Pink Pads

An adult stories – Pink Pads by aaronbrown,aaronbrown Some may know me from other sites as A.J. Brown. I hope you enjoy this story.

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Pink Pads

By A.J. Brown

Taylor Villone walked inside the dojo feeling more intimidated than she expected to. It was full of probably 12 men, mostly white, a few African American, all of them wearing either green belts or white belts, that were warming up in various ways, some of them doing light sparring with each other, others just looking like they were in their own world, doing some sort of karate dance. Even the guys that had white belts on had gis and belts that looked broken-in. She felt like she stood out like a sore thumb wearing her brand new white gi with her bright white belt, but not a single one of the guys had even turned his head to look at her.

Taylor’s main reason for being here was to try and meet men, something that the 22-year-old girl had had a hard time doing since graduating college the previous year, so being the only girl here she supposed was good news, though she wouldn’t have minded seeing one or two more so she wasn’t the only one.

Learning karate was appealing to her as well. Standing at 5’5 and weighing close to 200 pounds, Taylor was on the bigger side, but she was a strong girl who could beat up her older sister and also her younger brother, neither of them having the ‘bigger person’ genes that she did. Despite her size, she thought she had a cute face, and she if she acted cute around some of the guys in here, she thought she might be able to win one of them over.

She heard the dojo doors open and turned her head to see an extremely cute girl looking about her age walking in wearing a green belt. The girl had long straight hair and was quite petite, looking like she couldn’t weigh much more than half of what Taylor weighed. Taylor knew men well enough to know that just about every man out there would choose a girl like this over Taylor if they had their pick. That was OK, though, as long as there weren’t more of her to follow, one girl wouldn’t be able to take too much attention from her. The girl gave Taylor a warm smile which made her feel comfortable and it took away any dislike she had for her.

“Taylor!” she heard a man’s voice say loudly. Startled, she turned her head to see a man who had to be 6’5 towering over her wearing a black gi and a black belt with a bunch of gold stripes on it. He looked to be in his mid-forties and had long sideburns, and wavy hair like reminded her of the haircuts she saw the hot guys have in the 80s movies she would watch. “I’m Sensei Preston.” With a big smile on his face, she received the firm handshake of the friendly man on the phone who had the soothing voice that made her feel like the karate dojo was the place she needed to be. “Glad you were able to make it. You don’t know how many people I talk to on the phone that tell me how excited they are to do this and then they never show up. So just getting here is a big first step. We don’t see many girls here either so that’s especially commendable.” Taylor just smiled at the compliments from this man who she guessed could take on just about every guy that was out lifting heavy weights in the connected gym. “Stretch your body out a bit to loosen up and we’ll start doing stretching as a class in a few minutes.”

He gave her a smile and walked away. Unsure of exactly what to do, Taylor looked around and saw some of the guys in class had started stretching as well. She looked to the green belt girl who was sitting down in a full split which made Taylor self-conscious knowing that there wasn’t a chance she could sit in that position. As she watched the girl lean forward to the left to stretch out with her toes pointed towards the ceiling, she looked at how cute the bottom of the girl’s foot was. It looked extremely smooth and exceptionally clean considering she had already spent some time walking barefoot on a dojo floor. Taylor then looked at her other foot which she could see from the top point of view. It also looked extremely smooth and it looked like the girl had gotten a pedicure before class with the dark blue toenail polish she had on looking like it was brand new. Taylor was self-conscious about her feet but considering it was karate class, she didn’t think even painting her toenails was necessary. Now as she looked at this girl’s feet which looked like they could be modeled in some magazine, she wished she had shown up wearing a pair of wrestling shoes like she had noticed one of the guys wearing.

Taylor heard the dojo door open again. She looked over and was mesmerized as she watched the tall guy walk in. He had lots of dark, spiky hair that looked like it had been freshly gelled right before walking in here. He wasn’t as tall as Sensei Preston and one of the other guys she had noticed in the dojo, but he stood at a good 6’1, the perfect height for Taylor, and looked quite skinny. He was the first person in class that Taylor had noticed wearing a brown belt, Sensei being the only black belt in the class, and everyone else wearing a green belt or a white belt. Taylor had studied up on this style’s ranking systems prior to coming here. There were only 4 belt levels, white, green, brown, and black, and through further research she learned that because they only had 4 belt levels, it normally took years to get promoted to the next one.

What made her unable to look away from this guy was his face which was extremely smooth, looking like he had just shaved. He had long eyelashes that she could see from halfway across the dojo and a cute nose. He looked like he was about 30-years-old which was right around the age Taylor was looking for. Most guys her age were still not very mature and 30 was a good age, in her opinion, where you were old enough not to be stupid, but still young enough where you could have some fun. The guy also looked focused as he set down his gym bag, leaned his bow against the wall, and immediately started going into a stretch.

“Alright everyone, line up for stretching!” Sensei Preston announced, making his voice deeper as he did, and everyone stopped what they were doing to do what they were instructed. “Taylor, you should be able to follow along. Just follow what I’m doing.”

Stretching began and following along with what to do wasn’t so much of a challenge for Taylor as actually doing it was. Add the fact that she was 5’5 and close to 200 pounds to the fact that she had no prior karate experience and she wasn’t able to move her body in the ways Sensei was instructing. She felt ridiculous and she looked around to see if anyone noticed how silly she looked, only to see that they were all focused on their own stretching and not paying the least bit of attention to her. She noticed the girl and the hot guy were both especially flexible which made her jealous of the girl and a bit horny for the guy watching him put his body in those different sexy positions.

“Alright, we’re going to work on some basics now,” Sensei said. “Haley, if it’s alright with you I’m going to have you work with Taylor in the back of the dojo on…” and then he said a name of a kata that even when she took multiple classes after that and worked on it many times, she was never able to remember the name of it.

“Yes Sensei!” Taylor heard the pretty girl say assertively.

“So I just go back there?” Taylor said to Sensei who just gave her a subtle nod.

“I’m Haley, it’s nice to meet you,” the green belt girl said once they were in the back of the dojo and she shook Taylor’s hand with her soft feminine hand. “Glad to finally have another girl in class with me. So kata can be a little frustrating at first, but once you start to get it down, it’s a lot of fun.”

Haley began teaching Taylor her first kata with a lot of background noise of the men screaming as they punched and kicked the air. The noise didn’t seem to bother Haley as she wasn’t even raising her voice to talk over it, but it was driving Taylor crazy as trying to learn this was quickly starting to stress her out and barely being able to hear Haley over all of the noise wasn’t making it any better.

Taylor was having trouble learning the sequence of moves she was being taught as it wasn’t clicking for her. Making it more frustrating for her was Haley’s constant corrected her of her stance, often putting her hands on Taylor to straighten her out the way she wanted, which Taylor didn’t like. Haley would then show Taylor how a good stance was supposed to look by demonstrating. She felt jealous of the grace Haley was able to move with since her body type just didn’t allow her to do it, but she thought Haley was being nitpicky overall as she didn’t think her stances were that much different than Haley’s even if they didn’t look as good. Watching a girl much better looking than her know karate better than her was starting to hurt Taylor’s ego. She told herself that even if Haley did know more karate than her, that she was a lot bigger than her and could still beat her up, which made her feel a bit better.

“OK, everyone get lined up for kata!” Sensei announced.

“It’s your first class so you won’t do this with the class yet,” Haley said to Taylor. “You can just sit back here and watch. You’ll be able to go out there with us soon, though. Once they start doing the more advanced katas, the lower level students will sit back here and join you too.”

Haley walked in line as Taylor felt silly again, sitting in the back of the dojo wearing a gi while everyone else prepared to work out. They began doing the same kata that Taylor had just spent the last half hour learning. Haley’s form was, of course, amazing as she did the moves but Taylor noticed that some of the other guys, even some of the green belts, had form that wasn’t any better than Taylor’s form that Haley had been correcting. Their katas looked plenty good and Taylor felt even more annoyed that Haley had made things difficult on her.

She watched more and she thought Sensei Preston looked dangerous doing the kata. Even just punching and kicking the air, both his punches and kicks looked extremely powerful. She figured that most of the guys in there found it motivating to see that but it just made Taylor want to be nowhere near that guy when he was doing katas and to make sure that she always stayed on his good side.

Then her attention turned to the handsome guy brown belt. His face still looking as smooth as ever even after working out for a while, not only did his kata form look even more perfect than Haley’s but he looked like he was getting into it way more than she was. While his strikes didn’t look powerful the way Sensei’s did, all of his punches and kicks looked to have extremely good form. While a lot of the other people looked just plain, some of them even uninterested as they did their kata, the handsome guy had a look of extreme intensity on his face and his bare feet would slide a bit on the floor with each move he did, showing that little extra he was putting into it that no one else was. He breathed heavily with each moved and while there were certain punches that everyone yelled out loud on for some reason, the handsome guy was always the loudest each time that happened. It was a beautiful sight watching this man do kata and Taylor felt like she could have just sat there all night and watch him do it.

Sensei called out for another kata that Taylor couldn’t understand what he said and she watched all of the white belts walk out of line and to the back of the dojo with her. With less people on the floor now she was able to concentrate on the handsome guy even more, his moves looking so smooth, so forceful, and so perfect. The intense look on his face as he literally looked like he was doing every single move like he was trying to knock someone out and finish the fight, captivated her. The green belts that she thought were doing the kata well didn’t look as into it as he was and there were some of them that looked like they were going through the motions to get it done with.

Sensei then called the green belts off so he and the handsome guy were the only ones up there performing kata for the rest of the class. Sensei was obviously a master at this but thinking about how hard that handsome guy had worked to become the second best in the class intrigued Taylor a great deal. She watched the two of them do the next kata and she couldn’t say that Sensei looked like he was doing it any better than handsome guy was.

When the two of them finished up, they bowed at each other, and handsome guy turned around to walk over towards the right side of the dojo. Sensei started to do a kata on his own for everyone to watch but Taylor’s eyes were on handsome guy. He didn’t appear to be sweating at all which Taylor found incredible after working so hard, especially since she was still sweating a bit just from the work she had done with Haley. Handsome guy did look winded and a bit out of it and it almost looked like he was drunk. She watched him walking right towards the wall and at that moment she wanted to be there right next to him so she could grab the poor guy, save him, and then hold him in her arms. But she wasn’t and she felt awful for him when she watched him walk right into the matted wall. When he hit it, he bounced away and his head shook like he had been woken up out of the daze he was in.

