by Wild, Nikki
Webster came out fast. He started with a high round kick which I barely got out of the way of in time. I could tell already that he was light on his feet—much faster than anyone I’d ever fought in the past.
We traded jabs and circled each other. The first few minutes of a fight were usually for sizing each other up. When you weren’t familiar with how the other guy moved, it was tough to mount an attack.
Webster moved in and caught me with a clean jab. It stung. I snapped his head back with one of my own. We were even, so far. The first round ended without much more action from either side. We each respected the other’s ability.
“Okay, okay, decent first round but there’s gotta be more in your gas tank, right?” Ray was being diplomatic. There was nothing decent about that first round. Webster was good, but I was so much better. When I was on my game, I could take a guy like him out in the first three minutes. Why couldn’t I find my rhythm?
“I should have knocked him out in the first,” I said through my mouth piece. “He isn’t good enough to make it through a round.”
“Right now, you’re not good enough to talk that much shit,” said Blake. He was right, too. I knew I was better, but I hadn’t done anything to prove it.
“Don’t get over-aggressive out there,” Ray said. “I know you think you can knock this guy out, but don’t be reckless. Stick to the game plane and take the opportunities as they come. He’s dangerous.”
“I’m dangerous.”
“I know you are, Champ.”
The bell sounded and round number two started much the way the first one end. We kept our distance and used long, probing punches to try to set up the right situation against the other.
My mind drifted to Riley. She was probably thirty-thousand feet above the Atlantic Ocean right now on her way to forgetting about me. She may have said she’d be willing to talk when she got back, but who knew what almost a month in Europe would do to her? If she had any luck, she might come to her senses and realize that I don’t exactly fit in with the picture-perfect version of her life.
I didn’t think I’d be able to survive her absence myself. I would do anything to get another shot, but I’d already been apart from her for a couple weeks, and to add a few more on top of that… it was just torture.
I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to try to call her while she was over there. If she needed to clear her head, then that’s what I intended to let her do, no matter how hard-”
CRACK!
My head whipped back and my vision went blurry. I saw the lights burning bright above the cage and I realized I’d been knocked down. I didn’t even know what hit me, though I imagined it was a kick. I’d been so wrapped up in Riley that I put myself on auto-pilot and it had cost me.
“Get up!”
I could hear Ray and Blake screaming at me from just a few feet away. I must have been down right in front of my corner. “Get on your feet, Troy!”
I struggled to get my bearings. Webster swarmed on me and tried to finish the fight. He rained punches down on me. I did my best to block what was coming, but my head was still fuzzy from the blow.
It was what fighters called being “rocked.” That meant you were in big trouble and if you didn’t get your shit together in a hurry, you were in danger of getting knocked out.
I rolled to my side. The referee was watching closely. “Don’t stop the fight,” I yelled at him. “I’m alright.”
Webster launched himself at me to try to land the knockout blow. I turned my head at the last second and his fist crashed into the canvass. He gave up dominant position when he made the attempt and I was able to wrap him up.
“Just hang on to him,” Ray yelled. “The round is almost over. Just ride it out and survive to fight in the third.”
That’s exactly what I did. My ground game was superior to Webster’s. He couldn’t do a thing against me, so I just held him in place while I recovered. By the time the bell sounded, I had all my senses about me again.
I climbed to my knees and lifted myself off the canvas. I was still dizzy so I picked a point in the crowd to focus on. It was a trick to help you get your bearings after you’d been hurt.
My eyes landed right on her.
Riley looked back at me with frightened eyes. It was like the rest of the world was muted in that moment and it was only the two of us in the building. She’d come back to see me fight. She’d come back to be with me.
My chest swelled with pride. My muscles relaxed and I felt strong. There was no pain anywhere in my body. She was back, and so was I. Whatever had been alluding me the past couple of weeks was found.
I walked to my stool feeling like a million bucks.
Brandon Webster was in deep trouble.
Riley
He was okay. I didn’t think so at first, but when we locked eyes—when he saw me—I was sure of it. I strained to hear what they were saying to him in his corner between rounds, but it was too loud in the arena.
I just wanted to be close to him. Even though he was within shouting distance, all the pressure and the fans and the mayhem made it feel like he may as well have been a million miles away. But soon, we would be together again.
The bell sounded for the beginning of the third round and I went back to having trouble breathing. Troy looked more… angry than he had the previous two rounds. He took control of the center of the cage and started firing punches.
His opponent retreated toward the wall. Troy followed like a bloodhound on the scent. They traded punches. Troy bobbed and weaved. He seemed to be getting out of the way with ease. He was moving so much better than he had been the first couple of rounds.
“Get him, Troy!”
They came together in the middle of the cage again. Troy ducked a punch and swung a counter left hand that brought a grimace to Webster’s face. He landed another punch. And then another, and another.
They moved left and exchanged twice more. Troy was faster and got the better end of it both times. It was quickly becoming apparent who the superior fighter was. I still had butterflies in my stomach, but they weren’t as bad now. I knew he was going to win.
