by Kylie Kent
Pleading my case, I pout my bottom lip out and give my best version of puppy dog eyes. Running his hands through his hair, I can see that he is going to relent and take me down to the cage fight.
“First, you could never be in my way sunshine, no matter where and what I am doing, you will always be my priority. Second, you just have to be in the same vicinity as me for me to notice you’re there, and when you’re not around, I notice your absence. Third, you can come, but you do not under any circumstances leave my side, okay?”
Nodding my head enthusiastically, I say, “yes, okay, I won’t leave your side. And just so you know, whenever I’m not with you, your absence does not go unnoticed by me.”
That makes him smile. He has the most beautiful smile and I’ve noticed he reserves it for moments like this, when it’s just us in our little cocoon. Just as I’m about to lean in and kiss him again, the door opens.
“Jesus, does nobody knock around this joint?” Zac mumbles as he turns to see who just walked into his office.
“Umm, I knock,” I say.
Zac turns back to face me. “You are the only one not expected to, babe.” That makes me smile.
“What do you want Reilly? It better be fucking good.” Zac growls.
It’s not until that moment that I look over and notice that Reilly has come into the office. Squealing with delight, I jump off of Zac and run over to her. I haven’t seen much of my friends these last few weeks. I pull her into a deep hug.
“Oh my god, it’s so good to see you girl.” Leaning into whisper in her ear I add, “your little avoidance method is not working, that boy is so wound up with thoughts of you it’s comical.”
She just grunts. “It’s good to see you too, Lyssa, how’ve you been?”
I don’t miss that she doesn’t acknowledge my little dig about Bray. “I’m good, really good actually.”
I feel Zac’s presence behind me as he pulls me back against his chest, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Do you have a reason to be here?”
“Yes, I do actually have a reason to be here, I work here, remember?” she sasses back. “Also, here.” Reilly holds out a garment bag and shoe box I didn’t even notice she was holding. “I got the dress and shoes you wanted for Lyssa, but just for future reference, you hired me as your PR manager, not your personal shopper. If you wanted me to pick up clothing for anyone other than Lyssa, I’d quit.” Reilly finishes her tirade with a sweet smile.
“You work for me, that means you do whatever the fuck I need you to do if you want to continue working for me. And who the fuck else do you think I’d buy clothes for anyway?” Zac shakes his head as he walks towards the bathroom with the garment bag and shoe box.
I watch the back and forth between my boyfriend and my best friend. Sigh. I can’t help but get butterflies whenever I think of Zac as my boyfriend. Anyway, as I watch how Zac and Reilly interact, I realise that they seem to have a love-hate thing going on.
I know from conversations with both of them they do actually like the other. Neither would admit that in front of the other, though.
Reilly’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts. “You have ten minutes to get changed, I’ll see you downstairs,” she says as she walks out of the office.
Spinning around, I cock a hand on my hip and tilt my head staring down Zac. He smirks like he sees something amusing.
“You brought me a dress to wear tonight?” I question with a raised eyebrow.
Zac doesn’t move, just nods his head. “And shoes, I brought you a dress and shoes. As sexy as those scrubs are on you, I thought you might want to change before we go downstairs.” His eyes roam up and down my body.
“So, you knew all along that you were going to be taking me downstairs to watch the fight tonight?”
“Well, I sure as fuck wasn’t leaving you up here alone, now was I, sunshine.”
“You just made me beg you to take me to the fight, when you were already planning on taking me.”
I try to brush past him to enter the bathroom but the man has reflexes like a freaking cat. Before I know it, he has his arms wrapped around me pulling me into him. He leans down to my ear nibbling before he says, “what can I say? I like hearing you beg.”
My whole body heats and shivers at his words. Zac pulls away and playfully taps my butt.
“Get changed babe.”
I close the door behind me and then make quick work of undressing. Staring at my reflection in the mirror, the dress is gorgeous and a perfect fit. I’m not convinced that Zac had anything to do with picking it, though.
