Читать книгу His Most Scandalous Secret - Susan Crosby, Susan Crosby - Страница 9

Three

“How many of you have been victims of violence?”

Tessa looked around the room at the hands raised in response to her question. She’d decided to run separate classes based on age. This group was all teenagers. In this area of the city it explained why so many hands were up.

“How many of you had any kind of warning?”

Only a couple this time. Probably home violence, Tessa decided, a threat carried out.

“How many of you felt helpless?”

The hands came up again. She came around to the front of the podium, removing the barrier between them.

“The purpose of this class is to prevent you from being a victim. I’m not going to show you fancy moves, because they rarely work, especially if you have only a split second to react What I will show you is how to defend yourself well enough to escape.”

“Miss Rose?”

“Yes, Luis?”

“That was some fancy move you put on Stone Man.”

Tessa had anticipated the comment. She glanced at Chase, who leaned against the back wall watching her, a gray-haired man beside him. The infamous Sarge, unless she missed her guess.

“That’s a good point, Luis. However, I was prepared for him. Because I’m always aware of who and what is around me, I knew he was probably going to try to grab my purse. I also knew I couldn’t escape it, because he was too close.”

“How’d you know he was gonna grab it?”

“He slowed down when he saw me. He eyed my bag. I knew what was coming. I stopped at a place on the street where I was sure I could handle him. The second he reached out, I grabbed him. Before he knew it, he was hugging the hood of a car. Yes, I’ve learned the self-defense moves, but more importantly, I’ve learned to see what’s ahead, what could hurt me and how to make sure it doesn’t happen.

“That’s what I want you to learn. That, and how to get away. There’s nothing tricky about it. There’s also a chance you could get hurt. However, your goal is to get away, and you may have to fight back. But your injuries will probably be less than what your attacker had in mind for you.”

Every gaze was focused on her. She didn’t know whether to be pleased that they sat so attentively or sad that their lives necessitated the class at all.

“Okay. I’ll need some volunteers to act the roles of the criminals, preferably boys.” At the instant vocal response, she said, “I’m not being sexist. This is as realistic as I can make it. Part of the allure of crime for males is their power over females. Women don’t commit violent crimes in anywhere near the same numbers.”

“And guys are stronger,” one of the girls called out as several boys shuffled to the front of the classroom.

Tessa smiled. “Depends on the situation. But we’ll deal with that when we get to it. We’re going out of the classroom for a few minutes. Mr. Ryan? Would you take over, please?”

He nodded and headed to the front of the class. As he passed by, he grabbed her. Tessa reacted instantly and automatically. Shouting, she pretended to make two quick, debilitating moves, then she turned and ran, screaming. He huddled.

Silence filled the room. The shock on the kids’ faces faded when she stopped at the podium and looked at them. They started to chatter amongst themselves. She raised her voice to be heard.

“Mr. Ryan and I set that up ahead of time, although I didn’t know when or what he was going to do. I wanted to be as surprised as possible. He did surprise me—” she looked his way “—because I expected him to wait until later in the class. Now let’s go over what I just did.”

“She came dam close to hurting me, even pretending,” Chase said. “Her scream really caught me off guard, and her strength, as well. I thought I was the one in control, but she proved me wrong immediately. I forgot my own plans.”

Most of the kids stood to get a closer look as Tessa moved beside Chase and continued her lecture.

“You might be tempted to carry a weapon of some sort, but remember—a weapon can be taken away and used against you. So, you need to use weapons that they can’t take. Your fingers. Hands. Elbows. Your feet and knees. I’ll show you later.”

She looked up at Chase, mentally measuring his height. He stared back, his eyes almost silver in hue. “You’re what, six inches—” She stopped, realizing how he might inteipret her question. “Um—”

“Seven,” he said under his breath.

“Um, Mr. Ryan is, um, six or seven inches taller than me—” she emphasized the word taller, and ignored his eyes, sparkling with what she strongly suspected was laughter “—and outweighs me by probably fifty or sixty pounds. Yet, if I’d used full force against him, he’d be on the floor right now. And I wasn’t even mad. When you add anger and fear to your strength, there’s little you can’t do, at least one-on-one.”

