A Wolf at the Door

“You can also break the hold”—I slowly walked her through what we’d been practicing—“and then punch. I’d advise going for the throat if you can, or the eyes.” I showed her how to jab with stiff fingers. “If you do it, mean it. Put your shoulder behind it, roll your hips, try to punch through the back of his head. You’re only going to get one shot.”

She watched me intently as I demonstrated, then carefully followed through, copying my motions. Damn, I wished I had more time to really teach her.

“What about kicking him in the nuts?”

I shook my head. “Every man in the world expects a woman to do that. He’ll be ready. If you wanna go that route, you wait until he’s yanked you close in, then grab him where it counts. You have those long fingernails, put them to use. Dig in, twist, turn, try to yank them off. Even through jeans, that’s gonna hurt like a bitch.” Even the idea of it made me wanna cringe and hold myself. “If you have to kick, go for the side of the knee, or rake your shoe down the bony part of his shin. Or even better with the heels you wear, stomp on his foot. It’d be just like stabbing him. Unless he wears steel-toed boots.”

“And then?”

“And then you run, Gretchen. You’re not a superhero, you’re just a woman who wants to live to see the next sunrise. You run like hell and you make as much noise as you can. Understand?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” She sulked a little, mostly for show, then brightened. “Okay, let’s do it again.”

I wasn’t sure how long we worked up there in the roof garden, but it was long enough that Tai came looking for us to see what was up. With a bemused smile, he joined in as a target dummy, and even added a few moves of his own, proving that the big man was more than talk. While we were evenly matched in height, he outweighed me by a good chunk, and he was almost as fast. I didn’t like to think what a fight between the two of us would be like. I’d be pretty unhappy running into him in a dark alley, that’s for sure.

Finally, Gretchen declared that she was starving and called a halt to our impromptu class. Despite my late dinner the night before, I was pretty damn hungry myself, but as we rode the elevator down, I had to admit I also felt pretty damn satisfied. Hopefully Tai and Bobby could keep teaching her after I left, and then Gretchen would be able to take care of herself. Somehow, that made me feel better.

14

Later, I didn’t feel so much better. “But I don’t understand why.”

Gretchen raised a brow at me as Dante zipped up the back of her teeny tiny little dress. I had to wonder if she got a discount, since they used so little fabric. “Would you hide in a hole, if someone was after you?”

“Well, no, but I’m well known for not being too bright.” That got a laugh out of her, at least. “Seriously, going to a party is important?”

“Like I said, this is how I pay my rent. There will be people at this party. Important people that I need to keep connections with.”

I looked at Tai and Bobby and got zero support. Dante was no help either. He just shrugged and patted her on the shoulder when her dress was zipped. “There you go, Boo.”

“Come help me with my hair.” Taking him by the hand, they disappeared back into her room.

Once again, I looked at the two bodyguards. “This is nuts.”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Tai insisted. “We’ll be at someone’s private home. They have their own security, plus probably some extra for the party. There’ll be a whole herd of other bodyguards there, just like us. The groupies were disinvited, so it’ll just be celebs and their dates. Even Dante isn’t coming. If she has to go out, the only place safer would be the White House.”

I eyed Bobby, sitting in dour silence. “And you? You’re okay with this?”

He shrugged. “I do what I’m told. I don’t have to like it.” Privately, I thought Bobby was only encouraging this so he could get a shot at whatever this thing was.

Tai looked me over and shook his head, tsking. “If you’re going, you need to change. She’ll totally leave you behind if you’re not up to snuff.”

I failed to see what was wrong with what I was wearing, but apparently an I SEE STUPID PEOPLE shirt wasn’t elegant enough. Bobby and Tai were already dressed in black slacks and white button-up shirts. I was pretty sure that if either of them stretched too much, both shirts were going to rip right down the back. Big men were just not meant to wear stuff like that.

I had a plain white dress shirt too, stuffed in the bottom of my suitcase. It was, of course, wrinkled all to hell, and I grumbled as I set up the ironing board. Okay, yes, I know how to iron. Doesn’t mean I like it.

“No!” We all jumped as Gretchen poked her head out of her room, her hair half done and Dante clucking behind her like a mother hen. “No, you wear the one I got you, the blue silk.” And then she was gone again.

Both bodyguards gave me amused smirks and zero help. With a sigh, I traded out shirts and set about ironing the blue silk.