Chapter 40

~John~

 

“Nicki, this isn’t necessary,” I say as she presses her back against the wall of the gym and waits on me to make a move.

“John, you said you’d help me.”

“I know, but he’s never gonna get that close to you again.”

“We don’t know that. We thought that last week, right?”

I blow out a breath. Ever since Greg confronted her that day she’s been insane about training at my uncle’s gym. And when I say insane, I mean she’s been here day in and day out for hours at a time working on her fight. And I’ve been with her. There’s no way I’m letting her out of my sight until that asshole is behind bars again.

“John,” she presses.

I’m hesitating here because she wants me to act as the attacker and take the same position that Greg did with her four years ago when he hurt her. And the very idea of it sickens me. But I know I can’t deny her. She’s asking for my help. She’s already a good fighter and she knows how to defend herself, but because she froze up the other day, she’s been overcompensating majorly.

“Okay,” I say, walking over to the wall. “You need me to release you, just say the word.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just do it.”

I reach out to do what she’s asking me, but then I pull back. Shit. “Nicki—”

“It’s you. It’s gonna be fine. I’m not gonna freak out.”

“We’re reenacting that night when—”

“John. Just help me.”

“Okay.”

I grip her arms tightly, pinning her against the wall. I watch her hesitate.

Instead of just a brief second of hesitation, it’s a prolonged reaction. I press my body against hers, pinning her to the wall with my full weight, and tell her, “Now it’s too late. You need to react immediately. I’m more than twice your body weight and he’s no different. Once I use that, you’re out of options.”

She blinks hard. “Sorry. Yeah, I know. Again.”

I pull back with my arms still holding her. “Up and out. Hard.”

She follows my instructions and slams her arms up into mine in a jarring blow. She follows through by slamming into my outstretched arms at their weakest point; where they join at the elbow. It breaks my grip on her.

“Knee,” I remind her.

She moves her knee slowly to make contact with my balls, putting barely any pressure, cuz we can’t avoid severe damage if she did that with her full strength. I fake doubling over and she presses her elbow into my back, again, putting little to no pressure.

I straighten up and tell her, “Good. Exactly like that. And then what do you do?”

She rolls her eyes. “I run and call the cops. John, I can finish it. You know I can.”

I shake my head at her. “No. You incapacitate then you run. It’s too risky otherwise.”

“But I—”

“No,” I snap before she can finish her sentence. Does she really think I’m gonna be okay with her putting herself in danger by trying to take him down? No way in hell. But this is just her wanting to make sure she has all bases covered.

“One more time and then we head back to the building and start packing.”

“We have plenty of time, John.”

“We’re leaving in two days. I wanna get in one more practice before we leave.”

She smiles up at me. “I’ve never seen you so excited.”

I can’t help the huge grin forming on my face. “Yeah, I know. This is it. A bunch of big time label reps are gonna be there.”

She smiles. “Okay. One last time and we get moving on the packing and practicing.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Anything for the guy who has my name branded into his skin.”

We both laugh.

“All right. Assume the position, sweetheart,” I say, shifting my weight for round two.