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I laughed,to the center of the roo"

He shut and locked the door, his ghost s his h without a ed his jacket off as he crossed the roo to unbutton my coat "Na his eyes to h the slits slowly, top to botto his thued the coat fro down the arms of my sweater "Soft"

"It’s cashh I wanted to follow up on my statement about na me, I couldn’t jar the words froertips and he turned aside, tossed it on top of his jacket "I had an ulterioryou here"

I blinked "You did?"

Gri, but I don’t want to freak you out" He breathed a sigh "This round defense…" He watched me closely, and I tried to look away, anywhere but his eyes, because , humiliated, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from his "I know you don’t believe it would work I want to show you it will"

"What do you htened on mine "I want to teach you exactly how to execute it Here With no one else watching"

It was the replication of the position itself, but also the thought of hi, but he couldn’t know that

"Trust me, Jacqueline It works Will you let me show you?"

I nodded

He led me to the center of the floor space, pulled me down to my knees next to hi, I obeyed "Thewhatsoever, so they won’t be able to counter thewhat you’re going to do Reet away"

I nodded, ainst the floor

"Do you re my eyes

"It’s okay I could tell you were freaking out in class Your friend did the right thing, not forcing you I don’t want to force you, either I just want to help you feel more in control"

I took a deep breath "Okay"

"If you find yourself in this position, you want to do theseto buck him off"

I stiffened as his inadvertent use of Buck’s name

"What?"

"That’s his nah his nose, like he was trying to maintain control "I will remember that" He was silent for a moment "The first e But that’s the thing--you’re taking his leverage away Choose the side you want to roll onto, and put that ar for the ceiling"

I put my left arm up as he described

"Good Noith your opposite are, and you reround, elbow up Shove down and roll to your side, throwing him off"

I followed his instructions--easy to do, with no weight on top ofto push your shoulders down and use ht to hold you there If you have a probleht entleness as he knelt overmy shoulders to the floor, was so contrary to Buck’s violence that I alht up" I obeyed "Palm flat, and push off, hard, and roll onto your side"

I did as he said, and he tuain"

We went through the ain, and each time he was more forceful and harder to displace, but still, I threw him off, every ti to rise

He exhaled harshly "That won’t work, Jacqueline--though it’s the natural response to soe afor you to ht that inclination"

Finally, we tried it more for real than any other time He shoved me down, andot the opposite pal hi me as we lay on the floor "You swapped sides on me!"