The Rusty Jug - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Lia woke to find Jin staring at her. For some reason this made her blush. Then she grinned at him.

“Good morning,” he bade and then chuckled. “You sure sleep a lot. We go to bed around nine; you sleep later than me, and I swear you always seem tired.”

Lia smiled and shrugged. “They say a body builds up a sleep debt for every night it doesn’t sleep enough. I went for years with very little sleep, so my body must still be trying to catch up.”

Jin nodded. “Well, we don’t have any classes today, but you mentioned shopping.”

Lia grinned. “Mmm… Shopping!” Then she yawned, and snuggled up to her pillow, silently wishing that she could sleep a bit longer.

Jin put a hand on her back, and used his magic to make her less sleepy. He literally gave her some of his energy. He had plenty to spare anyway.

“Have you showered yet?” Lia asked as she sat up, suddenly feeling energetic.

“Yes,” Jin informed her, and then nibbled on her neck.

“Good. I’m too impatient to wait! So, let’s get dressed and get going!”

Jin pulled her close, knowing that it was his own fault she was too antsy to stay and make love. A moment later they were in his bottle rummaging through his closet. He chose black casual dress pants, and a short sleeved, tight fitting, dark blue muscle tee.

Lia found a knee length summer dress in a matching blue. It was low cut, and the top half was made to stretch as she put it on then cling to her. Lia found it mildly ironic that she still didn’t have any undergarments – other than what she had stashed at the strip club she worked at.

Jin ran a hand up inside the skirt of her dress, and caressed her soft bottom. He kissed her, and hoped that she might be in the mood for a quick one after all. She stepped closer to him.

“Now that you’ve had regular meals for a while, you look and feel better than ever!” Jin informed her.

Lia grinned and nodded. “I agree. I even think my breasts have gotten just a little bit bigger.”

Jin gently bit her nipples through her dress. “I think you’re right.

“Hey now! Any more of that, and we’re never going to get around to shopping!”

“I don’t mind!” Jin grinned hopefully.

“Jin!” Lia giggled.

The two of them exited Jin’s bottle, and kissed once more before leaving their dorm. They strolled along hand in hand, and watched other couples enjoying the day. If not for a mildly serious need to buy a computer, they may well have abandoned their errand for something more romantic.

They soon arrived at a store with a large selection of computers, and Jin frowned over their prices. Lia fiddled with each model, and asked a helpful male sales clerk about a hundred flirty questions –all about the computers but flavored with something more. Finally, she fell in love with a particular laptop.

“This is the one,” she announced, and then asked, “Hey, do you think we should each get one?”

Jin looked at her in confusion, wondering how they could afford one of them let alone two. The model was one of the more expensive laptops, and he didn’t think they had that kind of money. He noticed she was too busy playing with the computer to see his reaction.

Lia nodded in agreement with herself. “Yeah, I think we should.”

She turned to the sales clerk, and flirted a bit more. Then she told him to get them two of her chosen laptop. After he returned to ring them up, she added a full repair or replacement plan, and made sure that they were both up to date on their virus protection.

The salesclerk told her the total, and Jin’s jaw nearly dropped. Lia merely opened her purse, and withdrew enough cash to pay for it. The clerk was impressed that she had that much cash, but didn’t comment on it. He gave them all of the necessary paperwork, and wished them a great day.

Lia asked Jin to carry the two still-in-the-box laptops, and nearly skipped with glee as she exited the store. Her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten anything yet, and she suggested, “Let’s go get something to eat!”

“Uh… Lia? Where did you get all that money?” Jin asked. “We didn’t have that much left, and I don’t remember you stealing any lately.”

Lia burst out laughing, and forgetting for a moment Jin’s affliction to obey her every command, answered as she would to her best friend. “Don’t ask!”

Jin stopped in his tracks. “What? Why?”

Lia abruptly stopped laughing, and looked at him with all seriousness. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have worded it like that… but… please don’t ask me that.’

“Why? What have you done?” Jin was relieved that his binding did not consider this asking where she got her money.

Lia looked down. “The only things I know how to do.”

“Other than stealing,” Jin added logically since she would have admitted to that. He took a purposeful breath, and slowly nodded. “I can’t ask now, but even if I could I wouldn’t since you asked me not to, but Lia… You can tell me, and I wish you would.”

Lia continued to study the ground. “Jin… I don’t want to hurt you… but I will tell you… later.”

“Later when?” Jin asked.

“When I’m ready,” Lia replied evasively.

Jin put a hand on her shoulder, magically holding the laptops steady with his other hand. “Is it bad?”

“Not to me, but yeah, you’ll probably think it’s bad… Very bad,” Lia put on her fake smile, and changed the subject. “I’m hungry. We should get something to eat.”

Jin looked at the laptops, and decided that they were too unwieldy to lug around. So, he used his magic to send them to their dorm room. What could she have done that was so bad?

He followed Lia to the nearest place to eat, and they ate in silence. He was occupied trying to figure out what she had done, and when, and she was busy trying to figure out what she could tell him that would be mostly the truth, but not hurt him. After eating, the two of them made a visit to the campus gym.

“They have kickboxing!” Lia nearly clapped in glee, and bounced excitedly.

“What’s that?”

“It says here that they’ll let us drop in on a class for free to try it out. Let’s do it and you can see what it is,” Lia suggested, taking him by the hand. She dragged him to the part of the massive building that was indicated on the map for the class.

