by Izzy Sweet
I chuckle ruefully. “Yeah, might have overworked myself in there.”
I fucking just about killed myself in there. Even now, my arm barely wants to move enough to reach over and hold her hand.
“Was it about the video they keep looping on the sports channel?”
“Yeah, a little. Maybe a lot.”
I look over to see her big blue eyes so full of sympathy it almost breaks my carefully held together shell.
She grips my hand a little tighter as she scoots closer to me, her hip and shoulder bumping up against my own. “Want to talk about it?”
“Not yet, I can barely think clearly,” I say with a huge groan as I stretch my spine back, trying to pop out the tension that’s resting between my shoulders.
“Tonight?”
“Yeah, after Casey’s asleep. He doesn’t need to hear all the shit that’s rumbling around in my skull.”
“Okay. I don’t know half of what’s going on here right now, and the stuff I do know…”
She trails off quietly.
“I feel like an asshole, Bree. I know I shouldn’t drag you into a life that’s…”
She turns my head to face her. “That’s what?”
“Complicated as fuck. A life that’s not going to be easy. I have a kid now, I guess. He’s going to be living with me for the foreseeable future. We’re a package deal, and I don’t want that scaring you off.”
She doesn’t answer right away, but when she does, she smiles. “He likes me more.”
“That’s because you feed him,” I say and laugh loudly at the thought of it.
“If only all our problems could be solved by just feeding them food, huh?” she says with chuckle.
“Yeah, if only,” I say, and then I imagine myself force-feeding Jamey Silva a huge pile of dog shit, one turd after another until he fucking died.
Bree looks at both Casey and me in utter astonishment. After rubbing her eyes, she takes another look at all the discarded bags and empty boxes littering the kitchen table.
“I… I… How is any of this possible?” she asks, clearly confused. “I thought you ordered so much for leftovers or something.”
Resisting the urge to let out a massive, house-rattling burp, I frown. “I’m still feeling kinda peckish, actually. How about you, Casey?”
Casey leans back in his chair and rubs his slightly bloated stomach. “Eh, I could go for some pie right about now.”
“What?!” Bree looks at us both with revulsion. “You both ate more than I weigh and you want more food?!”
Casey looks over at me and I can tell what’s coming before he’s able to stop himself. A massive burp that actually shrinks the size of his stomach bursts from his lips. Poor guy doesn’t stop with one, either. A second one comes out and it’s even longer than the first one.
“Excuse me, I’m so sorry,” Casey says with an idiotic grin. “Yeah, some apple pie would be amazing right now.”
“Dude, I’d go for some brownies. Maybe the ones with nuts and chocolate chips,” I say and lick my lips.
God, I’d actually kill for a brownie right now. All those hot and spicy barbecue wings have got me needing something sweet.
“Oh my god!” Bree mutters as she turns in her seat, away from us, and starts rubbing her temples. “You two ate at least twenty wings each.”
“Twenty-three,” Casey says with pride. “So can we order pie or what?”
“Twenty-nine. Would have been thirty but you ate one of mine, Bree,” I say with a smirk.
“Are you serious?” She turns to give me a dirty look. “You’re begrudging me one of your wings? Counting yours, I had six.”
I shrug my shoulders. “Not my fault you’re a lightweight.”
“A what?” she asks with a growl.
“I think she’s a flyweight,” Casey says, and slumps back in his chair.
“Eh, strawweight,” I say while looking at Bree with grin.
“What the heck are you two talking about?” she asks.
“What weight class you’d be in if you fought,” I say.
“Oh god, you two need to get a… Hey, wait a second. Are you discussing my weight in front of me?” She crosses her arms over her chest, peering at us both. “Are you?”
Shit.
“Ummm, I need to see what movie we got for tonight,” Casey says before hopping up from the table and running out of the kitchen.
Fuck. I’m too old and sore to move as quickly as he did.
I offer her a grin, hoping it will placate her. “Only in the best of terms.”
“Oh really,” Bree says entirely too sweetly. “So let me ask you a question.”
I’m a dead man.
“Um, go for it,” I say carefully.
“Just how much do these strawweight and flyweight classes weigh?” she asks and it’s like she put powdered sugar into her voice.
“Uh… well…” I stammer out because she’s looking really funny at me.
She grins. “I could always ask my much older and much bigger big brother, and his best friend Dale.”
“Well, you see… a flyweight is… um… around…” I start to say before she cuts me off.
“Oh, shut up. I met Chrissy today and she taught me a lot about weight classes. It’s pretty damn intimidating thinking of all the stuff she can do,” she says with a shake of her head.
I roll my eyes in relief. “Yeah, but she’s also a champion, and she works just as hard as any of the guys. She’s scary fast.”
“I knew she was fighter, but didn’t know how far she was?” Bree says.
“Yeah, she’s the reigning champ of her weight class right now. She’s got speed and good striking abilities. Her grappling is also pretty damn good. I’m hoping to get some time in the ring with her so I can go against someone close to Silva’s speed.”
I’m counting on Chrissy giving me a good preview of Silva’s speed. Chrissy is a little lightning bolt when it comes to punches.
