by Jade Kuzma
Every fist that collided with his opponent got a cheer from the crowd but all it did was make me wince. Aden stared at the fight, his eyes so focused that he wasn’t moving.
I didn’t know if I was more worried for Aden or Isaac.
The fight kept going until suddenly Isaac got the upper-hand. He grabbed his opponent by the back of the head and snapped his fist right across his jaw. The other man fell in a heap and got the biggest cheer of the night.
“Your winner tonight, Isaac!”
A disheveled man stepped forward from the crowd and raised up Isaac’s hand. Isaac looked too exhausted to even stand up straight.
I looked around and watched all of the money change hands between everybody. Isaac himself got a handful of bills from the man next to him.
“Great job, Isaac,” the man said. “You want another fight?”
“I—”
“He’s done,” Aden interrupted Isaac before he could say anything more.
Everybody turned toward Aden as he walked into the center of the circle of people. Aden had all eyes on him but he didn’t seem to care.
“Aden?” Isaac said. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” Aden said.
“What do you think I’m doing? I’m making some cash. I’m putting that training you gave me to good use—”
“I didn’t train you to get into street brawls.”
“Hold on now,” the disheveled man interrupted.
Even though it was night, he was still wearing a pair of shades. He looked over the rim of his sunglasses and turned his hat backwards. It was clear that this guy wasn’t the most trustworthy man in the world. It wasn’t even the dirty clothes or his unwashed face. Just something about the way he eyeballed Aden made him look like the last man you’d ever want to deal with.
“What do we have here?” the man said as he examined Aden like a piece of meat. “You thinkin’ about fightin’, big man?”
“Get the fuck out of my face,” Aden said.
“You haven’t heard my offer. I think you’ll see a lot of action tonight.”
“Not interested. Come on, Isaac. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Isaac looked too exhausted to try and argue. He shrugged his shoulders at the other man and they made their way back through the crowd.
“All right!” the man shouted. “Who got next?”
The crowd cheered again. They held their fists up with wads of money in their palms. I walked behind Aden and Isaac back through the alley and onto the street.
“What the hell was that?” Isaac said.
“You shouldn’t be fighting,” Aden said.
“Why not? What’s the point of training if I can’t fight?”
“I don’t train people to get into street fights. You use it in the cage or in the ring or when you’ve got no other choice.”
“You see this?”
Isaac held up the wad of bills and thumbed through it.
“That’s what your training taught me,” he said. “Yates would never give me a fight I couldn’t handle.”
“Yates?” Aden said. “Is that what his name is? You can’t trust a guy like that.”
“Look, all I know is that I’ve made more money tonight than I would’ve made in months working down at the cafe. This is what I was meant to do.”
Aden closed his eyes and sighed. He was always so calm that it was strange to see him struggling to maintain his composure.
“Isaac… Just go home, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Isaac said. “I guess I need to wipe off some of this blood.”
He gave Aden a cocky smile. When you were a young blond kid like him and you just beat the crap out of someone, you had every reason to be confident. That still didn’t put Aden in a good mood.
“I’m gonna take a day off from the gym,” Isaac said. “Enjoy my winnings.”
He reared his head back and chuckled to himself as he walked down the street.
The frustration on Aden’s face hadn’t gone away. I moved to him and put a hand on his arm.
“Are you all right?”
As soon as he felt my hand, Aden jerked his head toward me. His jaw clenched, he gave me a nod.
“What was that all about?” I asked.
“Come on,” he replied. “Let’s go get that drink. I’ll…”
He hesitated for a second. I looked into his eyes.
“It’s all right,” I said. “You can tell me.”
“I know. I’ll tell you over that drink.”
Chapter 7
ADEN
Even on a Saturday night, Hades had a crowd that I could deal with. There were some motherfuckers who looked like they were trying to get drunk as fast as they could. There were some women who just couldn’t wait to bend over. There were some assholes who were just trying to start shit. But the crowd wasn’t so big that I had to stand shoulder to shoulder and worry about some bored punk who was trying to pick a fight with me to prove how tough he was. Hades was perfect.
Danica and I managed to get a booth in the corner of the bar. I leaned back in my seat and took a big swig of my beer while Danica looked out onto the dance floor next to us.
“They should really think about renovating this place,” she said.
“I think they are,” I said. “You can see all of the construction going on. That’s why they’ve got that tape all over the back and up on the ceiling.”
“I know. But I think they should start with the dance floor. That’s where all the action is. I think if they did that, more people would come here.”
She turned back to me and smiled. Danica was so good-looking that I was sure she’d still be beautiful even if she was crying. Just a tinge of makeup highlighted the dimples on her cheeks and the blueness of her eyes. Shit was almost distracting enough to make me forget about what I was thinking.
“So…” she started. “Isaac. I take it you know him from the gym.”
I sighed a deep breath and gave her a nod.
