Free False Security by Angie Martin Page B

it
first?”
    He laughed. “I guess it does
sound a little stupid.”
    “Hurry up,” Mark said. “I don’t
want a cop to drive by. The last thing we need is to get arrested because of a
bet.”
    James stared at Rachel for a
moment. “I don’t know. There’s a lot of pressure with you and Mark staring at me.
I don’t think I can do it.”
    Rachel shrugged. “Your call,”
she said. She turned around and started walking toward Mark, knowing James was
bluffing.
    His footsteps closed in behind
her, as she expected. As soon as he grabbed her shoulder, she reached around
and locked his arm up with hers. She tightened her grip and turned sideways
toward him. Her knee jerked up and landed in his stomach, but she restrained
the impact so as not to hurt him too much.
    Rachel loosened her grip on his
arm, and he doubled over. She twisted his arm up and behind his back, forcing
him to stand up straight. She swept her foot in front of his legs and pushed
him facedown to the ground. James landed hard and groaned.
    She crouched beside him and put
her knee into the small of his back, using her weight to hold him down. “And
just like that, you’re on the ground and I’m not even out of breath.”
    James gasped for air between his
words. “Let me up.”
    Rachel ignored him. “The element
of surprise was pretty good,” she said, “but do you want to know what your
biggest mistake was?”
    “What?”
    She smiled. “You called me a
little girl. Now apologize.”
    “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Can I get
up now?”
    She got to her feet and joined a
wide-eyed Mark at his truck. James stood up, dusted himself off, and walked toward
them. When he passed by, he pointed at Mark. “Don’t you even think about
telling anyone about this,” he said.
    Mark laughed as soon as James
left. “That was great.”
    “He had to learn somehow he
shouldn’t underestimate all of us little girls.”
    Mark looked at her in amazement.
“I guess I always knew you could do that, but it’s still strange seeing it.” He
paused and his stare became inquisitive. “You could beat me up, couldn’t you?”
    She laughed. “I wouldn’t even
try.”
    “What if we got in an argument?
You could do some damage.”
    “Don’t worry. I only use my
powers for good.”
    “What a relief.”
    “Besides, it’s not like I’m
stronger than you, or even James, for that matter. I just know how to use what
strength I have to defeat my opponent.”
    “That salvages some of my ego.
When did you learn to do what you did to James?”
    “I started going to a gym after
my parents died. It was good for me to take my frustrations out on a punching
bag or by lifting weights and sparring with others.” She grabbed Mark’s hand.
“The strangest thing happened to me today. Some misguided flower delivery man
delivered roses to our house by mistake. We have some girl’s flowers in our
kitchen.”
    Mark smiled. “That poor girl. I
bet she would have liked getting them.”
    “Probably. They’re beautiful.”
    “I suppose you’ll have to take
good care of them for her.”
    “I will. No one has ever given
me flowers before.” Rachel didn’t know why she spoke the words, but couldn’t
stop them from leaving her mouth.
    “Ever?” Mark asked.
    “Never.”
    “If I had known that, I would
have made sure you had them every night since the day we met. It’s shameful you
had to wait so long to get flowers.”
    Rachel shrugged. “But it makes
getting them for the first time that much better.” She let go of his hand, took
a few steps forward, and gazed up at the sky. “It’s an incredible night. I
think I can see every star.”
    Mark stepped up behind her and
wrapped his arms around her waist. “Why don’t we skip the movie tonight?”
    She twisted her head and
frowned. “I was looking forward to seeing this one.”
    “We can see it another time.”
    “Every time we make plans, we
never end up doing what we say we’re going to do,” Rachel said with a