“He’s not himself,” I say to Jess.
“Go talk to him. He needs you.”
I twist the ring she gave me around my finger. “What if he doesn’t want to see me?”
She gives my arm a squeeze. “Then I’ll be here to pick up the pieces. Just like you’ve always done for me.”
Soothing the savage beast
“Sorry. Rules are rules. I can’t let you into the men’s changing room, and especially not the VIP area.” Rampage points to the bench. “You can wait there.”
“Is he alone?” My nails dig into my palm as I try to think of a way inside. If I wait until he comes out, it may be too late.
“Yeah. We closed the gym for the fight, and Torment’s in the first-aid room with Makayla so there’s no one else there.”
“Please.” I grab Rampage’s hand. “He shouldn’t be alone. I just want him to know I’m here.”
“I can tell—”
“Don’t make me beg. You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
Rampage hesitates, then shakes his head. “Even if I was inclined to break the rules, it’s probably not safe for you right now. Never saw him so wound up before. That was a vicious fight.”
“I can take care of myself.” I sigh and throw down my only chip. “I could do a piece for you for free. Something on your arm. Maybe a symbol that represents your fight name…”
He mocks a frown. “Are you trying to bribe me?”
“Yes. Absolutely. Whatever it takes.”
A grin spreads across his face. “A bull. That’s what I want. With a ring through its nose.”
Relief washes through me and I have to hold back from giving him a hug. “You tell Rose when you want to come in.”
He pushes open the changing room door and his face softens. “I’ll be right here ’case you need me or ’case someone tries to get in.”
“Thanks.”
Rampage gives me a wink. “See ya, Sia.”
When I walk into the changing room, the scents of sweat and unwashed gym clothes make my nose wrinkle, but I forge ahead and find the VIP room through a red door at the top of a small flight of stairs. Clean and bright, and smelling faintly of sweat and lemon cleaner, it houses two rows of beige lockers, wide benches, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and shelves of fluffy towels.
Ray is at the back, facing away from me, a towel wrapped around his narrow hips. He must have just stepped out of the shower because his hair is wet, and the air is thick and fragrant with the sharp scent of the shower gel I have smelled on his skin.
Seemingly oblivious to my presence, he mumbles something to himself then pounds on the locker. The loud bang makes me gasp, and I step back into the door with a soft thud.
His head jerks up and he spins to face me. But it isn’t Ray who meets my gaze, but the Predator. In the flesh.
“Go, Sia.” His voice is rough, hoarse as if it is an effort to force the words out. “Get out of here.”
Goose bumps prick my arms and I twist my hands together. “You weren’t fighting the way you usually fight. You seemed…angry. Out of control. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, as if in pain. “Please.”
“I’m not leaving you alone. Not like this.”
His hands curl into fists at his sides and his eyes narrow. “Man hurts someone he cares about, he should be alone.”
“Yes, you hurt me,” I say, taking a step toward him. “I felt betrayed when you told Torment I was painting. I felt like you exposed me to the world when you shared that piece of me that I had only wanted to share with you.”
A groan erupts from his throat. “You don’t think I realized that after I saw your face. Christ, if I could take it back…”
“It was my fault.” I stop two feet away from him and tug my T-shirt over my head, the only way I can think to calm him down. “I know you were just trying to help. And you were right. You couldn’t have known how it would make me feel or why it was important because I never told you.”
Under his shocked, heated gaze, I unclip my bra and slide it off, dropping it to the floor. Then I undo my jeans and shimmy them over my hips along with my underwear. Ray doesn’t move. Doesn’t speak. But his eyes sweep my body with a feral gleam.
“What are you doing?” His breathing is raw, ragged, and thick with need.
“Soothing the savage beast.” I close the distance between us and slide one hand around his neck, while I whip off his towel with the other and dig my fingers into his ass. Already thick and hard, his cock presses against my hip as I lean up and nuzzle his neck. “I know we’re not in this for the long haul, but I want to tell you what happened to me. I will tell you. Just give me time.”
“Sia.” He groans my name and threads his fingers through my hair. “Do you know what you’re doing? After last time…”
With a soft sigh, I rock up to kiss him, sliding my tongue along the seam of his lips until he opens for me. But one kiss is all it takes. Within a heartbeat, I am no longer the predator.
I am the prey.
