by S. K. Lessly
I tried my brother again, stressing how I needed him, used all the times I risked everything for him, but he didn’t budge on coming out of hiding. What he did give me was a number to someone he knew and trusted in the FBI’s Organized Crime Division. I didn’t ask any questions, just took the hand that was dealt. When I called the number and told the FBI agent what was going on, he wasn’t too interested in what I found until I told him who was behind everything.
Noelle needed serious medical attention. I couldn’t prolong it any longer, so I made a deal with the Feds. If they came and helped Noelle, my brother and me, then I would help them. Special Agent David Martins ended up flying from Washington on the next thing smoking with Ramone and they took care of Noelle. They took my statement and I took them to where I found both girls. I gave them a description of the man who beat both women and that’s when I learned about the fight club they were running.
Martins, who was a about my height with short brown hair and brown eyes, was the one who came up with the idea that I get into the fight club. Ramone would stick around as my handler or coach, whatever you wanted to call him. I was quick to help Noelle. That’s how I was raised. But thinking about being able to channel this frustration I had in me made me say yes.
I trained for months and lost a ton of weight; I had to in order for me to fit in with the girls. One great thing about Martins is he prepared me for what was to come. He hooked me up with some of the best street style fighters available. A few years back, I started kickboxing, but street fighting was something completely different. First, there are no rules to follow. It’s beat or get beaten. When I fight against these girls, I know I was trained better than any of them and all of them put together. Unless they were huge, like the girl I fought tonight, I annihilated my opponents easily.
Martins’ theory was if I could prove I had skills, I would be put in better fights. Now I guess, after weeks of fighting, I made it. I hope that they could find the players in this ring and shut it down. I wasn’t naïve to think I would stop this ring completely, but maybe I could save some lives even if only for a little while.
*******
Once I got to the area Noelle lived in, I drove around the block a couple of times to make sure no one followed me. Once I was comfortable that no one followed me, I parked three blocks from the warehouse where Noelle was hiding out. I locked my car in a twenty-four hour Laundromat on the corner. I walked inside and started a load of my fighting clothes, towels and some regular shirts. I stood by the window for a minute, then left the Laundromat and started walking. I doubled back a few times, again just to make sure no one followed me before I finally made it to the warehouse.
I took the old elevator up and when it opened, Noelle was standing behind the couch with a shotgun.
I put my hands up. “It’s just me, girlie… I’m alone.”
Just to give you a little insight on Noelle, she is twenty-four, but she’s been with this family working for them since she was sixteen and has seen more than I’m sure she’s ever wanted to see.
She stood from the couch and placed the shotgun gently down on the table behind her. “How did it go tonight?”
“It was painful but good.”
Noelle was a little taller than me was and a very beautiful woman with slanted brown eyes that made her features very exotic and her smile was stunning. It hurt when I thought about all the things they did to her, but at least on the outside she was getting better. The inside though is a different story, but guaranteed I’m going to work on that as well.
She was getting her color back, as well as her weight, which I was completely thankful for. Noelle is a little lighter than I am with long silky hair. She’s mixed with Black and Filipino. Her military father brought her mom over with Noelle. Her parents unfortunately were victims of a murder suicide when she was only twelve. She was buried in the system until the age of sixteen when she was taken.
She had told me that the cartel used and abused her for years. She did odd things for them as payment for keeping her alive, but they managed to protect her at least from the drugs and trafficking portion of the life. When she disobeyed an order, things changed for her. She told me they had asked her to clean up a girl and get her ready for sale. When Noelle realized the girl was only nine, she refused and actually helped her escape.
It was at that point that she no longer received preferential treatment from the family. They started treating her as they treated everyone else; like shit. They decided to place her in the fighting rotation, but she refused to fight, which gave her a death sentence. Noelle knew secrets about the Santos family that they didn’t want out. Once they got word that their attempt to kill her failed, the threat on her life became our reality.
I slowly made my way over to the couch when she asked, “Who did you go up against?”
I lay down on the couch and took a painfully deep breath. My chest was really on fire.
“The bruiser,” I breathed out.
Noelle frowned. “Oh yeah, I remember her. Here, take off your shirt. I’ll rub some cream on you. It should quiet some of the swelling and redness. Do you want something for the pain?”
I shook my head and she replied quickly, “Come on, you can at least take some Tylenol. I have some Tylenol PM that will help you go to sleep.”
Noelle and I had some very deep conversations throughout the months she was recuperating. She told me a lot about her life, things, looking back, that I wish I could forget. In turn, I told her about my mom dying, about my issues with my brother, him getting in trouble and me trying to get him out of it, and all of my troubles. Most of all, I told her about Brad.
I agreed to the Tylenol and sat up slowly as my muscles started to stiffen. Noelle left me and when she came back, she had a jar of what I like to call miracle cream. She said the cream was made with natural herbs and had been used by her family as a healing agent. It’s a family recipe taught to her by her mom at a young age. The stuff smelled awful, but, I tell you, it worked wonders. She also handed me a pill bottle and water.
