Triangle Choke

"You're right, since it involves you."

She told him about when she thought of becoming his whore to earn lessons after he refused her money.

His face turned from red to white by the time she was finished. He was barely able to say that he had to get home before he almost ran out of the coffee house. She watched him and smiled, but her smile turned to a frown.

The next time they had coffee, she was careful not to bring up anything personal. She could see he was uncomfortable the entire time.

The following time she spoke only about training until it was almost time to go. Then she let loose.

"I was wondering, Thorne. You told me you've never been married. Have you ever been with a woman before? If you have, when was the last time? Are you one of those pieces of beefcake who's got no sex drive? It doesn't bother me. I've known a few. Or do you like guys?"

He got red in the face immediately, looked away from her and didn't say anything. She waited a couple of minutes and then spoke again.

"The other night, I realized how little I knew about you. You've been hiding things from me.

"I've got almost a photographic memory, so I thought back over our conversations and for the life of me, I couldn't remember you ever ignoring one of my questions or trying to sidetrack me.

"You must have some way that I haven't figured out. The questions I just asked are to help me find out how you're doing it. I'd like the answers but I'm sure you'll find a way to avoid giving them to me."

Thorne cleared his throat.

"Let's see. I've been with women, but it was a long time ago. I don't know how much of a sex drive I have. I'm not gay."

"Do I attract you?"

His eyes told her the answer even before he answered, "Yes."

"Then why haven't you made a move on me like the other guys at the academy."

"I don't know."

"Do you ever think about getting married and having a family? You work so well with the kids. I think you'd be a good father."

"I'd love to have a family."

"Are you dating?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I haven't found anyone I've wanted to date."

"Since high school?"

"I was busy most of those years."

"I know, you were in the military, but you must have met some women."

He didn't say anything.

"Is this conversation making you uncomfortable?"

"Yes."

"That's fine. It's time to go anyway. I found out what I wanted to know. Are you still okay with me?"

"Yes," he said as he got up.

She watched him walk to his car. He seemed in a daze and almost stumbled once.

This time, her expression wasn't either a smile or a frown. She was thinking hard.

***************

Her first attempt was inviting him to join her and the Amazons for her birthday celebration at a fancy restaurant. He accepted as long as he could share in paying the bill with her friends.

She pretended to get drunk and got him to bring her home and even carry her to her bed. She struggled with opening buttons and pulling zippers, but he didn't take the hint. When she sat up and asked him to help her in a fake slurred voice, he pushed her down and told her to sleep it off. Before she could blink, he was gone.

The next time, she succeeded. She asked him when his birthday was and found out it was three weeks after hers. She insisted on having him over for dinner and when she saw how it spooked him, she quickly added that her friends would be helping with dinner, since they owed him for helping them in training and this was their chance to repay him.

He still balked, until she got the idea of telling him that if he didn't give her any more trouble, she would tell everyone not to bring a gift.

The Amazons were clued in to her intentions and left soon after cleaning up dinner. He tried to leave with them, but she told him she needed to talk to him for a few minutes in private first. She sat him on her couch and sat down in an easy chair not far from him. She started pulling it closer to him but saw that he was looking like a deer in the headlights, so she stopped and started talking.

"I think you know what I want to give you for your birthday, Thorne. To tell the truth, it's more of a present for me than for you. I haven't been with anyone for nearly a year, and I need it so bad that I might take a chance with a stranger at a bar. You wouldn't want me to do that, would you?

"I want you, because I trust you completely. You'll make me happy no matter what happens because I'm curious about you. You haven't done this in a long time, so you're nervous. I'm going to make it easy for you. Just do what I say. I'll take care of the rest."

She got up, walked over to him and grabbed his hand. He didn't resist.

Three hours later they were both exhausted. Thorne thought for a moment that this must be what it's like to die and go to Heaven. That idea was replaced by another one that stuck with him. He decided that Andi had made him feel truly alive for the first time. Because of her, he had begun living.