Heart pounding in my chest, I stare up into his eyes, caught in the fire that matches the burning in my veins. His fingers stroke my neck, over the pulse point at the base of my throat, then he cups my jaw, tilts my head back, and lowers his mouth. There is no gentleness in his kiss, no fleeting meeting of lips or dancing of tongues. Instead, his mouth is hot and hungry, his tongue thrusting deep, devouring me even as I struggle to breathe.
He pulls back, rasping his breaths, and then curls his hand around the back of my neck, immobilizing me with his touch. “Anything I do hurts you or makes you panic, you tell me to stop. Understood?”
“I’ll say stop. I promise.”
He grunts his approval, then fishes around in his gym bag on the bench and pulls out a condom.
“Door locked?”
“Yes.”
Wrapper torn, cock sheathed, he pulls me into his chest. “Who’s at the door?”
“Rampage.”
“Fuck. He’s got the biggest fucking mouth in Redemption. I’ll be surprised if there is anyone in the gym who doesn’t know by morning.”
Hand trembling I follow the soft trail of hair down his abdomen with my fingers, then wrap my hand around his shaft. Just the feel of him, hot and hard and throbbing in my hand, makes me wet. I tighten my grip and stroke.
Ray growls his approval and I stroke harder, watching his face in case I hurt him. But the harder I stroke and the tighter I hold, the more he seems to enjoy it, so I lean up and bite his shoulder too. His cock swells in my hand and he groans.
“Jesus Christ. You want this to be over before it begins?”
“I want to make you feel good. The way you do for me. Tell me what to do. I want to get you off.”
“Harder.”
Gritting my teeth, I squeeze his cock so hard my knuckles whiten. Ray’s body tenses and his hips jerk forward into my hand.
“Fuck.” He clamps a hand on my wrist, then gently pulls me away.
“Not with you, Sia. You’re soft and sweet and everything that’s good in my life. Don’t want you tainted with any of that. That side of me, you don’t need to see.”
Before I can ask what he means, Ray settles himself on the bench and pulls me up onto his lap, my back to his chest, his erection pressed against the cleft of my ass. “This feels good.”
Shivering, I lean back against the solid wall of his chest and catch a glimpse of us in the floor-to-ceiling mirror, my small body nestled against Ray’s massive chest, his arm curled around my waist. It’s so erotic, I can’t tear my gaze away.
Ray hooks my thighs over his, then widens his legs, spreading me, until my sex, pink and glistening, is on display. A whimper escapes my lips and I try to turn away, but Ray captures my jaw and gently turns me back to the mirror.
“Look how beautiful you are. You are the most beautiful fucking thing I’ve ever seen. I could spend an entire day just looking at you.” He cups my breast in his palm and draws his thumb over the nipple. “Perfect.”
My cheeks burn, and I squeeze my eyes shut. I make a point of not looking at myself naked in the mirror. I am more exposed now than I have ever been.
“Open your eyes.” He pulls out my ponytail holder and smooths my hair over my shoulders. “See what I see. Look at your sweet curves and how perfectly my hand fits over them.” He strokes his hand down my side, in and out of my waist and over my hips. “So soft,” he whispers.
My eyes flutter open just as his fingers graze my stomach and brush over my mound. “Love these curls and what you’ve got hiding underneath.” He spreads his legs farther, opening me obscenely wide, and I turn into his shoulder and try to press my legs together.
“No.” His voice drops to a husky growl, and he turns my head back to the mirror. “I want you open when you’re with me. I like to see how wet you are, and know you’re wet for me. And I want you to see it too.” He strokes his finger along my folds, spreading my wetness up and around my clit; then he parts me wide with his fingers and whispers in my ear. “This is where I’m gonna be. I’m gonna be inside your hot, wet pussy, taking you so high you’ll be begging me to come, and when I take you there we’ll both watch you come all over my hand.”
“I can’t.” My voice drops to a murmur. “I can’t watch.”
Ray’s hand drifts down to cup my sex, his fingers rubbing, stroking through my soaked folds until I whimper. Then he works his fingers inside, deliciously deep, making me arch as his free hand toys with my breasts.
“You can, and you will.” His voice rasps in my ear. “You like to watch. I can feel it here”—he curls his fingers inside me and pulses against my sensitive inner tissue—“and I can see it here.” He rolls my peaked nipple, and then cups my breast and squeezes.
Oh God, he’s right. But it feels so wrong. So naughty. So deliciously bad. “I’ve never watched before.” I swallow past the lump in my throat. “But…I want to watch you fuck me.”
