by Jessie Cooke
Dax laughed. “We won’t tell Wolf that she was once your...”
“No,” Zack said, “we won’t.”
Wolf smiled and said, “Aw, she’s worried about him?”
Dax and Zack snorted, “You obviously never met Tammy,” Zack said. “We should be worried about him if he doesn’t win. She was giving him tips on how to take this guy down. She’ll whoop that boy’s ass if he loses.”
Wolf laughed. “She sounds fun. I like tough women.” Once again, he thought about Blair. He didn’t really blame her for being suspicious about running into each other. He’d thought he was imagining it when his eyes first landed on her, but since he couldn’t seem to pull them away, he found out quickly that he wasn’t. He watched for a while with a few paranoid thoughts of his own. After all, she did work in law enforcement, sort of. He was still a little worried that they would arrest him for murder, and seeing her here in Vegas threw a little kerosene on that anxiety.
After an hour or so of watching her throw back shots with her pretty friend, he made up his mind that it was just a strange coincidence. He had to check himself a few times as he watched the men flocking around her, buying her one drink after another. It wasn’t his business...but it was hard to watch. She looked so fucking fine. She was wearing a tight little black dress that accentuated every one of her curves. It was short, and he was practically drooling over her thick, muscular thighs. He didn’t remember her as tall, but those sexy shoes she had on made her legs look like they went on forever, and made him have thoughts of having them wrapped around his waist, and his shoulders. Her long brown hair looked like spun silk under the lights and he was dying to touch it. He was dying to wrap his hands up in it and twist it around his fingers. But it was those violet eyes that really got to him. He knew they were really blue...but they were like Elizabeth Taylor’s eyes. They looked like violet and they were gorgeous.
“Boss?” The sound of Bruf’s voice brought him out of his fantasies.
“Yeah?” The redhead was gone and it seemed that everyone at the table was looking at him.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“No reason, I guess you didn’t hear us talking to you. You ready to go eat? We’ve only got an hour before the doors open.”
“I’m ready.” He got up and as he followed Bruf and the crowd of Southside Skulls and their old ladies out of the bar, his eyes searched the place again for Blair. He didn’t see her...but a tickle of anticipation fluttered in his belly when he thought about at least getting to see her at the fight later. He hoped so anyway. It was a sold-out crowd...ten thousand people...but somehow, he knew that the girl with the violet eyes and the sexy body would stand out, even in a large crowd.
10
The crowd was loud and wild by the time they got there, and the fight didn’t start for another twenty minutes. Wolf and Bruf took their seats next to Dax and the others, and while they all yelled back and forth at each other over the crowd, Wolf sat quietly scanning the crowd. They were in the front row, right up next to the cage, so it was hard to look around without being obvious about it, which was why Bruf noticed.
He leaned in close and said, “Looking for somebody?”
“Nah, just checking the place out.” Bruf smiled and Wolf said, “What’s that smug smile about?”
“You sure you weren’t looking for someone?”
“I’m sure...what’s your problem?”
Bruf chuckled. “No problem. My bad. I thought you might be looking for that hot little brunette I saw you talking to earlier, that’s all. What’s her name again...Blair?”
“Fuck you, and how did you see me talking to her? You had that redheaded bridesmaid’s tongue down your throat at the time.”
Bruf grinned and put his fingers up to his eyes and waved them in Wolf’s direction. “Always watching, boss. You gonna tap that?”
Wolf shook his head and smiled. “Doubtful.”
“Why the hell not? She’s hot.”
“She’s also a week past being traumatized, and an employee of the Department of Corrections.”
Bruf rolled his eyes and said, “I’m sure a little bang bang, boom boom with the prez would take her mind right off both of those things.”
Wolf was still smiling as he rolled his eyes and said, “And you wondered why I didn’t want you dating my sister.” He hadn’t meant to darken the mood, but realized too late that he had. It was like a curtain had been pulled down over Bruf’s face. That darkness that dwelled in him. And speaking of darkness, Wolf had been meaning to talk to him about his brother the General. He was a little more than curious to know why Bruf had never told him about that relationship. Things had just been hectic over the past week and he hadn’t had a chance, but someday soon they would need to have that conversation. “Hey, I’m sorry. I was just kidding around,” Wolf told him. He didn’t want to ruin his good time.
