#hbs3

“I know! It doesn’t hurt anymore, but I went for a check-up yesterday and they said I need to keep the brace on a little bit longer.” “Well, put it back on then!” He demanded, as I attacked it back around my neck. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, but I have to admit, I’m a little bit disappointed to be working again.” I owned a wine shop in the centre of our tiny village, and due to how small the place we lived was, Louis was the only person I needed to hire to help me run things. Rosebury was pretty idyllic, so on top of local regulars, people would visit from surrounding areas to stroll down country lanes and drink beside the river that ran through our home, shop in vintage stores and thankfully, buy rare and overpriced wine from my store. I meant that two of us were earning enough to live a pretty comfortable life, and whenever we needed some time off, all I’d have to do was print a tiny notice and stick it in the window. “Yes, I do work you to the bone.” I nodded, sipping on the cup of tea I’d just made. “I’m really run off my feet.” Louis joined the joke, shrugging and picking up his mug. “So what about those self-defence classes? Libby was telling me about them.” “Yeah, they start tonight.” I shrugged. “I’m a bit… apprehensive.” “How come?” “Not sure. Just feeling… weird, about it.” I was hesitant to admit that a part of me was still a little bit convinced that the guy running the classes was the one who had hurt me in the first place. I knew I was just being silly, really, and that it wasn’t likely, but I didn’t trust the timing of it all. I was intrigued by how the evening would play out, but I definitely wasn’t looking forward to it. “I bet it’s really good for ya.” Louis continued. “Some peace of mind. It’s good to know this stuff, too.” “I guess so.” I was hoping to benefit from the evening in some way, whether that was learning how to successfully knock a man out cold, or if I was going to come face to face with the bloke who’d hurt me and figure out how to knock a man out cold on the spot. I still wasn’t feeling fully myself since it had happened. I was perfectly fine and things had just gone on like normal, but there was something going on at the very back of my mind that I couldn’t quite shake. On top of that, things with Sam hadn’t cleared up, either. He kept turning up at my flat, and idiotically, I kept letting him in. My head was a mess. The bell sounded, and we both whipped our heads towards the front door, Niall having bounced in with so much energy, I knew he’d have a story to tell. “Afternoon, Niall.” Louis grinned. “I’VE GOT A DATE!” He threw his arms in the air dramatically, before clapping his hands together and dancing over to us. “I’ve finally got a real date and I cannot wait.” “That’s sick!” I smiled. “Who is he?” “His name’s Neil, and he’s coming over from Yorkshire… for me.” “Wow you must be such a catch.” Louis beamed vividly. “Shut your mouth, Tomlinson, I am a catch.” Being from such a small place, Niall didn’t ever have much luck when it came to men. There was an unfortunate lack of options available to him, which was a shame given how romantic he was. “Niall and Neil.” I grinned. “I hope it works out just for the name combination.” “So, I’m grabbing an early evening meal with Neil-” “Niall and Neil grab a meal.” Louis sang. “-and then I was thinking we should all go to the pub and I can update everyone, and then kill Louis.” “Sounds good.” I smiled. “Me, Chloe and Libby are going to some self-defence class, and we can meet you afterwards.” “How ya feeling?” Niall moved closer. “How ya been?” “I’m good.” I shrugged, plastering on a smile. “I’m fine.” “You sure?” “Yep. Never better.” “Are you back with Sam?” “Noooooo. No.” I shook my head, maybe with a little more animation than was needed. “We’re just…” Louis looked across to Niall with dead eyes, that were soon returned to him, the two of them judging and rolling their eyes and acting as though I couldn’t see everything they were doing. I placed my mug down on the counter and put my hands on my hips, watching them both shake their heads and tut. “Pathetic.” Niall muttered. “Alright, alright.” I walked around to the other side of the counter, ready to shove him outdoors. “If you’re not going to buy anything, piss off! You’re both the worst.” “I am going to buy something!” He cried as I pushed him. “I’m going to buy a nice bottle of wine for Neil!” “Oh shit, you can stay then.” I immediately dragged him back. “What’re you after?” “A nice red.” “Okay, let’s go.” I took him over to the section I felt was exceptionally under-priced for just how good the wine was, showing him a few of our best bottles and ones I knew would impress the elusive Neil. I was hoping all our evenings would work out for the best.

