The Tornado Page 7

  "Yes," she replied. "Easy."

  We practiced that several more times, before I showed her how to take it to the next level if staying and fighting was the only option. I showed her how to reach up and grab an assailant by the back of the head and bring the head down, to ram it with the knee. I fetched a padded helmet with a front cover guard on it and told her to go to town.

  "Really go for it," I said. "You won't hurt me."

  “That’s disappointing,” she smirked.

  Jewel hit her angle and then whirled to the side, grasping the back of my head and yanking it down, while bringing her knee up to the front of my helmet. I was pleased that she'd caught on so quickly. I made her do it over and over, then practiced both moves together until I was satisfied with her progress. Next, I took her through some exercises to show her how to block strikes, how important it was to watch an opponent's shoulders and not their eyes, to be able to gauge from where they were going to throw their next punch.

  "Now, I want to show you how to get out of a hold," I said, a little while later. I was starting to work up a sweat, and Jewel was finally starting to loosen up. She genuinely seemed to be enjoying herself, and I could tell she was growing more and more empowered with every new maneuver I taught her. Which was precisely my goal of the course—to empower women to be able to take care of themselves in a hairy situation. I felt good. My course could be a success.

  "There's a couple of ways you can go about this," I added. I moved in front of Jewel, giving her my back. "All right. Put me in a hold." I stood, waiting, and after a long pause, glanced over my shoulder. Jewel was flushing slightly as she stared at my back. "What's the problem?" I asked.

  "Huh?" Jewel's head snapped up, meeting my gaze.

  "What's the problem? Grab me."

  "Uh, yeah," she muttered. "Right." Her arms slid around me gingerly. I bit back a smile and shook my head.

  "Jewel. Grab me like you mean it. This won't work otherwise. I won’t break. This body is made of hard stuff."

  I heard her sigh and mumble something before her arms finally tightened around me. I wiggled slightly, testing the strength of her grasp, and was satisfied it would work to demonstrate the move.

  "All right," I said over my shoulder. "Say someone comes up behind you and pins your arms to your sides, and you can't get out. What you should do is swing one of your legs in a giant step behind both of you, plant it right behind their leg, and throw your hip to put them off-balance. Then you can start throwing elbows, breaking the hold, getting away. Sometimes it might be a little bit more of a fight if they're not willing to let you go. You can try twisting out of their grasp like this." I showed her, and she nodded. "Let's try it again."

  She repositioned her arms, and I executed the move. Then, in a flash of mischievousness I couldn't help, I grabbed her around the waist once she was off-balance, lifted her, and slammed her on her back on the mat. I leaned over her and grinned as her eyes went wide and the air rushed out of her lungs from the impact with a breathless laugh.

  "Sorry," I said. "I couldn't resist." I hopped to my feet and held out a hand to help her up. She ignored it and rolled to her feet.

  "You know I'm going to find a way to get you back for that," she threatened playfully. "I don't know how or when. But I swear to you, you’re going down and you’re going to cry."

  I afforded her a rare, full-mouthed grin. "I can’t wait for that day, Jewel. If that happens, I’ll eat my shoe." I motioned her into the center of the ring. "All right. Now you show me." I stepped up behind her and was momentarily distracted by her smell; it was a combination of her shampoo, the lingering perfume on her skin, and her sweat. It was intoxicating and heady, and I realized as I took a deep breath, how much I liked it.

  I slowly slipped my arms around her, tightening my hold. I swallowed hard. As for the first time, I realized that she was pressed against my body. It’d been different when I was in ‘teacher’ mode. Now, I was all too aware of the feeling of her skin against me, how her small body felt in my arms, the feeling of her rounded, curvy buttocks pressing into the tops of my thighs.

  Fuck. I forced the thought from my mind as my cock began to swell. Teacher mode. Secure that shit, Prince. Think of Connor butt-naked. Think of his hairy sweaty ass—

  When Jewel felt my arms tighten around her, she swung her leg back behind me, like I had shown her, and moved her hips hard. I instantly lost my balance. I felt a sharp elbow dig into my ribs and the air expelled from my lungs. The next thing I knew, I had fallen over on my ass after a hard shove to my chest.

