AFRICAN AMERICAN ROMANCE: A Thug to Remember (Hood Alpha Male Pregnancy Romance) (African American Urban Contemporary Short Stories)

by Lady Keisha

Lights attached to the tops of the cage snapped on and I had to shield my eyes until they adjusted and I could get a good look at my competitor. She was, er, big boned. “The Killer” Joy smashed her fist to her palm and when she smiled at me I suddenly felt about two feet tall.

  The referee was this wide-eyed redhead who couldn’t quite keep his eyes off how much skin my sports bra was showing off. He motioned for us to come forward and then he gave the necessary search for illegal weapons of any kind. I just ground my teeth as his hands got very thorough in places I couldn’t possibly be hiding anything. Finally he gave his blessing, pushing us back away from each other, even though I could see that Helen was definitely ready to go.

  This was bare knuckles fighting. There were no gloves. Protective tape on your knuckles, sure. For whatever good that would do. The bell rang and suddenly “The Killer” Joy was on me with three rapid punches to my stomach. I had to flex in order to make sure that I wasn’t going to lose my breath.

  “Naomi, wrap your hand around her neck and put her in a guillotine.” I had no idea how Maria could possibly know what that term even meant. Then I realized it wasn’t her voice talking to me. It was a man’s voice.

  Backpedalling away from The Killer, I turned to see this handsome, long dark-haired white man cheering me on. “Just put your hand underneath her when she charges you and then lift up, while at the same time using your knee to strike fear into her.”

  He was guiding me, I realized. At first I ignored him because this was something I was going to do for myself. When I ended up against the fence with The Killer trying to get her hands into my armpit so that she could turn me and put me to the ground with ease, I thought maybe listening to some outside perspective might be a good idea after all.

  I pushed away from her with my feet and my back still against the chain. No doubt that there was an imprint of those chains on my skin, but I had other things to worry about than little things like that.

  “I don’t know who the hell you are,” I growled at the man, “but maybe you should stay out of my business.”

  He just smiled, and folded his arms.

  I danced to my own tune, leveling one strike against Helen’s shoulder, which was supposed to hit her jaw. She moved at the last second, causing my aim to be a little off.

  “If you don’t listen to me,” the man said in a falsely sweet tone, “then you’re not going to win this fight. Just wait for the right moment and do exactly what I told you. There’s no reason to be stubborn. Unless you’re looking to go to the hospital tonight?”

  The Killer landed two more punches to my midsection. So why not try the guy’s advice?

  Her foot came up and this time I moved to avoid it, coming around and grabbing her ankle and pushing her off balance. If I’d known how to do an ankle lock, I would’ve been able to draw her down to the ground and wrap my legs around hers and pull back, until she was tapping out like a little girl. Instead, I had to use what I had, which was very little against somebody with her experience. I didn’t get a chance to research or to look at her moves on the Internet, which definitely put me at a disadvantage. I’d been prepared for a totally different fight.

  If I was going to have the moniker of “No Mercy,” then I was going to have to live up to it. I growled and this caught her off guard. It was a psychological play that was going to work in my favor. She had a good half a foot of height on me, but that wasn’t going to play into this.

  “I think that you should listen to him,” I was surprised to hear The Killer tell me. “Then again, it really doesn’t matter. I’m just playing with you like a cat plays with a mouse.” I thought that she was kidding me, but then she hit me with an elbow that knocked out my mouth guard. “You have promise, but you’re missing the fundamentals. If you don’t get them, then you’re going to be pretty much dead in the water from the moment that you step in here with people like me.”

  That was good advice. I just hoped I had time to take it.

  When she came forward this time, she lowered her head and that was when I saw my opening and decided to try this move that that guy had described to me. It was hard to get a grip in the light rain falling over us. Our clothes were already clinging to all our naughty bits. Something else to keep the crowds interested.