I thanked her as she helped me remove my shirt. I looked down at my chest and it was purple.
“You need to go to the doctor.”
I shook my head. “I can’t, you know that. What am I going to say?”
She shrugged her arms. “I don’t know, but damn, that looks bad. My little cream isn’t going to do much.”
She slowly ran her hands along the front of me and I tried desperately not to cry out. “God, this looks awful. What did she hit you with?”
“Her fist, thank God. She tried to kick me in the chest, but I moved just in time.” I shook my head and shivered. “Just put your miracle stuff on me and I’ll be fine.”
As she went to work, I said, as nonchalantly as I could, “Remember I told you about a guy from my past, my best friend?”
She nodded and smiled. “You mean Brad? Yes, I remember.”
“Well, he’s here.”
“In Dallas?”
I nodded. “Yeah, and, well, we’ve been hanging out a lot lately.”
She leaned back from me, and I put my shirt back on. I leaned back against the cushions of the couch and closed my eyes.
“Don’t tell me you two knocked boots?”
I laughed and instantly regretted it. “Argh… Girl, please warn me next time you want to joke. And please don’t use the phrase ‘knock boots’ ever again in my presence.”
She smiled and shook her head. “You know what I mean though, don’t you? … You two fucked?”
I laughed again, her cursing just doesn’t sound right either.
“Oh my goodness, girl! You are crazy, you know that? And no we didn’t fuck…” I paused and closed my eyes. “It was deeper than that. It was so much more.”
I went on to tell her how the night went and how it ended. I tried not to be too detailed, but the emotions that came with me telling her about Brad was something I couldn’t stop.
It was quiet beyond my eyes, so I open
ed them to see her watching me. “What?”
“This is epic, you know that right?”
I shook my head. “No, it was sex.”
“Uh no, it’s more than that. You just said it. Ana, from the stories you told me being with him was always intense.”
“Yeah, and it was still just that… intense.”
“Yeah, but it was a different intensity.” Noelle pulled her legs under her and looked at me smiling. “Don’t you see the significance of what you two just shared? He’s opened up and has given himself to you. You two didn’t fuck; you made love. He made love to you and again, according to you, he has never connected like that with you in the past.”
She was right. I knew it. I just didn’t want to admit it aloud.
Bradley was never one for making love. He wasn’t without feelings either. He always showed me how he felt about me in every intricate touch, kiss and thrust of his hips. However, this time, I’ll admit, I felt a difference in the way he touched me and kissed me. It was evident in his eyes, in his stroke. The softness of his fingertips on my body was the most gratifying and satisfying feeling I have ever felt.
I came harder and deeper than imaginable. Just thinking about it, I wanted it again. I wanted him over and over again.
“Hello, Ayana…”
I looked at her eyes wide and she smiled. “Damn, it was that good, huh?”
All I could do was nod.
Chapter 5- Bradley
I removed my jacket, placed it on the dining room chair, and headed in the kitchen, loosening my tie. It had been a long day and an even longer night. So far, I was staying with my brother for about a month and it hadn’t taken long for shit to get twisted to hell.
It seemed my brother and I was at odds. His asshole ways had heightened as the days and weeks went by. I tried to talk to him, get him to hang out with me, maybe go to a ball game or to a bar or something. But his grumpy ass did nothing but work, come home and give me shit about the things I did in my spare time, namely Ayana. And I had to say I was doing a lot of Ayana lately.
A smile crept on my face thinking about her and tonight. I felt like having dinner at a place a few scales better than damn TGI Fridays, so we went to Morton’s Steakhouse downtown. The steak hit the spot and we ended up staying there longer than I planned. All we did was talk and drink, but the conversation and the company was just what I needed.
We then ended up at the House of Blues and listened to a fantastic band serenade us all night. The atmosphere was great and watching her was doing some crazy shit to my brain and my soul. Shit had gotten twisted for many reasons, but the only one that matters would be the chocolate-eyed beauty that’s been in my dreams as of late.
I grabbed two waters out of the fridge and headed to the family room. My brother had a nice house that he didn’t take advantage of at all. Once you walked into the house, you came to the living room on the right and the dining room on the left that led into the kitchen. My brother pretty much stayed in the front of the house and upstairs in his bedroom when he was home and it’s been like that since MJ died. I mentioned the part of the house that I stay in, which is in the back of the house. However, there is a family room that you can get to from the kitchen. The family room has its own entrance to the patio that mirrors my room.
The family room has a large flat screen TV, suede black couch, and bar. It’s a mini man cave with sports memorabilia on the walls and hardwood floors to make the room manly but cozy at the same time.
MJ allowed my brother to decorate the space with the thought in mind that this would be their entertainment area and he would mostly be the one entertaining. He always had fight parties and super bowl parties here. This was the place to go on the weekends. As I said, however, that man no longer existed.
When I made it to the family room, Ayana wasn’t there. I walked out to the patio to a warm breeze, despite the eighty degrees it undoubtedly was. The brick patio I thought was also deserted, but as I turned toward the door to my room, she was there in the shadows, watching me.
