by Jane Price
In what felt like forever, he finally arrived at the warehouse. He got out quickly, before entering through a rickety door on the left. He looked around trying to spot Cassandra but saw nothing. Sighing, he climbed a flight of stairs. The stairway was dark and grimy. Finally, he made his way to the top. The door, however, was locked.
He tried to turn the knob again, but it wouldn’t budge. Taking a deep breath he rammed himself forward, crashing into the door until it broke away under his weight. He coughed a bit as the debris surrounded him before looking around. His eyes fell on Cassandra who was in Benjamin’s grasp.
“Vincent!” Benjamin suddenly pulled her hair making her wince.
Benjamin glared at him angrily. “Let her go!” He yelled, looking at the Russian, fury in his eyes. The Russian chuckled.
“Fight me for her then,” he said calmly. Vincent looked at the Russian as he mentally thought of the crooked nose he now wore on his face. Taking a deep breath he nodded. This time, he wouldn’t lose.
Benjamin smirked and handed off Cassandra to a man standing nearby.
“Now this will be a dirty fight. Anything applies.” Benjamin took a quick look at Cassandra who looked nervous. She wondered what would happen if Vincent lost this fight. She knew it wouldn’t be a good thing for her or for Vincent. With her heart in her throat, she watched as the two men circled around each other.
Unlike at the Triple S they had no protective equipment. This meant they could get seriously hurt. They continued to circle around before Benjamin suddenly pulled out a knife. Vincent’s eyes went big as he looked at the long blade, but he knew he had to keep his head in the game if he wanted to save his girlfriend.
So as Benjamin tried to jab at his opponent, Vincent dodged. He managed to dodge every attack, sidestepping and jumping at all the right moments until he saw his target of opportunity. With Benjamin slightly distracted he threw his punch with all the strength he had. Benjamin, caught by surprise took on the full effect of the blow and fell to the ground, unconscious.
Vincent looked down at the fallen brute in surprise. He had done it. Somehow he had beaten his enemy. He smiled big looking at Cassandra. The man holding her looked shocked before leaving the room, leaving them alone.
With a smirk on his face, he walked over to her.
“My knight in shining armor,” she whispered, looking up at him, wrapping her arms around him, kissing him deeply. They continued to kiss for a moment, their lips dancing with their passion. Eventually, they pulled away and Vincent looked down into her beautiful eyes knowing that this woman wasn’t just his trainer, she was someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
*****
THE END
Caged Passion
The wheels of the plane landed on the ground and the entire plane shuddered, jostling Melissa awake. She hadn’t meant to sleep through the whole flight to Vegas but she never did, it always found a way of happening though. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stared out the window.
The lights from the strip could still be seen, even from the landing strip. It was truly something to be admired. Melissa looked down and looked at her watch. She had planned out the trip so that she would arrive a little bit before her best friend, and nearly newlywed, Sarah.
The whole trip to Vegas had been planned around her, but Melissa knew that she would need to make sure that she didn’t get left behind. While Sarah may be her best friend the two had grown apart over the past few years.
Sarah was the typical good girl and when she started dating her financial advisor husband, she didn’t have time for the rebellious Melissa anymore. They talked over text and email, but their days of going out and drinking were over. Sarah had found new friends and there was nothing she could do about it. They were the perfect cookie cutter women for her new life.
So, when Sarah told Melissa that she would be celebrating her bachelorette party in Vegas, Melissa knew that if she wanted to enjoy the trip she would have to take some things into her own hands.
Namely, she needed to get there early so she could test her luck at the Blackjack tables before the others had a chance to tell her not to waste her money on gambling. Melissa was in Vegas, she was going gamble.
She made her way off the plane and got a taxi to take her to their hotel. She couldn’t check in for a few hours, but at least she would be in the right place for when Sarah would arrive. Melissa dropped off her bags at the main reception area and walked in through the large doors towards the gambling lounge. She stepped through the doors and was immediately in heaven.
In one corner of the large room were slot machines, their arms rattling and their slots shooting out coins. In the center of the room were large tables with people circled around them watching as dice rolled up and down the felt tops.
Roulette tables were scattered throughout, small white balls clacking around, waiting to drop. As her eyes scanned the room she found what she was looking for. The Blackjack tables. She made a beeline for the tables and sat down at the first one she came across.
The dealer was a small man with wrinkles covering his face. His hands were small and frail and as she sat down she was unsure that he would even be able to deal out the cards. He looked up at her slowly and saw the money she had her hands clenched around. His eyes widened and he smiled.
“Change only, one thousand dollars,” the small man shouted over his shoulder. Melissa watched as he laid out the money and counted it. He pulled out a few chips and slid them across the table for her. “Seeing as it’s only you at the table. You know the rules of Blackjack?” Melissa nodded without a word. “Alright, good luck.”