It’s made of thin black shimmery material. The dress has a halter neck with a very spacious gap in the front going from my belly button up. My whole back is exposed. The skirt of the dress frills out and lands halfway down my thighs. It’s most definitely not a dress I would ever choose for myself, but now it’s on and I’m thinking of the reaction Zac will have, I think I’m loving it.
Being short on time, I leave my hair up in a high ponytail. Stepping out of the bathroom door, I see Zac has his back to me putting his suit jacket on. I hold my breath as he turns, his eyes bulge as they travel up and down my body.
“She’s fucking fired,” he says. I laugh, knowing full well he’s not going to fire Reilly.
“So, not the dress you picked I’m gathering?” Walking towards him, I paste on the sweetest smile.
“Not even fucking close, you can’t go down there in that, sunshine. Not that you don’t look good, it’s just that well, you look too fucking good. Every damn guy down there is going to be drooling at the sight of you.”
He hasn’t even seen the back of the dress yet. “Well, it’s a good thing you’ve already snagged me then, huh? You have nothing to worry about Zac, trust me, I’m all yours and only yours.” Grabbing his hand, I continue, “let’s go, I don’t want to be late.”
As I drag him behind me out of the office, he gets a look at the back of the dress, I hear him groan and mutter under his breath.
Chapter Sixteen
Zac
Standing in the front row near the cage, I hold Alyssa in front of me. Partly to cover her exposed back from prying eyes and partly to cover the erection straining in my pants. I glide my hands up and down the exposed areas on her stomach, which again is a fucking lot of exposed skin.
I’ve lost count of how many daggers I’ve shot at fuckers who think they can look at her. I’m on edge, ready to rip the heads off of anyone who even thinks to look her way. Dean senses my edginess and has planted himself right beside me, constantly looking my way to see if I will explode while aiding in blocking people’s view of Alyssa.
Reilly, fucking Reilly. If she wasn’t so good at her job … There’s also the little thing with Bray being bloody obsessed with her and her being one of Alyssa’s best friends. If it wasn’t for all of those things, I would fire her ass for buying this dress for Alyssa. She knows too. Standing next to Alyssa she looks over her shoulder and smirks at my unease. I glare back at her, but she just laughs it off.
I won’t admit it to anyone, well anyone other than my sunshine, but I think I like Reilly. I like that she can give as good as she gets. The fact that she gets her job done, and done well, without trying to find ways to flirt or touch me, like the last fucking PR manager, was a bonus.
We’ve watched three fights, Bray’s is always the last. He is yet to be defeated. When our parents died, he had so much pent up anger. Being a hormonal seventeen-year-old didn’t help. He started getting into fights at school constantly. I didn’t know what to do with him, I ended up putting him into MMA classes. I figured if he was going to fight, he might as well do it properly and in a contained environment.
He hasn’t stopped fighting since. Although we both make a lot of money off of his fights, I know he’s not doing it for the money. It’s almost like he needs it, needs the adrenaline of being in the cage. The six-week break over the holidays that’s coming up will make him crazy if he doesn’t find another outlet for his ener
gy or a really good sparring partner.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, pulling me out of my thoughts. As I reach for it, I realise it’s not my phone that vibrates, it’s Alyssa’s. She holds her phone out in front of her to see she has messages.
Alyssa’s body tenses and freezes as she reads the text message. She drops the phone and starts looking around the underground basement wildly, like she’s looking for someone. Dean bends down and picks up her phone, stepping in closer to her. Reilly turns toward Alyssa, asking her what’s wrong but she doesn’t say anything, just holds onto my arm that’s around her waist and looks around the crowd.
She’s trembling, I turn her around in my arms and bury her head in my chest. Whispering in her ear, “babe, you’re okay, I’ve got you.”