“It’s cool,” Bruf said. “I’m going to grab us some beer before it starts.” He stood up and as he passed Wolf’s seat he said, “What’s that chick anyways, a psychiatrist or something?”
“Psychologist,” Wolf said at once, and then felt his face go hot as he said, “I think.”
Bruf was smiling again. “Oh, well, hot psychologist at three o’clock...and her friend looks pretty fuckable herself.”
Wolf watched his friend go, shaking his head. He waited long enough that he was sure Bruf had to be at the beer booth before turning around. His eyes scanned the crowd and his breath caught in his throat when they landed on her. Of course he shouldn’t have been surprised to see that Bruf was there next to her, chatting up her cute little blonde friend. Blair was looking up at him and Wolf was relieved to see that she didn’t have the besotted look most women had on their faces when they saw Bruf. Instead, her brows were drawn together at whatever he was saying. Her friend, however, did have that look on her face. Her cheeks were flushed, the tip of her tongue rested on her bottom lip, her hazel eyes were wide and filled with a hint of lust...she looked like if Bruf asked her to fuck him in the bathroom right then and there, she’d say yes.
Wolf watched them and wondered what they were talking about, right up until Blair’s pretty violet eyes locked onto his. Suddenly Bruf, the blonde, and the entire crowd of almost ten thousand people faded into the background. The noise that minutes ago had been thundering in his ears also faded to a white noise. He stared at Blair until she looked away, and then he finally turned back around toward the cage. His heart was beating wildly, and breathing was getting harder. He wished they’d start the damned fight already...and what the fuck was Bruf doing? What had he told her? Jesus, suddenly he was like a fucking adolescent, hoping his friend hadn’t told the girl he liked her.
A few minutes more passed before Bruf was back, but instead of a couple of beers, he brought Blair. Wolf’s mouth went dry when he saw her up close again and he almost stumbled over the chair in front of him as he got quickly to his feet. “I asked Blair to do me a favor, Boss. I hope you don’t mind.” Blair looked a little bit uncomfortable as Wolf asked:
“And what was that?”
“I was hoping to spend some time with her friend, Ana...”
“Lana,” Blair said. Wolf tried not to smile.
“Sorry,” Bruf said. “Her friend Lana and I would like to get to know each other a little bit. Blair was kind enough to offer to trade seats with me.”
“I didn’t offer,” she said. “You asked, and Lana practically threw me out.”
Bruf smiled and winked at her. Wolf frowned at him. He didn’t like that. “Sorry if it seemed that way, but you just can’t deny chemistry, you know?” His SA winked again, this time at him. Dear God, he thought he was being subtle. Wolf stepped back as much as he could and gestured at the seat between him and Dax’s old lady, Angel. Blair seemed almost relieved to see the other woman and took the seat. Wolf looked back at Bruf then with a glare. Bruf was still grinning. He leaned in close and said, “Name the first one after me, Bos
s, okay?”
Wolf laughed at that. “Fuck that...I have no fucking idea what that name of yours even means.”
“It means the ladies can’t resist me,” he said with another grin. “But go ahead and name the kid...oh, Prairie Dog or something in keeping with the rest of the family.”
Wolf was chuckling. “Get the fuck out of here or we’re gonna put on a fight for them right here outside the cages.” Bruf left and Wolf took a deep breath and sat down. The chairs were nice and comfortable, but they weren’t big, and they were really close together. If he put his arm on the armrest, it would be touching Blair. If he kept it in his lap, he’d look like an idiot who was afraid to touch her. He decided on the former and while she was turned toward Angel, who was introducing herself, he lifted his arm and put it on the rest. The tips of her silky hair brushed against his skin lightly. She had no idea, but that simple touch caused an instant erection that was going to be hard to hide in such close quarters. He decided to put that arm back in his lap just before she turned back to look at him. “Sorry about him,” he said, gesturing his head back toward Bruf and her friend.
