The Final KO

by Jessica Florence

  My driver was called by the valet and showed up shortly.

  Thoughts of Arson’s touch consumed my mind the whole way home.

  Chapter Four

  Arson Fucking Kade

  His arms were so strong wrapped around me. His warm breath tickled my neck, making me squirm. His hands moved and one palmed my breast, making my breath hitch. A growl rumbled from the man behind me, then a stiff cock was pressed between the cheeks of my ass. My body arched into it without my official say so. It craved him. It knew what it wanted, and what it wanted was him.

  His arm suddenly disappeared and then smacked me in the face.

  “What the hell!” I woke up and looked around. Cammy was lying in bed next to me, spread out like a starfish. I rubbed my head, trying to alleviate the sting. It was funny—I got hit all the time, but something about getting hit while you slept made it feel so much worse.

  Rolling over, I looked at the time: 5:40. Well at least I wasn’t up too much earlier than I have needed to been. Deciding I better get a move on, I got up and out of bed, heading toward the bathroom. I did my stuff and washed my face.

  Thankfully Cammy had special makeup remover so all extra five pounds of makeup were gone. On soft feet so I wouldn’t wake the sleeping beauty, I went into the kitchen and made myself some green tea. I had always been a morning person, which made training pretty easy for me. As soon as I sat down and took my first sip of the hot tea, my mind drifted toward Arson.

  It seemed like I couldn’t help but respond to him. His dark hair and green eyes called to me like a siren’s song, but it was also more than that. He was a strong man, both in physical strength and mental. He knew what he wanted and he went for it. Like my dream man. Question was, how badly did he want me? I sipped some more of my tea and decided I needed to think of something else. It was more likely that I would never see him unless we were at the same fight night. I needed to forget about him.

  The sound of my alarm made me set my tea down in a hurry and run to turn it off. Shit! I’d forgotten to turn it off when I’d woken up early. I didn’t want to wake the beast up—Cammy was sweet as could be, until she woke up in the morning. I mentally cursed myself as I hit the button and silenced the noise. I should have made her coffee. I looked over at her, waiting to see if she woke up. She was still lying there, not moving. An audible sigh flew from my lungs—until I heard a groan.

  The beast was waking.

  “I knew I shouldn’t have slept over last night. You and your stupid alarm clock.” She sat up like one of the walking dead. Her red hair was everywhere, making her look like a troll doll. I couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled up from my throat.

  “Why did you stay?” I inquired. I’d come home from The Gala to find Cammy reading on my couch and had been thankful I hadn’t brought a man home; that would have been awkward. I’d told her it had gone well and had gone to the bathroom to clean up and take my dress off. When I was done, I didn’t hear her anywhere, so I’d just gone to bed.

  “Coffee first,” she grumbled and got out of my bed, shuffling to the bathroom. Oh my Cammy. I went to work on her coffee. By the time she shuffled toward my little dining table, I had her coffee ready and waiting for her. She grumbled some more and drank her coffee.

  “So, why the impromptu sleepover?” I asked again.

  “I could tell you were so full of shit about everything going fine last night. If it had been fine you would have had a nice piece of ass coming home with you. So dish. I didn’t just cuddle up with you for nothing. I’m not that desperate yet.” She was back to her normal self and not the beast. I sat down with her.

  “My date sucked. He was a conceited ass. He thought I would be a dom to him.” I took a sip of my sort of warm tea.

  “Asshole. So what happened next?” I raised my eyebrow at her.

  “What makes you think something else happened?” It was her turn to raise her eyebrow at me. Her look said don’t mess with me woman. Even though I could snap her like a twig, I would never cross her. She got you back in evil ways like Kool-aid mixture in the showerhead, or toothpaste switched with lube—how she did that one I would never know.

  “I met Arson Kade last night. He went all ‘you deserve flowers and fucks’ and he said he was my future.” I sipped my tea like what I had said was no big deal. She stared at me in confusion.