  Jewel loped around the ring, laughing at me openly. “Did I just take down The Tornado? Did I just make the infamous, unbeatable champion Tornado, cry?” she said, doing a victory dance.

  I mock-glared at her as I got to my feet, but couldn't fight another smirk. "All right," I said, rubbing my torso where she had elbowed me good. "Anyone ever tell you how to play it cool?” I laughed.

  “Nope. So which will it be? Right or left?”

  “Huh?” I asked, confused.

  “Your shoe. Will you eat the left shoe or the right shoe?”

  I tilted my head to the side, and narrowed my eyes at her playfully. “I’ll eat your shoes if you don’t quit.”

  “Whatever. Can’t wait to tell Connor about this,” she smirked.

  “Yeah, yeah. We're even. Well done." Jewel smiled at me and shrugged her shoulders modestly. "We're going to do that once more, but this time, I want it to be as real as possible. So you're not going to know when I grab you, and I'm going to really grab you hard. We need to make this as realistic as possible. Okay?"

  Jewel gave me a single nod and turned again, her back to me. I stood a few paces behind her, and waited. I watched as her body tensed up as the seconds went on, saw her head involuntarily move slightly as though she tried to look over her shoulder, but caught herself. I let her stand there a few more minutes, then I silently, quickly, darted forward and grabbed her.

  I heard her gasp audibly, and her body immediately tensed and began to thrash. I didn't say a word but held on, mentally urging her to move into action. Suddenly, I felt her body go limp in my arms and the sound of her rapid breathing filled our small space. One of my forearms was over her chest, and I could feel her pulse take off in a rapid pace.

  Shit.

  "Jewel!" I shouted.

  She would have sunk to the floor of the ring if I hadn't been holding her. Her breathing was starting to freak me out, so I lowered us both to the floor. I sank to my knees as she sprawled in front of me, her back still pressed against me. I fumbled one hand to her face, gripping her cheek to turn her around to face me. I sucked in a breath, seeing her eyes wide and unseeing of me; that horrible, deep-rooted fear filled them. I gently shook her. "Jewel," I said louder, more gruffly.

  Just like it had outside the lounge, speaking her name that way drew her attention and her eyes shifted to me, blinking slowly. Her breathing was still heavy and increased, almost like she was having an asthma attack.

  "Meds," she rasped out. "Bag."

  I let her go gently, then scrambled out of the ring to where her gym bag was still on the floor, next to her favorite punch bag. I grabbed the whole bag and hurried back to the ring. I slid the bag over to her, hard, before launching myself after it and moving to her side. Her hands were shaking so badly, she couldn't grasp the zipper. I took it from her and opened it.

  "Where?" I asked quietly.

  "Inner pocket," she whispered back, her entire body shaking now. I found the pocket and unzipped it, immediately locating the small amber bottle that was all too familiar to me. I handed it over, realizing my dumb mistake when her hands trembled over the lid. I took the bottle back from her and glanced at the label. I inwardly shook my head as I recognized the label for an anti-anxiety medication. I read the dosage and poured out two pills into my palm and gave them to her, along with my water bottle.

  I didn't watch as she gulped the pills and water down. I knew I had been agai
nst it before, but the urge to ask for answers was strong on my tongue. I bit the inside of my cheek to prevent myself from barraging her with questions.

  We sat quietly and I listened as her breathing slowed and regulated itself. I glanced at her out of the corner of my eyes and saw that her shaking had mostly subsided. She sat, hugging her knees to her chest as she tried to hand me back my bottle of water. I noticed she had only taken enough to swallow down the pills and I shook my head, waving the bottle back to her.

  "You drink it," I said. "You should drink more than that."

  She didn't meet my eyes as she drained the rest of the bottle, though I sensed she knew I was watching her. There was a look of almost guilt on her face, as though she knew I had a million questions and she didn't want to answer any of them.

  "Jewel..." I began finally, and her head snapped up. She met my eyes and I saw that hers were naked with emotion.