“Wait, you’re going to fight a girl?” Bree asks with such an expressive face that I bet she’s a horrible liar.
“Yeah, but not like you’re thinking. We’ll be in full protective gear and won’t be hitting each other with all of our power.”
I’m betting Bree thinks I’ll be beating up a poor little girl. If only she knew the truth.
“I promise you, it’s not as bad as it sounds. She’ll be more than happy to help me tune up my speed, and I’ll be good practice as someone who’s takedown skills are superior to hers. We’ll be helping each other.”
“Wow. It’s just that I’ve caught glimpses of real matches on TV, and it looks so brutal,” she says with a small amount of awe.
“Oh, it’s brutal as fuck, but it’s something you kinda get used to,” I say with a small shrug of my shoulders.
“You get used to getting beat up?”
Laughing, I shake my head. “I wouldn’t put it like that exactly, but yeah you get used to taking some pain in order to give a shit ton of it.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not sure I could ever do what you guys do.”
I smile at her and stand up from my seat. “Definitely takes a certain kind of mind frame, I think.”
I grab the garbage can near the back door and haul it over to the table so I can start sweeping the food bags and containers into it.
“Can I help?” Bree asks as she watches me quickly cleaning up the mess.
“Nah, I got it. Though you can go make sure Casey picks something that might interest you too. We might get stuck with another superhero movie if ya don’t,” I say.
She looks a little surprised as she asks, “You’re not a superhero movie fan?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Eh, I’ve seen so many of them I’m starting to root for the bad guy.”
“Oh, so you’re kind of like a bad boy then, huh?” she says, smirking at me as she leaves the kitchen.
Chapter Fifteen
Emmett
Casey falls asleep during the movie ag
ain, and I’d high five the kid if I thought he knew how much of a favor he is doing me.
But damn, this little guy is heavy as I pick him up from the couch.
“You okay?” Bree asks as I come to a stop to make sure I’m not going to keel over.
“Yeah,” I say, and straighten up fully so she doesn’t see that my ass is feeling like roadkill right now.
Bree giggles quietly before she steps to the side. “Okay, but you sounded like you were about to die.”
“Little fighter is getting heavy is all,” I say, and try not to let my wobbly arms wake Casey.
I pushed it too far in the gym today. I know better than to do that, but I couldn’t help it. Fucking Jamey Silva knew what he was doing when he made those videos.
He knew it and did it to get under my skin.
I’ll fucking beat him when I get my chance to put my hands around his neck, I know it. If I don’t kill him that is. That’s a fucking temptation that’s way too appealing right now. I know it shouldn’t be, but I really do want to cause the fucking asshole some pain and suffering.
Just thinking of him has the muscles in my arms twitching in anticipation of the war we’re going to have.
Dropping Casey into his bed as gently as my shaky arms can manage, I turn toward Bree’s presence. I’m half-fucking surprised she isn’t gone already. I know I’ve made a lot of promises to her, but she hasn’t yet reciprocated the promise of staying with me.
I need her to be here with me, I know it.
I know it as deep down as I know that Casey is a permanent part of my life now.
Casey needs me and I need him. I need the reminder that there’s a life outside of all the pain and misery I’ve been living in.
I need Bree too.
I need that light that’s in her eyes right now, and the soft smile that appears when she watches me put Casey to bed.
And I can’t wait for that look to be in her eyes every day. I know she’s got some shit going on outside of us, but whatever the fuck it is we’ll fix it together.
That or I’ll figure out how to hide the body of the douche who knocked her down. The desert is a big place and it has lots of forgotten holes.
Moving quietly through the room, I reach out to take Bree’s hand, and lead us out. “Dude’s been falling asleep pretty damn easily lately.”
“I noticed. He seems pretty happy and content right now. Like he’s finally feeling safe,” she says, and a fleeting emotion flashes across her face.
It’s a mixture of sadness and something else. Hope, perhaps?
“You okay?” I ask and pull her toward my bedroom.
She doesn’t even put up a token resistance. “Yeah, just tired.”
“Long day?” I ask.
Moving up until she’s beside me, she pokes me in the arm. “Yes, but nothing like yours. Did you try to kill yourself out there?”
“Maybe,” I say, “but I have to be ready for whatever war I’m getting ready to step in. Fighting Jamey is going to be a war, no peace talks. He went way too far.”
She nods her head. “I could tell, though I have to tell you the truth, I’ve never followed MMA before I met Chase, and even then, I haven’t given it more than a few glances. I know Chase was the world champ when he retired, and from what my mom says, he was one of the best and scariest fighters out there.”
Despite our differences over his sister, I still have a shit ton of respect for Chase. “Yeah. He was called the Reaper for a reason. When Chase fought, he buried guys in the mat. He put ‘em down and made sure they stayed there. He has some fights that they still talk about.”
Bree smiles at me. “What do they call you?”
“Waste,” I say with a laugh. “Or at least that’s the latest one.”
“What?” she asks, confused.
“I haven’t exactly been on the straight and narrow as of late,” I say with a shrug.
Pulling my shirt over my head, I toss it at the dirty clothes hamper.