“Careful over there, Dallas,” Haley called over to him and when Taylor looked back and saw the playful look on her face, she quickly became jealous that Haley took the opportunity to be flirty with this guy, and she wasn’t able to. “That’s why you’re single.”

Taylor understood women very well, probably more than most men or women did. That was what happened when you were the most unattractive woman in the group, a situation that she had found herself in more often than she would have liked, because when no one was paying attention to you, you ended up observing what was going on around you, more than all of the people who were doing the talking. So she knew in Haley’s voice that she was playing around with Dallas. He gave her an awkward smile back and while Taylor had been able to read Haley, she could not tell if the smile on the handsome man was one of someone who was smiling trying his best to play along and not knowing what else to say or if he was embarrassed and was giving her a bit of an angry smile for saying anything.

The most important thing she took out of that was now she knew he was single. This handsome, karate brown belt, was available for the taking and although he was far better looking than any guy Taylor had dated in the past, she wasn’t going to let that stop her from giving it her best effort. Now she just had to think about how she was going to do that.

“Alright everyone, let’s get your pads on!” Sensei called out to the class.

Taylor didn’t know what that meant. She didn’t like not knowing what things meant. She watched everyone walk towards the walls and then saw them reaching in their gym bags.

“Sorry Sensei, what are we doing?” Taylor called out to Preston who was doing the same thing as everyone else.

“Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you on the phone,” he said to her. “We do sparring at the end of each class. So you should go out and get yourself some sparring pads. It’s alright for this time. There are some spare ones over there.”

He pointed to a basket in the corner and she walked over to it to see a bunch of gloves, foot gear, and shin guards, grossed out to think about how many other people had worn these and got all sweaty in the process. Not even sure how to put them on, she watched others do it. She had a hard time doing it herself, partly because she didn’t really know how, and partly because she was a little grossed out wearing shared karate pads.

“Here, I’ll help you with that.” Taylor was startled and looked up to see Sensei standing above her, his pads all on him already. After he showed her how to put on the shin guards, then the foot pads, and then her gloves, she wanted to ask him what the hell she was supposed to do next but he turned his head to face the center of the dojo.

“Alright everyone, partner up!” he called.

Taylor felt the goosebumps on her as she watched all of these people she didn’t know start to partner up with each other to ‘spar’ and she considered just running out of there rather than fight with one of these experienced people she didn’t know. She wanted to partner with Sensei, figuring he would go easy on her, but his back was to her and he had already walked quite the distance away from her so she wasn’t about to chase him down, grab him, and be like ‘oh please be my partner Sensei.’

Her next choice of who she would have wanted for a partner would be Haley but she quickly realized that Sensei had been making a beeline for her since the moment he stepped away from her. Looking at the way Sensei smiled at Haley made Taylor sure that the two were fucking each other or that that was Sensei’s goal. That was good news for Taylor as if Sensei was after or with Haley, none of the other guys in the class would be trying to go after her.

So who was Taylor going to partner with? It was too early to go after Dallas, especially with her borrowed pads on and he had already partnered with someone else anyway. It looked like everyone else had found a partner when she looked to her left and saw a guy who looked almost as tall as Sensei and almost as skinny Dallas standing there. He wore a white belt too and even though he had a haircut that Taylor thought made him look like Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber she thought he was kind of cute. She was already thinking about Plan B since she knew getting a date with Dallas was probably going to be a long shot.

“Partner?” he said to her and even from that one word she could detect his thick Russian accent. When he smiled at her and she saw the severe gum recession he had despite the fact that he looked to be a couple of years younger than Dallas, any thoughts of him being a Plan B or even C, D, or Z went out the window.

“Sure,” she said with a friendly laugh. “I just want to warn you of one small thing — this is my first class and I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.”

He just laughed, with a friendly laugh, seeming nice enough.

“Just really light sparring,’ Sensei called over to her, obviously overhearing her. “Try and use some of the moves Haley taught you when you were working together. Just go light. Use your punches and kicks but do them light. We’re not trying to kill each other or put people in the hospital so they can’t go to work tomorrow. If it looks like you are going to connect with a punch, pull it right before you hit him. If you do hit him light, it’s OK. You can block as hard as you want, though. Ilya’s only been here for a few weeks so don’t worry, he’s almost as new as you are.”

Sensei turned back at Haley, smiling at her again, and Taylor knew that was the extent of the instruction she was going to get. She looked back at her partner, Ilya.

“Alright, I guess I’ll give this a try,” she said playfully.

“You’ll be fine,” he said with that smile that she would have been fine if she didn’t show him again. He raised his fists and she raised hers.

“Three minutes!” Sensei called out. “Go!”

Taylor watched Ilya’s fist coming right at her face with that long arm behind it and she had no idea what to do. She started to scream playfully but his fist connected with her face and although it wasn’t hard, it was intimidating and it shut her up in a hurry. She tried getting her arms up to block but saw his left coming in just as fast and it was like he knew exactly where to place it. She started laughing this time right before he punched her face, that glove he had on protecting that from being a lot worse.

Trying to fight back, she swung back at him, and she could tell how girly her punch looked, especially after watching his come in at her. Her arms felt so short compared to his and she just watched him smile and take a step back to make sure her fist didn’t get anywhere near him, and she just punched a bunch of air.

He punched her in the face again and even though she didn’t think there was any malice behind it, it seemed like he was getting more worked up because it hurt more. Trying to defend herself, she put her hands up in front of her face and ducked, but his long arm always found a way to get in there as he connected with another punch.

Too timid to stand back up straight, she stayed in that position. She felt his gloved fist hit the top of her head and as much as it sucked, it was still better than getting hit it the face, so she stayed in that position, trying to guard her head more. Already at a severe height disadvantage, he now stood even taller than her, and she wasn’t able to see how easy it was for him just to look down at her and find places to hit. She felt him playfully bopping her all over the place on her head, shoulders, and wherever he could find. She wasn’t laughing anymore as she was just getting to the point where she wanted it to be over with. It felt like it had been a lot longer than three minutes to her.

Finally after getting punched a few more times, she felt it stop. She put her hands down and slowly started to stand up straight, still preparing herself for the possibility that another fist was going to come flying in her face once she left herself open enough. When that didn’t happen she thought time may have expired and she didn’t realize it. But she saw all around the dojo, everyone else was still fighting with each other, and Ilya was standing tall and looking at her with a smile.

“Come on,” he said, and he waved with his hand for her to try and attack him, his smile suggesting that he was doing it mockingly. “Try and hit me, see if you can.”

Still feeling the punches he had administered on her head and face, she was a little fired up now. She raised her fists then lunged at him, throwing a right punch at his face that he easily backed out of the way of, and then a left punch where he did the same thing, smiling the whole time. She watched his fist come in and this time it effectively connected with most of her nose. She had no doubt without the glove on she’d be crying right then.

“Alright, time!” Sensei called, Taylor looking at Ilya smiling at her after just punching her in the nose, and she was pretty sure she hated him.

“Good match,” he said and he held out his fist for a fist bump, his smile now looking a lot more genuine. She cooperated with the fist bump. “That was pretty good for your first time.”

She couldn’t stay angry with someone being nice like that and she laughed. She didn’t want to be the girl getting all upset on her first day either. She had guys here she wanted to meet. “Thanks, although I’m pretty sure you’re just being nice.” She laughed as she said it.

“Alright, everyone find a new partner!” Sensei called.

Taylor had no more use for Ilya and she turned her head and quickly walked away from him. She saw everyone else moving around looking for different partners but Sensei and Haley were still talking to each other. Why were they talking? Everyone was supposed to be getting new partners so why weren’t they moving around. When she got close enough to them and they were still both talking without acknowledging her, Taylor got the hint.

She looked around to see what her other options were going to be. Everyone else had partnered with someone already except for one black guy who was either bald or with a shaved head wearing a green belt that was now walking towards Taylor looking like he wanted to be partners. Taylor wasn’t attracted to black guys and she was normally afraid of them which she supposed made her at least a little racist, but it was what it was and it made her definitely not want to partner with this guy. While he stood closer to Taylor’s height, maybe 5’10 at the most, he was thicker than Ilya was, and probably weighed close to 200 pounds.

“Want to partner up for this round?” he said to Taylor. He spoke extremely intelligently, which Taylor hadn’t expected, something she also wasn’t proud of. His words were very well annunciated and his voice was on the higher-pitched side, almost sounding like he was gay. But that all made her feel better.

“Sure,” she said. “I’m Taylor.”

“I’m Najee,” he said, and he held out his fist for a fist bump which she cooperated with. “This your first class?” She nodded. “First time taking karate?”

“Yup,” she said.

“Well don’t worry,” he said, and he spoke extremely eloquently. “First time is always a bit intimidating but you’ll get used to it before you know it. We’ll go light this time.”

“That would be great,” she said with relief and he laughed with a very genuine sounding laugh.

“Everyone ready?” Sensei called and Taylor started getting in a fighting stance as she watched Najee do the same. “Three minutes. Go!”

Najee raised his fists and even though he said they were going to go light, her body tensed up, afraid she was going to spend another 3 minutes as a punching bag.

“Now what are you doing wrong now?” he said to her.

“Absolutely no idea,” she said. She laughed, knowing that she probably was starting to sound pretty stupid laughing all of the time, but she still felt extremely out of place and couldn’t help it.

“Your head is wide open,” he said. “Raise your fists more.” She did so. “More,” he said. She did so. “More,” he said, starting to get on her nerves. She raised them even more.

“This doesn’t even feel natural,” she said.

“It’s not supposed to feel natural. You’re fighting. But watch this.” He started throwing rapid punches towards her head. “Huh-huh-huh-huh-huh!” he called, making punching noises as every punch he threw connected with her arms. She thought that he was just doing all of that on purpose and could have easily started bopping her all over the place until he threw a punch towards the side of her head. She saw it coming and with her fists up so high, she was easily able to move her arm to the right to block it.

“Good,” he said, sounding very encouraging. “Now put your fists how you felt natural.”

She moved them down but not too far, knowing obviously that she’d be leaving herself wide open. Najee was still able to easily come in with a fist that connected with her forehead. It hurt a little bit but he let out a contagious laugh and she couldn’t help but laugh back.

