Fight of Life (Perception Book 3)

by Shandi Boyes

  “I’m ready. Organise the fight” I instruct him, triggering him to smile brightly.

  Hank has been telling me for the past few months that I am ready to compete in my first UFC heavy weight fight, but I kept coming up with excuses as to why I didn’t believe I was.

  Now I am ready. It is time to start focusing on me.

  Chapter 7

  Lola

  I hesitated when I originally sent Jacob a text saying that I was due to start work at Mavericks at 7pm. I knew he had offered to drive me, but I still feel like I am using him for a lift. He instantly replied saying that he would pick me up at six.

  Maggie had contacted me during the week advising that she would supply me with a shirt once I arrived for my first shift and that I was to supply my own white jeans. I didn’t have a pair of white jeans so I decided to wear my white denim shorts instead.

  Not long after I had put on the last of my makeup, I heard a beep of a car horn at the front of our house. I peered out past the lace curtain and noticed Jacob sitting in his car in our driveway. I grabbed my purse out of my room and quickly darted into Emily’s.

  “I will see you later tonight” I inform Emily, who is lying in the middle of her bedroom floor reading a large text book.

  “Ok, good luck” she replies excitedly as she looks up from her book.

  I give her a quick wave, before I bolt out of our small and poky house, shaking my head at the thought of Emily spending her Friday night reading a big text book. Sounds like such a fun night, NOT!

  “Hi Jacob” I greet brightly. When I jump into the passenger seat of his car, I notice that he is wearing a light blue long sleeve polo shirt and a pair of khaki trousers. The blue in his shirt makes his eyes stand out even more than normal.

  “Hey Lola, you ready?” he replies friendly, but I notice that his tone is more stern than normal.

  “Yep’ I reply excitedly. Tonight was my first official shift at Mavericks and even though it is an old piece of shit pub, I am still excited about finally securing a job.

  “How was your week?” I question, trying to spark a conversation. Jacob scratches his eyebrow, while he shrugs his shoulders. He must be having a really bad week? I am sure I can help put a smile back on his face.

  I unbuckle my seatbelt and slowly move over towards him. He instantly stiffens when he feels my lips touch his skin, but as I continue to place delicate kisses along his jawline, I feel his defensiveness starting to lessen.

  “Did someone have a bad week? Do you need me to make it all better?” I purr seductively in his ear, before I gently tug on his earlobe with my teeth.

  “I thought you said you didn’t want to date” he replies roughly. His voice sounds like he has swallowed a heap of gravel, making it even deeper than normal.

  “I don’t” I reply as I slowly glide my hand down his rock hard chest, before grabbing a hold of cock roughly through his trousers.

  “That doesn’t mean we still can’t have some fun” I whisper seductively. I can feel Jacob’s cock stiffen under my hand as his eyes turn from the road to look at me.

  “Unless you don’t want to?” I reply cheekily as I swiftly remove my hand from his crutch and sit back down in the passenger seat.

  I watch Jacob’s side profile as he tries to hide his smile and miserably fails. His mood immediately lifting from my playful banter.

  “Cock tease” he murmurs softly as he continues our drive to Mavericks.

  “Don’t ever forget it” I reply cheekily, causing Jacob to erupt into a deep rumbling laugh.

  When we arrived at Mavericks, Jacob headed straight to his friends and I walked straight to the bar. Maggie greeted me kindly, but I witnessed her eyes narrowing when she looked down at my white denim shorts.

  “I didn’t have any jeans” I inform, while she stares daggers at my bare legs.

  “Uh huh and?” she questions sarcastically as her blue eyes flick up to look me in the eyes.

  “And I will get some after my first pay” I answer. Jesus, I had underestimated Maggie. She is more stern with me than I had seen her interact with the boys last Friday.

  “Go through those doors, there are shirts sitting on the shelves as you enter. Find your size, get changed and then meet me back here” she instructs, pointing to a wooden door at the back of the bar.

  I nod my head in understanding, before making my way towards the door. When I eventually pull open the large heavy door, I locate several red shirts folded neatly in a pile on an old rusted shelf. I grab the smallest size I can find and commence pulling off my black singlet top to replace it with a Mavericks shirt.

  “Oh shit, sorry” mumbles a voice near the doorway. I quickly slip the Mavericks shirt over my head before turning towards the voice.

  An elderly guy with a shiny bald head is holding his hands up in front of his eyes, reassuring me that he wasn’t just looking at my breasts through their lace bra.

  “It’s safe now” I giggle, looking down to gaze at my new shirt. The small size makes it look like I have painted the shirt directly onto my cleavage. It’s a perfect fit! The gentleman hesitantly lowers his hands down, ensuring that I am fully covered, before he walks over and stands next to me.

  “Hi, I am Ollie” he greets, offering me his hand to shake. Ollie would have to be at least sixty. He is wearing black trousers and a shirt similar to mine, but his shirt is skin tight around his large belly.

