Probably had something to do with her limbs feeling like Jell-O.
She wiggled her fingers at him as he closed the door and she started her trek down the quiet hallway.
Her hands fit snuggly into the pockets of the black terrycloth and the green carpet cushioned her feet as she walked silently toward the elevator.
Her access card was in the bottom of her bag so it took her a few seconds to dig it out. It gave her just enough time to do a little bit of “I can still smell his cock” soul-searching.
Wanting the month to be longer was one thing because she already felt the sting of their time together being stripped away. But, wanting it to hurry to see if anything could come of Ian being there? That thought really threw her head into some kind of kamikaze death spin of doom.
As in…the kind where it’s too death defying and the poor shmuck on the bike will never make it. Yet, somehow he almost does, only to ultimately go crashing to the ground.
An image of Ian between her legs, licking her clit like a cat licks cream, flashed in her mind. His thick fingers digging their way inside her slick channel, making her come. Ordering her to come.
She shook her head, trying desperately to clear it.
She’d get through it. All of it. And her heart would still be intact. It wouldn’t be broken. Not like last time.
She had loved Ian when he kicked her out.
This wasn’t about love.
That went for both Ian and Nick, for that matter.
It was sex and that was it.
Nothing else.
She repeated it all the way out to the parking garage where she promptly remembered she had on a corset, panties and a short black robe. That was it.
Maybe it was some kind of sign she should have gone back inside. Back to Nick’s room, knocked on the door and gone to sleep beside him. She’d fulfilled her end of the bargain though. They fucked in a bed. She was covered. She was. But doubt made her suck her lips between her teeth.
Taking his word for wanting her in his bed was hard for her to swallow. Wonder if he meant all night or just the sex part?
Exhaustion pulled at her again so she shook her head and decided to worry about it the next day. She decided to go straight home and catch as much sleep as she could before going about her day and meeting Nick at the gym.
She also had several orders to fill and had to stage several play-spaces that night for The Library, too.
She got in her Mustang and opened the convertible sunroof.
As she drove up the ramp and onto the main drive, she swung around the front entrance for guests and headed toward the gate. No one was there to see her through but she had her authorization card to swipe on the way out.
Her time and date of departure, along with a copy of her license plate were logged as soon as she pulled through. New cards were supposed to be issued pretty soon, adding a photograph to the report as well as status at The Library.
Ian’s idea apparently. It was a good one, no matter if she wanted to say it was bad on pure principle.
She wondered where he’d gone after her scene with Nick onstage. Whether she was supposed to wonder or not, she didn’t know. Several times when she’d been onstage, blindfolded, she’d felt his eyes on her. She’d wanted him to be proud of her. She’d wanted him to be onstage with her and Nick.
Rolling her eyes would do no good, since she wanted something that they could never accept.
Thoughts swirled inside her skull. Images of Nick and Ian and the girls and her logo and a million other things made a big ol’ rainbowy soup in her head.
It’s going to be a very long day.
Chapter Nineteen
Sleep was fitful instead of restful and she accepted defeat around ten o’clock.
Her shower helped wake her up and she blow-dried her hair, curling it under so it hugged her face perfectly.
It might be a sweaty mess at the end of the workout but she would at least show up looking like the sassy sexy girl she wanted to be.
She spent the rest of her morning getting everything ready for the city council meeting that afternoon.
The girls didn’t know anything about it and she’d decided to keep it that way until the council decided yea or nea on the rezoning necessary for them to put in the businesses they wanted to start.
Letting the girls down would be devastating and she halfway wished she’d waited to tell them anything about the ideas she’d had on starting the new businesses.
At fifteen to noon, she took off for Hot Shots Gym.
She wore a pair of gym shorts, a sports bra and a tight-fitting T-shirt.
It would be the first time he’d ever seen her out of her corset.
To him it would probably mean less than nothing but to her it was a huge step forward. She wouldn’t be naked but it was monumental in her own mind. She wanted to be more open with him and this was a small way for her to show him she was serious about wanting to try.
She pulled in and parked next to Nick’s car. She grabbed her purse and headed inside, eager to see what he thought he could throw at her to rattle her cage.
Working out kept her strong and limber and she was pretty sure he’d underestimate her stamina.
The gym was normally pretty packed, especially because of many classes and training they offered. The gym had kickboxing, cycling, weight training and umpteen more classes. Ellipticals and treadmills, along with a dozen more machines sat along one wall and there was even a ring people could use to practice MMA and other disciplines in the center.
The gym was a graveyard, save but for a crowd of people gathered around the ring. Cheering, yelling and some good-natured heckling were being tossed around from the crowd.
Jenna looked around for Nick but didn’t see him in the crowd, so she focused back on the ring again.
Two men were in it, wearing shorts and nothing else. They were covered in sweat. Their knuckles were taped up and some of the white tape was smeared with blood. It looked as if they’d been going at each other for quite some time.
Jenna’s mouth dropped open when she finally got close enough to see the faces of the pissed off opponents.
