by Paula Cox
“There’s just one snag. Somewhere along the way he forgets to hold up his end of the bargain. He forgets who he was in high school when he first asked her out, and he starts to take her for granted. He knows how special she is, but his career is on a relentless trajectory now, and he can’t stop to make sure she’s all right. Either she’s with him completely or she’s an impediment to his career, his lifestyle. The vaguely hippy chick doesn’t cut it anymore. He wants a fashion statement on his arm, and he wants her at his beck and call.
“Then one day, he goes too far and loses her for good. He doesn’t realize it at the time, but she’s remembered who she was before all this happened and she’s suddenly got a crush on another bad boy jock. The difference is: this new bad boy jock knows how special she is and he isn’t afraid to tell her every chance he gets. He wants to spend as much time with her as he can, to hell with what anyone else thinks. She starts to find herself again. She falls for him big time, worships him as a god of the arena, and becomes his sex slave, walking around naked for his personal enjoyment…”
Tiana grabbed him by the jaw, then put him in a headlock. “You think you know me, huh?”
“Um, maybe not.”
“You might have got the gist of my story, but you’ve left out the most important part,” she said.
“Oh? Why don’t you enlighten me?”
“Okay, here.” She cupped her breasts and held them teasingly in front of his face. “Ah, ah.” Tiana pressed a palm to his forehead, stopping him from leaning forward. “Repeat after me: she finds herself a sex slave, who does her bidding whenever she calls on him.”
He licked his lips, gazing into her cleavage. “She finds herself a sex slave, who does her bidding whenever she calls on him.”
“And he worships her as a goddess of the Jacuzzi.”
“And she worships him as a god of the arena.”
“Hey, that’s not—”
Before she could finish, he pulled off a deft position switch and had her right where he wanted her, spread-eagled in front of him. “Enough talk,” he said.
“Okay, but it won’t be silent.”
“Promise, Vaguely Hippy Chick?”
“Cross my heart, Jock.”
***
Dax’s agent’s mom had surprisingly good taste in skirts. Not that Tiana would have complained had that not been the case; her own pants and panties were dripping wet, so she’d have worn a granny skirt if necessary. Instead, this polka dot summer skirt, complete with a white belt, worked great. It wasn’t the vaguely hippy attire he’d imagined in his story; it was actually tasteful. Tiana even promised she’d buy one for herself at some point—it went well with her blouse. Not so much with the waistcoat.
Dax, though, had scaled a freaking castle to protect her honor. Okay, maybe not quite so knightly. He’d climbed the drainpipe in his wet boxers, up to the second floor, where he’d raided his agent’s mom’s closet. After grabbing some fresh clothes from his own bedroom—and remembering to change (important)—he’d made his way back down through the party carrying a towel. The man he’d posted to guard the back door, Sherwood, didn’t question Dax’s magical reappearance, but he did smile knowingly at Tiana when she re-entered the house with wet hair and a flustered look on her face.
“Thanks, Sherwood,” she said. “You’re a trouper.”
“Any time, miss. Can I get you anything?”
“An invisibility cloak, so I can get out of here without being seen.”
He chuckled then patted his pockets. “Damn, I misplaced that Hogwarts number. Would a magic ring work?”
“It might. Just for a minute, though, Sherwood.”
“Okay, hold on while I pull that outta my ass.”
She laughed. “Classy.”
“Sorry, miss. Couldn’t resist.”
“The name’s Tiana.”
“I know.”
“Too informal?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Most people at these things prefer ma’am or miss or sir. You know how it is.”
“Uh-huh. You can call me Tiana.”
“Okay.”
“That’s not breaking protocol or anything is it?”
“Nah. Dax’s the same way. He has us keep up appearances on formal occasions like this, but he can’t stand it really. He can’t stand putting on airs.”
“I figured,” Tiana replied. “So how long have you worked for him?”
“We met at the VA shortly after he got back from overseas. When I told him I used to teach kickboxing back in the day, he invited me along to one of his fights. Turned out he liked my advice, so he kept me around.”
“Did you ever do any fighting yourself?”
“Semi-pro when I was young, before I joined the Army.”
Tiana looked for Dax but couldn’t see him. “So how good is he, Sherwood?”
“Who? Dax?”
“Yes.”
“The best fighter out there, by a mile. He’ll be World Champion, no question. There’s only one thing stopping him that I can see.”
“What’s that?”
“He won’t play the game the way they like it to be played.”
“The IMMAF you mean?”