With incredibly speedy and deftness of hands the little man threw cards out right into their spot. He placed his own and then her second card. Melissa looked down to see what she was working with. An ace and a king. “Blackjack,” the dealer says with a smile. He flips his cards to reveal a ten and a four. Flipping a third card he sees a queen. “Dealer busts. Looks like it’s a lucky day for you.”
The next few hours flew by. Melissa’s chips fluctuated for a half hour, but the second half of her first hour was win after win. By the end of her gambling window she had turned her thousand dollars into ten thousand dollars.
She looked down at her watch and noticed that Sarah and the others would be arriving any minute and might already be arriving. She slid a chip worth one hundred dollars across the table to the man who took it with a wink. Grabbing her chips she made her way to cash out as quickly as possible.
As they finished cashing her out, Melissa turned and saw Sarah and the others walking into the main lobby of the hotel. She jogged out to meet them and watched as Sarah’s face lit up.
“Melissa, oh my god. It’s been too long.” Melissa and Sarah hugged as she said this.
“I know, we’ve just been so busy with everything we have going on.” Melissa nodded knowingly, but Melissa heard one of the Sarah’s friends scoff under her breath. Melissa looked over Sarah’s shoulder and picked the woman out. “I’m sorry, what was that?” The woman looked up horrified.
“What? Oh, nothing. There was, uh, something caught in my throat.” Melissa shot daggers out of her eyes at the woman, but Sarah intervened.
“Melissa, I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it.” Sarah looked back at the woman averted her gaze. “I know that you’ve been working hard. And I know that things have been difficult since I met Brandon.” Melissa shook her head.
“It’s really not that big of a deal, I just wanted to make sure that your new friends knew where we stood.” Sarah laughed uncomfortably as Melissa stared them down. She knew that her job as a bartender wasn’t much compared to the jobs the men that these women were married to had, but she was proud.
Melissa had been moving up at her restaurant and was getting more responsibility. It was a big improvement from where she had been after college. She had always been impulsive, and the fact that she had a steady job meant a lot.
“So, how lo
ng have you been waiting? Not long I hope.” Sarah rested her hand on Melissa’s arm and she laughed.
“Oh, no. I only got here a few minutes before you. I was just checking out what the hotel had to offer.” Melissa said this with a smile as a man in a suit walked up and tapped Melissa on the shoulder. She turned and looked up at him. She didn’t think she had done anything wrong, she had only been here for a few hours.
“Ma’am, myself and the staff of this hotel would like to congratulate you on your winnings. We’d like to upgrade your rooms this evening and if there are any shows or events you’d like to see, please let the receptionist know and she’ll set everything up for you.”
Melissa thanked the man and took his card which had a few words scratched onto it for the receptionist. She turned around to see the look of shock on all of Sarah’s friends’ faces. Sarah however didn’t look surprised at all.
“Only a few minutes, huh?” Melissa shrugged causing them both to break into laughter. “Well, let’s go check out this upgraded room, shall we?”
****
Melissa and Sarah spent the next two hours catching up while the other girls got ready to go out for the night. Sarah and Melissa had made a pact that Melissa wouldn’t even try to go after any guys because this was their chance to be together once last time before Sarah became a responsible married woman forever.
While it pained Melissa to realize that this was the end of their long and glorious friendship of going out and getting trashed together, she always knew that it would end with Sarah being happy to leave the life behind.
So as the other girls gussied up, Sarah and Melissa sat drinking alcoholic ciders to prepare for the long evening. There was a knock at the door and Melissa stood up to get it. She swung the door open to reveal the same man from the lobby, however this time he was holding a stack of tickets. He held them out for her and she took them, flipping through them to see what they were.
“Hello, Ms. Brooks. As I said before, we’d love to comp an event for you this evening and I was wondering which one you had in mind.” From the other room Melissa heard a few of the girls shout about some pop star that was supposedly in town, but Melissa had done her research. The best way to get these ladies laid was to bring them to a place that would get everyone excited.
“How about this MMA fight tonight? I heard that it was supposed to be a bloodbath.” The man nodded and picked out the ticket from the stack. He signed something onto the ticket and handed it back to her.
“Of course, just stop off at the front desk before you head out for your passes. Enjoy your evening, ma’am.” Melissa thanked him and closed the door as he walked away. She turned back around and saw all the girls in the room staring at her. Sarah merely sat on the couch and looked on in enjoyment.
“Is there a problem?” As soon as the last word left her lips there was a storm of questions that poured out of the women’s mouths. Some were surprisingly hurtful, but the majority were legitimate concerns. Melissa waved her hands to quiet them. “Listen, listen, listen. You all want to meet someone tonight, right?” They fell silent, and a few even nodded.
“Then we can’t spend our nights where they expect us to be. Those are where the sleaze balls will be. We need to go and find the good ones.” The women were now nodding knowingly. “So, we go to a fight. Men who go watch fights will have their testosterone spiked. They’ll be easy targets, ladies. Trust me.”
