
*Thugs are for Fun Part 3* by J.Gail Copyright Ó 2008 J.Gail. All rights reserved. Excerpt Chapter 3 Better Watch Ya Back Amanda was tired, having rested a grand total of eight hours over the past three days, due to her studies. She had decided to go back to school for her Masters degree in hopes of getting a promotion to a mid-management level position at her job paying a minimum of $70,000 a year. But she really liked the self-defense classes that Jacy had signed them both up for so she was willing to make this sacrifice. Later on she would be able to at least get a two hour nap in before starting her paper. She threw her bag on an open chair and started stripping down to her workout clothes. As she tossed her sweatpants aside, she saw that the drop-dead gorgeous instructor had entered the room. He looked like a cross between Boris Kudjoe and Drill Sergeant Harvey from Celebrity Fit Club. “Hey Amanda, how are you,” he said smoothly as he started setting up his dummies and coordinating paperwork that he planned to give to each lady after class. “Hi Todd,” Amanda almost swooned. She was shameless with her flirtation; even though she was going on three months in a relationship with a guy who she had met at school. Todd was six foot three, 205 lbs of rock hard body, with a caramel complexion, and deep, brown piercing eyes that almost made you feel that you were being undressed with them. Amanda had to admit—he was a big reason why she came to this twice a week class despite her hectic schedule with work and school. She daydreamed for a minute until she saw a few other people filing into the room. The class had a whopping 30 women—the maximum—and that was mostly due to the fact that the instructor was fine as hell. Right when the class was about to begin, Jacy ran in and threw her things in a corner. “Hey Mandy!” Jacy said with a smile. Amanda returned the greeting and gave her friend a big hug. She was starting to become concerned about Jacy. Jacy constantly worried about Rich and his whereabouts when they weren’t together. She was starting to become one of “those married women.” “Why are you always late girl,” Amanda teased as she and Jacy stretched a little. Then Todd’s commanding voice piped in. “Hello Ladies, I think we are ready to begin today,” Todd said, letting his eyes rest comfortably on Jacy for a moment too long. She smiled innocently and tuned in. “Today we are going to talk a little about the use of aggressive devices to thwart an attack.” Jacy had decided to take self-defense classes right after marrying Rich. She frequently had to be around less than desirable people on a regular basis—most of whom didn’t like her due to her relationship with Rich. Jealousy, resentment, and the unexpected all convinced her that this was a good move, just in case. While he thought it was unnecessary—he would always be there to protect her—Rich was fine with it. He had even taught her a few moves of his own to disable people even when you weren’t as strong as them. Jacy convinced Amanda to come along because she lived alone in the heart of Philly, and the crime in her area was worsening. Amanda was thinking about moving to Lansdowne soon, but in the meantime she was learning how to protect herself. “…I’m going to need a volunteer,” Todd said and scanned the room. Half of the women’s hands shot up, but he looked beyond them all and right at Jacy. “Jacy, I saw that you have mace on your keyring, can you come up here for a second?” The women groaned as Jacy made her way to the front. They knew that being a volunteer almost assuredly meant being touched by the instructor. Most of the women were single and so desperate for the touch of a man that they went to extremes; even faking and pretending that they were having trouble with their moves. Todd demonstrated the correct way to use mace on an attacker while the other women just stared at his abs, with definition that could clearly be seen even underneath his t-shirt. He put the mace in Jacy’s hand and guided her on how to mace the dummy, scream, and take off. The women burned with jealousy. Todd was always choosing Jacy to demonstrate things. She was definitely the teacher’s pet. After class was over, and the ladies had their paper’s in hand, Jacy asked Amanda out for drinks but it was simply not happening. “J, do you know how much I would love to go sit at Copas and drink a margarita? I have three papers due this week, and a 20 minute presentation due on Monday. I just can’t babe.” Jacy sighed. “Okay. Damn, you are no fun ever since you started school! You know Rachelle never wants to do anything. Now that she has her new new man.” Rachelle had become a slightly better friend, but old habits die hard. She had been through five relationships in the past year alone. She was still on her quest to find “the one,” and ever since Jacy and Rich tied the knot she seemed even more fired up to find a man. “I know, but would you rather me fail out of school and get stuck at $40,000 a year for the rest of my life! Then you will have to buy me drinks forever since on top of getting paid only $40,000 a year I will also have more student loan debt for going to a school I never even graduated from because I was busy out getting drinks!” Jacy chuckled as they stood to leave, “Yea, when you put it that way. You are too dramatic though.” “Hey Jacy, Amanda,” Todd said from behind them. “How are you guys doing, enjoying the class?” “Oh yea, it’s great Todd. I’m going to kick someone’s ass as soon as I get out of here,” Amanda confirmed, smiling wide at Todd. They laughed. “That’s not what it’s about Amanda. Just so you guys know, I’m available for private lessons if you ever have any problems with your moves,” Todd said, looking directly at Jacy again. Jacy was really starting to think he was crushing. She thought he was cute and all, but wasn’t about to have a dead self-defense instructor on her hands if Rich found out she was flirting with him. All those karate moves and such would do nothing versus Rich’s wrath. Rich was a scrappy Philly dude; he didn’t play any games. Rich knew Jacy was in the classes, but had no idea who was teaching them. Jacy kept that information under wraps and had actually told him a little white lie about her instructor being female. She didn’t say it outright, but had suggested it innocently in conversation. She did everything now to avoid a conversation about the classes and the guilt was killing her. “Okay, thanks,” Jacy said with a tight smile to indicate as nicely as possible that he should continue on his way. He got the message and finally drew himself away from the pair. When he had left, Amanda hit Jacy on the arm with a devious smile. “He is digging you, hard. Why are you trying to play it off?” “Are you kidding me? There’s a one word answer to that question. If you want to keep seeing your precious instructor you had better go on with that shit,” Jacy answered as she grabbed the handle of the glass door that lead out to the front parking lot of the gym. “What? It’s just harmless flirting. No big deal. I’ve got Jamie, but I still flirt.” “Jamie is 150 pounds soaking wet, and scared of his shadow; you don’t have anything to worry about,” Jacy laughed and Amanda joined her. She didn’t mind Jamie being a little punkish—she liked being able to control her men. Jacy folded up the paper that Todd had given her about aggressive devices, and noticed handwriting on the back. Todd had scribbled down his number. “No he didn’t,” Jacy gasped. “Do you have a number on your sheet?” Amanda scanned hers and quickly answered no. “Girl, I told you, he wants you bad.” “You seem to be so amused by all this,” Jacy said as she folded the paper up and opened her car door. “I’ll see you soon. Let me know if you have a minute for a happy hour after you finish your presentation next week.” “Will do.” Jacy got in and threw the paper on the floor of her car carelessly. She applied some lip gloss in anticipation of seeing Rich; he was probably already home waiting for her. She started up her car and headed back to Upper Darby, fighting the urge to go to a bar on her own. The next chapter is called "SMUTLAND"...

