Marine Proector: Brotherhood Protectors World Read online

  Barrett and Timbers carried in training bags and set eight of them up in a row along with sets of boxing gloves.

  “Today, you’re going to learn kickboxing moves, for conditioning and to add another skill set to your self-defense kit,” Timbers said.

  Barrett said, “Questions?” His gaze swung to Chyna and narrowed. “Chyna, what do you think?”

  Red rolled her eyes at “mouse girl”, knowing she’d complain.

  Her mouth pursed. “I think I’m not strong enough to box,” she said. "That’s for strong men or women who have muscles. I’m not strong like that. I’m small-boned.”

  Oh, give me a break, Red thought as she listened to Chyna. Doing the poor little save-me routine “sugar”, or are you really that helpless?

  “You’re stronger than you think,” Barrett said. “Don’t give up on it. Give it a try, and let’s see how you do.”

  “I can’t give up.” Chyna shook her head. “When I leave here, I have to be ready to defend myself when Phineas or his cousins, or anyone else from his family, comes looking for me.”

  “Phineas is your ex?” Barrett asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, but he usually goes by the name of Finn."

  “You said when, not if,” Barrett said. “What makes you so sure they’ll come looking?”

  “It’s not something I can explain. I just know him, and I know his family. None of them is happy about me walking around, able to share family secrets. They’re real big on keeping those family secrets locked up.”

  His eyes softened. “I’ll prepare you the best I can for any kind of attacker, ones who know you and ones who don’t.”

  Hope shone in Chyna’s eyes. “I know things I can’t tell anyone, ever,” she whispered. “Two of his cousins have been in prison, and his brother boasted he knew how to dispose of a body. I know they do some pretty bad things when they’re off supposedly hunting, but I have no real proof and didn’t see them do anything.”

  All about her, Red thought. These classes are all about her, because Barrett wants her. Those two ought to get together and quit drooling over each other, so we can get back to learning the moves.

  She shot a look of consternation over to where Timbers was standing with arms crossed.

  He met her glance, seemed to read it and then moved into the center of the room. “You guys ready?”

  That pulled Barrett’s attention back to the class. “All right class, let’s go.”

  For once Red was glad of the PT work. She shot Timbers a look of thanks and he gave a brief nod.

  After they did PT to warm up, Barrett started the class. First, he had them put on the boxing gloves, and then he demonstrated the moves they’d be doing.

  Right jab. Left jab. Right hook. Left hook. Memorize the pattern. It might save my life.

  Kicks would be added later.

  Most of the women were hitting the bags.

  “Yeah,” Red said after a few drills. She shook out her arms; her hands were beginning to feel a little numb. “Now, we’re talking. He comes at me again, I’m gonna bam the side of his head. Knock his ass out.”

  “I know that’s right,” Neecy-Lynn said.

  They gave each other a high-five with their gloves on.

  Timbers had stepped near Red and was watching. She felt his gaze on her even when she wasn’t looking at him.

  Taking the pads, the men pretending to be bad guys wore; Barrett had them line up in pairs and showed them what to do next. The same one, two, right hook they’d done before, now without gloves, became the base of the palm to the chest in a one, two, then an elbow to the left side of the bad guy's head, followed by a knee up into the groin.

  “Begin,” he said, then moved about the room, watching and making corrections. He watched the other women before switching out with Tim where Red and Chyna were practicing the moves.

  “Come on, Chyna. You ain’t gonna break,” Red pattered. “I’m gonna start calling you broken Chyna. Get mad, girl. Hey, broken Chyna,” she jeered. “Let me have it.”

  Chyna punched with her right fist.

  Red barely felt it.

  She countered with a punch.

  Flinching and ducking, Chyna backed away a step.

  Damn, that girl is never gonna learn this. I need a better sparring partner. I got to train to be ready for Z if he comes after me. “You’re the slow-mo backwards girl, and he’s gonna Speedy Gonzalez pound on your ass,” Red said, trying to goad the other woman into fighting.