Webster shot in and tried to tackle Troy to the ground. He seemed to be having enough of losing the back and forth they were having on their feet. Troy blocked the takedown attempt and made Webster pay for his audacity with a thudding right to the temple.
The crowd was going nuts. I heard someone behind me say that it was a hell of a fight. I just wanted it to be over. I checked the countdown time on the giant screen hanging over the cage. There was less than a minute to go.
“Knock him out, Troy,” his trainer screamed above the crowd. “You lost the first two rounds, so you have to knock him out.”
Troy knew exactly what he was doing. He didn’t need anyone to tell him. As the clock ticked closer to the end, he tagged Webster with another hard punch that wobbled his knees. The crowd sensed an exciting finish. Everyone in the building got to their feet and cheered.
Troy danced in and out with supreme confidence. When Webster lunged with a desperate punch, he stepped to the side and threw a high kick that landed with a resounding crack.
Webster toppled over in a heap. He landed with his arms straight out to his sides. Troy didn’t even follow him to the ground. Instead, he calmly turned and walked back to his corner. He knew the fight was finished.
The referee waved his arms signaling the end of the fight. Screaming fans jumped up and down. I swear, I could feel the ground moving beneath my feet. There was electricity in the air.
Troy had won by knockout. It was all over. I could breathe again.
Troy
“And your winner… byyyyyy knockout… Troy Eason!”
The referee raised my hand to the crowd. It was my first professional win and I would remember it for a long time. But it wouldn’t stay with me as long as the memory of how her eyes looked when we saw each other, or how her hair cascaded over her shoulders, or the clothes she was wearing.
I climbed over the cage wall, stopping briefly on top to pump my fist. When I got to the crowd, Riley had tears in her eyes.
“You did it,” she said.
“You’re here,” I answered.”
“Yeah, I am. I couldn’t stay away.”
“This was because of you. I won because of you.”
People pushed and pulled me in all directions. I was worried she would get swallowed up whole by the crowd. “Can we get out of here?” I yelled.
“I don’t know, can we? Don’t you have stuff to do here?”
“Collect my paycheck, but, screw it. They can mail it to me.”
“Okay, I’m parked on the side of the building.”
She hadn’t said much since offering me the ride home. It was like we were getting to know each other for the first time all over again. We sped through the parking lot, leaving behind most of the people who’d come to see the show. It was nice being able to sneak out the back.
The tension was thick. We hadn’t spent one second of time alone together since our blow up. Even though it felt like we were past it, the air hadn’t been completely cleared.
“You wanna go do something?” I asked as diplomatically as I could. She didn’t answer, instead choosing to stamp on the accelerator and move us on to the highway.
“Riley? Are you good?”
She looked incredibly sexy in that dress. It was so thin that in the right sunlight, it might not even look like it was there at all. She still didn’t answer, but offered up a little twitch at the corner of her mouth that told me she heard me.
I kept my eyes on her, twisting in my seat to get a better vantage point. Her hands gripped the wheel so hard that her fingers turned white as ghosts. This was interesting.
The pretty blonde hair that she usually wore tied up on her head was instead straightened, and curled at the ends, bringing it down past her shoulders. It had lighter streaks that ran through it which I was sure were natural.
Her head sat evenly over her slight shoulders and her angelic face wore an expression of determination. The light freckles under her right eye were barely there. You wouldn’t have even known to look for them unless you’d had the good luck to find yourself within kissing distance of her.
Her dress was a light yellow and it was cut low across her chest. Her perky tits seemed to hold it in place, making a shelf above her flat belly.
“Riley-”
She jerked the wheel hard to the left and we went flying across the oncoming lane. I’d been so focused on her, that all I could manage to do was blink hard and hope that nobody was coming from the other direction.
Rubber met gravel and before I knew it, we were on our way down a little road that I didn’t even know existed. The city devolved quickly into farmlands if you went in the right direction, and apparently, Riley knew just where she was going.
Up ahead, there was a wide spot in the road. She was aiming straight for it. The car skidded on fresh tires and came to a halt with its front bumper just inches from the ditch.
“Careful,” I teased. “Don’t scratch up daddy’s Mercedes.”
With the agility of a cat, she sprung across the center console and landed in my lap. Straddling me with strong legs, she leaned in close and held me by the chin. “This isn’t my daddy’s fucking car,” she said in a strong whisper. “I bought this, just like everything else. I paid for it with my hard work, understand?”
“Whatever you say, rich girl.”
“And I thought we were past the ‘rich girl’ stuff.” Her grip on my face tightened and she darted her tongue out and over my lips. “Because, if I hear it again, I might get mad.”
She was breathing heavily as she sat in my lap. I wanted nothing more than to rip the clothes off her and throttle her against the dashboard.
“Get mad if you want to,” I challenged. “As long as you’re mad and wet, that’s all I care about.”
Her clenched teeth muffled a scream that bordered on frustration as she lunged at me. Our mouths touched and our fingers tore for clothing. I got my hands inside the wide opening at the top of her dress and pulled it down past her shoulders and over her tits.
