Jessica’s eyes welled with tears and her chin quivered. “Gym looks great. Catch ya later, Slay.”
She turned on her heel and practically ran toward the door.
What the fuck? Slade thought. That was so not the reaction he’d expected when he had planned this. He took two long strides and reached for her wrist, causing her to spin around and slam into his body. “What is your goddamn problem, Jessica?”
“Nothing.” She trembled under his firm grip.
“Bullshit.”
“Pardon?”
He took a final step closer. Their bodies were now pressed together. “Bullshit.” He repeated it slowly and deliberately.
He could tell that her breathing was becoming ragged and he felt her thumping heartbeat against his chest. “Please,” she whispered, “let me go.”
“No. Not until you tell me what the hell is going on in that brain of yours.”
“Slade.” It was a plea more than anything else.
He didn’t speak. The silence was tense, and she spoke first. “I was coming to say goodbye and that I hope we could remain friends.”
“We’ve never been just friends. But regardless, friends can help friends.”
“This is too…” She looked at the yoga area, a few tears slipping from the corners of her eyes. “It’s too friendly.”
“The problem is that you’re fucking delusional, Jessica. You want to be just friends. But I think you know we’re well past being friends.”
“We decided that—”
“No. You wanted to be just friends. Well, lady, that ship sailed the moment I tasted your sweet pussy yesterday.”
Jessica gasped and her cheeks flamed. She tried to twist out of his grasp and walk away.
Slade growled. “That’s it. I’m done playing nice. One minute you’re here, the next you’re gone.” He reached for her forearm again and pulled her to the cage. He opened the menacing heavy door, pulled her inside with him, and slammed the door shut. The noise echoed through the empty gym.
He stalked toward her. “I’m so sick of it, Jessica. All this bullshit about you leaving. We’re hashing this shit out right now. We end up together or apart, but we end with a resolution tonight! And just friends isn’t a goddamn option!” She backed away as he came toward her, but he didn’t stop. “I can’t be your friend. So if you don’t want to be more, then it’s over. You stop coming around, you stop fucking with my mind. You stop saying we’re friends. You. Just. Stop.”
“What?” Her face looked desolate. “I haven’t led you on. Not once since we broke up!” She used the palms of her hands to wipe away the tears, which were now coming down full force. “Okay, well, maybe last night, but that was your fault for what you did to me at my house. But otherwise I’ve stayed away. You’ve chased, but I’ve stayed away!” She was gasping between tears.
Seeing her cry made his chest tighten; he never wanted to see her cry again. But hell, he was royally pissed off.
“I cannot be your friend. Fuck, Jessica. I never get angry. Do you get that? I don’t. Even when I fight, I don’t get angry. But you…” He continued to come toward her. “You, Jessica, make me so fucking mad. I feel like I’m losing my mind. Every time you say that fucking f-word I want to shake you. And by f-word I mean friends.”
“But why? I thought we were—”
“Do not fucking even think of saying that word, Jessica.” A deep snarl came out, something he couldn’t help. “Your short fucking dresses.” He leaned down and with the tip of a finger grazed the bottom hem of her dress. She took another step back and hit the fence. He continued to approach, his hands gripping the fence on either side of her body, and leaned in, his blue eyes smoldering. He reached for her bottom lip and traced it with his index finger. “These plump lips.” His finger moved down, past her chin, past the indentation between her collarbones. “These beautiful ti—”
“Wait! Stop.” Before he knew it, she had darted out from under his arm, looking like a scared rabbit. In one quick movement, he pulled his T-shirt over his head and threw it aside. Her eyes roved from his bare feet up his jeans to his bare chest, looking intently at the black tattoo that covered his entire right arm, then swirled and wrapped around his shoulder, down his pecs, and all along the obliques on the right side of his body. A white rectangular bandage was taped to the left side of his body by the waistband of his jeans. The untarnished side.
“I know exactly what’s on your mind, lady.”
She swallowed. “You do?”
