Finale: A Dark Gang Romance (Academy of Stardom Book 4)

“Knives are only ever useful in hand-to-hand combat. If you find yourself in a situation where it’s you or them and you have a gun, you use that. Every time, okay?” Zayn says as he circles me, a no-nonsense look on his face.

“Okay, understood.” I nod my head tersely, holding tightly onto the fake knife he’s given me to train with. It has a leather handle like an ordinary knife might, but a wooden blade. I feel like a kid playing ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’. Right now, I’m the baddie.

“Zayn’s right. We all carry a knife with us, but a gun will take down your attacker, or at least injure them enough so that you’ll have a chance to escape. Next resort is a knife, and failing that, your fists,” York says from the corner of the dance studio. He’s already taken me through some basic boxing punches, and the three of us are covered in a sheen of sweat from the exertion.

“Gun first. Got it.” I roll my shoulders, feeling the ache in muscles I didn’t know I had. I thought as a dancer I’d used them all, clearly I was wrong.

“It’s not likely that you’ll ever be in a position to have to defend yourself like this, because between us, we’re going to make sure that no fucker gets close enough to hurt you,” Zayn says. “Nethertheless, Xeno was right. You’re moving in our world now and aside from David, there are plenty of people who might try to take a shot at you to get back at us.”

“Fantastic,” I mutter. “Maybe Lena should have some training too?”

“It’s not a bad idea,” York agrees. “Gray could train her. I’ll speak with him about it later. Right now they’re chilling in the lounge watching Pretty Woman. I’m pretty sure Gray would rather remove his eyeballs with a wooden spoon than watch that shit, but he’s a good guy and is taking it like a man.”

“Says the guy who loves black and white musicals,” Zayn retorts with a roll of his eyes.

“Hey, don’t mock me. Those films are classics.”

“And Pretty Woman isn’t?” I ask, smothering a laugh. It’s moments like these, amidst all the shit, that give me hope, purpose. I want this to last forever. I want us to be free from the threat of our enemies once and for all.

“You’ll have to ask Dax. Wait, maybe it’s Xeno… One of them has the hots for Julia Roberts.” York grins, winking at me.

“I’ll be sure to ask when they get back,” I say, tucking that little titbit away for later. Dax and Xeno headed over to Jewels and Chastity Nightclub respectively to catch up on business, leaving Zayn and York to start my training. Not that I’m complaining. They’ve both been incredibly patient with me as I’ve fumbled through the past few hours of training.

“Hey, don’t listen to York, Pen. Julia Roberts has nothing on you,” Zayn says, flashing me his chipped-tooth smile.

“It’s cool. I don’t blame them for fancying Julia Roberts, she’s totally hot and worthy of their adoration. Just so long as it’s me they think about when they’re jacking off, I’m alright with it,” I blurt out, my cheeks flushing at the sudden rush of words.

Zayn’s black eyes scan my heated skin before he smirks and says, “Believe me, Pen, we’ve all been jacking off to thoughts of you. We’ve been doing it for years now.”

“Well, shit. Is that why you’ve been taking extra long in the shower these past couple days?” York asks, laughter in his voice.

“Well I ain’t gonna rub one off in bed with you sleeping next to me, now am I?” Zayn remarks.

“Hey, you can whack off all you like. It’s not as if I haven’t seen you come before. As a matter of fact, your orgasm face is highly entertaining,” York jokes before proceeding to mimic Zayn in post-coital bliss.

We all burst out laughing, and it’s the best feeling. The rush of joy almost better than sex. Almost.

“Okay, let’s get back to it,” Zayn says, calming down first. “Anything you want to add, York, before we move on?”

York straightens his face and nods, serious once more. “Like I explained earlier, Titch, you want to attack first. Don’t hesitate. Your height and weight put you at a disadvantage, so you need the element of surprise. Your attacker will underestimate you based purely on what you look like. If you’re backed into a corner and you’ve lost your weapons then I want you to use light, fast jabs to keep your attacker at bay. It will keep them on the defence, and you might be able to get a heavy cross punch in. Hit them as hard as you can at this point, then once they’re down, that’s when you run.”