“Okay, let’s recap,” Tessa said two hours later. “What’s the best way to get yourself out of trouble?”

“Practice,” someone called out.

“How?”

“In your head, every day. And with your friends. It makes you be prepared for anything.”

“Good. What’s your best weapon?”

“Havin’ you along, Miss Rose,” Luis said.

“Your hands and feet,” one of the girls said when the laughter died.

“Screaming,” said another.

“Biting.”

“All correct answers,” Tessa said. “Make a lot of noise, fight as hard as you can and just as dirty.”

“Don’t believe anything your attacker tells you, ’cause he’s lying,” the quietest girl in the class said. She hadn’t spoken during the entire two hours. “Get hurt fighting back, if you have to, instead of getting raped or—or worse.”

“Exactly. Thanks for reminding us, Sherry.”

“Don’t ever let ’em take you somewhere. Crash the car, or make them crash it somehow,” Luis added.

“Good. What’s your primary goal?”

“To get away.”

“Right. Everybody say that together, loud.”

“To get away!” they yelled.

“Nobody tries to be a hero, right?”

“Right!”

“Mr. Ryan, do you want to add anything?” Tessa asked.

Chase approached the podium. “I think that at least once a month we should practice what we’ve learned today. And I say ‘we’ because I’ve been as much a student as you today. Miss Rose, that was an excellent program. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that we all feel more prepared. Thank you very much.”

She scooted the teenagers out of the room, embarrassed at the applause, happy to have everything she’d learned in the past twenty years or so be received with such enthusiasm.

“There’s someone I’d like you to meet.” Chase indicated the man standing, posture perfect, at the back of the room, as he had been for the two hours of the program.

She judged him to be in his seventies, although his solid body could have passed for a lot younger. His buzz-cut gray hair seemed perfect for his almost military demeanor.

“Tessa, this is Wilson Buckley, the man the Center is named for. Sarge, meet Tessa Rose.”

They shook hands. His was a firm handshake, not bone-crushing. Straightforward. Undoubtedly just like the man.

“I don’t think I’ve been witness to a better program,” Sarge said directly. “You oughta take your show on the road. Run this at all the middle schools and high schools in the city.”

“We had a hard enough time getting some of the parents here to sign permission slips,” Chase said. “I had to call a lot of them personally. They live in denial of the dangers their children face today that they didn’t.”

“With any luck,” Tessa said, “the kids will share their knowledge with their siblings and friends, maybe even their parents. Mr. Buckley, I’m really happy to meet you. Chase speaks so highly of you.”

“Call me Sarge.”

Chase excused himself to go change for dinner, leaving the two alone. They sat at a nearby table.

“How do you like working here?” Sarge asked.

“It’s the best job I’ve had, the best people I’ve worked with. You must be proud.”

“To have the Center named after me? Embarrassing, to tell you the truth. Seems like a person should be dead before they name something after ’em.”

Tessa smiled. “I think it’s nice to be recognized while you can enjoy the notoriety.”

“I couldn’t talk Chase out of it.” He rested his arms on the table and clasped his hands. “He’s single-minded about most things.”

“I’ve kind of noticed that about him. He works too hard, too.”

“You thinkin’ about changin’ that, Miss Tessa Rose?”

The way he said her name made her pause. “You don’t approve?”

He waited a few beats before he answered. “How is your family?”

Her heart rate escalated. “My family?”

“Yeah, family. Father, mother, brother...”

“You know them?”

“Used to know pretty much everybody hereabouts. Lost track of some.”

“I see.”

He leaned toward her. “I don’t know what your motives are, but I’m tellin’ you, don’t you hurt that boy.”

Tessa swallowed. “It’s the last thing I want.”

“I can see you’re a decent person, Tessa Rose, and I don’t think you’d want to hurt him. But you could and likely will. Whatever he did, he’s paid for it. Long ago.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

“I just wanted to meet him. Then when I met him, I wanted to know him. The more I know him, the more I like him.” She leaned forward. “Are you going to tell him?”

Sarge pushed himself upright and stared hard at her. “That should come from you. But have a care, Miss Tessa Rose. Some people who seem strongest on the outside are the most fragile inside.”

Tessa nodded, unable to utter a sound. She sat motionless until Chase rejoined her a little later.