Chloe checked over her appearance in the grimy window outside the building we were waiting to leak into, surrounded by excited women all in their early forties or older, who had also decided to attend the new classes that would take place every Wednesday. We were at the back of the short queue that had gathered outdoors, Libby with her arms folded, me with my hands in my pockets, and Chloe leaning so close to her reflection to see if her mascara was still intact I thought she might stumble forward and smash the window. “M’dreading this.” I groaned. “Well, don’t!” Libby argued. “This is gunna be good for us. I’ve always wanted to know how to like… strangle someone.” “I don’t think he’ll be teaching us how to strangle people.” Chloe groaned, leaning back and turning to us. “I think it’ll be more technical than that.” “Or it’s just another creep who wants an excuse to be around women, just like the last guy was.” I added. We heard the faint sound of a door opening, and almost instantly, the line began to shuffle forward, the women ahead of us all bickering excitedly between themselves. I suppose this was as interesting as a Wednesday night got in Rosebury. “Well let’s go find out.” Libby beamed. We followed slowly, through the thin door and then up a slim and creaky set of stairs that went to the second floor of the old building where the sessions were taking place. Everything was dusty and old and perfectly in-keeping with the old buildings that surrounded the one we’d found ourselves in. But all of that changed when we actually walked into the gym. It was clearly all brand new, and it was obvious that this guy had sunk some money into creating the perfect environment for his lessons. The light laminate floors bounced beneath our feet, one wall covered entirely in mirrors, and the wall at the far end of the room opposite the reflection had numerous punching bags hanging from the ceiling. It was clean and professional and it felt like a totally different place to the corridor that was just mere feet away. We walked cautiously into the room, people finding their spots across the floor, and I kept my eyes on the boy at the front, waiting to see his face. He was down on the ground, crouching in front of a set of speakers and flicking through his phone, silent as we all gathered ourselves. The three of us found a spot, pretty central, and I watched him the whole time, eager for him to turn around so I could finally have an answer to the question that had been burning at my mind. I knew the second he turned around that it wasn’t the man who had stolen from me and bruised my throat a week prior, but he still managed to completely take me by surprise. He was tall, almost obnoxiously handsome, his short hair held back by a tattered bandana and his frame so broad I felt my breath hit the back of my throat with a force I hadn’t been expecting. The guy who’d ran the previous sessions was much older than us, but this new guy must have been around our age. I’d half been expecting yet another weird middle-aged man to be running the sessions, but this boy certainly wasn’t like that. He smiled softly as he looked around the room, clearly just about to introduce himself and present what was going to happen, until he spotted me, and his smile dropped. “You alright?” He directed specifically to me. “Huh?” “Your neck.” “Oh! Yeah… I… Yeah, I’m fine.” He gaged me a little further, licking over his lips with thin eyes, before ticking his head back and signalling for me to step towards him. I moved from my spot, cautiously approaching him. “Uh, can everyone just do a few basic warm ups?” He addressed the room as I closed the gap between us. “Anything from star-jumps to lunges will be fine, just get yourself ready.” I was with him in seconds, my hands gripped down at my side and my nerves rising by the second. I stopped ahead of him, and being so close meant that I was completely unable to ignore just how gorgeous he was. He had bright green eyes, lightly tanned skin and the beginning shreds of facial hair that looked soft and was clearly an adorable attempt to grow both a beard and a moustache. I felt like I couldn’t take my eyes off him, no matter how nervous I became beneath his tender gaze. “What’s ya name?” He asked quietly. “Alfie.” “Alfie, this first one is gunna be mainly exercise work and it’s gunna put some stress on your body that I’m not sure you’re quite ready for yet.” “Honestly, it’s fine!” I tried. “I don’t wanna risk it.” He shrugged. “I’m happy for you to stay and watch, and I won’t charge! But I’d feel much more comfortable if you sat this one out. That okay?” To say I’d been dreading going ever since Libby told me about the classes, I felt