“Alright now put them back up where I told you to,” he said, and she thought she lifted them high enough. “Higher,” he said, so she did. “Good. Now try punching back at me.”

He had been smiling most of the time but he quickly got a serious look on his face and brought his fists up high. She got serious too. She threw a punch that he blocked then another one that he blocked. He threw a punch back at her head that she was able to block. “Good,” he said. He threw another punch at her face that she also blocked. “Good!” he said, sounding very encouraging.

The encouragement made her feel great. She threw a punch at his face that he blocked but when he punched back she blocked it too. She could feel her confidence growing as she threw more punches at his head, not connecting on any of them but feeling a lot more comfortable with each one she threw. She liked this kind of training a lot more than just the immediate all out aggression that she had in her previous match. They threw some more punches back and forth, Taylor not actually connecting on any of them, but Najee only barely connecting on a couple. She felt like she was quickly getting better.

“Alright, time’s almost up, you ready for the snake?” he said.

“The what??”

He made a hissing sound, brought his fist towards her ribs, put it into her ribs, and twisted. The tickling sensation quickly spread throughout her ribs and she laughed loudly. “Gotta keep your body defended too,” he said to her with a smile.

“Great, right when I felt like I was starting to get used to blocking my head,” she said playfully.

Now starting to really feel off, Taylor had her left fist up by her head and was bending her body on the left so her left elbow could cover as much of her ribs as possible. As Najee started his hiss again she realized that she had left the whole right side of her body wide open. It was too late as his left hand came in, got her in the ribs, and twisted more. She laughed harder this time as he really dug in.

“Come on, defend yourself,” he said, clearly playing with her, as he put his fists back up. “Gotta guard yourself.”

She had her arms down by her ribs on both sides now, knowing that her head was wide open, but just wanting to protect herself from getting hit by the snake again. She saw his fist coming in again, and she heard him doing the hiss, but even though she thought she was protecting her ribs everywhere she could, he still managed to get his fist into her ribs, this time really twisting, and this time really making her laugh.

“Alright, time!” Sensei called. Taylor could still feel the tingly feeling on her ribs and instead of feeling upset like she felt after sparring with Ilya, she felt good. When she initially saw Najee, she didn’t think for a second he would be her type, but she was open-minded.

“So is this your first time taking karate?” she asked, then quickly realized how stupid her question sounded. “I mean did you ever take karate before here?”

He laughed with his friendly laugh. “It’s all good. Yeah, I took Taekwondo for years before I took this.”

“What belt did you get in that?”

“I got a black belt,” he said, trying to sound modest, and looking a bit embarrassed. Taylor found it cute.

“Really? What did you just get your black belt there and then just come here and start over?”

“Pretty much. Much rather get very good at a few styles than just be an expert at one.”

“That’s so cool. What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a doctor,” he said, looking a bit embarrassed again.

“Like a real doctor?”

“Like a real doctor,” he said laughing, and Taylor was starting to enjoy the cute awkwardness that was developing between the two of them. “Yeah, I’m a primary care physician.”

A fun guy, with a black belt, and he was a doctor. It was hard to find much better than that. “Married?” she asked.

“Oh yeah. Got a loving wife of five years now. Been trying to get her to come to karate class with me but haven’t had any luck yet.” Of course he was married. All the good guys were. Taylor sometimes thought it was like that for a reason just so they could get her hopes up for no reason.

“OK, let’s find new partners,” Sensei called out.

“You did great,” Najee said, making her feel better. “I hope you stick with this.”

“I’ll partner with you now,” Haley said, kind of startling Taylor as she popped out of nowhere. “Sorry, I should have partnered with you earlier. Sensei had some things he wanted to work on with me.” The way she said it, Taylor almost believed it. “How’d the first two rounds go for you?”

“Not bad,” she said, not wanting to let on that she learned a bit from Najee. Looking at how much smaller Haley was than her previous two opponents, Taylor thought she might have a chance this time.

“Everyone ready?” Sensei called out and Taylor watched Haley start to get in a fight position. “Go!”

Trying to use her knowledge she gained from Najee, Taylor immediately lifted her fists up as high in front of her head as she could. Haley lifted her leg and brought the bottom of her sexy foot right into the fat of Taylor’s stomach. It wasn’t a powerful kick by any means but it was enough to push Taylor back a step.

Trying to stay focused on what she was taught, Taylor kept her fists up in front of her head and watched Haley’s head for an opening. Her head actually looked pretty wide-open as she was not defending it the way Najee had advised. Taylor was about to take a shot at Haley’s head when another foot to her stomach stopped her.

Taylor put her hands down towards her ribs again, mostly because getting kicked by Haley’s cute feet was worse than dealing with the snake. With Taylor’s arms mostly at her side, Haley kicked Taylor in the fat of her stomach. Now quickly losing her confidence, Taylor started backing away from the cute girl. Haley started bring her feet up more rapidly, using her feet to push Taylor backwards more than she was actually kicking her. Taylor laughed uncomfortably, not enjoying getting beat by a cute girl that was so much smaller than her, even if she did have more experience.

Taylor tried to stay focused, remembering what Najee told her. Haley’s head was wide open and if Ilya had been able to punch her around the way he did when she had her guard down, why couldn’t she do the same to Haley? She lunged towards her and this time Haley kicked her in the stomach hard. Taylor didn’t back away as much as she wanted to, but feeling the pain in her stomach increase from that kick, she was reluctant to try and attack her too. Haley wasted no time and she kicked Taylor in the stomach again.

In desperation, Taylor threw a straight-legged kick and couldn’t believe it when Haley grabbed her leg in the air. Taylor didn’t think she’d have a problem pulling her thick leg away from Haley’s arm so she was unpleasantly surprised when she tried to pull it down and had no luck. She tried harder but Haley had her arm locked around her leg perfectly so she couldn’t get it away. Taylor started uncomfortably laughing again as Haley stepped back a bit and Taylor needed to hop on one foot just to keep from falling on her ass. Haley then gave Taylor’s leg a good yank with all of her weight behind it, taking Taylor right off of her feet, and her butt hit the dojo floor hard. Taylor laughed loudly now, trying to keep from making a noise indicating how much that hurt, and also trying to play it off like she wasn’t badly humiliated by it. Getting beat up by a tall guy with a scary smile suddenly didn’t seem as bad as getting dropped by a cute, small girl.

“Alright, time!” Sensei called and then he was standing above Taylor before she knew it. “How’s it going so far, Taylor?”

“Well Haley just whooped my butt.” She said it smiling, but hated having to admit that out loud.

“Don’t be afraid to use your strength,” he said. “I know this is karate class but Haley’s been taking karate a lot longer than you have and you look like a strong girl. You can do whatever you gotta do to survive in here. Don’t get discouraged, though.” He looked away from her. “Let’s find new partners!”

Haley reached down to give Taylor a fist bump then her and Sensei Preston both walked away, talking to each other. Were they really going to partner up again? Either way, Sensei didn’t seem too interested in partnering with the new girl and helping her learn. She slowly got to her feet and watched everyone around her partnering up. She saw Dallas over by the wall getting some water. Did she make a move? Was it too soon? It wasn’t making a move, she needed to partner with someone, so why couldn’t it be him? She actually felt herself getting nervous on the inside as she got closer and saw how truly handsome this guy’s face was, his long eyelashes looking even better. Maybe she should just turn around and see if anyone else wanted to partner up. No, you coward. Remember the main reason you’re here.

“Want to partner with me?” she said innocently to Dallas.

He looked around like he was seeing if there were any better options for him, then looked back at her. “Um, sure,” he said, sounding confused that she would ask him.

“I’m Taylor,” she said as she backed up a bit, getting in a fighting position. Dallas moved closer to her, but was still looking around like he was still checking out the scene of other potential sparring partners.

“Everyone partnered up and ready?” Sensei called out and Taylor was a bit relieved to see that at least he wasn’t partnered with Haley again. “Fight!”

As Dallas got into a fighting position, Taylor did the same, putting her fists up high to protect her head and remembering what Sensei told her – to use her strength. Taylor could was stronger than her younger brother and some other guys she had come in contact with that she had playfully outwrestled in the past. Dallas looked just as skinny as them. Of course none of them were brown belts in karate but if Taylor could even hold her own a little bit against this gorgeous guy in her first ever karate class, she’d consider that a win for her and a good foot in the door.

She noticed that his fists also were in front of his chest and his head was wide open, the exactly opposite of what Najee had said to do. It didn’t surprise Taylor so much when she saw Haley doing this but she expected the brown belt to be in some sort of position that would intimidate her. His height would make it a bit tough for her to punch that high but that opening looked like something she might be able to take advantage of.

Dallas attacked her, throwing a punch towards her chest, which she was easily able to block with her elbow, though she did back up a bit. Fighting these guys with the long arms was difficult. He threw another punch towards her chest and even though it was fast with good form, it just looked so predictable coming in and she was easily able to block that one as well.

With a serious look on her face, she looked at Dallas and thought that he looked a bit tired already, and he also looked a bit afraid. He threw kind of like a hammer fist down like he was trying to punch the top of her head but with her fists up in position she threw a hard block. She was glad his arm was skinny because their arms met at full force. His skinny arm didn’t hurt her but when he pulled his fist back, she saw the ‘ow’ look on his face. He threw another punch at her stomach and even with her hands up high, his punch was so forecasted that she was able to bring her arm down quick, her hand pushing down on his wrist, and blocking the punch.

Now the two of them were close with his face wide open. She reached her hand back, realized it wasn’t in the position she wanted, but nonetheless she threw a backhand at him. She felt the top of her gloved fist connect with his face hard and her first really good connection of the class felt good. Looking at his reaction, she could tell that she hurt him. She almost apologized but held herself back from doing so, thinking it would be silly to apologize for a hit she made in karate class.

She watched Dallas start to back away from her and seeing that this great looking man looked hurt and a bit scared sent a rush of adrenaline through her like she never felt. She wound back her fist again and now brought a quick punch forward that hit him in the mouth. Dallas put his hand up to his mouth, not looking like he was trying to block it, but just naturally grabbing it because he was hurt.

