by Amity Cross
He straightened up, winding a thick arm around my back and tugging me against his side. He lowered his head, searching for my lips with his own and I caught him, kissing him hard. He was floundering.
The tip of his tongue teased against my bottom lip as I moved to straddle him. Settling into his lap, I felt the hard ridge of his cock press against my softness and he moaned as I wriggled against him. Sex was our anchor and if it was what he needed to hold on, then I’d let him have me however he wanted.
“Spitfire,” he muttered against my lips.
“Do you need me?” I asked, trailing my hands over his shoulder and up his neck before burying my fingers into his hair.
He nodded, his eyes hooded with lust.
“Then take me.” I began moving, massaging his cock against the seam of my shorts. “However you want. Hard, slow...”
My train of thought was obliterated as he smashed his lips hard against mine, his tongue delving into my mouth and twining with mine. He tasted like beer from the party, from the one drink he’d allowed himself to have. He was all beer and...Maverick. I clutched him, rubbing my breasts against his chest and rocking against his crotch faster until he couldn’t bear it anymore.
He stood in one fluid motion and lowered me to the mat, his hands pulling my top and bra off and throwing them over his shoulder. His mouth licked and bit a trail down my neck to my nipples where he lavished attention on one before moving to the other. The tip of his tongue flicked against the sensitive ball of flesh and I moaned, fisting my hands into his hair.
He pulled away, dragging his T-shirt over his head and shoving his jeans down, freeing his cock from his boxers. Then he hooked his fingers into my shorts and knickers and tugged, stripping me bare.
He was like a man possessed as he latched his hands on my hips and flipped me over. I pushed myself onto all fours, knowing exactly what he wanted to do to me.
My ass was in the air, Ash was behind me and I glanced in the mirror as he began sliding his cock between my ass cheeks, rocking back and forth. The sight of him over me made my knees tremble.
The whole thing was so powerful and the sight of it made my arousal spark even further. He was so dominating, we both were, but I wanted to submit to him and him alone. He was the only man I’ve ever loved and he would be the only man who held the title. This was for life.
“Ash,” I gasped, my elbows shaking with the effort of holding myself up and in position.
He drew back and I felt the head of his cock press into my opening, teasing.
“Please…” I couldn’t take it. I was so aroused, I was bordering on hysterical.
His hands dug into my hips and he pushed into me, sliding his cock deep. I moaned in satisfaction as I pressed my ass back into him, grinding against his pelvis and driving him all in, right to the hilt.
Then he covered me with his body, his hands coming to rest on either side of mine on the mat and he drove his cock into me over and over. Our skin slapped together, our moans mingled and it was so fucking animalistic the whole world fell away and the only thing that mattered was the pleasure we were giving one another.
Ash needed to know I was with him in body, mind and soul. I knew it as his teeth sunk into my shoulder, I knew it as his balls slapped against my thighs, I knew it as I felt the head of his cock strike deep inside my core…I knew it in my heart.
“I’m with you,” I muttered as I reared back into him, meeting his thrusts with my own.
“Spitfire…”
His right hand left the mat and clamped around my breast and kneaded before pinching my nipple hard. Pain tore through my skin, but it was a beautiful pain. I wanted more, but his touch was gone and then his fingers found my clit and started rubbing.
My orgasm swelled hot and hard and when he pinched the ball of nerves, I erupted with a cry. Ash didn’t let up his assault as he thrust hard, increasing the pressure on my clit.
I tightened around his cock, quivering as I came apart harder than I’d ever thought possible.
Holy fucking shit.
Ash grunted and I felt his release pour into me as I used the last of my strength to rear back into him, squeezing and stroking his cock until he straightened up and held me firm. The last of his orgasm emptied into me as my elbows buckled and we fell to the mat, our chests heaving with desperate breaths.
He pulled me to him, chest to chest, our bodies hot and sweaty. He held me for so long without saying anything, that I knew something wasn’t right. He would’ve said something about what we’d just done by now. Something dirty and wicked…but he just clutched me against his chest, his lips against my forehead.
“Why do I feel like you’re saying goodbye?” I whispered.
Ash tightened his grip, warmth spreading through me. “I’m saying goodbye to our old life.”
I sighed and couldn’t help thinking that that wasn’t it.
“No matter what happens tomorrow,” he went on, “know that I love you Ren. Always.”
“That sounds like a goodbye.”
His hands trailed up my back, caressing my skin, before tangling in my hair. His green eyes met mine and there was something there that put me on edge.
“Tell me,” he murmured, his lips moving toward mine.
“I love you.”
He covered my mouth with his, the tip of his tongue caressing along my lip. I sighed into him, my body coming alive again at his touch. As he swept his tongue against mine I couldn’t help feeling this overwhelming sadness. I should be on top of the world and building Ash up for his fight tomorrow night. Not this…whatever this was.
It felt like a goodbye to me.
39
Ash
It had been a goodbye.
I couldn’t go into the fight tonight without hearing it one more time as I sunk into her. I couldn’t explain all the things I felt for her with words. Words were my weakness, my strengths lay in the physical and that was the only way I could tell her.
