Fighting Chance

by Lynn Rider

  I feel her hands in my hair, grasping at its short length while her hips begin rocking, pushing her pussy against my mouth. When her quiet moans fill the room, I go in for the prize, inserting two fingers and flattening my tongue against her clit with the pressure I know she needs. My eyes flick up, loving every fucking second of watching her unravel as I push her through her climax.

  I climb the length of her body with a trail of soft kisses before wrapping her in my arms and pulling her across my lap. Her mouth finds mine again, soft, thoughtful strokes of her tongue circle my own. This kiss is more, not as hungry, but more in every other way. She pulls away slowly, pulling at my bottom lip with her teeth, teasing me. “You didn’t fuck me Chance,” she whispers before kissing down my neck.

  “I can fix that,” I say, running my hand across her hair as she lowers, kissing slowly down my chest. My cock jumps painfully under my flannel, my brain telling it she’s coming or maybe it can sense her all on its own. Either way, it’s begging to be released.

  “Too late,” she whispers, sinking to the floor on her knees and lowering the elastic of my pants. My cock bounces out, it’s rigid length almost hitting her in the face before she wraps her hand around the shaft. Connecting her eyes to mine, she licks from the base of my balls to the tip.

  “Fuck,” I say through a heavy breath. Her lips inch into a proud grin, knowing she’s got my full attention. Her hand cups my balls, while the other tightens firmly around the root of my shaft. Her tongue circles the head, teasing the sensitive skin just under the crown before lowering her warm mouth around it. A hiss of air leaves my lungs and my head falls back against the couch. Her hand and mouth work in time, stroking and sucking and I’m utterly drowning in the sensation.

  I look down, holding her eyes and watch as she sucks more of my length into her mouth. Her cheeks hollow with a delicate suction along my shaft. I gently swipe the hair from her face, admiring her beauty. Nothing has ever looked or felt so good wrapped around my dick. The familiar tickle begins low in my groin, but I can’t seem to stop it as I watch her eyes on me.

  “I’m gonna come,” I warn in a ragged breath. Her mouth tightens as she sinks lower, humming in approval, the smooth vibration of it causing me to lose myself. I lift, thrusting deeper as my dick spurts into her warm mouth. I feel her throat muscles tightening around my head, milking every last drop of me.

  My head falls back again, my mind fuzzy with the strongest orgasm I’ve ever experienced. I wrap her in my arms and press her against my chest. She fits so fucking perfectly, like she was made exclusively for me. I softly stroke her hair and feel her body relax, resting her weight against me and I decide right here and now, I want to carry the weight of her world because I wasn’t lying when I said I may never want to stop touching her.

  I gather her in my arms and carry her up the stairs and into my bed. I slide in close and wrap my arms around her.

  20

  Mia

  I’m wrapped in Chance’s arms and I can’t remember a better feeling than this one right now. I had tossed and turned for hours, playing with all sorts of fantasy’s in my mind, wondering what would happen if I walked into his room and crawled into his bed. But, the sensible Mia won out and decided to sneak past his closed bedroom door and go downstairs for something to drink. When I saw him sitting in the dark, shirtless, watching as two men pummel one another on the large screen TV, I was drawn in like a moth to a flame.

  What happened after that was nothing short of amazing. My experience with oral sex has been limited. The couple of times when Clark did it, it was clumsy, like he didn’t really know what he was looking for, so he tried to hit it all, hoping something would work. It never did. Chance knew exactly what he was doing; those assessing eyes watched as my body reacted. I push that thought aside, not wanting to consider where he learned those skills.

  “You’re quiet,” Chance says, his breath heating my neck.

  “So are you,” I whisper back with a smile.

  “Tell me about you.”

  My laughter fills the room at the absurdity of what he’s asking and where we are. “We’ve just exchanged body fluids and now you want to know about me?”

