When I finally got back, Joe shook his head at me. “About time.” He had his huge sunglasses on. “What’s this mean?” He shot me the bird.
“It means thank you.”
“Oh, okay.” He grinned. “Well, you’re welcome. Let’s go take care of business.”
CHAPTER 23
Cora Chapman
NERVES POUNDED MY STOMACH ALL day long. I never knew whether Landon was being realistic or was trying to protect me. He’d said the fight was nothing to be concerned about, that only the third one with the Sid guy mattered. But I didn’t know how true that was. He was fighting the toughest guys in the world.
I waited until just after sunset and then snuck out to his house. Janet answered the door with her usual smile. She seemed to like me, and I didn’t want that to change.
“Hi!”
“Hey, girl. Come on in here.”
Logan sat on the couch in front of their only TV. Janet waved a wild hand in his direction. “Can’t get him unglued from that thing. He can’t believe they’re saying his dad’s name on there. You’ll see.”
I smiled and took off my jacket. Janet stole it from me before I could put it away and she carried it over to a closet.
“You hungry?”
“No thanks.”
“Nervous?”
“Very.”
“Welcome to the club. Landon likes to downplay things like he’s not fighting one of the toughest guys on the planet.”
The knot in my stomach twisted harder. I plopped down next to Logan on the couch and rested a hand on his thigh. “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Great!”
Glad one of us is confident.
Janet came over and took a seat. We watched the screen and I couldn’t believe we’d see Landon fighting in that same cage in less than an hour. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever really process something like that.
It was the slowest sixty minutes of my life. I caught myself biting a fingernail, and Logan’s hand worked its way into mine. I glanced over to see Janet had a firm grip on the arm of the couch even though her face remained hard as stone.
The announcers came on the screen and Janet turned up the volume.
I squeezed Logan’s hand in mine and we watched it all play out.
“Welcome to the opening event of WMMA 142!”
“In case you’re just tuning in, I’m Bob Godwin here with George Lewis to bring you tonight’s bout in the WMMA heavyweight division.”
“And what a night it’s shaping up to be. Folks, little is known about Landon Lane as this is his first professional fight. What little background was given was that he has served as a training partner to Sam Wright, a veteran WMMA title holder, and current heavyweight champion.”
“That’s right. Team StrikeForce’s owner and sponsor announced last week that Wright suffered an injury during training and taking the world completely by surprise substituted a virtually unknown fighter, Landon Lane.”
“Yeah, it’s unprecedented to say the least. It should be interesting. Lane didn’t even show up until about half an hour ago, long enough to weigh in. We’re definitely curious to see him in action.”
“No kidding. What is not mysterious are the facts of his opponent, Mark Kane. This guy has destroyed everyone with his rudimentary ground-and-pound style, though nobody has come close to being on the level of the current world heavyweight title contender and up and comer, Sidious Kayzo. We can see some of Kane’s highlights playing now. Many considered him a perfect match to go against Wright, a known deadly striker. Heck, everyone at Team StrikeForce is known for their stand-up take-no-prisoners style of fighting, so no doubt we’ll look for that from Landon Lane.”
“They sure are. The one thing we do know is that if Lane spars with these guys, he can definitely take a punch.”
“Absolutely correct. But the real question is can he throw one? And can he defend against the perfect ground technique of Kane? This guy is an absolute animal. He wears fighters down for a minute or two and then bam! They’re on their back, and he goes to work. At a record of 8 and 0, all by armbar submissions, his numbers certainly—”
“Hate to cut you off, but the music just fired up and this crowd is on their feet! Entering the Octagon first and weighing in at 228 pounds is the man we know, Mark Kane, age 27. Fights for Team Takedown out of Venice Beach, California. He makes his way through the roars and camera flashes to the sound of Method Man’s Bring the Pain. Kane definitely looks confident, and this crowd is insane. I can’t help but think they’re waiting in anticipation to get a glimpse of Lane, though.”