“I’ll try.” I give him a wry smile feeling every inch the tiny woman that I am. Being petite and a dancer is a plus, but as a boxer, not so much.

“You just need to build up your strength, Titch,” he says, trying to reassure me. “Besides, Zayn’s going to teach you how to correctly handle and use a knife in combat. Not to mention the fact that Xeno is planning on making you a gun toting badass bitch, so it’s unlikely anyone will get close enough for you to need to use your fists.”

“Regardless, Pen needs to be prepared for all eventualities, and it’s up to us to make sure she gets it right.”

“I appreciate it,” I say, looking between them and I do, so fucking much. Having them to train with, to spar with, is giving me something to focus on. It’s allowing me to funnel all my pent up anxiety and the simmering rage within me into something useful. I don’t feel so helpless, and that’s a good thing.

“Let’s move on then,” Zayn says, manoeuvring the fighting dummy torso so that it’s positioned directly in front of me. “This dummy is usually used to teach boxing jabs and to get a feel at what it might be like to hit a human, but it’s also useful for me to show you the most lethal places to strike your attacker with a knife.”

“Okay.”

“The biggest area of the body to hit is clearly the torso, but the heart and lungs are protected by the ribcage and it’s not easy to get a precise hit to the heart when your opponent is physically moving and you only have a small blade,” Zayn explains, sliding his fingers lower. He points to the stomach area. “You can stab anywhere here, and whilst it will cause damage, it isn’t lethal, but it will hurt like a bitch. I’ve fought men who’ve been stabbed in the stomach and kept going for a long time after. In a life or death situation you need to go for the places with the least resistance but the most impact. We want these fuckers bleeding out on the first jab with a knife.”

I swallow hard. “So where then?”

“There are three places that would be more effective for you given your size and weight. I might be able to stab a person in the heart, lungs or liver because I know which ribs to slide the blade through and have the strength behind the stab in order to hit those targets, but you need to be smart, not strong.”

“What about my favourite place?” York asks, pointing to the back of the dummy’s head.

“You have a favourite place to stab someone?” I ask, pulling a face.

“Well, yeah. We all do…” His voice trails off when he hears how that sounds. “Okay, that’s pretty fucked up. Forget I said anything.”

Zayn flicks open his blade and presses it against the back of the dummies head at the base of the spine. “York’s preference is to stab here. Doing so will cause instant death so long as you sever the spinal cord, but it isn’t very easy to do. The spinal cord is encased in vertebrae, and discs that, whilst spongy, are tough.”

“So don’t stab there then?”

“I wouldn’t recommend it for you unless your attacker is face down on the floor and already injured enough not to be able to fight back.”

“Okay so what are the three best places for me to stab?”

Zayn motions for York to step closer. He lifts up York’s arm and points to his armpit with the tip of his knife. “Inside the armpit is a large artery called the Axillary artery. It supplies blood to the arm and fingers and because it’s so close to the heart, if severed, blood will spew out like a fucking geyser. Much like York when he’s coming.”

“Thanks for that, bro,” York grins.

“But only go for this area if your attacker isn’t wearing thick heavy clothing. It’ll be too hard to slice through the material.”

“Got it,” I nod, taking it all in. Half of me is disgusted by the thought of sliding a knife into another person, the other half is impressed by Zayn’s knowledge.

“The second place is the groin area, in the crook of the leg,” Zayn indicates, again using his knife to press against that area on York’s body. He’s wearing jogging shorts, and Zayn’s hand slides up the material so that he can show me exactly where he means.

“Oy, watch the motherfucking crown jewels, will you?” York protests, his hand reaching down to cup his junk.

Zayn grins mercilessly. “Is that fear I see in your eyes, York?”