  He laughs, rolling over and looking at the ceiling. I twist on the bed so that I’m facing him. “That was some body fluid exchange,” he snickers playfully and I pretend punch him. He winces, catching my hand and lifting it to his mouth, kissing my knuckles softly. He rolls over and props his head on his hand, our eyes meeting in the near darkness. “What did you do before you started working at Jimmy’s?”

  A small pang of sadness washes over me, but I push it away as soon as it comes. I don’t want to sacrifice tonight with Chance on thoughts of tomorrow. “I’m a ballet teacher. I teach at my mother’s old studio.”

  “Ballet?” I smile when Chance’s brows lift in surprise. “That explains it. I always thought you could dance, just not pole dance.” He chuckles when I lift my fist to threaten another punch. “I’m kidding…no I’m not. I knew you were too graceful to be on that stage,” he says soberly.

  “How many times did you see me up there?”

  “Two times. I was on my way out the second time, but when I saw those blue sparkly shoes step onto the stage, I remembered you wearing them the first time I saw you and had to stay to see you again.” I groan, knowing I only wore those on my first and final nights. “Do you still have those, by the way?” He waggles his eyebrows and I cover my face.

  “No, I burned them!” We both laugh.

  “So, ballet, how did that happen?”

  “My mother grew up loving it and wanted to be a ballerina, but it didn’t work out for her. She had me and growing up, I loved it just as much. My sister Audrey hated it so it was kind of nice that it was something just she and I shared. I went to Julliard with the hope I’d someday be a professional, but it didn’t work out, so teaching it to little girls keeps me doing what I love.”

  “Why didn’t it work out?”

  “A car accident.” I lift my leg from the covers, extending it into the air. “I have a metal plate in my ankle and four pins. I could never dance like I once did so I was forced to give up my scholarship.” Chance’s warm palm rubs over the area, setting off a flutter in my chest. I know in the dim lighting of the room, he can’t see the thin scar from my surgery, but the fact that he wants to, comforts me in a way that I haven’t realized I’ve needed until right now.

  “Your parents?” he says and I know what he’s asking.

  “Yeah,” I whisper around the lump before clearing my throat. “They said my father died on the way to the hospital and my mother on the scene. I didn’t know until I woke up from surgery.”

  “Was your sister in the car with you guys?”

  I shake my head, emotions creeping in and preventing me from telling him she’s the reason we were in that car. She was on another binge and had disappeared three days before. We’d gotten a call from a family friend that night, saying they’d seen her in that area of town just an hour before.

  “I’m glad you still have her, but I’m so sorry about your parents and your dreams, Mia.”

  I meet his eyes. The knuckled-side of his fingers softly caresses the side of my face and he leans in, kissing my forehead.

  “If I could give that back to you…all of it, I would.”

  I smile sadly, wishing he had some superpower that could do just that.

  “And your sister? Are you two close?” he adds.

  I force my mind to reflect the good Audrey, the one before we lost her. “She used to annoy the shit out of me when we were little. I hated her more than I liked her, but eventually that worked out and we were very close until I went to college in New York. She changed and I wasn’t there so we drifted apart.”

  “And she lives in Texas?”

  “Yes, with my Aunt Donna. She owns a cattle ranch. Bent Branch Ranch,” I say wistfully. “I haven’t been there in years, but growing up, some of my best vacations were spent on that
farm.”

  “I bet. I’ve traveled a good deal with boxing, but I’ve never been to a ranch. I bet my brothers would love it, too.” He smiles, seemingly lost in the idea.

  “Tell me about your Superman loving brothers. Do they live close?”

  His smile slips.

  “Matthew and Brandon live on the other side of St. Louis with Michelle. It’s kind of a recent move for them. One I hope to make temporary.” He rolls back, looking at the ceiling. “My parent’s overdosed a few weeks ago,” he adds quietly before pausing. I don’t show my surprise. Having learned a few things about his mother, it shouldn’t surprise me at all, but a pang of sadness hits me in the chest for him and his little brothers. “I threatened to take custody the night they died. I’d thought about fighting for her a hundred times before then, but every time it came down to it, something pulled for me to give her another chance. I gave her money to live on and pay for whatever they needed outside of their private school I was already paying for. She was using, so as you can imagine, her needs always came first.” I can more than imagine. He blows out a long puff of air. “Long story short, my mother’s sister beat me to the courthouse and got custody of them. She’s never been part of their lives or mine, so I didn’t even know there was going to be a fight until the night the cops showed up, taking them away.”

