LovingDragon

by Garland

  “That’s good because it looks pretty bad, does it hurt much,” Cat asked.

  Cutman shrugged. “Only when I every breath I take. Just a hazard of the job, I’ll live. Hey, guys, take five. Our women are here,” Cutman yelled into the ring, and the two fighters dropped their hands. Cat noticed that several women in the gym gave her and Mia jealous stares while the men looked downright intrigued.

  Dragon leaned across the top rope and planted a kiss on her lips. “Hi, beautiful, I missed you,” he whispered against her lips. Cat felt the thrill all the way to her toes. This hot, sweaty, gorgeous man melted her insides every time he touched her.

  “I missed you too,” she stated simply with a smile.

  “So we were thinking after a work-out we could take our favorite girls out for a night on the town, what do you say ladies can you help a couple of ugly fellows out?” asked Cutman.

  Mia and Cat pretended to think about it, then seeing the horrified look on Cutman’s face they took pity on him, laughed and agreed to the date.

  “So what did you guys have in mind?” asked Mia.

  The men looked at each other and shrugged. “Maybe a trip to Lincoln County? I heard about a really nice steak house there I would like to check it out,” suggested Cutman. But at the mention of Lincoln County both men noticed the reaction from Cat and Mia. Their whole bodies stiffened and Cat’s face went totally pale.

  They exchanged a quick nervous look before Mia found her voice. “Maybe something here in Maxville. I mean why travel so far? Jack’s Place has awesome steaks,” she suggested.

  “Whatever you lovely ladies would like is fine with us,” answered Dragon quickly. “Now how about a quick workout before we head home and change? Why don’t you ladies warm up on the stationary bikes and Cutman and I will join you for some lifting in a few?”

  The girls nodded and wandered over to catch a couple of bikes while they were empty. Once Dragon saw they were out of ear shot he turned to Cutman. “What the hell was that?”

  “I’d say your girl wants nowhere near Lincoln County, the look on her face was sheer terror,” noted Cutman.

  “I just wish she would trust me enough to let me help her. Mia hasn’t said anything to you has she?”

  Cutman shook his head. “Nope, nothing.”

  “Well then, I guess we just keep an eye on her, if she’s in trouble and she ran from it, it may decide to come to her and we need to be ready when it does,” Dragon said grimly. Inside he knew that anyone that tried to hurt Cat or take her away from him would have to answer to him.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cat took one last look into the mirror and smiled. The emerald green halter dress flowed around her body gently and brought out the green in her eyes. She had decided to leave her hair down, but had curled it and it bounced down to her waist. She pulled on a simple black-denim jacket and added a pair of black strappy heels. Satisfied with her look she went out into the living room to await the guys showing up for the date. Her heart had nearly stopped earlier when Cutman had suggested they head to Lincoln County for dinner. The chance that someone she knew would see her and tell her parents was just too great a risk. Thankfully Mia had come to the rescue.

  Mia stood at the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen and she looked stunning. She had decided to wear a body hugging black dress with matching boots. Her hair had been piled on top of her head in a messy heap of curls. Long dangling silver earrings completed her look.

  “Wow, girl you look gorgeous!” stated Cat with a smile. “Cutman won’t be able to keep his hands off you long enough to eat dinner.

  “Thank you. I love your look too by the way. As for Cutman we are taking this thing slow, but I really do like him. Can we talk a minute about your close call this afternoon? When are you going to tell Dragon the truth?” asked Mia.

  Cat sighed. “It’s just so complicated, Mia. I don’t want him to be dragged into this mess. I’ve really fallen for him and I don’t want to see him get hurt.”

  “And you think it isn’t hurting him knowing that you have secrets that you don’t trust him enough to share? The man is not stupid Cat, he knows something is up. If you just tell him maybe he could help?’

  Cat was already shaking her head no. “This is a bad man, with money and a desire to own me. Dragon would fight for me and I know that, I won’t have him be hurt on my account. Douglas Washburn will stop at nothing to have me for his wife. Murder is not beneath him, Mia.”

  Mia shivered. “I just hope you know what you are doing. Crossing a man like that can’t be good.”

