by A. J. Norris
“Yo, Steele. Here you are.”
A redheaded woman, wearing leather pants and boots and with more jewelry on her face than I had in my entire jewelry collection, came walking up to us before wrapping her hand around his elbow.
Jonny let go of my arm and gave a step back, allowing me to take a deep breath. I didn’t even realize that I was holding my breath until he moved away.
The girl looked from Jonny to me, then back at Jonny. “Did I interrupt anything?”
“Yes, Val.”
“No,” I chimed in. “You didn’t interrupt anything.”
The way Jonny narrowed his eyes, the veins in his neck bulging with frustration, I knew he wasn’t done. But I was. I was done and needed to get away from him—which was a problem since leaving wasn’t an option.
“We are not done, Peyton. Not by a long shot.”
“Yes, we are, Jonny.”
I stepped back, glancing at the spot where Val touched Jonny’s arm. I hated it. I didn’t like it one little bit. But I told myself that I had no right to be jealous, no right to dislike this woman just because she was touching the man that I once fell in love with.
“I’ll just…find somewhere quiet where I can sit and wait all this out.” I turned around, and just as I was about to head in the other direction, a hand wrapped around my elbow. From the electricity that shot down my spine, I knew it was him.
“You’re not going anywhere.” Jonny spun me around to face him. “There’s not a chance in hell that I’m letting you out of my sight tonight.”
“Let me go, Jonny. Like you said, I shouldn’t have come here.”
“No, you shouldn’t have, but you did.”
I felt his thumb brush lightly across my skin, his touch causing my insides to coil tight. With his hand around my elbow, he pulled me closer, his strength and big frame causing me to stand on my toes while he leaned down. Our lips were so close, I was certain that if I should let out the breath I was holding, our lips would surely touch.
I didn’t even see his hand come up until I felt the slightest brush of his fingertip along the side of my face. “But right now, dream girl, I’m so fucking glad you did.”
For a moment, I could hardly feel my legs since the only thing I concentrated on was feeling his warm breath dance across my wet lips, and the way I was slowly being sucked into the depths of his eyes.
I let out a breath. “Please don’t say shit like that, Jonny.”
“Why not? It’s the truth.”
“Steele,” Val’s voice came from behind him. “Come on, your next fight is about to start.”
“Not now, Val,” he replied, never taking his eyes off mine.
“But, Steele—”
“I said not fucking now! Tell them to find someone else for the next fight. I have something I need to deal with…now.”
The way he stared at me, the fire of pure resolve and undeterred determination burning behind his dark chocolate irises, made me swallow hard and clench my thighs. I needed to fight harder. I couldn’t allow him to do this to me again. He managed to ensnare me once, luring me in with his sneaky touch and stolen glances. But not again. Never again.
Chapter Three
Jonny
Yeah, I was probably playing with the lion’s balls by dragging Peyton through the crowd. But did I care? No. We had shit to deal with, and I wanted to deal with it now. Fuck knows why I felt like I needed to set things straight. After all, what would it change? What happened, happened. It was in the past, and there was nothing I could do now to change it. But still, the son of a bitch inside me needed to talk to her…alone.
“Let go of me.” She tried to pull free from my grip, but I only tightened my hold on her arm.
“In case you haven’t noticed, this is not exactly the kind of crowd you want to roam freely in.” I glanced down at the dress teasing and taunting the fuck out of me by hugging every enticing curve of her body. “Especially looking like that.”
“You don’t own me. I can do whatever I want, wear whatever I want, and go wherever I want.”
“Not down here you don’t.”
One of the perks of being the underground champion for as long as I have, I always got my own designated “quarters”—if you can call it that. The building we’re in was once an old shoe factory, and lucky for me, there was an office I could claim as my “quarters.”
Just as we started up the stairs, Peyton literally tried to push down on her heels, making it incredibly difficult for me. Did I mention that I hated when things didn’t go my way?
“Stop fighting me.”
“Never. And where do you think you’re taking me?” She kept on tugging and pulling her arm, trying to get loose. Feeling angry, frustrated, and fucking turned on, I grabbed her around her waist, pulled her up, and tossed her over my shoulder.
“Jonny Kade! Put me down!” Fists plunged into my spine. Knees got shoved into my stomach, but it did nothing to slow me down. I was a man on a goddamn mission, and my mission right now was to set this woman straight…my way.
“Hush, dream girl.” I slapped her on her ass and she yelped just as I started to rush up the stairs. The further up we went, the more quiet the crowd below got, but the harder her punches landed on my spine.
The second I walked into the old office and shut the door, I put her down. She darted to the other side of the room, fire burning behind bright blue eyes. Just to prove what a selfish motherfucker I really was, the only thing I thought about when I stared at her, witnessing the rage and anger directed at me, was how much I wanted to tear that dress off her and make my name sound like a goddamn prayer on her lips.
“You are a fucking asshole, you know that?”
“No. I’m just a man who always gets what he wants.”
“And a man who shoves aside that which he doesn’t want.”
Silence settled over us. Peyton stood as far away from me as possible, but the distance did nothing to control the sexual tension that filled the room, making it too difficult to fucking breathe.