He continued to stalk toward her, unfastening his belt as he walked. “You want to know what’s under the bandage. You’re wondering if it’s a new tattoo.”
A tattoo? Actually, that was not at all what she was thinking. “I was hoping you hadn’t been hurt. It’s a bandage—it looks like you were hurt.” Her back crashed against the fence again. “I never want you to be hurt,” she whispered.
In one swift motion, he pulled his belt out of its loops, and it made a snapping sound, like that of a whip, that echoed throughout the entire gym. The jeans fell lower, showing more of the tattoo. “Why do you care if I’m hurt? All you do is run away from me. For the last few weeks I’ve been chasing you. You haven’t cared one minute if I’ve been hurt.”
“I did care!” she sobbed. “I do care! Don’t you think I loved being part of your world? Your friends, MMA, this gym—I love it all. I just thought it was easier this way. I still think it. To break up before I became the jealous bitch you hate. I don’t want you to think of me as that woman.”
He let out a big breath. “I’m not hurt. It really is a new tattoo.” He said it without his normal arrogant tone. He was sad, and it showed. These past weeks had taken a toll on both of them.
Jessica skirted away, her back still against the fence. Slade’s nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. “That’s it, lady. You will stay put.” Before she had a chance to move, he caught her by the waist and none too gently pushed her back against the cage.
“W-w-what are you doing?” she stuttered nervously, her breathing labored. He lifted both her arms over her head without speaking, and with the black leather belt he still held, he tied her wrists together, over her head, securing them against the chain-link fence of the cage.
“Slade…,” she gulped. “I don’t…I…can’t…”
“You’ve been stammering for the last ten minutes. Take a deep breath and tell me what it is you want to say, baby. You said you love being part of my world. Well, MMA is a full-contact sport, Jessica, and I’m just showing you what full contact entails.” She didn’t speak. He moved back. “I seem to have your attention now, don’t I? Get it all out, baby. Why do you keep running away from me?” With her arms over her head, her short dress rode high on her thighs, revealing a little white lace panty. Slade stepped farther away and gazed at the beauty tied up in front of him. Sexual experience he did not lack, but kinky shit wasn’t his thing. Still, seeing Jessica tied up, her white panties peeking out, her face flushed, her mouth open, her chest moving up and down with her heavy breathing…well, fuck, he could get used to the kinky shit. At least he could with Jessica. He unbuttoned his jeans.
Jessica’s eyes widened. “What are you doing, Slade? Let me down.”
Slade ignored her request. Slowly he pulled down the zipper of his jeans and he stepped out of them. God, she was cute. Especially when she was not fighting him. And especially when she was turned on, which she definitely was now. Of that he was sure.
He felt the heat of her eyes scanning the entirety of his body. She tugged at the belt restraining her hands. “Untie me.”
“No. Not yet.”
When Slade took another step toward her, she flinched. He saw her reaction, and cautiously he placed a kiss on her neck. The back of his hand caressed her cheek. “You can’t keep leaving me, Jess,” he said softly. “I want you.” When she didn’t flinch this time, he leaned in again and kissed her neck with a little more heat. “Like, all the time.” Her chest rose and fell an
d she let out a little moan, which caused his already hard dick to harden to the brink of pain. He placed both hands on her waist and squeezed softly, then moved them down, his hands caressing the outside of her thighs, until he was kneeling in front of her. “I think about you all the time.” He placed his hands around both ankles and parted her legs gently. “You don’t have to say it for me to know you feel the same way.” He reached under her dress, his eyes never leaving contact with hers, slipped a finger under the elastic on each hip, and slowly slid her panties down.
“Slade,” she whispered.
Wordlessly, he tapped her right ankle, instructing her to lift her foot so he could finish the task of removing her panties. She complied, and he did the same with her left. Then he stood up and asked, “Are we friends, Jessica?”
Her eyebrows knitted in puzzlement.
“Are we friends? Simple question.” He said it sternly this time.
“Y-yes.”