  "Please," she said softly. "Please don't ask me anything. Not right now." She swallowed hard. "I-I know I owe you an explanation. But I can't right now. I just can't."

  I studied her face. "Jewel, you don’t owe me anything but I want you to let me in," I said slowly. "When you came into my life, I didn’t know what this was. I hesitated. Didn’t have a clue. Then you called me a friend. I get it now. You’re a friend that’s made me laugh a little louder, smile a little bigger, and makes me want to live just a little bit better. So whatever’s keeping you silent from me, I’ll wait. Because I think you’re strong enough to beat it. I just—if you're going through something, I can help you. And if I can’t, I’ll do whatever it takes to become someone who can. I'm as fucked up as they come," I added lightly, and was pleased to see a tiny smile cross her face.

  “You always seem to know exactly what to say to make me feel a little bit better.” She whispered it so softly, I wasn’t sure if I was meant to hear her.

  She was still hugging her knees, but her body seemed to have stopped shaking. I got to my feet and extended my hand again. She looked at it, then up at me. Hesitantly, she reached out and grabbed it. I pulled her easily to her feet and looked down into her face.

  "You hungry?" I asked.

  She looked a little taken aback and glanced at her watch. She looked back up at me and smiled uncertainly.

  "Asher, it's, like, midnight," she said.

  I shrugged. "So what? Unless you’re Cinderella and plan to change when the clock strikes twelve.” That got her laughing, even though it was short-lived. “You hungry?"

  Her smile grew slightly and she shrugged. "Sure."

  "There's a place down the street that makes the best cheesesteaks you've ever had," I said. "My treat."

  She studied my face a moment longer then nodded. "Okay. Let me go get my stuff."

  I waited by the door, and she reappeared a little later, her gym bag slung over her shoulder. We walked down the street in comfortable silence, although my mind was still whirling from her ‘episode’ in the ring. It was clear she’d suffered at the hands of a monster. It’d been clear from the night I'd witnessed her attack at my gym. I’m pretty sure what had been done to her, but I sincerely hoped I was mistaken. Because if I was right, I needed to hunt someone down and make them pay.

  I glanced down at her from the corner of my eye and couldn't help noticing how different she looked than she had at Trinity’s. There, she had looked like a star, a model or something. Now, she was back to her normal self. She was possibly even more beautiful to me stripped down this way. I felt like I was really seeing her.

  "There it is," I said, pointing to a little corner restaurant. "They're always open late." I held the door open for her and she walked past, giving me a nod of thanks.

  "Isn't this against your training diet?" she asked, folding her arms and scanning the menus on the wall behind the counter.

  "I won't tell if you won't," I replied. "Do you know what you want?"

  "I'll have what you're having," Jewel replied.

  I stepped up to the counter. "Two cheese whiz, please," I said quickly, and the cook nodded and set to making our sandwiches.

  "Does this really count since we're in Pittsburgh?" Jewel asked with a smirk.

  "Absolutely," I replied. "Everybody in PA takes their cheesesteaks seriously. Everybody."

  When our orders were up, I handed Jewel one of the cardboard trays and moved toward the row of countertops against the front window. We took stools and I glanced over at her, seeing her examining her sandwich crammed with thinly sliced rib-eye, cheese whiz, and grilled onions. She looked up with a smile.

  "Looks good," she said. "Looks like you did it right." She picked up her sandwich and took an enormous bite as I glared at her playfully.

  "I did it right?" I repeated.

  "Just wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing," Jewel said, around her big mouthful.

  "I think I'm the native here," I shot back. She shrugged and chewed. "Fucking New Yorkers," I teased, taking my own bite. I enjoyed watching her appreciate her sandwich. I'd always liked a healthy appetite in a woman. "It's good?" I asked after a few mouthfuls. Jewel gave an enthusiastic nod, unable to speak because of the monstrous bite she'd just taken.

  She swallowed. "Possibly the best thing I've eaten here besides my mother's cooking."

  "Your mom's a good cook?" I asked.

  "The best," Jewel replied, pulling a piece of bread off her sandwich and swiping up a bit of cheese whiz. “What about your mother?”

