Chapter 20
June soaked up all the new knowledge like a sponge. She couldn’t think of another time she would need to learn hand-to-hand combat, let alone knife skills, but it was time spent with Rob. She was also having fun learning something new.
June was worried that things might be awkward after the barbeque.
There had been a sort of amnesty between Rob and Jack, and she couldn’t help but feel she was the cause of it.
Not that she had done anything. She had only talked to Jack.
He was an outrageous flirt. Her brother used to be the same way, so she was used to it, but never on the receiving end of it.
More than once, she had caught Rob scowling at him as if he were beating Jack to a pulp in his mind. She didn’t know why he would feel that way about him.
She had only texted Rob about dinner ideas. His response had been short and to the point. He was always like that, so she didn’t think too much about it, but he could be so different when she saw him.
Rob had been his normal self, luckily. He had only brought up Jack once. June had kept her response neutral, but the truth was, she loved Rob, not Jack. She wanted Rob to teach her, not Jack. He would be more flirtatious than a teacher, and that wasn’t what she wanted.
Jack was gorgeous, don’t get her wrong. Casey would probably beat her over the head thinking something was wrong with her if she knew June had turned down lessons from him. Casey would probably sign herself up for lessons with him.
But he didn’t evoke the same reaction Rob did.
He didn’t make her heart race or cause butterflies to flutter in her stomach.
Jack was firmly a friend only. Whereas with Rob, she wanted more.
But without outright throwing herself out there and risking embarrassment because he didn’t feel the same, she was a friend only to Rob and would have to keep her feelings to herself.
“Alright, now your opponent comes at you from behind.”
Rob slid behind June. His chest pressed against her back, his arm sliding across her chest more like an embrace than a threat.
June closed her eyes and imagined—just for a moment—this wasn’t a lesson on how to protect herself, but he was holding her.
They were standing on a mountaintop watching the sunset or at another cookout.
Greg and Zoe were on one side and Luke and Shay were on the other as they talked in a circle.
Each pair holding the other. Love reflected in their eyes.
“June, you with me.” Rob’s voice pulled her out of her daydream.
“Yeah.” She cleared her throat and adjusted her stance.
Her free hand was placed on his forearm, purposely ignoring the hard muscle under her.
Rob was a lethal weapon. From his training with Special Forces, he was prepared for all types of combat situations.
Besides her brother, she couldn’t ask for a better teacher to learn to protect herself.
“Now, how would you get out of this?”
June slammed her head back toward his as she reached for her knife in her back pocket and brought the sheathed knife down on the top of his thigh. Rob had shown her where to miss the femoral artery and risk killing her opponent.
Rob’s arm released her, and she spun away with her knife ready in front of her chest. Her other hand at her side.
“Very nice.” He applauded, and June stood up in a relaxed stance and tucked her knife back into her pocket.
“Thanks.”
“You feel more comfortable?”
“Yeah.” They had gone through enough scenarios, she felt ready for the real thing should it ever happen.
Without warning, he came at her, wrapping his hand around her neck lightly, and marched her back toward the wall, pressing her against it.
June almost stumbled at his quick pace. She had to grip his hand holding her neck with both of hers as her feet scrambled to keep her upright.
She grunted when her back slammed into the wall.
It would have been harder if it had been a real attack, but it still stunned her.
Rob leaned forward, their chests just brushing, his face just next to hers. “I thought you said you were ready,” he murmured in a teasing voice.
“I didn’t realize you were going to do that.”
“Ah, ah.” He tsked. “What’s the first lesson?”
“Expect the unexpected.” Which she hadn’t. She thought it would be another drill or practice, but he was attacking her as a real attacker would. They wouldn’t give her a warning or declare their intentions. They would see her as vulnerable and attack.
June released his arm holding her neck and balled her hand into a fist before bringing it down on his forearm. With her other hand, she punched him in the jaw. Rob shuffled back, giving her enough room to use the wall for support as she kicked out with her right leg in his chest.
Rob grunted in pain and fell back on the ground. Under normal circumstances, June would feel bad for hurting Rob like this, but right now she was in survival mode and not training mode.
Everything around her faded. She wasn’t in Rob’s studio but in a real-world situation where she only had herself to protect her.
Her breathing slowed and steadied. She felt in control. The moves that had been drilled into her the past two weeks became natural.
Rob stood up; his hand clenched as if he held a knife. He pushed up onto his feet and thrust his fist forward as if he were trying to drive a knife into her chest.
June shifted to the side, so his arm kept going. He came back at her with a backward thrust. June ducked and came at him from behind, kicking out at the back of his good knee.
Rob pivoted to the side as his fist came at her with another backward thrust. She gripped his wrist and twisted. His hand opened, mimicking him dropping the knife.
June pulled out her knife from her back pocket, keeping the blade closed, and pressed the end to the side of his neck.
“How was that?” June felt triumphant. She had won.
“Good, except one thing.”
“What?” She’d done awesome. She had been a total badass for a moment. What could he possibly find to criticize?
Rob reached behind him, gripped the strap of her sports bra, and pulled her over his shoulder. June sailed over him and landed flat on her back. Rob appeared a moment later over her, her hands pinned to her sides.
“A fight is never truly over until the opponent is crying in pain or unconscious. Never lose focus.” Rob pushed up to his feet, holding a hand out to help June to hers. “Other than that, you did great. I feel bad for whoever attacks you in a dark alley.”
She could handle that feedback. June hadn’t wanted to harm Rob, only protect herself as if the situation were real. “I didn’t hurt you too badly, did I?” June felt like she had gotten a little carried away with her kicks and hadn’t held back with her punches.
“I’ll have a bruise or two come tomorrow, but I’ll survive. Don’t feel bad if you did. If it had been a real-life situation, your opponent wouldn’t feel bad for hurting you.”
He was right, of course. She hadn’t wanted to cause Rob real harm, just enough to mimic that it was a real enough attack. If it ever really happened, she couldn’t hold back. “So does that mean our lessons are over?”
Rob seemed to hesitate. She had been eager to learn everything he could teach her, but if she’d been smarter, she would have stalled longer. Not that they couldn’t just hang out, but the question was, would he want to hang out with her?
“You are pretty much done, but we’ll finish up this week and see where things go from there, sound good?”
Not really, but what choice did she have? “Sure.”
“Alright, let’s call it a night. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”
June wasn’t. She felt like a lead ball had settled at the bottom of her stomach. Her nights with Rob were coming to an end. She had seen his hesitation when she’d asked about lessons. He hadn’t even thought about seeing her outside of training.
By next week, they would be back to friendly acquaintances.