Broken #3 (The Broken Series - Book #3) (4 page)

I started whispering, “Oh my
God,” over and over again as we were plunged into darkness once more. Shaking,
I pulled away from Jet and wrapped my arms around myself, trying to stop the
shakes that were taking over my body.

“I think this might be the end of
it, actually.”

We saw a light on at the end of
the hallway, and we moved toward it. I heard another door slam, and dread came
over me like a flood. We kept moving toward the light, and I wondered what was
in the hallway with us. I could hear no footsteps, just like the last time, and
I wasn't sure if that was better or worse.

Arms grabbed me from around the
waist, and pulled me away from Jet. I screamed bloody murder, and tried to
struggle out of the grasp.

“Jet, help me. Something has me.”
But at that point I couldn't even see Jet anymore; I could hear him running
toward us so I knew he was coming for me.

“Natalie, where are you?”

“Here, I'm right here; you're so
close.”

Just as Jet came into view, the
arms that were wrapped around me let go. I heard footsteps disappearing, and a
door slam.

Jet was immediately beside me.
“Oh God, Natalie.
I’m sorry, that was a little hard-core,
wasn't it?”

“You think? You didn't tell me
that people could just grab me.”

“I didn't know. It's always
different; you know that. The guys that work here are allowed to do anything to
scare people.”

“Let's get out of here, please?”

“Of course.”

He grabbed my hand, and we
hurried down the hallway toward the light. We reached the end without further
incident, and came out into the fresh night air. Some of Jet's friends were
outside waiting for us, while others were still inside.

One of the gym girls approached
us. “How was it? I almost died in there.”

“Natalie was grabbed, so she's
pretty freaked out.”

“You got grabbed? That's nuts,
where?” she asked me.

“Just at the end, the last hallway.
Someone wrapped his arms around
me, and pulled me away. Jet had to come and get me.”

“Oh my God, that's terrifying. No
one grabbed me when we were in there.”

“Gee, that's comforting.”

“Well, they always try new
things. At least we made it out alive.”

I laughed.
“Just
barely.”

I realized then that Jet was
still holding my hand, and I squeezed it gently. He turned to me and smiled.

“I'm glad you came,” he said.

I woke up the next day with a
smile on my face, despite the sheer terror I had experienced the night before.
I had also had a really good time with Jet. He had stayed true to his word and
brought me right home afterward. I almost regretted that part, though, as they
all ended up going out for burgers after. I had been invited, of course, but
since I was such a nerd I had told everyone I had a creative writing assignment
I needed to work on. They must have loved jabbing Jet about it all night. I
could just imagine the things they were saying, like
why are you hanging out with a girl who would rather
study then spend time with you?
Or maybe
one of those gym girls spent the night licking his wounds for him.

Either way, I wished now that I
had gone with them. It may have done wonders for the rumor mill if his friends
actually gotten to know me instead of assuming that I was that weird girl that
Jet had hooked up with once.

I rolled over in bed and went to
the bathroom to freshen up. I had to be in the gym in an hour to meet Jet. He
had asked me to meet him there to do some more
self-defense
training. I wasn't entirely sure he even thought I needed it anymore; I guessed
he just enjoyed teaching me. I didn't mind though, I was really starting to
enjoy it myself. It made me feel tough, and I had never felt tough before. It
was nice to feel strong and capable, even if I never got the chance to use my
new skills.

I left the bathroom and went to
the kitchen to get some fruit, I didn't like feeling too full before a workout,
because it made me feel lazy and nauseous. This way, I would have something for
energy, and still be able to accomplish what I needed to.

Julie was already in the kitchen,
and she turned to smile at me when I came in the room.

“Hey, girl, want a cup of tea?”

“I would love to, but I don't
have time. I'm meeting Jet at the gym.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Two days
in a row?
Wow, lucky him.”

I laughed. “Oh, be quiet. I
didn't even know I would be seeing him last night. It was hardly a date. I was
terrified the entire time. It doesn't exactly scream romance.”

“Scream ...” she chuckled.

I laughed too. “I'm just grabbing
some fruit. I will see you later.”

“Hey, maybe we can have some
dinner together later.”

“Sure, I would love that. Pasta
though, I have been craving pasta for days.”

Julie nodded.
“Sounds
good to me.”

I hurried out the door and down
the stairs. When I reached outside, it was nice to see that the sun was shining
bright. We didn't get that many sunny days now that fall had arrived; we had to
enjoy them while we could before winter hit.

I walked briskly as I made my way
to the campus. I loved long, crisp walks; they made for refreshing exercise,
and woke me right up. Once on campus I made my way into the gym. I was smiling
as I looked around for Jet. When I saw him sitting beside a gorgeous and
ridiculously fit girl, my smile disappeared. They were whispering and laughing
together, and the sight of them turned my stomach. They looked intensely
intimate, like new lovers, and I almost felt like walking out of the gym and
skipping the training. I didn't know how to feel about what I had seen, and
what was worse, was that I didn't know why I felt so jealous. I wanted us to
remain just friends, didn't I? And yet, there I was, losing my mind over the
fact that he was sitting beside another girl. But she was so pretty―way
too pretty―far prettier than I. I didn't know what to do, but I felt
stupid standing there staring at them.

How did a girl get that fit? She
must be in the gym round the clock, and never eat a bowl of ice cream. Was that
any way to live? I wondered if I could give up ice cream if it meant looking as
hot as she did.