  “Again,” Barrett said loud behind her. “Go again, and Chyna, try to move forward this time, not back. And you need your head to be like a turtle, down, with shoulders up to protect, instead of ducking. Notice how when you’re ducking, you’re off balance, and how, when you’re down, your opponent is up over you. These aren’t good defensive positions.”

  His gaze narrowed on Chyna. “You okay?”

  She nodded, blinking.

  “Okay.” He turned back to Red. “Again,” he said.

  They tried again and again.

  Finally, Chyna took a tiny step forward.

  “That’s it,” Barrett called. “Do that again.”

  “Again,” he said.

  The second time, she didn’t hesitate to take a step forward, and the step was bigger.

  “Yes!” Barrett said. “That’s it.”

  “I did it!”

  “You did,” he said, one corner of his mouth lifting.

  So, she can fight. Well, all right. About time.

  “Kick my ass next time,” Red said grinning.

  “I just might.” Chyna grinned back.

  “Again,” Barrett said.

  They went through the moves again, and this time it was Red’s turn to defend against an attack. She moved in and hit with force and speed. It wasn’t hard. She just pictured Z’s face as she punched and drove through.

  Chyna had trouble holding the pad, the way Red pounded on it, driving Chyna backwards.

  “Ha. Broke ya,” Red said. “He would’ve smashed ya by—”

  “Again,” Barrett said, quickly interrupted. “Chyna’s turn.”

  Chyna looked at him in surprise. “Again,” he told her.

  She looked back at Red. Putting her right foot back, her hands up and ducking her head, Chyna moved. This time she did everything right.

  “That’s it,” Barrett said. “Perfect. You’ve got this.”

  “Yes!” She turned and pumped her fist in the air. “I did it!” Her grin stretched from ear to ear.

  “That’s it for today,” Barrett told the class. “Good job, everyone. Now that you have the form down, next time, we’ll work on driving through and flanking your opponent.”

  Chyna turned her grin to him again, and he grinned back.

  Red looked at the clock. Those two lovebirds need to get a room, and we need to get full benefit of these classes.

  “We’ve got five more minutes,” Red said. “We could do it right now.”

  Barrett didn’t answer that. “Let’s go over a few things and talk about what you’ve learned today.”

  The class settled down onto chairs to listen.

  “We’re training to move forward, why?” he asked.

  “So, we can kick their ass!” Red said. She felt Timbers’ gaze as she spoke.

  Everyone laughed except Barrett.

  Timbers laughed quietly to himself, but Red saw him.

  “We’ll get to that part,” Barrett said.

  “You always say that,” Red said, huffing.

  “Point one. Red, step up here with me, and we’ll do a demo.”

  “All right. Just don’t knock me on my ass,” she said.

  “I’m not going to do that. Just slow-motion movements to demonstrate a point.”

  She got up and moved toward him. He held up a hand for her to stop when she was an arm's length away. She stopped.

  “Now notice if I grab for her, here.” He reached to grab her and missed. “I can’t. Learn to gauge distances and be a
ware of anyone this close. Now, one step forward,” he told Red.

  “Okay.” She stepped up.

  He reached and grabbed her arm. He was rough but not too rough. She didn’t flinch but tried to pull away. He released her. “Notice at this distance, it’s easy to grab her arm or anything else.”

  Everyone nodded.

  “I want you to practice just moving around each other and take turns trying to grab the other, so you get an idea of how close is too close for safety. So, at this range, I can't grab her,” he said. “Now, at this range,” he moved in closer but didn’t touch her, “try to hit me, using your boxing punches.”

  She tried, but he was too close for her fisted punches to hit him.

  Frustrated, she felt Timbers watching her.

  “Now, try to grab me.”

  She couldn’t, being in so close.

  “This is why when you hit. You drive in, move forward, and try to flank your opponent.” He turned and faced them. “So, you’re going to have to work against your initial instinct to move backward, because they might grab you. Instead, you’ll move forward and in, so they can’t, and once you’re on their flank, your next goal is to get away.” He stepped back. “Thank you, Red. That’s enough for today.”

