The last guy jumped on his back and dragged Ryan to the ground.
In a blink, Ryan had picked up the knife from the gutter and slashed it against his assailant before kicking out the legs of the last guy standing. One minute he was pushed down with the cigarette butts and the next, they were. He was amazing.
Ryan aimed a few kicks, knocking them out. He stood, with bodies around him, and wiped the knife handle on his singlet before dropping it.
He looked so perfect, as if he’d just dusted off his hands like he’d been baking. Instead, he’d just laid out four armed guys faster than she could kick one!
‘Are you okay?’
She just stood there, open-mouthed, with the guy under her arm starting to wriggle again. ‘Let me go, I’m sorry,’ he begged.
Ryan stepped towards her, grabbed the guy she was clutching onto like a Gucci bag and laid him out with his buddies.
‘You should have maimed them, and then they wouldn’t keep coming at you. Go for the eyes or the testicles.’
Jaz still just stood there dumbly. Ryan was picking now to give her a lesson in self-defence!
‘If you want to survive you have to get dirty and think outside the square.’ Ryan was unravelling his jacket from his arm as one of the guys began to move. He stepped towards the guy and swung his leg, kicking him hard. Jaz flinched.
‘Come on,’ said Ryan as he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the road.
‘What are you doing here?’ she finally managed as they jogged to his car.
‘You’re just lucky I drive this way home. I saw you beating up on the homies and came to lend a hand. Sorry, I would have been here earlier but I got a phone call. I hate to think…if I was any later.’ He opened the door. ‘Quick, get in.’
He practically lifted her in before slamming the door. Next thing, he was beside her, putting his SUV into gear and driving off. Jaz looked out the window at the guys under the streetlight. Five motionless bodies. Had Ryan killed them?
‘They’ll be fine…eventually,’ he said as if reading her mind.
After they were well away from the area, Ryan pulled over. He switched on the interior light, put his hand up to Jaz’s face, and caressed her chin.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked, tilting her face to check for wounds.
‘You’ve already asked me that,’ she replied plainly, trying to flick his hands away.
‘Yeah, but you never answered me.’ Ryan moved her arm out of the road and touched her lip.
‘Is it bad?’
‘No just a small split, a swollen cheek, and…oh.’ Ryan pulled his hand away when he spotted it covered with blood.
‘Oh my God, Ryan are you okay?’ Jaz’s heart lurched as she saw just how much blood was on his hand. ‘You’re bleeding? Did you get cut?’
‘No, it’s not mine.’
‘One of them?’
‘I don’t think so.’ Then his eyes grew huge and filled with fear.
‘What…what is it?’
Ryan leant over to her side of the car and started feeling her. ‘Do you want us to get a room?’ she joked.
‘Only you, Jaz, could joke at a time like this. I think it’s your blood,’ he stressed.
‘What! I was cut on my hand but it wasn’t deep.’ She showed him her hand covered with blood, but you could see the cut wasn’t bleeding anymore.
‘Does it hurt anywhere?’
Jaz thought about it: her ribs hurt, her feet and hands, her lip, head and a few other spots, just the normal pain. Except for the stinging on her arm, which was slightly different.
She held her left arm up for Ryan to inspect. ‘Here.’
He pulled her arm gently across so he could see it better in the light. Blood was trailing along her hand, dripping off her fingertips.
‘Oh, that’s not good,’ she said weakly. Amazed at how freely her blood spilled.
Ryan sucked air in between his teeth.
It was hard to see anything against the black of her hoodie but when he pulled the material, a hole appeared in the jumper. Red blood stood out against her skin, staining her clothing around it.
‘Oh shit,’ mumbled Jaz. ‘Is it bad?’
Ryan ripped her sleeve further and she felt his fingers probing her skin. ‘Yeah, I’m afraid so. You’ll need stitches. It’s bleeding badly.’
‘All in your car too. Sorry.’ Jaz tried to mop it up with her other sleeve.
Ryan pulled off his singlet, causing her to momentarily forget everything. ‘What are you doing?’ This was not the time or place to be getting naked!
He didn’t answer, instead he used his singlet to wrap around her arm. ‘Now hold that tight to stop the bleeding.’
‘Oh, yeah, thanks.’ What’s going to stop my shaking, she wondered. Maybe having no shirt on was part of his plan to keep her distracted. Well it was kind of working. The dull interior light cast shadows along Ryan’s muscled abs. She concentrated on counting them.