  I finally was able to lock my fingers underneath her and when she tried to escape, the hold got even tighter. I think she panicked a little when she realized what I was trying to do. She was trying to back pedal out of it, but was having very little luck.

  “That’s it,” the man yelled in to me. “Pull back and for the love of God get those knees up. You need to make her think of something else, until the oxygen has been depleted. She’ll either tap out or pass out.”

  “Hey…” The Killer rasped. “Tell your…boyfriend to shut…up.”

  I followed the guy’s directions and leveled a knee up underneath Helen, lifting her off her feet for a second, before coming back down. I heard the outtake of air and her arms went slack. The referee was right there to watch the proceedings and when he saw her go limp, he called an end to it, before things went further than a little bloodshed and moneymaking shots of women groping women.

  I’d finished off my opponent, but it wasn’t easy and I was feeling the effects of those kicks to my head and that one shot that she had leveled at my kidneys. I was wheezing but thankfully, nothing was broken. I was declared the winner. I looked over to find the man who had coached me through. He was smiling at me. There couldn’t be a more beautiful sight.

  Chapter three

  “That was amazing!” Maria chirped as she tended to my wounds. “Didn’t I tell you that you needed to learn those new moves before you get yourself hurt?”

  She was using a glue-like substance to close the cut above my eye. I didn’t even know it was there, but it must have happened when The Killer hit me with those kicks. “It was like watching a martial arts display! I think the owner has decided to branch out and invite all sorts of competitors with various fighting skills to compete.”

  “Yes well I got to see it firsthand…OWWWWW! Watch what you’re doing.” She was taping the cut now. “I know that it’s most likely going to be a bruise, but that doesn’t mean you can get all medieval medicine on me.”

  “Baby. Tough girl in the ring but then you get in my hands and you melt like a lump of sugar.”

  “I’ve never been in your hands,” I teased her. “I wouldn’t know.”

  “It is something you would not forget. I promise you that.”

  Of course it would be that exact moment when my benefactor from the side of the ring came over. In dark jeans and a t-shirt with a strategic rip at the neck, he was more gorgeous than I had realized. “Know why it hurt so much?” he asked without any kind of introduction. “You weren’t prepared. I may be retired, but I do know my way around the ring. You’re a novice, and reckless, but you got potential. Something I’d like to cultivate. If you’re up for it, I would like you to join me at my training center. I have a personal trainer who really knows his way around the octagon. If we’re lucky, we can make you a force to be reckoned with. I have to admit that I was impressed by the fact that you wouldn’t give up. She hit you with a few shots that you didn’t even see coming.”

  His abs were defined beneath his shirt. Glancing at him while Maria fixed me up made me sigh with a sort of anticipation for things to come. I haven’t had a boyfriend in a while now and sometimes sex was relegated to some well placed toys. “I might be interested in that,” I told him, recognizing my chance to step up, “but I really don’t know what you expect in return.”

  I was kind of hoping that he was going to propose a physical transaction. I mean, I need the money but I could definitely see myself giving it up for him, if for no other reason than to see if the body under the shirt was what I thought it would be. “This can’t be out of the goodness of your heart. Nobody does anything for anybody without getting something in return.”

  “I’m always looking for n
ew talent to promote. It won’t be just for you. This is a relationship that built on trust and the necessary need for monetary gain. I think that you have a gift, but you’re not going to realize it unless you have somebody to bring it out in you. I will be your sparring partner. Believe me, that’s something you really shouldn’t take lightly. I don’t make this offer to just anyone.”

  “That right, Mister Mystery? What makes me so special?”

  He reached out and touched my caramel skin and the feel of his pale hand grazing my cheek was enough to set my nerves on fire. Hard to deny the urges I was having just then. Looking below his waist confirmed that he was thinking about the same thing.l

  An incessant buzzing broke my concentration and I looked over to see that Maria had gotten a call. “I’m afraid that I’m going to have to make this a short night. There was a five car pileup and they need all hands on deck. I’m sure that you can find your own way home, if I take your motorcycle?”

