Maybe Swearing Will Help (SWAT Generation 2.0 3)

Which my family had no problem doing.

“Come on then,” Patman ordered, gesturing with his hands.

Ashe scratched her head, causing her hastily tied up hair to bob in the messy bun on the top of her head.

“Come on, Jericho,” Patman ordered. “If you’re too much of a pussy to…”

Jericho moved, coming at Patman like a man possessed.

“Guess he didn’t like being called a pussy,” Nico murmured.

I snorted and watched as Ashe stood back, watching the two fight.

Patman had Jericho in a headlock about a half minute later, slowly lowering him to the ground.

Ashe waited until Jericho was all the way on the ground, and Patman wasn’t paying the least bit of attention, and then moved.

Have you ever seen what a hunting panther looked like as it stalked its meal?

One second you had no clue it was there, and the next the panther had the head of whatever animal it was stalking in his mouth, and he was clamping down on it for the kill?

That was what Ashe always reminded me of.

A panther.

Beautiful to look at, deadly to cross.

I never underestimated her. Not when I was nine, and certainly not now.

Patman, however, did.

He forgot to keep his eyes on his other opponent and paid the price for it.

One second Ashe was across the room, and the next she had Patman in an armbar on the ground, her legs wrapped solidly around his throat, pinning him to the ground with ease.

“Holy shit,” Nico, Saint, and Sammy said in surprise.

“Damn, she’s a hot bitch,” Jerry said. “I’d let her wrap her legs around my face like that any time she wanted.”

I ignored the motherfucker that had a death wish and watched as Patman refused to tap out.

“Tap out, darling,” Ashe ordered. “I can do this all night.”

Some kind of signal was given between one instructor and the next, and seconds later, Ashe was up and moving across the room.

Patman was up on his knees, and the other instructor that went to kick Ashe in the face was still pulling his heel back to strike.

I was on my feet before I’d told myself to do so.

“Easy,” Nico ordered softly. “Easy.”

There was no gentling me, though.

I may fight with Ashe because it amused me to no end to see her riled, but I was the only one allowed to do so.

The only one.

Her brothers weren’t allowed to do it. Not my brother. Not these two asshole instructors that Luke should’ve fired two years ago.

Not anyone but me.

Patman got up, rubbing his arm, a sneer on his face.

The instructor, Greeves, I believed his name was, narrowed his eyes when he saw Ashe across the room, not even breathing hard.

“Looks like we got ourselves a wannabe fighter here,” Greeves joked.

The recruits around Patman danced around awkwardly on their feet.

“That wasn’t very sportsmanlike,” Ashe said flatly.

“No.” Patman grinned. “It wasn’t, was it? But, saying that, you’re not going to get sportsman when you’re out in the world. You’re going to get dirty.” He snapped his fingers at Ashe and the poor scared man that was paired up with her. “Again.”

Ashe rolled her eyes.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “You’re going to try to hurt me, and I’m not going to do that again. I’ve proven I can take care of myself. Move on to someone else.”

Louis whistled between his teeth, and I sighed and looked up at the ceiling, knowing that was just going to incite Patman to go at her harder.

“You have to pass this portion of the class to move on,” he said. “And if I don’t feel like you’re worthy of passing, then you won’t pass. Which’ll be a pity for your friend, Luke, now won’t it?”

I felt somebody’s presence at my side and didn’t bother to look over at who it was.

It was only later that I’d realize it was the chief of police himself. Ashe’s uncle.

“What’s going on?” the chief, who I didn’t realize was the chief, asked.

“What’s going on is Patman and Greeves are trying to beat the shit out of Ashe,” I said. “Fucking assholes.”

“That’s the point of the training.”

I shook my head. “Not like this, it’s not.”

“One more time, or are you too scared?” Patman goaded.

She flicked her hands at the man that’d been paired up with her. “You run along so I don’t end up hurting you, too.”

The kid froze for a second, unsure what to do.

But Patman laughed and ordered him to stand back.

He did so reluctantly, looking as if he possessed half a brain cell and didn’t want to leave Ashe out there on her own.

“She sure can fight,” the man next to me stated.

My eyes never once strayed from the screen.

“Like a motherfucker.” I nodded. “She’s amazing.”

Patman once again moved his hands in a ‘come on’ gesture and Ashe rolled her eyes.

“I swear to God,” she said. “If you so much as give me a red mark on my skin, I’m calling my daddy on you.”