by Ashley Blake
My mom launched into her whole spiel of their story, which I already knew, and that was when I zoned out. She finally finished and I glanced at Arty who was staring at my mom with lovesick eyes. It was actually kind of cute.
We enjoyed dessert and then called it a night a little while later. Arty was flying to New York for business that night so mom went back home with me. As soon as the car door closed she turned to me.
“Well, what did you think of Arty and Declan?”
“Arty seems really nice mom, I think you actually found a good guy. Declan seems really full of himself and acted like he can’t stand his father.”
My mom let out a deep sigh. “Yeah, they have a few issues they have to work out.” She smiled at me and gently touched my hand. “I’m so glad you like Arty. Thanks for coming tonight, honey.”
I smiled back at her. “You’re welcome, mom.”
As we rode back in the car, I couldn’t help but think about the tension I saw between Declan and his dad. Declan definitely had a chip on his shoulder about something. I should not have been curious, because he was so damned arrogant, but I wanted to know more. I wanted to know everything.
Chapter Six - Declan
“Dude. Declan, wake up, man.”
I was ripped from my thoughts of Brielle, and glanced up at Zach standing over me with some blonde bimbo with enormous fake breasts.
“Meghan here is going to be in the bikini contest in 20 minutes so let’s go check it out.”
Zach looked like a kid in the candy store and I chuckled as I grabbed my stuff and winked at Meghan.
“We’ll see you over there, sweetheart. Good luck.”
She planted a kiss on Zach’s cheek and winked at both of us. “Be sure to vote for me!” She bounced away and I quickly glanced around to see if Brielle was still there, but she was nowhere in sight. I’ll find her later. I had to. I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Zach and I made our way over to the bleachers watching girls prancing around in tiny bikinis, and some of them had nice tits and cute round asses, but all I could think about was Brielle. I looked around scanning the crowd hoping to see her, but she was nowhere in sight. I glanced over at Zach and his eyes were glued to the girls like a dog in heat and I chuckled softly to myself. It must have been a really long time since he’d had some. The girl he introduced me to finally came out and he screamed and clapped like a mad man. I smacked him on the arm.
“Dude, chill.”
He had a sheepish look on his face.
“Sorry man, she’s just so sexy.”
“Well you better hit that tonight because tomorrow it’s all business until the fight is over.”
Zach gave me a serious look. “Declan, you don’t have to tell me that. I’m usually telling you that. We’ll get started at 10:00 tomorrow morning, but tonight? Tonight we party!”
His girl came in second and Zach wandered off with her somewhere, which was fine. I liked to be by myself most of the time. I decided to go grab lunch and sit at a table by the beach so I could watch the chicks go by.
I was looking out over the water when I saw a girl in a red bikini walk out of the ocean and I swear everything suddenly started moving in slow motion. I felt my dick twitch, narrowed my eyes so I could see her better, and what I thought was confirmed. It was Brielle. She walked over to her girlfriend and grabbed her towel. As she dried herself off, my eyes slowly followed each stroke of her towel, imagining it was my tongue licking her dry. I could feel my member getting hard and I was grateful the table was covering my swim trunks.
I watched her dry her hair and she paused as she looked in my direction. She stared at me for what felt like an eternity and just as I went to raise my glass at her to let her know I saw her too, the guy she was talking to earlier went over to her and I could see that he was flirting. She turned away from me and gave him her full attention. I didn’t realize how pissed I was until the plastic cup I was holding cracked in my hand.
Chapter Seven - Brielle
As I was drying off I could feel someone’s eyes boring through me. I glanced toward the food hut and literally froze in place as I watched Declan watch me. I was instantly annoyed that I was so mesmerized by him. He was a womanizing asshole, so why was I so drawn to him? Why does he do this to me? Before I could get even more pissed about the situation, Eric surprised me by giving me a big hug. He seemed to be a nice enough guy, but all I could do was think about Declan.
I turned away from Declan’s eyes and focused on Eric hoping I could get Declan out of my mind, but it didn’t work. I saw Eric’s lips moving but I couldn’t hear a word he said. All I could think about was Declan’s gorgeous body glistening in the sun. I was snapped out of my reverie when I realized that Sophie, Eric and his friend Paul were staring at me waiting for something.
I looked at Sophie. “What did I miss?”
She gave me a curious look. “Are you okay? Eric and Paul want us to go parasailing with them. The booth is right over there.”
She pointed to a spot a few hundred feet away from us and I actually thought it might be fun. It was something I had never done and it would help me get my mind off of Declan. I turned and smiled at them.
“Sure, that sounds like fun!”
Eric was grinning ear to ear. “Cool, I’ll go get the tickets.”
