by London Casey
I stroked his cock, leaning to the left of his wide back so I could see my hand work.
Noah took his shirt off and threw it on the bed. His skin smelled warm and manly. Hints of his soap and a little sweat climbed up my nose and shot straight down between my legs like a roller coaster drop.
He let out a sigh and made fists.
“That’s right,” I whispered and kissed his triceps. “Come for me, baby.”
My thumb slid over the ridge of the tip of his cock. I rolled over and played, feeling a little moisture. Christ, it had me so turned on. I brought my hand back down, all the way to the root of his cock and squeezed. He was so full, his veins throbbing.
I moved my hand again, started to speed up. Slowly, Noah started to rock back and forth, thrusting at my hand. When he thrust forward his stomach flexed.
I kept kissing his arm, groaning each time I felt the head of his cock pressed through the tight O my hand made. I wanted him inside me, but I wanted this to be for him. About him.
I bit at his arm as my panties started to pull against my body from the wetness. Then Noah reached back and jammed his hand between my legs. He curled his fingers, so fucking strong that it brought me to my toes. The pressure was intense, even through my jeans and panties. I grabbed the back of his shoulder with my other hand and whimpered.
“Come for me, baby,” he teased and then let out a hiss.
My hand moved faster and harder, climbing and descending the steel length of his dick. He pressed his fingers harder between my legs, making a small circular motion, rubbing my clit ever-so-gently but enough to bring me to climax.
I felt like a fool as I started to gush, feeling the wild rush of pleasure attack.
“Oh, fuck,” I whimpered as I bit at his arm again.
Noah grabbed my wrist and moved my hand to the head of his cock. I stayed right there, pumping faster than ever.
He started to groan, rocking back and forth.
He then thrust forward with a final groan, every muscle in his body flexing.
He came, shooting forward to the bed. The spurts hit the shirt he had been wearing, over and over. I watched in awe, my body achy and wishing that he was deep inside me.
I slowed my motion, running my hand up and down him slowly, leaving his own orgasm spread along his throbbing shaft.
We were both breathing heavy as Noah turned to face me. Without a word, we started to kiss. My hand stopped jerking him, but I didn’t let him go. His hand moved from between my legs to my waist.
I wanted to stay there forever.
But I knew we couldn’t.
I broke the kiss.
I took my hand off his cock.
“I need a shower now,” he said.
“Yes, you do.”
Noah kissed me again. “I love you, Penny. I mean that.”
“I love you too, Noah.”
“I’m going to take a shower and then I’m going to fight. For us. And I’m going to fucking win… everything.”
I cleaned myself up and rolled up Noah’s messy shirt and tossed it in the hamper.
While he was in the shower his phone started to ring.
Then it started to ring over and over. The last time that happened Dalton had been attacked. I knew it wasn’t my business to answer the call, but if someone was hurt…
“Hello?”
“Who is this?” a woman’s voice said.
“Penny. Who is this?”
“Where’s Noah?”
“In the shower. I’m… with him. Is this Emily?”
“Yeah.”
“He told me everything. I’m in this too.”
“Okay. I don’t have much time. I’m leaving, like he said. But my husband was able to get information for him. About Erik.”
“Good. Thank you.”
“No thanking me,” Emily said. “This is my fault.”
Yeah, dumb bitch.
I swallowed my jealousy and said, “Tell me what you found.”
“Erik is a bad guy.”
“I know that. He shot my boss in the head. I saw it.”
“Shit. Okay. Listen carefully. Erik was a detective.”
“What do you mean was?”
“He was suspended six months ago for an excessive force situation that’s still pending. He has no right, no badge, no jurisdiction where you are. Anything he’s said is a lie to you.”
“Holy fuck,” I said.
“Yeah. Just please tell Noah. And tell him I said thank you for still caring even after everything I’ve done.”
The call then went dead.
“Hey, who was that?” Noah asked, standing in the hallway, in a towel.
I looked at him.
Erik’s on his own. Completely rogue. He was now merely an insane criminal with me and Noah in his sights…
“Penny?” Noah asked.
“You better sit down for this,” I said. “And you better call Nathan right now… before we end up dead.”
Chapter 38
(Noah)
The motherfucker is out on his own.
I sat at a desk wearing a hoodie and pair of shorts. Nathan stood at the desk, arms folded, taking in all the information. I had no choice but to dump everything on him before the fight. Just in case I got my bell rung and was knocked out or killed.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ve gone as far as I could with this for right now. This is no longer a police thing. This guy is nuts. Over something that he doesn’t understand. Seth was paid to kill Erik’s brother. I tried to stop it but Aiden ended up shot anyway. I had no idea who Seth was until you told me, Nathan.”
“The woman in all this.”
“Penny?”
“The other woman.”
“Emily.”
Nathan nodded. “She knew everything.”
“Yeah. She told Penny her and her family were taking off until it all blows over.”
“And you got all this information from her husband?”
“Mark. He owns a security company. I didn’t catch the name of the company but I’m sure it’s not hard to figure out, right?”