She smiled and turned to look at them. When she did, the top half of her body lightly touched his arm. Electricity snapped and jolted through his body, landing right between his legs. “She looks happy,” she said, “so I guess it’s okay.” She was smiling when she turned back forward. Wolf was having a hard time not looking at her, but he didn’t want her to think he was some kind of freak. So instead of taking his eyes off her, he leaned in close so she could hear him and said:
“You ever been to an MMA fight before?”
“No, this will be my first. How about you?”
“My first too,” he said, “but we invested in some cages at my gym and we’ve had a few friendly sparring bouts. Maybe someday we’ll be in a position to put on a real fight...not this elaborate, though, I’m sure.”
“You have a gym?”
“Yeah, the club invested in it this past year. Gunner trained there.” She gave him a blank look and he said, “The blue-eyed Puerto Rican.” She still looked blank, so he said, “The fighter I told you to put your money on.”
“Oh! Yeah...sorry. My friend won tickets to this tonight. I didn’t even ask who was fighting. I figured I wouldn’t know anyway.”
Wolf could see by the way she was dressed, the hair, the nails, and the shoes...and the fact that she seemed to have no interest in sports at all...that she was probably not going to be the type of woman he’d want to have any kind of relationship with. But that didn’t stop him from wanting her. He was trying hard to picture his mother’s face, or one of the guys naked, to make the painful erection between his legs go away, but each time it started to, she’d look at him with those sexy eyes and it would take on a new life of its own. “Not into sports,” he said, just trying to keep the conversation going.
With an almost smug little smile she said:
“I’m not into fights. I love sports. San Francisco Giants are my baseball team. Ask me anything dating back to the nineties and I can tell you. The Oakland Raiders are my football boys—go Carr, right? I love hockey. The San Jose Sharks kick ass on the ice. I won two fishing tournaments last year up at Shaver Lake and I shot a wild pig over in King City during hunting season.”
Wolf realized his mouth was hanging open. He thought he might be in love. Thankfully the roaring of the crowd stopped him from saying something like that. The colored spotlights began to swirl, and people got to their feet. Wolf and Blair got to theirs and he had to fight through what the smell of her hair right under his nose was doing to him, so he could focus on what was going on around them. The music was cranked up to a volume that threatened to make their eardrums bleed and the announcer’s voice began to waft out of the speakers that surrounded them.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for being here tonight. You are about to witness history! Tonight, we have for you a match between a two-time world heavyweight champion, facing off against a younger version of himself. Our champion retired last year, but this will be his coming-out-of-retirement debut. Our challenger has never fought in a professional fight before, but he’s done many exhibition matches, and hold onto your seats when I tell you this part...he’s been training for the past few months with the former heavyweight champion of the world, Jacob ‘The Lion’ Wright!”
That caused the crowd to go wild again. The applause and cheering were thunderous, and the spotlight was going wild again. Suddenly it settled on one spot at the top of a set of stairs in the back. Everyone looked up and Wolf saw Jake standing there. He was dressed in a suit and tie and had his arms raised up over his head and his hands clasped together. On the screen behind him they flashed a photo of Jake just after his title fight, holding the title belt and smiling through a mouthful of blood.
The music changed to Jacob’s signature song as he started down the steps and toward the circle of big men with black t-shirts. As soon as his feet hit the last step the men surrounded him. Their shirts simply said “Staff” on them, but Wolf knew they were Jake’s bodyguards, and it was easy to see why he needed them as they all walked down the aisle toward the cage. Women screamed and some of them even tried to climb over the bodyguards to get to him. Men held out their hands, looking for a high five or knuckle from the champ. Not far behind him was his team. They’d entered from the bottom, next to the stairs, and they were all dressed in black-and-white jogging suits. Wolf recognized the two big men he’d already met...Brock and Lance. There were two other guys with them that he didn’t know.