Jet looked up, and saw me staring
at him like an idiot. He smiled and waved at me, so there was certainly no way
I could walk out of the gym at that point. The girl looked up to see who he was
waving at, and she smiled at me as well, but that I didn't think that it was
the warmest of smiles. I felt like I was being assessed, and that I failed to
impress her.

“Hey, Natalie, I'm glad you came.
This is Katie.”

Katie stood up and approached me,
holding her hand out. I shook her hand and noticed how firm her grip was.

“Hi Katie; it's nice to meet you.
How is it that you know Jet?”

“Oh, Jet and I go way back, don't
we, Jet?” She winked at him, and he laughed. She slapped his ass in the same
way football players do to each other. I was shocked to see how playful the two
of them were together.

“I know Katie through MMA. She's
one of my female teammates.”

I looked at her. “You're a
fighter as well?”

“Yes, I am.” She grinned proudly.

“Katie is a pro for sure. She
hasn't lost one fight yet. She's an awesome
fighter,
and one of the best in her weight class.”

I just nodded, unsure of how I
felt about Katie. Did the two have more than MMA history together, or were they
just really, really close buddies.

“Anyway, I invited Katie to train
with us today. She will give you some idea what it's like to work with a woman,
and what women need to know to protect themselves.”

Oh God, I had to train with that
girl? He really should have asked me if it was okay, because the last thing I
wanted was to have to play around with a girl who put her hands on Jet whenever
she felt like it.

“Cool, sounds great,” I said, but
I didn't mean it.

“Great, let's get started. I'm
going to show you some basic grappling techniques, and then we will do some pad
work.”

We walked over to the mats where
Jet grabbed one of the grappling dummies. “Okay, ladies, I'm going to show you
the four points of grappling. Katie, of course, is a veteran with these
techniques, but she is also going to help me teach them to you.”

He showed me basic techniques for
a first point hold, second, third and fourth. The movements were subtle. The
first required a position beside the dummy, and then a transition with me on my
knees facing the dummy. From there I straddled the dummy for the third
position, and the fourth had me still straddling, but with arms stretched out,
pinning my opponent. They looked pretty easy, and I looked forward to mastering
them.

Jet showed me the positions over
and over, and then told me to show them to him on the dummy. I did them exactly
as he had shown me, and I did it flawlessly.

Jet was clapping, while Katie
just held her hands on her hips. “Well done, beautiful; looks like you're a
natural.”

“Maybe I just have a good
trainer, Jet.”

He laughed and pulled me off the
ground.

“Okay, Katie, you're up. Let's
show her what all these steps look like on a person.”

I wasn't sure what was going to
happen, but as Jet lay down on the ground, I watched as she initiated all four
points on him, and I raised my eyebrows when she straddled him. That move
seemed far too intimate to me. She pinned him down with her hands above her
head and her knees bracing his sides. She was wearing little booty shorts and
her body had moulded itself to his. Had they flipped positions he would be
nestled between her legs. Did they all really train that way with females? How
did they not all get erections?

Katie bent down close to Jet's
face and he smiled up at her. “Do you know what I could do to you right now,
Jet?” she was smiling down at him devilishly, and I almost screamed. I was
certainly screaming on the inside. I turned around, refusing to watch her hit
on Jet right in front of me. Something told me that the two of them had slept
together in the past and maybe Katie wanted to rekindle things.

There was giggling going on, but
I refused to turn around to see what she was doing. Finally I turned as Jet was
getting up off the ground.

“Okay, Natalie, do you want to
give it a try?”

“Oh, I think that's ahead of
Natalie right now, Jet. She should focus on the grappling dummy right now. We
don't want to give her too much to confuse her.”

My mouth fell open as I gaped at
her. I couldn't believe what she was pulling. She didn't want me to be in the
same straddling position as she was with Jet. I felt my blood pressure rise but
it only got worse when Jet spoke.

“Yeah, you're probably right. I
will keep her on the dummy for a few sessions and go from there.”

“Perfect; I think that's what's
best.” She turned to me. “Natalie, let’s see the four points on the dummy
again, please.”

I snorted and shook my head.
“Whatever.”

Jet got a confused look on his face
but didn't say anything about my comment. Geez, men could really be dense
sometimes. I continued my grappling training on the dummy. I did it so many
times that I felt like I could have easily done it in my sleep. Jet shouted out
words of praise, as he was clearly happy with my progress. However, despite the
fact that he seemed to think I was a “natural,” he still never moved me to the
next step. He was listening to Katie's instructions because she was there to
help me that day. I hoped that she wouldn't be there again the next time that I
had to train with Jet.

“I think we handled enough
grappling for the day. Let's work on some pads, ladies.”

Jet went to grab some pads and
focus mitts. While he was gone, Katie just stared at me. I couldn't figure out
what her problem was. Did she see me as a threat, or was she so confident about
her own skills that she didn't believe for a moment that I could get Jet away
from her?

“We are going to do defense, so
we will go through the slips I showed you last time. Come on
Katie,
let's show her what I'm looking for.”

They got into position and by
that point; I couldn’t have cared less what he had to show me. I was sick of
looking at them together. The entire time he showed her the slips she giggled
and circled him. It was like a lovers dance, a damn violent one but she loved
to play with him, and he was enjoying every minute of it.

They ran through the motions
again, and Jet stopped. “Okay, Natalie, I want you to work with Katie
now―the same movements I was showing you, and then we will be finished
for the day.”

I sighed, moved into the circle
with Katie, and slipped the punches she sent my way.
 
I moved fluidly and passed by every one of
them without incident. I was getting tired, but it was more mental tired than
physical. Being around Jet was exhausting in more than one way.