Page 19 of Alluring Darkness
His golden-brown eyes scan the crowd until they land on me. My heart skips a beat again when a sly smile curls his lips.
“I heard that you have a student who started three weeks after everyone else,” Eli says to Mr. Hansen, but his eyes remain locked on mine.
Clothes rustle as everyone turns to look at me. I keep my chin up and a nonchalant expression on my face, but my pulse is now thrumming in my ears.
“So I thought I might help her catch up by instructing her personally,” Eli continues. At last, he breaks eye contact and shifts his attention back to Mr. Hansen before finishing with, “Since you have so many other students who need your attention, and no patience for people who don’t even know their foot from their elbow.”
The other students chuckle. My cheeks heat, but I’m hoping it’s not visible in the bright light from the fluorescents in the concrete ceiling.
I already have a feeling that Mr. Hansen doesn’t like me very much, and that is confirmed by the contempt on his face as he casts a glance at me.
Then he lifts his broad shoulders in a shrug and flicks his wrist at Eli. “Knock yourself out.” His gaze finds my sparring partner. “Magda, pair up with Jessica instead.”
“Yes, sir,” she says, and quickly hurries away.
“The rest of you, enough dawdling! Get back to work.”
The other students leap to obey his order. Sparring matches start back up, and the sound of punches and kicks striking flesh once more echoes between the gray concrete walls.
From across the room, Eli locks eyes with me again and flashes me a smile tinged with insanity. Then he starts towards me. I have to suppress the primal urge to back away as my pulse hammers and dread washes over me. Shit. This is going to be humiliating.
Eli advances on me until he is standing only two strides away. Amusement glitters in his eyes as he slowly drags his gaze up and down my body. “How’s your ass?”
Instead of answering, I shoot a pointed look at the spot where I pressed a knife a few days ago, and then raise my eyebrows. “How’s your throat?”
Holding my gaze, he smirks and casually adjusts his cock through his pants. “How’syourthroat?”
Since I don’t have a comeback for that, I just cross my arms and glare back at him instead. He huffs out a satisfied chuckle.
“You know how to surrender, right?” he says.
“I’m afraid the word is not in my vocabulary.”
He snorts. “Cute.”
I narrowly prevent myself from jerking backwards when he abruptly takes a step towards me. Grabbing my wrist, he easily pulls it away from my chest and instead moves it towards his hip.
“In a sparring match, when your opponent has you so hopelessly pinned that you can’t save yourself, you submit.” Using his grip on my wrist, he moves my hand so that my palm touches his hip twice. “By tapping out.”
“I knew that,” I mutter.
“Good.” A wicked grin spreads across his lips. “Because you’re going to practice that move a lot this afternoon.”
Before I can retort, he releases my wrist and steps back again. I rub my thumb over the spot where his fingers were locked a few seconds ago.
“Square up,” he commands.
Biting back a snarky reply, I raise my hands into the position that Mr. Hansen showed me about half an hour ago. Or at least, I hope so. Eli frowns at me but doesn’t comment.
Then he strikes.
I don’t even have time to blink in surprise. I expected him to… I don’t know. Say something first? But he doesn’t. He just flashes forward and slams a fist into the side of my ribs.
Pain pulses through my ribcage as it lands, and I suck in a gasp as I stumble sideways. Eli moves again. This time, I at least try to yank my arms into position to block it. But his hit lands anyway.
He backs me across the floor, getting strike after strike in. But the more of his punches that land, the more I realize something incredibly surprising. The hits don’t hurt as much as I expected them to. And given Eli’s impressive physique, there is only one explanation for that. He is pulling his punches.
The realization stuns me so much that I blurt it out without thinking. “You’re pulling your punches.”