A Discovery of Secrets and Fate (Chronicles of the Stone Veil #2) - Sawyer Bennett Page 0,26
a few seconds before heading back into the houseboat. I still have plenty of work to do, although something tells me that I’m going to be even more distracted than I was before.
CHAPTER 6
Finley
“Nice move,” Titus praises as I block a low Thai kick meant to buckle the back of my knee and take me to the ground. I counter with a backfist aimed at the side of his head, but he’s so damn quick that just a tiny jerk of his body to the left and I connect with nothing but air.
He goes on the attack, coming at me with a flurry of punches and elbows, and my arms fly just as fast as he backs me across the gym. I manage to block every single one. When he finally throws a right cross, I block it from inside out, wrap my arm around his, and move into his space. I use my right arm to land four hard uppercuts to his gut, which, although he grunts, my knuckles feel like they are banging on a brick wall because his muscles are so tight.
Titus counters by moving his free arm around the back of my head, squeezing my neck within the crook of his elbow. It’s the start of a grappling move and I know once he takes me to the ground, it’s all over.
He bends my body so my head is level with his hip, and it twists my arm holding onto his so painfully I have to release. His other hand goes to the back of my leg, and I know he’s going to pick me up and slam me to the floor.
My mind races for any maneuver he’s taught me to escape this hold, but I come up with nothing. And then I remember something Duane had taught me when we first started training and we were talking purely practical tips to get away from an attacker.
There were the obvious ones like ‘knee a man in the nuts’ or ‘slam your fist across the bridge of his nose’.
But there was one other he taught me, and he said it was guaranteed to make someone release their hold.
With my right arm free and currently trying to pull his arm off me, I let him go and let it dive in between his legs. Not to the nuts because I don’t want to really hurt him, but rather to the sensitive skin on the inside of his thigh. I grab a chunk with just a forefinger and the side of my thumb, squeeze tight, and twist as hard as a can. Hairs rip loose, skin is abraded, and Titus screams like a little girl as he releases his hold on me.
“Goddamn it, Finley,” he growls as he bends over and presses a palm to the area I’d just pinched. “That hurt like a motherfucker.”
I’d never heard Titus use language like that, and I can’t help but smirk. I’m free, and I won that battle. “I could have gone for your jewels, so be happy I just gave you a little pinch.”
“Little pinch?” he growls, tenderly rubbing at the spot, but then offers me a nod of admiration. “Okay… I’ll give that to you. Well done.”
“Thank you,” I reply, dipping into a deep curtsy.
“Hand-to-hand is over,” he declares, actually limping slightly as he moves to his duffel bag. He roots around and as he does so, I do a quick glance around at the gym Carrick secured in just twenty-four hours. It’s fully equipped, and it was very clearly a working membership gym as it is stuffed with multiple pieces of the same type of equipment. I suspect Carrick just used his considerable wealth to get it. He probably walked in and made a cash offer the owner couldn’t refuse.
And now, it is all mine to train in.
Titus rises, having pulled the whip out of his duffel. Carrick said I could continue training with it, and I was more than ready. Before my birthday party, Titus and I worked a solid two weeks, six days a week, and at least two hours a day on my whip skills. It was something that practice absolutely made perfect. I not only had basic strikes down, but I was learning some flourishing moves like figure eights and helicopter whirls.
Titus presents it to me, the handle laying in his hand palm up. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”
As I take the whip, my gaze lifts to meet his. “What’s that?”