Taylor felt even more adrenaline. She punched him in the face again and then threw another one that he blocked but whether she connected or not, she was sending him backpedaling with every punch that she threw. With Dallas not fighting back and not playing very good defense, she just kept coming at him, one punch after another, some of them connecting, some of them getting blocked, but each one sending him back. She kept feeling more power of dominating this guy as she felt either her gloved fist punch his face or her bigger arm connect with his skinnier one. Not knowing where it came from, she lifted her leg, spun around, and threw a kick that hit him right in the side of his stomach, his lack of skill helping her find in her power and skill that she didn’t know she had. She felt herself lose her balance a bit as she brought her leg down but her foot came to the ground without her falling.

She looked at Dallas who had his hand where she kicked him, clearly trying his best to not show that he was hurt. She was a sweet girl and didn’t want to hurt anyone, but for reasons she didn’t quite understand, she did not feel any sorrow. Beating up this guy felt like paradise to her. She stepped back and when she saw that he didn’t look like went wanted to step to her, she punched her gloves together in front of her, indicating that she wanted more.

Dallas stepped forward and threw a haymaker at her head. Her hands were still down in front of her chest and only because of the fear that this punch was going to knock her out if it connected, she somehow managed to raise her arm in time to block it. He tried to come back quick with a jab to her face but it was forecasted like all of his other punches and she found it in her to block that one out of the way as well.

Charged with more adrenaline, she threw a punch at his face and connected, seeing his anger when she did. He punched her in the face and although it did hurt, since she still felt confident she could beat him up, at least in this fight, and the pain just motivated her to fight back harder to punish him, rather than back down.

She started throwing rapid punches towards his face while she did the same. They were close to being in an all-out fight now as opposed to a sparring match. On both sides, a few of their punches were getting blocked, with others connected, but Taylor had more connecting than him. Dallas was holding his ground for a few of the punches but then he started backing off again. Taylor saw this opportunity ready to seize it. She kept punching at his face rapidly, putting her strength behind it like Sensei recommended and now she was connecting on just about every one. When Dallas’s face looked like he was about to start crying, he bent down, and used his arms to cover his head the best he could to avoid taking any other punches. Taylor now stood taller than him and saw plenty of openings. She was punching him all over the place in the back, in the head, and in the sides while he just stood there bent over and taking it. A small part of her felt bad for beating him up and like she should stop but the excited part of her told that small part to shut up. She punched him a few more times before she heard Sensei.

“Time!”

Taylor took a step back. Dallas started to stand up and she offered her fist for a fist bump but he wouldn’t even look at her and he quickly walked away towards the center of the dojo.

“Everyone line up!” Sensei called. They all got in line and when Taylor saw them all kneel, she did the same. “Close your eyes,” Sensei called. Taylor smiled awkwardly but when she looked around and saw everyone else closing their eyes, she did the same. “Take deep breaths in through your nose, then out through your mouth,” Sensei said. “Breathe all of what just happened out of your system so you can return to the real world. Breathe.”

He then stopped talking and Taylor couldn’t hear anything except others breathing. She did what she was told and she needed it. Her mind was spinning, feeling like she had been through quite the emotional trip, getting beat up by some tall scary guy, then learning some cool karate from a guy that seemed close to perfect but had to be married, to getting beat up by a small girl that was given the gift of being way hotter than Taylor, to beating up one of the best looking guys she had ever seen who was supposed to be the second best karate person in the class. She started doubting if she really had beaten him up. Was he just going easy on her? That look on his face like he was about to cry sure didn’t look like someone who was just trying to be nice.

“Now open your eyes,” Sensei said gently, and when Taylor did so it felt like any stress in her life had been removed. “Great class everyone. I love the effort. Taylor, you did a great job today, and Haley, I appreciate you working with her. All of you remember. If you ever want to do harder sparring, the gym doesn’t close for two hours. You’re welcome to stay after class and fight with each other, just make sure I’m out of here first so I don’t get sued.”

Sensei got up and started to walk away. Taylor watched the rest of the students walk over to the sides of the dojo and start taking their pads off. She walked over to the corner where the basket was, took over her borrowed pads, and put them in the basket. People started walking out of the dojo but she watched two other green belts move towards the center, pads still on.

Everyone else had cleared out in a hurry but the two guys in the center didn’t notice Taylor so she stayed where she was. The two of them began dancing around a little before one threw a punch at the other that she thought for sure would have knocked him over if it wasn’t blocked. The guy that blocked the punch swung back, punching the guy in the face, and making his head swing back.

Disturbed by seeing guy take a punch from another like that, Taylor wanted to walk out but at the same time she felt like she couldn’t look away. The guy that got hit swung back, connecting with his opponent’s nose, and drawing blood. Taylor didn’t want to see more and she kept looking.

The guy with the blood coming from his nose had a look in his eyes like he wanted to hurt his opponent and he threw a punch back that connected with the guy’s face. The guy that wasn’t bleeding started to look like the beta and he started to back off. Bloody nose guy swung with another punch that the other guy looked too scared to block and Taylor felt like she could feel it from where she was. She started to wonder if these two were practicing or settling some beef.

Seeing the blood that had spread across the guy’s face and the look in his eyes made Taylor start to think the latter. She couldn’t help but wince when the bloody nose guy hit the other guy two more times, hard enough that he should have fell, but he managed to stay on his feet somehow. Bloody nose guy then kicked the guy in the stomach and he fell. Taylor wondered if the guy was able to breathe after taking that kick and her feminine instinct made her want to run out there and see. When she saw bloody nose guy stand over him in a fighting stance, looking like he was ready to attack at the slightest move, and a drop of blood fell from his nose onto the guy he had defeated, she thought better of it.

She quietly made her way to the dojo doors and walked out to the loud gym, still full of people, just working on their bodies. Even though she was just wearing a white belt, as she walked through the gym holding her gym bag and making her way to the locker room, she felt cool that that had just been through a much more high intensity workout than any of them were going through. Now she had to get herself some pads.

**

“Now stretch to your left,” Sensei Preston said to the class.

Taylor kicked out her left leg and straightened it the best that she could. She looked ahead of her at Najee who had the perfect stretch in his leg. She looked down at her foot. Her feet would never look as good as Haley’s but she thought they looked cute with the pink toenail polish she had put on this time.

“Turn and stretch to your right,” Sensei said, no tone in his voice.

Taylor watched Najee start to turn in her direction and decided to wait a bit to make her turn. His body turned more and when he made eye-contact with her, she playfully stuck her tongue out at him. He silently laughed in a way that suggested that he had absolutely no interest in playing the flirty game with her. That was fine. She looked up towards the front at Dallas stretching, his gi pants against his skinny ass so tight that it looked like he didn’t have one at all. She discreetly looked at his ass as much as she could for the remainder of the stretching.

“Haley, why don’t you work on some basics with Taylor before you get into kata today?” Sensei said once the stretching was done. “Throw a few basic blocks in there too, give her a little defense, and help her with some of her blocks. Real light.”

“Alright so Sensei is right, you are really strong,” Haley said to Taylor once they started to work together. “The things I want you to concentrate on today are showing a bit more speed and not being so predictable. I shouldn’t be able to come in like this.” Haley came in with a quick fist and playfully bopped Taylor on the top of the head with it. Taylor laughed despite finding it humiliating. “Try and hit me anywhere. All I’m looking at is your eyes.”

Taylor looked into Haley’s eyes and how pretty they looked. Yeah, she was trying to help Taylor out, kind of, but she was showing off how she was better than Taylor also, making Taylor want to make sure she was able to hit her. With Haley not looking like she could see at all below Taylor’s neck, Taylor threw a low, horizontal karate chop at Haley’s hip. Without even looking down, Haley brought her hand down and caught Taylor’s wrist in the air not letting her make contact. Haley wouldn’t let Taylor pull her wrist away when she tried. Haley stared at her with her pretty gaze and Taylor laughed, but she sounded obviously uncomfortable.

“Don’t worry,” Haley said, letting Taylor go. “We’ll get you to that point. Let’s start out working on some blocks.”

They began doing just that and after a couple of minutes when Taylor was able to put her ego aside and just do what Haley told her, she started catching on quick. Once she got a rhythm down she was able to block more of what Haley was throwing at her, and she felt the strength in her arms was helping her too.

“Not bad, that one kind of hurt me,” Haley said after one of Taylor’s blocks which she took as quite the compliment.

Haley continued to work with her, throwing punches and kicks at her that Taylor got better at blocking with each one that came in. Taylor threw some punches and kicks back and Haley and Haley was making her look stupid by blocking them, moving just her arms and not the rest of her body, looking directly into Taylor’s eyes the entire time.

Frustration began setting in with Taylor, and she even let out a couple whiny sounding gasps, after being blocked by shots she thought for sure would get through. She was getting tired and humiliated and was at the point where she wanted this to be over. Haley hadn’t changed her facial expression the entire time she had been blocking Taylor’s strikes but when Taylor saw her crack just a little bit of a smile, she had enough.

“Ya!” she yelled loudly as she threw a hard punch at Taylor’s face.

She watched the expression on Haley’s face finally change as she saw the hard punch coming in. Taylor’s fist connected with Taylor’s cheek, sending her head back. She quickly felt the fear and sorrow that she had hit a small girl.

“Oh my god!” Taylor said as she pulled back and grabbed Haley’s shoulders. “Are you OK?”

Haley looked at Taylor with a look of surprise, Taylor just standing there looking like she had no idea what to say or how to act. “Nice shot!” Haley said and she gave a big smile.

“Alright everyone, get your pads on!” Sensei called out.

Taylor was excited not to have to go over in that basket to put her pads on today. She got to walk over to her gym bag like everyone else was to get her pads out. She started putting them on, trying not to look too proud about it. She looked down at the pink toenail polish on her toes before she put on the pink foot pads. They covered the top of her feet and toes entirely and she did not mind.

“Pink pads?” Haley said as she put her own black ones on.

“Oh yeah,” Taylor said proudly. “No one wants to get beat up by the girl wearing pink.”

Haley laughed right as Sensei told everyone to partner up. Taylor hoped that making Haley laugh would get her to partner with her for the first round but Haley quickly walked off to go partner up with Sensei. She looked around with her pink pads on, being reminded how little she fit into this class still as she watched everyone else partnering up with people they knew and making sure not to look anywhere near her.

The only one she would have been comfortable approaching on her own would be Najee who already had a partner. Everyone was quickly partnered up except one black guy wearing a green belt who was still looking around as if he looked away from Taylor long enough there might be someone else come along that he could partner up with.

