Alex (A Cocky Cage Fighter Novel Book 9)

by Lane Hart

  Unable to resist as we lie in bed with arms and legs a tangled mess since we can’t seem to bear separating, I reach out to stroke my knuckle over the soft line of Whitney’s jaw then over the patch of freckles on her cheek.

  “Mmm,” she grumbles before throwing her arm around me and snuggling closer to my chest. “I think this may be my favorite place in the world,” Whitney says softly, causing a sudden warmth in my chest that I’ve never felt before. “Let’s stay here forever,” she adds, placing a soft kiss over my pec.

  I couldn’t agree with her more, so I tell her, “Stay with me. I don’t have anything to do or anywhere to go for the next two days. We could stay in bed and order in or make sandwiches, but never leave the apartment.”

  Finally blinking her eyes open, Whitney tilts her head up so that she can see my face.

  “Really?” she asks.

  “Yes,” I say with a kiss to her forehead. “Just you and me, alone and hiding away from the rest of the world.”

  “Okay,” Whitney agrees with a grin. “As long as there will be sex.”

  “Oh, there will definitely be sex,” I tell her since my dick is already hard for her again. “Which means I may have to leave for more condoms.”

  “No need,” she says, squeezing me tighter as if she thinks I’m about to head out now in the middle of the night. “I’m on birth control for the hormones even though I don’t need them, so we could, I mean if you want…”

  My cock swells up to twice its normal size hearing that.

  “You would let me be with you without anything between us?” I ask for clarification.

  “Yes, I’m clean,” she says.

  “I am too, and I’ve never done that with anyone before,” I admit, anxious as hell to try it.

  “Oh, well, I have a few times,” Whitney says before she rolls on top of me. “And it feels so much better that I usually come without any other stimulation.”

  “Holy fuck,” I groan as she begins grinding her pussy down on my cock. Will I ever get used to how fucking amazing it feels to be naked with this woman?

  I don’t even get a chance to slip a finger inside to warm her up. Whitney wraps her hand around my cock, and then I’m surrounded by her tight, wet heat that feels so much better without the latex barrier.

  “I could live forever in your pussy,” I tell her, not the least bit sarcastically as she works herself down to take more of my shaft.

  “That could be arranged,” she replies with a smile.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Whitney

  After spending those days and nights with Alex, I blew off Kenneth as much as I could to spend more time with him. Knowing we’re both leaving soon has been the hardest part. Everything is so great between Alex and me; I’m certain that I’ve never been this happy before. The two of us are just perfect together. He’s the first man I’ve ever dated who loved me. Not that it takes words to mean it. The way he feels about me is in the way he looks at me, how sweet and kind he is, and how I wish I could spend every waking and sleeping moment with him.

  But I can’t.

  In fact, those moments are quickly winding down.

  Tonight, after I finish packing, I plan to go see him and have one last perfect night together before I have to leave.

  I’ve just folded my last pair of pajamas, long-sleeve shirts, and pants, nothing at all skimpy, into the suitcase when I hear the doorbell ring.

  When my mom doesn’t answer it, I jog down the steps to get it myself. A glimpse through the peephole shows that it’s Kenneth. I wasn’t expecting him tonight.

  Unlocking and opening the door, I say, “Hi, what are you doing here?”, hoping I don’t sound too disappointed.

  Without answering, Kenneth sweeps me into his arms and spins me around, taking me by surprise.

  “I just signed away five million dollars, so I think I should go get drunk before I change my mind,” he says when he puts me back on my feet.

  “You closed the deal with my dad tonight?” I ask with a smile since tomorrow was supposed to be the big day.

  “We did,” he says with his own grin. “Now I want to take you out to mourn the loss and drink a bottle of champagne.”

  “Okay,” I agree since it’s the least I can do for him spending that much money to save my father’s business. “Give me a moment to change.”

  “Let me know if you need any help,” he teases with a wink before I jog up the stairs.