“Indeed, I think we all are. I might add that Lane weighed in at 237, so he has a nine-pound advantage over Kane. The lights just dimmed. Is that Jimi Hendrix? I think it is. It’s All Along the Watchtower. And—wait—there he is, and he’s not alone. Where’s Gus?
“Your guess is as good as mine, Bob.”
“Yeah, we’re not sure who is accompanying him. Look at his sunglasses.”
“He definitely looks more intimidating than Gus. I’ve never seen anything like this. Most guys have a team of trainers with them. Wow. Where are the other members of Team Strikeforce? Lane definitely yanked the door open like he meant business.”
“Oh wow. Look at Kane. He’s shaking his head and chuckling in his corner. He’s made it no secret all week that this fight is an insult to him and that Team StrikeForce is a joke.”
“Yeah, Kane is no stranger to trash-talking. He promised the fans this thing wouldn’t last past the first round and I quote, ’I’m going to put this joker in the hospital. You kiddin’ me?’”
“Yep, we all cringed at his words a little. Probably because we know he meant every one of them.”
“Holy cow! Lane just disrobed and there’s nothing out of shape about this guy—”
“Sorry to cut you off, but we go live now to the referee, Jimmy Stevens.”
“All right, guys. I want a clean fight. Tap gloves and let’s do this.”
“Oh, look at this. Lane didn’t tap gloves. Just walked back to his corner. I’ll tell you what, I’ve seen a lot in my day, but the look on Kane’s face right now is priceless. When Landon Lane took off his robe, the snickering and joking ceased. Kane is all business. Especially after being snubbed.”
“Lane definitely looks the part, clearly winning the battle of intimidation. He’s got the tattoos and he’s built like a thoroughbred. This guy is chiseled like a statue of Zeus. But we’ve seen guys look like that who went down quick. Hopefully, these guys give us a show tonight and get the fans their money’s worth. The referee just dropped his hand and we are under way. Right here is when Kane usually goes on defense and lets his opponent tire—”
“OH MY GOD! BOB! WOW!”
“I don’t believe it. Five seconds! FIVE! Lane head-faked and threw a right hand from God that connected with Kane’s left jaw and laid him flat on his back. Stevens waved his arms to signal the end of the fight before Kane even hit the mat.”
“Holy sh—! Are you seeing this? Landon Lane just walked out of the cage. He just stormed right out and nearly ripped the door off its hinges along the way. Didn’t stick around. His mystery manager followed right behind and flipped off the crowd with both hands. It looked like he was saying thank you to everyone as he did it. This crowd is absolutely loving it, and Lane is, yeah, he’s already gone. And there is Kane. Look at him. He looks like he was just run over by a freight train.”
Logan jumped up off the couch and pumped his fist in the air. He screamed, “Did you see that? Did you see my dad?” He threw a few ghost punches at the air and danced around the living room.
I sat there, totally in shock. The replays went back in slow motion. Landon didn’t even look like he’d tried. “Oh my God.” I scissored my legs together and bit my lip between my teeth at Landon’s image on the screen. So raw and powerful and just, fucking manly. A delicious shiver worked up my spine and I had to remind myself Logan and Janet were in the room.
Janet and I stared at each other for a quick second before smiles formed on our faces. Logan jumped in my lap and wrapped his arms around me. “I told you! That was my daddy!”
My heart couldn’t have hammered any harder. Landon was so powerful, and fast. My God, he moved like lightning.
The announcers couldn’t stop talking about him and how he and Joe vanished as soon as the fight was over.
I stared at his headshot on the television and my thighs squeezed together again. Maybe this whole fighting thing would work out after all, until he was free from his obligations. Maybe we had a chance.
I’d find out soon enough it’d be much more difficult than I’d expected.
CHAPTER 24
Landon Lane
JOE AND I DROVE ALL night long to make it home from Vegas. It was about a thirteen-hour trip and we got back on a Sunday. The sun had already risen for a few hours before we pulled into town.
