by Xander Hades
“God, you’re beautiful,” he murmured.
“I can see your opinion from here,” she giggled and flicked the shaft with her finger. It bounced and rose again.
While she was there, she kicked off her shoes and pulled her pants free. Naked, she climbed the bed again and reached for him.
“No,” Rocky said, shaking his head.
Val stopped, confused.
“Bring that up here,” he ordered, flicking a finger at her pussy. “I want to taste you again.”
Despite the brazen way she’d stripped him and the way she’d posed for him, suddenly Val felt… shy. She even blushed a little. Instead of climbing back up to where his head rested on the pillow, she got off again at the side of the bed and turned around. She laid on him, knowing that her 110-pound body would be barely even felt by him. She straddled his face and let him bring her into position, his hands firmly on her hips, drawing her up to where she felt his breath on her most intimate parts. The first touch jolted through her body and she gasped like she’d been electrified.
She’d never actually done this before, the classic 69 position. Somewhat dazed, she leaned over him, feeling his touch all the way down to her toes. The way he played with her, the delicate butterfly wings of his tongue on her sensitive clit, the sensation was almost excruciating, and for a moment she forgot what she was supposed to be doing. His body reminded her, his shaft hard and waiting just beyond her nose. With extreme concentration she leaned over, taking him back into her mouth as he continued to work on her sex, savaging her bud with his tongue.
She popped him into her mouth as much as she could take and swirled her tongue. She stifled a laugh as he moaned into her sex and then caught her breath and nearly gagged as a wave of pleasure swept over her when his shaft was blocking her airway.
She lifted her head and breathed deep, kissing and licking the tip, and brought her mouth to his balls, taking them one at a time into her mouth. He was merciless on her sex, bringing her to the brink of release and letting it fall again and again. She forgot what she was supposed to be doing. She forgot everything. The world was a blur of sensation, of pleasure.
Suddenly, she found herself being tossed aside onto the bed. He rose to stand beside the bed, grabbing one of her ankles and pulling her squealing with laughter to him
He knelt on the mattress and positioned himself at her swollen opening. She tried to buck, to lift her hips into him, to engulf him, but Rocky’s grip was strong, and he held her still until he was ready, she realized he was staring at her, a smile on his face.
“What?” she breathed, her hips shifting restlessly in his grip, trying to get him to take her, to enter her.
“God, you’re so beautiful,” he said and pressed himself home.
He slid into her, burying himself deep. “I love to look at you,” he said between short gasps. Short movements. Val wrapped her legs around his waist and held on to his huge biceps as best she could. They were too large for her hands to wrap around.
He pulled out and she nearly came off the bed with him. She relaxed her legs enough for him to have room and slid down his shaft until he slammed into her again, pinning her to the bed. Again and again his thrusts drove them into the mattress and her hands dug into his back. Her thighs began to twitch and tremble and the wave that was roiling in her was so close, so close and Rocky cried out, arching his back, buried deeply inside of her and her release swamped her, overwhelming her mind.
She held on to him with her legs until she couldn’t hold them anymore and her shuddering rattled her through. She slid down on the mattress, until he lay beside her, breathing heavily.
“I missed you,” she said, her hand reaching for his warmth. It took two tries, but she was able to find his thigh. She was still breathing heavily.
In reply, he reached over and grabbed her, rolling back as she squealed and laughed and placed her head firmly on his chest. His arms surrounded her, holding her tight against him.
“You don’t have to anymore, right? I mean you’re planning on staying? Not just two weeks. I mean…longer.”
She looked up at him, caught by surprise that the conversation would get this serious this fast.
“I’d like that,” she said, a little cautiously. “If I can get a job here. I could maybe finish school here…”
Rocky moved to see her better. “You know,” he said, his hand stroking her hair, “I don’t even know what you do, I mean for work.”
It was true. They’d talked about childhoods but had somehow never gotten into this area of what should have been the first questions. For a minute Val stared at him, wondering why they hadn’t, why he’d never thought to ask before now.
Don’t read too much into it. How long have you known him anyway? And most of that time was spent doing what you are now…
Val smiled, and shook her head, covering her unease with humor. “You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“Try me.”
She stretched and whispered in his ear, “I’m a substitute teacher.”
Rocky’s laugh was the deep, pure kind that you couldn’t help but join in. Val smacked his chest, which had the same effect as hitting an elephant with a sock. “Why is that so funny?”
“Why?” Rocky said, gasping between laughs. “I’ve seen you fight! You could go pro! I can’t picture you being the little school marm with the little hair bun…”
Val snorted. “You haven’t been to school lately,” she said, actually a little put off by his reaction. “It’s tough, these days.”
“Hey, listen,” Rocky said, pulling back so that she could see his eyes. “When I was in junior high, we stole a city bus so we could learn how to drive. I know what it’s like, half the kids in the place are negotiating their education. Some of them can’t go back to their schools or the gangs will kill them for leaving.”
