"We can stop for today if you want to. You've already learned a lot and I know it can be exhausting for beginners," Alex suggests between two sips of water as we're taking a break after a good hour of training.

I finish my bottle, the much-needed water cooling down my warm muscles, before I exclaim with a big smile, "No, I'm fine! I can keep going. I'm not tired yet!" Though as soon as the excited words leave my mouth, my insecurities come back. Alex has a way to pierce through my walls and pull me to be myself, yet I don't know if it's a good thing. "I mean... unless you want to stop... if you need to..." I add, realizing that maybe he doesn't have more time or is bored here with me.

"No! I'm not tired either!" He smirks, a sparkle of challenge in his eyes that silences all my doubts. "I will teach you self-defense, and how to get away from a hold and turn the tables. That way next time you'll be able to defend yourself!"

I laugh lightly and naturally, nodding.

After a few more minutes of break, as he's seemed to want to be sure it wouldn't be wearing for a beginner, he comes behind me and grabs me in a tight hold. If I had felt a light fatigue before, I don't remember what tired is when I feel his presence behind me. My heart rate soars, and all my nerve-endings seem to be jumping everywhere. Yet I try my best to stay focused, in spite of our closeness, of his hot breath on my neck, of his strong chest and arms engulfing me in a nice suffocating shield.

"What would you do to free yourself?" I can feel his intense eyes observing me.

"Er..." I glance around, trying to disregard every part of Alex so close, from his penetrating eyes to his warm touch. "Maybe... stomp on your feet?"

"Yeah! Really good! And then?" He encourages me.

I'm already proud of myself for being able to find an idea and speak quite properly, and now I have to think a little bit more.

"Er... I can try to move one of my arms a little bit and try to punch you in the stomach... I don't know..." I suggest, biting my lip.

"Yeah, it depends on the hold you're in, but you gotta try to punch the stomach or the face." He takes my arm to show me slowly the moves, creating a trail of goosebumps in the process.

"And now you try!" He releases my hand, and I try to turn my wide eyes to look at him, but his hold is too tight for me to really move. "W-What?! B-But I don't want to hurt you..." I stutter.

"Don't worry, you're not gonna hurt me!" Even though I can't see his face, I can hear the smirk forming on his lips through his cocky voice. "I'm used to take punches!"

I try to put into practice what he has just explained to me, not too hard though because I don't want to harm him. Unfortunately, it doesn't even make him flinch.

He holds me a little tighter. "Come on! You can do better! Show me the badass you are inside!"

I search for this 'badass' inside, only finding more jumpy nerves.

"Or do I have to annoy you?" he whispers in my ear.

If that's what he wants... Maybe he should be careful what he wishes for...

I find this 'badass inside', or at least something rises in my stomach with the challenge. I don't wait another second to seize my courage while I have it and take Alex by surprise. I stomp quite hard on his left foot, then I quickly elbow him, choosing to aim his stomach rather than damaging his beautiful face – though I would have gladly removed this cocky smirk of his that annoys me as much as it entices me. He loosens his hold on me, and I take the opportunity to get out of it.

I whirl around, almost dizzy to realize I've really done it, and when I face him, he's slightly bending forward, holding his stomach. But he quickly stands up straight when he notices that I'm looking at him.

"Was it too hard for you?" I ask with a big smirk. I guess the adrenaline from my feat is still pumping my confidence.

He puffs lightly his chest. "No, it's perfect. I'm used to take much harder punches!"

Yet I see he's biting his lip; I've probably hurt him quite a bit, even if he's used to take harder punches from stronger opponents. But I won't raise this because my stomach is already shriveling. I wouldn't want to bruise his cocky pride too. Actually, maybe there is something else weighing on my stomach: how much harder those blows can be and how often they can be?

I try to shake the dreadful impression and the images popping in my head as he goes on with his lesson, seemingly now fully recovered.

"Then, you gotta be fast and aim for a weak spot: so head, stomach, and for the men, the crotch."

My eyes grow bigger as they instinctively travel down to his crotch.

"Er... For this, I think I'll pass..." I laugh nervously as I can feel the blood flooding my cheeks more and more.

"Yeah, it's better to preserve it. It can be useful!" He smirks, totally at ease, while I'm about to catch fire from awkwardness, and I don't dare to look in his playful eyes.