I felt her eyes on me, desiring me through the darkness. I was becoming completely attached to her. I put the bottles on the nearest table and walked in her direction.
She kept watching me.
Ayana wore a beautiful black soft as silk dress that fell around her curves with exquisiteness that drove me crazy all night. She didn’t have anything on underneath, I could tell from the pert nipples that mesmerized me all night. I noticed no panty line too and it took every bit of my self-control not to take her in the parking lot of both places. She’s walking sex, and I loved it.
As I got closer, I could feel my heart starting to beat faster with the anticipation of touching her, of kissing her, of getting lost inside her. This is wrong for me to say, but I had never, in my entire existence, desired a woman more than I’ve desired her.
And it’s messed up because only a few weeks ago, I had planned to spend my life with another woman, knowing I truly belonged to someone else. I belonged to her.
The instant I got to her, her hands went straight to my face and she pulled me down to her lips.
I let her lead and take over and kiss me the way she wanted. I kept my hands on her hips, not wanting to move anywhere else on her body, knowing that once I did, the control would be mine.
I closed my eyes and, no matter how hard I tried, I felt my control dissipating.
“Touch me,” I felt her whisper softly on my lips.
My hands went from her waist to her ass, then up her back and found the zipper at the back of her neck. I moved closer to her, keeping my eyes on hers, and slowly unzipped the dress.
I inhaled deeply at the feel of her body underneath my hands. I tried to stay in control. I tried not to lose my damn mind, but she’s made that impossible.
Her arms moved from around my neck to my chest. She first pulled my tie apart the rest of the way, then slid it off my neck. She slowly started unbuttoning my shirt.
I watched as her hands moved slowly, but with a confidence that seemed to get stronger with each passing moment. The wait was testing me.
I want to fuck the shit out of her, and, I swear, if she doesn’t hurry up, I’m ripping both our clothes off in the next second.
She must have felt my impatience because she allowed the top of her dress to slide down her arms, then freed herself so it could drop to the patio. I shook my head… she was beautiful, she was sexy, and she was mine.
I undid my cuff links and she pushed my shirt off my shoulders, letting it drop to the patio. She went for my belt as I backed her up, deeper into the shadows of the patio, until her back was against the glass door to my room.
“I don’t have a condom out here,” I said to her, voice low, trying not to show her how out of control I was beginning to feel.
She got me unbuckled, unbuttoned and unzipped, allowing my pants to pool at my feet. Her hands then went inside my boxer briefs and she gripped me… tight.
She confided to me, voice just as low as mine, “I left my test results on your bed.” Eyes heavy on mine, she added, “I got tested a few days ago and got all of the results. I’m clean from everything. I’ve not touched anything that could harm my body and mind for over five years. And…” Suddenly shyness crept in her eyes. “I have not been touched by anyone for the same amount of time.” She slowly stroked me in my underwear, keeping her eyes on mine. “I want you inside me with no barriers. I want to give myself to you again, Bradley, if you’ll have me.”
I couldn’t formulate a word, but I growled inhumanly, brought my hands in her hair and thrust my tongue in her mouth.
The words she said stayed swimming in my mind, forming one thought that I kept repeating with every movement of my tongue in her mouth; She’s saved herself for me.
I felt more like shit from her admission, so the only way I could get rid of this feeling was to make her lose her mind the only way I knew how.
She frantically pulled my underwear down enough to free me, and at t
he same time, I gripped one of her legs with the crook of my arm. This wasn’t going to be sweet; this was going to be feral and deep and gritty and unfucking believable.
“Bradley!” she called out, just after I pushed inside her. I didn’t waste time with foreplay, that’s for later. Right now, I wanted to pound her and that’s what I did. I grabbed her other leg and as she leaned back slightly against the door.
I fucked my woman.
“Shit, Ana, I’ve missed the feel of your pussy, baby.”
I leaned in closer to her, needing to get inside her more. She wrapped her arms around my neck, shifted her body a little and I slid in deeper, caressing and teasing her warmth the way I loved to do.
“Oh God, baby,” she said in my ear. “Yes, please fuck me.”
I kept a steady rhythm, at first grinding my hips in her, but I felt my balls tightening with each thrust, with each sound of our connection, with her wetness falling down my balls, down my leg. She was wet as shit.
“Damn, baby, you feel so fucking good. I’m not going to last, baby…”
“Come with me,” she said looking in my eyes and matching me thrust for agonizing thrust.
We crashed together, both kissing each other to mask the scream that escaped both our mouths. I leaned her against the door, trying to gather my strength. “You are unbelievable. Do you know that?”
Breathing heavily, she just nodded and smiled that smile of hers that always manages to make my dick hard.
I felt it growing inside her and her smile broadened.
“That’s enough of a show for my brother’s neighbors. Let’s move this inside now,” I told her.
We laughed and I carried her inside my room, locking the door behind me and closing the curtains. The moment her back hit the bed, however, I made sure her screams of ecstasy filled this house.