“Shit,” Theo panted. “He’s like a brick shithouse. There’s no moving him.” Gregor had quickly taken the fight to the ground, trying to utilize his ground fighting skills to catch Theo in a submission hold.
“Don’t talk,” Harbor said. “Breathe. Pull it in deep.” He sucked in a breath, holding Theo’s eyes until he started to breathe with him.
“Stop him in the clinch,” Alex said, wiping the sweat from Theo’s face. “Sprawl. Keep it standing. There’s no way he can stand with you. That’s why he keeps taking you down. Thank god for all that endurance training.”
They were moving quickly, trying to refresh Theo and boost his morale for the next round. If Theo’s stamina held, Harbor was confident that Matheson would run out of gas and make a mistake, leaving an opening for Theo to knock him out or submit him. No matter how good the fighter, a person could only maintain the kind of pace Gregor had set for so long. Theo was skilled enough that even with a more experienced fighter like Gregor he was able to withstand the onslaught, but being constantly on defense wouldn’t win him any points with the judges. He needed to get on the offensive, especially if Theo and Gregor were both still standing at the end of the third round and the fight went to decision.
The referee called a warning that time was almost up. Harbor got right in Theo’s face, holding his gaze and spoke low, “You’ve got this. If you can’t find an opening—hold out. He’s going to gas.”
Theo nodded, eyes never leaving Harbor’s and slipped his mouth guard back in. Harbor and Alex went back to their designated spots out of the cage. Harbor barely noticed the whistles from the crowd as the ring girl walked the perimeter of the cage holding aloft a sign announcing the second round. He glanced over his shoulder to see his family on their feet yelling encouragement to Theo.
“Come on, Theo!” His mom’s voice was unsurprisingly the loudest. Well, right next to Rory’s.
“Knock the bastard out! Just a wee tap on the chin, and he’ll go down like a sack of potatoes!”
Harbor grinned despite himself until the referee called for the fighters to be ready and started the second round.
“He’s got this, right?” Alex asked, eyes on Theo and Gregor circling each other in the cage.
“If he can outlast him, he’s got this. Gregor had a lot of steam last round, a lot of aggression, but that only gets you so far, and Theo’s conditioning is top notch. He’ll be okay.” Harbor winced even as the words were coming out of his mouth when Theo’s back hit the mat with a slam right in front of where they were standing. Gregor apparently had plenty of anger to work out still. They grappled, each trying to best the other, but Gregor was still on top. Then Theo worked one of his legs free and planted his foot on the side of the cage, kicking off and tumbling them over until he was on top.
“Yes!” Harbor screamed, and prayed Theo saw the opening he had. In his scramble, Gregor left his arm in a perfect position for Theo to apply an arm bar.
Theo grabbed Gregor’s arm and spun, locking him in the arm bar hold as the arena erupted, people yelling for or against, but either way, sensing that the end was near. Theo fell back on the mat with Gregor’s arm locked firmly in the hold and lifted his hips, applying the pressure that would break the limb if Gregor didn’t tap. Which he did only a moment later.
Theo shot up off the mat the moment the referee acknowledged Gregor’s submission, and Harbor was already coming through the cage door to meet him with Alex hot on his heels. Harbor hoisted Theo up much the same way Dagen had done to him. Theo lifted his arms in victory.
The cage was chaos as Harbor set Theo back on his feet, only for Alex to pull him into a back-slapping hug. The three of them stood close together while the doctor checked Gregor’s arm before coming to look at a cut above Theo’s eye. He’d gotten it sometime in that last scramble, and while it was small, it was bleeding freely.
“Here,” Alex said, pressing the gauze the doc had handed them in place while he grabbed a butterfly bandage to hold the cut closed.
“Betcha didn’t see that coming?” Theo panted, a big smile stretching his lips.
“I did not,” Harbor said. “Thought for sure he was going to knock you the fuck out.” He laughed when Theo scowled at him, then held up the t-shirt Theo needed to wear for the hand-raising to represent one of his sponsors. Theo stuck his head through the hole, and then fought with the arm holes when his gloves got caught. Harbor helped him but looked up quickly when Alex went tense beside him. Gregor was up and moving, heading for Theo’s back with a murderous look on his face.