“You bet your arse it is. I’ve seen you use a knife and I’m not happy that thing is so close to my dick and bollocks. I happen to want to keep them intact, and I’m pretty fucking sure Titch wants that too. Am I right?” he asks me.

“Yes, you’re right,” I agree with a grin.

“Thought as much.”

York lets go of his junk as Zayn removes the knife, though he remains on one knee in front of him and I find myself having to force myself not to think dirty thoughts with him crouched before York like that. Even so my cheeks heat and I really, really hope York’s not able to read my mind right now. Refusing to look at him, I concentrate on Zayn instead. “And the third spot?” I ask, swallowing hard.

“Back of the knee. You’ll find the popliteal artery which is basically an extension of the femoral artery. It’s close to the surface of the skin, and if you slice through that there will be rapid blood loss.”

Zayn gets to his feet and motions me over. “I want you to have a go at stabbing those areas. Not too hard. You might be holding a fake knife but jabbing hard is gonna hurt.”

“Why not the throat? Isn’t that a good place to stab?” I ask, looking away when a flash of guilt crosses Zayn’s face. It was only the other day he had a knife pressed against my throat, and whilst he had no intention of hurting me, it still gives me shivers.

“Only if you have an extremely sharp blade. There is tough cartilage in the neck area that you need to slice through before reaching the Carotid artery. My recommendation would be to stab straight into the neck beside the Adam’s apple, then pull the knife sideways. Again, this is harder than you think, so stick with the places I’ve shown you.”

“I will.”

“Good. Now let’s make this a little more realistic. York I want you to go for Pen as if you’re about to attack her. Let’s see if she’s remembered her training.”

York doesn’t hesitate, he comes for me and my first instinct is to just lash out with my blade, forgetting everything they’ve both taught me.

“You’re going to have to do better than that, Titch,” York says, disarming me within moments.

“Fuck!” I grind out, instantly feeling like a fool.

“Remember what I said, Pen. If your attacker is throwing his weight at you in a punch then you want to use that opportunity to duck down and stab him in the armpit. Let’s practise that now.”

I nod, taking back the wooden knife from York and trying again. For the next ten minutes York keeps attacking whilst Zayn calls out instructions and corrects my mistakes, and with every minute that passes, I feel my anxiety lessen and my strength return.

Eventually Zayn calls time out and I’m so exhausted from all the training that my arse drops to the floor. I lay flat out, breathing heavily. York and Zayn both lay down next to me, one on either side.

“That was intense,” I manage to say after a couple of minutes, my heart rate finally getting back to normal.

“You were amazing,” York says, turning to his side, pushing up on his elbow so that he can peer down at me. He grins and I see the way his eyes light up with lust.

“What?”

“That was really fucking hot,” he says.

“I have to agree with York there,” Zayn murmurs, pushing up onto his elbow too.

I look between them, a sudden rush of heat warming my belly as they stare down at me. York rests his hand on my stomach, sending goosebumps scattering across my skin at his touch. Zayn, on the other hand, dives in for the kill and presses a hot kiss against my mouth that has my lips parting and a moan releasing. I’m vaguely aware of York cursing Zayn for being a sneaky son-of-a-bitch and getting in there before him, but that doesn’t stop him from sliding his lips along my collarbone, or grazing my skin with his teeth.

Our moment of bliss doesn’t last long, however, when the sound of the door opening, and a deep cough interrupts us. They both pull away and I sit up, looking over my shoulder at Gray.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but Lena needs you… She’s crying and I can’t console her.” He gives me an apologetic look, but I shake my head.

“That’s okay. We’re finished here anyway,” I say, trying hard to hide my disappointment. We’ve had little precious time alone together, and I’m acutely aware of their needs as much as my own. Regardless, Lena has to come first, so with one last lingering look at my guys, I sigh, then head out of the studio and back to my sister, her heart-wrenching sobs forcing me back to reality.