  “Arson Kade…I know that name.” She pondered, then I saw the light bulb go off in her head.

  “ARSON FUCKING KADE!” she screamed. I winced from the window-breaking high octave that came out of her.

  “Yes,” I confirmed.

  “Why the hell did you come home alone? If Arson Kade said he was my future and wanted to give me flowers and fucks, you bet your sweet bottom I would latch onto him like a fucking leech.” The coffee was on the table and her hands were flailing around.

  “He’s Arson Kade. I’m not the girl for him, and to be honest Cam, he scares me. Not like physically, but he affects me so much. He could hurt me if he wasn’t serious.” I looked down at my tea. I was glad I had her and could tell her my feelings.

  “Well.” I looked at her to see her pondering face in full force.

  “I say wait and see what happens. It is kind of interesting that all of a sudden, after meeting you once, he is making such declarations of being your future.”

  “I agree with you there. I asked him and he said I wasn’t ready for the answer yet. What does that even mean?” I groaned.

  “Sooo did you kiss him?” She leaned in and looked eager for my answer. I kinda wished we had kissed, but was glad we hadn’t because if his lips had touched mine, I wouldn’t have walked away.

  “Nope, but we danced. He is a really good dancer—like, we waltzed to “You and Me” by Lifehouse.” I swooned. It was romantic thinking back on it. Cammy oohed over it like I did. I looked over at the clock and saw that it was time for me to get ready to train.

  “I’ve gotta get ready.” I stood and took my cup to the sink.

  “I’ll be out of here once I’m truly awake. I’ve got a busy day at the studio.” Cammy owned a beauty salon by the bay, and did really well for herself. I simply nodded and went to my room to get dressed in my workout gear, then grabbed my gym bag, which contained a change of clothes and toiletries for a shower afterward. I waved goodbye and set out toward the gym.

  I pulled up to the warehouse-looking building with the sign out front that said The Underground. I had started training there when I was a teenager and it was like a second home to me. I parked next to a line of trucks and headed inside quickly. I was eager to get the cardio out of the way and start on some striking.

  The sound of men hitting punching bags and grappling welcomed me as I walked into the building.

  “Jackson! Get your ass in here.” That would be the angry voice of my coach, Brady. I always called him Coach. He’d been one of the top fighters of his day until he’d gotten hurt and had never truly recovered. He used his knowledge and skills to help train others.

  “Jackson!” he yelled. With my bag in my hand, I walked over to his little office behind the ring.

  “Whatcha do now Rayne?” teased a fighter named Damon while he watched two men in the ring doing jiu-jitsu.

  “Beats me.” I shrugged and kept walking toward the open door to the only office in the building. Coach’s office was pretty tidy. He really didn’t have many things scattered about, just a few pictures on the wall of the successful fighters he’d trained, his grandkids, and the love of his life, Jules. She was a sweet lady.

  Coach was sitting at his desk fiddling on a tablet when I entered. He looked pretty good for a man in his fifties. He was fit and muscular, and had a full head of sandy blond hair, blue eyes, and a five o’clock shadow along his jaw. I hoped my future husband looked as good as him when we got older.

  “What’s up Coach?” I dropped my bag and sat down on the leather couch that was on the opposite side of the room from his desk. He put his tablet down and looked me over.
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  “Didn’t go overboard at that Gala did you girl? No boozing?” He was trying to see if I was hungover; I wasn’t, not even close.

  “Fit as a fiddle.” I smiled big. He nodded.

  “Good, good. We’ve had a big donation to the gym so I'll be getting new bags soon, and I’ve taken on another fighter, so you’ve got a new sparring partner. I think the match will be good for you. You could definitely learn a lot from him.” I got excited. New blood. One thing that set me apart from the other female fighters is that I preferred to train with men over women. Men were faster, harder, and less emotional. It helped me when fighting women that I was so used to fighting men. I couldn’t wait to meet the new guy and see what fresh skills he brought to the ring.

  “Can’t wait,” I told Coach.

  “Was there anything else you needed?” I was ready to get to work.

