Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 88656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
We rolled around on the mat for a few long minutes as I attempted to mimic Kage’s armbar maneuvers. The guy made everything look so easy, it was surprising how difficult it was to actually attempt them myself. Several times, I nodded and assured him that I had a sequence of motions down, only to discover I actually had no clue what I was doing. It was excruciatingly embarrassing, and I decided this would probably be the last time I asked Kage to show me any moves.
Maybe a trivia night was in order, or an online IQ test showdown. Anything to show my own worth after this crash course in humility.
“How do you know when to do these things on someone?” I asked. “I can see how a person could memorize the moves and execute them on command in practice, but in a real fight your opponent isn’t going to get into the perfect position and just let you armbar him.”
“You’re right about that.” Kage laughed. “He’s not going to let you get away with anything if he can help it. The key is drilling these things over and over again in practice to the point that you feel it when the setup is right. Sometimes you don’t even have to think about it. Your body knows it’s time to get the bastard into an armbar, and it does it without any help from your brain.”
“Muscle memory, right?” I asked, marveling that I’d actually gotten the chance to use a piece of information that I already knew.
“Exactly. Your mind may not know what to do, or even have time to process what’s going on in a fight. But if you’ve trained right, your body will know. Which is a beautiful thing if you’re like me, because my brain turns off as soon as the fight begins and doesn’t turn back on until an hour or two later.”
“I’ll never get to that point.” I frowned, surprised that I even cared. “This job is going to be over in a couple of months, and it’ll be back to school for me. I’ll be lucky if I can even retain a quarter of what you and Marco have shown me.”
Kage didn’t comment on that. Instead, he leaned back onto his hands and spread his legs into a vee. Then he patted the mat between his legs.
I tried to follow his unspoken order, crawling up between his legs and turning in a confused circle like a dog trying to settle into a bed. Finally I got turned in the right direction, and Kage pulled me down into a seated position, my back pressed to his chest.
He put his powerful legs around my waist. Then he draped his left arm over my left shoulder, slid his right hand under my right arm, and grabbed onto his left wrist, securing his arms diagonally across my chest.
“This is the rear mount position,” he said. “And what I’m doing with my arms is called the over-under grip. Some people call it the seatbelt grip.”
I didn’t figure I’d forget the seatbelt grip any time soon, because the name actually described the position perfectly. But then he changed positions suddenly, and his left arm was around my throat again, just like in the triangle choke we had worked on. He didn’t squeeze, though.
“I’m going to show you how to do a Rear Naked Choke.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed.
“What’s so funny?” He loosened his grip slightly.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that every time I hear Rear Naked Choke… Well, it just sounds dirty.”
“You just have a filthy fucking mind,” he teased.
I made a sound of protest. “You’ve gotta admit it sounds dirty.”
“Nah,” he said, his voice low and seductive right beside my ear. “It’s only dirty if you do this.”
He dropped his right hand onto my thigh and ran his fingers deliberately up under the fabric of my shorts. His fingertips caressed the front of my underwear, skimming over my dick, and my entire body tensed.
But just as quickly as it had happened, it was over, and Kage was laughing quietly at my ear. The warmth of his breath on my cheek added to the chill that was spreading over my entire body, and I tried to ignore the tightening in my groin and the fact that I was getting hard. I struggled to get away, terrified that he’d discover my reaction, but he tightened his arm around my neck just enough to calm me back down.
Then he was back to the business of showing me how to properly execute the submission, as if he hadn’t just touched my dick. As if he hadn’t made me hard. I couldn’t focus on what he was saying. My mind was blown, and all it could do was replay the memory of that quick caress over and over.