“See?” Val said, propping herself on one elbow, warming to her subject. “That’s why teachers like me are needed. I’ll tear the shits down if they’re violent, but the kids that really want to learn something, someone’s got to give them that chance.”
“Teachers can’t fight students,” Rocky pointed out, “and they all know that.”
“Only in self-defense.” Val agreed, then smiled a little. “I have never been in a fight that wasn’t self-defense.” Technically.
Rocky sighed and kissed her head. “If I had a teacher like you, I probably would have finished school.”
“You did finish school.” She reminded him. “And went to college.”
“Yeah,” he said, a wicked grin on his face, “but I didn’t like it.”
“Well, now, see?” she said, reaching down and grabbing his testicles, all the while smiling at him. “This is the one thing teachers aren’t allowed to do, so I think, I’d rather be in your bed than have you be in my classroom.”
He took her then and kissed her. The passion hadn’t burned away, but it was banked, glowing embers waiting to be rekindled, for the conflagration to start again. But where he’d been rough and demanding and needy the first time around, this time he was tender and soft and treated her like spun glass. It was the fact that he could be both animal and poet that excited her so.
He kissed her eyelids and nose and worked his way to a long, lingering kiss along her jawline. He came back up her neck and then placed his lips on hers and pulled her upper lip with his teeth.
They made love again, slower, more concentrated and this time, she rode him until they both shuddered and fell.
When the first rays of sunlight slipped through the cracks in the blinds, they joined again, the energy of the new dawn invigorating them and their union. It was nearly noon when the bike came out, surprising the neighbor, but Val folded the tarp and Rocky sat on the back of the bike and they rode through the streets of LA to the old motel he’d saved to give a place that was safe for kids to learn and grow.
At no time did either say a word about the dead fighter, or the uncertain future of one Rocky Veliz.<
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Chapter 9
Surprisingly, Murray was waiting there for them. Murray never hung around the center, and looked ill at ease surrounded by curious kids, who hovered around him in groups of pretense, kids pretending to play, to have conversations, to be busy doing stuff when actually what each and every one of them was looking for was an ear as to what was going on. Rocky realized the kids probably already knew about the fight last night. They tended to follow his actions, they’d known a man died. Judging from the worry on their faces, they wondered what this would mean to them. Rocky understood that old young look only too well. Kids in this neighborhood had an awareness of financial matters that kids that age shouldn’t have. But most had been on the receiving end of a lot of nothing, and now they were looking to see if Rocky was going to join that long list of adults who’d already let them down.
Unhappy to say the least that this kind of tension had to be introduced into what was meant to be a safe place, Rocky introduced Val to the kids with a distracted air, not doing it the way he’d wanted to. It had meant a lot to him, this meeting between them and her. He’d wanted to see if she would fit into his world, and had wanted to make that transition easier. But right now, he was more anxious to hear what Murray had to say. Only the kids wouldn’t let him alone. They acted up, looking for attention, especially now when things were so uncertain. They clamored for his attention, begged for details of the fight, even went so far as to ask him if the center was going to close. He gave reassurances he wasn’t sure of himself and finally extricated himself by saying, “Murray, come into the office, ok?” and then just leading him and Val both through the gauntlet to the only space in the entire building that was well and truly off limits.
Rocky led the three of them to the old motel office. He’d remodeled, but the old waiting area and “continental breakfast buffet” area were still easy to identify.
There was definitely some remodeling on the place. The lobby proper had high ceilings, making it the perfect location for the small ring with ropes and a bell. Back where the ceiling came down lower, where the check-in desk had been was a heavy bag hanging from a chain, skip ropes hanging on every hook and gloves and guards. On the other end of the room, there was a little closed-in place with a desk piled high with papers and a few scattered chairs. It was a pseudo-gym, the best location he could find for the money, even if half the rooms on the second floor were unusable until the roof got fixed. Which wasn’t looking like it was going to happen anytime soon.
The population of The Cage was a drifting thing. Most of the kids stayed at the motel itself, a constantly fluctuating number of teens, most of whom had nowhere else to go. He didn’t tolerate runaways for long, but understood sometimes the need to get out for a night or two. Most kids came from pretty crappy homes, and needed that safe place to stay. The Cage kept them clean, and kept them off the streets. The adult volunteers worked with the kids, looking for more permanent solutions when the system failed. Learning to fight gave them focus, confidence, and sometimes even the skills to keep them from harm. A retired cop came in a couple nights a week to teach self-defense to an ever-growing number of women and teens who were at high risk. Counselors volunteered their time to work through the deeper issues.
At first, Rocky had worried that the neighborhood wouldn’t support what he was trying to do when he’d bought the old motel. But as time went by, the kids from the area had flocked in as well, making The Cage a hangout, the only youth center for blocks, and the only place where you didn’t need to be in a gang to belong.
Not that he hadn’t had troubles from that quarter. But so far, Rocky had managed to keep the place a neutral zone of sorts, though it was a challenge just to keep the lights on.
And now one fight could wreck it all.