Nick.
Ian.
“What the hell?” She said to no one in particular as she stepped up to the ring.
The two people on either side of her glanced at her and then back to the men in the ring. “They’ve been going at it for as long as I’ve been here.” The blond guy on her right looked at his watch and then back up quickly. He had to speak up to be heard over the crowd. “More than an hour. They haven’t stopped. They’ve both gotta be exhausted but damn they can fight.”
Both men bobbed and weaved, avoiding the other as they tried to gain the upper hand by punching and kicking at each other.
The guy on her left pointed to Nick. “You know who that is, don’t you? Notorious Nick? One of the best MMA fighters I’ve ever seen. Retired a couple years ago at the height of his career. It’s amazing seeing him here. I’d always wondered what happened to him and to think he’s been here for who knows how long. At some points it seems he’s holding back and other points I think he’s going to punch the other guy in half. Fucking awesome.”
As if Nick heard the guy talking about him, he threw a punch at Ian, connecting with his shoulder knocking him off balance. He swept his feet out from under him and Ian went down.
But Ian wasn’t going to be outdone.
He fell and immediately rolled toward Nick, kicking at his knees to bring him to the ground with him. The crowd roused at the scent of someone’s defeat and the noise level increased by a few more decibels.
As if Nick anticipated the move or was just that fast, he used the downward momentum to his advantage. Between one blink and the next he sat atop Ian, straddling his torso.
They proceeded to literally beat the shit out of each other for all to see.
Surprise turned into fear, followed closely by anger.
What the hell do they think this is ac
complishing?
She yelled their names but couldn’t be heard over the raucous din of the crowd.
“Nick. Stop!”
Nothing.
He cracked Ian on the side of the head again but Ian knocked his arm away as if it were nothing more than an annoying fly.
Jenna stuffed two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly to get their attention.
Everyone in a three-block radius must have heard her shrill whistle and fell silent.
The piercing sound shocked the men out of their battle to the death and drew Nick’s attention. It made him pause before he could throw another punch.
Ian didn’t seem to give a shit either way and threw a sucker punch toward Nick’s jaw that connected and then some.
Nick’s head snapped back and Ian pushed him to the side, using his feet to finish the job as Nick landed hard.
They both stayed down, keeled over, panting and trying to catch their breath.
“Jenna. Didn’t. See you. There.” That jerky statement came from Ian as he tried to sit up and failed miserably.
“What in the hell are you two doing?”
“Friendly. Boxing. Match.” The dumbass continued from the lips of Nick that time.
“Friendly. Is that what a good-natured fight looks like? Really?” She rolled her eyes and hoisted her gym bag higher up on her shoulder again. She shoved it into place and glared at the two men breathing heavily on the mat.
“Something like that.” Ian kicked at Nick’s leg again, connecting with a whack.
Nick’s grunt reached her and she wanted to go to him, to comfort him, to kick him herself.
These were the two men Jenna wanted more than anything, the two men she needed more than she cared to admit, and they couldn’t stand each other.
Had she really thought they could work out their differences?
Stupid schoolgirl fantasies, saved up from reading too many romance novels, drained to her feet and leeched into the mat she stood on.
“Hope you feel better, you morons. I’m not some bone to fight over. Right now I don’t want either of you. Jackasses. I’ll be with the girls tonight.”
Mumbled words fell from her mouth on the way back outside.
Staying wasn’t an option.
If she stayed another moment, she’d be up there in the ring telling each of them exactly what she thought of their stupid little stunt.
Had Nick even remembered she was supposed to meet him there?
Duh.
Of course he had.
What grown man—no, men—thought pummeling each other was the answer to anything?
She liked dominant men.
She did, she reminded herself as she shoved through the front doors, practically stomping to her vehicle.
Her workout was ruined and of any day she needed to work off some steam, this would have been the day. Especially with the meeting with the council no less than four hours away.
Instead of leaving feeling rejuvenated, she left pissed off and horny and mad ’cause she was horny seeing them both together. Wanting them both and knowing it would never happen again just pissed her off even more.
And love?
It had no place in her head.
Love was fine for everybody else. But for her? She’d take a pass, even if that meant creating her own.
It was too much hassle.
She shook off the longing she felt for both men inside. It was time she got her head in the game and pushed the rest of whatever she just witnessed inside to the back of her brain.
She didn’t have time for it. She didn’t want to make time for it.
Nothing good was going to come of it.
“Assholes,” she mumbled to herself as she slammed the door to her car after she climbed in.
She revved the engine, peeling out of the parking lot. The streaks she left on the pavement would have been better placed across the Neanderthal’s foreheads.
She’d worry about them another day, as in maybe the next leap year. Maybe by then she’d have calmed down.
Maybe.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Nick hurled the accusation at Ian.
“Me? You’re the one who fucking started all of this.”
“The hell I did. You’re the one who wanted to meet at the gym. I was just giving you a taste of what I could do to you.”