  “I’m sorry, Chance,” I offer softly in the dark.

  “The shitty thing is, I don’t even think she wants them, just what they can do for her.”

  “Is she like your mother?”

  “Probably, they’re sisters, cut from the same cloth,” he says dismissively and my thoughts wander to Audrey and me. She and I are nothing alike, I justify, pushing aside the insult. “I’m working to overturn her custody and bring them home with me, where they belong.”

  “You’re amazing, you know that?” I whisper, crawling on top of him.

  “Yeah? There’s more sad shit where that came from.” He brushes my errant hair back and gathers it in a ponytail at the back of my neck.

  “I like your sad shit. I like your happy shit.”

  “I like you,” he says flipping me over and climbing on top of me. I wrap my legs around his waist.

  “I like you too, Chance,” I reply, our eyes meeting, making that statement a whole lot heavier than I cared to.

  “You know what I would like right now?” He smiles.

  I wiggle underneath him, his thick erection sitting heavy on my stomach. “I bet I can imagine.”

  “Say it,” he whispers above me.

  “Fuck me, Chance.”

  21

  Chance

  “You look happy kid. I take it your meeting with Edward went well?” Vic asks as I step from the gym shower.

  “It wasn’t what I want, but I think we’ve made progress. Michelle is being served Monday with papers that will tell her I have rights for visitation.”

  “That’s a good start. More than you had with your mom.”

  “Yeah, but my mom had incentive to let me see them. Money was her second language.”

  He smiles. “I think Michelle speaks that language, too.”

  “Edward warned me to stay away from her, but as soon as I can, she and I will have a talk. She wants something, I know it.” I throw down my towel and step into my clothes.

  “Just be cautious. Your mom was reckless because she was their mother. There’s power in that. But Michelle has to know she doesn’t hold that same leverage. She’ll be more careful with her demands,” Vic sighs.

  I nod, slipping a hoodie over my head.

  “So, what has you rushing out of here this morning? And don’t tell me the storm; a little bad weather never stopped you from being here before.” I look over at him. Aren’t old people supposed to be oblivious? Vic’s the most perceptive old man I know. He’s the only old man you know.

  “I just have some stuff going on.” I throw my dirty workout shit in my bag and zip it up.

  “Want to talk about it?” He crosses his arms, settling against the tiled locker room wall and that tells me we are talking about it whether I like it or not. Vic likes me with a clear mind. As much as he loves Matt and Brandon and wants them safe, I think he secretly wants closure on that subject just as much for my boxing career as their sake. He’s told me countless times, I’d be double the fighter I am today if I didn’t bring my shit into the ring with me.

  “I met a woman,” I admit.

  “A woman?” His bushy eyebrows lift and I smile at the surprise in his expression.

  “Yes,” I say, a thoughtful smile forms on my lips. “Fuck me Chance” comes back to mind followed by the vision of Mia losing herself under me last night, my name spilling from her lips when she did. I left her sleeping soundly in my bed, her long blonde hair piled messily over my pillow. Which is exactly where I’m in a rush to get back to.

  “Well…well…well. This is a first.” Vic laughs. “Who is she?”

  “You don’t know her.”

  “I never imagined I would, son.” He chuckles. “What does she do?”

  I know what he’s asking, but I won’t answer. Vic’s mind is like a steel trap. I can’t even mention her ballet career, afraid he’ll associate it with pole dancing and I’m sure as fuck not mentioning her name because he’ll damn sure recognize that.

  “What she does is makes me feel alive, Vic.”

  “Holy shit,” he mutters under his breath. I know it sounded like a candy-assed response, but it’s true. There was something so natural, so right about having her in my bed this morning. Mia Hall makes me feel things.

