She shoved her handbag behind the driver’s seat before making her way toward the entrance. A line had already formed and she acknowledged the early birds with a smile. Tucker let her in and told his guests the facility would open in twenty.
Once a year, Tucker hosted a daylong open house. It was his way of thanking current students and customers, along with drumming up business for the new year. The free event—sandwiched between Christmas and New Year’s Eve—was open to the public, which meant all hands on deck.
In minutes, the place would be swarming. He’d scheduled over a dozen classes that included everything from gun safety to personal defense to the latest in-home security and surveillance. Tucker had even waived the shooting range fees for the day. When Evangeline was placed on A.L., she agreed to spend the day there teaching the women’s self-defense course.
“Looks like your classes are filled,” Tucker said as they ambled over to the check-in counter.
“Along with every other class,” said Julie, his office manager.
“We’re doing things a little differently this year,” Tucker explained to Evangeline. “When you’re finished teaching each class, bring us the interested students. We’ll sign them up.”
“And take their deposit,” Julie added.
“Got it,” Evangeline replied.
“We’re expecting a few hundred, so it’ll be mayhem.” Pausing, Tucker shuffled back and forth. “You wanna grab a drink after?”
“No can do,” she replied. “Another time.”
He walked behind the reception counter. “Maverick and Carly came in earlier for target practice. Maverick said you’ve been hanging with Sin.”
She shrugged. That was as much info as he was going to get from her.
“He’s a great guy…but he’s not a one woman man,” Tucker said. “His style is more like ‘the more the merrier’.”
She shot him a cool smile. “Thanks for the heads-up.”Enough said.“What room am I teaching in?”
“The usual,” he replied. “I’ll swing by for the demo portion.”
“Sounds good.” She walked away wondering what Sin had told his brother about her.
But she refused to get swept away in the moment. She was a realist, not a dreamer. There was nothing wrong with a brief fling while she was in town, and she had no long-term expectations where Sinclair was concerned. When she was cleared of any wrongdoing, she’d resume her job, eventually returning to New Jersey. And Sin would continue on as master of the universe.
An unexpected loneliness filled her heart. Forcing down the sadness, she entered the classroom and got busy setting up. Twenty minutes later, she stood in front of a packed class of women. After welcoming them to Introduction to Self-Defense, she began.
“There are lots of precautions designed to keep women safe,” she said. “But during an attack, we might not have time to think about what we’ve learned. We operate on instinct and muscle memory to fight off our assailant. Today, I’m going to teach you a couple of ways to do that.”
She held up common items women might keep in their handbags—mace, a pen, car keys, and a small pocketknife. “Each of these can be a defensive tool, but they’re useless if we aren’t holding them in our hands. In an emergency, there’s no time to fish them out.”
“We can also kick and punch. It may be difficult to think about clawing someone in the eyes, but it’s a deterrent designed to give you an opportunity to get away. And while it’s easy for me to say, ‘don’t get into their car’ or ‘don’t let them drag you into a building’, it’s hard to resist someone who could be twice as strong as you.”
Several women in the audience nodded.
“What about martial arts?” someone asked.
“Great question. If that’s something you want to do, go for it. Here, we teach basic self-defense for women who want to learn how they can best protect themselves in everyday situations.”
Tucker walked in and Evangeline invited him to join her. After he introduced himself, they demonstrated a few of the techniques she’d discussed.
She loved helping women find ways to boost their confidence and empower them. In her classes, the bad guys didn’t win, but in the real world, they got away with plenty. When the class ended, Evangeline answered a few questions before leading a handful of the women to the front desk.
Late morning bled into midafternoon. After a brief break and a protein bar, she taught the class four more times. It was close to six thirty by the time she’d ushered the last group to the front desk. As she turned to leave, she did a double-take and her stomach dropped.
What the hell!
Joey walked by, carrying two gun cases. Because the lobby was still crowded, he was too busy navigating around everyone to notice her. Following him outside, she scanned the parking lot and spotted him just before he ducked into a vehicle.
Hurrying to hers, she jumped in, but she had to wait while several people walked by before backing out. By the time she exited the parking lot, she was sure she’d lost him.