The hours before the fight were pretty hectic. The girls rushed to get ready and Melissa and Sarah continued to drink. They changed to shots when the others were ready and by the time they were ready to leave for the fight, Melissa and Sarah were fairly giggly. They stopped off at reception and got their wristbands and then like a gaggle of schoolgirls they made their way down the strip to the arena where the fight was.
Melissa must have been a big winner because they nearly had ringside seats when they were escorted to their seats by a small man dressed in a suit who read the note on their ticket. As they all sat down Melissa watched as the other women began to scan the crowd for potential targets. They were on high alert. However, Melissa couldn’t worry about that. She had to worry about being with Sarah. Just as she had that thought a man sat down in the seat beside her.
“Excuse me, miss.” She turned to see who had spoken and saw the most interesting man she had ever laid eyes on. He was a tall, Caucasian man but he had a dark, even tan as if he worked outside a lot. His profile was incredibly defined and his jawline looked like it could cut glass.
His eyes were an emerald green that caught the lights of the arena in a way that Melissa was almost nervous to look directly into them for fear of being blinded. His arms weren’t that large, but they were tense, like coiled metal.
She looked down at his knuckles and saw that they were shredded and covered in blood and scabs. He was wearing jeans with a baggy, white undershirt. It was slightly stained, but in the kind of way that it could have been bought that way.
“Oh, no problem at all, sir.” He turned and looked at her when she said ‘sir,’ and chuckled. He looked back towards the octagon where lightweight fighters had just started their fight. The arena was fairly empty, most people were waiting for the main event.
As soon as he settled into his seat one of Sarah’s friends leaned over in front of both Sarah and Melissa and shouted down the row of people at the man.
“Hey, handsome. My name is Madeline, what’s yours?” The man turned and politely cocked his head to hear her better. He held his finger up to his ear as if to say he couldn’t hear her so she yelled louder.
He continued to mime as though he couldn’t hear her until she gave up and turned her attention to her drink. Melissa laughed when she turned away and the man once again looked at her.
“Sorry, that’s not one of your friends is it?” Melissa looked at him and shook her head.
“Oh, no. I’m here for my friend’s bachelorette party. I’m the black sheep and the cling-on from her time as a fun, single lady.” The man held out his hand and introduced himself.
“Well it’s lovely to meet you, Black Sheep. I’m Thomas.” Melissa took his hand and shook it.
“That’s not a bad nickname, but my given name is Melissa in case you’re interested.” Thomas laughed and turned his attention back towards the fight.
“That’s a nice name, although I like Black Sheep too.” As he said this a few men dressed in suits run up and start shouting at Thomas. However, they’re not calling him Thomas, they’re calling him ‘Slain Lane.’ He absently waved towards the men and looked back at Melissa. “It’s a better nickname than that at least.”
“Well how’d you get that nickname?” She looked down at his knuckles as she asked the question and he followed her eyes.
“Yeah, I’m a fighter.” He pointed down towards the octagon. “I’ll actually be fighting right there tomorrow night.” Melissa looked back out towards the octagon. A few more people called out as they walked by.
“However, I got that name because I’m a guaranteed loss. Easily slain I suppose. With the last name ‘Lane,’ it was pretty simple for them.” He looked down at the ground and shook his head. A man in a suit walked over and called out to him using his full name. He looked up and turned to Melissa. “I’ll be right back.”
Melissa watched as Thomas strode away. She found it hard to believe that someone his size could ever lose. He was easily a few inches over six foot and couldn’t be considered a heavy weight. He had long arms and she could tell that his legs were steady like tree trunks.
He leaned down to listen to what the man whispered into his ear and he nodded. Melissa watched his face fall as the man walked away. Thomas made his way back over and brought over a server with him. He stood in front of their whole group and got all the girls’ attentions.
“Ladies, this is Freddie. He’s always been my server, he’s the best in the business. Your drinks for the rest of the night are on me, so don’t worry about that.” He turned to Sarah. “Enjoy
your last few nights as a single woman. It’s a shame to see you go before I even got to meet you.” All the ladies loudly swooned.
He then turned to Melissa and handed her a piece of paper. “I’m sorry to cut off our chat. I’d love to see you later tonight.” Melissa nodded and looked down at the piece of the paper. The name of a bar and a phone number were written on it. Sarah leaned over and read it as well.
“You should go.” Melissa shook her head and put the paper inside her pocket.
“No, I’m here for you. Not some random guy.” Sarah playfully slapped Melissa.
“That’s not the Melissa I know and love. You go and have fun. You’ve already done your part to make this evening great.” Melissa laughed and they hugged. Melissa stood up and chased down Thomas as he went to leave. She reached out and grabbed his arm, slipping hers under it.