I look up at Dean, I can tell whatever he read on that phone has him ranging. His jaw is tensed, and he is now looking across the cage to the crowd on the other side. He hands me the phone, before speaking to his security team through his earpiece. All I hear him say is, “nobody gets out of this fucking basement without me knowing. Lock the entrances, single file out, I want to see every fucking face that exits this room.”
I’m gripping the phone in my hand, surprised it’s not breaking under my grasp. The text has my blood boiling. There is a grainy picture of me Alyssa with my arms wrapped around her, standing exactly where we are now. The picture was taken from the other side of the cage. The message reads.
Unknown: You shouldn’t touch things that don’t belong to you! He was mine first, I saw him first! I won’t warn you again bitch, he is MINE. He will be with me again, even if I have to take you out myself. xxx
I’m holding onto Alyssa so damn tight now that she winces.
“Shit,” loosening my grip slightly, “sorry sunshine, you are okay. I’m never going to let anyone get to you.”
Reilly is almost in hysterics beside me demanding to know what’s going on. I hand her the phone and see her face go white as a ghost as she reads the message. Her hands tremble. I need to get both Alyssa and Reilly out of this damn basement now.
I look up to the cage and hear the announcer call the start of Bray’s fight. He’s standing in the cage looking over at us, staring intently at Reilly. He squints his eyes, mouthing the words, “what’s wrong?”
I shake my head and hold up one finger. It’s our signal of me needing him to finish the fight in one round. He looks back to Reilly and I swear I see something pass over him as his face hardens. Bray nods his head and turns as the announcer starts the countdown. As soon as he yells out one, Bray lands a solid punch to his opponent’s jaw, knocking him out cold.
Jumping from the cage, he storms over to us and pulls Reilly into his arms, rubbing his hands up and down her back and whispering something in her ear. For once she doesn’t fight off his touch. She hands him Alyssa’s phone and I watch as his face hardens before we all walk out of the basement together. Dean leading the way with Alyssa and Reilly in between Bray and myself.
Standing in the bathroom of my office, Alyssa is sitting on the vanity clinging to me. My heart is racing, blood boiling. Someone’s head is going to roll for putting her through this. Dean and Bray are in the office, I can hear them shuffling around. I’m sure by now they are scanning through the security footage trying to find the fucker who was stupid enough to mess with what’s mine.
Rubbing my hands up and down Alyssa’s back, I instruct her to breathe, attempting to calm both her and myself. “Babe breathe, just take big breaths with me okay. Count them with me, one in … out, two in … out.” By the time we get to number ten, she has calmed. She lets go of her grip on my shirt and is wiping at her face.
“I’m sorry Zac, I’m so sorry I’m bringing so much drama into your world. I don’t know why this is happening again.”
The tears keep rolling down her face. I wipe them off with the pad of my thumb.
“Sunshine this is not your fault. We will find whoever sent you that message and they will pay for putting you through this. I promise, nothing will hurt you.”
Shaking her head, she pushes me back and jumps down. Turning toward the sink, I watch as she runs her hands under the water and then splashes the water over her face. I hand her a hand towel and she dries her face. Looking up into the mirror, she straightens her back and squares her shoulders back.
Turning around, she says, “you know what? You’re right. I will not let someone do this to me again.”
I’m so fucking proud of how strong she is, how much she can endure. What she says next floors me.
“Plus, I don’t care what anyone says or thinks. You are mine Zac, I love you too damn much to let anyone take you from me. So, if some psycho-bitch thinks she will get you, well, she will have one hell of a fight on her hands.”
I’m stuck on the words I love you that she just threw at me. I can’t wipe the huge ass grin from my face.
“What?” she says with scrunched up eyebrows.
“You love me, huh?” I say with a smirk while grabbing her around the waist.
“I … umm … well …” she grunts and then relents, “yes, okay. I love you, and you’re just going to have to deal with that. I don’t care if you’re not ready to hear those words or if you don’t feel the same way about—”
Placing my finger over her lips, I stop her right there. “Sunshine, I think I’ve been in love with you from the moment you stepped through the doors of my club.” She doesn’t say anything, just stares at me, so I continue, “I love you so damn much it scares the shit out of me sometimes.” This brings a smile to her face.