“No!” he snapped. She recoiled. “I’m not your fucking friend.” He stepped as close as he could get. “I’m going to kiss you now, Jessica. Really kiss you. Do you understand?” She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. The fact that her tongue involuntarily shot out to moisten her bottom lip was response enough. “Give me your mouth, baby.” He ran his hands under her dress up to her hips and held tight. His lips slowly pressed against hers, and then the best thing he could’ve imagined occurred. Her tongue entered his mouth. He didn’t have to ask. He didn’t have to instigate. She wanted this as much as he did. As soon as their tongues met, the kiss became frenzied.
She pulled on her tied hands, but they didn’t budge. “Untie me,” she panted.
“No.”
“Untie me!” she repeated into his mouth.
With one hand still on her hip, the other wandered down the inside of her thigh. When his finger felt the moisture in her pussy, he smiled. “Lady, this right here tells me you don’t want me to untie you.”
“I do,” she said, unconvincingly.
“This wet pussy says otherwise.” He pushed a finger inside. Her head dropped back against the fence and she let out a moan. “You want me to untie you? You want me to open this cage and let you go?” His mouth crashed against hers again as his finger moved in and out of her.
“Oh my God, Slade!” Her eyes were closed, her lips red and swollen from his mouth. “No. Please don’t stop.”
Completely out of control, Slade reached down, cupped her bare ass, and lifted her. Her legs instinctively wrapped around his hips. They always seemed to do that, as if that was where they belonged.
“I need you inside of me, Slade.”
“I know, baby.” He reached between their bodies and grabbed himself. She looked down and kept her eyes locked on his dick until it slowly disappeared inside her. Then she closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. He didn’t move for a moment. He couldn’t. It felt too perfect. There were no sounds except for the heavy breathing coming from her. Or was it him? Who the fuck knew?
“Slade.” She nudged his ass with her heels. He didn’t respond. “Slade! I need you to move.”
“God, you feel so fucking good. Tied up. Legs wrapped around me where they belong.”
She groaned and her thighs tightened against his hips.
“Mouth,” he instructed. She leaned forward as far as she could with her hands tied up, and his mouth came crashing against hers. Slowly he began to thrust up. Her head once again fell back against the fence. She was still immobilized and so he continued to thrust, using his hands around her hips to push her up and down, up and down, harder and faster until it was just too much.
“Fuuuck!” he groaned when he felt her pussy tighten and constrict. “I feel you. You’re about to come. Fuck.” He thrust one last time and he was lost. Gone. Consumed in ecstasy. His eyes closed and his face buried in her neck, he reached one arm up to untie the belt, his other arm holding her ass. Once released they both crumpled together to the floor, with him still inside her.
“Lady?”
“Mmm?”
“Mouth,” he demanded.
She pulled away a little, enough to see his eyes. Then she gave him a smile, the first in a long time, and offered him her mouth. He wrapped his hands around her wrists and soothed the red area where the belt had dug into her skin.
After a long round of kissing, he stood and pulled her up.
“I don’t think we can be friends,” she said.
He threw his head back and barked out a laugh. “Finally! I guess I should’ve fucked some sense into you a while ago.”
He helped her up, and she straightened her dress. “No, Slade. I mean…” She started to cry again. “I mean, we can’t even be friends. That’s why I was here. I wanted to go talk to you in public. Where I wouldn’t be swayed by…” She flailed her arms as tears streamed down her face. “By sex. By your body. By your smile.” She needed to get out of the gym. If she was alone with him, she’d let him take over, take charge, and she’d probably go straight to round two and forget about the huge clusterfuck going on right outside the door of the gym. Her love for him was clouding her mind. Jessica could picture Slade with a big smile on his face as he went for his morning jog, oblivious to the fact that Dennis could be hiding around any corner ready to kill him with a blow to the head. And she couldn’t tell Slade this, because Slade would surely fight back—something he couldn’t do any longer without risking death. Either way, Slade would end up dead unless she left.