He growls softly, then lifts me, his hands tight on my hips, and pulls me down over his cock, one slow, thick inch at a time.
“Ah ah ah.” My body tenses as he stretches me, fills me, and my gaze is riveted to his thick, ribbed shaft sliding between my folds. Heat pools in my belly and I moan at what has to be the most arousing sight I have ever seen—Ray’s dark head bending over me, his lips pressed to my temple, his thick, muscular arms dark against my pale skin, holding me safe. Lowering my gaze, I watch his thigh muscles bunch and flex as he lowers me another inch, and my legs bare and smooth, twined around his calves.
“You good?” He looks up and I melt under the heat of his gaze in the mirror. Dark. Carnal. A reflection of my own inner desire.
“More.” I shift my hips, try to lever myself up, but he must have chosen this position for a reason. No matter what I do, I have to take what he gives me and no more.
“Ray…please.”
He hisses out a breath and pushes in another inch. “Tell me what you want. Use the dirtiest words you know.”
“I want your cock in my pussy. Buried deep inside me, right to the hilt. I want you to fuck me while I watch. Hard and rough. I want bruises on my skin tomorrow so I can remember tonight, and every time I move I want to remember you were inside me.”
“Anything you want, you can have from me.” Ray’s arms shake as he eases me down a little more and he slides to the edge of the bench, until my feet are on the floor. “Take it. Take what you need.”
So I do. With one downward thrust, I take him all in, as far as he will go, watching his thick, ridged cock sliding between my folds, flushed and wet in the mirror. And then I ease up and slam down again. But it isn’t nearly enough. Not enough force. Not enough pressure. And I am too free. Unrestrained. Untethered.
I take him one more time, sliding over his thick shaft, and a groan rips from my throat as the sharp movements jerk my piercing, setting off a cascade of lightning bolts that sizzle straight to my clit.
“I can’t do this anymore.” I pant my words. “I need—”
“I know what you need.” He toys with my piercing and my pussy tightens around him. “The way this makes you feel…I should make you feel. Only me.” He tugs on the ring in my nipple and growls when my nipple peaks. “You don’t need these, Sia. I can make you feel more than they ever will.”
He slides his free hand up to my neck and closes his hand around my throat with a gentle, unyielding pressure, forcing my head back against his chest as he rocks inside me.
Arousal crashes over me in a thunderous wave. I am possessed. Controlled. Dominated by the subtle threat of his hand and the rhythmic thrust of his cock.
“Hands behind you, around my neck. Clasp them together and don’t let go. Open yourself to me.”
Drunk with lust, I do as he asks. Although I have never been so exposed, I feel no fear. His hand on my throat makes me feel perversely safe. As I watch in the mirror, his dark fingers splayed across my throat, the careful way he watches my reaction, his strong body supporting mine, I am struck by the intense beauty of the moment. Dark and light intertwined. We are the yin and yang on his fight shorts, now abandoned in the corner.
Ray slides his free hand over my hips and strokes his finger gently over my clit, over and over, his touch as light as a butterfly wing until I can think of nothing but the relentless build of pressure in my core.
With his hand still around my throat, he tilts my head back and kisses me, a full open-mouthed kiss as he drags me down onto his cock for another thrust. Before I can catch my breath, he pinches my clit. My body tenses, then convulses. I squeeze my eyes shut as moisture floods my sex and the orgasm thunders over me. With a breath, I scream into Ray’s mouth.
He gives me only a minute to come down before he lifts me and helps me turn to face him, his cock sliding easily back into my wet pussy.
“You didn’t do so well last time, when you couldn’t see me behind you,” he says softly by way of explanation when I protest the change of position. “And I like to watch you come.”
His hips rock on the bench and his cock thrusts deep. My arousal builds quickly again, relentlessly, until I am panting and moaning, my arms wrapped around his neck as I near my peak.
Hands on my hips, Ray lifts me up and hammers me down, angling me so my piercing thuds against him with every stroke, making my clit throb and ache. This time I know what he wants. This time he doesn’t have to tell me what he needs. My Predator likes pain, and after what he told me about his wife, I think I know why. Guilt is a hard master.
My fingers dig into his shoulders, and I scrape my nails down his back as hard as I can. Ray gives a strangled yell and slams me down, pumping deep inside me, the jolt on my piercing all I need to be swept up in another wave of pleasure. He tenses and climaxes with me, his shaft thickening and throbbing against my inner walls.