Harbor didn’t even think as he lunged around Theo and planted himself in Gregor’s path. The other man stopped short before shoving into Harbor’s space.
“What are you, his fucking bodyguard?” Gregor sneered, dark hair still dripping sweat.
“I’m the thing standing between you and him. You need to back the fuck off.” Harbor could feel his muscles tensing, taste the metallic twang of adrenaline on the back of his tongue, but the hand that landed on his shoulder stilled him.
“Easy,” Theo said quietly before turning his eyes to Gregor and extending his hand. “Good fight.”
Gregor looked from one to the other, eyes narrowing, before he stomped back to his side of the cage.
“I bet you used to beat up all the bullies in school, didn’t you?” Theo asked, letting his hand drop and watching Gregor’s retreat.
“Something like that.” Harbor glanced around, noticing everyone going back to their business, and the ref standing only a couple feet away like he’d been ready to intervene. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rory and his brothers had climbed over the dividing wall and looked ready to storm the cage. Harbor nodded at Vidar to let him know everything was okay, then it was time for Theo’s hand to get raised.
“Son of a bitch!” Theo hissed as he lowered his body into the ice bath Harbor had prepared for him in the hotel room’s bathroom.
“Easy,” Harbor said from the door, coming in and sitting down on the side of the tub. He had a bottle of electrolyte water in one hand and something— please god say it’s pain meds— in the other. Running his eyes over Theo’s body, he did a piss-poor job of hiding a wince.
“That good, huh?” Theo asked, breathing through the numbing cold eating up his legs and lower body. He reclined back gingerly, the bruises and scrapes on his back and ass the worst of all of it. He didn’t know how many times Gregor had taken him down in that first round, but it had left its mark on his body.
“Here, ibuprofen.” Harbor handed him the pills, then picked up a wash cloth before dunking it in the icy water, ringing it out, and gently holding it to the side of Theo’s face that had taken the most punishment. A dark purple bruise was forming on the right side of his jaw, and the hit that opened a cut above his eye had left a bruise blossoming on his forehead.
“You should be out celebrating,” Theo said, looking up at Harbor’s unblemished face. Before they left the arena, he’d showered and changed into a pair of soft gray sweats that did wonderful things for his ass. Harbor’s bright blue eyes focused in on his as he smirked.
“My celebration is me being right here taking care of your ass.”
“I don’t think my ass is up for any kind of caring tonight.”
Harbor quirked an eyebrow at the implied meaning behind Theo’s words and rewetted the wash cloth. “Anyway, I'll get my celebrating in at the big dinner mom’s going to throw for us.”
“Us?” He hadn’t actually meant to load the question beyond what Harbor was really saying, but now that it was out, he couldn’t bring himself to take it back.
Harbor shrugged one shoulder, pressing the cloth back to Theo’s face. “Yeah.”
Theo watched him closely. “You think that’s a good idea?”
Harbor went still and pulled the washcloth away from Theo’s face. “You don’t?”
Biting his lip, he turned so that his shoulders were square with Harbor, ice water sloshing against the side of the tub. “
I think it almost got you into a brawl with Gregor Matheson.”
Harbor’s jaw ticked a second before his eyes went cold. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to overstep.”
Theo grabbed Harbor’s wrist before he could shift away and winced as the sudden movement pulled at one of the abrasions on his back. “Harbor. That’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean?”
“Just that we need to be careful.” Theo settled back against the side of the tub. “I’m not exactly suave at relationships, and I don’t want you doing something that could jeopardize this tournament for you. Especially not over me. I mean, if you’d taken a swing at him...”
Harbor’s scowl went from hard to embarrassed. “I guess I’m not suave about relationships either.” He sat quietly for a moment before blowing out a rush of air. “I’ve never really had one.”
Theo huffed a laugh. “Is this really happening, right now? We really gonna call a spade a spade?”