"Er... And for other holds, like when the attacker is in front, holding me by the neck, trying to strangle me, what can I do?" I ramble, trying to change the subject from his 'useful' crotch.

"Yeah, I'll show you. But you won't learn everything in one lesson!" His eyes bore into mine for a second, and I can't really comprehend the intensity behind it.

He explains and shows me more self-defense techniques that I try to apply, while trying to calm down my burning cheeks, my racing heart, and all my tingly senses every time his breath, his skin, or any part of his body brush mine. Luckily, he's a really good teacher, and surprisingly, he uses a lot of physics laws in his explanations, which I point out to him in one of those moments where I feel comfortably at ease and myself with him.

"Well, who would have thought THE 'baddest bad boy' reasons with physics laws when he fights?!" I tease him.

"Hey! There's nothing more accurate and that's why I always win!" He gives me a smug grin.

"And they say I'm the nerd?!" I laugh, shaking my head.

"Are you laughing at me?!" He squints his eyes at me, yet I still catch a glimpse of a sparkle of amusement in them.

"No! I'm just noting..." I try to suppress my grin, but in front of his piercing gaze, I can't hide it, and I just burst out laughing.

"Oh! I'm gonna get you for this! We'll see if you learned well today!"

Despite the lightness around, my survival instinct wakes up, and I take off running as he chases me around, our laughs echoing loudly in the empty room.

In no time, he catches me, and I can only wriggle around to try to get out of his strong hold. That's when he starts tickling me. All my muscles stiffen before my laughter bursts louder and my stomach spasms under the pokes of his fingers. I try as best as possible to use the self-defense techniques he's taught me, but it seems impossible with his strength and my laughs.

"So, you're ticklish?!" he rasps near my ear, sending a shiver down my spine, while his ticklings and my giggles still don't stop.

"Stop! Please!" I beg him, between fits of laughter.

"Um... Let me think..." He strokes his chin. "No!" He grins, going back to tickling me even more.

I'm in stitches, trying to catch my breath. But I finally manage to make him fall, wrapping one of my legs around his to make him stumble. Unfortunately, he drags me down with him.

I end up on him, once again, straddling him. Our laughs cease as the room fills with another kind of tension. It's like the temperature has turned hotter, almost steamy suffocating, and we're both sweaty, clammy, and out of breath. There is not a sound around, and the silence is creating a new kind of tickles on my skin as we stare at each other. I'm leaning on his strong chest, which is rising and falling in sync with mine. I'm hypnotized by his dark eyes so close, and the heavy puffs of air I can feel escaping his mouth only draws me closer.

"Hey Alex!" A call from the hallway pulls us out of our trance.

We both jump in surprise and turn our attention towards the direction of the voice.

"I got the money from last week and you forgot to give me the piston L15..." The voice stops, and a dark-haired guy stands at the door, staring at us. "Sorry, did I interrupt you?"

I quickly jump away from Alex as the guy with a black leather jacket keeps wearing a mischievous smirk on his face. This devilish smile, I've already seen it somewhere else, on someone else's face more exactly, and so many times that it doesn't take me long to remember: it's Alex's smirk.

So, I'm guessing he is Alex's brother. He seems around our age, probably a little bit older, knowing that Alex has an older brother named Josh. Everybody has heard of them, of course.

As he comes near us, I can definitely see the family resemblance. Both are handsome, though Josh has darker hair and lighter hazel eyes. Standing in front of them both, I also quickly notice their differences. Josh has an easy smile and friendly, charming looks. He seems more outgoing and less dark than Alex, which is particularly evident right now as he's wearing a deep frown.

Albeit, never judge a book by its cover. I know Josh is as dangerous as his brother because they run their gang together and everyone fears them both.

"You don't introduce us?" Josh asks his brother, cocking an eyebrow.

I stare between the two of them, one grinning, and the other now slightly glaring at his brother.

"Josh, this is Elena. Elena, this is Josh, my brother," Alex announces flatly.

"Ah! The famous Elena..." Josh's smirk grows wider as he looks at his brother amused, and I'm left red as a tomato and a little confused.

He takes my hand and kisses it. "Nice to meet you, Elena," he purrs.