I would never forget the day I started looking at her the way a guy looks at a girl. I was twenty-one, and she’d just turned eighteen. We were at the beach, Liam and I playing ball on the sand. That moment she took off her shirt, standing a few feet away from me in nothing but a light pink bikini, I fell…hard. Long blonde curls hung beautifully down her shoulders, and her skin glistened under the sun. Peyton was gorgeous, and I never understood why I didn’t realize it before that day. Unfortunately, from that day onwards it only got more difficult to ignore the way I felt whenever I was around her. It started with nothing more than stolen glances, on purpose by accident touches, until I couldn’t stand it anymore. It happened one night while I was sleeping over at Liam’s, when Peyton came down the hall from the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her body. Her hair was dripping wet, the water on her skin making it seem like she was glowing. When I saw her, I knew that I was fucked. That was the night I kissed Peyton for the first time. And the best part? She kissed me back. Her body responded to me, and by God, it made everything worse.
After that night we would kiss each other stupid every chance we got…until I ruined it by walking away.
I leaned back against the door behind me, my gaze pinned on her. “I didn’t shove you aside, Peyton.”
“You did. You rejected me, and you broke my heart in the process.”
“I was saving you.”
“From what?”
I pulled my palm down my face. “I was saving you from me.”
She bit her bottom lip, and then I was the one digging my heels into the ground to stop myself from rushing over there so I could suck that goddamn lip of hers.
Peyton too leaned back against the wall, the entire length of the room between us.
She glanced down at the floor. “What if I didn’t want you to save me?”
“You were too young to know what you want.”
She looked up. “I knew that I wanted you. I still do.”
>
Jesus fucking Christ. There was no way I could stop it. I was over there within a nanosecond, placing my palms flush against the wall behind her, casing her in. Her eyes no longer showed traces of anger or rage, but spirals of lust and desire. It’s like we got transported back five years, like nothing had changed. The need, the hunger, the longing to be together, to consume each other was still there as if no time had passed.
“Let’s be honest, shall we?” I leaned forward, allowing my cheek to softly brush against hers. “You came here to tease me, to taunt me with this wicked body of yours. You came here to see how far you could push me, to see if what we shared five years ago was still there.”
“What we shared was all a lie.”
“Keep on telling yourself that, dream girl.”
I heard her breathing become louder, more labored. It was like I could smell the desire mixed with her intoxicating scent of vanilla and sunshine. She always smelled like sunshine to me. I couldn’t explain it. I didn’t know why, but somehow, I imagined that if sunshine had a scent, it would smell like her.
Peyton remained still, not moving an inch while I had her enclosed between me and the wall, and I leaned closer, bringing my lips to her ear. “But let me assure you, dream girl, that whatever it was that consumed us in the past—” I leaned my head to the side, letting my gaze travel up the side of her neck until I looked into her eyes. “It’s. Still. Fucking. There.”
She lifted her chin, bringing her lips dangerously close to mine, and I could feel the monster claw against my chest, wanting to devour her.
“If that’s true, then prove it.”
Well, fuck me. I never could say no to a challenge.
Challenge accepted.
I grabbed her face, my fingers squeezing into her cheeks, her lips all puckered up and beautifully tempting. “You shouldn’t have found me, Peyton.” I slammed my lips against hers, and the second she opened for me, inviting me in, letting me taste her…I knew I was fucked.
A low guttural moan echoed from the back of my throat as I felt her tongue against mine, the warmth of her mouth letting my cock ache for the heat of her pussy. It was like tasting her, touching her, woke the savage inside me, and all I could think about was how I needed to claim this woman. How stupid I was for not making her mine when I had the chance five years ago.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me closer, deepening the kiss. Teeth grazed, tongues lapped, and self-control crashed into pieces. We were no longer in an abandoned building occupied by ruthless fighters and greedy bookies. We were in a place where none of this existed, where nothing else mattered but us.
I moved my lips down the side of her neck, my one hand gliding down her arm.
“We need to stop, Jonny. I can’t do this.” But the way her body squirmed against mine, her hips flexing against my already raging cock, it all told me something completely different.
“What if I don’t want to stop?” I traced my tongue across her collarbone, loving the way she smelled, how fucking good she tasted.
“You didn’t have a problem stopping five years ago.”
Jesus Christ!
From out of nowhere anger crashed against every bone in my chest, and for a second, I lost all control to the rage by slamming my fist into the wall right next to her face.
“Fuck!”
She yelped, pinched her eyes closed, but didn’t move.
“You are so wrong about everything, Peyton. So fucking wrong. You think you fucking know everything, that you know why I did what I did, but you don’t.”
“Why don’t you set me right, then?”
There was a loud knock on the door, and frustration flowed through my veins like molten lava. Not only was my cock rock hard and ready to finally take what it wanted for years, but this woman who was currently the cause of the ache pulsing in my loins was just too damn stubborn to see why I really left.
“What?” I shouted over my shoulder toward the door.
“Your next fight is up,” Val shouted. “And you can’t pull out. There’s too much money on you not to fight, Steele.”