“Ha,” he scoffed, but then it turned into a bit of a coughing fit. “You wish that was only a taste. You didn’t have anything left when I laid you flat. The least you can do is admit it.”
“Fuck you. The only reason you got in that last bitch-ass punch is because I looked away for a second.”
“Just because you lost your focus—”
“Jenna was standing there, fuming mad. What else was I supposed to do? Ignore her?”
“Glad you brought that up. That’d be a great idea. Glad you came up with it on your own because you were really starting to annoy me with all your ‘mine’ comments.”
“Fuck you, squared. She’s mine for the rest of the month and she knows it. I reminded her this morning after she left my bed.”
“If she was in my bed, she never would have left.”
Nick narrowed his eyes at Ian and stood.
Ian followed suit and they faced off again, both men had their hands in fists at their sides. Several choice curse words floated through Ian’s head and he gritted his teeth.
Ian’s knuckles were bruised and sore. He wanted to take another swing at Nick. He relished Nick’s earlier look of astonishment when his fist connected with his face.
“The reason she keeps leaving my bed to begin with is somehow because of you. I haven’t figured out what you did to her but the reason she’s so fucked-up over caring for someone definitely stems from you, asshole.”
Ian nearly growled but swallowed it instead. Nick’s words were so very accurate and he’d never admit to him that he’d been a complete prick to her before. What he did and the demons that had chased him ever since were none of Nick’s concern.
“If you dealt with your own shit about being with her long-term, instead of pointing the finger at someone else, maybe she’d be more inclined to stick it out with you. Ever think of that?”
“At least I have something to work with. Tonight she’ll be in my bed again, how about you? Anyone going to be keeping your sheets warm?”
Nick’s words reminded him of something he’d heard mentioned several times on the recordings he’d reviewed before coming to the gym. “She’s going to be with the girls tonight, so how is that going to warm your bed?”
Nick glared at him. Getting under his skin was awesome and made all the sore muscles he was going to have to deal with later worth it.
The crowd slowly dispersed, leaving them standing in the middle of the ring. Neither one of them seemed willing to start the fight again, nor did either of them show the slightest willingness to be the first one to back down.
Both still spoiled for a fight.
At least Ian did. He wanted to knock him out. Laying out the great Notorious Nick would have made him happier than a whore at a condom convention.
“She might be with the girls tonight, but guess who’s going to be front and center to watch the show? Oh yeah, that’s right, it sure as hell isn’t you, Bryan.”
He enunciated both syllables of his name as if it were made of some kind of flesh-eating bacteria. Nick’s curled lip made him want to get in one more punch before calling it a day.
Hearing his name in Nick’s voice also reminded him of how much he hated being called anything but Ian.
“She might not be in my bed tonight but I doubt she’ll be in yours either, after how she just left. And I’ll get to see her with the girls no matter where I am. I’ll just pull up the audio and video on my 5S. ’Cause nothing says sharing like a live feed into a room with girls going at it like it’ll be the last slits they ever lick. Voyeurism. My favorite vice.”
Ian took a half a step closer, crowding into Nick
’s personal bubble. His eyes narrowed again and he enjoyed the rush of his reaction.
Ian spoke low so only Nick could hear him. “I was there for the first time she licked pussy, her first experience with anal was with me, she still wears my collar even though it’s not around her throat—at the moment. We have history you can’t imagine. You don’t stand a chance.”
Nick had a slight advantage on height and used it to stare down his nose at Ian, making him bristle. “I have so much leg up on you, you don’t stand a chance. We’re starting with a clean slate, except for the parts where you fucked her over and she won’t let me see—yet. I’m her safe place while you’re nothing but the bad taste in her mouth. Like a hangover but with four times the shelf life.
“The first thing she did when you walked into that playroom was what? Did she run to you and profess her undying love? No. Did she hop into your arms to go have a heart-to-heart? No. She reared back and clocked you one for being a self-righteous asshat.” He held up his arms, shrugging, as if he were capitulating something, instead of being a douche.
“They always say, ‘love and hate, two sides of the same coin.’ Her reaction was anything but ho-hum, wouldn’t you say?” Nick shrugged, trying hard to act as if he didn’t care. Ian wasn’t buying it and he sure as shit wasn’t letting it drop. “She reacts to me just like she did before.”
“What? Like you have the plague and she can’t get away fast enough? Congratulations. I’ll get you added to the CDC’s list of infectious agents. Hope your shots are up to date, dickwad.”
Ian took a step and a half away, shaking out his arms and legs. He even cracked his neck because he couldn’t help himself as Nick bounced up and down, stretching his legs.
Ian put his hands up, more than enough rested to kick Nick’s ass. He was ready, too. They’d never even tolerate each other after this fight, so he had no issues beating the shit out of him.
“Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is, Mr. MMA has-been?” Ian was more than ready to have a piece of him and watched him wipe his nose with his thumb before getting both fists poised in front of him.
Nothing was going to be resolved and Jenna was so mad they probably both needed to stay away from her at the moment.
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