No Safeword: Matte - Happily Ever After (Safewords) (26 page)

Three weeks before Ethan’s fight, Sam thought she was finally ready to do her big “Rocky Run.”

Ethan had let Jerrod in on Sam’s goal, and the coach had been working with her in between training Ethan. It was nice to have someone pushing her, helping her find ways to attain her goal.

What Sam didn’t expect was for Ethan to have about twenty of her friends waiting to join her for the final mile. Frisco even had a small speaker hanging around his neck belting out the tune from Rocky.

Sam was a little teary-eyed at the support of so many friends, but quickly refocused on her goal and determined to thank them properly when she finished.

The stairs from the riverwalk up to the bridge were hell, and then another half mile run straight uphill, more steps, across the glass bridge, up another steep section of hill… by the time she made it to the pick-up-sticks structure, every cell in her body screamed for oxygen. She settled her hands on the cool metal, leaned forward, engaged her abs, and pressed her legs into the air. Her friends sent up a cheer and counted as she did handstand push-ups.

Her goal had been ten, but she managed fourteen, and her smile was so big when she came down, her cheeks felt as if they were pushing her ears back.

Ethan lifted her in a hug, swung her around, and then leaned her over and kissed her even more breathless than she already was.

He was just as sweaty as she, but neither cared. The universe felt as if it righted itself in that moment.

The crowd made their way back to Sam and Ethan’s house, where they discovered even more people waiting for them.

Ethan had arranged a huge party.

“How did you know I’d manage it today?”

“You’ve been working yourself towards it for weeks. You wanted to do it at dusk, like Rocky, and you asked me Wednesday if we could go for a run together Saturday evening.”

Sam rolled her eyes. “Sometimes you’re scary, but thank you.”

Sam’s parents were there, as well as Luca, Kirsten and Master James, Tara and one of her boy-toys, even Ethan’s cousin, Justin.

She hugged Justin when she saw him, and he said, “I wanted to get in on the run but I didn’t make it up in time.”

“I’m so happy you made it at all. Thanks for coming! It means a lot.”

“You’re part of the family now, and we came too damned close to losing you.”

He gave her a fierce hug, which Sam returned. She didn’t ask about Dustin, as she knew no one had heard from him for months.

“My, my,
my
. What is it with you and these over-sized hotties?”

Sam smiled at Tara and introduced Justin as Ethan’s cousin.

“Well,” Tara responded. “Ethan comes from a damned fine gene pool.” She reached for Sam and pulled her into a hug. “I have no desire to run around town on my legs when I have a perfectly good car, but more power to you for reaching your goal.”

“I’ve a feeling this little lady can accomplish whatever she sets her mind to.”

Sam turned to Jerrod and accepted his sideways hug. “Thanks Jerrod. You’ve been a big help, you know. Encouraging me when I needed it, and a few times when I didn’t.”

Tara’s boy-toy brought her some wine while they were talking, and Sam noted Jerrod’s attention to how Tara accepted the glass as if from a minion instead of a date.

She left them talking and moved to other guests as she maneuvered to the steps, and managed to run upstairs, get a five minute shower, and change into a casual cotton dress. It was still cool enough she didn’t have to worry about hiding her scar, but she wasn’t sure how she intended to handle clothes when summer arrived.

The older guests left between nine and ten, and the rest of their friends stayed until the early morning hours. Other than play parties and holiday gatherings, Sam couldn’t remember ever having a normal party, and thought maybe they should do it more often.

Frisco and Cassie skated around each other, but Sam didn’t poke her nose in any farther than she already had. Frisco had only said he’d shown Cassie the ropes and now they were friends, which was pretty much what Cassie had said. Sam still had the feeling something was up with them, but decided to give them some more time to figure it out.

* * * *

She met Tyler, Viv, and Kirsten at the security company headquarters a few days later and was surprised to see they had the range to themselves.

She shot a dozen guns of varying calibers before deciding she liked one of Tyler’s nine-millimeter guns the best, but it was too big for her to carry. Her next choice was Kirsten’s Sig P938, which was almost tiny compared to most of Tyler’s.

Tyler laughed when she declared the one she liked best for a carry weapon, and she asked, “Why do you find it funny I like this one best?”

“Ethan told me you had a knack for picking out the most expensive item, no matter what you were shopping for. It appears your special talent extends to firearms.”

Sam rolled her eyes and turned to reload the magazines. “So, now that I’ve settled on a gun…once I’ve bought it, where do I go for training? Knowing what I do of martial arts, I’m assuming it’ll take hours and hours to develop the muscle memory so I’ll be ready if faced with an actual self-defense situation. You’ve been great about getting me started, but I don’t want to impose by expecting you to let me shoot here a couple of times a week.”

Tyler glanced at Viv and looked back to Sam. “I bring Viv to the range at least once a month, but it wouldn’t hurt for her to come in once a week for a little while, and I can work with both of you.”

Another man stepped around the corner and said, “If you’re willing, maybe I can put it out for family members of our employees who want structured range time and instruction to come in. We can do it once a week for six weeks, and if you’re willing to teach the class every other week, I’ll handle the weeks in between.” He looked around and said, “I’ll even open up the training course next door, let ’em get some simulated real life practice in.”

Tyler motioned to the man and said, “Sam, this is Aaron Drake, he owns this place. Aaron, this is Samantha Levi.”

Sam had just about given up on using her maiden name. She still used the hyphenated form at work, but everywhere else she’d just become Samantha Levi. Oddly enough, she was okay with it.

Aaron offered his hand and she shook it.

“Tyler’s told me about your situation,” he said, “and I have to say kudos to you for grabbing the bull by the horns. Some people go anti-gun when confronted with a gunman, others decide they need to be able to defend themselves.”