  I looked out the window. “My mom passed away nine years ago, when I was sixteen.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.”

  “Thank you.” I turned my gaze back to Jewel. “Before the cancer took her, my mom had decided she wanted to get into cooking.” I smiled, remembering. “I ate so many awful meals back then, pretending to like them. I couldn’t hurt her feelings.”

  “You really are a sweet guy,” Jewel said, smiling. We remained silent for a short while, both consuming our cheesesteaks. "My mom grew up in my Nonna's kitchen,” she finally said. “Sunday dinner is a staple in our family and she always makes enough for an army. Although, there's almost that many people in my parents’ home every Sunday."

  "You got a big family?" I asked.

  "Pretty big," Jewel replied. "I have two older sisters. They're both married and have two kids apiece. Then there's Uncle Gino. So it's pretty crowded in there." She smiled. "But that's what makes it so much fun."

  "You close to your sisters?"

  Jewel nodded. "Very close. They’re both in their early thirties. I'm the baby at twenty-three, but we've always been close. Had a lot of fights growing up," she added, "but we've always been close."

  "So your whole family lives in Pittsburgh now?" I asked.

  "Yeah," Jewel replied. "We were all born and raised in New York. Rachael came out here with her husband first. The rest of us were in New York. Then when we came out here, Alexis joined a law firm and her husband's a doctor. So they were able to get jobs relatively easy. My parents invested in the apartment complex and then the bakery. They always wanted a couple of family businesses."

  "And what about you?"

  "Me?" Jewel replied. "Well. I already told you I was a dancer. I want to open my own studio one day. I'm getting closer. Not having to pay rent helps, living in the family building. Just saving my money. There's a spot downtown, an old studio that hasn't been claimed yet. That's what I really want. I'm saving enough money until the bank will grant me the loan for the space. They won't give me the whole amount so I have to have enough for a down payment. I'm just scared someone will snap it up before me."

  "I hope you get it," I said sincerely. "Teaching dance at the Y getting old?"

  "Thanks," Jewel replied quietly, smiling at me slightly. "I love teaching at the Y. I just wish it was my place. But at least this way I have a rehearsal space for myself instead of my living room."

  "Rehearsal space?" I repeated.

  Jewel rolled her eyes and shook her head, but smiled still.
"My friend Ruby, she forced me to enter this talent showcase. It's a community thing; they want all kinds of artists, musicians, dancers. I haven't danced in front of a crowd in over a year. But it's coming up in a couple of months, so I've been using my studio space at the Y to work on it. Ruby doesn't know that yet though, I don't want her getting all excited. I might back out."

  "Don't do that," I said automatically. "Don't back out. You should do it. Anyway, I need to see it."

  Jewel gaped at me. "You want to see me dance?"

  "Yeah. Why not? You’re talented. You’ve got gifted grace when you train. And people without talent don't usually grow up and want to have their own dance studios. So don’t be selfish and keep yourself to yourself. Let me see you."

  Jewel smiled down at her sandwich. "You really do have a way with words, don’t you?"

  A cocky smile spread across my face. "Too true. So what made your family want to move from New York?" I asked, and immediately I saw her lit up face darken. She didn't answer right away. "Jewel?"

  She pushed the remains of her sandwich away as though she'd lost her appetite. I knew immediately that it had something to do with her present state, and I held my breath, wondering if she would come clean with me finally.

  She heaved a heavy sigh and looked out the window. She drew her bottom lip between her teeth and began to worry it. I sat patiently, pushing my own sandwich away, waiting for her to speak.

  She finally turned her eyes to meet me, and I saw on her face that she understood I knew by now that the two were connected, and that I knew there was something really wrong with her.

  "Something…happened to me," she started softly, dropping her eyes. "In New York. Something bad. And while I recovered from it physically, I really had a hard time with it...emotionally. I went to therapy for my mind like I went to therapy for my body, but I made progress with one and not the other. My parents decided that I needed a change of scenery, and made the decision to move out here with Rachael and her husband. And because we're as close as we are, Alexis and her husband came too, so we could all be together again."