Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Beck
I’m sitting on the mats in the gym in a small circle with Asher and three of our other fighters going over a game plan for training Sloan, when she walks in.
Fresh faced, her long black hair up in a messy bun on the top of her head, in a pair of tight black leggings and an off the shoulder light blue sweater. Sloan’s stunning.
“Hey. I got your note,” she says softly.
“Did you eat your breakfast and stretch?”
“Yes, boss.” Saluting me.
The guys start laughing before I glare daggers at them, and all but Asher immediately go silent.
“Ahhhh…so he bosses you all around too?” Sloan rags.
“You fit in so well, Sloan.” Asher smiles at her.
I want to wipe that smile right off of his smug face.
“Are we ready or not?” I grumble.
“Ready, boss,” Sloan giggles.
I internally groan at her calling me boss. So obedient. With just the right amount of sass.
“You’re gonna get your ass spanked red if you keep being a smart ass, Little Dove,” I grind out, just to see how she reacts.
“Pardon?” Sloan squeaks.
The guys immediately scurry off to various corners of the gym.
During our meeting this morning, I asked the guys to work on sparring with each other in the background while I coach Sloan.
We agreed when I say “double hook” loudly, that’s their cue for one of them to drop what they’re doing and come after Sloan.
We went over either grabbing her by the elbow to take her away, putting her in a headlock or grabbing her by the neck and pushing her into one of the wall mats.
I suspect her ex is untrained, but violent, and would likely be more aggressive in grabbing her.
And if he’s even more pissed off that Sloan ran, he may not hold back at all and just try to either torture or kill her.
Which means James will likely go for her neck or her hair, but I don’t want the guys pulling her hair.
If she can get out of a neck hold, Sloan will be able to get out of a hair hold.
The guys are wearing pads, just in case Little Dove fights like hell like she did last night. My abs are actually still sore.
I’m so fucking proud of her.
The rhythmic thumping of gloves hitting pads and sneakers scuffing the rubber floor plays like a soundtrack behind us as we start to instruct Sloan.
“Okay, Little Dove, I’m going to put you in some controlled scenarios and show you how to get out of them.
Ash is going to attack me first, so I can show you how to get out of each hold.
Then you and I will reenact each scenario and you’ll need to fight to get out.
Don’t be afraid to hurt me,” I explain to her.
“Okay…” Sloan says hesitantly.
“You got this, Sloan,” Asher encourages. “Rough him up a little. He deserves it.”
Sloan chuckles as she walks over toward one of the walls off of the mat. Sloan leans against the blue padded wall watching Asher and me closely. Discomfort written all over her face as we get into position.
I’m standing in the middle of the mat staring Sloan in her eyes, when Asher grabs me roughly by the elbow tugging me backwards.
I watch her eyes flinch before I immediately drop my weight to the ground in a squatted position, I start yelling “help.” Twisting my arm and thrusting it downward, I’m able to loosen Asher’s grip and then use my thumb and pointer finger to rip his hand off of me, and get out and run.
We show Sloan this a couple times before I run over and grab her by the elbow without warning and start yanking her away from the wall.
She yells out but immediately drops low into a squat and uses all of her might to rip my arm off of her elbow.
She even stomps on my foot and tries to trip me for good measure.
“Perfect! Nice work, Little Dove!” I applaud her.
“Okay, next is going to be a choke hold. You’re going to hate this.
It’s not going to feel great on your neck and I’m sorry for that.
Unfortunately, this is the most common way a forceful man tries to abduct a woman or an abuser tries to harm his victim.
It’s probably the most important one you’ll need to know,” I warn her.
“Okay,” Sloan whispers, her eyes wide, face going a little pale.
Asher comes toward me, both hands wrapping around my neck. Squeezing fairly tight. Reaching upward, I shove my hands up through his arms and slam mine down over top of his to get him to break the hold.
“I don’t want to do this one specifically to you, but I want to show you how to get out of a headlock. Your ex may not want to face you or may try to grab you from behind to startle you,” I instruct, trying to be as open with her as possible.
Asher comes up from behind me and gets me in a headlock, his inner elbow pressing against my throat. Dropping as low as I can again, I turn my head toward Asher’s armpit into his body to relieve the pressure off of my throat.
“Always turn your head into the hold. I know it doesn’t seem like it makes sense but it takes the pressure off of your airway,” Asher instructs her.
Using my hands, I start to pull his arm at the wrist and then elbow to break his hold.
