by A. A. Davies
My Harley was parked at the curb, and I attached my bag to one of the saddles. I didn’t look back at Beth as I swung my leg over the machine and switched it on, loving the vibrations from the engine.
“Get on,” I grunted, handing her my helmet. I should probably get another one just in—no, there wouldn’t be another time she’d be on my bike, so why the hell would I get her her own? I could feel everything slipping out of my brain as the seconds ticked by. Everything I had promised myself since I made my way out of the house I grew up in.
I glanced up and our gazes connected. I’d never seen fright in her green eyes before, but it was clear as day now. She’d come here to say thank you and I’d done my best to make her feel like she wasn’t wanted. I didn’t want her here, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want her. I was all tied up, not knowing which way to look, but what I did know was the way her chest heaved on a breath and the hand she was holding against the base of her neck meant she was scared.
“You’ll be fine,” I said, trying to soften my voice, but I failed. I stared down at her dress and cursed. “That dress is gonna be a problem. You not have any jeans?”
“I…” She glanced down and pulled her dress tighter around her legs. “I never knew I’d be getting on the back of your bike.
“Well, you know for…” I let the words trail off because I didn’t want her to think this would be a regular thing. It’d be bad enough having her bare skin pressed against me. “Hook your leg over and...wrap your arms around my waist.” My voice cracked on the last few words, but I was hoping that she was too inside her own head to notice.
She stepped forward, her flowery scent wrapping around me, and then climbed on. I stared down at her small hands as they gripped on to my T-shirt, and I hated it. I hated that I liked it so much. My fingers tingled with the need to touch her soft-looking skin over her knee, but I managed to resist.
I was fucked, but all I could do was ride. I had a feeling the ride was going to be more than taking her home.
Chapter Four
BETH
Hours turned into days, but it didn’t matter how much time had passed—ten days—I could still feel the rumbling of Uncle Jacob’s bike between my thighs and his taut stomach under my fingertips.
I’d lived that hour over and over again, staring up at my ceiling and pretending like I was right back there. My imagination never failed to take a turn into something that shouldn’t happen, but I couldn’t stop it. It was only my imagination anyway, so what did it matter?
The man’s words as we were leaving the gym had haunted me for days. Two weeks. A fight. That meant four days from now. I’d never seen a fight, at least, not one in the flesh, and something was telling me to go to this one. Call it instinct, but I had to go.
So as I stood at my bedroom window, feeling his eyes on me but not able to see him, I knew I’d find out when and where it was, no matter how I had to. I had to see him again, I had to know that I wasn’t going crazy. Maybe it was just me? Maybe it was just a schoolgirl crush?
Movement caught my attention, and I had a feeling he was waiting for me to move from the window. Maybe this was his version of making sure I was safe? How long had he been doing this? And why did I like it so much?
I stepped back and pulled in a deep breath. Four days. I’d see him in four days, until then, this would have to be enough.
I walked over to my bed and looked around my small room. It was functional but also pink. So much pink that it made my eyes hurt. I wasn’t the same ten-year-old girl who wanted to bathe in it, but my dad wouldn’t let me change it. It wouldn’t matter soon anyway because I’d be out of here and starting my life in a new state.
I wondered whether Uncle Jacob would stay here? Would I see him again once I moved? Why did the thought of not seeing him again make me want to sob uncontrollably? I had to stop thinking so much into the future and just think about the here and now, which meant sleep because I had a math test in the morning and math was not my friend.
I pulled my comforter aside, slipped inside my bed, and switched the lamp off, basking the room in complete darkness. I’d never been afraid of the dark, but there was something about tonight that made me stare into the void with apprehension.
My eyes closed and I steadied my breathing, telling myself that I was being stupid. I was just imagining things when there was nothing there. Part of me wished I had listened to that feeling though, because as my bedroom door creaked open, I knew nothing good was going to follow it.
Footsteps padded across my bedroom floor, but I kept my eyes closed, pretending to be asleep, when I was more awake than I’d ever been.
My bed dipped, and a second later, a hand touched my leg over the comforter. I knew who it was without needing to look, because that hand had been touching me more lately. It wasn’t that your dad shouldn’t touch you, but it was with the intent that he stared at me that had goose bumps spreading over my skin.
Since my birthday party—if you could even call it that—he’d been staring more and whispering to Shell. They’d made me feel like I was a show they liked to watch, and I didn’t like it one bit. And now...now he was in my room when he shouldn’t have been.
“Such a sweet girl,” he whispered, and I tried my hardest not to shiver from the sound of his voice, but I failed. His hand traveled up my leg and dipped under the comforter. “So soft.”
No. No, this could not be happening to me. I refused to let this happen, I—
“Daddy’s good little girl, aren’t you?” His fingers grazed against the side of my underwear and I bit down on my bottom lip. I couldn’t let him know I was awake because I had no idea whether that would stop what he was doing or… What if it made him do more?
“Hal?” Shell’s voice was a beacon of light. She’d not be happy that he was in here, which meant he’d leave. “What are you doing?”