“Sarge gone?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He bent to capture her gaze. “Are you all right?”

She made herself smile as she stood. “I’m starving.”

“Let’s go, then.”

Chase realized he was more aware of his surroundings than he’d ever been as they walked to the restaurant. It wouldn’t be dark for a couple of hours yet, making it easier to be on the lookout for Stone Man, reminding Chase that Les hadn’t gotten back to him with information on the teenager or on Dodger yet.

He let the thought go. The cool summer evening seemed made for holding hands and strolling. But strolling was a bad idea, according to Tessa’s lecture, and he’d also promised himself no hand-holding. He was trying hard to remember why.

They walked several blocks without speaking. “Are you worn out?” he asked finally, curious about her silence.

“Kind of. The kids were great, though, weren’t they? I loved the way the girls wouldn’t let the boys joke about anything. As soon as the boys got as serious as the girls, they really accomplished a lot.”

“It’s a good group.”

“Thanks to you.”

“These kids weren’t hopeless to start with. My goal has always been to hook them in before they get involved in things they shouldn’t And some of the best counselors we’ve had are gang members who’ve matured out of the gangs. They don’t pull any punches when they describe what the life is really like. But kids who don’t have much of a family life are the most vulnerable, because they’re searching for a connection, and they’ll settle for what they can get. We have to catch them at the right moment.” They stopped at a traffic signal. He found himself eyeing the drivers as each car passed.

“Tell me about Sarge. How did you meet him?” she asked.

“I was assigned to his foster care.”

“Why?”

The old hurts should have faded some by now, but they hadn’t. It didn’t seem as if they ever would. “I never knew my father. My mother disappeared when I was fourteen. To this day I don’t know what happened to her. I was made a ward of the court. Sarge had just retired from the force and decided to take me in, and then other boys through the years. But I was his first. We have almost a father and son bond, at least as much of one as I’ll ever know.”

“Is that why you started the Center?”

“How do you know I started it?”

“It’s public record, Chase. I did a lot of research on the Center and you before I applied for the job. I had to know what I was getting into, especially since I would be supporting myself fully for the first time. I couldn’t afford a job that might not be there in a few months.”

When they settled at their table at the restaurant and had ordered drinks, he questioned her about being on her own for the first time.

“I was overprotected.” She grimaced. “That’s an understatement. I was smothered. And good daughter that I was, I didn’t venture away from the family fold even when I went to college or when I got a full-time job. My brother is disabled, and my mother can’t always cope with him. So it fell to me a lot.”

“Why did you make the move now?”

The waitress set two bottles of beer and some chips and salsa on the table. Tessa took a long sip before she answered. If Sarge had figured her out already, how long until Chase did?

“They say women have their midlife crisis ten years earlier than men,” she said. “That’s the only explanation I can give without sounding extremely selfish. My brother needs to learn to help himself, but my mother doesn’t see that. My parents argue about it quite a bit. Anyway, it’s time to test my wings. It’s hard to have a social life when your parents grill every guy, practically demanding proof of clean police, DMV and medical records.”

“Social life,” Chase mused. “Remind me of what that is.”

She swirled a finger around the lip of the bottle as she tilted her head and smiled at him. “Interaction between man and woman. Movies. Meals. Conversation. Physical contact.”

He reached across the table and took her hand, toying with her fingers before linking them with his and holding tight “I had the best of intentions about tonight,” he said, his voice gruff. “But no willpower.”

“I’m so glad.”

“I don’t want to mislead you. My life—”

“Social contact, Chase. That’s all this is. It’s good for both of us.”

He released her hand and sat back, eyeing her as he swigged his beer. “So, would your parents approve of me?”

My parents would have me kidnapped and taken to a deprogrammer.

“Are you ready to order?”

The waitress’s intrusion sent the conversation in a different direction, and they didn’t speak of personal history again. She’d been encouraged by the apparent laughter in his eyes earlier at the Center and so tried again, but couldn’t tease the slightest smile out of him. Deciding not to push it, she settled back in her chair and relaxed, enjoying his observations on life, admiring the tough stand he took on an individual’s accountability for his or her own actions. He lived in a black-and-white world—it was the only way he could function—while hers was much more gray, with room to change her opinion, given the right debate.