  Lately, Kenneth has upped the flirting, and I can only imagine it will get worse while we’re away, visiting romantic cities and spending practically every moment together. He’s been respectful and hasn’t crossed any lines yet; but if he does, I will be sure to tell him to back off. Hopefully, it won’t come to that.

  Picking out one of the nicer, floor length, off-the-shoulder black dresses still hanging in my closet, I quickly slip into it and then touch up my makeup since I’m guessing Kenneth will want to go someplace really nice tonight.

  “You look gorgeous,” he says when I make my way carefully down the stairway in sky scraper heels.

  “Thank you,” I reply.

  When he offers his hand, I take it to be polite, but he doesn’t let it go as he leads the way to his sports car parked out front and helps me into the passenger seat.

  “So where to tonight?” I ask him when we get on the road to fill the silence.

  “A new place I just heard about and want to try,” he says. “I think it’s called Anton’s.”

  Anton’s. Why does that name sound familiar?

  As soon as we pull up in the parking lot, I realize why. This is the place Alex brought me to several weeks ago. Not only does it, of course, sadly remind me of him, but it also brings back the memories of nearly choking to death. I decide to stick with the soup and salad tonight to avoid a repeat.

  The smiling, peppy blond hostess named Shannon, based on her nametag, is the same girl as last time. Her smile suddenly falters when she does a double take between Kenneth and me before seating us in the main dining room that’s noisy and crowded compared to the private alcove Alex had arranged.

  “Your server will be right with you,” she tells us as I take a seat with my back to the wall, almost making it sound like a warning.

  Kenneth removes his jacket and sits down in the chair across from me.

  While I’m glancing over the menu, he reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a long jewelry box, then slides it across the table to me with an enormous grin.

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  “For you, before we begin our journey together.”

  “You didn’t have to do that,” I tell him. “Don’t you think the five million for my father and a trip around the world was enough?”

  “Open it, please,” he says with hopeful blue eyes.

  Not wanting to hurt his feelings, I pry open the box that reveals a beautiful necklace with so many diamonds I nearly go blind.

  “Wow, Kenneth. It’s stunning, but I can’t accept it,” I tell him, figuring it must have cost about as much as a house.

  “Yes, you can. I want to spoil you, so let me,” he says. “Here, I’ll help you put it on.”

  Getting out of his seat, he comes over next to my chair to remove the necklace from the box. I lift my hair off my neck as he fits it around my neck and fastens it.

  “There. Gorgeous,” Kenneth says as he stands beside my chair to admire it.

  “Thank you,” I say right as his lips lean down and brush against my cheek. I wince in revulsion, but there’s no way to avoid it…

  “Whitney!?!”

  I immediately recognize Alex’s voice; and when Kenneth returns to his seat, I finally see the man I love standing behind his chair.

  “Alex? What are you doing here?” I ask in confusion while I take in his white dress shirt, green tie, and black vest. The outfit looks familiar. Glancing around, I notice it’s the same thing all the other waiters and waitresses are wearing. “You work here?” I supply even
though it’s obvious. That must be how he knew the hostess and waiter before. Why didn’t he tell?

  “Who the fuck is he?” Alex asks, glaring at Kenneth with his fists clenched tightly by his sides.

  Oh no.

  “This is not what it looks like,” I say as I get to my feet.

  “That’s original,” Alex grumbles through his clenched teeth. “So let’s hear it. What the fuck is it?”

  “Whitney, do you know this man?” Kenneth asks. “Because I can’t say I care for his offensive tone.”

  “You need to shut the fuck up,” Alex points a finger at Kenneth and warns.

  “Alex!” I gasp. “You don’t need to talk to him that way!”

  Turning back to me with his teeth grit so hard I see a tick in his jaw, Alex says, “Start explaining now! What are you doing here with this rich prick?”

  Everyone in the entire restaurant is now looking at us, and Kenneth’s face is turning fire engine red in anger or embarrassment. Maybe both.