“Shhh,” he answered her, and I could feel another person come closer. “She’s sleeping.”
She didn’t say anything to him, but a second later, his hand whispered over my thigh and then left my skin. The bed bounced slightly as he stood and I finally managed to crack my eyes open.
I really wished I hadn’t, because Shell was naked and Dad was touching her in the same way he’d just touched me.
I slammed my eyes closed and rolled over, hoping and praying it had been a bad dream.
JACOB
I always had the same routine when I was pre-match. I’d eat the same thing at the same time. I’d have my tape applied by the same person and in the same way. It wasn’t that I was superstitious, I just liked to have my routine in place.
Wade knew that routine better than anyone, and he also knew I didn’t talk to anyone before a fight. I’d sit in whichever room we’d been given and stare at the floor, imagining I was already in the ring over and over again. Jab, jab, uppercut.
It was fifteen minutes until my name would be called and I’d have to walk to the boxing ring to take on my next opponent. An opponent who wanted to knock me out in the same way I’d done to everyone else. He was mistaken though, because once I was surrounded by those ropes, no one else existed but him and me.
Denny—a front man for a few fighters—had set this up because he had a new guy coming on to the scene. I’d studied some of the guy’s tapes, and he was good, but nothing a carefully placed punch couldn’t solve. His record was nine to oh, but it was about to be nine to one.
I heard murmurings at the door, and tilted my head to hear better. “Shit…use the seat in the front row but tell them not to make a big deal of it,” Wade said.
If I wasn’t minutes away from a fight, I’d ask Wade why he was giving away one of the five seats that were always kept free for whoever the fighter wanted in the front row on his corner, but right then, I didn’t give a fuck why one of my seats were being used. It wasn’t like they were occupied.
They always remained empty, partly because I didn’t want the distraction, but also because I didn’t want anyone
here. This was my space, my thing, and bringing people into it that didn’t understand, wouldn't do well for me. I’d found my rhythm, and stuck to it.
The door closed as I stood, and I bounced on my toes, warming my body up. I was in the zone, my gaze connected to a spot on the wall as I gained control over my energy. I needed to contain it enough so I could unleash at the perfect moment.
“You got this,” Wade told me, the same way he did before every fight, and I replied with a silent nod, like I always did.
The seconds ticked by, creating minutes, and then someone knocked on the door.
It was time.
My blood rushed through my veins at lightning speed, goose bumps spreading over my skin as I moved toward the door. I adjusted my navy-blue shorts and followed Wade into the hallway, already hearing the cheers and boos as my name was called over the system in the gym.
It wasn’t like the one I trained in. The surfaces were sparkling, the walls free of anything but framed pictures of fighters who had come out of this gym. It was the complete opposite to the shit hole I called home.
Wade held his hand out, silently telling me to stop at the end of the hallway, and then he stepped to the side. They even had a goddamn spotlight in this place that nearly blinded me. What the hell?
I shook my head and moved through the area cordoned off to get to the ring. The other fighter was already standing there, but I couldn’t get a read on his height and weight from my lowered position.
My feet sprang off the floor and I jumped onto the side of the ring. A man held the ropes apart for me, and I ducked through them, finally able to see this guy clearly. I had no idea what his name was, but he was a couple of inches shorter than me, and his muscles were practically bulging out of his skin.
People always assumed that because someone was beefed up they had more strength, but they were wrong. It wasn’t what you had, but how you used it.
I jumped up and down on the spot, my gaze not straying from the guy who was staring at me like he wanted to kill me. His lips were in a flat line, and the crook in his nose told me he’d broken it a couple of times.
The ref called us forward, gave his usual speech, and then backed away a step. The bell rang, and I zoned in. The noise disappeared, the people vanished, and all that was left was the fighter and me in the ring.
He came at me, his reach more than I expected, but I managed to duck to the left at the same time jabbing him in the kidneys. He didn’t react so I did it a second time. It wasn’t about hitting hard just once, it was about building it up. You caused more damage with controlled, repeated punches than full-strength ones.
We went at it for the whole round, neither of us coming out on top, and before I knew it, the bell was ringing for the second round. I circled him, ducked and dived, but for the first time ever, something caught the corner of my eye.
I wasn’t sure whether it was the flowy dress I only knew one person to wear, or the light-brown hair, but I lost focus. It was the single worst thing to do, and my opponent’s punch to my jaw confirmed that. I wasn’t expecting it, so I went down. It didn’t faze me, not as much as the green eyes that were staring at me in horror.
Beth was here.
In my section.
On her own.
What the fuck was she doing?
The ref got to five, but the punch wasn’t affecting me, Beth was.
“Get up!” I heard her shout, and her soft voice being screamed at me finally had me shaking my head.
I squared my shoulders, stared at my opponent, and wished him luck for what was about to happen.
BETH
I shouldn’t have come. He hadn’t told me to, he hadn’t even mentioned it to me, but I couldn’t stop myself. I needed to see what he did. As soon as I said who I was to Uncle Jacob, they’d found me a seat in the front row, the only problem was that the two seats on either side of me were empty. Every other seat was taken, and some people were even having to stand, yet I was surrounded by open seats.