Harbor chuckled, too. “I mean, we don’t have to get all gushy about it. I don’t really do that sappy shit, but yeah, a relationship.”
“Jesus, if my balls hadn’t already crawled back up into my body for warmth, they’d definitely be running for cover now.” Theo laughed.
“Shut up and come on,” Harbor said, getting to his feet and offering Theo a hand. “Let’s get your pruny balls out of that water and into bed.”
Chapter Twelve
Something wonderful was happening to his dick. Theo shifted, hissing both in pleasure and pain at the hot, wet suction that was melting his brain, and the scrape of hotel sheets against the raw patches of skin on his back. “Harbor?” His voice was sleep rough, and his eyes felt glued shut, but he pried them open to find Harbor flat on his belly between his legs, shoulders pressing Theo’s thighs apart as he devoured his cock.
Harbor pulled off with a wet pop and lifted his head to meet Theo’s eyes in the dim light of the hotel room. He was so glad Alex and Pete had decided to get their own room for the night.
“Sssh. Go back to sleep,” Harbor whispered before pressing the flat of his tongue to the root of Theo’s dick and licking all the way up to the tip before sucking the head into his mouth again.
“Ah,” Theo gasped. “Y-you really want me to sleep through the first blow job you’ve ever given me?”
Wrapping a firm hand around Theo’s length, Harbor stroked him while he lifted his head again. “First and only I’ve ever given. Period.”
Theo’s hips started to rock of their own accord. Harbor’s hand felt too fucking good on him to be able to keep still. “But, not only from now on, right?”
Harbor’s grin was wolfish. “Guess I must not be doing too bad at it if you’re already wanting me to do it again.” He punctuated his words by diving back down and enveloping Theo again. Keeping a hand wrapped around the base, stroking the part he couldn’t fit in his mouth, Harbor set a pace that had Theo cursing and moaning. Reaching down, he found the elastic tie that always held Harbor’s hair back and yanked it out, causing Harbor to groan around him. He buried his fingers in the fine silken strands, now loose and flowing over the crown of Harbor’s head. He didn’t pull or push, but just held on until he was panting Harbor’s name and coming in hot wash down Harbor’s throat.
“Holy shit,” he mumbled as Harbor crawled up over him, careful to keep his weight off Theo. The smug grin on Harbor’s face told Theo that he looked as debauched as he felt, but as Harbor’s eyes raked over his face, they went soft, and Theo found himself gasping for another reason. Reaching up, he gripped the back of Harbor’s neck and pulled him down into a deep kiss.
Harbor braced himself on his elbows and thrust his tongue into Theo’s mouth. Theo’s hands were still trembling with the aftershocks of his orgasm, but he reached up and pushed the soft cotton boxer briefs Harbor wore down enough to get his fist around Harbor’s cock.
Harbor groaned and started thrusting his hips in the same rhythm he was thrusting his tongue, so Theo held his hand still and squeezed, giving Harbor a nice, tight tunnel to fuck.
“Shit,” Harbor gasped, and Theo could tell by the pulsing of the flesh in his hand that Harbor was close. Leaning up, he released Harbor’s mouth to latch onto his neck at the same time he reached down with his other hand and rubbed his fingers over the soft skin just behind Harbor’s balls. Harbor came with a growl, shooting streaks of cum all the way up onto Theo’s chin.
Theo hummed his approval as he gently stroked Harbor through the end of his orgasm. Collapsing beside him, Harbor kissed his shoulder and chuckled. “Now that’s a celebration.”
Theo laughed, then groaned as the motion set his body aching all over again.
“Easy,” Harbor said, helping him clean up and get the covers back in order. Once they were settled, Harbor spoke again. “Will you stay with me when you come back to Cinci?”
Theo turned his head on the pillow, taking in Harbor’s face in the dim light of the room. They hadn’t bothered to close the curtains, and the lights of the strip beyond gave a faint glow to the darkened space even with them being on such a high floor. “You want me to?”
“I just asked you, didn’t I?”