Ren was it. She was the one. Always. There’d never be anyone else.
The first time I had her was from behind. I could watch as our bodies joined, as my cock slid into her pinkness, I could watch as I came in her. I could revel in my need for dominance over the wild spirit that lived inside her, the spirit that wanted to submit because she loved me.
Fuck, I loved her.
I didn’t need the rigmarole or a posse of people watching me. I told Violet to stay home even though it was a given. She was still a slave to her fear and would be forever until this ordeal was over. I made Ren promise to call her the moment the fight was over. I didn’t know what state I’d be in, if it was going to be the living or dying kind.
The only person I wanted there was Ren. How I could put her through that, watching the fight that would either kill me or brand me a murderer, was beyond the pale. I told myself I needed her, that she was the only person I wanted to share this insane journey with.
Love could get pretty fucked up if you asked me.
Ren sat with me and bound my hands, she helped me stretch out, digging her strong little hands into my muscles, kneading out any knots she found. Hammer sat on one side of the change rooms while we prepared, two security guards manning the space between us.
I could see the tension in Ren’s body as Hammer stared at her, so I kept him at her back, moving as she did. Every so often she’d smile up at me and it was all I needed from her to know that she understood and was thankful.
Max wandered in and eyed us both, nodding once at me. “Time boys. In the cage and make it count.”
Ren grimaced and I reached for her hand, the silence between us stretching into infinity. The calm before the storm.
We walked through the crowd in Hammer’s wake, letting him milk his moment, and when we reached the point of no return, Ren tugged on my hand. She stood up on her tip-toes and kissed me hard. I tasted her against my tongue and realized she was crying.
I pulled away and caressed her cheek with a bound hand. “It’s g
oing to be okay.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” she murmured.
“Of course not.” I smiled, but I knew she didn’t believe me.
I could’ve stayed there all night staring into her eyes, but the time had come. I kissed her one last time as I heard my name being called. I kissed her with everything I could gather from inside me.
“I love you Ren,” I murmured, brushing a tear from her flushed cheek.
“I love you,” she said firmly.
I let my hand fall away and stepped backwards.
“See you on the other side,” she said with a smile, but her eyes didn’t light up with their usual sparkle.
I nodded and pressed my fist against my heart, then I was inside the cage and the door closed with a slam that seemed all too final. Ren curled her fingers through the chain-link and I had to tear my gaze away or risk losing it myself.
Fuck, she knew what I was going to do. She had to know, right? If she didn’t, then she was about to realize which made it worse. It was too late to stop it now.
“Fuck, you’ve become soft Fuller,” Hammer drawled and I was jarred into the present.
My mind cleared from its haze and I narrowed my eyes. I toed the line, squaring up against Hammer and closed my heart off from my mind. Game fucking on.
He smirked, raising his fists into the guard position.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this Fuller,” he said and the undercurrent in his voice was unmistakable. I’d handed him his ass time and time again, shown mercy and paid for it. If he got the upper hand tonight, he was getting his own brand of revenge.
There was no fuckin’ way I was letting that happen. We’d worked too hard…I’d worked too hard to be beaten now.
The rules were called, but neither of us seemed to hear as we stared each other down. The rules were a formality, a show, nobody was following them tonight.
Hammer lunged before the referee’s hand had even dropped an inch and threw a right hook at my jaw. I was caught off guard and roared in pain as his fist connected. I stumbled, hot jagged throbbing searing through my face. Fucker.
I came back at him a split second later with my own right hook and the crowd roared as my fist connected with his eye. My arm jarred as the impact shot through my arm, but I tuned the pain out, keeping my head in the game.
Hammer stumbled and almost fell, but he righted himself just as I grabbed him around the shoulders and sunk my knee into his stomach. He doubled over as the force of the blow pushed the air from his lungs and I raised my right elbow up and brought it down hard onto his spine, right in between his shoulder blades.
Hammer fell face first onto the mat and the crowd thundered their feet against the bleachers, the din almost earth shattering. I reached down and went to bury my fingers into his hair, but his ankle connected with my shin with incredible force, knocking me flat on my ass.
I jumped to my feet, moving my bulk with incredible fluidity as Hammer scrambled upright like an ungraceful piece of shit.
He didn’t give me any room to breathe and collect myself as he lunged and our arms locked together. We pushed against one another, trying desperately to get the upper hand.
“It’s only a matter of time before I have her,” Hammer grunted.
I shoved him and we broke, circling each other like lions fighting over a scrap.
“How is it Fuller? How does her cunt feel?”
His fist connected with my face and stars burst through my left eye. I fell to the mat, landing hard on my shoulder.
“Does she squeal? Does she swallow?”
The crowd gasped from someplace far away as Hammer straddled me, raising his fist.
“I’m going to fuck her mouth, then I’m going to fuck her cunt, then I’m going to fuck her ass.”
His fist connected with my jaw.
“Does she like being tied up? Maybe I’ll give everyone a go after I’m done.”
I spat a mouthful of saliva and blood at him, pain burning through my self-control. I felt my rage building as Hammer taunted me with visions of him raping my Spitfire. Breaking her, hurting her, humiliating her.