I was enthralled with each of his movements and couldn’t take my eyes off him as he maneuvered around the beast of a man he was fighting. I was just starting to get into the fight when he noticed me. His dark eyes connected with mine, and what I saw there should have warned me away, should have had me running, but it didn’t.
Uncle Jacob stood, squared his shoulders and threw his fist at the beast. He didn’t let up until the bell rang and then he moved back over to his corner. I expected him to sit down during the twenty-second break, but instead he stood and stared at me. He flicked his head at me, beckoning me forward, so I did as I was told and stood.
“What are you doing?” his rough voice asked.
“I erm”—I flicked my gaze to his opponent—“I came to watch you fight.”
“You shouldn't be here,” he growled at the same time the bell rang and the other fighter stood.
“I’ll...leave.”
“No. Stay.”
I swallowed as he spun back around and headed to the middle of the ring. He met the fighter head on, but all I could think was he was right. I shouldn’t be here. What was I thinking just showing up to a place I didn’t know all on my own?
I stepped back and the guy who had followed Uncle Jacob out of the hallway shook his head. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“I—” I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to him, but I cut myself off because I didn’t have to explain myself to him. I moved back another step, but Uncle Jacob caught me in his gaze. He shook his head, winked, and then threw a punch at the beast that had him flying to the floor of the ring.
The room was silent, not a word said as they stared in fascination at the beast lying there, not a muscle moving. But I wasn’t staring at him, I was focusing on my uncle as he strode across the ring, his gaze fixated on me.
I wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but I was captivated at the way he swiped his large palm through his wet hair and didn’t take his almost-black eyes off me. Each of his exposed muscles rippled as he jumped down, landing a couple of feet in front of me.
There was a second where I wasn’t sure what was happening and what I’d gotten myself into, and then he gripped my wrist the way he had a couple of weeks ago. I was thankful it was that moment the crowd started to cheer because it meant he didn’t hear my sigh.
He pulled me through the crowd, down the hallway, and into a room where he slammed the door behind us.
“You shouldn’t have come,” he grunted out, his breaths sawing in and out of his body. He didn’t let go of my arm as he backed me against the door. “You should have stayed at home where it’s safe.”
I opened my mouth, about to tell him after the other night and staying up way longer than I should have, that I found out my dad had been coming into my room each night. He never did anything but touch my leg, but the premise was there for more, and I had no idea who to turn to or what to say.
And then there was part of me that wondered if that was the reason I was drawn to this man in front of me who set my skin ablaze and my heart on fire. I shouldn’t have felt that way about him, but nothing I did seemed to stop it, so for once, I was being selfish. I was indulging in something that was wrong.
I wasn’t being sensible, not in the slightest.
“I wanted to watch you fight.”
“You should have called me. I can’t keep you safe if I don’t know you’re here.” His voice softened a little, but not much.
“Really?” I raised a brow and pushed my back off the door, but he didn’t move an inch, which meant my chest was now against his. “And you would have said I could come if I would have asked?”
“No.”
“My point exactly.” I moved my arm and my fingertips grazed against his abs. “Uncle Jacob—”
“Say that again,” he grunted.
“I…” I frowned and stared up at him. “Say what?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed and he shuffled even closer. The top of my head only came to the middle of his che
st. Next to him, I looked like a child, but I felt anything but with the way he was staring at me. His hooded eyes flicked over my face and his hand reached out and cupped my hip. His palm was a searing burn that branded me, promising to never leave me the same.
“My name, Beth, say my name again.”
“Uncle Jacob?” I whispered, and he groaned in response.
“Fuck.”
I didn’t know what he was swearing at, but being this close to him made me want more. It made me need to touch him, so I did. I lifted my hand and placed it on his chest. “You’re bleeding,” I told him.
“I don’t care.” His other hand cupped the side of my neck and he ran his thumb along my jaw. “Pretend with me, Beth. Pretend that we’re two strangers that have never met.” His voice was raw. Open and honest.
I licked my bottom lip. “Why?”
“Because then it would be okay to do this.”
He pulled me closer, making me go up onto my tiptoes, and then his lips were slamming against mine. My stomach burned with something I’d never felt before, and when his tongue came out and tangled with mine, I practically jumped at him.
He caught me with ease and I wrapped my legs around him, moaning at the feel of his erect cock against my pussy. My body acted on instinct and I rocked my hips against him, needing more. More of him. More of his lips. More of this.
His large palms ran up my sides, stopped under my boobs, and his thumbs skimmed over my nipples.
I pulled my mouth away and dropped my head back. “Yes, please.” I thrust my hips again when his lips connected with the sensitive skin on my neck. “More, please, Uncle Jacob, I need more.”
He paused, stopping everything as he let go of me, and stepped back. If it wasn’t for the door to catch me, I would have tumbled to the floor. And that was when I realized what I did.
My eyes widened and I spun around. I needed out of here and away from him. I rushed from the room and through the busy gym, not stopping when I was outside.