  “I’m Lola, it’s my first night working here” I inform while accepting his handshake.

  “There are bathrooms located just through that door over there” he advises, pointing to a door that has ‘toilet’ written across the front.

  “Thanks” I reply sarcastically while rolling my eyes. It literally took me five seconds to change my shirt where I am standing, so why would I need to go all the way into the bathroom to do it?

  “What do you do here?” I question friendly, trying to change the course of our conversation. He definitely isn’t the doorman/security type of guy, so my guess would be that he is the cook.

  “I’m the owner” he replies firmly, before he heads towards an office located just past the shelves I was just getting changed in front of. Shit! I was normally much better at first impressions, especially with men.

  I place my purse into one of the empty lockers in the small staffroom, before I walk back out to the bar. The first person I spot as I exit is Jacob and his eyes nearly bulge out of his head when he spots my skin tight shirt. I give him a little wink while I strut my way over to Maggie, who is stacking glasses into a large dishwasher.

  “What would you like me to do?” I question. When she looks up from the dishwasher, her face morphs into shock as her eyes roam over my outfit.

  “Go and put on some more clothes” she replies sarcastically, causing me to laugh. When her eyes narrow and she looks at me sternly, I suddenly stop laughing.

  “Maggie be nice” states a deep voice to my left. Peering towards the voice, I spot Noah standing behind the bar. He is wearing a similar outfit to the first time I had seen him, except this time he has on a black leather jacket, giving his bad boy allure even more appeal.

  “What can I get you?” I question in my professional bartender voice. He smiles brightly, making me slightly falter in my step as I walk towards him. Noah’s hotness is certainly off the Richter scale, but he has an edge to him that is a little unnerving.

  “A beer would be great” he replies smiling.

  I quickly dart my eyes around trying to find where Maggie stores the beers. In the corner of my eye I see Noah pointing down to underneath the bar. Peering down, I notice that there are several glass door bar fridges filled to the brim with beers. I quickly swoop down and grab one of the beers to serve him.

  “That will be…” I start to instruct, but I have no idea how much the beers actually costs.

  Noah laughs before he opens the beer and starts drinking it while walking away.

  “The bands drinks are free” advises Maggie as she m
oves over and stands next to me.

  “You already know Noah, the blonde haired one on Noah’s left is Nick, the dark skin cutie on the right is Marcus and the one with the dreadlocks is Slater. They are the band members of ‘Rise Up’ and they get unlimited free drinks every Friday night” she instructs as she wipes down the bar top with a red dish cloth.

  “Tonight I will just get you to serve beers and then over the next couple of shifts I will teach you how to mix a few drinks” she informs while taking an order from another patron.

  For the next four hours, I am completely run off my feet and I am utterly exhausted by the time eleven pm comes around. I didn’t realise that a shit hole like Mavericks could be so popular. Once the band had finished their set, the crowd slowly started to filter out of the bar.

  “You did surprisingly well” informs Maggie. This causes me to smile. I am glad that I had managed to impress her, as she seems like the type of person that doesn’t offer unnecessary compliments.

  “You are right to head off and I will text you some more shifts tomorrow” she informs as she starts putting away the glasses that had just came out of the dishwasher.

  I gather my purse from the backroom and walk over towards Jacob, who is sitting around a wooden bar table with all of the band members of ‘Rise Up’ and a few extra females that were not there at the start of the night.

  “How did you go?” Jacob questions the instant he sees me.

  “Good, Maggie is texting me some extra shifts for next week” I respond excitedly, as one of the girls sitting around the table angrily narrows her eyes at me. Obviously she was vying for Jacob’s attention tonight.

  “Great! Then we better start those driving lessons soon” he replies, triggering Noah’s eyebrows to raise when he overhears our conversation.

  Chapter 8

  Jacob

  I knew even though Lola didn’t match in with the regular bartenders at Mavericks that she would do well once she started working here. She seems to have a strong work ethic, actually she seems to have a strong personality in general. Maggie can appear a little bit stern to start with, but she has a good heart. She probably didn’t like Lola as she reminded her of herself at the same age. I have overheard stories about Maggie back in her younger years. She definitely had, and probably still does have, a wild side.

  “Are you ready to head out?” I question Lola, noticing that she seems a little flat on her feet.

  “Yes” she huffs loudly “My feet are killing me” she declares as she removes her black high heel shoes. She may need to reconsider her shoe selection for her next shift.

  “You ready Noah?” I question. He is talking to a pretty brunette who has been fluttering her eyelashes at him that much I was starting to get worried that she was having a seizure.

  I had forgotten to tell Noah that I had offered to drive Lola home tonight and he had already had a few beers by the time I remembered. Nick and Marcus have plans with some girls they had met tonight and Slater rode his motorcycle here. Noah refuses to sit on the back of his bike like a ‘bitch’ so he has no choice but to come with me to drop Lola home.