I saw a news van on our way through Desire and turned us down a side road to avoid it. I couldn’t believe Joe flipped off the crowd either. I laughed to myself at the unintended consequences of my little joke.
“How hard did you hit him?”
“Twelve percent.”
Joe nodded and stared off at the mountain peaks. “Just enough to knock him unconscious, but not enough for injury.”
“Yeah.”
“We have to ramp up your training.”
We turned off the back road and onto the country highway that led to the house. The mountains flanked us on both sides. “I know.”
“I’ve been thinking strategy.”
“What’s up?”
“You can’t technically beat him, right?” Joe looked straight ahead. I sensed the question was rhetorical.
“Correct.” I was on the verge of passing out and Joe wanted to have a serious conversation. The endorphin high was much stronger than expected and a crash was imminent. The cheers, cameras—it was almost an out-of-body experience. I needed sleep.
“You need emotional stimulation. That’s the only advantage you can have over him. He feels nothing.”
“Agreed.”
“I still don’t think you have a shot. But you could avoid death, maybe.”
His words were a jab below the belt, but I had to shake them off. Joe didn’t know how to be courteous. He spoke about my death as if it were just a likely possibility in a set of outcomes. He was slowly adapting to social cues, but still extremely rough around the edges.
“You need Cora, Logan, all of them around you during training. To remind you of the end game. And we need to incorporate more meditation. You have to be hyper-aware of yourself.”
I nodded as we pulled down the driveway. Cora’s car was there next to Janet’s and another rush of adrenaline hit me when I saw it. Joe’s words faded off toward the mountains and Cora invaded every square inch of my brain.
I hopped out and ran up through the door. Left Joe in the dust. They were all still asleep and it was nearly nine a.m.
Joe hustled up behind me.
“Keep it quiet and don’t wake them up.”
He nodded.
I walked into Logan’s room. He was decked out in WMMA pajamas and clutching his pillow. I gave him a soft peck on the top of his head. I couldn’t wait for him to wake up. But I had other plans. Janet was asleep on the couch and I was almost certain she would’ve offered Cora my bed.
I walked around the corner and there she was, curled up in my sheets. I stood in the frame of the door and just watched her for a few seconds. This could be my life in a few months if I trained hard and had a lot of luck on my side. It could be forever if I had what it took.
I walked over and stripped down to my boxer briefs and climbed in next to her. She was so fucking soft and warm as I snuggled in behind her. I wrapped an arm around her and just sat there with my head on the pillow, nuzzling into her hair. Smelled her shampoo. It was some kind of lavender.
She groaned a little and adjusted. Her ass shoved up against me and my cock was rock-hard. She wore one of my shirts that swallowed her whole body, but it had ridden up her hips. I lifted up the sheet to get a peek at the rest of her.
I let out a groan at how hard she made me. Didn’t want to wake her up, but I needed her right then like I needed air to breathe. Everything rushed back like our first time and I wanted more. I hungered for her.
I draped an arm around her and cupped one of her breasts. It fit perfectly, full in my palm, and I massaged her soft flesh over the shirt. It took everything I had not to tear her clothes off her. I rolled my hips into her and pressed my erection up tight against her ass. It was heaven.
A light moan escaped her lips and her eyelashes fluttered for a quick moment, though her eyes remained shut.
“Mmm.”
“God, I missed you so much.” I exhaled down her neck and watched goosebumps pebble down her arms.
“Missed you too, babe.” Her eyes were still closed, but her ass rocked harder up against me.
“Everyone else is asleep,” I whispered in her ear. Gave her another thrust of my hips and exhaled down her neck.
I nipped lightly at her throat and her nipple hardened against my palm. My hand traced the soft curve of her hip and then I ran it up under the shirt. No bra.
Fuck.
I got a handful of her breast and then rolled her nipple between my thumb and forefinger.
“Shh.”
She’d started to moan at my touch and I didn’t know if the situation had totally registered.