They stayed at the table for hours. The restaurant was obviously a favorite hangout of Chase’s, as he seemed to know almost everyone there. Curious looks lit on her, but no one teased him or pried. They just welcomed her to their world, making her feel at home.

The ocean breezes nipped at them as they walked to her apartment later. Warmed by his hand wrapped around hers, she lifted her face to the wind and smiled as her hair blew behind her.

“Luis asked me that first day,” he said, “if you were one of those Amazons he’d studied in school. I told him you weren’t tall enough. But you do look like I’ve always suspected a Valkyrie would.”

“Weren’t they women warriors, too, like the Amazons?”

“Not quite. They chose the warriors who were invited to die heroically in battle.”

She flashed him a grin. “What tipped you off? My bloodthirsty cries?”

“You do have a powerful set of, uh, lungs.”

“Why, Mr. Ryan. You’re flirting with me! I’m flattered.”

“You have wisdom, Tessa. And strength. That’s why I think of you as a Valkyrie.”

“Even though I could bring about a warrior’s destruction?” The image planted itself in her mind and stayed. She didn’t like it.

“I guess he’d die happy.”

She squeezed his hand. “I thought I was supposed to be the idealist here, and you the pragmatist. If you get fanciful on me, I won’t know how to deal with you.”

“That suddenly holds appeal for me.”

They entered the tiny lobby of her apartment house, the stairs directly in front of them. She turned around and climbed the steep steps backward, watching him, trying to read his expression as she clasped his hand tighter with each step up.

“You’re going to trip on your skirt,” Chase cautioned, tension creeping into him.

When she almost did trip, she let go of his hand, then scooped up the fabric and held it almost to her knees.

“So you do have legs. I’ve been wondering,” he said.

“Have you?”

“Yeah. You never wear jeans?”

“Rarely. I like the feel of fabric drifting around me.”

His imagination wandered on a sensual journey. When she reached the top of the stairway, and he stood three steps below her, he stopped her from moving on. He ran his free hand along her leg, starting at her ankle, gliding slowly to her knee. His gaze locked with hers. “Your skin is so soft. Like you, Tessa. Like all of you.” He climbed the steps to join her on the landing. “I haven’t had softness in my life.”

She slid her arms around his waist as he framed her face with his hands. Her breasts rested against him. He closed his eyes for a second, savoring the contact, then pressed his lips to her temple, inhaling the clean, flowery fragrance of the curls tickling his nose. He bent closer still, threading his fingers through her hair, rubbing his cheek leisurely against the silken tresses, feeling her pull herself more snugly against him, a soft sigh escaping—

“Sorry, Tess. Just passing through.”

They jumped apart at the interruption. Chase saw her struggle to focus on the man who waited on the stair below them, needing to get by.

“Um. Norm, hi. Please excuse us.”

She took a step back, introducing the men at the same time. Chase followed her, leaving enough room for her neighbor to walk past. The man didn’t hesitate to leave them alone, but the interruption brought about a return of Chase’s earlier intention not to let this relationship get too serious.

When Norm shut his apartment door, Chase spoke to Tessa before she could invite him in.

“I’ll see you Monday,” he said, ignoring the disappointment in her eyes.

Her face was flushed a soft pink, either a remnant from their embrace, or embarrassment from being stumbled upon by her neighbor. It was a pretty face, one he wouldn’t mind waking up to. He didn’t think she could say the same about him. His early-morning face was probably safe for public viewing only on Halloween.

He brushed his fingertips along her cheek, tucked her hair behind her ear. “It was a nice evening. Thank you, Tessa. Now, please let me see you safely into your apartment.”

She trapped his hand against her face and smiled, warming him clear through to his bones.

“I wouldn’t want you to think I’m easy,” she said. “After all, this is our first date.” She raised her brows, as if daring him to deny another such momentous occasion would occur. “But I don’t like not knowing what you would have done if Norm hadn’t interrupted us.”

“There’s a saying, Tessa...”

“Yes?”

He took the keys she’d pulled from her skirt pocket, located one that seemed appropriate and opened her door, passing the key chain back to her as she glided by him. “Always leave ’em wanting more.”