He nodded. “And the rest. There’s an army of promoters and media people out there who need to be fed. They want clicks on their websites and TV spots for their products and so on and so on. They want someone who’ll sell their crap. Our man, Dax, with all due respect, is the last guy you’d ask to shill for you. He’d just spit it back in your face. That’s why his agent has to be the most creative guy in town. He has to come up with ways to make Dax Easterling a celebrity sports icon—while Dax will go out of his way to avoid the spotlight. It’s ironic, isn’t it? How popular he’s becoming in spite of himself.”
Tiana wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Popular” was a relative term. Being famous didn’t necessarily make one popular. After all, nobody liked an asshole.
“Does he bring a lot of girls here?” she asked, immediately hating that she’d done so. Why was she trying to make him into an asshole? He’d done nothing to deserve it. On the contrary, he’d been exactly what she’d needed.
“That’s not my place to say.” Even Sherwood sounded disappointed by her question. “It’s his affair.”
“Sorry, Sherwood. I’m just…still trying to figure all this out.”
“’S okay, miss. Tiana.”
“Do you know where Dax is?”
“No. He said something had come up.” He looked around. “I could get someone to find out.”
“Oh, you don’t have to… I can have a look around,” she said.
“Dax told me not to leave you alone.”
“Oh? Why’s that?”
“Not sure,” he replied. “Maybe he doesn’t want you to disappear on him.” Sherwood’s cheeky wink made her feel more welcome here than a hundred rich guests had done since her arrival.
“So I’ll just stay with you, Sherwood.”
He rocked on his heels. “Man, if I’d heard that twenty years ago…”
“And didn’t have a wife,” she pointed out, having clocked his wedding band.
He laughed. “Busted.”
“Nah. She’s a lucky lady,” Tiana said. “So, let’s go look for Dax together. There are only so many places he could—”
Someone grabbed her by the arm. Hard. Before she could react, she was off her feet, being dragged across the floor.
“What the hell—get off me, Thad!”
Sherwood flew at him, but Thad was ready. He let go of Tiana. Sherwood lunged, but Thad used the ageing man’s momentum to throw him at the screen door. He went right through, shattering the glass. Screams erupted. Tiana couldn’t believe what had just happened. She was about to cry for help when Thad pulled her up and, despite her kicking and thrashing, slung her over his shoulder.
“Try to stop me and you’re next,” he threatened a heavy-set man who barred their way. It was then that she saw that Thad was holding a
switchblade.
Oh Jesus!
She screamed for help but none came. The terrified partygoers made a path. Not that she could blame them, but someone had to do something. Where the hell was Dax? She called his name.
“Shut the fuck up!” Thad yelled at her.
She did.
He carried her outside at a jog. The last thing she saw of the party was two members of Dax’s ring team nursing Sherwood on the lawn outside.
“God help you if he dies,” she said.
Thad didn’t answer. He even managed to up his pace when he reached the driveway. His car, a white Pontiac Firebird, was blocking the way out. The uniformed parking attendant lay unconscious on the grass.
“What have you done?”
“Your fault. This is all your fault. I told you what would happen.”
She struggled again when he tried to bundle her into the car, but he was just too strong. There was nothing she could do or say while he was like this. Best to just play along and pick her battles if and when the opportunities arose. What she needed was a weapon of some kind. Would there be one where he was taking her? Would she be able to get it without him knowing?
He floored the gas, kicking up gravel.
Where are you, Dax?
Tiana glanced in the rearview mirror. The driveway was already filling with people by the time the car passed through the front gates. Was Dax one of them? Would he try to pursue?
“Your hair’s wet,” Thad pointed out whilst speeding round a hairpin bend. “And you were wearing pants at the fight, not a skirt. So where did you screw him? In the shower?”
“I won’t dignify that with an answer.”
“You’ll tell me sooner or later. I guarantee that.”
“Why’s it so important, Thad? Seriously. You said we were through.”
“Not so you could give it up for him.” He slammed his fist on the horn. It made her jump. “You just don’t get it, do you?” he said. “Dax Easterling was off-limits. Anyone decent would have known that. You could have done the decent thing and not fucked my enemy, but no, you had to get your revenge. Well, guess what? Revenge has a habit of coming back around.”
“What are you gonna do?”
He said nothing.
“Thad, we can settle this whole thing. I didn’t know it meant that much to you who I dated. We can talk it over. I swear I’ll never see Dax Easterling again if it means that much to you. This doesn’t have to go any further. There’s still time to make things right. I can still make things right between us.”
“Enough talking,” he replied. “You always did talk too much.”
All the worst scenarios her mind had concocted while she’d been alone in the bathroom that morning—her cases outside the door, agonizingly out of reach—came flooding back. Only this time he’d thought it through, whatever he had in store for her. He’d watched her, or had her watched, at the fight tonight. And now he was about to carry out his revenge.