  “Just checking on you girl. You’re like a daughter to me.” He huffed and then went back to his tablet, obviously uncomfortable with the emotions that came out of him. He was all manly on the outside, but a soft teddy bear on the inside. I loved it. My father had passed away when I was young, so when I’d started coming there at a young age, Coach had sort of taken over that role in a way.

  “Get on the bike and warm up. You’ve got striking thirty minutes after that. Take a break to stretch, then do some ropes, switch to the bag for thirty, then meet me at the ring for grappling. We need to get your ground work solid.” I nodded and grabbed my bag, ready to sweat and kick ass.

  My legs burned from the bike and striking with Garrett, a six foot, two hundred thirty pound fighter. He was one of the best at the gym and I loved training with him. He never took it too easy on me, always pushing me to best him, which I actually did a few times that day. I bent over and grabbed the thick heavy ropes. Lowering myself to a squat position, I moved my arms, creating a wave motion in the ropes. This exercise was always torture on my arms, but it was a sweet kind of torture. I was one of those freaks that liked to work out and feel the burn.

  After doing three sets of twenty waves, I stretched my arms and back briefly before heading to the bag. Coach hadn’t given me any specific instructions on what he wanted me to do on the bag, so I figured I would work on some combo moves.

  I took a large swig of Gatorade and wrapped my hands, knowing I would need them wrapped for grappling anyway. I went to town on the bag and smiled the whole time doing it. I had missed this so much when I was bedridden. With precision hits and kicks, I felt like a warrior.

  Chapter Five

  I’m here for you

  “Jackson! The ring!” Coach called me over. I wiped my face off with my workout rag and drank some more Gatorade before jogging over to the ring.

  “Here,” I announced myself. Coach nodded and looked me over.

  “Combos?” he guessed. I simply nodded and waited for him to tell me what we were going to do for grappling. Would he get up in the ring with me? Maybe Damon? Or maybe it would be the new person. I looked around and didn’t see any new faces, so I assumed it was either Coach or one of the other fighters.

  “Alex, you’re up.” He yelled at a man who was chatting with two others; he looked over and smiled mischievously. Great, this will be interesting. Alex had a crush on me, one that was not mutual. Like most fighters, he was attractive, but he was an even bigger manwhore than Arson was. My body warmed thinking of Arson, even though it was in the pretext of him being a manwhore. Silly girl.

  “Let’s go Rayne babe.” Ugh. I hated when he called me that. Sometimes I thought he did it to rile me up, which I guessed I should have been thankful for because it meant I always had motivation to beat his ass—which is exactly what happened most of the time.

  I hopped up and climbed through the ropes, arms up and ready. Coach started yelling things for us to do but my eyes never left Alex’s. Rule number one in the ring: never take your eyes off your opponent.

  Alex smiled and attacked first with a right jab, then brought his left knee up, which I blocked. I kicked up high and he blocked it. We went back and forth, trading blows before we made it to the mat and started grappling. One advantage I had over the men was that I was more flexible. I had my legs around him in guard position. With my ankles locked ,he wasn’t going anywhere.

  Hit after hit I knocked him around, and then he used his sheer strength to lift me up and turn the tables on me. I was on the bottom with him trying to get me in an arm bar, which I got out for fear it would be over after that. I got up to my feet and he had me up against the ropes in seconds, obviously enjoying my body pressed up against his. Our arms were around each other, locked, trying to find an out to make a move.

  “You’re getting better. Come on Rayne. Get out of this one and I’ll take you out to celebrate tonight. That should be good motivation,” he teased. He knew I wouldn’t date him, but he still used every chance he had to flirt.

  “My turn.” A new voice spoke loudly from outside the ring. Both Alex and I looked toward the voice and my body tensed, which Alex took advantage of; we fell to the floor together. I stopped fighting and stared at the man standing a few feet away from me. Arson.

  His face was hard and his jaw was locked, his eyes glued above me. It was then I noticed that Alex was on top of me. I looked at Alex and saw him staring at Arson.