Her hand reached behind me and palmed my length. She stroked back and forth, slow.
“You’re so damn sexy when you sleep.” I kissed down her neck.
“Mmm I want you so bad right now, babe.” Her hand sped up enough to get a throaty groan out of me.
I hooked a finger through her panties and slid them down her ass and pulled them off, then moved my hand right back up between her thighs from behind. The heat from her pussy played across my hand and I stroked her clit a couple of times. Her hips rolled and pushed her wetness up against my palm.
I dipped a finger inside knuckle-deep. Fuck, she was so hot and wet for me. Her slick walls clenched, and a light moan escaped her lips.
“We have to be fast.”
She nodded against the pillow and at the same time pulled my boxer briefs down enough to spring my cock from captivity. I wanted to take my time. Take all day with her if I could, but it just wasn’t an option. Having her for even a few minutes was better than not having her at all.
I pushed my finger in farther and angled it to find the soft ridges deep inside her. She writhed underneath me, and her hips ground back and forth as she fucked my finger. I slipped it out and moved it up to her mouth. Pressed it against her lips and watched her lick and suck her arousal from it.
“Fuck, that’s hot.”
She let out a murmur when I fisted my dick and positioned the head at her hot entrance. I teased back and forth across her clit and her back arched at the friction.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. Her head turned back and she saw me out the corner of her eye.
“I love you.”
I didn’t give her a chance to respond. I pushed slowly inside of her until I was balls-deep. She winced for a split second, but then her lips made an O, and a light gasp escaped her.
I wasn’t sure what I did. Probably groaned. The sensation of her hot tight pussy wrapped around me took me into a whole different world. I wanted to just sit there inside of her all day while she clenched her slick walls around me. I moved my hand back up to her breast and tweaked her nipple.
“This is my favorite place to be.”
Her eyes fluttered closed and her words were short and labored. “Inside of me?”
I bit down lightly on her shoulder and nodded against her. Slid halfway out and then pushed back in with a slow tempo. “Tell me you’re mine.”
I pumped into her again before she could speak. Her mouth parted like she was going to say something,
but it morphed into a weak gasp.
“Tell me you’re mine.” I slid out and pumped into her again.
“I’m yours.”
I gripped the back of her neck with one hand and turned her head to face me. My other hand slid down her stomach and my fingertips made contact with her clit. I pistoned slowly in and out of her. Crushed her lips with a kiss and she clamped down on me.
“Oh God, Land—”
It was all over at that point with her fully exposed and open to me. I couldn’t control myself any longer. She felt too good. We were too right together.
Her eyes were locked onto mine. “I’m yours. I want you. Fuck me, baby.”
I sped up my thrusts until the bed started to shake a little too loud for comfort, but I didn’t care. The restraint was gone. She needed to come undone and then I had to mark her again.
My fingers sped up on her clit and my other hand snaked from the back of her neck up into her hair. I balled my hand into a fist and squeezed it tight.
Her eyes rolled up into her head and then closed. “Oh God, Landon.”
“Come for me. Say my name when you come on my cock.”
I crushed her lips with another kiss and fucked her even harder. She moaned into my mouth and nodded.
I could feel another orgasm building inside of her. Just waiting to release.
I sped up my fingers and pumped into her harder and faster. “Is this what you need? What you want?”
She nodded against my hand that was still wrapped up in her hair.
My balls tightened, and a tingling sensation radiated up my shaft. I couldn’t hold out much longer. Intense, microbursts of shockwaves fired through my pelvis and down through my legs. My thighs tightened and the raw energy roiling through her body spurred on my hips.
I fucked her faster and harder until the smacking sounds of wet flesh on wet flesh echoed off the walls in the room.
I sucked along her neck and up to her ear.
“Oh God, Landon—” Her back arched right as my name fell from her lips. She shuddered and spasmed. Seized up around my cock and her hand flew back. It gripped my thigh and her nails dug hard into my leg and pulled me farther into her.
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