  “You looked good out there today.” He nods over his shoulder toward the gym. “You know we have to start training next week. What’s this woman going to think of you spending all your time in the gym?” That’s just like Vic to kick me off the cloud I’m riding on. Women trouble is a trouble he won’t like interfering with my head. Frankly, it’s not one he’s ever had to worry about until now.

  “She knows.”

  “She knows you’ll be here more than you’ll be there with her?”

  “Yeah, she knows it’s part of the gig,” I lie. There’s no guarantee she’ll put up with that shit. I could offer her money, but at this point, that may cause more damage than good. Vic sighs and I know he doesn’t believe me, or at the very least doesn’t believe that she knows what she’s getting herself into.

  He nods. “Have you watched Perez’s fight?”

  “We watched it last night,” I partially lie. I’m not telling him we didn’t make it past the fourth round and I got the best head of my life probably sometime during the sixth. That’s a memory I’ll treasure for myself. Shit, my dick is getting hard right now. I’ll probably never be able to think about that fight again without getting a chub.

  “She watched it, too?”

  I nod and he scratches the thin dusting of grey stubble on his chin and then grins. “Well, shit,” he mumbles.

  “Perez is going to be tough. He’s fast and smart, but I can beat him,” I say, telling him what I know he wants to hear.

  Vic looks up at me, a slow smile forming along the crease of his mouth. “I like where your head is, kid. Just make sure you’re not thinking with that one when you step between the ropes.” He smiles, pointing to my crotch.

  I lift my bag, throwing the strap over my shoulder. “Got it. I need to get out of here. She’s waiting at home.”

  “At your home?” His brows shoot up his forehead again.

  “You’re doing a piss-poor job at hiding your surprise with all this.”

  “It’s a lot to take in. First, you’re talking about a woman, then you tell me she’s at your house. No one goes to your house. Hell, I’ve only been there a few times.”

  “How about we have you over for dinner after this storm blows out of here?”

  He slaps his hand over his chest. “You’re going to give this old man a heart attack. Who are you and what have you done with my grouchy Chance?” he laughs boisterously. />
  “Very funny! It was bound to happen eventually, Vic. I’m a twenty-eight-year-old man.”

  “I was hoping it would happen after you’re the world champion.” He steps to the side, fighting back a smile and I know he’s happy for me.

  I walk by him and out into the gym. “Go home Vic. Your gym is empty,” I call out realizing we’re the last two here.

  “Don’t worry about me!”

  Not wanting any surprises when he meets Mia, I turn, walking backward. “Vic, promise me when you meet her, you’ll keep an open mind.”

  “That comment worries me, but if she puts that smile on your face, it’ll open like a window,” he says, tapping his temple.

  I turn and throw a little wave over my shoulder. “Be careful out there,” he calls out just before the gym door slams.

  22

  Mia

  “Whoa, what in the hell happened here?” the cab driver mutters. I look up from pulling money from my wallet, my gaze immediately falling on my driveway. My heart doesn’t stop or take off at a galloping pace like it would’ve just last month. In fact, I’m tempted to tell him to keep going. But where? I have nowhere to go, I just left behind the safest place I could’ve been.

  I took the cowardly route last night, not telling Chance how much trouble I’m in, and then again this morning as I faked sleep when he quietly slipped from his bed and got dressed for his morning workout.

  I felt his presence in and out of the room, moving stealthily while he showered and pulled fresh clothes from his dresser. As I lie there, eyes closed, half buried under a pillow and my body nestled snuggly in his bed, I wanted to come clean. I wanted to roll over and throw it all out there. He said he’d never judge me for what I didn’t have. He never said anything about what I’ve done, or more aptly, what Audrey’s done. But we’re sisters, cut from the same cloth. He said it himself so I decided to keep my dignity intact and leave on my own accord.

  As soon as I heard the rumble of his truck and the garage door close, I found his address in a pile of mail I remembered seeing on the kitchen counter, called a cab, and left behind the only thing that held promise in my life.