He was a nice enough guy, or at least he seemed to be so far, and Sophie would be with me so I figured it should be fun. We told the guys we were going to put our bags in our room and we would meet them in a few minutes. The hotel was right on the beach so we were going to do a quick in and out. As we walked toward the hotel, I could feel those eyes on me again and I slid my eyes toward the food hut and Declan’s piercing blue eyes were following me. I tripped as I was walking and Sophie caught me.
“What is going on with you today? Are you okay?” She kind of giggled and I was in such a daze I didn’t even respond to her. My eyes were locked in Declan’s and Sophie followed my gaze.
Two seconds later I felt a sharp squeeze on my upper arm.
“Oh my gosh, Brielle, is that Declan?” She narrowed her eyes and then pulled on me like a little kid. “That is Declan! I still can’t believe he’s here!”
I could see the look of amusement on his face as he watched my friend freak out over him.
“Sophie, can you please relax? His head is already the size of this hotel. I don’t want him to think we’re talking about him.”
“Too late. He’s walking over to us.”
To say that my heart was trying to blast it’s way out of my chest is an understatement. With every step he took toward us, I found it harder to breathe. I literally had to tell myself to take a breath. Tiny beads of sweat glistened on his perfectly sculpted chest and his biceps flexed as he ran his fingers through his hair, giving us a perfect smile as he approached us.
He gently put his hand on my waist leaving a ring of fire as he leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. His natural scent and coconut sunscreen flooded my nostrils as his scruff grazed my cheek. I had never smelled anything more delicious in my life.
I was surprised he had greeted me that way. He had never done anything like that before. He is probably just trying to look good in front of Sophie.
“Brielle, it’s good to see you again.”
Somehow I managed to get my words out. “You too.” My brain wasn’t working well enough for me to say much more than that.
He looked thoroughly amused at my state of shock, and then he turned his charm on Sophie.
“Sophie, it’s good to see you again, too.”
She giggled like a teenager. “It’s good to see you again, too, Declan. We were surprised to see you earlier. What are you doing in Mexico? I’m assuming you’re enjoying a vacation.” She put her hand on her hip and gave him her best flirtatious smile.
A wave of jealousy washed over me as I watched her bat her lashes at him. There was no way I would be able to handle the two of them together so I had to put a stop to it.
“Yeah, Declan, what are you doing here?” I asked, sounding less than kind.
He looked at me, holding my gaze for what felt like forever and then he pointed at a poster a few feet away. The sun was in my eyes so I couldn’t see what it said. I raised my eyebrows at him and put my hand on my hip, trying my best to look annoyed.
“I can’t see what you’re pointing at.”
He gave me a little smirk that accentuated his succulent lips. My eyes were glued there and I wanted so badly to lick those lips and feel them all over my body. He must have said something because he looked like he was waiting for me to respond.
I casually shook my head, trying to clear the fog of lust, and glanced at Sophie. I gave her a silent pleading look and she jumped in and saved me from looking like an idiot. She casually touched my arm.
“I think we saw that poster earlier but didn’t notice because I just wanted to get to the beach. There’s a big fight at our hotel this weekend and Declan said it’s his biggest fight of his career so far.”
I looked at him trying to hide the worry in my eyes. I was so annoyed with myself. Why did I even care?
“Good luck.” I didn’t want to give him any more than that because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that I cared.
“Thanks.” His gaze was intense as his eyes held mine and I could feel myself sweating. I had to get away from him.
“Well, we’re going parasailing with our friends, Eric and Paul, so we’d better go. They are probably waiting for us.”
Was that a flicker of jealousy I saw in his eyes?
“Okay, you girls have fun. Maybe I’ll see you guys at the fight Thursday night?”
Before I could stop her, Sophie jumped in with her teenage-like enthusiasm.
“Definitely!”
“Cool. Later.”
He sauntered off, looking sexy as hell, and as much as I hated to admit it all I wanted to do was hang out with him.
Chapter Eight – Declan
I know I got to Brielle when I went over to her and her friend Sophie on the beach. As much as she tried to hide it, I could see that I’d ruffled her feathers. I don’t know if it was because our parents were getting married or if she was just trying to act cool that she acted like she couldn’t stand me, but I could tell she wanted me. I knew she did, and as much as it pissed me off, I wanted her too. But I would never let her know how much, I was never going to let a chick get close to me again. The last time I did that, I didn’t know if I would be able to come back from the heartbreak.
My dad was one of the main reasons I got into MMA and I loved it, but there was another reason that I had pushed down deep into the back of my mind…something that I didn’t like to think about. Sarah was the first girl that I truly loved, and she left my heart shattered in a million pieces and didn’t think twice about walking away from what we had.
I met her our junior year of college and she was the coolest chick I had ever laid eyes on. We clicked from the minute we met and were inseparable. I was seeing a bunch of other girls on campus but I dumped all of them when Sarah came into the picture. She wanted to be a professional dancer and when I saw her dance in a campus production I was instantly smitten.