Things progressed quickly after that because he went along with whatever Andi wanted, with few exceptions. One was him moving into her apartment. She appealed to logic, that they would be crowded in his place and there wasn't room for half of her clothes and belongings.

He told her the only way he'd move in with her is if he paid the rent. She told him it was double what he was paying. He insisted he could afford it. She got him to grudgingly compromise on paying half.

He insisted on keeping his old apartment despite her calling him stupid for wasting the money. She tried everything she could to change his mind. She got so frustrated that one time she lost her temper and tried to humiliate him by telling him how much she made and asking him what he earned.

She was shocked when he told her. It was nearly as much as her salary, and she was working ten to twenty hours more a week. She asked how a small off-road repair shop could make that much and was he giving her the gross figure or the net?

He said that he had built up a loyal customer base because they knew he and his employees cared about them and would go the extra mile when there were problems. He made certain that they would never be stuck miles from civilization. It now took more than a month to get an appointment, and he rarely took on a new customer. He offered to show her his books.

She thought quickly and turned the conversation in a different direction. It was fine to keep his apartment. It would save him the price of a storage locker, because he could keep his furniture and stuff there.

He quickly found out that by "stuff," she meant his clothes. She took him shopping that weekend and filled up his car's trunk. She said that if they lived together, he had to look his best for her. She would do the same for him.

He didn't argue, except when she tried to put his new clothes on her credit card. He paid for everything. When she hung up his new wardrobe, it filled his closet. He mentioned it, and she pointed to her walk-in closet with three times more clothes.

That set the pattern for them for the next year and a half. She told him what to wear to work every day and when they went out together. She went too far once, when she bought him a multi-colored gi for his birthday. He didn't say anything but she could tell he hated it, so she quietly returned it the next day.

When their work lives allowed, they spent all their time together. He got to know the people at her office, and she got to know his employees. He never gave her advice but she had lots of ideas for him.

One night at dinner, she told him he needed to shake up his team or they would get stale.

"What do you mean?"

"Get rid of the weak link and hire someone new and hungry."

"There is no weak link. They all work hard."

"That doesn't matter. They're too comfortable. There has to be an edge. You don't want to do anything so drastic that it could paralyze them. Just put something in the back of their minds, a slight fear that they might be fired."

He didn't say anything.

"I'm just telling you what works at our office, and at every business that wants to survive. It's when you're doing well, like your company is right now, that you have to set up the culture that gets you through the tough times."

He remained silent.

"Say something. Tell me why I'm wrong. I know that's what you think."

"You've been successful doing things your way. How can I argue with that?"

"My way! It's the only way. You're reminding me of my father again. What other way is there except to be fat, smug and satisfied? Don't you have any ambition?"

"Is your dad fat?"

"No. It's just an expression. Are you going to use that to avoid answering my other questions?"

"No. You asked if I have any ambition? Yes, I do, and you might be happy to know that I have a lot more ambition since I met you. There are things I think about that I never thought about before."

"Really? You've just made me happy, you idiot, but I'm not going to let you off the hook yet. You don't like my way, but you haven't given me another way, because you don't have one, except muddling ahead and hoping for the best."

"You want to know another way?"

"Yes."

"You always analyze everything you and everybody else does. You change the things that aren't working. But have you ever looked at your operation from top to bottom to see if there might be a better way to do it all?"

"There is no other way."

"Have you ever tried working together."

"We all work together every day. You're blowing smoke."

"I'm talking about assessing everybody's strengths and then setting up a system to let everyone do what they do best. It means forgetting about empire building and backstabbing. Did you ever think how powerful your office could be if you could all focus on getting the best outcome without having to spend one second on covering your ass and protecting yourselves from each other?"

"So that's your answer: kumbaya!"

"It works for me."

"I think you're living in a dream world. Yes, your system works if no one is selfish or greedy, but human beings aren't perfect."

