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Chapter One
Left, right, cross
Avery met each punch with a counter and waited until the fourth strike to move in
Two hits in, Avery shoved her assailant’s nose into her knee and then fell to the left when a second attacker swooped in from nowhere
Next thing Avery knew, she was on her back
She froze
Her head flew to the right
The left
“Stop”
Her breath came in short, quick pants
A boot to the face
The pain
She shot up to a sitting position “I’ood”
Brenda pushed in and knelt down on the s were freeyou froze”
“I didn’t” The denial was quick on her lips
“The sooner you realize you’re wrong, the faster you’re going to end this fear” Brenda’s Gerh Avery’s muddy brain
She pushed Brenda out of the way, pulled her headgear off, and threw it onto the mat
Leslie, her opponent, had been studying krav a for three years Avery had a measly ten months under her belt
The fact that Brenda was correct in her observation of Avery’s freeze only added to her anger
At herself
At the world
At the dead asshole who made her freeze
Emotion welled up inside and forced her feet to move She pushed past her instructor and beelined to the locker room
“Is she okay?” Avery heard Leslie ask
“She’s fine”
Avery let the door slam behind her
Alone, she moved to the sink and turned the water on cold She splashed her face, atte inside, and looked in the mirror
Her flushed features were evidence that she’d exerted herself The bloodshot eyes were a corip,” she cautioned herself
A sharp knock on the door spiked her blood pressure
“Are we doing this or not?” Brenda yelled from the other side
Avery glared at herself in the mirror and shoved away
“Yeah”
An hour later she stood under the hot streao
Leslie had efficiently handed Avery her ass Brenda had obviously coached Leslie to get her on the mat repeatedly Twice Avery had started to freeze, and twice Brenda had yelled so in Ger And when their session ended, Brenda’s praise was nothing but a half-baked smile that lasted all of a second If Avery had blinked, she would have missed it
“You were slow, and your legs should be used for ”
It was as close to a compliment as Avery could expect Most of the ti diatribe of faults that Avery needed to work on To only have two roll off Brenda’s tongue was a rarity
Leslie turned off the water in a neighboring shower, re in the hot water for ten minutes She quickly rinsed the soap frorabbed a towel fro outside the stall
She padded into the locker roo a hand through her wet hair
“Thanks for the workout”
“I’ round every five minutes”
“Every opponent brings a new challenge” Leslie reached for her underwear “How coroup classes?”
“And let several people witness my humiliation?”
Leslie cocked her head to the side, her short hair falling in her face “Brenda told ood”
“Did she?” Avery tossed her towel to the side and turned her back “What else did Brenda say?”
“That you were good”
Avery glanced over her shoulder “That’s a lie Brenda never hands out praise”
Leslie winked “Yeah, I made that up But you are Good, that is You should join us sometime”
“I’ll think about it” And then dis she did under the radar The fewer people that knew she was studying krav, the better
Leslie pulled a light sweatshirt over her head and hid the tattoo that covered the entire right side of her body She didn’t put on a bra Dressed in black, with her dyed red hair spiked, she looked a lot ear
“Wanna grab a beer?”
Avery thought about aited for her at ho