  “He’s helping my father,” I admit in a rush.

  Alex makes a show of spinning around in a circle and then bending down to raise up the table cloth and look under it before he says, “Where’s your father, Whitney? Because I sure as fuck don’t see him here at this table for two!”

  “We’re just celebrating their deal closing, that’s all,” I tell him.

  “And our upcoming vacation,” Kenneth chimes in, making me wince.

  “He’s who you’re traveling to Europe with? Seriously?” Alex exclaims. “I can’t fucking believe this!”

  “Who is this man?” Kenneth asks me again.

  “I’m her motherfucking boyfriend. Or at least I thought I was,” Alex answers before I can. “Now I would love to know who the fuck you are!’

  “Is everything okay here?” A short man in a suit, who I assume is the manager, asks when he approaches our clusterfuck.

  “We were trying to have a nice dinner before this…this waiter rudely interrupted,” Kenneth tells the small, balding manager.

  “I sincerely apologize,” the man says. “Alex, can we please have a word?”

  “No. Not until I get some answers,” Alex tells him, crossing his arms over his heaving chest and refusing to budge.

  “Why don’t we go outside and talk?” I suggest to try and put an end to this public scene.

  Without a word, Alex turns around and storms to the front, bursting through the door so hard it slams against the wall with me following meekly behind him. As soon as we’re clear of the sidewalk, he turns around and scowls at me with his hands on his hips, waiting …

  “Merchant Industries needed investors to prevent it from closing, but it wasn’t getting any until Kenneth came along,” I explain in a rush.

  “That doesn’t explain what the fuck you’re doing here with him.”

  “No, it doesn’t; but if you think about it, you can probably figure that out,” I say with my eyes lowered to the ground in shame.

  “You’re fucking him?” Alex shouts, reaching the wrong conclusion.

  “God, no. I’ve never touched him!” I reply, meeting his gaze and holding it to try and prove to him that I’m telling the truth.

  “He just kissed you! I saw him, Whitney!”

  “On the cheek,” I explain. “That’s it. Nothing else. We’ve been to dinner a few times.”

  “Dinner? I think you mean on dates. You’re fucking dating him, aren’t you?” he growls.

  I nod silently since there’s no way to deny it. We go out alone for meals he pays for and rarely discuss Merchant Industries. I can say it’s business all I want; but if it were truly just business, we would meet in a conference room. I’ve been going out with Kenneth to make him think we’re dating, to convince him I’m interested in him even though I’m not.

  “How long have you been seeing him?” Alex asks softly, accusingly. I think I prefer him yelling more.

  When I remain silent, dreading his reaction, he repeats the question slowly and distinctly. “How. Long.”

  “A few weeks.”

  “Weeks!” he yells. “You’ve been going on dates with him the whole time we were together? You told me you loved me, yet you’ve been seeing that asshole behind my back?” he asks while pointing toward the front of the restaurant.

  “I didn’t think you would understand that it was nothing but a business deal.”

  “If there was nothing going on, then why didn’t you just tell me about him?” he asks. “And what part of the deal was going on vacation with him?”

  “That’s what he required to make the five-million-dollar investment,” I admit softly.

  “Five million,” Alex repeats.

  “Yeah.”

  “You were dating this douchebag for five million dollars?” he asks.

  “Yes.”

  “Wow. I don’t even fucking know what to say to that,” Alex replies, turning his back to me and looking out over the parking lot. “You know how that sounds, right?”

  My sniffles as I brush away tears is my only response.

  “Don’t you see how this looks?” Alex asks when he faces me again. “It makes you look like a really expensive whore.”

  “I never slept with him, and I never will!” I shout through the tears.

  “Oh, so five million for a kiss on the cheek? For a travel companion? You can’t be that fucking naïve! He only wants one thing from you on this trip! Why else would he spend that much money? Because of your killer personality?” he snaps.

  “Alex,” I start.