Jessica darted out of the cage and out of the gym, heading toward her car across the street. Slade followed her, awkwardly tugging on his jeans as he caught up to her. As she reached for the door handle, Slade gripped her forearm and spun her around.
Less than an hour ago she had seen Slade as angry as she’d ever seen him, and right now he looked as defeated as she’d ever seen him. This was it. She needed to do it. She should’ve stopped him earlier. But God, she’d needed him one last time. It was selfish, but she hadn’t been able to control herself. Now she hated herself even more.
He pulled away, lifted the T-shirt he had haphazardly thrown on when she stormed out, and carefully undid the tape and gauze. In black cursive letters, still red and swollen it said: Anything worth anything is worth the fight. The same words she had said to him just weeks before.
She read it over and over. She wanted to touch it, to caress the angry skin, but she kept her hand away. Instead a sob escaped her. “A homage to Worth the Fight Academy. It’s beautiful, Slade.”
He kept his distance. “It’s not just for the Academy, Jessica. I’ve only had to fight for two things in my life. One was the Academy, and the other is standing right here next to me. I thought it was worth the fight, Jessica. But now you’re going to tell me, again, that you’re leaving.”
Jessica stared at him, choking back tears. “I…uh…I don’t know what to say.” Unable to contain her emotions any longer, she just blurted out, “I was coming by to tell you I’m leaving for Charlotte. Tonight.”
Slade just stood there, his jaw set. She reached out and tried to touch him, but he stepped back. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she choked back another sob. “I’m so sorry, Slade.”
“That’s it? You’re sorry?”
“Please understand—”
“No! I don’t understand, Jessica.” He stepped forward and grabbed her shoulders not caring about the onlookers on the street. “I love you! I fucking love you!” He let her go.
Her heart skipped a beat and her eyes widened.
“What? You didn’t know that I loved you? How are you so blind? I’ve been fighting for us for God knows how long now. And you are just giving up? You are a coward, Jessica. You’re leaving because you’re scared. You’re scared of putting your heart out there again. I’d never hurt you. And if you think I would, then you don’t know me.”
He turned around and crossed the street back to the Academy. Through her tears she noticed Cain, Travis, and Tony standing by the door of the gym watching.
“You okay, boss?” she heard Travis ask.
“Ask her. She’s leaving tonight,” Slade snapped, not looking back. “Doesn’t give a fuck about anyone but herself.” His voice came out desolate rather than angry. He ran his fingers through his hair, then turned around and shouted to her, “At least tell me you’re coming back next week to testify against Dennis.”
She didn’t answer.
“Jessica!” he yelled. When she didn’t move and didn’t say anything, he dropped his hands to his sides, his fists clenched.
She knew that this was the moment, that she had to make it convincing. “I’m sorry, Slade. I’m leaving. I’m sorry if I hurt you. I don’t feel the same way.” It was physically hurting her to lie to him. “I just…I d-don’t love you, Slade.” One-two punch, right in the gut. It was the only thing she could say to make him believe her, and it was so difficult because she knew this would crush him.
He winced, as if he’d just taken a physical blow to the chest. “Wow. Well, I guess I’m blind, then.” He spat. “I may have slept with a lot of women before you, but I never lied to them and I never manipulated them. You…” He took a step forward. “You used me.” His voice faltered a little before he continued. “You needed a warm body. You are cold and heartless and I can’t believe I fell in love with you. Just leave—let Dennis get away with it. Hope to God he doesn’t do the same thing to another woman. I hope you can sleep at night with that thought, Jessica.” He turned around and opened the door to the Academy, but he threw one last dagger over his shoulder before he disappeared inside. “And I hope you can live with knowing you broke my fucking heart.” His voice was thick with emotion.
She’d broken his heart. And her heart was shattering because of it. There was nothing more she could say. And if there was someone following her, eavesdropping, they’d better have believed it, because she sure as hell believed it herself.
Chapter 15
Full Contact (Worth the Fight #2) Page 22