I stand there awkwardly, not knowing what to do in front of this unusual gesture, well at least unusual for me.

Josh looks back at Alex. "You didn't tell me she was that hot!" His smirk doesn't falter as his gaze travels back to eye me up and down.

I just stare at my feet, my cheeks burning, and maybe also my brain under the sort-of-compliment, the unnerving attention, but mostly the question: has Alex talked about me to his brother? And what has he told? It shouldn't be important; he probably just has mentioned the physics project, yet I can't help wondering what he thinks about me. He's so unreadable.

"Leave her alone. You gave me the money, now you can leave!" Alex says tense, giving him a tight lip smile.

"You still didn't give me the piston!" Josh raises an eyebrow, totally unfazed by his brother's glare; he's probably the only one who wouldn't be scared in front of this deadly gaze.

It's almost cute how Alex just sighs and then goes get it in his bag.

"You're distracted, little bro!" Josh sings out, before turning his attention back to me in a quieter voice. "So, he isn't too hard on you?"

"Oh, no! He's awesome, he's really nice and considerate..." As a knowing twinkle appears in Josh's gaze, I realize I'm smiling a little too much, so I add, trying to suppress my silly smile, "I mean, he teaches really well."

Thankfully, he doesn't raise my words, yet he keeps his twinkling gaze.

"I saw you got the upper hand! Well done!" He grins as Alex comes back to us. "My baby bro defeated by a girl on her first lesson! Maybe I should bet on you!"

I laugh lightly, shaking my head as Alex rolls his eyes.

"Here." He hands him the piston, clearly impatient to see him leave.

But Josh doesn't seem in a hurry at all; on the contrary, it looks like he's enjoying his time, and he adds to Alex, "She's fierce! I like that!"

I give him an uneasy smile, my cheeks burning with Josh's player ways and innuendos. The two brothers really have the talent to make me more awkward than I usually am, and that's saying a lot! Though standing face to face, they appear like day and night.

"Bye," Alex replies, smiling at his brother, though his jaw is still tensed up.

"If you get bored of him, and if you want a real fighter to teach you, call me!" Josh throws me a wink.

"You know I can kick your ass anytime!" Alex retorts.

I stare at this little fight between the moon and the sun, and I must admit it's kinda amusing. I guess it's another part of Alex that not everyone gets to see.

"Bye, I leave you two alone! Have fun!" Josh turns around and leaves, laughing and shaking his head like he knows some big secret that only him has an idea about.

Alex sighs, looking back at me. "Sorry for my bro, he can be really annoying!"

I smile, shaking my head. "No, it's okay, he's... nice. And I guess that's siblings' job!"

His penetrating eyes observe me as if trying to pierce all the mysteries of my soul, so I'm surprised to hear his simple question. "Do you have siblings?"

"No, I'm an only child."

"Lucky you!" He laughs.

In a way, maybe he's right; if the siblings' job is to embarrass them, then I'm doing enough by myself!

"How about we take a break? We've worked enough for today!" he suggests, his features relaxing now that we're alone.

"Yeah gladly!"

I go to grab my water bottle in my bag, checking my phone at the same time. Several texts immediately appear on the screen: my Mom wondering what I've been doing and when I come back home, and when I look at the time, I understand. We've been here for more than two hours. It's crazy how when I'm with Alex, I lose track of time.

"I think I should head back home. I didn't see the time and my Mom is probably waiting for me." I start picking up my things.

"Sure, I'll drive you." He grabs his bag, standing right beside me in less than two seconds.

"Thank you for the lesson." I smile.

"You're welcome!" He flashes me one of his dazzling smirks that pick up my heart rate. "Now, you got the basics to defend yourself!"

I look up at him, nibbling on my lip before saying what's on the tip of them. "I would love to learn more... I mean, if you want."

I fiddle with the strap of my bag as his smirk fades away to turn into a serious face. "I'll give you more fighting lessons on one condition..."

I nod timidly, waiting for his 'condition'. I don't even try to guess this 'condition' because I have no idea what it can be; his dark gaze is too enigmatic.

He breaks into a grin. "... If you give me more cooking lessons!"

I giggle. "Deal!"

I hope you like this chapter, what do you think of Josh? ;) We've got to see another part of Alex's life!

Please please let me know what you think in the comments, vote, add to your library...