“You love me too?” she asks.
“So much,” I say as I lean in and kiss her.
Breaking the kiss, she looks up and says, “good, because you are so stuck with me now.” Stepping back, she looks up and continues, “let’s go and figure out who thinks they can take my man.” I can’t help but smile. I’m so fucking proud of how determined she is.
Just before she opens the door, I get another look at her dress.
“Wait,” I say as I take off my jacket, “put this on.”
I don’t wait for her to accept or argue before I have her draped in my jacket. She brings the collar of the jacket up to her nose and inhales.
“Mmm, god you smell good,” she mumbles as we make our way out of the bathroom.
Dean has the flat screen monitors that line one wall of my office on with the video feed from the basement. Scanning through each section from the time I entered with Alyssa. Bray is pacing up and down the office with a drink in one hand and an ice pack wrapped around the other. Reilly is sitting on the couch texting furiously on her phone. They all stop what they’re doing and turn to look as us. Reilly is the first to speak.
“Sarah and Holly are on the way. We’re having a slumber party tonight,” she pauses and looks at me, “girls only.”
I just smirk, if she thinks she is going to get me away from Alyssa she has another thing coming.
I’m about to say as much to her when Alyssa speaks up excitedly, “yes, that is exactly what I need right now,” as she walks over and sits with Reilly on the couch.
I know I’m pouting, but I don’t care. Reilly looks over to me and laughs. “I’m sure you will survive one night without her, Romeo.”
I don’t think I actually would, but we’re not about to find out either. Ignoring Reilly, I walk over to the screens where Dean has a shot paused zooming in on someone.
“Have you found anything yet?”
Just as my eyes focus on the person he has zoomed in on, Bray stands behind us. “What the fuck? I always knew that chick was a bloody psychopath.”
My body vibrates with rage, pure hot rage directed at the person in that image. I always had a weird vibe from her, but I didn’t think she would be this level of crazy. I knew she had a crush on me, but damn, this I did not fucking expect. I don’t know how far she’s willing to go, but I do know there is no hole deep enough for her to hide in from me. I will hunt her d
own, and when I find her, I’ll make sure she fucking regrets the day she thought she could threaten what’s mine.
“Who is it?” Reilly and Alyssa ask at the same time.
Running my hands through my hair, my frustration showing, I look at Alyssa apologetically. “Caitlyn, the PR manager I had working here just a few weeks ago.”
Alyssa comes up, wraps her arms around me and buries her head into my chest. Just her touch and being able to touch her calms the raging beast within me.
Looking back over to Dean, I command, “pull her employee records and send someone over to her house. I want to be certain that it’s her before we do anything.”
Nodding his head, he walks towards the door. “On it, I’ll check back in with you in a few hours. You guys going home?” he asks.
“We’ll be back at the penthouse in about thirty,” I tell him.
I feel Alyssa tense as I say the words. I already know she is going to argue about coming back to the penthouse.
“Umm Zac, I need you to help me in the bathroom for a minute,” she says waltzing back into the bathroom.
I smirk at her. “Sunshine, lead the way.”
Once we are locked into the bathroom with the door shut, she doesn’t waste any time. “Zac, I can’t come back to the penthouse tonight. I haven’t seen the girls in a while and I really like the sound of lounging out with my friends right now. I’m tired, I’ve worked all day, all I want to do is go home and veg for a few hours, and then sleep. And have all my girls with me for breakfast when I wake up.”
I kiss her to get her to stop talking. “Sunshine, if you want to have your girls’ night, you can have them all come to the penthouse, make use of the theatre room. I can have whatever you want set up there.”
Her eyes well up. “Really? You would let me bring my crazy friends to your place all night? You know they will be there when you wake up right? They won’t leave until you kick them out.”