The next rush of bodies from the back were Gunner’s opponent’s trainer and his crew. After they were all up front and just outside the cages, the lights dimmed further, and the spotlight went from colored to bright, almost blindingly white. The music stopped and the crowd hushed. The announcer waited until it was completely silent and then he said:
“Ladies and gentlemen! Just because this man is retired, don’t make the mistake of counting him out. Standing at six-foot-three and weighing in at 220 pounds, the champ is in better shape than he was at the height of his career. He’s a two-time heavyweight champion and he’s here tonight all the way from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Please get on your feet and welcome Marcus ‘Killer’ Wilde!” Screaming, yelling, clapping, booing, cheering, loud music...it was chaotic, and the current that flowed through the auditorium began to flow through Wolf as well. It was contagious, or maybe it was the way that Blair smelled, or the way that every so often she rocked back on those heels into him...but he was excited to the point of feeling like he might just explode.
It was about to get more exciting. A sudden burst of Latin music followed by another burst of loud country music announced the arrival of Dax’s brother Gunner. Once again, the heavy spotlight followed him and a handful of staff down the aisle. Gunner was dressed in blue fight shorts and a matching blue cape. He was grinning from ear to ear as the announcer said his name and the crowd began to chant “Blue-eyed Puerto Rican,” as he stepped up into the cage. The fight was about to begin, and even though Wolf had quite a bit of money and publicity for his gym riding on it, he had to direct his attention toward the cage and away from the gorgeous woman standing so close to him that his palms itched to touch her. She was all he could think about...it was killing him.
11
It was hard for Blair to concentrate with Wolf standing so close next to her. Everyone stayed on their feet, so she did too as the two fighters took their places in their little corners of the octagon. She could smell Wolf, or she imagined that she could. Hell, the arena was filled with all kinds of smells. She could smell cigarette smoke, beer, weed, sweat, and about ten thousand different types of cologne. But there was something about the smell of him that was familiar to her. She’d smelled it before, mingled with his scent. Maybe at her house that day. As a matter of fact, when she woke up in the hospital, it was the first thing she was aware of...that smell. She shook it off and returned her attention to what was going on i
n front of her. The referee called the two men to the center of the ring. The champ was a big man and solid muscle from head to toe, but so was Gunner, and Gunner was at least twenty years younger than the other man. She wasn’t sure that had much bearing on things, though. She’d seen baseball players break home run records in their forties, and football players still quarterbacking in their fifth decade as well.
She tried to stop thinking about Wolf and concentrate on the speech the ref was giving about a fair fight and all that. The crowd seemed to be paying more attention than the two men in the octagon. Their eyes were locked on each other and the older guy was already sweating. When the ref finished his speech the two men brought their hands up and tapped knuckles. Then the older guy said something to the younger one that made him laugh. The funny thing was, the champ didn’t look like he was kidding. Blair watched as they both returned to their corners. Gunner was listening to something Jacob Wright was telling him, but he had that smile on his face the whole time. Across the way, the champ looked like a hungry lion, about to devour a steak.
The bell rang and the crowd started yelling even before the fighters raised their fists and faced off.
The ref did a wave of his hand between them and then said, “Fight.” The two men, with their fists still up, began circling each other. It was intense, waiting to see who would throw the first punch and listening to the screams of the crowd. Blair pressed her hands into the back of the empty VIP chair in front of her and leaned in. The longer they took to throw punches, the more agitated the crowd became. They were yelling at them to “throw a punch,” “take him down,” “kick him.” But the two men continued to circle, with the champ throwing out a few jabs that looked like he was pretend fighting. It wasn’t until the ref said something to them, that she couldn’t hear, that the first real punch was thrown. The champ threw out his right arm and his fist connected with Gunner’s jaw. Jacob was yelling at Gunner to get his hands up and protect his face, and that was when Blair noticed a tiny little woman with dark blonde hair standing right outside the octagon. She was screaming at Gunner to kick the other guy’s ass. Her hands were fisted, and she looked like she wished she were in the octagon fighting instead of him. Blair felt Wolf’s breath on her ear before she heard his words, and her body began to convulse almost instantly.