  Red sat down, quietly thinking and absorbing it all, while Timbers helped Barrett put the equipment away.

  Her gaze followed Timbers as she watched the muscles in his arms flex when he lifted the heavy bags to move them to the side of the room. He was muscular from head to toe but his chest, shoulders and arms moved in a way that made her temperature warm just watching him.

  He’s so hot he’s a distraction. I don’t need distractions. She turned her gaze away from him.

  Chapter 6

  Tamara always invited Red and Chyna to ride with her. She loved horses and spent every chance she could riding. She talked about having a horse of her own, someday. The women joined her on the trail rides, except for Red and Chyna. Chyna was too afraid of the horses to ride, and Red already had her arrangement with Buck and didn’t need to join the other women.

  Instead, she spent all her spare time kickboxing or on the firing range.

  Timbers was back for another training session, and Barrett had said that for their last two weeks everyone was going to switch partners. After the first week, the women had become more used to each other, for they not only had the self-defense classes, they were together for every meal, and other activities as well.

  Too damn much togetherness. That was Red’s opinion. The morning rides saved her sanity with all this communal living and everybody knowing everyone else’s business.

  That day, Chyna had gotten herself sunburned, and at dinner, everyone expressed concern. No one had any after-sun lotion. Most of the women hadn’t even brought a swimsuit. A few had bought one on their Saturday outing in town. Red had bought a new one. A black bikini she’d worn a couple times, when she’d had the pool to herself and no one would see her the tattoo over her hip. Unlike Chyna, she was careful not to get a lot of sun.

  “If you want to take my truck into town to pick up some sunscreen, you can borrow it tonight,” George said to Chyna. “It’s gassed up and ready to go.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Ives, I appreciate that,” she said. “I think I will. Does anyone else want to go?” She looked around the dinner table.

  Red shook her head and turned her attention to something else. Emma had made pie, and the aroma was delicious.

  * * *

  Several days later, Timbers prepared to leave the ranch with Barrett. They stopped by Cecelia’s desk to check out.

  “Red has to go in to town for an appointment and needs an escort from Brotherhood Protectors,” Cecelia said. “The women are not supposed to be allowed to come and go, even to town. It was a mistake to let Chyna go by herself. We shouldn’t have let any of them do that. It’s not safe out there.”

  Barrett’s hand made a fist. “Yes it was a mistake. We’re lucky Chyna remembered her training and was able to fight him off and call for help.”

  “That’s why the women are here.” Cecelia said. “To escape from men like that. I disagreed with these trips to town.” She shook her head. “First the shopping trip, and then going by herself. We tell them when they arrive that they can’t leave the program and then be allowed to come back and then encouraged these trips. Well, I didn’t. But no one was listening to me. Told me it would be fine. Well it was not fine.”

  “I bet they listen to you now,” Timbers said in a quiet voice. “Giving mixed signals confuses everyone.”

  “That’s what I said,” Cecelia nodded at him. “After she was attacked, they’ve had to make the rules stricter with no exceptions. In Red’s case, this is an approved trip to her appointment. Leah put in a request with Hank for one of you to accompany Red.”

  Timbers quietly listened to the blind woman who couldn’t see Barrett’s fist or tight jaw. Barrett had it bad for Chyna. Though he’d tried to hide it and be professional. He was having to pull himself together now to talk to Cecelia. Timbers had never seen Barrett act like this.

  “We’re happy to provide escort any time they need it,” he said, giving Barrett a moment to compose himself.

  None of the staff of the Three C’s Ranch would forget what happened to Chyna. Nor would the Brotherhood Protectors. No one at the center had predicted that Chyna’s crazy ex would show up looking for her and try to abduct her. They’d thought all the women were safe. But every one of the Brotherhood Protectors knew you needed a plan A, a plan B, and even a plan C and that trouble could come from any corner at any time.

