A/N: I'm back! I'm sorry it's been so long! Life has been extremely sucky and I haven't felt like writing or doing anything other than sleeping in a long time. It's just a small chapter, but hopefully longer ones will be coming out soon. Thanks for all of your patience! ❤️
I was hunched close to my computer deep into a background check on my FTAs relatives when I felt someone tap me on the right shoulder. I jumped slightly and glanced back to see Hector tapping his watch and pointing towards the elevator before walking away. What is it with these guys and silence? Do they have a word limit they have to stay under each day, or what? I glanced at the clock on the computer screen and was shocked to see it was already 4 pm. I've been working on this for hours! It didn't feel like any time had passed, but I get like that sometimes when I get focused on something. It's hard to keep track of time when I'm thinking hard about the task. Really digging into the dirt, so to speak.
I pushed back from my desk and stood up, knees and back creaking when I stretched my arms towards the ceiling. I guess I've gotten a little stiff sitting slumped over for so long. I do a couple of quick, but effective standing stretches before locking my workstation and walking towards the elevator. No one else uses it so it was waiting for me. I walk in and select the correct floor to head to the gym, wondering why they bothered with putting an elevator in at all. Maybe for Louis and Ella?
I step out of the elevator knowing that this is going to be a long session. I can already see Hector and Bobby sparing and they're faster than I can even track. There's no way I'm ever going to be able to move like that! I walk over to the edge of the mats and start stretching while they finish their fight. It looks like Bobby has the clear advantage up until Hector leans in and uses Bobby larger frame to flip him to the ground. I clap loudly which causes them both to smile and head over to me.
Bobby flops down on the mat beside me and does his best starfish impersonation while Hector just stands over me smirking with his right hand extended towards me to help me off the mat. That can't be good. I'm mentally regretting my life's choices while I allow him to tow me up to stand beside him. We both take a minute to make sure Bobby is still breathing (ironic when you think about it, I mean who's gonna save him if he isn't?) before walking over the the center of the mats.
"Hora de trabajar en tu defensa, Chica," Hector said while vaguely gesturing towards my body. I took that to mean for me to get in a defensive position (like I know what that is) so I squared my feet towards him and lifted my fists near my face. He grimaced before adjusting pretty much everything I had just done; whew, that's not a good way to start. I'm trying to ignore my inner bitch that's just ranting up a storm about how pathetic we are since we can't even stand correctly so that I can understand what Hector is trying to tell me. My Spanish is non-existent and his English is rudimentary, at best. This is going to be interesting, I can just tell.
"Nosotros vamos a comenzar con lo basico. Bobby!" Oh thank God, maybe Bobby will take pity on me and explain what I'm supposed to be doing. Note to self: learn Spanish ASAP.
Bobby levered himself up off the ground and walked over towards us; he didn't even seem to be winded or tired anymore. Lucky bastard. Yes I know it's more likely to be athleticism and fitness than luck, but I'm feeling a little bitchy. So sue me. No one likes having to admit they suck at something in front of witnesses and I'm about to demonstrate some pretty pathetic levels of self-defense here. I'm just happy they didn't invite Tank and Les down here to watch my humiliation as well.
"Alright, Steph. We're just going to go over some basic moves for when an attacker tries to grab you from behind. You never know when someone might try and sneak up on you and try to incapacitate you. You're tiny so it's best to make sure they can't keep hold of you. The best way to do that is to use their weight against them and just use whatever means necessary to get them as far away from you as possible. You understand?" As Bobby was talking, Hector positioned himself in front of me with Bobby behind him. Bobby is so much bigger than Hector that I could still see him the entire time he was talking. As soon as he finished and I nodded, he grabbed Hector around the neck and tried to drag him off towards the back of the room. I watched as Hector flung himself away from Bobby and kicked back at his kneecap. At the same time, he swung his fist backwards towards Bobby's groin and his head backwards towards Bobby's nose. Bobby was off balance from the weight shift and all three attacks hit home which caused him to let go of Hector before he collapsed on the ground in pain. Hetor smirked at Bobby before looking at me.
"¿Lo entiendes?" No clue what that meant, but I'm assumming he's asking if I get what he did so I nod. He smiled before gesturing towards Bobby who was slowly picking himself up off the mats.
"Ready to try it yourself, Steph?" he asked, before going to stand behind me. I nod and he grabs me around the neck. It definitely isn't as tight as it could be, which I'm thankful for. I don't look forward to blacking out for lack of air while I'm trying to remember what to do. I tried flinging my body forward like Hector did but Bobby didn't even sway forward. Great, next step I guess. I tried kicking back at his knee but I missed and he just side-stepped me. So I went for his crotch and his nose and hit the target, but obviously not with enough force because he was still holding on to me.
"Ella no está lo suficientemente desesperada. Ella necesita más motivación." That can't be good. My Spanish is still trash, but some of those words sounded familiar. Bobby nodded at Hector and tightened his grip around my neck and started actively dragging me towards the back of the room. I panicked. I was losing air flow and allowed my instincts to kick in. It wasn't pretty. I slung my elbow up into his ribcage and slammed my fist down into his groin. He released me immediately and fell to the mat gasping for air. I panicked again thinking I had broken Bobby.
"Oh my God, Bobby! I'm so sorry! What can I do? Do you need an ice pack? An ambulance? Pain meds?" I looked around for a med kit or something that might help and noticed that Hector was bent over leaning on his knees for support while lauging so hard his face had turned red.
"Resulta que puede defenderse muy bien cuando está motivada adecuadamente," Hector chocked out between laughs as Bobby moaned on the floor.
Bobby flipped him off before groaning out, "Obviously. Next time you be the test dummy, I plan on having kids one day and she's lethal." Hector just started laughing all over again while I stared at both of them in exasperation. This is gonna be a long couple of months.