We were together for two years when she ended things without any explanation. My first reaction was to fuck every girl in sight, and I’ve gone with that first instinct since the day she broke my heart. I always had girls around before Sarah, and they have always been after me. But after she ruined me, I decided I was just going to be all about sex. I had no desire to open up to any girl, so it had been a numbers game for me since then.
Before and during Sarah, I was the model son even though I never really got to spend time with my dad. I got good grades, I did what he said and I never talked back. My dad wasn’t the marrying and staying married kind, and I just accepted that. I was seven years old when my dad split and my mom was blind-sided by the whole thing. She had no idea he was unhappy. He didn’t cheat on her, he just didn’t want to be married to her anymore. I was their only child and they got joint custody of me. I lived with my mom half of the year and my dad the other half of the year. My dad traveled a lot for work so whenever I stayed with him I saw him maybe one or two months total out of six months. My nanny ended up becoming like a second mom to me. Dad provided financial support for us so my lifestyle didn’t change when I lived with my mom, but the emotional support was not there.
It was really hard the first year that he left because my mom would cry almost every night, and she nearly had a breakdown when I had to leave the first time to go live with my dad for six months. I told myself I would never make a girl cry the way my dad made my mom cry, but my thoughts on that changed when Sarah left me. I turned into a straight up asshole; I knew it, and I didn’t care. The only woman I treated like a queen was my mother.
My mom saw how I was treating the girls I was dating, if you want to even call it that, and she told me that she didn’t want me to follow in my father’s footsteps. She gave me the whole speech about how women are to be respected and I needed to change my behavior. She told me to find a hobby to get out all of my frustration about Sarah and my resentment about my dad because she was worried I would spiral out of control.
I saw the look of worry in her eyes and it killed me that I was the reason for it, so after Sarah broke things off with me I decided to go all in with MMA. A buddy of mine was into MMA and I decided to go to a fight with him one Saturday night. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the guys as they went back and forth, and I felt like I could do it too. I figured it was a great way to stay in shape and get out all of my aggression about Sarah. I also looked at it as a way to get over her.
I found a gym, checked out several classes and found an instructor who was an actual fighter. Zach worked at the gym as a trainer so he would train me when the instructor was out of town, and I liked his style better so he became my permanent trainer. I trained with him for a few months and he told me when I was ready to fight.
I booked a boatload of amateur shows to get my numbers up and to get experience, and I was able to go pro pretty quickly because my amateur record was 10–4. I was so psyched when I was paid my first purse because I knew I was on my way to the big leagues. I found a bunch of MMA websites and added my profile everywhere so that recruiters could find me. Zach was with me every step of the way and I wouldn’t be the fighter I was if it wasn’t for his incredible training.
I had not lost a fight in over two years and I was looking forward to crushing it with the fight in Mexico. The problem? I wasn’t as focused as I normally would be because Brielle kept popping into my mind. She had a hold on me that I couldn’t explain. She was the first girl that consumed all of me since Sarah.
Speaking of Sarah, I’d had a moment of weakness with her a few months back when I ran into her at a bar. She was falling all over me apologizing and I decided I was going to teach her a lesson. We hooked up and I never talked to her again after that. She called me every day for a couple of weeks but I blew her off. I wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine and it felt good doing it. I didn't regret one thing about that night. I was over Sarah and I never wanted to see her again.
I decided to go sit on the beach near the post where the hang gliders were, and soak up some rays while I watched Brielle and her friend with the guys. She couldn’t see me when they walked up but I could see her. I saw the guy put his hand on her back and it took everything in me not to jump up and beat the shit out of him.
I closed my eyes to enjoy the sun as I tried to calm down. It was the only time I was going to have to relax since I would be training for the next few days, but she was all I could think about. I had to think of a way to get her away from them when they were done, so about an hour later when I saw them wrapping things up I decided to go into the lobby to wait for her to walk by. She was laughing with the guy as she walked in and I sat in a chair waiting for her to turn and look at me.
Chapter Nine
- Brielle
I was on such an adrenaline high after we went parasailing nothing could have put me in a bad mood in that moment. The four of us were laughing and chatting as we walked into the hotel and for a couple of hours I was able to push Declan out of my mind. Eric seemed to be a really nice guy and he was cute too, so that didn’t hurt. We were on our way back inside when I felt a shiver run down my spine. Someone was watching me. I glanced behind me and nearly dropped my towel as Declan’s sexy blue eyes stared back at me.
He motioned for me to go over to him and I turned my back. I knew that nothing good would come from me talking to him. I needed to just stay as far away from him as possible while we were in Mexico. I don’t know that I would have been able to control myself around him in such a beautiful setting away from our family.