Jin nodded in agreement, despite her determination not to let him choose otherwise. He knew that she was careful to word most things so that they weren’t orders, but even so, things often came out that way… like now. Lucky for him he usually wanted to do what she commanded.

Now was one of the times when he liked what she ordered him to do. So many things in this modern age fascinated him, and he loved it when Lia showed him something new. Though this building was huge, and he was afraid they might get lost, but they finally arrived.

Jin looked around the class, and was amazed at all the women there, but more importantly, “We get to spar!”

Lia laughed. “I thought you might like that.”

The instructor came over to them. “I’m Gina. Either of you kickbox before?”

“No,” Lia answered as Jin shook his head. “But I have fought before.”

“Same here,” Jin added gruffly.

“I see. Well, you’re not dressed for it, but you’re welcome to have us assess your skill level,” Gina invited.

“I’ll go first!” Lia volunteered. In order to fight anyone the gang leader told them to, all members were taught basic moves such as punches and blocks, and they were expected to be good enough at them to stay alive. Lia was still alive after all.

Gina pointed to her assistant, who invited Lia to attack him. Lia chuckled nervously, and asked, “Um… could you attack me please?’

“Go on, Marcus,” Gina permitted.

Marcus came at Lia with a mild attack, which she automatically blocked. Nodding, Marcus attacked slightly more aggressively, and Lia dodged or blocked everything he threw at her. He stepped up his attack a bit more, and Lia finally punched him back.

Of course, he blocked her as well, but Lia wasn’t trying to hurt him. As a result, her punch was indecisive and weak. Marcus noticed that she was holding back, and encouraged her to, “Step up already!”

The words were almost a trigger, and in her mind, she heard many an opponent intent to kill her yell, “If you want a piece of me, you’d better step up, Bitch!”

Lia lost control for a moment, and gave a war cry unique to her gang. She immediately began to attack Marcus like he was a rival gang member. She put him on the defensive, and backed him up against a wall.

Lastly, she surprised him with a sweeping kick that knocked him off his feet. She jumped on him as he fell, and he landed on his back with her atop him. One of her legs was on either side of his chest, and pinned down his arms just below his shoulders.

Jin saw the look on her face, and knew that she was about to beat the assistant senseless. He caught her hand as she was about to punch Marcus. “Lia…”

Lia shook her head free of the destructive memories, and flushed. “Sorry!”

“Well well… You took down Marcus, but you lack proper training. You fight like a thug,” Gina evaluated.

Lia nodded, tried to stand, and realized that parts of her skirt were trapped under Marcus’ arms. She tugged them free, and ended up giving him a free show. Though she did manage to keep everyone else from receiving a show too.

Marcus grinned. “I think I’m in love.”

Jin helped Lia to her feet, and kissed her. “My turn?”

Lia nodded.

Jin helped Marcus to his feet, and took a fighting stance. He looked at the assistant like a tiger looks at his prey, and wondered whether he should attack, or wait to defend himself. Attacking would be more fun…

Marcus chuckled nervously. “Uh… maybe Teo should assess this one.”

 Gina studied Jin thoughtfully. Teo was the instructor for the advanced class. For Marcus to suggest this before a single punch had been thrown was rare.

“Hey Teo!” Gina called out to a man who was watching them through a window to the instructors’ shared office.

Teo got to his feet, and poked his head out of the office door. “What’s the matter? Marcus get hurt?”

“Nah,” Marcus answered. “Just that this one is one of yours.”

“Really? It’s been a while since I had a new student.” Teo came over to them, and walked a circle around Jin. Jin tracked Teo’s movements with his senses, prepared to defend himself at a moment’s notice.

“I think you might be right,” Teo admitted to Marcus, and attacked Jin.

Jin’s awesome! Lia thought.

Jin and Teo sparred like equals, and Teo decided not to hold back. This prompted Jin not to hold back either. They each had some pretty impressive moves.

“I hope he doesn’t hurt Teo,” Lia uttered softly.

Gina chuckled. “Says the girl who wailed on Marcus and knocked him to the ground!”

Gina glanced around at the rest of her students. They were all busy practicing various different moves. One woman was trying her hardest – with the help of another assistant – to practice a defensive throw, but wasn’t able to so much as unbalance her fellow student. Gina nodded in encouragement, and returned her attention to Jin and Teo.

A minute later, Jin gasped, and rushed to shield Lia with his body as a different body flew at her. It was the partner of the woman practicing defensive throws, and he had made it a bit too easy for her to do what she needed to. Panic was written on his face as he completely forgot the recovery maneuver that would stop his unexpected flight.

He crashed into Jin just as Jin arrived in front of Lia. Jin’s stance absorbed most of the impact, and he even managed to prevent the man from landing painfully on the floor. He wasn’t able to stop him from falling though, just softened his landing.

Jin held Lia protectively, and watched the man at their feet in case anything else happened. Lia snuggled into her lover, and wondered what had happened. She decided to help the man up.

Gina looked at the student who threw this one, and saw that she was watching them in horror.

“I’m so sorry; I have no idea how that happened!”

Gina glanced at the clock, and saw that there was only five minutes left of class anyway. “I think that’s enough for today.”

Teo bowed to Jin, and said, “Good match. You could stand to learn more about kickboxing techniques, but your foundation is solid, and you fought well.”

Lia looked Jin in the eyes. “What do you think? Do you want to come again?”

Jin nodded, and then faked an aggravated sigh, “More classes!”

Lia laughed.

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