  Cat nodded. “I’m living on borrowed time, and I know it. But for as long as I can I want to live and laugh and even love. I’ve got it bad for Dragon, the man smiles and I drop my panties. I’ll worry about Douglas when that time comes. But know this, I will do whatever I have to do to see that you and Cutman and especially Dragon are kept out of this thing and safe. Please continue to not say anything, Cutman would tell Dragon and Dragon…well Dragon would be Dragon and he would fight for me. I can’t let that happen, no matter what.”

  A knock at the door had both girls turning to look at it. “Promise me, Mia, please,” begged Cat.

  Mia pulled her into a quick hug. “I promise I will never tell Cutman about Douglas.”

  Cat smiled. “Thank you,” she turned to get the door and never heard Mia whisper to herself.

  “But I don’t promise not to tell Dragon when the time comes.”

  ****

  “So then after barely escaping from the drunk girl that had sneaked into the locker room, we get to the hotel, and standing outside his room is about six groupies, all hoping they will be the one to get to spend the night with the legendary Dragon,” laughed Cutman. Mia and Cat joined him in laughter as they finished up their delicious dinner. Cat noticed even though Dragon was grinning, he was also blushing. The man was actually blushing.

  “Your stories of life on the road are hilarious, Cutman. Really, you should write this stuff down,” laughed Mia. “You could even call it The MMA Handbook on Avoiding Groupies.”

  “Oh, yeah, he is a real riot. Ask him how many he avoided,” muttered Dragon.

  “So, Dragon, which lucky lady got to spend the night?” asked Cat with a mischievous twinkle in her green eyes.

  “None of them. They were flipping nuts. They just wanted to sleep with a MMA fighter. So I convinced them that Cutman was the fighter, which only goes to show how nuts they really were. On what universe would you believe this one could ever win a fight? They dumped me for his pretty face real quick though.” The table erupted in laughter. It was now time for Cutman to blush.

  “Do I even want to ask which one you slept with?” Mia grinned.

  “No, sweetheart, you don’t, because I make it a policy to never kiss and tell,” replied Cutman.

  Mia pretended to be shocked and outraged as she playfully punched Cutman in the arm. “If your nose wasn’t already broken, I just might break it again for you,” she teased. “But I do happen to know what a freak you are in bed, so I can’t blame the girls for wanting to go there,” she whispered near his ear, but still loud enough Dragon and Cat could hear.

  “Okay, after that image is burned in my retina forever, I think it’s time we end this dinner,” grinned Dragon, who handed a debit card to the waiting waitress.

  Later when Dragon had drove them back to their apartment he asked Cat to wait in the truck as Cutman walked Mia to the door. Cat found that there was something very intimate about sitting in a dark vehicle at night with Dragon, the air was cool the stars twinkled overhead and the very darkness felt freeing. “Want to climb into the back seat and make-out?” she asked, it came out teasing but the thought of his mouth, his hands on her body warmed her inside like no expensive liqueur ever had.

  A slow smile played around his lips before he raised his eyes to meet hers. “That’s the most tempting offer I’ve had in a long time, but I’ll need to take a rain check. I was hoping to t
alk to you for a minute before Cutman comes back.”

  Catherine took a deep breath and faced forward, since she knew what was coming. She had to protect him at all costs. She would not have this man fight for her and get hurt. She cared about him too much. “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”

  “Cat, I have feelings for you, but I don’t even know who you are. Will you trust me enough to let me in? For God’s sake throw me a bone here, or give me something?” His voice was a soft, desperate whisper in the darkness.

  Cat felt his pain. How ironic when all she wanted to do was not hurt him. “Dragon, I just need more time. I’m sorry, just a little more time to get things straightened out, and then I promise I will tell you everything.”

  Dragon ran his hand down his face, clearly aggravated. “You realize you’re asking me to trust you, when you won’t show me the same courtesy?”

  Cat raised her eyes and noticed Cutman walking back to the truck after seeing Mia to the door. Their time here was ending. “Yes,” she simply answered.