Asher comes back to squeeze tighter, so I keep my head twisted inward toward his body to keep him from being able to choke me. Then I use my left hand and grab his pinky finger on the hand of the arm that he has around my neck, pulling it outward.
“Fingers do not want to be pulled all the way out to the side. The pinky is the easiest one to dislocate, which will have him dropping his grip. So yank that hard,” I tell Sloan.
“Biting as hard as you can is also another option. Either way as long as you keep your throat safe, there are a few ways to try to break out of the grip, duck and run.”
“Apparently you can bite through a human’s small finger like a carrot. Our brains just don’t let us. Think I could try that?” Sloan chuckles.
Her anxiety is apparent so I figure now is the best time to holler out, “Double hook!”
“Fuck, really?” Asher whispers exasperated.
As Luca, one of our fighters, runs over to Sloan.
Luca completely catches her off guard and gets her in a headlock from behind.
Her scream is ear-piercing.
Asher glares daggers at me.
And the sound she makes is a dagger to my heart.
But within seconds, Sloan’s dropping all of her weight, turning her head inward and cranking on Luca’s finger, scraping her nails down his wrist, and biting at him like a rabid animal.
Luca releases her, cussing, but pride shines in his eyes.
“Damn, Sloan! That was some quick reaction. I’m impressed,” Asher raves.
“What the fuck, Beck!” Sloan storms over, shoving me as hard as she can.
I barely budge. Which seems to piss her off even more, so she shoves me again. “What.” And then again. “The.” And then her two little fists are beating into my stomach before Sloan’s bursting into tears. “Fuck!”
I pull her close to my chest, trying to console her.
“That was cruel! You didn’t even warn me!” Sloan screams at me as she continues to throw jabs at my stomach.
All of the guys, including Asher make a run for it out of the gym at her outburst.
Grabbing her wrists gently to get her to stop hitting me, I tell her honestly, “It was cruel but I’m not sorry. From what you’ve told us, I believe that James is a monster. A situation with him won’t be controlled, Sloan. He may actually try to hurt you. Try to kill you.
“When you run from a narcissistic abuser and they find you, they want you to suffer. James is going to be beyond furious that you left him. If he’s tracking you and leaving flowers to scare you, James wants to hurt you.
I don’t know your ex, but if someone as strong and resilient as you ran, I imagine you’re hoping like hell he never finds you.
I just needed to make sure you would fight like hell to protect yourself.
And you did. I want you alive, my beautiful girl.
So, I’m sorry that I had to scare you. But I’m not sorry that you know what to do now. ”
“I hate you,” Sloan cries.
“No, you don’t. You hate this situation.”
“Why do you have to keep pushing me?” Sloan says defeated, tears continuing to stream down her face.
“Because you can bend, but you will never break, Sloan. You won’t let yourself. You’re too fucking powerful for that.” I gently run my hands through her hair, trying to soothe her.
“I’m not!” Sloan snaps, shoving my hands away.
“I’m weak! I let him…I let him turn me into someone…someone I’m not. I don’t even know who that fucking girl is anymore!” Sloan points at herself in the mirror. Completely disheartened.
I grip her wrist, gentle but firmly with one hand. Tilting her chin up with the other, so her eyes meet mine, so she knows how serious I am. “You. Are. Sloan. Archer. You are so fucking powerful.”
“Then stop treating me like I’m a fragile bird,” Sloan yells.
I walk away from her, leaving her on the mat staring off at me.
“Where the hell are you going?” Sloan growls at me.
Mmm…there she is.
Once I get to the front door, I lock the door and flip the sign to Closed.
I ignore her yelling at me because I know it’ll get her worked up.
I like it when my Little Dove is riled up.
I love to antagonize her, to push her. I love when she’s filled with fire, even if it’s directed at me.
My guess is she had to hide this fire inside of her with her ex, had to dim herself for him.
I imagine this is who she was always meant to be.
Who she was before he sunk his talons into her.
But now it’s time for Sloan to fight back.
“What are you doing?” Sloan questions as I lean against the locked door staring at her.
“Answer me, Beckett!”
Sloan hasn’t left the spot on the mat. She just stands there staring back at me, fire blazing in her eyes.
Her hands framing her hips. She looks almost wild.
And all I want to do is throw gasoline on her.
See if we can set this place ablaze with the tension that’s been building up between us.
I want to see if I can use her anger and turn it into passion.