“There are a lot of young kids at the gym,” I said. “Isaac’s one of them.”
“He’s not that young, is he?”
“He’s 18. I’m almost a decade older than him. As far as I’m concerned, he’s a kid.”
I shook my head as I thought about the scene I just saw.
“He’s okay,” she said. “I mean, he was bleeding but it looks like he’ll be fine. And he made some decent cash, too.”
The smile left Danica’s face as soon as I stared at her.
“I don’t train people for shit like that,” I said. “Street fights… Fighting like a wild animal for the amusement of a crowd. Getting your face pummeled for money. People shouldn’t have to do that. Especially ones like Isaac.”
“I don’t this Isaac very well but he doesn’t seem like the type who’s concerned with what’s right or wrong.”
“Isaac has always been a troublemaker. He’s always talking shit. Can’t wait to learn something new so he could hurt somebody. I just had to stop him from beating one of his sparring partners half-to-death.”
I took another gulp of beer and polished off my glass. It was a good thing there was another beer waiting for me because I needed it.
“You seem to know a lot about what you’re doing,” she said. “How’d you get into something like this?”
Danica widened her eyes at me. She seemed sincere enough. She’d been sincere with me the entire time I’d known her, even though I just met her last night. I almost wanted to tell her.
Don’t…
“It’s in my blood,” I said.
“You’re not just any trainer though. I imagine that there are a lot of kids like Isaac. A lot of them are probably younger, too.”
“I train whoever comes to the gym. As long as they got money, I’ll do the work.”
“Your parents… Where are they now? Are they in Ivory?”
I shook my head.
“Aunt? Sister? Brother? Distant cousin?”
“Right…”
Danica shifted her eyes away from me, almost like she was embarrassed about what she just asked me. That’s when I realized the mistake I made.
“Sorry,” I said.
“Sorry? For what?”
“You didn’t ask me out for drinks to hear me complain about what we just saw.”
“I asked you out for drinks because I thought it’d be a good chance to get to know you better.”
It was a relief to see the smile come back to her face. Even in a place like Hades with the kind of mood I was in, seeing Danica smile was enough to make me forget about whatever bullshit might’ve been on my mind.
“What about you?” I asked.
“Me?”
“You’re a waitress at Finn’s. There must be more to you than that.”
She laughed and shook her head. The way her cheeks blushed made me laugh.
“Your cheeks are red,” I said.
“What?” she exclaimed. “What are you talking about?”
“Your cheeks. They’re red. Are you embarrassed?”
“No. It’s… I-it’s probably just the alcohol.”
“The alcohol… Right… You still haven’t answered my question.”
“What was the question?”
“There must be more to you—”
“Oh! Right, right, right. Lemme see…”
She tapped her index finger against her cheek and looked at me with one eye closed.
“…What do you want to know?” she asked.
“What can you tell me? How long have you been in Ivory? Any family?”
“I’ve been in Ivory for most of my life. I spent a few years up in the big city. I made a few friends and had some good times but it just wasn’t for me.”
“So you decided to come back to Ivory.”
“That’s right.”
“And why did you? Friends? Family? Boyfriend?”
I raised an eyebrow at her. She stared back, her teeth on the corner of her bottom lip to stop her from smiling.
“No friends,” she said. “I like enjoying my free time by myself. Family… I was always an only child. My parents are retired and decided to spend the rest of their time somewhere nicer than in the middle of the desert. And as for a boyfriend…”
The way her lips twisted into that smirk of hers was enough to make me think about all of the wrong things. But from what little I knew about Danica, they were probably the right things.
“…Men are disposable,” she said. “I would never move because of some cock. I don’t care how good it is.”
“Maybe you just haven’t had any good cock.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But I’ve had plenty of bad ones. I’m starting to think that a good one, I mean a really good one doesn’t exist.”
I leaned forward across the table and propped my elbows up. Even though I didn’t give a shit that anybody was listening, I whispered to make sure that I got my point across.
“I know what you’re doing.”
“Oh? And what am I doing, Aden?”
“I’m the best fuck you ever had. Just admit it.”
“My, my… The ego on you… And I thought that you were different.”
“Oh, I’m different. You found that out for yourself last night.”
I suddenly felt something between my legs. I looked down and saw her barefoot planted firmly against my crotch. Even though we were in a side booth, somebody could still see us if they were looking. Danica didn’t seem to give a shit.
“It’s nice,” she said. “Got a nice good size…”
She scrunched her toes a bit so that I could feel her. My dick throbbed in my jeans and started straining against the denim. I took another gulp of beer to wet my suddenly dry throat.
“…Nice and thick,” she whispered. “Long, too. I could feel it all the way in the back of my throat.”
“You liked that, didn’t you? Taking every inch of me…”
“Yeah, I liked it. I had a lot of fun with you…”
She suddenly pulled her foot away.