Theo chewed his lip and let his hand wander down the length of Harbor’s arm. When he reached his hand, he slid his fingers over Harbor’s palm. Harbor laced their fingers together, giving a little squeeze. “Yeah.” Theo cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’ll stay with you.”
“Good.”
Theo closed his eyes, relishing the warmth of the man stretched out beside him and the weight of his hand in his.
“And Theo?”
“Hmm?”
“It does not taste like pineapple.”
Theo laughed and groaned again.
His mom’s kitchen was warm and filled with the smells he always associated with home: cinnamon, apples, steeping tea, roses. Harbor stood looking out the window over the sink at all his friends and family gathered in the back yard. Vidar was standing in front of the grill flipping steak, marinated portabellas, and giant skewers of vegetables. Niko and Ollie were re-stocking one of the coolers while Dagen and Magnus carted cases of beer and soda out from the garage. Lounging on the wooden glider swing, Rory and Kayla chatted with his mom and looked just as much at home as anyone with the last name Rourke.
It’d been a week since his plane had brought him home from Vegas and back to real life. The next round of fights wouldn’t take place for almost two months, and the final fight another two months after that. None of that could account for the buzz under his skin tonight. Not his recent win, or the hope of future ones, or the people gathered on the other side of the kitchen door. The responsible party wasn’t out there, yet, but he would be soon.
Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he double checked the time on Theo’s text that said he’d be there in thirty minutes. That was twenty minutes ago. Then he clicked on Instagram and brought up Theo’s profile and clicked on the video Theo had posted the last time they were together...even if Harbor hadn’t known he was recording it at the time.
It must have been early morning when he recorded it because the gray light that washed over Theo on the screen was too subtle to be anything else. It cast shadows that obscured most of the hotel room on the screen behind him, including the lump under the comforter of the bed that Harbor knew was his own body. Theo’s voice came through the speaker of his phone as the video played.
“Good morning, guys. I wanted to say thank you all so much for your support and all the messages I received last night after the fight. For those of you that were concerned, I did get a little busted up, but nothing that won’t heal. I assure you, I’m getting rested up and will be back in the gym as soon as I can drag my ass onto a plane to carry me home. Thanks for all the love, y’all.” Then he tagged it: #keepsweatin, #icepacksandibuprofen, #pineapplelies.
“What’s got that look on your face?” Kayla’s voice broke him out of his thoughts, and he turned to look at the raven-haired beauty who was the s
hop manager at Open Wounds and one of his oldest friends. “If I didn’t know any better, I'd say you looked a touch smitten.”
Harbor huffed. “I am not smitten.”
Kayla’s green eyes sparkled like she could see right through him. “When’s Theo going to be here?”
If his ears weren’t beet red already, he knew they would be soon. “Anytime now.”
Kayla nodded and walked to the fridge, pulling open the door and gathering up various condiments. “Think he’ll be able to hold his own around this crew? Sounds like they went pretty easy on him in Vegas.” She quirked one dark eyebrow and nodded her chin towards the yard beyond the door.
“Are you kidding?” Harbor huffed. “You think I’m smitten? Go ask Rory about how great Theo is.”
As Kayla laughed, the sound of a car door closing sounded from the driveway. “Go get your man, Harbor,” Kayla said, winking at him and walking toward the back door. “I’ll keep the wolves at bay for a few minutes.”
When he made it out the front door, Theo was coming up the porch steps with a duffle bag over his shoulder, and there was an unfamiliar car backing out of the driveway. “Hey,” Harbor said, a smile stretching his lips even as his brow creased with confusion. “Who was that? I thought you were driving?”
Theo smiled back and walked right into his space until there wasn’t room for air between them as he pressed his lips to Harbor’s. “Oh, change of plan. A sports radio show had a last-minute opening, so I flew to Chicago to claim it, then caught another flight here.”
Harbor paused a beat, letting that sink in.
“Is that a problem?” Theo asked before Harbor had decided which thing he wanted to say first.
“No, of course not, but,” Harbor pulled in a breath watching Theo’s face, curious at the hint of challenge in his eyes. “You could have let me know. I’d have come picked you up.”
Open Wounds: The Boxed Set Page 18