This was what he’d done to her… He’d taunted her with words, tried to rule her with fear, but Ren had fought back. She’d fought and won. I could do the same. I couldn’t let my anger rule me anymore.
It was that moment when I realized that beating him wasn’t going to be enough. Revenge, doing it the right way… There was nothing right about what I was about to do, but it was the only way that would set us free. Free from this constant turmoil, this constant reminder of my ruined life… A way to be free of the repercussions of my actions… Max had given me permission after all.
Hammer’s fist connected with my nose and hot, sticky blood burst forth, coating my lips and dripping into my mouth.
This wasn’t anger talking, not by a long shot. No, in my heart this…this to me was the right thing to do.
Hammer punched again, his knuckles splitting open my eyebrow.
I had to move.
Hammer raised his fist, a manic glint in his eyes. It was now or never. We’d reached breaking point.
My body began to sear with adrenalin and I roared as Hammer let his fist fall and bucked against him with all my strength. His fist flew to the side, missing my face by millimeters and he fell to the floor with a surprised grunt.
I rolled over and straddled him this time, reversing the roles completely. Hammer’s eyes widened as he realized how deep in the shit he really was as I raised my fist and struck like lightning.
I punched and punched, my fist smacking into his face, pain and blood the only thing I could see. Nobody tried to stop me. The cage door didn’t open. The referee didn’t try and force us apart. They wanted him dead too. They all wanted Hammer to die and I was the man for the job.
Flesh minced into flesh, hands clawed at me, but not once did he even try to tap out. He wanted me to die too much; it was anger that was ruling him this time. The same thing he used against me, the same thing he used to ruin my life and the lives of the people I loved, it was the same thing that was destroying him now. Sweet fucking irony.
“Ash!”
A scream ripped through my mind and my heart twisted as I saw what I’d done. It was her piercing cry that broke the spell. She was the fuckin’ beast whisperer and it was my name on her lips that halted my fist mid-punch. The one voice through the chaos that I would recognize anywhere.
Spitfire.
Dazed, I fell backwards off Hammer and landed hard on my back. I stared up at the floodlights, light searing into my retinas, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath.
I wasn’t a murderer. I wasn’t a monster. I couldn’t do it.
His blood was still on my hands. I felt my skin tighten as it dried across my knuckles. I felt the blood oozing from my face. I felt the throb across the bridge of my nose and knew that it was broken. I used the pain to keep my eyes open.
Noise rung in my ears as my vision began to blur and I moaned, reaching out for something, anything…reaching out for Ren.
“Ren…” I muttered. “Ren…”
“I’m here.” Hands caressed my skin.
“Ren…”
“It’s over,” she murmured, cupping my broken face in her hands.
“Spitfire,” I moaned, fixing my darkening vision on her brown eyes.
She smiled and I realized she’d been crying. She was crying. “It’s over. You won.”
I sighed like I was letting out the last of my anger, hurt, pain…all of it. The rage was gone, Spitfire had my heart and now I was fuckin’ reborn. Then her lips were against mine and I knew everything was going to be okay.
We’d won. We’d fuckin’ won.
Then, I let go.
40
Ren
Six months later...
* * *
I sat in the passenger seat of Ash’s car, holding on for dear life. There were a lot of things that man was good at, but driving wa
s not one of them. All I could do was hold on for dear life as he zoomed us through the streets of Melbourne, weaving in and out of traffic.
The heater was up full bore and my fingers were still curled into the sleeves of my hoodie. Melbourne’s winter was a wet and wild one this year. After such a scorcher of a summer, it was like having whiplash.
“Where the hell are you taking me?” I declared. “And do you have to go so fast?”
“I’m on the speed limit Spitfire,” he said with a laugh.
It was intoxicating seeing him so happy after all the shit we’d been through and I almost caved. “There’s at the speed limit then there’s ’the speed limit’.” I air quoted the last part and rolled my eyes.
“I love you,” he said with a grin.
“Luckily for you, I love you right back.”
The last six months had been the happiest we’d both been since the night we’d first met at Beat. We didn’t have this looming threat hanging over our heads and we finally had room to breathe and sort out our shit.
I’d been hanging out with Josie ever since my glamorous BFF had come back from Sydney and we’d been doing more and more things outside of Beat. That bit was me getting a life outside of fighting.
I’d introduced Josie to Violet, with Ash’s blessing on account of him being so overprotective, and they’d taken to each other instantly. It was good for his sister to have an extra person to support her and every time I saw her it felt like her spirit was becoming stronger, little by little. She was definitely a Fuller and Fuller’s were fighters through and through.
Ash parked the car on a side street, one wheel running over the gutter and crashing back onto the asphalt. “We’re here,” he declared. “Now, close your eyes.”
“Close my eyes?”
“Close ‘em Spitfire or you won’t get to see.” He jumped out of the car, rounded the front and opened my door. “Out!”
I slid from the car and stood on the footpath and glanced around as he locked the door. All I could see were high brick walls and a lot of nothing. Where the hell was he taking me?