  “Get off of me.” I pushed and he went. Coach walked up to the ring and broke the tension that had settled in the air.

  “Rayne, meet your new partner, Arson.” I heard Alex scoff behind me, but I ignored him and crawled over to where he was. Arson’s eyes left Alex’s and went back to mine. Heat and the look of pure raw desire flashed in his beautiful green eyes.

  I realized I probably shouldn’t have crawled toward him like a lioness. Once I got to the ropes in front of him, I sat up and put my hand out for a shake.

  “Rayne Jackson.” I smiled and his heated look stayed, but a smirk appeared on his face.

  “Arson Kade.” His hand wrapped around mine and little tingles shot up my arm and spread throughout my body. I took a deep breath to calm myself and then pulled back from our shake.

  “Jackson, take a break then get back in the ring with Arson.”

  I nodded to Coach and jumped out of the ring in front of Arson. I headed over to the bathrooms to collect my thoughts without saying anything to the sexy fighter behind me.

  I relived myself and went over to sink, taking in my appearance while washing my hands. My cheeks were red and my hair was a mess, strands hanging out from my tight bun on the top of my head. What in the world was Arson doing there? Was he really serious about everything with me?

  God I was so frazzled. Knowing I better get back out there, I splashed some water on my face and headed back to the ring.

  All the men were flocking to Arson; he was the top fighter in the league and here he was, in Sarasota, Florida. Some of the guys had stars in their eyes looking at him. I took a moment as I walked over to study him. He was taller than some, and extremely cut. He was wearing a tight sleeveless black shirt and black workout shorts. He looked every bit the badass he was.

  The closer I got, the more I felt my body become aware of his. I felt like a magnet being drawn toward him even though my head was still unsure; as if he felt me too, he turned around and looked at me.

  “Ready?” he asked, and I nodded. He looked at the guys and they all said their goodbyes. None of them moved, and it seemed I was going to have a bigger audience watching me grapple this time. Arson gripped the rope and hopped up with ease. Coach liked us to work in the ring versus a cage like we would normally fight in because it let us learn boundaries better. I had a feeling I was going to need my strength, so I took my time getting up and over the ropes.

  I felt like something was happening here, like this moment wasn’t just two fighters about to spar together. Coach walked up to the side of the ring.

  “All right, no hard hits, just show me how you move Kade. Jackson, I wanna see some throws in there.” He crossed his ar
ms over his chest, waiting to see Arson and I in action. My eyes turned toward my new partner. I saw his tight jaw had loosened and he had that smirk set on his lips.

  “Show me what you got Arson,” I taunted him. That smirk turned into a smile full of bright perfect teeth.

  “My pleasure,” he purred. I decided to be on the offense and attack first. I started with a roundhouse kick, which he blocked and returned with a kick of his own. He got me, but then I reached out and grabbed his wrist, turning and putting my back to him and throwing him over my shoulder in seconds. His hands reached out and gripped me, taking my feet right out from under me.

  God he was good.

  He moved like lightning and had me pinned. His body was hard over mine, and he had a big grin on his face.

  “Give up?” he asked. I had one more move to pull. I started to say something and then went for it. I lifted my hips and pulled his hands above my head, throwing him over me. He recovered quickly and before I got a chance to make my next move, he had my arm in an arm bar and I was done.

  “Give,” I called out and he was off me. He held a hand out to help me sit up, and I took it. That same tingle shot through me at our joined hands.

  “Great work. Jackson, take a break and cool off on the mill, then you’re done. Kade, welcome to the Underground.” Coach nodded and walked off toward his office. The men that had been hanging out around the ring went back to their stations, and then Arson and I were alone. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. Sparring with him had my lungs burning for air and my heart beating wildly.

  “What are you doing here?” I had to know. I was pretty sure Arson lived in California and had a big shot trainer, and thus has no reason to join a smaller gym in a smaller city across the country. His eyes were glued to mine as he spoke.