I ran my hands up her sides and squeezed them in my hands. They were full and heavy beneath the soft material of her bra. She pulled my head to her cleavage while she wound her fingers through my hair. My lips dragged the crevice to the top of her warm flesh.
“Damn, you look good tonight.”
She yanked my head back and stared hungrily into my eyes. “Fuck me in the car.”
“Here?” I said, mocking her concern from when we were together in the gym.
Riley’s fingers went to work on the button of my jeans while I pulled her bra down. Her tits burst toward me as I set them free. She reached a hand behind her back to unclasp the band, but I swatted it down. “I like it like that,” I said.
I helped her with my jeans as she grinded her hips. It was apparent that she wasn’t wearing any panties beneath the skin-tight dress. I slid it the rest of the way up and felt the warmth of her body against my jutting erection.
Her ass bounced, tight and ready, over my thighs. I smacked it with my open palm. The sound reverberated in the closed car. “You’re a spoiled little brat,” I teased. “I’ll punish you if I have to.”
Riley dug her elbows into my shoulders and brought our foreheads together. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You’d like to punish me.”
I grabbed her hips and spun her like a top. The friction that was created when she turned in my lap was almost enough to send me through the sunroof.
Riley whipped her hair back and it showered down over my face. I inhaled the sweet scent of her and wondered if I’d ever smell anything better. She arched her back so I could kiss her neck. My raging hard on tucked in between her legs when she shifted.
I moved my hands down her front, letting the insides of my wrists rub over her pointed nipples. Her stomach was toned and smooth like silk. When I touched her clit, she twerked in my lap and gave me another whiff of her conditioned hair.
I made my hand into a curved blade and rubbed her until she squirmed harder. When she pushed my hand lower, I slipped a finger into her tight, wet, canal. Riley touched herself gently while I thrust into her.
“More,” she begged.
My cock was as hard as steel and threatening to join the party. I put another finger in and she gasped. I sunk them deep into her and turned them over, feeling for her spot. She slid lower in the chair, opening her legs wider, and pinning my cock to the seat with her butt. I held her tight against me while I worked a third finger in.
“Oh my God,” Riley groaned.
I rolled them back and forth like I was beckoning someone to come to me. Her whole body jerked and I felt her release. She soaked my hand as her eyes shut and a breathless cry escaped her lungs.
Riley slid to her left, then reached between our legs. Taking my cock in a firm grip, she stroked me with fast, hard pulls. I clamped a hand on the back of her neck and bucked. She rose with my movement and when she came down, she landed on the head of my throbbing prick.
I let her ride me while I reached forward to tease her button. Our bodies made the leather seat squeak with each penetration. We gave the car’s five-thousand-dollar shocks all they could handle as we bounced and rocked.
The view from the back was almost too much. I had to conjure a quick image of the inside of a Cook County jail cell just to keep myself from busting inside of her.
“Fuck me, fuck me!” she screamed. There was no way the car was soundproofed well enough to contain our noises, but it didn’t matter. There wasn’t another soul within a square mile of this old farm road.
“Fuck me!”
I’d had enough. Swinging her little body to the left, I bent her across the car’s center console. Her knees found a steady surface on my seat and I used my arms to brace myself.
“Yes!”
I thrust into her with deep penetrations. The grip I h
eld on the back of her neck only got firmer. When I moved her, her face pressed into the steering wheel, sounding a horn blast that probably did wake the surrounding neighbors.
“Hey!” she chirped, between the hammering thrusts of my cock. “Wat-, unh! Watch-, watch it!”
“Sorry,” I laughed, struggling to keep the rhythm. “Didn’t mean to.”
Riley snapped back and wrapped an arm around my neck. I continued to fuck her as she caught my bottom lip between her teeth and bit down so hard that I wondered if it might draw blood. “Be careful,” she warned with a wink.
I nodded and bent her back over the console. She pushed her hands into the driver’s side door and shoved back. Her butt popped each time my thighs hit it. I was on the verge of blowing and I knew she was close too.
Her little pussy was too tight, and the way she clamped down on my cock meant there was no way I could hold back any longer. My balls tingled and pulled close to my body. Riley writhed beneath me, putting the very last of her energy into every push.
“Give it to me,” I snarled between clenched teeth. “Give it up.”
Riley sent a high-pitched wail into the driver’s seat. Her pussy tightened and quivered. I scrubbed her clit with two fingers as she flattened out and kicked her legs to the sides.
That’s when I erupted. I pulled out just in time to shoot my load across her ass. She laid still, panting, as I emptied all that I had. It felt like I was high as the love flowed through me.
I looked down on her shaking body and I knew that she was mine. I wanted to be inside of her when I came, but I couldn’t. Not yet. But she was claimed. She was mine. Riley Beckett belonged to me.
We cleaned ourselves off, both grinning like teenagers the whole time. Riley had an air of confidence about her that I hadn’t noticed before. It suited her well.
I watched her as she shimmied the dress back into place. I was sorry to see her skin hidden behind the fabric again, but the way it hugged her still held my eye.
