Nicole smiles. “You say that like it means anything in Vegas.” She turns her gaze
on me. “Last chance, baby, come home with me.”
Selena steps forward with a grunt, but Jackson pulls her ba
ck. “Selena, stop,” he orders and she stills in her movements, but her eyes never leave Nicole’s face.
I have to deal with this, not Selena. I’ve given this woman a few chances to walk away unhurt, but now I have to take matters into my own hands.
If she wants a straight out, curt, brutal answer, she’s going to get one.
“I don’t want to go home with you
,” I tell her. “I’m looking at you and I don’t remember a goddamn thing about you. Sure, I could go home with you now, have sex and leave, but I guarantee I’d forget you—again—by lunch time tomorrow.” Her lips part and she narrows her eyes at me in an ugly scowl. “I’d much rather go home to the girl that I love. A girl that could be standing naked in a pitch-black room and I’d still be able to kiss every single freckle in their exact location going off my memory alone.” She shifts her posture and I hear Selena snicker under her breath. “You are forgettable because you’re like everyone else and the girl I’m going home to, isn’t.”
Not waiting for a response or a reaction, I walk off, passing Selena and Jackson and ending up outside in the cool desert air.
The bouncer slaps my back on the way out and murmurs words of congratulations that I don’t hear. I just want to go home. I’ve spoken to enough people and I’ve done enough interviews for one day. Not to mention all of the interviews and talk shows I have to do the next two weeks leading up to my fight with Don. Selena busts out of the door after me, squealing like a baby pig. I cringe and watch her as she runs towards me and flings her arms around my neck.
“I believe you.” She laughs, squeezing me.
I pat her back and frown at Jackson, who smiles widely walking out of the club.
She lets go and steps back. “I believe that you really do love Olivia and all doubts I had are gone.”
“Good, now I can breathe a little easier because this whole marriage thing depended purely on what you thought.” I try to keep my face serious, but I fail and smile. Selena rolls her eyes.
“Thank you
,” I tell her. “Now let’s go home.”
Right on cue, a taxi pulls up and Aaron drags Darryl’s heavy, alcohol-filled body over to it. I open the door
then Aaron stuffs him inside and climbs in after him. I don’t know how, but all four of us managed to fit inside and I think I fell asleep against Selena’s shoulder…the next thing I remember is her poking my head with an awkwardly twisted hand and looking at me like I’m meant to be doing something.
“Open the door
,” she says. “The other one is broken.”
I glance at Aaron
, who holds Darryl as far away from him as he can. Darryl is curled up against the far door with his mouth open as he drools onto his own shoulder.
Classy.
I laugh at him while Jackson fumbles into his jean pockets for his phone. He opens his camera and takes snapshot of Darryl.
“I’m saving that for later
,” Jackson slurs, zooming in on Darryl’s face.
I open the door and practically fall from the car. I
draw myself to full height and I don’t wait for the others as I stumble through the lobby of the MGM and into a random elevator. I don’t pay any attention to my surroundings. My brain is too mushy to absorb any of the details and after twenty minutes of strolling around, I finally make it to my door. I reach into my back pocket and the only thing that touches my fingers is the denim fabric. It’s empty.
Shit.
I left my key card inside on the coffee table. I bang my head softly against the door…What the hell am I going to do? I didn’t plan on waking Olivia up when I came home and I was even going to sleep on the couch. The wood collides with my numb head a few more times as I bang it quietly against the timber. Minutes later, when I look around the hallway for a comfortable spot to fall asleep, the door to our room opens. My eyes drag up her bare legs, over a pink see-through sleep dress thing and settle on two nipples barely hidden by the sheer fabric. The visions soak into my eyes and drips down my insides, pooling right between my legs. I want to peel it off with my teeth.
“Seth? Where’s your keycard?” She yawns, husky from sle
ep.
I force
my eyes up to her face and she swats a stray strand of chocolate colored hair away from her cheek.
“I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Stutter
. I almost fucking stutter at my wife-to-be because she’s wearing a see-through babydoll. What am I, sixteen?
“You didn’t mean to wake me? You were banging
pretty hard.”
Was I? Maybe I’m drunker than I thought.
