Chapter Three
Sunny sat behind her father’s old steel desk in the gym and went over his books. She had gone to school for this, loved the aspect of business at all angles, but eventually wanted to branch off. The gym and everything it entailed had always been a part of her life. She loved it, but wanted something else, something that wasn’t about fighting and testosterone. She balanced the account book, but the sound of the door opening had her lifting her head from the numbers she was crunching. She expected her father or even Mack to come in and check on her. She’d been at this for the last couple of hours, but to her surprise it was London. Embarrassment flooded her at the feeling of her wetness between her legs. She was sick, had to have a screw loose in her head to have this kind of ridiculous and intense reaction to a guy just from looking at him. He was sweaty, and she found the sight highly erotic. His short blond hair was plastered to his forehead, and his bare chest showed beads of sweat trailing down the hard, wide expanse. The florescent lighting had the colorful tattoos that covered his arms looking like they glowed.
“Hey, Sunny.”
His voice was deep, and the way he said her name had her thinking of all kinds of things she shouldn’t be … again. Before she could answer he was talking again.
“Thought Harlond was in here.”
“Oh, yeah, no.”
She felt her face heat at her response. He lifted his arm and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. Sunny was transfixed by the way his muscles bunched and flexed just from doing such a small act. Clearing her throat, she said, “I can let him know you need to see him if I run into him, or I can try his cell.”
He looked over his shoulder at the main floor, and the sounds of fighters working out filtered into the room. Despite her better judgment she let her eyes travel down his chest, over his abdomen to where massive ridges lie right below the surface of his golden skin, and to the hard, defined V of muscle that pointed right below his low hanging track shorts.
God, she so wanted him.
When she lifted her eyes back to his face she instantly felt her neck heat and that warmth move all the way up her cheeks once again. He was staring at her, and by his expression there was no doubt in her mind that he had seen exactly how hard she had been looking at him. For a heartbeat all they did was
stare
at each other, but slowly the corner of his mouth lifted in amusement. Dammit, he found the whole thing humorous, which was the furthest thing from her mind, and only enhanced her humiliation.
“Nah, it’s cool. I’ll just see him when I see him. It wasn’t anything important.” He watched her silently, and she couldn’t help but shift under his appraisal. After what seemed like a very uncomfortably long moment of silence, he finally spoke again. “Listen, a bunch of the guys
are
having a little get-together over at Taylor’s place tonight. It’s not really anything big, but you’re more than welcome to come hang with us.” She would have been elated to go and spend time with them, well, London more so than the rest, but the way he said it, almost like she was one of the guys, had disappointment filling her. She really should just be thankful he was inviting her. That’s how desperate and hot she was to have him, and how sad was that?
“Is my dad going to be there?” Why was she contemplating this?
His smile was instant. “Do you really think Harlond would approve of us getting drunk or having his daughter there to join in that kind of fun? You know as well as me that he’d have our balls on silver platters.” This was true, so it had her wondering why he was inviting her if her father’s wrath was promised if he found out. “Even if you weren’t coming Harlond isn’t all about us drinking, even if some of us don’t stick to our regimen.” He pushed off the doorframe but didn’t make any move to come closer.
“Listen, no pressure, Sunny.
I see you every day working the floor, making sure we are all taken care of, and then coming back here and doing the books. You need to let loose with the guys just like we do.”
He smiled again, and her heart dropped.
Just like one of the guys
. Yeah, that’s clearly how he saw her, and she didn’t know what was worse: going unnoticed by him, or considered one of the guys. There had actually been a few times she thought when she caught him staring at her, thought that he may have felt the same kind of attraction she had. But clearly she had been wrong, and had let her desire for him cloud her common sense. “You know where Taylor lives?” It took her a moment to respond, but she finally nodded. “All right, if you decide you want to you can come on over about nine. Taylor’s grilling out, and there will be beer, unless you don’t want that. I can pick up something else if you’d like.” She didn’t know what to say, so she just smiled awkwardly. This was London, the guy she had been lusting after for longer than she wanted to admit, and he wanted to hang out with her … as a friend. “You have my number, yeah?” She nodded. She had everyone’s number who worked out at the training center, what with dealing with the books and her needing to know who was here. “Good. If you decide to come just shoot me a text.” He turned to leave, but stopped and looked over his shoulder. “I’d love it if you came, Sunny.”
And with that and one of his sexy as hell lopsided smiles, he left her alone, with fire racing through her body.
****
He was a fucking fool.
A big fucking fool for inviting Sunny over to Taylor’s.
It was just going to be a bunch of the guys from the center, and maybe even a few girls they brought along, but for some dumbass reason London had invited the trainer’s daughter. When he had seen her sitting behind that desk, her blonde hair swept up in a messy bun, her V-neck tee gaping slightly and showing him a glimpse of the creamy swells of her breasts, all common sense had vanished. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her at the party, because he did, pretty fucking bad. It was more of the fact that he was playing with fire, and would get burned. That wasn’t even a question.
“
Yo
, douche hole.” He stopped and looked at Taylor who came jogging up to him.
“Fuck you.” London grinned at the other fighter.
“Hey, overheard you talking to Sunny.” Taylor, with his black Mohawk tipped neon blue, and his pierced eyebrow and lip, stared at him like he expected some kind of response.
“Okay?
And?”
London crossed his arms over his chest and stared at him. Taylor looked back at the closed office door, and then looked back at London. It was there, written on Taylor’s expression, that the other guy knew he was hard-up for Sunny.