Thugs are for Fun Part 3 by J.Gail

Excerpt

Chapter 3

Better Watch Ya Back

Amanda was tired, having rested a grand total of eight hours over the past three days, due to her studies. She had decided to go back to school for her Masters degree in hopes of getting a promotion to a mid-management level position at her job paying a minimum of $70,000 a year. But she really liked the self-defense classes that Jacy had signed them both up for so she was willing to make this sacrifice. Later on she would be able to at least get a two hour nap in before starting her paper.

She threw her bag on an open chair and started stripping down to her workout clothes. As she tossed her sweatpants aside, she saw that the drop-dead gorgeous instructor had entered the room. He looked like a cross between Boris Kudjoe and Drill Sergeant Harvey from Celebrity Fit Club.

“Hey Amanda, how are you,” he said smoothly as he started setting up his dummies and coordinating paperwork that he planned to give to each lady after class.

“Hi Todd,” Amanda almost swooned. She was shameless with her flirtation; even though she was going on three months in a relationship with a guy who she had met at school.

Todd was six foot three, 205 lbs of rock hard body, with a caramel complexion, and deep, brown piercing eyes that almost made you feel that you were being undressed with them. Amanda had to admit—he was a big reason why she came to this twice a week class despite her hectic schedule with work and school.

She daydreamed for a minute until she saw a few other people filing into the room. The class had a whopping 30 women—the maximum—and that was mostly due to the fact that the instructor was fine as hell. Right when the class was about to begin, Jacy ran in and threw her things in a corner.

“Hey Mandy!” Jacy said with a smile. Amanda returned the greeting and gave her friend a big hug. She was starting to become concerned about Jacy. Jacy constantly worried about Rich and his whereabouts when they weren’t together. She was starting to become one of “those married women.”

“Why are you always late girl,” Amanda teased as she and Jacy stretched a little. Then Todd’s commanding voice piped in.

“Hello Ladies, I think we are ready to begin today,” Todd said, letting his eyes rest comfortably on Jacy for a moment too long. She smiled innocently and tuned in. “Today we are going to talk a little about the use of aggressive devices to thwart an attack.”

Jacy had decided to take self-defense classes right after marrying Rich. She frequently had to be around less than desirable people on a regular basis—most of whom didn’t like her due to her relationship with Rich. Jealousy, resentment, and the unexpected all convinced her that this was a good move, just in case. While he thought it was unnecessary—he would always be there to protect her—Rich was fine with it. He had even taught her a few moves of his own to disable people even when you weren’t as strong as them.