Nathan kept nodding. “Okay, Noah. Okay. Let me take what I have to my family.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“You’re used to Marcos,” Nathan said. “It doesn’t work that way with me. Everything is careful. I’m sure you can understand that.”
“My ass is on the line,” I said.
“Yes, it is.” Nathan pushed from the desk. He grabbed my shoulder. “You’re fighting in five minutes against an undefeated opponent. His name is Raider. You hear of him?”
“No.”
“He’s brutal. Focus on that. Because I can tell you this, Noah. Myself and my family? We don’t accept loss. Your value is in winning this fight.”
“Just spit it out,” I said. I stood up and towered over Nathan. “What the fuck are you trying to say to me?”
“If you lose this fight, I will have you killed.”
My thoughts were clear. They had to be clear. It was the only way to properly fight.
I walked forward, people patting my shoulders, my back. I ignored them. Fuck them all. They didn’t know what I was really facing. This was beyond knocking Raider to his ass and smashing his head off the concrete floor. I had to survive the fight so I could survive the threat from Erik.
Raider was a big man. Thicker than taller, he was a bodybuilder type where as I was more of a tough, lean kind of guy. He couldn’t bend his arms fully because his forearms and biceps were so big. He stood with a scowl on his face and then held his meatball like fists out and started to crack his knuckles. His eyes never left mine. Maybe that intimidation bullshit worked with other people but it didn’t do a thing with me. Everyone had a weak spot. Everyone would fall someday. Yeah, that included me, but that wasn’t going to be tonight.
I didn’t stop walking nor did I hesitate as I went right for Raider. Maybe the people were looking for a little bit of a story line here. Maybe t
hey wanted to hear about mine and Raider’s undefeated records. To hear how important this fight was.
I didn’t care.
I had to knock Raider out to win Nathan money. Then I’d get my own payday. Then I was going to go push at Nathan hard. For time, protection, or a goddamn chance to get to Erik and finish this.
I swung and hit Raider in the mouth. His head moved, but his body didn’t. He had a great stance, his tree trunk legs holding him steady. It was going to be a hard fight to win. Raider threw a quick punch, hitting me in my bad shoulder. A fiery pain shot through my arm. I dropped my arm and hand, trying to shake away the pain. Bad move by me as I left myself wide open. Raider took advantage of it, hooking me with a punch. I didn’t want to show weakness, but I had to stumble out of the way. As I did, he came at me with another punch. I protected myself, but his sheer strength kept me walking away.
The crowd reacted, oohing and ahhing that I was being pushed around a little.
I went to the edge of the crowd, people screaming in my goddamn ears like drunk fools. Some guy behind me called me an Irish pussy and threw a drink at the back of my head. The actual drink. The bottle hit my head.
At that exact same moment, Raider pulled back with a fist. He threw it forward and I dropped down out of the way. Raider hit the guy behind me, shattering his face. The crowd quickly opened up and let the guy fall to the ground. There was no stopping our fight though. Someone would have to come and help the asshole on the ground. For me? It was about getting the fuck up and fighting back against Raider.
I jumped to my feet. Raider kept his eyes on the asshole he’d hit for one second too long. I came up with a wicked uppercut, hitting the left side of Raider’s jaw. I felt something pop and Raider fell back. He opened his hands and waved them to keep his balance. He spread his legs, caught himself, and lifted his arms as I punched again. My knuckles hit the muscle in his forearms and it felt like I was hitting a brick wall.
Raider threw a hand forward and dug his thumb into my bad shoulder.
“Fuck!” I screamed and wiggled away.
Blood started to seep from the wound.
I hated Raider for going after my shoulder like he was, but it was a weak spot. A smart fighter knew the price of losing and always found a way to win.
Raider grabbed his jaw and opened his mouth. I watched as he twisted and snapped his jaw back into place. I heard a crunching pop sound over the yells of the crowd.
This guy was tough.
He had a great stance. He could throw a decent punch. He knew how to attack my shoulder.
I needed to find a way to break him down.
I looked at my shoulder, at the blood. “You like that?”
Raider laughed.
“Yeah? Watch this.”
I made a fist and punched my shoulder. The pain was intense but I made sure my face was straight. I did it over and over, my knuckles hitting and squishing against the ripped skin and blood.
I then showed Raider my bloody fist. “I’m coming for you now.”
I saw a small sliver of fear in Raider’s eyes. That’s when I caught his weakness.
His size.
He was probably used to manhandling people. Just taking control and swinging. He had a basic idea of how to defend himself but he was probably never truly on the defense before.
So I attacked him.
I had to take a few punches and shake them off but my fists never stopped moving. Left, right, right, left, never giving away a pattern. I kept my feet parallel, which was a little risky because if Raider got a good one on me I’d topple down. I gave nothing away and just went for the kill.
I opened his lip, the corner of his right eye, and got his nose to bleed.
He then kicked me.
He fucking kicked me.
His left boot smashed against my right knee. I thought my leg was bent the wrong way. I stepped back and saw red. Raider had the balls to smile at me. I made a small jump and kicked with the leg he just tried to break. My foot hit his jaw again and I swore I saw his jaw move an inch off his face.
Raider grabbed his jaw and bent forward.