“Tony, why don’t you go ahead and partner with Taylor for the first round?” Sensei said.

Tony finally looked over at Taylor and started walking towards her without saying anything. He was bald and about Najee’s height but he was quite a bit bigger than him and he looked a lot meaner too. Intimidated already, Taylor just put up her hand to wave to him and smiled. She put it down when his facial expression didn’t change.

“OK, everyone get ready,” Sensei said.

“Grrr…” Taylor said to Tony and she made her own mean face, trying to be playful.

“Go!” Sensei said.

With a look of hatred on his face and looking like his only goal at that moment was to pound Taylor into the ground, Tony came at her, far faster than she could react to. She saw his fist coming at her face with the power of a strong man and the speed of an experienced martial artist. For the first time since she had been here she felt legitimately afraid.

His gloved fist stopped right in front of his face so perfectly like he knew exactly where he wanted to place it and was able to which scared her more. In came another fist just as strong, hard, and placed perfectly as the first one. He seemed to know what he was doing but what if she just accidentally moved forward and took one of those bombs this guy was throwing right in the nose?

Her arms felt frozen at her sides, forgetting that she was in a controlled karate class, and she feeling terrified of this man. He didn’t stop as those fists kept coming in, each one with the power to knock her into next Tuesday, and always stopping just short of doing so. With each punch that came in it was a reminder that she was a woman with no fighting experience. Guys like Tony were why women got protection in the form of other men as opposed to fighting themselves. As the fists continued to come at her and her fear and emotions were going out of control, she uncontrollably burst out into tears.

“Taylor, you alright?” she heard Sensei say almost instantly, like he could sense a crying student the way a cat can smell immediately if there is another cat in the vicinity. Tony backed away, now looking a bit afraid, putting his arms up.

“I didn’t touch her, I swear!” he said.

Preston just kind of nodded as he walked right by Tony and up to Taylor. He softly put his hand on her shoulder which made her cry more. “You alright?” he said again.

“His fists, were just coming at me!” Taylor sobbed. “They just kept coming.”

“I didn’t even touch her with one punch!” Tony said defensively.

“It’s alright Tony, why don’t you go get a drink?” Sensei suggested and Tony was quick to obey. “You want to sit out a round or two?” Sensei said to Taylor.

He spoke gently and caring to her which was one of the things that stopped her from just getting up and walking out. How was she supposed to stay in class after the humiliation of what just happened? Didn’t he realize that she didn’t belong in this class? She felt that way, but she did think it was nice that he only suggested she sit out rather than leave made her not want to look rude by leaving.

“Alright, stop and get a drink!” he called out to everyone else who was still sparring.

Taylor walked over to the wall as everyone else got a quick drink and started looking for new partners. Just looking at the floor and crying still, Taylor barely realized what any of them were doing. How was she supposed to go out there and fight anyone after what she had just been through? She certainly couldn’t look Dallas in the eyes after she just started crying in class. And she suddenly felt certain that she didn’t even beat Dallas, that he just didn’t want to hit a girl so he didn’t know what to do. Much more of a gentleman than that asshole Tony. She had actually thought that she just came in here and beaten a brown belt on her first day ever of karate, how stupid could she be?

She stood there, looking towards the wall, her head down, and trying to stop the tears from coming out of her eyes. She couldn’t even tell why she was crying anymore, whether it was embarrassment, or that horrible image she still had in her head of Tony’s fists rapidly coming at her face while that vicious look was on his face right behind them. Time went by fast because she was still crying when she heard Sensei call an end to the round.

As she listened to everyone go to get their water, she wiped the tears away from her eyes, what she hoped now would be for good. The embarrassment started to outweigh how upset she had been. Who starts crying in a karate class, especially when they weren’t even hit? What was she expecting this to be like?

She looked up at everyone getting with their new partners for the third round. Preston and Haley were partnered again. What was going on with them? She looked over at Tony, standing over to the side, the odd man out since Taylor was still out. She no longer saw the scary look on his face and now he just looked like a guy that felt bad he was left out. Taylor now felt bad that he had to sit out because of her.

“Fight!” Sensei Preston called out.

Taylor watched him give Haley a flirty smile before she needed to quickly look away and watch some of the other fighters. Her eyes moved around a bit and then stopped when she saw Najee and Dallas were partners. She looked at Dallas wearing the higher belt even though she thought, whether Dallas had been giving his all against her or not, that Najee was the better fighter.

The two of them were going at it pretty good, throwing lots of quick blocks and kicks at each other, each one getting blocked. Taylor initially thought that Dallas looked a lot better fighting than he had against her. But as she watched them go at it more, it didn’t look like they were really fighting. What they were doing looked choreographed.

It seemed both of them knew exactly where and when the strikes were coming so they knew exactly when to get their guard up. It was an impressive thing to watch but it didn’t look like a fight. She watched Dallas’s rhythm with it and thought he’d do great on a dance floor – but still wondered if this brown belt knew how to fight at all.

“Ready for the snake?” she was able to hear Najee say over everyone else who was fighting because she was so focused in on that duo.

Najee hissed, brought his fist in, and got Dallas right in the ribs, Dallas not coming any closer to being able to block it than Taylor had. She got scared when she saw the angry look on Dallas’s face and she thought for sure that he was going to hit Najee for real. He raised his arm then brought it down hard on Najee’s forearm, a strike that looked like it hurt, but Najee was still laughing.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Dallas said. Looking at his face, Taylor couldn’t tell if he was joking-pissed or real-pissed. She guessed more of the latter but Najee was still laughing anyway.

“Alright, time!” Sensei Preston called. “Get a drink and then we’re doing one more round.”

Taylor watched Dallas quickly turn his back to Najee as he walked over to get his water. She still felt humiliated about what had happened her last fight but instead of the humiliation making her feel shame, she felt motivated to get out there and redeem herself. She made a beeline towards Dallas.

“Ready to give it another try, Taylor?” Sensei Preston called to her.

“Yup,” she said, not looking at him, eyes focused right on Dallas, looking so hot as he drank his water.

“Everyone find a partner!” Sensei called.

Taylor walked right up to Dallas, gave his shoulder a grab, and pointed at herself then him. He looked away from her, looking around for what he thought were better options.

“You want to go?” she said.

He gave one more glance around at everyone else all partnered up already before he gave her a nod and then made his way back out into the fighting area. She watched him getting in a stance that didn’t intimidate her at all and she punched her pink gloves together in front of the intense look she had on her face.

“Go!” Sensei Preston called out.

Taylor thought about the aggression that Tony had shown on her as she leapt at Dallas, wound back her fist, and delivered a backhand that she felt whack Dallas right on his cheek. He immediately started to back away and that was the reason she only grazed him with her next punch. With both his hands up high in front of his face, leaving so much open on his long torso, she threw one of the front kicks that she had learned in her kata and looked at the pink pad covering her foot as she kicked him in the stomach. She watched him wince as he brought both of his hands down to his stomach, now leaving his face wide open. She was certain she could knock him out right then if she wanted to but then remembered Sensei telling her that they weren’t trying to kill each other. Instead, she slapped him across the face with another good backhand. Almost seeming like this was too easy for her, she stepped away. Dallas looked at the floor, looking he had no interest in trying to fight her.

“Come on!” she yelled with her feminine voice as she punched her pink gloves together in front of her face again. She could feel her adrenaline pumping, sweat coming from her hair, and her pussy was wet.

She must have hit Dallas’s ego because he stood up straight and started getting in his own version of a fighting stance. She could see the reluctance on his face as he moved closer, only doing so because she had embarrassed him. She put her guard up high just like Najee had taught her. She didn’t think this tall guy could punch low enough to get her in the stomach and she didn’t think he could kick quickly enough.

Looking like he was trying to catch her off-guard, he came in with a predictable hammer fist, looking like she was trying to punch over her guard. She only had to raise her arms a little to block that without a problem. Frustrated, he threw a quick jab at her face that she also blocked. He started to get quicker and angrier with each punch that she blocked but even when he picked up the speed, she felt her guard was getting quicker too and she managed to block every one.

“Ya!” she yelled when she saw another opening she couldn’t resist and backhanded him in the face.

He literally tried the same exact punch she did and seeing the hesitance in his eyes, she couldn’t help but think once again that maybe this guy was just afraid to hit a girl. Either way, she got her hand up quickly, blocked it, and gave him a hard jab in his skinny chest. Once again, he responded with the same thing she threw at him, punching forward, and this time he got through, punching her right in the boob. She giggled from it and his facial expression stayed the same. She punched him in the face, and he threw a kick, his long leg making it obvious it was coming. She grabbed his leg in the air and couldn’t believe how incredibly scrawny and weak it felt in her arm. To toy with him she started to lift his leg up and as she watched him hop around she knew if she wanted to she could just keep lifting his leg up until she flipped him right over on his back. Instead, she spun him around so his side was facing her. She watched him leaning over, off-balance, seeing so many parts of the side of his body she could strike and easily knock him on his skinny ass.

“Time!” Sensei called. Dallas stood up straight, looking relieved to be walking away from her.

“Hey!” Taylor called to him and she held out her fist to give him a fist-bump. He looked reluctant but he did it.

“Everyone line up, kneel down, and close your eyes,” Sensei said.

Taylor kneeled there breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, taking in the silence coming in her ears, after all of the noise that had been going on all class. Her body felt amazing, like all of the stress from the day had been sucked out of it. The horniness she was feeling from beating up that hot guy was just the icing on the cake.

“OK, everyone slowly open your eyes,” Sensei said, and Taylor did just that, enjoying seeing the world she was about to walk back into. “Have a relaxing and safe rest of the evening.”

Taylor stood up with confidence, no longer thinking about what had happened with Tony. She watched everyone walking to their bags and she began walking in the direction of Dallas. She had to make her move on him at some point and what better time than when she felt relaxed and confident.

“Everything go OK for you in the rest of class?” Preston said to Taylor.

“Yeah, I was fine.” She didn’t want to be reminded of what Preston was making surface again. She looked over at Dallas who was drinking some water looking in her direction. “YOU, need to not be afraid to fight me for real!” she said, pointing at Dallas once he put his water bottle down from his mouth. “It’s OK that I’m a girl, I can take it.”