weirdly disappointed that I wasn’t going to take part. Maybe it was just because I finally knew that the guy running them wasn’t who I thought he might have been, or maybe it was because he was so enchanting that I immediately wanted to learn from him. I wanted to listen to him speak and hear what he had to say and experience the lesson he had planned fully. I sighed, nodding slightly. “That’s fine. I’m still gunna pay though.” “You don’t have to.” “No, I want to. My neck is fine though!” “The brace says different.” He grinned. “Sit yourself down, relax, okay? You seem tense.” I nodded, mumbling a quiet thank you before I scuttled off to the side of the room and plonked myself down with my back against the wall, the girls shooting me looks before I pointed at the neck brace, and then they seemed to quickly catch onto why I was having to take the first lesson from the side-lines. Once I was settled, he stepped forward once again, whistling to grab the rooms attention and bring the rather poor attempts at warming up to a standstill. “Uh… Hi, I’m Harry, and thank you all for coming to my first class.” He began, his soft exterior seeming to vanish the more he spoke, and how he was now choosing to hold himself. “I appreciate you all being here, but there are some things I need to make clear before I start things up.” He began walking around the room, weaving between women who all kept their eyes on him at all times, gazing at him almost wistfully as he sauntered around the room, and he owned every single one of us in those moments. With minimal effort and barely any words shared, we were all his, entirely. “I don’t provide average lessons. I don’t work by a formula. I don’t tell you what you should expect and what you should fear. I want to work as a team, with all of you, and figure out the threats you feel and face in your day to day life and build these classes around you. Your wants and your needs.” I wondered briefly, if that was what he did. We knew he was new to Rosebury, and I wondered if he spent his life moving from one place to the next and holding these sessions in different environments, different places and maybe even different countries, holding classes that were exclusively catered for the people who were there attending them, and the location in which they lived. I wondered if he’d just come from a city, somewhere where the threats must have been much higher than what we all experienced in our lives. I wondered if that was how he worked, and that we would be his team until we all felt his work was done, and then he’d pack up and leave and take his sessions to a new group of women and work with them, and work to their needs. “I want you to tell me what you want, and no matter what it is, I will do my best to teach you the skill you’re after.” He continued, jaw tight and eyes searching confidently across eager faces. “I don’t just teach you how to defend yourselves, I can teach you how to fight. I can teach you how to kill, if that’s what you want. So if any of you aren’t comfortable with that, you should leave now.” There was a slight grumbling that echoed around the room for just a few moments, but everyone stayed put, even though I spotted one woman, Betty, who I knew was around 70 who definitely looked a little hesitant, but she stood her ground and stomached it. Harry moved back to the front of the room, eyeing up literally everyone there one by one, his hands behind his back. I gave myself a moment to admire his broad frame. The tight t-shirt he had on gave everyone a clear view of the toned body beneath it, the dark cloth clinging to his abs. He had an abundance of tattoos running up his left arm, a few scattered across his right, and I was already well aware that myself and the girls would end up gossiping about how gorgeous he was as soon as the session was done. “I’m going to start an exercise routine that will last exactly an hour, with no breaks.” He told us. “All you need to do it follow my lead. It’s not easy, and whenever you need to stop, please do. That’s part of what this exercise is. We’ll do the same thing, every few months, and I want you to get a little bit further in the exercise every single time. So, if and when you know you’ve reached your limit, lift your hand, and then go sit down with…” He turned to, waiting for me to announce myself, being the one and only person who was already sitting it out. “Alfie.” I grumbled nervously, telling him my name once again. “Take a seat with Alfie.” He nodded. Everyone mumbled their understanding of the setup, Harry nodding with a smile to them all before going back over to the speakers on the ground and pressing play, opening up with The Chain by Fleetwood Mac.