"What if they knew you expected them to try for perfection but weren't disappointed when they fell short? That's why I like BJJ. The do says you can strive as hard as you want, as long as you always show courtesy and respect. We uplift and never humiliate each other. That's more important than anything."

"You mean, more important than winning."

"That's right, even more important than winning."

"I wonder if Harley would say that."

"I think he would, but we've never talked about it. Ask him."

"Well, your business plan of minimal expectations works for your small company, I guess, at least so far. If I proposed that at work, they'd laugh me out of the building."

"You don't have to propose it. You just have to do it."

"Oh, I should do it and let the others do whatever they want. I'm setting an example for them."

"Yes."

"They would eat me alive. You have no idea what a shark pool I work in. I'd be committing career suicide, and they would totally humiliate me at the same time. Is that what you want for me?"

"Of course not. You know what's best for you. I just think there's another way. No, that's not right. I know there's another way, but you can't see it. I think it's because our life experience has been different."

"Let's leave it at that," she said.

After that discussion, they continued to tell each other about their work, but neither of them asked for advice or gave it.

**************

The first time they had dinner with Andi's parents, Thorne acted strangely. He started to say something to her father several times and then stopped. Finally, Andi had enough.

"What is it? You can tell my father anything I told you. I've already apologized for how I used to treat him, and he's forgiven me. So out with it!"

"I'm sorry. It's not about that. There's one thing I've been dying to ask you, sir, but I don't want you to think I'm being disrespectful."

"What is it?" asked her father. "You can't offend me, Thorne. I can already tell that about you."

"I was just wondering why you told Andi I was married the first time she mentioned me."

Her father laughed.

"Yeah!" Andi said. "You never told me. I want to know, too."

"It's simple. Andi was running you down. She told me you were soft-spoken, kind, considerate and unassuming. You had no macho swagger, and you didn't run your business aggressively.

"Everything she said about you made me picture you as a perfect husband and father. Then it hit me that someone like you couldn't be single. You had to be married with a family.

"I know guys like that. They're perfect family men, except they can't keep their pants on when someone like Andi goes after them. And as much as we have our different takes on life, I didn't want my daughter's heart broken by a cheating husband, so I was trying to protect her."

*************

Andi found out Thorne had no family. She thought he didn't know anyone outside of his business or Star Gracie until one day she came home to find him talking to a wiry man with a crewcut who stood as straight as a pole and talked with a Southern accent.

Thorne introduced him as Hunter, an old friend from the military. Hunter stayed with them several days. She felt his eyes on her every minute she was in his presence. After a while, her skin felt like it was crawling.

On the day Hunter left, Thorne had to go to work early, so the two men embraced and slapped each other on the back. As she heard Thorne's car pull out of the garage, Hunter sat down at the kitchen table. She felt his eyes boring into her back.

She brought him coffee and toast -- that's all he wanted -- and sat down opposite him. He hadn't said much more than a few pleasantries to her in the last few days, and she knew nothing about him, except that when he spoke to Thorne, he called him Bot. She hoped he would be gone soon.

He took a sip of his coffee, looked at her with his piercing blue eyes and spoke.

"I have to apologize," he began, but his voice wasn't apologetic. He was explaining, not apologizing. He didn't sound nasty, but it was obvious that he didn't care what she thought.

"You've probably noticed I've been sizing you up. When Bot first told me about you, I was worried. I've seen him handle himself in every situation, except women. He always deflected women.

"I don't know what to make of you. I never thought Bot would fall for someone like you, but you seem to be making him happy. I have to cut you some slack.

"You're probably going to be visited by some of his other Desert buddies, so I'll warn you. You're going to be a bug under glass for them, like you were with me."

"Why?"

"Because we all have Bot's back. We were hoping he'd find someone and marry and have kids. He needs someone he can take care of."

"I take care of him."

"That's not the same thing. I'm not going to argue. You're a smart woman, so you know exactly what you are. You just have to think about what Bot is to you. You're not the type to think about whether you're good for him, so just think about whether he's good for you. You'll work it out."