“…But I don’t know if I would move for it. Don’t take it personally. I don’t think there’s any cock in the world to change my life for.”
Danica winked and took another sip of her beer. I had to give her credit. She knew what she was doing. And she wasn’t afraid to hide what she was thinking. I couldn’t remember the last time I ran into a woman who told me the truth.
“I was beginning to think women like you didn’t exist,” I said.
“Women like me? And what am I like, Aden?”
“Honest.”
I said it bluntly enough that she stopped smiling. Her throat shifted with a swallow as she stared back at me. Her eyes slowly started to narrow.
“What is it?” she said as she shook her head softly. “What is about you?”
“You love my cock—”
“No,” she said, still not smiling. “There’s something else, Aden.”
I coughed to clear my throat then took another gulp of beer. She was still fucking staring at me like she was trying to figure me out.
“You have a girlfriend, Aden?”
“I wouldn’t have fucked you last night if I did. What kind of question is that?”
“No… Of course you don’t. You’re not the kind of man who would cheat.”
“There’s too much pussy, even in a small town like this, to get worked up over—”
“What if I had a boyfriend?”
She wasn’t smiling. She was just giving me that same blank look she’d been giving me this entire time.
“What if there was someone else?” she said. “How would that make you feel?”
“I’d feel sorry for the poor bastard that ever got into a relationship with you.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about him. I’m single.”
Her grin grew so much that it was beaming even underneath the dim-lighting of the bar. I rolled my eyes and it got another laugh out of her.
“Come on,” she said. “Why would I settle down in a place like this? Surrounded by all of these men just dying to bend me over and smack my ass? How could a girl refuse?”
“Is that what you want, Danica? Someone to bend you over and smack your ass?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Only if he did it hard.”
Danica took a sip of beer and licked her lips. She was like a rabid predator, eyeballing her prey. Her mouth was watering and she was just waiting for the right opportunity to pounce. All she was missing were the sharp fangs that she could sink into me.
“You think you can do something like that for me, Aden?”
“Are you gonna cook me breakfast tomorrow morning?”
She smirked at me.
“I cooked you breakfast because you gave me something to swallow. I don’t plan on swallowing tonight. And I don’t plan on being anywhere near my kitchen.”
“We won’t be anywhere near my kitchen either.”
“Oh?”
She leaned forward, arching an eyebrow at me.
“And where exactly are we going to be tonight?” she asked.
“You’ll be exactly where I need you to be.”
She blinked her eyes and swallowed. That look she gave me… It was all I needed to know that I was still in control.
She looked away from me and took another sip of her beer.
“I need another chance,” I said.
“Another chance?”
“Obviously last night wasn’t good enough for you. I guess you need to spend more time with my cock to see just how good it can be.”
A smirk formed on her lips, her eyes still focused on the dance floor. I stared at her for a few seconds before she finally turned back toward me.
“All right, Aden. Show me how good your cock can be.”
Chapter 8
DANICA
I loved being single. No obligations. No attachments. Nothing but complete freedom to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted with anybody I ran into. I could push aside all of the emotions and just satisfy my needs.
That’s not to say that I bent over as quickly as I could. Sure, there was nothing better than being naked with a man I felt deserved to spend his time with me. But getting there was just as much fun.
The teasing. The foreplay. The dirty talk. The anticipation that built inside of you. There was a fire burning inside my stomach now. My heart was beating so fast that I thought it would explode. My body trembled to the point that I was surprised I didn’t fall over when I got to my feet.
Aden did that to me. Giving me that kind of sexual excitement I couldn’t remember having in a long time. I would never tell him that though. He was a man. His ego was big enough. But chances are he already knew that he had me right where he wanted me.
When he grabbed my hand and led me through the back of the club, I couldn’t help but laugh like a schoolgirl. I felt so young and free with him.
We headed outside the back of Hades and stumbled into a darkened alley. The lights from the streetlights were distant. I could barely make him out in front of me. Seeing him was almost enough to distract from the smell of the dumpster right next to us. At least the air was cool tonight.
“What’d you bring me out here for?” I asked. “You park your bike here—”
He cut me off with a deep kiss. Just like that, I forgot about any complaints I might have had about being in a dark, dirty alley. All that mattered was the craving that was growing so fast inside of me that I thought I would explode.
Aden wrapped his arms around me. Deep kisses. Soft moans. Heavy breaths. Our foreplay echoed off the brick walls surrounding us. I closed my eyes and grinned when his lips hit my neck. Wet kisses and long licks over my soft flesh made me shudder.
I was in the middle of enjoying it so much when he suddenly pulled away from me. I kept waiting for him to keep going but he didn’t. My eyes open, I stared at him wide-eyed.
“What?” I said. “What’s wrong? What are you doing?”
He didn’t say a word. Just a satisfied smirk on his sealed lips.
That damn ego of his.
