I sit at the bar, averting my eyes away from the girls flopping over the poles and men surrounding me. Bolt has one on each knee and is taking turns sticking his tongue down their throats. Not my lifestyle, but I know that Bolt has need to forget more than most, and if those two women over there help him, I'm not judging.

Vidar calls me into his office, to all the rest, save for Viper and I, he's Bear or pres. But not to me, I've known him since we were boys so I have a right to think of him with his given name.

I leave my drink behind on the bar for a prospect to clean up and follow Vidar into his office. He sits down behind his desk, surrounded by photos of his loved ones. I pull out the chair and sit down opposite him.

"We've had the local police reach out to us about a number of muggings and attacks on women in the town. They don't have the manpower at the moment, but they want to run a weekly self defence class at the local gym. I offered your name up as a potential for the role."

I nod eagerly, only to happy to help these women protect themselves.

"I'd be only too happy to take up this role." I reply.

"Well... if you're sure? The first class has been scheduled for tomorrow at 5. Thank you for doing this bror. It will help the community."

"And that's why I'll do it."

Clearing my throat, I stand from the chair and leave the office, finding my way to my room before flopping down on the bed. Deciding to make a mental list of basic self defence actions, I sit up from the bed and come up with the first 10 basic but effective moves for the class tomorrow.

My phone buzzes, it's Viper calling for me to come back down to the bar for a drink with him. I ignore his text, but he starts calling me. Growling, I rise from my bed and throw my cut back on. If I don't appease Viper he won't leave me alone. He's bad enough at hogging Eira whenever we babysit for Astrid and Vidar. He's a stubborn bastard when he wants to be.

"What?" I snarl as I sit beside him at the bar, "I've got stuff to do tomorrow."

"Only the same shit I have to do. You can have a drink with me."

"Actually I'm also teaching a self defence class at the gym in the evenings."

He guffaws with laughter at that.

"You're going to be teaching a self defence class filled with women in spandex?" He laughs even harder at my expression. "Either you're gonna get yourself banned from the gym for inappropriate conduct, or you're gonna get jumped by horny women."

Irritated with his laughter and teasing, I shove at him and he loses balance from his stool. He hits the floor and continues to laugh as he rubs at his head. I hold my hand out for him and he takes it as I pull him from the floor.

"I'm just doing it to help. There have been muggings."

"Well good on you for helping out then. Ignore me."

"I intend to."

"Bastard." He spits out playfully before pushing me from my stool.

After finishing a few more glasses of whiskey, I head back up to bed with a buzzing warmth at the centre of my chest. The alcohol acts as a sleeping pill and I'm out before I even register I'm in bed.

I rise late, not by intention, but as a result of my time at the bar late. Viper must have spiked my drink. Sly bastard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I arrive at the gym a little before four, dressed in shorts and a club T-shirt. My hair is tied up behind my head so it stays out of the way. As I'm early, my room is occupied with a yoga class- I decide to wander around the main gym area to check out the facilities.

The area is rather empty due to the time on a weekday. A few men lifting weights, and a girl. She's sprinting on a treadmill, drenched in sweat with her legs appearing to be nearing the brink of collapsing. Her face is red and exhausted. I walk closer and catch a sight of her time on the display board. She's been running like that for 2 hours.

I know I shouldn't, but I have to say something. She's going to pass out if I don't.

"You should give your body a rest now. That's an impressive run time, but enough."

She looks over at me, raises an eyebrow and turns back to the wall. Completely ignoring my advice. Rolling my eyes, I scoff and turn away.

A second later, the treadmill stops and I hear her laboured breathing. I whip my body back around and find her doubled over and groaning. I fetch her the water bottle from the treadmill and she gladly takes it and gulps it down heavily.

"Why do you run like that?" I ask, unable to rid the gnawing sense of worry from my chest.

"I have to." She replies flatly before turning on her heel and walking past me. Without even casting a second glance my way, she leaves the gym.

I'm left feeling dumbfounded and shocked, it wasn't very often I was completely ineffective when it came to a woman. I would have at least expected a thank you, but oh well. Can't meet nice people every time I guess.

Sniffing, I walk out the door and find the class vacated, leaving me time to set up the few things I'll need for the class. The gym manager informed me there were 15 women signed up, but it was a drop in session at capacity at 25. Nothing too mad then.

A few women start to file in, I greet them all politely- not informing them of my name until everyone has arrived.

Then in walked that woman again. Still drenched in sweat, she averted her eyes from my gaze and took the mat at the far corner.

Now I was intrigued. She wasn't being rude to me, she was intimidated by me.

But why?