Forgetting everything at the words banging and hard that fell from her lips, I launch at her and force her back into the room. I kick the door shut as my arms wrap around her waist and I draw her into me. I have her face in my hands and I pull her mouth to mine. The taste of her mouth brings my dick to a painful point of confinement in my jeans. She wraps her arms around my waist, hanging on for dear life as my mouth molds to her. Her touch sends a streak of fire through me as she parts her lips to my kiss and our tongues rush to meet. Just as abruptly as I started it, I break the kiss, holding Olivia’s flustered face inches from my own, drilling her with my stare.
“
Ride me,” I breathe, desperate to feel her warmth engulf me. “Make me yours.”
“You’re already mine
,” she points out and I shake my head.
I want to her to claim me so hard other girls can smell her on me.
“You have to prove it over and over for the rest of our lives. I want to be reminded. Every time I forget, claim me back, just like I would for you.”
She
gulps deep, slow breaths and the seconds begin to feel like small eternities. Without an answer, she slowly, deliberately, rises up on tip-toe to capture my lips. A low groan comes from deep in my throat, and my hands touch her everywhere at once, popping the dainty buttons on her babydoll, freeing her breasts from the fabric, lifting the dress over my hips and tearing her flimsy underwear from her body.
How many panties do I have to go through before she gets the picture? Maybe I should put up a sign. ‘This house is a panty free zone.’
Olivia
yanks my shirt open, destroying the buttons on
my
clothes for a change. The heavy buttons drop to the floor with little plops as her fingertips lightly tease the hot skin of my stomach, my hips, and then skilfully divesting my belt, and opening my button fly.
My mouth joins my
hands in the endeavor to touch every inch of her skin and a violent shudder tears through her body .My mouth is at her neck, her lips—her eyelids in a heart beat, and I grip her elbows and draw her back with me, until my calves hit the couch and I fall into the seat, dragging her down onto my lap. Olivia’s legs straddle me, her warm strong thighs above mine as our kisses grow wild and bruising. My hands engulf her breasts and the feel of her smooth, milky skin causes a light layer of goosebumps to erupt over me. I lay kisses down her throat to the swell of her breasts. Above me, I can feel the hot, silky smoothness of her center brushing against my shaft. The tip of my dick is wet with pre-cum and Olivia raises herself up slightly, maneuvering her opening over my crystal-hard erection. As the warmth of her creases graze my eager tip, our frenzied movements halt and we freeze, both caught in the other’s gaze. She looks at me differently than she ever has before…there’s no soft, gentle look to her, only the fierce arousal her lust-filled lids revealed and I’m certain I’m mimicking it. My hands grip her hips and I harshly thrust up, forcing Olivia to plunge down. She lets out a strangled moan and I cup the back of her head, fastening my mouth over hers to swallow the sounds of pleasure she’s making. She feels amazing, so tight and ready for me, that I have to be careful not to come right now.
“Ride me
,” I demand, stilling my hips and letting her take control.
She gasps and her breath is steamy as it skirts across my jaw. Her walls flutter and clench around me.
“Fuck,” I moan, letting my head roll back against the couch. “Squeeze me again.” Her legs twitch around me as her pussy clenches and she rises up and sinks back down on me.
Squeeze, relax, Squeeze, relax.
Heat coils in my stomach and rolls through my body in perfectly timed waves. I grip her hips harder, she knows just how to bring me over the edge, how to use her body to make me come for her—and she gets better at it every time we fuck. Olivia begins to lose her rhythm, as her walls tighten and she draws nearer to orgasm. I love it. I love that I have the power to make her lose control.
“Are you going to come?” I
ask and she bites down on her bottom lip, nodding profusely.
“So fucking hard
,” she squeezes out.
I push her off of me, laying her on her back on the couch. Her legs surround my waist and she pushes herself up on her elbows to get closer to
my mouth. Her wetness flows on my cock and I slip in and out with ease. Olivia makes a high moaning noise in the base of her throat and against my lips before she drops against the couch, arching her back.