  “You don’t like my motorcycle.”

  “No, but it’s kind of an emergency.”

  I tossed her the keys. If I could trust anybody with my baby, then it would be her.

  “It appears that you are available,” my new benefactor said. “If you’re not too tired, I’ll take you over to the training center and show you the facilities. It has nothing but the best and we just inked a deal to have some of the best fighters train there.”

  Being alone with this guy was a no brainer. I followed him to his black Lincoln Town car and as I got in, I felt a hard swat my ass. It didn’t jiggle, because I have a hard body. You had to, in this profession.

  “That’s very nice,” he said with a leer in his voice.

  I don’t know why that compliment went right to my head, but I felt my knees go wobbly and my chest was flushed with excitement.

  “I think that it might be a good idea that you keep your hands to yourself,” I told him, with a smile that said I really wouldn’t mind if he did that again. I just didn’t want him to think that I was easy pickings. There was no denying that he was eye candy. Just his physique alone made me want to drop my panties right here in front of everybody. Had he wanted to, he could’ve easily bent me over this car, stripped off my shorts and drove his manly essence into me over and over again.

  Not that I wouldn’t have made it a fight. Something told me this guy would enjoy it that way.

  “I think that it would be fantastic if we could mix business with pleasure. If you don’t think so, then I’ll keep my hands off.” He sounded disappointed, but his smile matched the one I was giving him.

  He took me to this facility. It was state of the art, with a whole wing that was dedicated to striking techniques. Machines measured how hard you were hitting and then would spit out the necessary formula to get maximum impact. He took me through every machine and told me that I would be using each and every one of them. Then he took me into the room where the huge octagon was erected.

  A bald Black man was inside, sparring by himself and looking like he was actually fighting for his life. There was no opponent, but you wouldn’t know it from the way that he was constantly moving and attacking.

  “Miguel,” my guide said, “I want you to meet Naomi ‘No Mercy’ Waters. I know that we’ve never talked about taking on a woman, but the sport is getting less and less male dominated these days. Both sexes are starting to make a real name for themselves. If you’re not comfortable with training her, then say so now.”

  He shrugged his shoulders and gave a wave for me to come join him on the mats.

  An hour into it and I knew that I was ill-prepared and needed some real training that included a guiding hand. I don’t know how many times I landed on my back. Not in the fun way, either.

  The only thing that Miguel said the entire time was when we ended the sparring session. It was after 3:00 AM, but I was still feeling like I could go all night “Griffin, I think that there’s more to her than meets the eye,” he said, finally giving me a name for the man who had brought me here. “She’s a stubborn fighter and there are men that don’t have that kind of passion. I’ll be more than happy to train her. This was just a getting to know you kind of exercise. I think I know what I’m working with.”

  He walked away with his pants making this swishing sound as his legs moved back and forth. I took a moment to catch my breath, and wonder how I’d gone from a promising night of maybe sex to a morning where I needed to soak in an ice bath to recover from my bruises.

  Chapter four

  Two weeks of training and I was staring to make some real progress with moves like the Kimura, an ankle lock and even a triangle hold that had started to become my mainstay. In the ring, I was surprising my opponents and even the look on the owner’s face told me that he was getting a real kick out of seeing me become the drawing attraction that I was.

  “I think you need a bad ass move,” Miguel told me. “The Kimora is good, but I would really like you to learn something that’s new.” It was an intricate technique he laid out. One wrong move and it would be disastrous. I went through it several times, imprinting it in my brain and making it almost instinctual. “This move will have a variation that nobody has seen before. This is something that I’ve been working on and if mastered, nobody can beat it.”

  I went toe to toe with Griffin several times, but he had always found a way to break free. It was starting to make me feel self-conscious, until I finally learned this variation of the move Miguel called omoplata. I was able to turn him in such a way that he was actually caught up in me with no way to escape. It was the first time I’d ever made him tap out.

