Lucas ✔️

Five

**Dedicated to @MrChashmish for always being the first to read and vote. You give me life. Thanks**

His arm was outstretched as he closed the short distance between us quickly. I reacted just as fast, dropping my phone and moving my feet into place. My phone wasn't worth as much as I was, and a cracked screen was easy to replace, whereas my purity was not so. The man's arm reached me, and he went to grab my shoulder. I'm not sure what he was going to do if he managed to grab it, probably try and overpower me, but I was prepared for him. His quick and unplanned lunge was a good try, but he wasn't exactly experienced at grabbing girls by the looks of it.

His feet were unsteady and wide, and he had used both his right arm to try and grab me and his right leg to lunge. This meant he was completely lopsided, his centre of gravity being left for easy pickings. I ducked under his right arm and ended up crouched under his chest as his momentum flung him forward. I used my strong legs to push upwards, keeping my head tucked into my chest and using my rounded back to hit him as hard as possible. He grunted loudly, yet it wasn't enough to put him out of action. 

I wasn't done, though, and grabbed his arm as he flung back, using all my strength to pull him towards me with my free hand. I flipped the pepper spray in my hand, not wanting to damage the plastic release button, instead, I used the metal base of the can and jabbed it quickly, and as hard as possible, into his Adam's apple, using the force of his body falling towards me for extra impact.

The man gagged and brought his hand up to his throat, coughing loudly as I let him drop to the floor next to me. His two friends both looked shocked, neither of them moving until he fell to the ground rasping. I let out the deep breath I was holding and spread my feet apart, raising my free hand up in a defensive position and keeping the one with pepper spray in it close to my side.

"One down," I said, a small smile playing on my lips. "Two to go." The shortest one, the one who had talked to me earlier, looked hesitant at first until his other friend stepped forward angrily.

"Oi! What the fuck?" He yelled, his voice cutting through the night alongside his friend who was struggling to breathe on the ground. He started walking forward as he yelled, his finger pointing out at me roughly. "You fucking bitch, wait until I-" His beautiful speech was cut off when he stepped into my range and I grabbed his finger, pulling it back as hard as I could. 

"Fuck, what the fuck let-" He started, only to end in a yell of pain as I continued twisting it. He yelled out loudly, contorting his body to try and twist the same direction as his finger, a quick reaction to try and loosen the pressure I was placing on it. A smart idea, a good way to prevent me from breaking it.

It's what I wanted him to do, however. As he lowered and spun his body, following the way I spun his finger, his feet became unbalanced. I used the opportunity to kick one of his feet out from under him, making him land on his gasping friend back first. I still held his finger tightly, using it to roughly pull him towards me and used my other arm to release the pepper spray into his eyes.

His loud scream cut through the quiet night and I graciously let go of his finger so that he could press his hands up to his eyes. I drowned out his cries of pain and his friend's rasping breaths and turned my attention to the lone survivor.

"Two down, one to go," I said, eyeing him up. 

He looked hesitant, even more so than before, but his pride as a man was on the line - and he knew it. Plus, I doubt his two beat up friends would allow him to get away with it if he tried to run from a little old girl. He took a step forward hesitantly, eyeing me up. I followed his movement, moving back into my defensive position with the pepper spray close to my side. I should have enough to spray him, but if not, I still had a few moves.

As it turns out, I didn't need them, because as the short man lunged forward he managed to trip over his own feet and faceplant the ground, knocking his teeth hard on the concrete. I cringed internally at the thought of how that would have felt but knew not to waste the opportunity he had provided me so graciously.

I moved quickly and sent a quick jab to the guy I had pepper sprayed, knowing the spray wouldn't have kept him down much longer. I punched him right across the face, aiming for the jaw so I could knock him out. I didn't hit him hard enough to fully knock him out, but it was enough to knock him down and it should keep him down for a while. He groaned in pain, his hands still rubbing his eyes roughly as he now laid completely across his friend. I worried for a millisecond if his friend below him would be able to breathe before deciding I didn't care if he choked, not really.

I turned my attention quickly back to the poor guy who was sitting up from the ground, holding his hand against his teeth. A small, white piece on the ground let me know he had managed to break one of his own front teeth, and I took pleasure in knowing he would tell his friends I was the one who did it to him. He looked up at me in shock as my booted foot came for his stomach, hitting him with my best kick. He fell to his side, gasping and clutching his stomach in pain.

"You. Fucking. Ass. Holes," I yelled, my foot connecting with his stomach roughly on each word. It was then, my foot raised behind me for another kick and my voice faltering in my throat, that I saw him.

He had a cigarette dangling loosely from his mouth as he leaned against the brick wall of the pub. One of his hands was tucked deep into the pocket of his dark jeans as he watched me, his dark eyes following my moves. He waved his hand at me dismissively, grabbing the cigarette from his mouth.

"No, please," he said, his voice echoing through the alley. The sound sent shivers down my spine at its musical tone. "Don't stop on my account."

I slowly lowered my leg as I gazed into his deep eyes and I dropped the pepper spray on the ground, quickly lifting my hands into the air.

"They attacked first," I said breathlessly, my hands up in surrender.