  “No, don’t even try to rationalize this shit to me,” he says. “You’re a fucking gold digger, just like everyone warned me. I told them they were wrong, but I guess you fooled me.”

  “I don’t care that you wait tables and don’t have much money,” I tell him as tears cloud my vision. “None of that matters to me!”

  “If that were true, you wouldn’t be here with him now, letting him buy you diamond necklaces and take you around the world, would you?” he asks before he starts to walk past me back inside.

  “Alex, wait!” I call, grabbing his arm to stop him. “I don’t care about him! You have to understand!”

  “I’m done buying into your bullshit. His money was more important to you than me. Otherwise you would’ve told me,” Alex replies before peeling my fingers off of his arm and leaving me standing there alone.

  Or at least I thought I was.

  When I turn around to follow him back inside, I find Kenneth. The expression on his face angered since he obviously heard most, if not all, of our argument.

  “All I wanted was a fair chance with you, and you’ve had a boyfriend this whole time?” he asks while shaking his head. “If you had been honest with me upfront, maybe I still would’ve made the deal, but now…” He pulls his cell phone out from his coat pocket. “I’m calling my lawyer and telling him it’s off. Thank God the funds weren’t to be transferred until tomorrow after our plane left,” he says before walking briskly toward the car while I try to catch up.

  “Please let me explain,” I say to him.

  “I’ll take you home so that you can tell your father yourself how you just cost him his business tonight.”

  “I’m sorry,” I tell him honestly through sobs. “Is there anything I can do? Please, Kenneth!”

  “I’m not interested in playing any more of your childish games, and I would like to keep what’s left of my pride,” he says over his shoulder.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Alex

  I try to rein in my temper when I walk back into Anton’s, but it’s an impossible task. One look at the table where I watched him kiss her, and I fucking lose it.

  I grab one side of the tablecloth and rip the entire thing with silverware and glasses off, tossing it all to the floor where it lands with a loud clatter.

  The physical aggression does nothing to calm my anger and only ramps it up that much higher.

  How fucking could she?

  Al
l this time Whitney lied to me and was seeing another man behind my back. She said she wasn’t fucking him, but how can I believe anything she says? She didn’t even look like herself tonight, at least not like the down to Earth Whitney I thought I knew.

  Even if she wasn’t screwing him, they were planning to spend weeks away together, so she probably would have eventually. All for five million goddamn dollars. Pocket change compared to how much I’m worth.

  “Alex, you need to leave. Now,” my boss says from behind me. “And do I even have to tell you that you’re fired?”

  “Fuck you,” I reply as I turn around and storm past him.

  Out at the front of the restaurant, I break into a jog, heading to Havoc to beat the fuck out of something or someone. I don’t even know what time it is, but hopefully, if it’s after closing, someone will be there to let me in. Otherwise, I may end up behind bars tonight for destruction of whatever property crosses my path.

  The door is thankfully unlocked when I get there, a few fighters still going hard. Glad to see Jude at the counter, I ask him, “Cage?”

  He takes one look at my face and waiter uniform before he nods. “Everything okay?”

  “No,” I reply as I yank the tie off and jerk off the vest that I toss to the floor. Splitting the dress shirt open down the middle to get it off, buttons fly in every direction, but I don’t give a shit since I won’t need it for Anton’s again.

  I don’t even bother to tape up my hands, I just grab my gloves from my locker, and I’m ready to go.

  Jude’s already in the cage when I step inside.

  “Ready?” I ask before I throw the first punch.

  “Yeah,” he says. Blocking my right cross and left jab like usual, he asks, “So what happened? Bad night at work?”

  “I got fired,” I admit as I try to execute a roundhouse kick that Jude ducks to prevent from landing on his head.

  Dammit, now what the fuck am I going to do for money?

  “Why?” he asks, nailing me in the ribs with his right glove.

  “Fucking. Whitney. Merchant,” I say, jumping back to avoid his attempted takedown. I need to hit something tonight, not get choked out by him.