  Dragon had no doubt seen Cutman too, so he opened his door and came around to pull Cat’s door open and then helped her from the truck. He didn’t say anything. His jaw was set and angry as he walked her to the door. He leaned over and kissed her, and it was an achingly sweet kiss…his goodbye kiss. “Call me when you’re ready to trust me Cat,” he said as he turned to walk away.

  “Dragon?” she called after him, he seemed to hesitate for just a moment, his shoulders stiff and unyielding. A spark of hope leaped to life in Cat’s heart that he would turn and come back. That he would give her the chance to explain, but then she really couldn’t explain could she? In the end Dragon just kept going, never even bothering to look back, his long angry strides eating up the distance to the truck. The slamming of the truck door, sounded like a gunshot to her slowly breaking heart. He waited until he saw her go inside, then he gunned the engine and drove away.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Catherine closed and locked the door. The sound of Dragon’s truck pulling away seemed so final. He was angry with her. He thought she didn’t trust him. Closing her eyes she felt as if she was lost in a fog of sadness. What exactly had she expected? That he would just continue in a kind of weird limbo, waiting for the time when she would let him into her dirty little secrets, like some middle school clique? Waiting for her to decide if she ‘trusted’ him enough to tell him the truth? Cat had asked too much of him and she knew it now. But she did what she had to do to protect him. She was in love with Dragon. Cat just hoped that that realization hadn’t come too late. “I protect those I love too, Dragon,” she whispered.

  A soft knock sounded at the door. Catherine turned to opened it, her heart racing with excitement. She would tell him she was sorry, she would somehow make him understand. She would let him know she loved him and then she would show him in a hundred different ways. Dragon was coming back to her!

  “Dragon I…” Catherine stopped.

  “Hello Catherine.”

  “Douglas, what…what are you doing here?” she asked, even though she knew, and a sick feeling gathered in her stomach. She just might lose her dinner. Her time of freedom was up.

  “I’ve come for my fiancé, of course. Surely you didn’t think I would let you go that easily? Now come along darling, you’ve had your little fun, slumming it up with the bouncer. It’s time to go home where you belong.”

  “And if I choose not to go with you Douglas, then what?” she asked.

  Without waiting for an invite, Douglas stepped into the apartment, his eyes making a show of scanning it. “Where is your little roommate? Mia is her name isn’t it?” he asked as he ran his stubby finger down Cat’s throat and into the opening of her halter top to painfully pinch a nipple. “So soft, so beautiful, I can hardly wait until you are my wife.”

  Catherine jerked away from him. Thankfully she heard the shower running and knew Mia would hear nothing of this conversation. With any luck she would stay there until they left. “She had nothing to do with this. You leave her alone.”

  Douglas grabbed her by the hair. It was sudden and violent and took her completely by surprise. He yanked hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. “Let’s get something straight shall we, darling? I’m in charge here, so you do what I say and I won’t hurt your pretty little friend or the bouncer you’ve been fucking. Now get your tight little ass in the car.”

  He gave Cat a shove and she stumbled towards the door. That was when she noticed a couple of his goons waiting by the black SUV. The last thing Cat wanted to do was go anywhere with Douglas, but to keep Mia and Dragon safe she would go, and she did.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Catherine moaned. Her head was pounding and the inside of her mouth was dry. She tried to muster up enough moisture to lick her equally dry lips, but even that simple act proved impossible.

  “Wonderful, my sleeping beauty is finally awake,” said Douglas as he sat down on the end of the bed that Cat lay on. She forced her eyes to open and they blinked to get into focus. Douglas sat looking quite pleased with himself. The memory of last night came rolling back in and Catherine knew she was living a nightmare. Her brain scrambled trying to recall the last few hours. She had climbed into the SUV, sitting in the back with Douglas as his goons drove them to Douglas’s opulent home, and then she was taken downstairs to the basement and forced to sit on the bed and drink a cup of water, after that she remembered nothing.

  “You drugged me,” Catherine said flatly.

  Douglas shrugged. “I knew you would need your beauty sleep for our wedding today, so I slipped a little something in your water to make sure you were rested.”

