None of the guys even glance my way. Everyone is keeping their distance from me. One petite but brave girl actually gathers up the courage to walk up to me. Her blond hair is knotted into a tight bun at the top of her head. Her icy-blue gaze sizes me up.
“Want to partner up, big guy?” she asks with a heavy Russian accent.
“Any other time, I’d love to, but today, I have someone else who needs an ass-kicking.” I look past the nameless girl and over to where Aspen is standing. She still hasn’t noticed me, even though she is actively looking for a partner.
Russian girl walks away without another word while I stalk closer to my prey. Much like me, people don’t want to partner up with her, though for entirely different reasons. They all know what her father did, and if criminals hate one thing, it’s a fucking rat.
“Need a partner?” I ask casually, walking up to her side.
At my voice, she spins around so fast that I think she might give herself whiplash. Her already large eyes go even wider as she gapes at me. She’s a good foot shorter than me and has to crane her neck back to look up at me.
She blinks slowly like she’s digesting what I’ve said.
“That would hardly be fair. You are twice my size.”
“Did you just call me fat?” I can’t help but smirk.
“Funny.” She rolls her eyes at me like she has no idea the amount of danger she is in. Earlier, she put on a show, and now she has to face the consequences.
Folding her arms over her chest, she scans the room, realizing that everyone has found a partner, and we are the only two left.
“I guess you’re stuck with me.” I can practically hear her swallow.
Her sass evaporates as she frantically looks for a way out. Her eyebrows pinch together, and fear overtakes her features. I’m not sure if she wasn’t scared until this moment or if she’s simply good at hiding it. Either way, her mask has slipped, and I can see the panic starting to set in.
“Let’s go, you two,” Quan calls over to us. Everyone else is already practicing the moves he demonstrated, and we are the only two people standing around doing nothing. “Start fighting.”
Aspen gives the instructor a pleading look as if he could save her from me. To drive it home, he actually turns away from us, giving us his back.
“You heard the man, no more standing around.” I snicker, and then I’m on her.
I’ve never fought anyone smaller than me, so when I tackle her to the ground, I do so with much more force than necessary. The thin mat isn’t much of a buffer to her small body as she falls onto it, so the air passes her lips on a wheeze. She grunts clearly in pain and squeezes her eyes shut. I almost feel sorry… almost.
A soft whimper passes her lips, and she tries to roll away from me, but we both know things aren’t going to end that easily. I climb on top of her and straddle her hips. Her eyes fly open, and her hands finally start moving. She tries to push me off, but I easily snatch her wrists and pin them to the mat. If she thought I would let what she said and what her family did slide, she’s stupider than I thought.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Hand-to-hand combat.” I wink.
“This is not what we are supposed to practice.” She sneaks a peek around the room, and I follow her gaze. No one is paying us any attention. Quan still has his back to us, ignoring what is happening like the rest of the class.
“I don’t think anyone cares what I’m doing to you.”
Leaning in, I put most of my body weight on her, immobilizing her completely. With my chest pressed against hers, I can feel her heart banging against my skin furiously.
Her blond hair fans against the floor, and her cheeks have turned a soft shade of pink. Her chest rises and falls so rapidly I can see her pulse in her throat.
Lowering my head even more, I brush my lips against her ear. Fear laced with her unique flowery scents invades my nose, and I fight the urge to take a deeper breath. Her entire body trembles, and my cock stirs to life.
“Let me make it clear to you since you obviously haven’t figured it out yet. You’re at the bottom of the pole. You’re the dirt beneath the feet of everyone else here. You mean nothing to anyone. I bet I could pull your leggings down right now, fuck you on this mat, and not a single person would stop me, no matter how much you screamed. Care to prove me wrong?”
My threat sends her into a struggle, and she tries pathetically to push me off, but all she does is rub herself against my already half stiffened dick.
I chuckle into her hair, and that’s when she does something I didn’t see coming.
She turns her head toward me, so her cheek is pressed against mine and her lips are on my neck. Her hot breath fans out over my skin, chasing a shiver down my spine.
For a moment, I think she’s going to fucking kiss me. However, instead of the softness of her lips, I get the sharp bite of her teeth.