"And what if I decide that he's good for me?"

Andi's voice was hard. She felt like she was standing naked in front of this man she hardly knew, and he was passing judgment on her. Whether he was right made no difference to her at the moment. All she felt was humiliation and anger.

"Take it easy. I've said all I'm going to say. And if you want to know, all I did was compliment you to Bot."

"What's this Bot business anyway?"

"It's short for Robot. We all had our names in the Desert. My real name isn't Hunter. He got his for hiding his emotions so completely that the team thought of him as an indestructible, mechanical man made out of steel. He would never stop until the mission was completed. We all owe our lives to him at least once."

"Tell me what he and your team did."

"I can't. Have you seen any of the movies about the Desert?"

"No."

"If you ever do, think about this. The stuff we went through would never be shown on the screen, not just because of secrecy. It's no fun watching what happened to us. That's why the few of us who made it back are so protective of each other."

"Well, I promise you I don't want to hurt Thorne."

"I guess that means something."

"You asshole!"

"I'm sorry, but your promise doesn't impress me. You are who you are."

Andi tried to think of something else to say as Hunter got up and went to the guestroom. She sputtered with anger. She started thinking about how she was going to call out Thorne about his friend that night.

Though she tried to block it, the scene in the kitchen replayed in her mind while she was at work. Her anger increased.

When she got in her car to drive home, she closed the door and screamed. She waited until she stopped shaking before she started the engine.

On the way home, she rehearsed how she was going to explode into the house and start taking Thorne apart. But as she pulled into the driveway, she thought of a better revenge. She would get back at Hunter by sticking to Thorne like glue. She'd make Hunter crawl to her for forgiveness. When she walked in the door, she was humming and didn't mention Hunter at all.

Within the next month, two more war buddies, Rocket and Hag, visited them. Each stayed for a few days. Neither of them spoke to her as Hunter had, but she could tell they were both listening carefully to everything she said, especially pertaining to Thorne.

She guessed Rocket's specialty, but wondered what Hag had done to get her name. Hag intimidated her more than anyone she had ever met. She was nearly as tall as Thorne and looked like a supermodel would look if she ever trained for the military.

When Andi got a glimpse of her body -- not by accident, she decided later -- she saw muscles she had never seen on a woman before. When she watched Thorne and Hag embrace, she wondered if Thorne hadn't shaded the truth when he said he hadn't had sex since before his service. She watched Hag as closely as Hag watched her.

A moment came toward the end of her visit when Thorne was out of the room. Hag came over to Andi and spoke softly.

"You're right. I love Bot, but not in a way you'll ever understand. That's all right because what we went through together is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I'm happy you're making him happy. I just wish I could find someone who's half the man he is."

She was going to say more, but she stopped abruptly as Thorne came in the room.

After Hag's visit, Thorne's occasional visitors seemed friendlier. Andi thought maybe it was because Hag approved of her. Even Rocket and Hunter were friendlier when they showed up again.

As she got to know Thorne's buddies, she was pleased that they warmed to her. They were much like Thorne, soft-spoken and unpretentious. Like him, they enjoyed listening to her expound on anything and everything and never ventured their opinions unless she insisted.

She asked them if they would give her some warning before they dropped in again because she wanted to have some time to plan their visits. They said there was no need to do anything special but respected her request. She fixed up the guys with some of the Amazons, but she couldn't find anyone for Hag.

Her friends told her the dates were a success. They started keeping in touch with the guys, but all of them moved around a lot, so they were only online friends, with occasional benefits when the men were in town visiting Thorne.

Andi and Thorne were happy together. Thorne thought she was mellowing a little. He wondered if he had anything to do with it, or was it just because she was on a hot streak at work -- and at the academy?

She had advanced to brown belt faster than any woman since the academy opened, but she wasn't letting up as she aimed at black. She started competing in matches, and the thrill of victory made her train harder. After she submitted every woman who agreed to fight her, she began picking on the men.