  Cecelia said, “There will be very few reasons to leave the property from here on out until they graduate.”

  “Good,” Barrett said. “And we’ll be here when you need us.”

  “I’ve called our request in to Hank. Thought one of you would be the best choice to go in to town with Red, over a man she’s never met.”

  “Any of us could do the job just as well, but I understand it’s a better comfort level for the women here if they know us,” Barrett said.

  “I’ll do it.” Timbers kept his expression neutral. It would give him the chance to get to know Red better, beyond the couple of self-defense classes he’d helped with. The pretty redhead intrigued him. She had a chip on her shoulder and a mouth that never stopped, but a hint of vulnerability in her green eyes made him wonder about the ghosts in her past.

  “Great. Thank you,” Cecelia said. “The appointment is at a tattoo parlor, so it will take a few hours.”

  “No problem.” He wouldn’t ask questions. He’d gotten used to guarding celebrities out in L.A. and no longer found it odd to escort them anywhere. He wasn’t surprised at Red going to a tattoo parlor, but he was curious about what she’d do there. Was she getting a new tattoo? And if so, what kind?

  As if she’d read his mind, Cecelia volunteered the information. “She’s having an old tattoo redesigned so it’s not recognizable. The tattoo artist is the owner of the shop, and he’s been vetted and is aware of the situation. No one is to take pictures of the art before or after, and this will be off the books. She’s paying cash. Here are his rates.” She reached for a paper and held it out.

  Timbers took it, looked at it, and then handed it back. “Here you go, Cecelia.”

  “Thank you,” Cecelia said as she took the paper. “Now, we have two choices. She can either keep the appointment next week, or, the artist just called to say he’d had two cancellations in a row and can fit her in this afternoon. However, with the long drive there, you’d need to leave within the hour.”

  “I can do that.” Today, he’d brought his own wheels, because Barrett had someplace to be after class in another direction. “She ready?”

  “Oh, I’m sure she will be. She’s been wanting this for a long time.” Cecelia smiled. “Stay here, and I’ll go find her.”

  “Okay.”

  Fifteen minutes later, she came back with Red. “Emma is throwing togethe
r a quick lunch for you to eat on the way.”

  Emma came hurrying toward them, holding a picnic basket. “Here you go, dears. Now, enjoy your picnic. It’s not hot—there wasn’t time for hot food—but this should hold you over for a while. Red, you be sure and eat something before the artist starts working on you.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Red nodded.

  Timbers noted that Red could be quiet and respectful when she chose to. The attitude dropped some, which told him it was armor more than deep personality.

  The drive started off quiet. He put their destination in his GPS, told her their ETA, and then drove in silence for a while. She made no effort at conversation, and her hand kept moving to her left hip then away again.

  Tired of not making conversation, Timbers asked, “Has this artist done work on you before?”

  “No, never met the guy. I showed him pictures of my tat over the internet, to make sure he could do what I need.”

  “Whoa. Wait,” Timbers frowned. “You sent pics of your tattoo over the internet?”

  “Yeah, the private one at the center. No one can see them.”

  His frown deepened. “There’s no such thing as privacy on the internet.”

  “I’ve been told otherwise.”

  “It’s a risk. How distinctive is your tattoo?”

  “Very.”

  Timbers concentrated on driving and didn’t look at her. He hadn’t asked her what the tattoo was or where it was. He was going to see it anyway when the artist started working on it. It’s not like she could keep it secret from him.

  Just when he thought they were done talking about it, she cleared her throat. “It says ‘Property of Z’, and the Z is a bold black one.”

  “I can understand you wanting to cover it.” He glanced at her. “Who’s Z?”

  “My ex. Z short for Z-bear.”

  “Huh. Not his real name, I’m guessing.”

  “Right. That’s the name he goes by in his MC.”

  * * *

  Red didn’t know why she felt like telling Timbers. But for some weird reason, she did. She watched him for reactions, but he didn’t seem to be having any. Other than interested listening.