“You hear that, Dallas?” Preston said. “Don’t hold back on her next time, she’s ready for you.”

“We’ll spar again next week,” she said to Dallas. “Don’t think you have to go easy on me when we do.”

“I…” Dallas began to say and Taylor started to smirk thinking he was going to admit that he had been trying his hardest. “OK.”

“See you two next week,” Sensei Preston said.

Taylor figured she had said enough for now. She exited the dojo, went in the locker room to change out of her gi, and she came out at the same time Dallas and Najee did. It had been a warm day outside in May and Dallas had shorts on. She couldn’t believe how skinny his legs looked. There was no fat or muscle definition on them whatsoever, they looked like two long twigs. She thought about having sex with him, with him on top, and thought how fun it would feel to have him on top of her, with those legs lying on her thick ones, and how easily she’d be able to support them. She walked outside with them ahead of her and she watched Najee getting into a silver BMW while Dallas got into a black Audi. These guys just kept getting more attractive!

**

Taylor pulled into a parking spot, feeling excited, but a bit nervous. This was going to be the night she asked Dallas out, she had only met him twice, but two weeks had passed since she had heard Haley say that he was single and a guy like him wasn’t going to stay on the free agent list for long. She walked into the locker room, opened her bag, and she felt like she was going to freak out once she pulled out her pink pads.

This couldn’t be. She opened her gym bag wider as if somehow her white gi that took up the majority of the bag just hadn’t been visible when she first pulled the pads out. She never felt it necessary to get dressed up in the least for karate class so she just wore a t-shirt and thin pair of blue sweat pants. She could probably work out in that but what a fool she was going to look like in that dojo with everyone else in uniform while she was wearing clothes that she normally wore around her apartment all day on a snowy Saturday in February.

Class still wasn’t going to start for over 5 minutes so she considered the possibility of driving home as fast as she could to get it. It was over a 20 minute drive home for her and by the time she walked back to her car, got it from her apartment, and drove back, class would be more than halfway over and she’d look even stupider walking in that late. She looked herself in the big mirror. She sure thought she looked awful in her attire. She thought about just skipping this week. Would Sensei even let her in like that? Why embarrass herself by walking in there like that just to get sent away? She would wait until next week, make sure she had both the gi and the pads in her bag, even paint her nails against which she hadn’t done tonight. She would wait and do it right.

No, that was stalling. If she chickened out and didn’t try and ask Dallas out this week she would find a reason every week not to. Preston had been cool about it the week she didn’t have her pads so she found it very unlikely she’d send her home. She took her shoes and socks off, put them in her bag, and walked out of the locker room.

She looked towards the entrance to the gym and in came Dallas. He was wearing a button-down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and an expensive looking pair of jeans on. He held his head up high and he was still wearing his sunglasses. He was such a cool-looking dude. Beating him up was going to be fun and once she showed that she had that power would be a good time to ask him out. She walked in the dojo and Preston was already in there. She immediately walked right at him.

“I am sooo sorry I forgot my gi today,” she said, even though he was looking at her in what she was wearing and she could tell her didn’t care. “I feel like such an idiot, I could have sworn that I put it in my bag. I am fine to train in this but if you want me to go home and change, I will.”

“Relax,” he said, which made her feel a bit embarrassed. “You can train in here in whatever you want to as long as you come ready to train. Look, I forgot to where my belt this week.” She didn’t even notice it since he was wearing a black gi but he spread out his arms to show that he didn’t have a belt on at all, the ties on the inside of his gi must have been holding it closed in the front.

More people started shuffling in. Taylor got to work privately with Haley once class started. They worked on more strikes and blocks that Taylor felt she was getting much better at. They worked on kata again too. This time when they did kata, Taylor was able to do the one she was learning with the class, which made her feel good. When she stepped aside to watch the upper belts do their katas she watched Dallas looking even more intense about it than the last time she watched him. It was so cute to watch him try so hard to look tough.

“Alright, everyone get their pads on,” Sensei called out.

Once Taylor had hers on she gave herself a quick look in one of the mirrors on the wall. She thought the pink pads looked cute when she had her gi on but wearing them with clothes that looked like pajamas she thought made her look ridiculous. She had no shame and that just made her giggle. She turned to see Dallas with his white pads on looking for a partner and she ran over to him.

“Ready Dallas?” she called to him.

He turned his head in her direction and looked at her like he didn’t know her. “Huh?”

“You said this week you’d go against me and stop going easy on me.”

“Oh,” he said and he gave a quick look around to see that everyone else had partnered up while they had been talking. “Oh yeah.”

She punched her gloves together thinking he still was going to try and back out but he walked towards her, though looking reluctant about it.

“Looks like everyone is partnered up,” Sensei said. “Fight!”

“Alright, come on,” Taylor said as she put her fists up to cover her head like she had been taught. “Show me what you’ve got.”

Seeing that he wasn’t going to be able to punch her face, he threw a punch down at her stomach that she was easily able to block. He thought he had an opening at her head but she quickly lifted her arm and blocked that one as well. She yelled ‘ya!’ when she blocked another punch he threw at her head. He tried to kick her, but before he could get his leg up too high, she dropped an elbow right in his thigh, becoming extremely impressed with her own reflexes that she was gaining.

She could tell she hurt him by the look on his face when he started to back off. She gave him his chance so now it was time for her to attack. She lunged at him, hit him the in face with a backhand, and instead of backing off right after it, she hit him with another one which looked like it shook him up. She looked at him looking at her with a fearful look in his eyes, his hands up at about shoulder level, looking like he was too busy being afraid to raise his hands in defense.

The shot was too good to pass up and Taylor punched him in the face with a jab, feeling that she was quite a bit stronger than him after the punch as she encroached on him. He now bent forward with his hands up at his face, looking desperate not to get hit there again. She saw that she now had a wide open shot just to kick him in his stomach and knew she could have finished him off right there if she wanted to. Instead, she took a few steps back, watching Dallas still wincing with his hands up at his face. She watched with amusement as he stood there like that a few more seconds, before he moved his hands away from his face. She managed to keep a straight face despite her amusement at how afraid he looked.

“Come on!” she yelled as she punched her pink gloves together in front of her face. “Don’t be afraid to hit me, come on!”

Her teeth clenched together now, almost feeling pissed off at how bad he was at fighting, she put her hands up high, just like she was taught. Dallas stood up straight and looked around like he wanted to see if anyone was watching. Taylor guessed they weren’t, even though there wasn’t a chance she was taking her eyes off of him. Dallas looked at her, almost looking upset, as he looked for an opening that she wasn’t going to give him, at least not above her shoulders. The longer he stood there staring at her the more she wanted to attack but she stayed still.

Dallas then bent down low and charged at her. Taylor felt afraid of him for the first time and only because she didn’t know how else to react as he came at her fast, she planted the soles of her feet. Dallas’s scrawny body ramming into her felt a lot weaker than she had expected it to and other than shaking her body just a little bit, he didn’t move her. With his arms wrapped around her chubby lower torso and his whole body still bent over like he was trying to make a football tackle, Taylor wrapped her arm around his neck in a headlock.

She tightened her arm around his neck, knowing how ridiculous she looked standing there in a karate class wearing a t-shirt that showed her big belly, and tight pants that showed her big butt, holding a guy in a headlock. But knowing that it made Dallas look worse, made her not care at all. She felt Dallas’s hand pushing into her big butt what made this even better, and she could have sworn she heard him actually whine a bit.

She looked up, thinking no one was paying attention to them, and when she saw Sensei walking towards them, she felt like she was getting caught by the teacher.

“Come on, Dallas, don’t let her do that to you,” Preston said, right before Taylor was about to let go.

“Headlocks are illegal in karate!” he said, his voice sounding a little scratchy.

“No one’s gonna care about that if they’ve got you in a headlock out in the street,” Preston said gently. “We’ve practiced how to get out of this, you know what to do.”

Taylor expected him to start punching her somewhere and tightened the headlock more just to make it more difficult for him. She watched him raise his arm and then it looked like his hand was feeling around for her face. She was waiting for him to make a fist but he brought his hand closer to her face without doing so. He put his finger right above her lip, tickling her a bit, and when her face moved a bit, his finger went right up her nose. She shook her head and moved it away.

“It’s not working with her head moving all over place,” Dallas said with frustration.

“If that’s not working, then you gotta try something else,” Preston said, still cool and calm.

Taylor was starting to feel more like a practice dummy for someone who didn’t know what he was doing than someone who was actually fighting. Dallas grabbed her inner pant leg of her far leg with his right hand and then pulled on the outer part of her same leg with his left. He then pushed his weight into her close leg, seemingly trying to take her legs out from under her, but the skinny guy couldn’t budge her thick legs. Dallas grunted as he tried harder and still didn’t have any luck.

“She didn’t even show up in her gi pants, how am I supposed to do this?”

“That’s not the problem,” Preston said. “We’re gonna have to work on this more. I’ll give another minute or so, so you can see what you can do to get out of this.”

As Preston walked away, Taylor felt elated that the Sensei had walked over to see her beating up the brown belt in the class. Maybe she’d be wearing a green belt sooner than she expected. Dallas started punching her in her thigh. It didn’t hurt, but she wondered if he realized Preston wasn’t there anymore. Taylor gave him a couple of friendly punches in the face. Dallas immediately gave up on punching her to try and defend his face. Taylor took her hand and started messing up his spiky hair. This was too much fun.

“Alright, time!” Sensei called. Taylor let go of him and he was quick to stand up and start walking towards the door, walking right out without looking back once. “He alright?”

“I don’t know, he just ran out,” Taylor said. She watched everyone get their water and when they started to partner up with other people, Dallas still hadn’t come back in. Preston and Haley were partnered up and no one else was interested in partnering with Taylor like usual, so she stood alone.

“Next round, I’ll make sure you get worked in,” Preston said to her quickly, before he looked at Haley and gave her a smile.

So Taylor stood there by herself watching, feeling embarrassed being left out, especially based on what she was wearing. She heard the door swing open and she watched Dallas walk back in. He looked pissed off as he didn’t look in her direction at all, walked over to another part of the wall, and grabbed his water bottle. She walked over to him with no hesitation as he sat down and he continued to avoid eye-contact as she got closer.

“You OK?” she said, once she was standing above him.

