Chapter 170 + 25 Bonus

“Nice of you to finally show up,” Noah grumbled, turning to rifle through his bag.

Drake huffed as he placed his belongings on the bench. “Sorry,” he replied casually. “Hit traffic. Are you all warmed up, Hannah?”

“I only just arrived.” I glanced at Noah, but his broad back was turned toward me.

“We’ll start slowly, then.” Drake slipped on his training shoes, less meticulously than Noah, and retrieved his gloves. He nodded toward the ring as he put them on. “Let’s go.”

With a deep breath, I rose and followed Drake to the ring. I climbed under the ropes onto the mat, slipping on my gloves. There, under the spotlight, I felt blinded and far more intimidated than anticipated.

Drake, noticing my hesitation, joined me and patted my shoulder. “Hey, it’s just training. We’ll take it easy.”

I nodded stiffly, trying to ignore Noah’s piercing gaze as he leaned against the ropes. “Alright.”

Drake and I began with a simple exercise, him holding pads while I practiced various punches. I recalled the basics from my childhood training: right and left hooks, uppercuts, high kicks, and so on.

“You seem to have this down,” Drake said, setting aside the pads. “Let’s try some hand-to-hand.”

Noah scoffed from the sidelines. “She’s not ready for hand-to-hand.”

I glared at Noah, but Drake interjected before I could respond. “Don’t worry, Noah. I’m not going to hurt her.”

Noah pursed his lips and looked away, his ears faintly reddening. Was that his concern—me getting hurt?

“Alright, Hannah,” Drake said, “let’s start with some basic grapples…”

Over the next few minutes, Drake and I practiced various grapples, both standing and on the mat. I was rusty, and despite Drake’s patience and gentleness, it was intimidating; he was much larger, and I worried about accidentally injuring my stomach, where my baby was nestled.

However, it was cut short. Just as Drake was showing me a standard headlock, Noah cleared his throat loudly, causing us to stop.

“Drake,” he grumbled, hopping into the ring, “this is ridiculous. She needs to learn self-defense maneuvers, not how to apply a headlock. She should know how to escape a headlock.”

Drake, disentangling himself, sat up. “It’s best to understand how to apply a maneuver before learning how to escape it. That way, she’ll understand the mechanics.”

Chapter 10 + 25 Bonus

Noah narrowed his eyes and put his hands on his hips. “Yeah, right. Like an attacker will follow standard grappling maneuvers. She should know how to escape any hold, then how to incapacitate someone and run.”

“How can she incapacitate someone if she doesn’t know the basics?”

“She knows the basics. You’re treating her like a… I’m just taking it slow,” Drake retorted.

Noah scoffed. “Is that so? Or is it that you’re not as skilled as you claim?”

By now, Drake was on his feet, breathing heavily. Still kneeling, I stared up at the two men—their noses were almost touching. “Guys—” I began.

But they didn’t hear me. Drake was already removing his gloves and tossing them to the floor.

“Since you seem to be an expert,” Drake growled, “maybe you and I should fight to decide who’s more qualified.”

“Guys—”

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Noah replied, ignoring me. “I’ll show you how to really fight.”