  “Yep” he answers, causing his companion to pout. He lifts his beer and quickly guzzles the remainder of its contents before standing.

  The drive back to Lola’s house is noticeably quiet, that I was starting to wonder if Noah had fallen asleep in the back seat.

  “Do you guys want to come in?” Lola offers the instant I pull my car into her driveway.

  This surprises me. She had been so adamant that we were never going to date and now I am getting invited inside her house. Earlier tonight I had purposely sat in my car and honked my horn to advise her I had arrived. Normally I would have walked to her door and knocked, but she wants to keep us in the friend’s zone so I was treating her the exact same way as I treat all of my friends. The only difference between her and my friends is that I have fucked Lola and want to continue fucking her.

  I turn my gaze back towards Noah to seek his opinion. His eyes dart between Lola and I in the front seat, before he slowly nods his head.

  The instant we enter the small cosy lounge room the vibe suddenly shifts. Lola attaches herself to me as soon as I sit down on a small floral sofa. She sits on the side of the chair and cheekily banters back and forth, while batting her eyelashes seductively. I slowly place my hand on her bare thigh to see if it sparks a reaction out of her and she doesn’t even flinch against my touch.

  “Are you horny?” I whisper in her ear, ensuring that Noah doesn’t overhear our conversation.

  “Seriously Jacob” she giggles as she slaps me playfully on the chest.

  I am confused as fuck and can’t work out why her demeanour has shifted so suddenly. She then shocks me even more when she positions herself so she is sitting directly in my lap to suck and nibble on my lips, causing my dick to start stiffening.

  “Just shut up and kiss me Jacob” she whispers sternly. She didn’t need to ask me twice. This girl has lips that sinful they should belong to the devil.

  After a few minutes making out, Lola pulls away from our embrace and gives out a little huff.

  “Thanks for the lift” she whispers, giving me a clear indication that it was time for me to leave. I narrow my eyes slightly at her, causing her to wink at me. If things keep going like this, I am going to get the most severe case of blue balls.

  “Well we better head out, Noah are you ready?” I ask peering over at Noah, who looks mighty uncomfortable sitting on the double sofa seat.

  “Sure am” he replies as he jumps up from his seat. “Is it ok if I just hit the can before we leave?” he questions, making Lola smile brightly, while waggling her eyebrows.

  “Sure, it’s just down the end of the hall on the left” Lola replies, before returning her lips back to my mouth. This girl is confusing the fuck out of me.

  Only once Noah leaves the room, does Lola un-suction herself from my lips, before standing up and moving away from me.

  “Finally” she whispers excitedly.

  “What are you up to Lola?” I question confused, while trying to get my raging hard on under control.

  “I just told him the bathroom is on the left” she giggles while waggling her eyebrows. I look over at her still confused, motioning that I clearly don’t understand what is going on.

  “The bathroom is on the right; my sister’s room is on the left” she informs while giggling. “Now let’s watch the sparks fly” she continues excitedly, while rubbing her hands together.

  “I don’t think you are seeing the full picture. You don’t know Noah, like I know Noah. He is the male version of you” I reply, causing her confused eyes to turn towards me.

  “He isn’t interested in dating anyone” I explain, triggering Lola to smile brightly, which causes my dick to start stiffening again.

  “Jacob finally catches on” she giggles sarcastically, before she seductively prances over towards me and leaps into my arms.

  “But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends” she advises as she lowers down her red painted lips and gives me another scorching hot kiss. If this is how Lola treats all her friends, I am going to be the best fucking friend she has ever had.

  ****

  Noah remained quiet most of our drive home. It is only once we are a few miles out of Erkinsvale does he finally break his silence.

  “Do you know much about Lola’s sister Emily?” he questions. This causes me to turn my gaze from the road to look at him with my eyebrows being extended high into my hairline.

  Once Noah notices my silence, he turns to face me. I attempt a smart ass comment, but I am left a little dumbfounded that Noah seems to be interested in Lola’s sister. I also can’t stop smirking at the confused look on his face.

  “Get fucked” he murmurs under his breath when he spots my surprised expression.

  Noah doesn’t say another word until I pull my car into the driveway of our house.

  “Can you ask Lola for Emily’s number?�
� he requests as his dark confused eyes stare directly at me.

  “Nope, not going to happen” I reply sternly.

  “Why not?” he instantly rebuts.

  “You don’t date and Lola said she is a dating type of girl” I respond, before opening my door and climbing out to head inside.

  Noah quickly bolts out of my car and sprints to catch up with me. Making me realise that he is even more interested in Emily than I had first anticipated.

  “I didn’t say I was going to date her; I just want to get to know her more” he informs while trying to keep his composure cool and calm, but he isn’t fooling anyone. I can already see small beads of sweat forming along his forehead.