“Of course I’m OK!” and she could hear his humiliation underneath his annoyance. “Headlocks are illegal in sparring, you know.”

“I know. I’m sorry. You win due to disqualification. We cool now?”

She held out her glove offering him a fist-bump. He continued to watch the fighters and didn’t look at her. She wasn’t going to put her hand down until he reciprocated and she thought she might be standing there for a while which she was OK with. He finally fist-bumped her back without looking at her. She had a seat next to him.

“This the first karate school you’ve joined?” she asked, thinking of how Najee had said he had a black belt in another style. He nodded and she wasn’t the least bit surprised. “What got you into it?”

“Just a good workout and a good discipline,” he said. “I’m not here to become some great fighter.” Taylor refrained from making a joke. “No need for that, I just appreciate the art.”

“What do you do for work?” she asked him.

“Sales manager at a home security company.”

“Your sales team do well?”

“Anyone that works under me does well.” He took a big swig of his water, looking like he was trying to keep himself from sounding like he was bragging too much. “I know how to motivate my guys.”

She loved watching him try and sound tough. “Any women in your life.”

“Nope,” he said definitively.

“I’m surprised. You’re a brown belt with a good job. Good looking guy too.” She immediately felt stupid letting out the last thing she said.

“There’s a lot of stupid women out there,” he said, and he looked like her observations offended him even though she had intended it all as a compliment. “Had a girl, we had talked about getting married. Three years we dated and then she just starts getting all different out of nowhere. She told me she was ending it because she thought our lives were going in different directions but I’ll never know the real reason. The way she was acting, I’d bet you anything she cheated on me. That ended a year ago. Women out there now, they don’t want a guy that looks good, and that can take care of them financially. They’d rather get treated like shit, and that makes meeting women so hard.”

He took another big swig of his water as Taylor just sat there awkwardly, literally biting her tongue past her closed lips, as she thought about how she wanted to squeeze this adorable guy who was not only a physical wimp, but also so clueless on how to deal with women that he had gotten extremely high on himself in self-defense.

“Time!” Sensei called out, his timing couldn’t have been any better to break up the awkwardness that Taylor was feeling. “Everyone get a drink.”

Dallas was quick to put his drink down, stand up, and walk away. Taylor got to partner with Preston for the next round and she couldn’t help but think that he agreed to do so because he was impressed watching her fight Dallas. He spent a lot of time playing defense and complimenting her for improving, though she felt like she was doing awful compared to her match against Dallas. Towards the end of the round, Preston made sure to come at her fairly aggressively and remind her why he was the sensei and the only black belt in the class.

She paired with Haley in the final round, hoping again that she’d be able to show something against her this time but the small girl proceeded to whoop her, without showing the mercy that Preston had. But her performance against Haley was the last thing on her mind when Sensei called time. After they did their breathing, she grabbed a quick drink, and had to move fast since Dallas wasted no time exited the dojo. She rushed out the door after him.

“So Dallas,” she called to him having to speak louder than she would have liked. At first she thought he was going to just keep walking which really would have put a damper in the plan. But then he stopped and reluctantly turned around. “You want to hang out sometime?” she said.

He looked at her like he was perplexed by the question and as stupid as she felt right then, she stood her ground and maintained eye-contact with him. He might have looked plenty awkward but she wasn’t going to make it worse by looking the same. He looked like he was thinking about it. Just spit out your answer, she thought to herself.

“Nah,” he said.

She had thought she had been prepared for that answer when he had been just staring at her with that stupid look but hearing it come out of his mouth, especially with how dismissive he was about it, made her feel like a complete idiot as she stood there in shame while he quickly turned away from her and walked towards the locker room. Why did she bother taking this karate class anyway? She was a fool to think she’d meet guys here.

“See you next week,” Haley said to her with a friendly tone, as she walked by her, Taylor feeling how red her face was, wondering if there was any chance that she’d be back.

**

But she did come back the following week and she did so on a mission. No more thinking about meeting guys. She was getting good at karate and that was what she was going to focus on. Right after Dallas had told her about all of the ‘stupid’ women out there that didn’t want a good man, he went and showed her how men were just as bad. As she practiced her kata to warm up before Sensei entered the dojo, she smiled a bit, wondering if she was going to end up just like Dallas, some lonely person who couldn’t find a relationship, taking out all of her aggression as she did katas in karate class with ferocity. Maybe she’d get so motivated that she’d pass everyone else and be the next brown belt in the class. Maybe she’d follow Dallas’s path in all of those ways but one thing she promised herself right then was that she wasn’t going to turn out to be a wimp like him.

Class began and Taylor no longer had to be taken aside for most of class, instead able to do her drills and her kata with the class. She did them with ferocity, the same way Dallas did, thinking how having some bitterness in you when you did a kata really helped. Oh why did she have to keep thinking about Dallas?

Sparring time came along, Dallas completely avoided her, and that was OK. She partnered with Najee first, did much better against him than she had previously, and although he was still blocking her punches and getting his shots in, he complimented her improvement, and sounded genuine about it. He did get her with ‘the snake’ at the end which gave her a good laugh.

She partnered with Ilya next, frightened a bit of him based on their last sparring session, but standing her ground like she promised she would. While he was still much better than her, he didn’t seem nearly as intimidating once they got going, and she was actually able to hold her own. When Sensei called time, she saw something in Ilya’s eyes that she hadn’t seen at all the previous time they sparred – respect.

She felt like she held her own with the next guy she went against and then for the final session of the class she partnered with Haley. Maybe she wouldn’t beat her but she had to get some good shots on her this time. Haley proceeded to whoop her like always. The other guys didn’t seem like they had been holding back on Taylor and seeing how good Haley was, she wondered if maybe the girls in this class just didn’t get the respect they deserved.

More classes came along with Taylor feeling tougher and more confident with each one. She had been avoiding Tony for a few classes which he seemed totally fine with, but when the two of them ended up next to each other one class with everyone else already partnered up, they both knew they didn’t have a choice. As afraid as she was as they began, she managed to hold him off much better than she had the previous time. Towards the end of the fight he started getting rougher. He started doing this thing where he’d make a rolling motion with his hands before punching her in her belly with punches she wasn’t quick enough to stop. They hurt a bit too but when Sensei called time and she still hadn’t started crying, she considered that a win.

**

“Everyone off to the side,” Sensei unexpectedly called to the class, a few classes later, around the time that he normally told them to get their pads on. Everyone did as they were asked, except Najee and Tony, who stood in the center of the dojo. Sensei threw a kicking pad over at Tony who picked it up, stood with his side towards Najee, and put the pad to the side of his body to defend it. Najee got in a fighting stance with an intense look on his face.

“Two minutes,” Sensei said. “Go!”

Najee delivered a devastating side kick to the pad that almost knocked Tony over. Taylor was glad that pad was there or she was certain that Tony would have gotten taken out of there in a stretcher just from that kick. Even with the pad, Taylor knew that she couldn’t have stayed on her feet from that kick. Dallas couldn’t have either.

Najee proceeded to beat the shit out of the pad, Tony looking like he was holding onto it for dear life as he moved around and allowed Najee to punch, chop, and kick it from different angles. Taylor had never seen such ferocity in Najee before, the normally nice and well-spoken man. He kept his eyes on that pad like he wanted to kill it.

“Time!” Sensei called. Tony walked away and Najee turned like he was going to make a run for his water but Sensei grabbed his shoulder. “Not yet.”

Sensei called out the name of a green belt level kata that she still couldn’t say the name herself despite hearing it over and over for weeks. She looked closer at Najee who was dripping in sweat and she couldn’t believe that Sensei was going to make him do a kata after what he had just gone through, especially in front of class by himself. This was her first time really getting to focus on Najee doing a kata. She observed that his form didn’t look as good as Dallas’s and he didn’t have the same intensity either, although she had also never watched Dallas do a kata under the circumstances that Najee was. That asshole Dallas wasn’t as good a fighter or teacher as Najee was either. When Najee was finished, Taylor started to clap her hands a little, but then quickly pulled back when she saw no one else doing so.

“Najee, go get a drink,” Sensei said and Taylor was excited to finally do some sparring. “Everyone else come out. I’m going to count and you’re each going to do the kata of your choice.”

Taylor only knew one that she could do but she thought it was neat being out there with different people doing different katas to the same count.

“Everyone back to the side again!” Sensei called out once they were done. “Najee come on out.”

She saw both Sensei and Najee must have put their pads on when everyone else was doing kata and Sensei stayed out in the center of the dojo as Najee went out, a focused look on his face as he approached his Sensei and Sensei wasn’t holding a kicking pad. Watching the two stare each other down gave Taylor an unpleasant feeling like something bad was going to happen and she felt a strong urge to want to be out of there. She felt her palms start to sweat but she stayed put.

“Ready?” Sensei said. “Go.”

Najee let out a loud breath as he threw a quick backhand toward Preston’s face that Preston swiftly backed up and avoided. Najee came with a front snap kick that Taylor felt sure was going to connect but almost like he knew it was on the way, Preston put his hand down on Najee’s shin before it could get too close to him, blocking the kick.

She watched as the fight got more intense, the look on Najee’s face one that Taylor couldn’t tell if it was just focus or had some anger behind it. He looked like he was genuinely trying to hurt Preston with every strike that he threw and the frustration that Taylor saw in his eyes on his one that was blocked or missed had to be legitimate.

Najee started to back Preston up but the tired look on his face and the louder and more rapid that his breathing got, suggested that he was starting to run out of gas. Preston was cool and calm, now looking like he was toying with him on every block that he threw. Najee finally stopped attacking and just stood there for a moment catching his breath.

Preston then leapt like a frog at Najee, bouncing up from the bent over stance that he was in, and throwing his own backhand at Najee’s face that he was just barely able to block. Preston came right back with a powerful hammer fist towards the top of his head and even though Najee was just barely able to block it, Taylor could see the fear in his eyes as he raised his arms up, knowing that if he missed that block he was going down.

Preston took a step back and then threw a fast crescent kick at Najee’s head and Taylor winced thinking that she was going to watch a man get knocked out right in front of her for the first time in her life. Najee ducked and as Preston’s size 14 foot grazed the top of Najee’s shaved head, Taylor thought that he had to feel the breeze of that one.

