“Firefly’s going to show me some of her moves.”
Cam’s face lights up. “Ooh, can I come?”
Again, I hesitate, looking to West for direction. This is his thing after all.
“Pleeeeeease,” Cam pleads, batting his eyelashes like an imbecile and making me snort at his childish antics. I quirk a brow at West. It’s his decision. If he doesn’t want Cam to come, I know Cam will be okay with it, despite the way he’s currently acting.
Huffing out a breath, West rolls his eyes. “Fine.”
“Ahh, yay! I get to watch my girl be a kickass ninja. Oooh, are you gonna go all Dominatrix on his ass?”
I have no idea what that means, nor do I get the chance to find out as West shoves Cam in the shoulder and ushers us out the door.
Once we reach the clearing, I drop everything I brought on the ground and walk West through a few exercises to limber him up while Cam places the flashlights in a circle around us, similar to the set up on fight nights. It’s still early dusk, but it won’t be long before it’s too dark to clearly see each other. Once he’s done, he takes a seat beside my things and silently watches us as I walk West through a few basic self-defense moves.
He watches my movements diligently, and is quick to effectively put them into practice when I pretend to attack him. The advantage of what I’m teaching him is that you don’t need brute strength to beat your opponent; you just need to keep a cool head and think your way out of the situation. It’s about finding your attacker’s weak points and using them to your advantage.
I start off by showing him a few easy ways to deflect an attacker and how to get out of their grip, whether they’re holding onto your wrist, or have their hands wrapped around your throat. Once he’s got that down, I move on to show him some offense moves so he can take down an attacker and escape.
“Okay,” I start when he’s gone through the motions a few times. “This time, we’ll go through the whole thing. When I come at you, try to get out of my grip and take me to the ground.”
“What? I’m not actually going to fight you back.”
I huff out a breath. “Why not?”
He glances incredulously at Cam before returning his gaze to mine. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
I chuckle softly. “You won’t, I promise.”
“Still, it’s one thing to go through the motions, but to actually fight you off…”
“Ooh me, pick me! I’ll do it!” Cam exclaims, throwing his arm in the air like we’re in class or some shit.
“Yeah, I’ll practice on Cam.”
I throw my arms up in the air in exasperation. Boys! There’s no fucking dealing with them.
“Fine, tackle Cam then.”
Cam jumps to his feet, looking far too excited about the prospect of ending up face first in the dirt, and does some weird thing with his arms as he shakes them out, before lowering into a crouch and grinning ruthlessly at West.
I quirk a brow at him. “Just go through what we’ve talked about, Cam.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
I roll my eyes and step to the side so I have a clear view of both of them. “Alright, go.”
Cam moves on lightning quick feet, closing the distance between him and West. Grabbing West’s wrist, he tries to pin it behind his back, but West does exactly as I taught him, enabling him to break free, and use the momentum to twist Cam’s arm. Cam hisses in pain as he’s forced to bend over to prevent his arm from being dislocated. With Cam’s balance off center, West easily pushes him to the ground, giving him ample time to escape.
“Good! That was really good.” I grin proudly at him as he helps Cam to his feet.
“You alright, man?”
“All good,” Cam assures him, rotating his shoulder and pumping his hand to get the blood flowing through his fingers again.
“Let’s go again. This time, use a few offensive moves, West. Don’t be afraid to really go for it. Cam will survive a few bruises.”
“Ouch, baby! You really wanna mess up this handsome face?”
I roll my eyes, even while I suppress my laughter. He does have a gorgeous face, but that’s not to say he wouldn’t look any less handsome with a bit of bruising. It would totally give him that alluring bad-boy look.
They go again, and West holds nothing back, giving Cam a good dig in his ribs when he tries to tackle him, and swiping his cheek to get him to back off.
Clapping starts up behind me as West once again manages to take Cam to the ground, and I spin to find Beck, Hawk, and Mason watching us.
“How did you guys know we were out here?” I ask as they move to join us.
“Cam sent us a video of you and West. We thought we’d come watch the show.” Mason smirks.
“We’re not here to entertain you idiots. It’s important that he—that all of us—knows this stuff.”
“I know, babe.” Mason leans in to kiss my temple. “I was only joking. It’s good that you’re able to show him some things. I have to admit, I was never very good at explaining it.”
“We’ll just sit quietly over here and watch,” Hawk assures me, moving to sit in Cam’s vacated spot. Mason and Beck silently agree and move to join him, but when I focus back on West, he looks more nervous than he did before. Great, he’s not going to be able to focus if he’s too busy worrying what they’ll think of him.
Sighing, I spin toward the three intruders. “Hawk, up,” I snap.
“What? I don’t need any lessons. I’m good to watch.”
At his cocky attitude, I place my hands on my hips. “Really? You don’t think you could learn a thing or two?”
I see the second he realizes how his words could be misconstrued.
“No…uh, I didn’t mean it that way. I just…I can handle myself.”
Lifting a brow in challenge, I goad him. “Prove it.” It’s all I need to say to guarantee he’s going to get up and do exactly that, and just as expected, with his perpetual scowl in place, he rises to his feet and stomps toward me.
“Right, I have been teaching West how to break out of an attacker’s hold and take them to the ground, so when I come at you, try to do that.”
He gives a sharp jerk of his head and focuses all of his attention on me. Quicker than he can blink, I rush him, darting around his side so I can wrap my arms around him from behind. This is a hold I taught West earlier, and although I don't spare him a glance, needing to keep my focus if I’m to make my point—which is basically that Hawk is wrong, as per usual—I’m confident he’s already assessed the situation and ascertained the best way to get out of it.