“
Nothin
’, man, just heard you asking her to come over tonight.”
“That’s not a problem, is it?” He didn’t say it with an attitude, because really he probably should have asked Taylor first, given the fact it was his house, but all he had been thinking about was seeing more of Sunny.
“Nah.
It’s just—” Taylor ran his hand over the shaved part of his head. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”
London clenched his jaw, not about to get another lecture like he did from Mack concerning Sunny. “Don’t go there.” Taylor held his hands up in front of him and shook his head.
“No harm, dude. Just hope you know what the fuck you’re doing.” Taylor shook his head and made his way past London and to the mats. London turned around and stared at his retreating form. He was pissed at himself because he couldn’t just walk away from Sunny, and he was pissed that everyone kept bringing it up to him that he didn’t know what the fuck he was dealing with. He knew the repercussions if he actually acted upon the dirty fucking images he wanted to do to her, but here he was, doing exactly what he shouldn’t do.
“
Shit
. What are you doing?” He could behave around her and keep his baser desires as just urges … right?
“Come on, Romeo.” Taylor called out from the mats and took on a boxer’s stance. His grin was wide, and London flipped him off. Taylor pouted. “Don’t be like that, honey.” London stalked toward him, about to kick his ass, even if he was teasing him. “All right, glad to get a reaction out of
ya
.” Taylor held his fists up and wagged his brows.
“Means you’ll be a good opponent.”
He bounced on the balls of his feet just as London stopped in front of him.
“You’re asking for your ass kicked,” London growled out, knowing that a good fight was exactly what he needed to let off this sudden arousal and anger. Taylor laughed and dropped his hands. London cracked his knuckles, and then rolled his neck on his shoulders. “How ‘bout we tape up, and then we can do this?” Taylor’s grin grew, which had London smirking as well, but not from being happy. He had a lot of juice to burn off, especially before tonight. If Sunny did end up coming he would have to be on his best fucking behavior.
****
Sunny really couldn’t believe she was doing this. She pulled her car to a stop in front of Taylor’s two story house and cut the engine. The sound of her Toyota cooling filled the suddenly silent interior. She had tried to talk herself out of this too many times to count since London had invited her, but she always came up with the same decision: she would be going to the party. How bad was it that she had tried to look for something to dissuade her from going after London, because that was exactly what she was
doing.
He was thirty, and she had told herself that an eight year age gap was a big deal. But of course it wasn’t. Pulling her thoughts back to the present, she stared at the house. All of the lights were on, and she could hear heavy rap music playing through the open windows. How none of his neighbors called the cops on a clear noise disturbance was beyond her, but maybe they were afraid, especially considering how many MMA fighters were inside. She stayed in the car for far longer than what was probably normal, but then again she was nervous as hell. If she was just going to hang out with guys she considered her friends, then why did she feel guilty for lying to her dad about where she was going tonight?
Because even though you’re an adult he would have scolded you, and told you guys that hung out at the center were too hardcore for his little girl.
She rolled her eyes at her internal monologue, but it was the truth. Mack and her father were far too protective of her, even if she was a grown-ass adult. The reality was she could take care of herself, and their worry wasn’t warranted. She took self-defense classes, was unofficially trained by some of the guys at the center, and wasn’t this delicate little flower that everyone liked to believe.
Looking at her phone she realized it was already after ten. She had sent London a text saying she was at the center late finishing up some last minute things, but he hadn’t replied. Maybe this was a bad idea? Sunny climbed out of the car and started making her way toward the house, but before she reached the porch steps the front door opened, and a brunette with the biggest breasts she had ever seen sauntered out. Another dark haired girl followed closely behind, and both of them took out cigarettes and lit them as they eyed Sunny distastefully. It wasn’t like she didn’t know girls were going to be here, because even if London had said it was the guys just hanging
out, that
also meant Chasers hanging around. She hated that little title they gave to the women that screwed fighters just to say they had.
“Kind of overdressed for one of these gatherings, sweetheart,” the brunette with the monster breasts said in a bored tone, and blew out a cloud of cigarette smoke in her direction.
Sunny eyed the other woman’s outfit, and then looked at her friend. They wore tops that were more like strips of elastic that barely restrained their tits, and their skirts were short enough that if they bent over there was no doubt in Sunny’s mind that their asses and
vajayjays
would come out and give everyone a wink. “It seems anyone with clothing on would be overdressed compared to you two.” She heard two pissed off gasps, but she didn’t stick around to hear what they might have said in retaliation. The house smelled like a mixture of alcohol and cheap perfume, presumably from the two girls who just left. The inside of Taylor’s house was exactly what she assumed a bachelor pad to be. The living room was to her left, and there was a huge flat screen TV and a leather sectional crammed in the room. There was a kitchen to the right, and all she could see was the table, which was piled high with chips, a half full plate of various meats, and enough beer and liquor to feed a horse and knock it out. The music was loud and obscene, but she was used to it, even liked most of it. Even over the harsh lyrics she could hear deep male laughter and curses ringing out. She made her way toward the voices.
“Dude, she totally came on to me. I mean, I was all fucking sweaty and shit, just had a KO on Martinez, and she was all pushing me into the backroom, grinding her shit all over my cock, and well, what in the fuck was I supposed to do?” The closer she got, the clearer the conversation became, if one could even call boasting about getting a piece of ass that. If they weren’t talking about fighting they were talking about sex.