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‘She asked you to leave her alone.’ Alex stood over the man, violence radiating off his whole body.
The man raised his arms over his head, stuttering something unintelligible. Alex grunted at him and turned back to Sarah.
She held her arm to her chest, frightened he would grab it again. Her heart beat at a galloping pace, the pain threatening to overwhelm her. If she closed her eyes, she was back in her flat. Frozen in fear.
Alex wrapped his arm around her. ‘Let’s get out of here.’ He leant to collect the bag she’d dropped. She let him lead her away. He stopped after they were safely back inside the station and held her face in his hands. ‘Are you okay?’
Hot tears fell. She shook her head, unable to find any words. Helpless. That was the only word she could think of to describe her role in their current predicament. She couldn’t close her eyes without seeing the cold terror of everything that had happened since The Devils attacked her and Heather in their flat. Her belly churned. This was her new reality.
Only days ago, she’d been strong and capable. A woman who’d reinvented herself in a new country with no one’s help or support. That part of her had to exist somewhere inside her still. She needed to find it, harness it.
‘Alex, I can’t do this. I can’t keep being the damsel in distress who needs rescuing all the time.’
‘We just need to get to Beaune. You’ll be safe—’
‘No.’ Sarah brushed the tears from her face. ‘I want you to show me how to defend myself. Teach me how to fight, please.’
In all hisplanning and contingencies, he’d not considered Sarah’s role beyond surviving. Alex saw himself as the protector, the one to lead them both to safety. After all, he’d gotten her into this mess, he would get her out of it. The idea that Sarah might be more than a passenger in their survival caught him off guard.
Did she know what it was she was actually asking of him? A crash course in self-defense was not going to cut it, not against men like The Devils and the circles they ran in. To truly defend herself against The Devils she would need to learn how to use weapons, how to surveil her surroundings, and how to survive a fight against a man intent on killing. Or worse.
To stand a chance Sarah would have to match them on their level, and that would change the stakes again. If she pointed a gun at one of those guys, she had to be prepared to pull the trigger. He couldn’t imagine Sarah taking aim at Brodie or any of them. The minute she did, she’d have to make the shot count.
His gut tightened. Violence was a part of him and he didn’t want it to become a part of Sarah. Maybe it was too late on that count, since he’d crashed back into her life. His gaze fell on her red-rimmed eyes staring up at him. He’d already told her a lot about his life, who he was and what he’d done. But she didn’t know everything. What would it cost them - cost him - to teach her about his world? Would she still see the man he was deep inside, or would he lose her to the savage depths ingrained in his blood?
Alex studied her. Her face was pale and her eyes haunted. But there was something new. A steeliness underneath the fear.
A shiver passed over him. What if he wasn’t there to protect her?
To survive without him, she would need the knowledge and skills to defend herself.
Finally, he nodded. ‘Okay.’
ChapterSixteen
The safe house was on the outskirts of the ancient town. A small cottage with one bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living area, with a small verandah out the front. The surrounding vineyards were far enough away to prevent anyone from using them as cover for a surprise attack. Beaune itself was on a plane, however the vineyards rose into the hills. The town could trace its history back through the medieval and renaissance periods, and the oldest part of the settlement was encircled by a stone wall with at least half of the battlements, ramparts, and moats having endured in good condition. Like most medieval towns, the church, the majestic Collegiale Notre-Dame, was the centerpiece, with cobbled streets and laneways radiating out to the perimeter.
Despite the night in Rotterdam and agreeing to train her, Alex couldn’t help but feel the distance Sarah had placed between. It was both physical and emotional. He knew it was practical and in keeping with his own determination to stay focused and alive, but the separation was like a knife had sliced him open inside.
Their mornings consisted of a breakfast of strong coffee and fresh baguettes. Then they would do their daily training. A run through the vineyards and across the back roads. Alex started teaching her some basic self-defense. Enough, Sarah hoped, to save herself from a daylight mugging again.
After a week, she graduated to more assertive hand-to-hand combat techniques.
‘So, you can teach me to take down a guy twice my size?’
They were in a clearing between grapevines, with enough space to work but enough cover from prying eyes.
Alex cocked his head to the side and studied her. ‘How do you think that would work?’
‘I don’t know, run at him like I’m Black Widow and tackle him with my thighs around his head?’
He chuckled. ‘You really think you can pull that move off?’ Her eyes lit with anticipation.
He shook his head. ‘No.’
She pretended to look disappointed. ‘No?’
‘That’s just movie bullshit. It doesn’t actually work. Even if you could launch yourself that high, he’d see you coming and knock you out of the way.’
