Chapter 16 Marfil #2
Without hesitating for a second, and taking that lesson just as seriously as he was, I lunged my face at his hand and bit down, hard.
My unexpected attack, and the pain I suppose it caused, proved effective.
I felt his grip loosen a little, then I started thrashing around like a madwoman, rolling under his body.
Somehow, I managed to scramble away and stand up.
Just as I was about to lift my leg to kick him in the balls, he moved quickly, dodging my kick.
With his good hand, the one I hadn’t bitten, he gripped my ankle and pulled, causing me to lose my balance and fall back down, this time against his chest instead of the mattress.
I was furious; I didn’t want him to pin me again.
I hadn’t liked feeling so defenseless, completely at his mercy, so I quickly moved out of the way when he tried to grab me around the waist. The problem was that he was even quicker, and I found myself, once again, lying against the mattress with him straddling my stomach.
I went limp and surrendered, panting hard, as if I’d been running for an hour.
He rubbed the hand I’d bitten and frowned slightly as if in pain, although I thought I saw a certain glint of admiration in his brown eyes.
“You have no idea what you’re doing, zero technique, but you were savage, you hurt me. We can call it quits for today.” He stood up, and after throwing me a quick glance over his shoulder, he left my room.
My chest rose and fell… I lay there, analyzing what had happened. His teaching method was far from subtle. But he hadn’t so much as flinched, and I was still out of breath from the way the weight of his body had paralyzed me in the blink of an eye.
And then I remembered he’d called me beautiful, but why had he pronounced the word as if it was the worst insult he’d ever voiced aloud?
Unable to get back to sleep, I put on my bathrobe and went out into the living room.
I couldn’t say exactly what kind of mood I was in, but it hadn’t been the best of mornings.
Sebastian, on the other hand, was calmly reading the newspaper and drinking coffee.
I saw he’d made me my milk with honey and had placed it on the counter in front of him.
Was this some kind of peace offering?
I sat down and waited for him to say something.
He didn’t.
“Sebastian, I understand you must get bored being my bodyguard and everything, that you need a little more action in your life, something that makes you feel like Rambo or G.I. Joe or whomever you aspire to be, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use me for your training sessions, okay?
I understand that I was the one who asked you to teach me some self-defense techniques, but waking up at five o’clock in the morning with a glass of cold water in my face did not figure, at all, into my vision.
” He looked up from the newspaper and rested his eyes on me.
“I don’t like feeling trapped, so from now on, I’d like the lessons to be a little more…
gentle, if you don’t mind. I know that word doesn’t exist in your vocabulary, but—”
He laughed, interrupting my speech, and I set down the cup of milk before it even had a chance to touch my lips.
“Gentle?” he exclaimed, rolling his eyes.
“Marfil, this isn’t a fucking fairy tale.
It’s not a game. I’m not trying to show you a good time or help you feel self-actualized.
If I’m going to teach you at all, it’s so that, if you really need to defend yourself on your own someday, you’ll be able to, understand?
It was your idea, and it was a good one.
As your bodyguard, I should’ve thought of it myself.
You were right; you need to learn to defend yourself, because you should never forget that your life is in danger. ”
I stared blankly at him, without any clever rebuttal for what he’d just said.
“We can train a little bit every day. I’ll teach you some tricks to help you feel safer.”
“According to you, I have zero technique…” My eyes darted involuntarily to his right hand, where I’d bitten him as hard as I could. I smiled. “Can I see what I did to you?”
Sebastian set down his cup of coffee and frowned. “You look so pleased to see you’ve hurt me,” he said, removing the bloodstained gauze he’d wrapped around his hand to cover the wound.
“Shit!” I exclaimed, ignoring his comment. “I really am a savage. Does it hurt?”
“No.”
“What a shame.” I brought the mug to my lips and grinned against the edge of it, unable to help myself.
“Before I forget, I’ll teach you something else. Come here,” he said, gesturing for me to move closer to him.
I did so almost grudgingly. I’d had enough for one day.
He pulled me a little closer, positioning me between his legs.
After steadying me, he slid his hand up to my neck and moved my hair over to my right shoulder.
“This point right here,” he said, carefully touching me in a spot between my neck and my clavicle, “is called the carotid sinus. If you press down hard for thirty seconds, the person will pass out. It won’t last long, but it might give you time to escape if someone is trying to hurt you. ”
He didn’t immediately remove his fingers. Instead, he began to trace circles on my skin, causing every single one of my hairs to stand on end.
If he noticed, he acted like he hadn’t.