Jesus. Why hadn’t she seen this coming? He’d threatened her not to go to the cops, but would that have been any worse than this, than what he was about to do? Twice in her life she should have reported him. Twice in her life fear had gotten the best of her. She would probably not get a third chance.
Oh Dax, I’m so sorry. I should have never let this happen. I blew it.
Chapter Fourteen
As Thad sped through red light after red light, his grim, determined expression telling her he was set on this unalterable course, Tiana realized two things. One: so much of life was out of a person’s control. Two: there had been times when life had clearly signposted her choices, and she had relinquished that control voluntarily. She had not acted to change her life. Those inactions had consequences. She was reaping them now.
She thought back to a crucial turning point, maybe the most important she’d ever faced. It had been early in the summer, two, no, three years back, when her girlish dreams of romance and family had come to a crashing end. She remembered the whole scene like it was yesterday: that sharp influx of jock body spray into the room as he rushed downstairs, ready to leave for his afternoon run; the daytime soap on the TV, Diagnosis Murder; the t-shirt with the Batman logo he was wearing.
“We never get to talk anymore,” she pointed out, handing him his mp4 player. “You’re always in a hurry.”
“It’s called fitness training. You should try it sometime.”
“Not funny.”
“No shit,” he scoffed, looking her up and down.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He rolled his eyes. “Can we do this later?”
“That’s what you always say. We started a conversation yesterday and…I never got to finish.”
He sighed impatiently. “Never got to finish what, Tiana?”
“What I wanted to say.”
Checking his watch, he shook his head. “Okay, what is it? Spit it out.”
“Oh, not like this. You’re not going to make me say it like this. What’s the matter with you?”
“Stop speaking in code,” he said. “You know I can’t stand it when you do that.”
“Sorry, I just wanted to…” His coldness upset her. She had to fight to keep the tears from welling.
“So, we had a conversation yesterday,” he said. “About Gaston and Rosina, right? Was there something I missed?”
“And I told you about Cassie.”
“Uh-huh. What about her?”
“About what she and the Petrovs have in common, not to mention half the fighters on the circuit.” Tiana summoned every ounce of her courage; it had been on her mind for months, if not years, and she hadn’t imagined this moment being quite so…combative. “Thad, we’ve been together since high school. We’ve lived together longer than the Petrovs had known each other, and they’re already ahead of us.”
“Ahead of…” He crooked a corner of his mouth into something between a smile and a sneer. It wasn’t an expression she was familiar with. Not from him. “That’s what this is all about? And your sister. They’ve all gotten married and we haven’t. Is that it?”
“Um, kind of, yeah.” Tiana realized she couldn’t read him at all, and it scared her a little. He’d been moody lately, but she’d always thought she knew where he was coming from, what was eating at him. Now? Not so much. “I mean, why haven’t we?” she asked. “When two people love each other and know for sure they can live happily together under the same roof…it’s the next step, right? I mean, we should probably at least talk about it.”
“You don’t think I’ve thought about it?”
“I’m not saying that. It’s just that you’ve never mentioned it…to me. I just want us to be open with each other, Thad.”
At that moment, something in his eyes, a flash of danger, as though a dark cloud was passing over him, made her step back instinctively. “Where’s this even coming from?” he said.
“I-I didn’t mean to put you in a corner or anything. Maybe we should talk about it later.”
“No, we can talk about it now. You’ve fucked up my training, so we can fucking talk about it now.”
“Thad, don’t get mad. It was just an idea.”
“And you’re saying that I’m scared of that idea. That I’m some kind of a pussy because I’ve let Gaston Petrov beat me to the altar or some shit.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. Not at all.”
“Then why bring it up like that? Why preface it with that shit—Rosina Petrov and Cassie—like you’re so hard-done-to. Like I haven’t given you everything. You ungrateful bitch!”
He slapped her across the face. Tiana staggered back in shock. It took a few moments of hard, searching looks before she realized what had just happened. What the man she’d loved all this time had just done. “Thad?”
As he approached, the storm cloud erupted with fury. He changed before her eyes into a dark, twisted thing that bore no resemblance to the boy from high school. Before he struck a second time, she burst into bitter
sobs. The smarting impact only made it worse.
“Get that idea out of your fucking head!” This time he backhanded her, drawing blood. “Don’t ever compare me to those idiots. Not ever. Those guys are the pussies. They let their whining bitches get their own way, and before they know it, they’re being dictated to by women who don’t do a fucking thing but sit around and spend their money all goddamn day. Like you. I’m so sick of it. You’re always in the way, nagging about this, pouting about that. Like your life’s such a disappointment. I give all this and you’re not satisfied? You want my balls as well?” He spat at her, then slapped her again for good measure. “Fuck you!”