“Scared, Buddy?” Cocky Black Belt Taunts a Single Mom — Unaware She’s a Combat Legend...
Chapter 6
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By Thursday, Tanner had grown frustrated that his jokes weren't landing the way he wanted. A joke needs a reaction to work; Jo wasn't giving him one, and a man used to being the loudest, most impressive person in any room did not know how to handle silence that refused to bend to him.That frustration was still sitting in him when he called Jo up for a demonstration on the fourth night."Now," Tanner said, addressing the room while holding her arm, "watch what happens when someone's instincts just aren't there."He twisted—not hard enough to actually hurt her, but hard enough to make his point. Jo fumbled the escape on purpose, stumbling half a step. The class laughed again, louder this time.Tanner grinned. "See that hesitation? That's what gets people hurt out there."He let go of her wrist, and as he did, his hand brushed against the thin silver chain around her neck. He caught it with two fingers before she could stop him, pulling the coin out from under her collar."What's this?" he said, holding it up to the light, turning it over. "Some kind of medal?""Please give that back," Jo said quietly.Something in her voice landed differently than anything her classmates had heard from her before: steady, not scared, not embarrassed, just firm—the way a mother speaks to a stranger reaching for her child.Tanner didn't notice the difference; he was too busy performing for the room. "Navy, huh?" he said, squinting at the anchor stamped into the metal. "You serve?""A long time ago," Jo said—the same words she gave everyone, the same door she quietly closed.Tanner smirked, something ugly slipping into his voice. "Sure you did." He tossed the coin almost lazily toward the trash can by the front desk; it missed the rim and clattered onto the floor beside it. "Where'd you get it? Some pawn shop? Etsy? Come on, look at you. You can't even land a basic wrist escape."Jo didn't move for the coin, not yet. She stood there, hands loose at her sides, looking at him the way you'd look at a dog barking behind a fence: unafraid, but not about to provoke it either.Tanner leaned in slightly, lowering his voice just enough that it felt personal, even though the whole room could still hear him."Scared, buddy?" he said, grinning.Jo looked at him for a long moment. "No," she said. "Just disappointed."She walked past him, bent down, picked the coin up off the floor without any drama, and slipped it back beneath her collar. Then she returned to her spot at the back of the room, arms crossed, and waited for class to continue.Tanner blinked, caught off guard by how little reaction he'd gotten. He recovered quickly, laughing it off and moving on to the next drill, but a few people in that room noticed: the nurse standing beside her, the retired schoolteacher near the door. They noticed that Jo Merrick hadn't flinched.