Read Online Heart of the Nebula by Joe Vasicek - Free Book Online Page B

she raised
them high in the air, with her long blond hair spilling forward
almost to the floor. James caught himself staring and immediately
looked away.
    The countdown timer finished, and the
treadmill slowed to a stop. He stepped off and wiped his face with
a towel while Sara continued her stretching routine.
    “ Have a good workout,” he
said as he walked toward the door.
    “ Actually, Lieutenant, do
you have a minute?” Sara asked.
    James stopped, his breath catching in his
throat. “Yes?”
    “ Do you have any
self-defense moves you could teach me? It would help me feel safer
when we’re at the conference.”
    He turned around to face her. She was on the
floor now, stretching out her legs. Her flexibility was
impressive—with both legs spread out at a considerable angle, she
could still lean forward far enough to touch her elbows to the
floor.
    “ I suppose,” he mumbled.
She smiled at him, and his legs practically turned to
water.
    I have to be
careful, he told himself. This is the patrician’s daughter, after
all. That wasn’t the only thing that made
him uneasy around her, though. Without a doubt, she was the most
gorgeous sparring partner he’d ever had.
    She stood up and looked at him with bright,
eager eyes. He tried to avoid them as he squared off to face
her.
    “ The first thing to
remember is that the best way to defend yourself is to get away
from trouble as quickly as you can. You’ll never lose a fight if
you always run away.”
    “ But you don’t run,
Lieutenant. That’s why my father chose you for this
mission.”
    His cheeks blushed bright red. “That’s
different. If I run, people die. I’m supposed to protect them.”
    “ Just like my father asked
you to protect me?”
    The look of admiration on her face was so
disarming that for a couple of panic-filled moments, he was
speechless. When was the last time a girl had looked at him that
way? Something told him that she wanted more from him than a
self-defense lesson.
    “ Pretty much, yeah,” he
somehow managed to say.
    “ So what do I do if I can’t
run?”
    “ Well, you call for help.
Most thugs are basically cowards, so if you make a lot of noise and
cause a scene, that’s usually enough to spook them. Besides, I’m
sure Sterling and I won’t be too far away.”
    “ And what if you’re not
there to save me?”
    Her words stung him more than she could have
realized. He drew a sharp breath as he remembered his sister
Stella, and how he’d failed to save her.
    “ Let’s start with the
basics. Suppose someone grabs you by the shirt, like
this.”
    He took her hand and brought it to his
chest, just below his shoulder.
    She obediently grabbed onto his shirt, the
way someone would if they wanted to drag him against the wall. Her
grip was surprisingly firm.
    “ See, from here, you have a
lot of options,” he explained. “First, you could strike his face
with the heel of your palm, hitting either the nose or the chin.”
He demonstrated on her as slowly and gently as he could, taking
care not to hurt her.
    “ What if that doesn’t
work?”
    “ If you hit at the right
angle, you could easily break his nose. But chances are, you’re
probably not going to be as strong as the person attacking you.
Striking is just a way to distract them so that you can break their
grip, like this.”
    He reached for her hand with his opposite
one and took her by the wrist, pressing his thumb against the back
of her hand.
    Controlling her by the wrist, he rolled her
hand and gently hyper-extended her hand, making her release her
grip. As her arm locked, he turned and pushed into her elbow with
his opposite arm, making her stagger toward the wall.
    “ Ouch!”
    “ Are you all right?” he
asked, suddenly letting go.
    “ No, I’m fine—that was just
really effective. Can you show me again?”
    He repeated the move, taking great care not
to hurt her. She cooperated with him quite well, staying relaxed
and not pushing back.
    “ Can you do it