Tyler spoke before she had a chance to respond. “I wouldn’t mind a class of six or even eight, as long as they’re already fairly experienced. I don’t want to handle a beginner class, but I’d enjoy working with intermediate shooters who need to brush up on technique and learn how to shoot around a corner, identify a threat in a room of people — that sort of thing.”

Aaron nodded. “Agreed, and I think we have a lot of spouses and adult children of employees who fit that description. I’ll see what I can round up.”

He looked at Sam. “We’ll call you a close family friend, and you’ll be most welcome in the class.”

* * * *

Jerrod wanted to see Sam and Ethan spar, and while Sam was uncomfortable with an audience at first, and had trouble turning it into just practice and keeping it from becoming sexual, they weren’t sparring all out, so she managed.

However, during one encounter, things grew more intense and she felt the old feelings grow. She wanted to fight him with her full force, and needed him to dominate her — to take her down while she fought with everything she could.

She tried to fight the feeling by backing off, but it just wasn’t in her, and the mounting need only grew as she felt her fist impact his jaw at full strength.

He grabbed her, and would’ve been able to take her down before she was shot, but she’d been watching his training enough to learn a few new tricks. She sprawled her legs, lowered her center-of-gravity, waited for the right moment, and then sprang into action the second he started a readjustment. The next she knew, Ethan was flat on his back, she was on the other side of the mat, and suddenly she wanted to tear into him in the worst sort of way.

“
Matte
,” she said as she turned away from Jerrod and wrapped her arms around her torso. “Jerrod, can you lock the door on your way out, please?”

“What—”

Ethan interrupted as he picked himself up off the mat. “Step outside with me a minute, Jerrod?”

Sam could hear them talking in the hallway, but couldn’t hear what was said. Minutes later, Ethan returned and closed the door.

“Take your clothes off unless you want me to rip them off.”

“Yes, Sir. Thank you.”

“I’ve missed this. I’ll try to be conscious of your left arm, but you’ll tell me if I hurt your shoulder. Understood?”

Sam had her shirt and sports bra off, and answered, “Yes, Sir,” as she pulled her bike shorts and underwear off together.

She wanted to ask if he’d locked the door, but knew it would annoy him so she didn’t. Of
course
he’d locked the door. Probably.

She shook her head, told her inner voice to shut up, and finally looked at him, almost ashamed of her need.

“It’s okay,” he reassured her. “I knew you’d need it soon and I’m kind of looking forward to taking you this way.”

“Same rules as before?” she asked.

“Yes. Though I’ll be careful of your shoulder and I’d appreciate you not taking advantage of it.”

Sam grinned because she’d been thinking of moves she could pull he’d have trouble encountering without purposefully torqueing her shoulder.

His smile told her he knew, but he said, “Hold me off for eight minutes and we’ll be done once I’ve fucked you. Let my cock enter any of your holes before then and you’ll feel the rubber flogger to your pussy, asshole, and inner thighs when we’re finished.”

He fiddled with his cellphone and said, “It’ll announce how many minutes are left.” He pushed a button and a female voice intoned, “Eight minutes remaining.”

“Hold up. Is Jerrod gone, or just upstairs?”

“I sent him on an errand.” Ethan lunged at her, and Sam danced backwards to avoid his grab.

His parameters were different this time — she didn’t have to get any hits or kicks in, she only had to keep his cock out of her.

When he got close the next time she used some of her new wing-chun skills to pummel him, and he was the one who backed away.

She managed to get more strikes in than she was accustomed to, but shortly after his phone announced two minutes remaining, he took her to the ground and gained control of her. She mentally ran through the moves she’d seen Jerrod teaching, and decided to try one of them as he leaned down and prepared to force his way between her legs.

She popped her elbow into his sternum and used her momentum to wedge herself sideways as she pulled one leg under her, pushed away, and then sprang up and towards him until she was the one on top with her right arm around his neck. She controlled him, on the ground, for the first time
ever
.

Unfortunately, he merely pulled his legs under him and stood with her hanging around his neck, lifted her, and said, “I’d throw you if I could be sure you wouldn’t hurt your shoulder when you land.”

“So, the polite thing to do would be to move to the floor a few feet away as if I’d just been thrown.”

“Yep.”

She sighed, pushed off, landed a few feet away, and sprang to her feet.

Unfortunately, the next time he took her to the ground he raised her leg and rammed his cock into her. She screamed in frustration, and he put his hand over her mouth, his lips to her ear, and reminded her the gym wasn’t soundproof, and while Jerrod was likely still gone, they didn’t want the neighbors to hear.

She took advantage of the moment by elbowing him in the face, chopping down on his collarbone, and twisting out of his grip enough to get away.

He grinned and said, “I’ve already been in. You don’t gain anything by pushing me away except to make me fuck you harder the next time I’m in you.”

“And the satisfaction of getting away. Who says you’ll get in me again? You’re awful cocky for someone with an eye swelling shut.”

He dove at her in an attempt to grab her waist, but she jumped and landed on top of him, and controlled him again. As many times as she’d helped Tom with strategy, she’d never taken the time to learn how to incorporate her silat technique into her spars with Ethan. Watching Jerrod grapple with him and teach him, it’d all fallen into place.

If Ethan hadn’t been more than double her size he’d have been forced to tap out. Too bad for her, she was light enough he could once again twist, get his feet under him, and stand with her on his back. He couldn’t throw her like this, but he reminded her in a real fight he’d just fall backwards and crush whoever was on his back beneath him. She let go and danced away from him, alert for any micro-moves to forewarn of his next approach.