“Fuck!”
Peyton leaned her head back against the wall. “You should go fight for your girlfriend, Steele.”
“She is not my girlfriend.”
“She sure acts like it.”
I placed my hand around her neck, my fingers stroking her jaw. “There’s always only been one girl for me.” As she swallowed, I felt her throat move against my palm.
“Does she know?”
“Does she know what?”
“That she’s the only girl for you?”
Starving for more of her, my body humming with the desire to take her, I leaned my head down and traced the tip of my tongue all along the side of her neck, feeling the way her body trembled against mine. When I reached her ear, I whispered, “Not yet. But she will…soon.”
Chapter Four
Peyton
Even though he wasn’t kissing me anymore, I could still feel the burn of his kiss against my lips. The second his mouth collided with mine, I knew there was no way I’d survive him. My body, my mind, my heart, everything belonged to him. It belonged to him five years ago…and it still did. If I ever thought I was over this man, I was so fucking wrong. There was no getting over Jonny Kade—not when he left a goddamn mark on my soul.
“I need you to stay here.” He stepped back, and I finally managed to breathe normally again. “I have to go fight this fight, but you need to promise me that you will stay right here. I can’t protect you when I’m in the cage.”
I peeled myself off the wall and straightened my dress. “I told you I don’t need you to protect me.” My need to be stubborn was the only defense I had against my deeply rooted need to succumb to him—yet again.
He roughed his hands through his hair, his tattoos seeming like they came to life with every move he made. “This is not your world, Peyton. It’s mine. So trust me when I say you can’t be down here without protection. So please, in God’s name—Just. Stay. Here.”
The desperation, the plea, was right there coating his every word. He might be the champion down here, but right now I could see the concern on every contour of his face, his chiseled jaw ticking with tension.
“Okay.”
For a few seconds, we just stood there in deafening silence, staring at each other, and it almost seemed like he was looking at me with the same longing that ached deep inside every bone of my body. Could it really be that nothing had changed? That I had it wrong all these years?
With a nod and not a single word, he turned around and walked to the door. When he reached for the doorknob, he paused. “I left because I knew you deserved so much better than a poor, low-life, wrong-side-of-the-tracks asshole with a goddamn temper.”
Before I could say anything he was out the door, glancing my way one last time before closing it…and locking it.
What the?
I rushed toward to the door and grabbed the knob, only to discover that the smug son of a bitch locked the goddamn door.
“Open this door, Jonny!”
With a sly grin on his face, he stared through the side window and winked at me before descending the stairs.
“Goddammit!”
Leaning against the door, I took a few deep breaths. A few moments ago I was plastered against the wall, being fiercely kissed by the one guy that had the power to turn my own body against me. I didn’t want to want him. I didn’t want to feel anything for him. I wanted to be free of him, free to move on and to love someone else. But now, after I felt his heat, his strength, the undeniable pull between us, I knew that I would never be free. He hadn’t even claimed me in any way, yet he had managed to ruin me for any other man.
A loud rumble of cheers and applause erupted from the crowd downstairs, and I turned to look through the window. Jonny had just walked into the cage, the gate locked behind him.
His opponent? None other than Rick, the guy from the bar.
Bo
th of them were rolling their shoulders, swinging their arms, loosening their muscles for the fight. Seeing Jonny in that cage, all riled up, his perfect body ready for the fight—it made me want him so much more. We might be from two different sides of the world, but that did nothing to tame my feelings for him.
More cheers erupted, and then the cage moved. Holy shit. The cage was being hoisted up in the air, slowly going higher and higher, swaying from side to side, both Jonny and Rick standing fast, trying to keep their balance.
I clutched my hand to my chest, my heart racing with panic. What if he got hurt? Or worse? I couldn’t even think about it without having my insides twisted together like barbed wire.
The bell rang, and like two thunderous boulders, Jonny and Rick launched and crashed into each other. I gasped, both my heart and my stomach trying to leap out of my throat. Jonny was bigger than Rick, but that little fact did nothing to calm my out of control nerves.
Arms swung, fists punched, and bodies collided. The cage started to swing more violently, making it almost near impossible for them to keep their balance. The chains holding the cage complained as they continued to beat the shit out of each other. I was locked in a goddamn room and I could hear the metal and rust screech with violence.
Oh God, I can’t watch.
I closed my eyes for two seconds before I realized that not knowing was even worse than knowing. Just when I opened my eyes Jonny made a back-flip kick, sending Rick to the floor after Jonny’s foot smashed into his face. Rick got up, wiping at his nose before launching himself at Jonny. The hate and need to conquer smashed against iron bars, neither one of them showing any signs of slowing down or imminent defeat.
My heart—and dinner—is not going to survive this.
With one calculated move, Jonny grabbed ahold of Rick’s neck, forced him to the ground, and had him in a headlock within two seconds. For a moment I exhaled with relief…until I saw the look on Jonny’s face. A soft gasp rolled over my lips when I witnessed the cruel look in his eyes. His face was hard, intense…vicious. It was like he had managed to completely turn off his humanity, the cage turning him into a brutal, indomitable fighter without conscience.