Chapter Fifteen
Kat stomped her foot as she rolled her shoulder that ached from when Olin had put her on her back again. Weeks of self-defense training and for what?
No matter how hard she worked, it never seemed to matter. She improved, but that improvement didn’t give her the upper hand.
It felt like learning to swim in hopes of racing a dolphin. Sure, she could get faster, but she’d never be fast enough for the goal. She might get tougher, but she doubted she could overcome the sort of men she’d seen around Jerry.
Or Jerry himself.
Which left her frustrated and pacing after telling Olin she was done for the day.
The crunch of hay behind her made her spin toward the sound, but instead of Olin there—she wouldn’t doubt if he’d come back to check on her—it was Dean.
She’d seen little of him after Jerry’s call. He hadn’t said he was avoiding her, instead claiming work had swamped him.
She could spot a lie with ease, especially that one.
“Sorry,” he said, dropping his gaze as if he didn’t want to look right at her. “I didn’t realize you were in here.”
“Barn’s big enough for two,” Kat snapped before taking a seat on a bale of hay. “Don’t let me stop you from finding a new spot to hide.”
He lifted a dark eyebrow but didn’t rise to the occasion and take the bait. Instead, he crossed his arms and stared at her. “Aren’t you in a bad mood?”
Kat should keep it to herself—Dean wasn’t exactly acting like someone who gave a damn about her. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from letting the words pour out.
Bradley would have rolled his eyes and told her to get over it. Olin would only tell her to keep working and she’d get it. Neither answer felt helpful at the moment, so who the hell knew? Maybe Dean had some sage advice for her.
“I’ve been working on self-defense with Olin and it’s no use. No matter what he tells me, I’m just not big enough or strong enough or fast enough. If he can put me down so easilyhere,then just think about what anyone else who actually wanted to hurt me could do.”
Dean’s lips pressed together into a thin line, his face serious as if he were deep in thought. Finally, he let out a soft snort. “The problem is that you’re getting taught by Olin.”
“What does that mean?”
“Olin is a cop. He learned to fight as part of his job. Don’t get me wrong, he’s capable, I’m sure, but it’s not the same thing.”
She frowned, his words making no sense no matter how she twisted them.
Thankfully, Dean went on. “Any law enforcement is taught to detain a suspect, to bring them down, to fight fair and with honor or whatever other nonsense they teach them.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“You give me two people—one is fighting by the books and fighting fair while the other fights dirty. Do you really think anyone gives a damn about their tactics when only one of them ends up on their feet? Fighting fair is all well and good, but it can’t overcome the dirty tricks.”
“I doubt Olin will teach me anything like that.”
“You’ve got that right.”
Kat paused at the words, at the reminder of what he’d said to Jerry the other day, the words that had frightened her so much. Clearly Dean had a past a lot darker than she’d have guessed for the impeccably dressed lawyer she come to know. “Will you teach me?”
He froze, as if the question surprised him. “What?”
“I’m not picking this up fast enough. I thought it would make me feel better, make me feel like I was safe, but the more I practice, the more out of my depths I feel. It just feels like a reminder that I can’t protect myself. You seem to know something, so please…will you show me?”
He didn’t move at first, his gaze on the ground. “You were scared of me the other day.”
“I was surprised.”
He lifted his gaze that time, his blue eyes calling her a liar. “You were both.”