s time we have that conversation.”

“What conversation?” I asked.

Colt’s eyes flicked to me. “The conversation Knox has been avoiding since we all found out that he kissed you.” I couldn’t tell how he was feeling, but he didn’t look hurt or angry.

“I told you that there was nothing to talk about,” Knox said.

I couldn’t help but feel hurt. “Glad to know that kissing me was nothing to you.”

Knox’s expression turned angry. “That’s not what I said.”

“That’s exactly what you said,” I snapped.

Colt came over and put his hands on my shoulders. “Babe,” he said calmly. “The four of us need to have a talk. Can you please head home, and we’ll meet you there when we’re done?”

I stepped back, out of his reach, and his hands dropped from my shoulders. “Fine.” I walked around him to grab my bag from where I’d left it on the floor. I avoided looking at any of them as I stormed out.

I was so angry and confused that all I could do was focus on getting to my car. I failed to pay attention to my surroundings. Approaching my 4Runner, which had gotten brand new tires yesterday, I saw the back left tire was flat. “You have got to be kidding me!” I assessed the tire, and it didn’t look slashed this time. It actually just looked flat.

“Oh, flat tire. That sucks,” someone said behind me. “Do you need some help changing that, Shiloh?”

When I heard the way the person said my name, I knew it was Jacob.

I turned to face him, and I found him right behind me. I took a step away. “No, thank you. I’ll just go tell my boyfriend inside. He’ll take care of it,” I said and tried to walk past him.

He grabbed me by my arm. “Why can’t I help you?” he asked tightly as he pulled me between the cars and I quickly realized that we were out of sight.

“Let me go,” I told him.

“Listen—”

“I don’t want to listen. Let me go,” I snapped and yanked my arm from his grip.

As soon as I was free, he shoved me, and my back slammed into the side of my car. The wind knocked out of my lungs and I had to catch myself on the side mirror to keep myself from falling to the ground.

“I didn’t want to have to do this,” he said angrily and I saw a syringe with a needle in his hand. “But you stupid bitches won’t spread your legs otherwise.” He lunged at me, intending to stick me with the needle.

I caught his wrist and brought my leg up between his legs. He dropped to his knees with a grunt. I went to run away, but his hand locked around my ankle and I fell forward. I caught myself on my hands when I hit the ground. Gravel cut into my palms. I ignored the stinging and tried to get my feet free. He got a good hold on my leggings and pulled me toward him. I twisted onto my butt to face him because running was no longer an option. I felt a prick in my thigh as I jabbed my elbow into his face. He fell backward on his butt.

I quickly glanced down at my thigh and saw the syringe sticking out of me. I didn’t know what he’d injected me with, but I had a feeling it was going to impair me so that he could rape me. Which meant I didn’t have much time. If I ran, he would probably catch me before I could get help. That left me one option. I had to make sure he couldn’t take me anywhere and I prayed that after this drug kicked in, a good person would stumble upon me and help me.

Jacob lunged for me, grabbing my wrists. I brought my knees to my chest as he pushed me to the ground. Using all of my strength, I pushed into his chest with my knees, until I could pull one of my legs out and sling it over his shoulder. I let him drop closer so I could hook that leg behind his neck. I threw my other leg out from between us and brought it up and hooked it around my ankle, putting him in a choke hold. I squeezed with everything I had. He let go of one of my wrists and started hitting and scratching at my thigh pressing into the side of his neck.

It took six seconds for someone to pass out. Those were the longest six seconds of my life. He eventually went limp, but I was scared to let go. What if he woke up?

That was when the drugs started to kick in. I felt weak all over and my vision was going blurry. I let go of Jacob and tried to crawl away. I saw my gym bag by my front tire, and I pulled it to me. I had difficulty working the zipper, but I got it open enough to stick my hand inside. My head began to feel heavy and I had to set it on the ground. My fingers felt around in my bag until I touched my phone. As I pulled it out, I dropped it on the ground. I was losing dexterity. All I could do was press the call button twice, which would dial the last person I had called. Creed’s name appeared on the screen and I could hear it ringing.

“Hello?” I heard him answer.

“Creed…” That was all I could get out before the ability to form words left me and my eyes drifted closed.

To be continued…