“Seth,”
she gasps in warning. “Seth…Seth…” My name comes out in heavy pants and not a second later, her pussy clamps down on my thick cock. I pump her harder and faster as everything tightens inside me. The pressure in my groin builds up to absurdly high levels and my head fills with white noise as I reach my limit and sail over the edge, groaning and flooding her with hot, sticky fluid. My arms tremble under my weight as I hold myself above her and I give in, lowering myself onto her chest. Olivia wraps her tired arms around me and she kisses my damp forehead. I angle my head down to hers and she slowly lifts her mouth to meet mine. She explores my mouth lazily with her lips and tongue, and I threaten to fall asleep while she does it.
“I love you
,” I mutter, pulling away.
She lets her fingers trail down the side of my neck. “I love you, too.”
I’m proud of myself for not being as rough with her as my body and my mind wanted to be. I close my eyes, completely at peace. This is the most peace I will feel until
after
I defeat Don. The next two weeks are going to fly by in a blur. They’ll bring me nothing new, but after the fight, my world will change—for better or for worse…
And I’m praying to God—or whoever is fucking listening—that Don is finally pushed out of my life.
Olivia
Four weeks. I’ve been in Vegas four weeks and yet, I feel like I’ve only been here a couple of days. Everything has gone so fast, it’s like I blinked and whole days are missing. Nothing big has happened over the course of the four weeks, besides Seth proposing to me and winning his first professional fight. This fight, the one with Don tonight, is the first time in MMAC history that a professional MMA fighter will fight an amateur fighter in an arena of this scale. Mandalay Bay…I glance around the large arena. It seats twelve thousand people and I’m sure every seat is taken to watch the rematch between the two rivals. The air is heavy with anticipation. I can hear the laughs and giggles of spectators in my row. It crackles along the seats and vibrates my body. I’m not excited—not like everyone else is. There’s a flush of heat that pulses through me with every bout of nausea and my chest tightens anxiously.
Selena sticks a bag of chips under my nose and I recoil away from it
with a shake of my head. The thought of eating right now churns my already violent stomach. The chair next to me shakes as a large man drops himself down next to me. I’ve never seen him before, but he’s wearing a black shirt that reads ‘DON’ and I decide, rather quickly, that I don’t like him. Anyone who would root for someone like Don is an idiot. I look down at my own shirt and smirk. I’m happy I packed my ‘SETH’ shirt. I haven’t worn it since his first fight in Portland, Maine and I figured he’ll like seeing it on me again. It might ease some of his anxiety, considering I couldn’t see him before this fight.
Darryl wants Seth to be wound up and on edge for this fight. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea. None of them share any of their thoughts about the fights with me, which I didn’t particularly mind, until tonight. Seth contested Darryl, refusing to leave his locker room until I came in, but Darryl still sent me away. He knows Seth won’t forfeit a match with Don Russell and he wanted to ‘kick it old school
,’ having Seth wind down with boxing bags and skipping ropes…in order to warm up before the fight. If that makes sense…it doesn’t really make much sense to me, but I went along with it, regardless. I zone out as the announcer beings to speak, but the second a familiar beat begins to play, my body forces me to tune back in.
My blood bubbles and pulses through my body to the beat of the music and I subtly squ
eeze my sweaty palms together. I eagerly scan the crowd, waiting for Seth to appear and every second his song plays and I don’t see his fierce figure storming out here, the more my excitement melts into worry. Then, I hear the roar of the crowd as everyone jumps to their feet, sending my nerves reeling and my heart pounding.
Here he comes.
The cheers grow nearer, the closer he gets to the stage and I can’t see him over the shaking, yelling bodies over the other spectators. I see the top of his black
hoodie first and as he rounds the corner, his entire glorious body comes into view. His mouthpiece forces his lips to protrude, giving him a darker edge—not that he needs it.
His eyes scan over my row and my lips part as heavy b
reaths escape me. When his stare fall onto me, I cease to breathe.
With a twitch of his lips, he turns from me and shrugs out of his
hoodie. Jackson throws it over his own shoulder and slaps him on the back as he bounds up the stairs and into the cage. My lungs ache and I release the breath I was holding as Seth does his usual circle of the ring, bouncing on the tips of his toes and shaking his wrists. There’s no cockiness to his movements, he moves with absolute purpose. Tonight isn’t a game. Tonight is Seth’s one chance to remove Don from his life—from our life.