Jacy convinced Amanda to come along because she lived alone in the heart of Philly, and the crime in her area was worsening. Amanda was thinking about moving to Lansdowne soon, but in the meantime she was learning how to protect herself.

“…I’m going to need a volunteer,” Todd said and scanned the room. Half of the women’s hands shot up, but he looked beyond them all and right at Jacy. “Jacy, I saw that you have mace on your keyring, can you come up here for a second?”

The women groaned as Jacy made her way to the front. They knew that being a volunteer almost assuredly meant being touched by the instructor. Most of the women were single and so desperate for the touch of a man that they went to extremes; even faking and pretending that they were having trouble with their moves.

Todd demonstrated the correct way to use mace on an attacker while the other women just stared at his abs, with definition that could clearly be seen even underneath his t-shirt. He put the mace in Jacy’s hand and guided her on how to mace the dummy, scream, and take off. The women burned with jealousy. Todd was always choosing Jacy to demonstrate things. She was definitely the teacher’s pet.

After class was over, and the ladies had their paper’s in hand, Jacy asked Amanda out for drinks but it was simply not happening.

“J, do you know how much I would love to go sit at Copas and drink a margarita? I have three papers due this week, and a 20 minute presentation due on Monday. I just can’t babe.”

Jacy sighed. “Okay. Damn, you are no fun ever since you started school! You know Rachelle never wants to do anything. Now that she has her new new man.”

Rachelle had become a slightly better friend, but old habits die hard. She had been through five relationships in the past year alone. She was still on her quest to find “the one,” and ever since Jacy and Rich tied the knot she seemed even more fired up to find a man.

“I know, but would you rather me fail out of school and get stuck at $40,000 a year for the rest of my life! Then you will have to buy me drinks forever since on top of getting paid only $40,000 a year I will also have more student loan debt for going to a school I never even graduated from because I was busy out getting drinks!”

Jacy chuckled as they stood to leave, “Yea, when you put it that way. You are too dramatic though.”

“Hey Jacy, Amanda,” Todd said from behind them. “How are you guys doing, enjoying the class?”

“Oh yea, it’s great Todd. I’m going to kick someone’s ass as soon as I get out of here,” Amanda confirmed, smiling wide at Todd. They laughed.

“That’s not what it’s about Amanda. Just so you guys know, I’m available for private lessons if you ever have any problems with your moves,” Todd said, looking directly at Jacy again. Jacy was really starting to think he was crushing. She thought he was cute and all, but wasn’t about to have a dead self-defense instructor on her hands if Rich found out she was flirting with him. All those karate moves and such would do nothing versus Rich’s wrath. Rich was a scrappy Philly dude; he didn’t play any games.

Rich knew Jacy was in the classes, but had no idea who was teaching them. Jacy kept that information under wraps and had actually told him a little white lie about her instructor being female. She didn’t say it outright, but had suggested it innocently in conversation. She did everything now to avoid a conversation about the classes and the guilt was killing her.

“Okay, thanks,” Jacy said with a tight smile to indicate as nicely as possible that he should continue on his way. He got the message and finally drew himself away from the pair.

When he had left, Amanda hit Jacy on the arm with a devious smile. “He is digging you, hard. Why are you trying to play it off?”

“Are you kidding me? There’s a one word answer to that question. If you want to keep seeing your precious instructor you had better go on with that shit,” Jacy answered as she grabbed the handle of the glass door that lead out to the front parking lot of the gym.

“What? It’s just harmless flirting. No big deal. I’ve got Jamie, but I still flirt.”

“Jamie is 150 pounds soaking wet, and scared of his shadow; you don’t have anything to worry about,” Jacy laughed and Amanda joined her. She didn’t mind Jamie being a little punkish—she liked being able to control her men.

Jacy folded up the paper that Todd had given her about aggressive devices, and noticed handwriting on the back. Todd had scribbled down his number.

“No he didn’t,” Jacy gasped. “Do you have a number on your sheet?”

Amanda scanned hers and quickly answered no. “Girl, I told you, he wants you bad.”

“You seem to be so amused by all this,” Jacy said as she folded the paper up and opened her car door. “I’ll see you soon. Let me know if you have a minute for a happy hour after you finish your presentation next week.”

“Will do.”

Jacy got in and threw the paper on the floor of her car carelessly. She applied some lip gloss in anticipation of seeing Rich; he was probably already home waiting for her. She started up her car and headed back to Upper Darby, fighting the urge to go to a bar on her own.

The next chapter is called "SMUTLAND"...