Flick cocked her head at his puzzled tone. “Why not?”
“It was weird. She was in my office, picking up some files for Jenny when McDougal and the PPO trainers came in. She bolted out of my office and Jenny said that she dumped the files on her desk and literally ran out of there. But then Jenny said that she saw Mac talking to her in the parking lot later.”
“Were they big guys?”
Kai lifted his hands in confusion. “Not particularly.”
“Super fit? Masculine? Threatening?”
Kai ran his hand through his hair. “Where are you going with this?”
“I’m not sure...Tally just said something to me. Actually, she half-said something to me. Maybe intimated is a better word...”
Kai scowled. “You plan on telling me what she said sometime soon?”
“Sheintimatedthat she’d prefer to work with women. At the time I thought that maybe something had happened to her. You know...”
Kai shoved a hand into his hair as his expression darkened. “Hell, yeah, I know all the things that can happen. She had an issue with her mom’s boyfriend but I got the impression she handled it.”
“Teenage girls lie easily and they lie well. I think the important thing to realize is that Tally, for some reason, is scared, and she shouldn’t be.”
“Damn straight,” Kai growled.
Flick turned so that she was facing him. “So you planning on doing something about that?”
“Like what?” he demanded.“What can I do?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you know of someone who trains people in self-defense, or in personal protection,” Flick deadpanned. “Maybe if someone— I have no idea who— could teach her to defend herself, she wouldn’t be so scared of men.”
Kai gripped the back of her neck with one hand and gave her a tiny shake. “You are a real sarcastic ray of sunshine, aren’t you?”
Flick grinned. “I try.”
Kai took the stick Rufus rested on his knee and tossed it down the path and they watched Rufus roar off. “I’d teach her some moves but she flinched when I touched her shoulder...you know, to guide her through a door.” He looked up at the sky. “You know, I used to have an uncomplicated life. No teenagers, no crazy dogs, no sassy women.”
“And you were bored senseless,” Flick jammed an elbow into his side.
The tilt at the corner of Kai’s mouth suggested amusement, or that he agreed with her. She’d take either, both. Speaking of his mouth, she wouldn’t mind it on hers, right now. But if they started kissing then they wouldn’t stop kissing and that could lead to a lewd behavior citation. She had no objection—at least she didn’t think she had—against some outdoor nookie but, frankly, she was giving the town enough to talk about as it was.
Besides, the thought of Tally, that gorgeous kid, living her life being scared of men—even good men like Kai—made her want to vomit all over her shoes. There had to be a way for her to regain her confidence. To feel a little more in control...
Flick rested her chin on her knee, squinting as the rays of the rapidly dropping sun hit her eyes. If Kai, or Caswallawn, offered self-defense classes for the women of Mercy, then Tally could attend the classes with other women and, more importantly, she could practice the moves on other women. It might just work.
She tossed the suggestion out and Kai looked like she’d asked him to lick a lamppost. “Hell, no,” he added, just in case she didn’t get his objection from his horrified look.
“It would be a way to help Tally and to provide a great community service,” Flick cajoled.
“And it would be a great way for me to go off my head.”
“Stop being a baby,” Flick told him briskly. “You could do these classes with your eyes shut and Tally, and the women of Mercy, would benefit.”
“Flick, seriously.”
If she wasn’t convinced that the classes were an excellent idea, not only for Tally but for any woman in Mercy—rapists and muggers did not respect municipal boundaries—she might’ve taken pity on the man. But, frankly, he could, and should, suck up his fear of interacting with the residents of Mercy and do this. It wasimportant.
“Kai,seriously. Stop being a wuss and find your balls.”
“Witch.” Kai stood up and dropped to his haunches to re-tie his shoelace. He looked up at her and sent her a hard look. “If I do this then you have to attend the classes.”