“Why don’t we go to the gym?” he asks, and I can breathe again. “Give me a few minutes to change into something more appropriate.” Finally, something is going my way today. I don’t mind going to the gym with him as a chaperone. I dare anybody to so much as look at me the wrong way.
It turns out the gym is empty when we arrive. “What did you have in mind?” Lucas asks while I follow him to an open area where racks of free weights are against the wall. Mirrors are lining the walls so people can check their form or whatever it’s called.
“Show me something. Anything. Something to defend myself.”
He folds his arms, lips pursed like he’s thinking. “I may have a better idea. What if you attacked me?”
The idea is so outrageous I can’t help but laugh. “Sorry,” I offer when he scowls. “Me? Attack you?” I look at the mirror, and the sight of our reflection almost makes me laugh again. We’re like David and Goliath. He is a mountain of muscle, and I’m, well, me.
“We aren’t going for realism here, Aspen.” He snorts, shaking his head before planting his feet at shoulder width. “I’m telling you to attack me. That’s an order.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Whatever comes naturally. I’m your enemy.” He cups his fingers in a beckoning gesture.
I’m not sure if this is some sort of game or what. Could he blame me for being confused? One thing’s for sure: he’s not joking. He bends a little at the waist, planting himself in place. “I’m waiting.”
My first attempt isn’t very strong because it’s half-hearted. This is so strange. I’m supposed to be protecting myself from him, not the other way around. I rush him, hands outstretched, shoving his chest. A slight breeze might as well have blown through the room for all the good it does.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
“I’m not sure how much I can give.”
“Give it everything.” He locks eyes with me. “I mean it. Whatever it is, I can take it. Attack me. Beat the hell out of me if you have to. Just do it.”
Okay, then. I take a few deep breaths, pumping myself up, and this time when I charge, I hit lower, near his center of gravity. I manage to rock him back on his heels, but he swats me away like a fly. “Come on, Aspen. I’m standing in your way. There’s something you want, but you have to get through me to get it. What are you going to do?”
Funny. He sounds a little more the way he used to. Colder. Harder. The sound of it sparks a fire in my brain. He underestimated me. They all did. They looked at me and saw what they wanted to see.
A growl tears its way of me, and I launch myself at him, driving him back a few steps. He shoves me away, but I don’t give up this time, circling him and shoving him from behind. “That’s more like it.” He pivots, facing me again, shifting his weight from side to side.
When I feint left, he follows, so I lunge right and take his wrist in my right hand. Holding his arm up, I drive my left elbow into his ribs once, twice. This time he grunts, puffing out a big gasp and doubling over. “You’re quick. You have that on your side.”
I also have rage on my side. Months of pent-up aggression I’ve had no way to vent are now ready to burst free like a dam broke. He’s not Lucas right now. He’s everybody who’s ever hurt me, disparaged me, tormented me.
Before he can straighten up, I get him in a headlock. The crook of my elbow is beneath his chin, my forearm wrapped around the other side of his neck. I push against it with my other hand, using the leverage to squeeze tight.
I look up in the mirror. Is that me? The girl I see in the mirror is powerful. Strong, capable.
Lucas recovers quickly, sneaking an arm around my stomach to use as a pivot point before sweeping my legs back. I end up head over heels, the room spinning around me before I land on my back hard enough to knock the wind from my lungs.
“Come on.” Now he sounds a little winded, probably because I cut off his air for a second. “Let’s see what else you can do. Unless you plan on lying on the floor and taking a nap.”
I get on my feet and shake it off. We circle each other slowly, both of us wary. I charge him, but he catches me, holding me at arm’s length. We grapple until I use one of the moves he taught me. Flinging his arms away before driving my shoulder into his midsection hard enough to take him down.