  “So you still plan on going through with this farce of a wedding? You know I don’t want to marry you. I don’t love you Douglas, I will never love you,” Cat said with a sigh of resignation.

  She watched as Douglas’s eyes narrowed, the smile falling from his face like a vase from a table. “I have found in my life that love is a useless emotion, only a fool would marry for love and make no mistake, Catherine, I am not a fool. I don’t need you to love me, it matters not. You will however fear and respect me as your husband, follow my orders once given and you will at all times remember that you are my wife and comport yourself as such, especially in the public eye. I plan on making a run for the Senate next year, and I will need you to be the perfectly polished wife of the candidate.”

  Douglas reached out and grasped a lank of Cat’s silvery hair, winding it around his fat fingers. “What matters to me is a beautiful wife from the right kind of family who will be an assent to me as I make my way up the political ladder and I have decided that person is to be you.”

  “You are insane,” Cat hissed.

  Douglas pulled her hair and kept on pulling until Cat cried out. “Catherine, do not make the mistake of thinking I won’t hurt you. I have ways of causing pain that you can’t even imagine and I’ll make sure no one ever sees the bruises. Now I am going to send in my assistant, Ashley to help you dress, the limo to take you to the Country Club will be arriving soon. But have no fear. Because you were ‘unavailable’ I have taken the liberty of hiring a wedding planner who has planned our entire glorious day. We are going to be wed at the country club, outside on the green under a specially built arch adorned with your favorite flowers, pink roses.”

  “My favorite flowers are daisies,” proclaimed Cat.

  “That’s where you are wrong darling. Your favorite flower is whatever I tell you they are.” Douglas leaned down to kiss her and at the last moment Cat turned her head so his cold lips landed on her cheek. Douglas eyes narrowed. “I am so looking forward to our wedding night princess.” And with that cryptic remark Douglas left the room. Catherine felt tears gathering as panic started to set in. How in God’s name was she going to get out of this rapidly growing nightmare?

  Catherine came out of the shower, the hot water having done wonders to make her feel stronger, more herself. Her mind having worked through
the effects of the drug that Douglas had given her was spinning with thoughts of how to get out of this mess. Maybe if she could talk to her parents one more time. Or perhaps, if the opportunity presented itself she could steal a car and go somewhere where no one could find her. Of course this would mean a life without Dragon, a life on the run, hiding using a fake name maybe. And then there was the fact she had nothing. She hadn’t brought her purse. She had no money, no clothing, and no identification. She felt as trapped as a mouse caught in the paws of a hungry cat.

  Catherine was so engrossed in her thoughts that it was a moment before she realized she was no longer alone in the basement. A young woman sat on the end of the bed, eyeing her with a mixture of curiosity and something else, jealousy maybe? Anger? “Who are you?” Cat asked.

  The woman stood, she really was quite pretty in a hardened kind of way. She was similar to size and height to Catherine herself. And her hair was blonde, but clearly not naturally that light. Her eyes were overly made-up and a pale blue in color. “I’m Ashley, Douglas…I mean Mr. Washburn’s Assistant. He has asked me to help you dress.”

  “I won’t need your help, you can leave,” stated Cat. Turning her back on the woman to reach for the bra, panties, garter and stockings that Douglas had laid out for her to wear beneath her wedding gown.

  “I don’t take my orders from you,” said Ashley.

  Catherine held up the panties with disgust. “Suit yourself, stay or go it makes no matter to me.”

  Ashley walked to stand beside her and gently figured a silky, milky white stocking. “You have no idea how lucky you are. To be marrying such a man as Douglas? I would give my right arm if he would only want me as his wife,” she said wistfully.

  Catherine starred at her in amazement. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

  A tear slid slowly down the corner of one of Ashley’s eyes and she wiped it away with her fingers before she answered. “Yes. I’ve never met anyone like him before. He buys me beautiful clothes and he bought me these.” She reached up and cupped both her breasts. “And he fucks me over and over again, making me come until I scream with the pleasure. The power and the money is something I’ve never experienced before. He took me off the streets and put me up in a beautiful apartment. Douglas treats me like a queen. He told me one night that he would marry me if only I had come from the right kind of family.”