I had him. I fucking had him.
I went right in and kept at Raider. He covered his face, so I got him at the back of his head and his back, taking him to his knees. Then I started to throw my knees at his face. Even if I didn’t fully connect to his face, I was smashing his hands to his face.
With each knee that I drove forward, the crowd cheered louder and louder. I grabbed Raider by the hair and forced his head back. He was a bloody mess. He dropped his hands in defeat and stared at me, ready to take his final punishment.
Then I did something crazy.
I stepped back and pulled Raider to his feet.
“I’m going to knock you out while you’re still standing,” I said. “Put your fucking hands up like a man and fight. Hit me. Kill me. Let’s go.”
Raider’s mouth moved but he couldn’t talk. His jaw was definitely broken. He lifted a right fist and shook it at me. I knew he was finished. He knew he was finished. This was his chance to go down with a little pride.
I pushed off Raider’s shoulders and threw a right. He flew to the side and fell to his knees again. I opened my arms and the crowd cheered louder. Raider slowly got to his feet again, his head bobbing. I watched the way his left shoulder moved and knew he was going to try one more punch. If I was a nice guy I would have let him hit me. But I wasn’t a nice guy. I was an asshole. I was a fighter. I was stronger and I was going to be the one survivor.
As Raider threw a weak punch, I slapped it out of the way and stepped to the side. He moved forward, hands out, ready to hit the floor again.
Before he hit the floor, a gun went off and his head exploded into pieces.
The crowd went crazy as it took everyone a few seconds to process what the hell had just happened. The people in the front were able to see that Raider no longer had a good portion of his head. There was even a great number of people who were covered in Raider’s head. They started to push back, which quickly escalated into a riot as everyone fought to get out of there.
I had dropped to my stomach, just in case more bullets were about to fly. For a second I didn’t think it had anything to do with me.
Then I felt a foot on my back.
“Don’t fucking move,” a voice said.
I turned my head and looked up. I expected to see Erik.
It wasn’t Erik though.
I had no idea who it was.
Chapter 39
(Penny)
I had been watching the fight intensely. My hands gripped tight to the railing as I stared down at Noah and the man he fought. Raider. The beginning had been a little rough as Noah took a few shots that bothered me. But then Noah took control. His punches were insane. I thought about the punching bag and how it swung when he hit it. Then when I hit it, it was like punching a wall.
Noah was impossibly tough.
He took Raider right to the end. I knew it was going to end, and a sense of relief went through me. He’d finish Raider and then we’d finish this mess. To my right, Nathan stood a few feet away. He had been looking at me the entire night but didn’t say a word. I had nothing to say to him either.
Raider tried to get one last punch in and Noah pushed him out of the way.
That’s when the gun went off.
I heard it. I saw Raider’s head get hit. The people right up front, feet away, started to yell and tried to escape. The crowd then quickly became this wave of people as they all ran for an exit to escape the gunfire.
I looked at Nathan, wondering if this was his doing.
Nathan wasn’t there anymore. Two men, one on each side, had Nathan and were running with him. They had an escape plan.
I didn’t.
So I froze and watched as a figure emerged from the crowd down on the floor.
Noah was on the floor, looking left to right, trying to see who shot at him. I wanted to scream for him to get up and run, but
I couldn’t.
Not when I saw who it was approaching him.
It was the last person I thought I would see at a fight.
I pushed from the railing and bumped into someone.
I turned and definitely had to scream.
But a hand went over my mouth. “Penny… we need to talk.”
I tried to scream, but it was muffled.
It was Erik.
It was like a repeat. Being kidnapped at a fight. The first time was scary. This time, however, my mind was on something else. It was about Noah, face down. It was about the person who came forward, gun in hand, pointing it at the back of Noah’s head.
Because the man who pointed the gun at Noah… it was Dani’s father.
He threw me toward a cheap motel bed. I hit the side and jumped, landing on the bed, bouncing over to the other side. I stood and grabbed for the alarm clock. I tore it out of the wall and threw it at Erik. He knocked it away and showed me his gun.
“Penny, look at me. I’m not tying you up. I’m not going to hurt you. Look.”
Slowly, Erik put his gun on the nightstand.
I put my hand to the lamp. “I’ll throw this at you.”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Fuck off. I know who you really are. You killed Andy!”
Erik nodded. “I won’t lie to you, Penny. Yes, I did kill Andy. He was going far and beyond what I needed. And I didn’t trust him. He had a chance to get you but he didn’t. Even after I reminded him of who controlled the situation.”
“He had a family.”
Erik laughed. “A family. Right. He was a degenerate.”
“I don’t care,” I said. “I don’t care about any of this. I had nothing to do with Aiden.”
Erik’s eyes widened. “So you know, huh? The truth. Or what version of the truth?”
“What I know is that your brother was killed. And I’m sorry for that. Noah tried to save your brother that night. Seth pulled out a gun and Noah tried to wrestle it away from him. The gun went off. Noah didn’t pull the trigger.”
“You were there?” Erik asked.
“No.”
“So you’re taking the word from the guy who is fucking you. How convenient.”