Taylor watched the two continue to go at it, feeling bad for Najee, as Preston had the clear advantage and Najee was resorting to playing defense to save himself from getting knocked out. As time passed, Najee started backing up more noticeably which seemed to fuel Preston to bully him more. Preston now looked like he was toying with the lower ranking belt as he threw some powerful looking punches and kicks, all ones just barely missing, and they all looked like intentional misses. As Najee started to bend down and put his hands on his thighs, Taylor thought he was done right there.

“Time!” Dallas called. Some students started to talk a bit, sounding impressed, and some clapping started to ensue, before Preston put up his hand and the dojo immediately went silent.

“Back in the center of the dojo,” Preston said to Najee. “Keep your pads on. Show everyone your highest kata.”

Taylor looked at Najee dripping in sweat, looking like he could barely stand, and wondered how he was going to do another kata. She thought she could hear him breathing heavily from where she was. She thought as the sensei that Preston had to see that he wasn’t up for this and to call him back.

“Start” Preston said.

Taylor didn’t think this was right but that didn’t stop anything as she watched Najee begin. While he still didn’t have the same intensity that Dallas did when he was doing a kata, she thought he looked a lot more badass doing it when he was breathing heavily, covered in sweat, and had just been through everything he had. His moves didn’t look perfect by any means but they were powerful looking and they didn’t look like the kind of strikes that Taylor would want to be hit with. She watched him finish up and immediately lean forward with his hands on his thighs, breathing heavily, and sweat dripping from his head to the floor.

“Everyone now gather around in the center of the dojo!” Preston said.

At that moment everyone almost looked like zombies to Taylor as they just walked to the center. She followed along, feeling awkward like she often did in here.

“What are we doing?” she asked Haley as she walked up to her.

“You stay behind everyone,” Haley said and for the first time she actually sounded like she was a bit annoyed at Taylor.

Feeling scolded, Taylor did what she was told. She watched everyone lining up in order, but instead of being spread out like they normally were, they were all in tight together with Taylor at the very back. She then watched them all get on their knees and get in somewhat of a fetal position, but all facing the floor. Preston stood on top of all of them looking down at them and when it looked like he was about to look back at her, she did the same, fearing what would happen to her if she didn’t. She kneeled there huddled up with her arms covering her head, looking at the floor, and she had this gut feeling inside of her that something bad was about to happen.

“Everyone look up,” Preston said. She sat up, saw everyone else do the same, and felt some relief. “Najee, come on up.”

Najee stood up and Taylor’s feeling of fear quickly turned to excitement when she saw that Preston was holding a folded up brown belt in his hand. Najee kneeled next to him.

“Najee, you always work extremely hard in class so it’s my honor to award this to you,” Sensei said. “You still have a long journey ahead of you but today you are taking a big step in that journey.”

As Taylor watched the two men shake hands she felt her eyes water up. She watched Najee take the belt from him, take off his green belt, and the proud look she saw on the sweaty man’s face almost made those tears start coming out. The man probably had everything he needed in life with his doctor career, his wife, and his BMW, but he still came to karate class with all of these different types, never acting like he was better than any of them and always happy to help. Watching him stand there with his new brown belt tied around his waist was a sight of beauty, a picture that she planned on calling to her mind whenever she was feeling low.

“Class dismissed,” Preston said and everyone stood up. People quickly started to talk amongst each other causing some noise. Taylor tried to push through them as she just wanted to walk right up to Najee and give him a big hug whether he wanted one or not. As she made her way closer she saw Haley and gotten to him first.

“I challenge you after class,” Haley said to him anxiously.

“What?” he said and he let out a bit of his contagious laugh. Apparently no one else was interested in watching this little confrontation or they didn’t care because they all started walking away. A curious Taylor continued to observe.

“I’m better than you and you know it,” Haley said. “Spar with me after class so I can whoop you.” Taylor had never seen Haley like this and she didn’t like it.

“I just earned my brown belt and I’m going to go home and relax. Maybe some other time.” Najee was still smiling but Taylor thought she detected some nervousness. She wasn’t liking the way Najee was getting treated today.

“Yeah, enjoy that brown belt around your waist,” Haley said as he started to walk away. “A belt doesn’t make you tough, remember that.”

Najee stopped in his tracks. She just wouldn’t stop and Taylor saw she had hit the nerve.

“Alright fine, what’s a little more karate today,” Najee said.

Taylor looked around. Most of the dojo had cleared out but Dallas was still in there drinking out of his water bottle. She quickly made her way over to him. “Wanna fight?” Taylor said.

He looked like he choked on his water a bit before he put the bottle down away from his face. “What?”

“Want to spar after class?”

“I’m not sparring with you anymore. You cheat.”

“You charged at me, I wasn’t sure what else to do. But I’ve been training and I’m better now. Let’s go again. No more charging each other, no more headlocks. Just regular karate.”

“Don’t try and chicken out the way Najee tried to,” Haley called to him. “Fight her.”

Dallas didn’t say anything but he put his bottle down and started getting on his pads. Taylor walked over and put on her pads. She walked towards the middle of the dojo with her pink girly pads and Dallas followed. She briefly looked over at Haley and Najee getting ready to square off. Then she looked back at the tall, gangly, incredibly handsome man that was standing in front of her.

“Ready?” she said, making it a point to make her voice sound extra girly. “Go!”

She got in position, her hands up protecting her head so his forecasted punches wouldn’t be able to get through. She stood light on the balls of her feet like Najee had taught her recently, knowing that her legs were a lot stronger than any part of Dallas’s body and if he tried to go low she was going to make him pay.

While his expression looked scared, it did look a little brave as he aggressively went at her with a jab that definitely would have clocked her in the face when she had first started out, maybe even the last time they sparred. But she was able to shoo his punch away with a quick block. He threw two more quick jabs at her face that she barely blocked as well.

Seeing some discouragement in his eyes, she threw a punch at his face. He was barely able to block it but she could feel her arm being stronger than his from the contact and he took a step back. She threw a backhand that hit him hard on the side of the face, causing him to back up more. She punched him in the nose and he got his hands up in front of his face enough where she knew she wasn’t going to get another punch in up there but she could tell he was shaken up.

She just stood there and watched him stand scared like that before he slowly pulled his hands away from his face. He came at her hard again, but was clearly flustered, and she easily blocked his forecasted punches. She struck back, he blocked the first one, but she could tell the collision had more impact on his arm than hers again. She punched him in the face and he came back at her with three rapid punches that she blocked all of. She watched his hands drop down in front of his chest and she would have knocked him out with the wide open shot if she didn’t see how heavily he was breathing.

“You need a break?” she said.

She saw him thinking about it. “Nah,” he said, and she could hear his heavy breathing even more when he spoke.

Trying his best to be tough, he threw two more punches at her face that she blocked. When he came in with a third, she blocked that and he was close enough to her where she shoved him away from her. She lunged at him and punched him twice in the face. She lifted her leg, feeling how slow it was coming up due to her weight, but he had brought his guard up so high that she had all the time in the world.

“Ya!” she yelled as she kicked him in the hip.

He brought his guard down to his hip with both hands, now leaving his upper body wide open. She punched him twice in the face, watching his upper body swing back, the tall gangly guy looking like some jack-in-the-box swinging around that was going to fall over at any moment. With his lower body wide open, she kicked him in the stomach, and his guard again came down way too late.

“Ya!” she yelled.

With all she had, she threw a punch at his face and as it connected, she watched as he fell backwards and listened to the noise it made as his tall body hit the floor hard. She looked at him lying on his back looking up at the ceiling with no intention of getting back up. This was it. She had won. The heavy girl couldn’t help but start to jump up and down, realizing she was sure she looked silly with her flabby body jumping up and down like that with her pink pads on, but not caring at all.

As she looked at her defeated opponent lying on the floor in a brown belt, she thought about how cool it would be if Haley defeated Najee as well. She wasn’t a feminist by any means but the thought of two lower ranking girls defeating the two men in the class that were ranked highest other than the sensei excited her. She looked over at the other two to see Haley lying on her back, almost the same way Dallas was, and Najee standing above her. She wondered if Haley was just playing around. Najee bent down and offered Haley his hand.

“Fuck off!” Haley said, quickly clarifying that what Taylor wondered wasn’t the case.

Taylor looked back down at Dallas lying there, looking straight up at the ceiling, looking defeated and humiliated. She walked up to him, put her foot on his chest, pushed down, and looked at her pink pad covering her entire foot. He looked up at her and when she felt him try to move, she pushed her foot into his skinny chest even harder. He stopped moving and she felt herself get a little wet as she looked at him lying there controlled by just her foot. He looked away from her, she put some more pressure on his chest, and he looked back up at her. She loved the control.

“Why won’t you go on a date with me?” she said. He got the same look on his face that he did the last time she asked him out, only this time he couldn’t just walk away from her.

“I don’t date girls in class.”

“Oh bullshit. You’re telling me if Haley asked you out, you wouldn’t go out with her?” He looked over at her and that was the only answer she needed. She pushed her foot into his chest harder again and made him look back up at her.

“Just go out on one date with me,” she said. “It’s not going to kill you. If you don’t like it, I won’t ask you again, and it will be the only one. I’ll even pay for my half.”

He looked up at her, saying nothing.

“I’m not letting you up until you agree to go on a date with me. I’ll keep you here until the manager comes and kicks us out. You want to be lying here under my foot when that happens?” He tried to move, this time a bit harder, but she calmly applied more pressure with her foot, establishing further that he was not getting up until she allowed it.

“Fine, one date,” he said, not even looking her in the eyes as he said it.

“Cool,” she said. “Let’s go tonight.”

“Not tonight!” By the way he vehemently objected she could tell that he had no intention of ever actually going with her. “It’s late.”

“It’s not even 9 o’clock. How early do you go on dates? There’s a place right in this plaza we can get some wings and beers and play some darts. If you want to get up, we’re doing the date tonight.”

He looked over in Najee and Haley’s direction like he was looking for help. The look he then got on his face suggested he didn’t want Haley to notice that she had him trapped like this.

“Fine, let’s just go do this,” he said. He tried to move but she still didn’t move her foot.

“I’ll meet you right out and we’ll go over there,” she said. “We’ll have some fun either way.” She lifted her pink padded foot off of his chest and watched him wince a bit as he started to get up. As pathetic he looked, he was still super cute. There would be more dates after this first one, she planned on making sure of that.