  “That’s it for today, Naomi,” Miguel said. “We’ll revisit this in the morning. Try to get some rest. This weekend is your first fight here at our facility. Gonna be one of your biggest test of all. This girl is not an easy opponent. She doesn’t know you from Adam and your name hasn’t really been out there long. We were lucky to get her to agree to the fight.” With that, he stepped away with a towel around his neck, whistling a tune.

  I turned to see that Griffin was massaging his sore shoulder where he still sat on the mat. I reached out to pull him to his feet, only to have him pull me down on top of him. It was after midnight and the place was deserted and the smell of sweat and my heated reaction to his playful move now permeated into the air.

  “I thought I said that you should keep your hands to yourself?” I was only kidding and I made sure he knew it. He grappled with me until I was on my back. He probably wouldn’t have been able to get me that way, except that I wanted him to.

  My legs were wrapped around his waist and his two hands were pinning mine over my head. There was very little that I could do to prevent the kiss that was coming. When his tongue insinuated itself into my mouth, I found myself grinding up against him and feeling the object of my desire getting bigger by the second. His flag had unfurled and was now saluting like a soldier ready to go into battle. My mound was burning for a chance to take him to the limit.

  He finally relinquished the kiss, letting me get my breath back, but there was no turning away from this major shift in our working relationship. There was no denying that the chemistry between us in the last two weeks had been growing by leaps and bounds. Every time that we went into the ring together, I had this vision of us doing a lot more than just pummeling each other to the ground. Now that it was happening, I found I was apprehensive about having my ink dipped by the company wick. He saw it in my face.

  “I need to tell you something, Naomi. The first time I saw you, I wanted to sleep with you. I think you know that. The first feel of that ass with my hand was more than enough to seal the deal. I think I’ve started to understand you better over these last two weeks. I know what makes you tick and I have to say that I’m very impressed by your need for survival. It can’t be easy living from hand to mouth like you’ve been and I’m giving you this opportunity to make it better. This fight on the weekend is not going to be easy. The purse is $10,000. That’s not a
lot, but from the look in your eyes, I can tell that it’s more than you’re used to.”

  He had pushed his knee in between my legs, rubbing up against that spot.

  That spot…

  “I hope that you’re going to do more than just rub, Griffin.”

  I wasn’t disappointed. He reached down and slipped his fingers into the waistband of my black shorts. He found my little friend and began to rub it insistently, until I was moaning incoherent words and throwing my head from side to side on the mat. With his one hand free, he had used his other to hold both of my wrists. I felt truly immobilized, but it felt good to let him have the reins.

  One finger penetrated me and I had to arch my back and thrust my hips into the air to get him as deep as possible. I felt him pushing forward and then another finger joined in, until he was thrusting three of them back and forth within my clench. I knew that he had me and then my eyes went wide with the anticipation of how fast and easy he had brought me to the brink.

  “Yes, finger fuck me…I want you to feel it around your fingers. I want you to feel it and imagine what it’s going to be like when you sink your cock deep inside me.”

  I screamed and in this wide open space, the echo was like I was at the Grand Canyon. He didn’t stop moving those fingers or turning them in such a way that he was actually touching on my g spot. This only enhanced it and made it almost impossible for me to sit still, even if he was pinning me down.

  “I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight than a woman cumming from my fingers. I think we need to get rid of the shorts once and for all.”

  It appeared that we weren’t going to make it back to either of our places. We were too hot for each other and this was going to culminate right here and right now. It would be interesting in the morning when I looked back at what we had done. I would never be able to stand in this ring and not relive that moment over and over again.

  The contrast in our skin colors was something that I was slowly getting used to. He released his grip on my wrist and I just laid there looking into his eyes, as he lifted my legs and extracted the one obstacle in his way. He could see the bright pink spread of my crease displayed before him. It was there and ready to deliver him to a sort of pleasure that he probably never had with any other girl. With my arms free, I easily caught him off balance and turned him, so that he was flat on his back.