“Avery told me a bit about what happened, and from what Casey has talked about… Emmett…”
Turning to her, I let her see me in all my scarred glory. “I failed to get back up after losing the match and losing Tommy. I let all that dark negative shit consume me, and I let it keep me down for far too long.”
Closing in on me, I watch as she stares at my chest. Her eyes run all over the muscles that are slowly beginning to come back. They don’t linger on where my abs used to be, but the way her little tongue peeks out to moisten her lips has my cock ready to stand at attention.
“I know a little about dark stuff clouding over you. It’s pretty hard to see outside of your own world sometimes, isn’t it?” she asks as she looks up into my eyes.
Nodding my head, I reach out and pull her to me. “Want to tell me about it?”
She moves into my arms. “Not tonight. I don’t think I can think about stuff like that right now…”
Leaning down, I softly kiss her lips. “We’re going to need to lay our cards on the table soon. We need to come in with clean slates. This isn’t going to be a fling, baby girl.”
He eyes widen and then close as I lean back down to give her a longer, slower kiss. My tongue slips past her lips, eager to dance with hers. Eager to deepen our connection.
She tastes so damn good, so damn good I can’t get enough of her. I can’t get enough of her taste. I can’t get enough of her scent. This close, it’s fucking intoxicating.
I’m already a fucking goner and she’s still dressed.
Her arms raise for me as I pull her shirt up and over her head.
And I can’t stop myself from looking down and admiring the bra that cups her lovely breasts. “Fuck, you’re so goddamn sexy.”
Blushing, she bows her head and shakes it. “I don’t know about that. I don’t feel like I am.”
Moving her chin up so that I can look in her eyes, I say, “You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t—"
I cut her off. “No, you are. You’re so fucking beautiful and sexy, the moment I saw you I felt my heart drop in my chest. It felt like my soul connected to yours the instant our lips touched. You’re the woman of my dreams, Bree.”
A faint blush rushes up from her chest to her cheeks.
It’s so damn cute, I have to kiss her again.
Pulling her body tight to mine, my hands slip to her back. And even though I just did this last night, the damn things start to shake at the prospect of unlatching her bra and releasing her breasts.
I have to break our kiss again and move back so that the lacy bra can fall between us. Once it does, I catch a peek of her pale pink nipples tightening as if they’re ready to be licked.
Reaching down, I move with a speed I didn’t even realize I had and push at the waistband of her shorts. My tongue lashes out against her breast, hungry, needy, as I bend to shove those stupid shorts off her slender hips.
Her body shudders toward my questing tongue before I sink further down to the floor.
“Stupid fucking clothing,” I growl out while yanking her shoes and socks off.
Laughing, she places her hands on my shoulders for balance. “You’re going total caveman now, aren’t you?”
She doesn’t even know the fucking half of it.
Rising quickly to my feet, I sweep her off hers and carry her wedding style before tossing her through the air.
Shrieking, she lands on the bed with a bounce before she starts to laugh at the sight of me stalking after her.
“Bree, I don’t know what the fuck it is in your pheromones that drives me insane, but you’ve got me. You’ve got me completely hooked,” I say when I reach the bed.
Grabbing her by the ankles, I pull her to me. “Come here, you.”
Gasping, she looks up as I shove my pants off my hips and push everything to the floor.
She glances down at my throbbing cock and back up to my face. “Completely?”
“Without
reservation,” I say, and then sink to my knees between her thighs.
I wanted to taste her so badly last night, but I couldn’t keep a grip on my self-control. I was unhinged, unable to fight the desire to stake my claim.
Unable to keep my shit together when she stroked me dangerously close to release.
I can control myself tonight, just enough to take the time to do what I’ve been thinking about doing every time I look at her thighs.
Spreading her legs, I start kissing her stomach, my tongue circling around and dipping into her bellybutton.
“What are you doing?!” she nearly shrieks and starts pushing at my head.
“I’m tasting you. Last night was too damn fast,” I say with a grin.
“No way! You can’t do that!”
She pushes at me again, but I don’t budge.
“Oh yes the fuck I can. You haven’t figured it out yet, but you’re mine completely, and that means you’ve got to take it when I want to give you pleasure. Now relax and let me get back to tasting you,” I order.
“But… I’ve never…” she starts to protest only to stop and freeze up when I dip my head back down.
Finally, I let myself experience the taste I’ve been craving all my damn life. Craving and didn’t even know it.
My tongue swipes her from the bottom of her wet pussy lips up to her little clit.
Fuck, she tastes so damn good. She tastes like fucking heaven.
“Never what?” I nearly rasp, pausing only long enough to savor her sweetness.
Looking down at me with wide eyes, she seems to struggle to speak before she finally gasps out, “Never had that…”
“Man, guys are fucking stupid,” I say before taking another swipe at her delicious pussy.
It’s not enough though to just slide my tongue through her lips and flick it at her clit. I don’t want to just sample her, I want to fucking devour her and ruin her for any other man.
Grabbing her by the hips, I hold her in place and use all of my mouth to show her what’s she been missing without me in her life.
Lapping, flicking, and sucking, I feel like I’m turning into a fucking starving beast that’s attacking her, but I just can’t get enough.