The kids trailed after him toward the office, until he felt like the fucking Pied Piper. He didn’t have the patience for their needs, their constant stream of chatter this morning. Val was already looking a little spooked by the whole thing, and this constant barrage of need was about to send her running. He motioned for one of the volunteers working with a group by the ring to rescue him, and turned in relief when the largest portion of the group broke off good-naturedly grumbling, leaving only Letitia and her cousin Marta hovering around him, both of which had been a self-proclaimed fan club for a while now and were giving Val the evil eye that only a woman who felt her turf threatened could give. Finally losing patience entirely, Rocky shouted at them to bug off, and wished for the thousandth time that he had an actual office with a door you could shut when you needed some privacy.
With a sigh he settled on the edge of the desk and gave Murray the stink eye. “OK, give it to me.”
***
Rocky had to yell at a couple of the kids that had refused to go away. It was the first time she’d seen him angry and she wasn’t sure what to think. The entire place was a little overwhelming. He’d talked about the kids he’d worked with, but she had no idea that he’d created not just a little gym but an entire freaking foundation. There were a couple dozen teens hanging around the place inside, twice that number shooting baskets in the parking lot or just hanging out, most of those kids younger. Supervised by a couple older teens, kids aged out of foster care that exchanged work for a place to sleep at night.
She was impressed. She was amazed. She was absolutely intimidated.
What had she gotten into?
The problem was, she really didn’t know him all that well. And now seeing him in this place had changed her view of him. The raised voice…she didn’t know if that was part of this world or not, and it left her a little shaky and unsure. When her parents had died, it had left her with a hole that couldn’t be filled. It had also left her with a vague sense of relief that her father’s heavy hand was no longer upon her, nor would it ever be again. That shout, that angry look in Rocky’s eyes as he sent the girls scurrying had brought her back to a time she’d thought she was done with.
And now she wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
On the other hand, this is a highly stressful time for him. It could be just the pressure.
Rocky motioned her to the only chair and perched on the edge of the desk, and picked up a baseball that had been left in among the clutter. Her rolled it back and forth in his palms, edgy, nervous, as he looked at his manager. There was no smile on his face. It was as though he’d already steeled himself to hear the worst. “OK, give it to me.”
“Rocky,” Murray said, standing ill at ease among the clutter, a man too white for his surroundings. “The good news is that the police agree that this was an accident. They’ve got no cause or desire to investigate or bring you in. As far as Detective Smalls is concerned, this is a closed case.”
“Well, that’s good,” Rocky said slowly. The pain in his eyes didn’t fade though. Despite the wonderful night they’d shared, she knew that the accident had stayed with him. It had been there when they woke, in that distance that had leapt up between them in the bright light of day.
She was reminded suddenly of a story from Greek mythology. There had been a man named Damocles who was given a feast by a king. Damocles wanted to know what it was like to be king and so the king had arraigned for this party and hung a sword, blade down, over his chair. It was tied up with a single human hair. He’d spent the entire feast waiting for the sword to fall.
Rocky had been like Damocles last night. The sex was wonderful and sometimes rough, sometimes tender. They did laugh and chat and sleep. But she caught him when he thought she wasn’t looking. She saw the haunted expression, the look he had when he focused on something deep in his soul and forgot that the rest of the world was there.
She’d kissed him, stroked him, jumped him and for a moment, she was able to make him forget, for a while, she was able to let him sleep. But the ghost of a stranger in the cage was never far away, never gone. All she was able to do was to get Rocky focused on something else for a short time.
Maybe she shouldn’t have worn
him out with sex, so soon after his fight. She’d been exhausted too, after the long ride that morning to arrive in LA on time. But he needed to sleep and she knew that he couldn’t unless he had no energy to worry anymore. It had maybe been manipulative, but they’d needed that reconnection as well.
Yet all morning long, he’d fretted over that fight like a pit bull gnawing a bone, working over every inch, replaying it again and again in his mind trying to pry out some sense. He never said a word to her about it, but she knew, it was that obvious in the long silences, in the way his eyes had been a million miles away since they’d gotten here.
“Well, of course not!” she told Murray now, reading to once again rise to Rocky’s defense. She was getting heartily sick of the man and his half-shaded innuendos. “It was a fair fight. What happened was a freak accident.”
“Well, there is a coroner’s inquest, like I said. They’re going to determine cause of death, but that’s going to take some time.”
“What aren’t you saying, Murray?” Rocky said, his hand clenching around the baseball. “Why did you come all the way down here to tell me that?”
“Because…” Murray sighed and shook his head. “The MMA is waiting for the determination of cause of death.” He raised his voice over the sound Rocky made of frustration and disbelief. “They acknowledge that it was an accident,” he insisted and then lowered his voice again with a look to the kids gathered around the ring, hopefully too far away to hear. “They just haven’t determined if it was a preventable accident. It wasn’t sanctioned,” he ticked off the list on his fingers, “he was overmatched, and after the way you fought in Sturgis…”