Seth’s music cuts off and the announcer calls out Don’s weight, reach
, and height before dragging out his name. A loud, metal song blast through the speakers and I cringe.
So much anger and hate this guy has.
I shake my head. The crowd cheers and claps, but the intensity of it isn’t like it was with Seth. The crowd respects Seth. Most of them follow his career and witnessed him beat his experienced opponent two weeks ago. Don tears around the corner, topless and eager. He’s determined to take back everything Seth took from him. Don’s eyes flick onto me and I scowl as he winks, puckering his lips at me over his mouthpiece.
“Fucking hell.” Selena chuckles under her breath. “That guy has a death wish.”
Seth sees Don look at me and I see his fingers clenching at his sides. He rolls his neck over his shoulders and as Don bounds up the stairs and into the ring, Seth steps forward, getting right in his face. My heart races as the crowd goes berserk, fueling the already tense relationship between the two fighters. The referee is on them immediately, ordering them to their corners. As they separate, the crowd sighs in bitter disappointment.
“There’s a lot of animosity in the cage tonight, ladies and gentlemen
—can you feel it?”
The crowd explodes with cheers and applause. They can’t wait a second longer for the fight to start. They want bloodshed and they want it now. The camera crew and the announcer leave the cage and I start chewing my fingernails. If only Dad was here right now
…he’d know the right thing to say to ease me into this fight. I need him to assure me that Seth is going to win. I need to see the excitement on his face when the bell dings and Seth gets the first punch.
“Don’s got this
,” the large guy next to me mutters. I turn my head to look at him and he smirks at me.
“If you think so.”
His bright blue eyes flare. “I
know
so.”
I roll my eyes and turn my attention back to the cage. I really hope Seth wins now so I can rub it into the stranger’s big, fat face.
The referee calls the two fighters to the center of the ring. Each referee is different. Some prefer them to touch gloves before the bell rings, others prefer them to touch after the bell rings. Either way, the fight cannot commence until they touch gloves.
Don and Seth meet in the middle. I see the referee’s lips move, undoubtedly telling them to touch gloves. Neither fighter move
s. There’s a silent war going on between them and the crowd watches in silence…waiting for war to break out.
I swear I can hear the rapid heartbeat of every spectator, mine included
, and a crackle of excitement flows over us as Don extends his hand first. Seth smacks it away and a unanimous sharp intake of air is heard throughout the arena. The referee steps between them, sending them back to their corner. He points at each and they nod their heads. Then, the bell rings and my vision wavers with the ringing. I take a long, slow breath and close my eyes in an attempt to calm myself.
Olly, relax. It’s just a fight,
I tell myself, pretending it’s Dad’s voice.
Nobody is going to die.
The thought makes me feel better and
I open my eyes to see Seth coming in quickly, ducking and dodging Don’s swings and punching him wherever he can. With every fist that connects, the crowd gasps and cheers. I chew my bottom lip, counting down the seconds of the round. Don throws a counter punch, going for a quick left jab and to everyone’s surprise, Seth dodges the punch, responding with his own left jab, followed by a quick right uppercut to Don’s jaw. You can tell Seth is in the game—all of his movements are planned and precise. It’s almost like he knows Don’s moves in advance. Seth is absolutely dominating this round and despite how much I don’t like watching people fight…I know I’ll enjoy watching Don fall.
Hit after hit they exchange, neither of them growing tired of smacking the other. Two minutes into the round, when both Don and Seth are bleeding, Don takes the plunge and dives at Seth and the two become a swamp of flesh as they roll around, trying to get the drop on the other. I feel my hands creep up my neck and over my mouth as
they each struggle to dominate the other. As the round draws to a close, Seth gets the upper hand. He straddles Don, pushing down on his chest. Seth drops an elbow on his face and I gasp, feeling the blood drain from my face as Don’s own blood pours from his eye. I hate Don, everyone knows that, but I still can’t enjoy watching him suffer like this. It’s not okay. I sink my teeth into my bottom lip and cringe as Seth drops another and another, splitting Don’s brow wider. There’s so much blood, but the ref doesn’t call the fight.
I feel Selena lean into me.
“I’m going to the bathroom and I’ll probably miss the rest of the fight, so I’ll meet you in the locker room after Seth wins.” I nod my head, sparing a glance in her direction. She winks at me and the big guy beside me chuckles under his breath. I peer slyly at him, but he gives no indication that he heard what Selena said, so I turn my attention back to the fight. Seth has this in the bag, Don’s face is almost purple, but he refuses to tap out. Seth chokes Don harder with his own arm and the crowd goes mental, cheering and begging to kill Don. I bounce my legs and tap my fingers against my jeans. It’s the only way I can express my anxiety and excitement without jumping up and down and actually looking like I support the violent sport.
I see Don’s resolve finally give way and his fingers twitch toward Seth’s arm.
This is it!
My heart levitates in my chest, hovering dangerously close to my throat and threatening to fly up and out. Seth deserves this. He deserves this win over Don. As I shift in my seat, I feel the unmistakable pressure of a large hand sliding over the top of my thigh. I jump up and away from the guy next to me.
“What the—”
He follows, grabbing at me and pulling me into him. He pins my arms to my side and holds me against his body. I struggle against him and get nowhere. No one steps in to help me and I realize it’s because we look like we’re a couple hugging.
What the hell?
“Let me go!” I shout, but no one hears me over the roar of the crowd.
I look at Darryl and Jackson, but they’re too consumed in the fight to pay me any attention.
Is this seriously happening?
Damn, Selena. I wish she never went to the toilet. Out of panic, I look to Seth and I startle when I see his eyes on me. My heart beats in my chest as he lets Don’s arm go.
“No!” I shout, at the top of my lungs
for the first time ever. “What are you doing? Get the tap out and then help me!”
Without a second to catch his breath, Don shoots to his feet and takes Seth down. There’s a fumble of arms and legs before Don straightens Seth’s arm out.
“No!” The whole crowd is yelling with me now and all I can feel is the vibrating laughter of the asshole holding me. Tears well in my eyes as Seth’s face becomes strained and his elbow begins to bend in the opposite direction. He won’t tap out. He’d rather Don break his arm than submit to him and admit Don is stronger. Don is the weakest person I’ve ever met. He’s sneaky, arrogant and asshole-ish. He knew Seth would beat him…he planned this. He planned to distract Seth, knowing he could never beat him. And it worked…worst of all, it fucking worked.
***
Seth
I have his own arm around his neck. Nothing is more embarrassing than choking yourself out in a fight. All of this is being recorded and I hope it haunts him for the rest of his life.
“Your girl.”
Don chuckles, his voice barely audible.
I frown at him and pull his arm tighter. He tries to laugh and uses his free hand to point to something outside the cage. Out of curiosity,
I look up.
Through the black metal cage I see her.
My blood begins to boil at the way the huge brute holds her. I recognize him immediately as one of the large guys that jumped me outside my gym a while ago. I see his white knuckles and fingers as he presses them into her flesh.
He’s a dead man
. Out of nowhere, my back slaps against the canvas as Don throws himself on me. I try to fight him off and get out from under him. This isn’t about the fight anymore. I don’t want to kick the shit out of Don, at least, not as badly as I want to kill the man holding my woman. Don wraps a leg over my chest and yanks on my arm, straightening it out over his hips and pulling downwards. Pain shoots from my elbow, radiating through my body and making me cringe.
Shit. Fuck! He has me in an arm bar—a fucking arm bar!
I will not tap out.
Not to Don-fucking-Russell.
I angle my head and peer through the cage’s wires.
Color has drained from Olivia’s face and even from here I can see the tears welled up in her eyes.
She’s calling out to me, but I can’t hear it under the
protest of the crowd. I feel two pops in my elbow and I cringe as Don straightens it further. My heart slams into my lungs and my whole body is taut, fighting against Don’s strength. I don’t take my eyes off Olivia, who is desperately begging me to tap. I can’t.
I can’t tap…
I’m prepared to let him break my arm.
Then, I see the one thing I never want to see f
lash over Olivia’s countenance—disappointment. My heart dips, deflating into nothing as my stomach churns.
I can’t believe I’m about to do this. I can’t believe I’m about to do what I told myself I’d never do.
I grit my teeth against my pride and without a second thought I slap my hand down onto the canvas.