“No longer a patient,” I stated. “Just some skeezy guy trying to pull one over on me.” I turned to said guy. “Harry, don’t ever come to my office again. I want nothing to do with you or whatever twisted arrangement you have going on here.” His partner laughed. It was cold, and he eyed Pete in his stupid reindeer costume behind me.
“You call us twisted when you have a thing for furry animals?” He laughed again but this time Pete stepped in front of me.
“Do you know who the fuck I am, asshole? You will apologize to the lady. If I ever here about you motherfuckers going near her again, you’ll wish we were in a cage with rules for the beatdown I will most definitely be giving you. I will destroy you.” I pulled at his arm trying to pull him back, but he didn’t budge as he stared down the two assholes who’d propositioned me for what I still didn’t entirely know.
“I apologize. Your furry friend here is right. I meant no disrespect. If that is your preference, I shouldn’t judge.” Pete was still staring him down but he finally let me pull him away.
“What the hell was he talking about?” I asked a fuming Pete as we made our way to the parking lot. I knew enough about sex, but I hadn’t studied all the different kinds of kink. Maybe I needed to brush up on pop culture some.
“Some people have strange kinks. There’s a whole group of people that wear animal costumes while having sex.” He looked to me for any sign that I was going to run away screaming. I simply nodded my head looking at the costume he was still sewn into and started busting up laughing. I could see why they thought I had a furry fetish. “What’s so funny?”
“You’re dressed like a reindeer coming out of a sex club.” I giggled again. Pete pulled me to him. Something electric sparked between us but just as his hands came down to my sides and I thought his lips would surely meet mine, there was a loud click and the flash of a camera.
“Oh shit.”
Chapter Three
Pete
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Coach is gonna kill me. What the fuck was I thinking walking out of a fetish club in a damn reindeer costume. I knew better. I’d worked hard at keeping most of my lifestyle a secret. Like that club? It was mine. No one, not even the employees knew who’d bought the place. I bought it after my first AMMA title fight. I had a room upstairs for special occasions, but I never used it. In hindsight, that was where I should have gone to get the damn costume off.
I wanted to punch the short, stocky man who was taking pictures of us just as I’d been about to taste those plump lips of hers for the first time. I bet they were sweet like honey. I wanted to know what her body tasted like. Brandy smacked my arm pulling me from my dirty thoughts. “Pete. Focus.”
“Right, let’s go” was all I said as I adjusted myself discreetly. Opening the driver door for her, I waited for her to get in before running around to the passenger side. She eyed me with confusion, but I didn’t want to get into the reason I didn’t have my license anymore. It was a memory I’d rather not relive while dressed as a reindeer fleeing paparazzi. Well, not just then, but anytime. It wasn’t a happy one.
**
We lost the man easily and made our way to my house. I knew within a half an hour that damn story would break and there would be all kinds of heat on us. I wanted the damn costume off and possibly burned before any of that happened. “C’mon. I need to get this thing off before shit hits the fan.”
“I need small scissors so I can get in between the stitches and pop them. This may take a while,” Brandy said as we walked up the front steps to my porch. Unlocking the door, I opened it motioning for her to enter the room first. I always liked seeing people’s eyes widen when my home was like nothing they’d expect. It had an understated elegance to it and a sophistication that I didn’t show to many.
“Here. Scissors.” I handed the pair of scissors to her that I kept in a drawer in the open kitchen. She went to work immediately giving nothing away. I waited for what felt like hours before the fabric pooled at my feet. Thank fuck for that. Brandy still wasn’t saying anything and without thinking I turned around. Her cheeks flooded to a rosy color and her eyes bulged as a quiet gasp left her lips. I was only half hard, but the longer she stared the harder I became.
Brandy licked her lips and I imagined what it would feel like to have those lips around my cock. I didn’t move, afraid to break the spell as she stepped closer. Her eyes found mine as she slowly ran an index finger down the veins causing a gasp to leave my lips. “Shit, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” Brandy started to panic, and I wrapped my hand around her biceps, pulling her to me for a crushing kiss. She struggled at first but when I moved my hands from her arms to her waist, I felt it the minute she gave into it. Into me. She moaned and that was all encouragement I needed to deepen the kiss. Just as she molded her body into mine the damn doorbell rang. “Ignore it,” I told her but the moment was gone. Shit. I touched my forehead to hers trying to catch my breath when the asshole on the other side decided to start pounding on it instead.
“Pete, I know you’re in there. Open the damn door before I bust it down,” Darren, my coach, yelled through the door. Double shit. Looking around, I did my best to find something to cover up with.
“Just a minute,” I called back and ran for the guest bedroom. I kept some old clothes in there because there wasn’t enough room in my closet. Finding a pair of sweats, I threw them on and walked back out into the main room. Reluctantly I moved passed Brandy and opened the door. Darren looked more pissed off than I’d ever seen him and I had seen him damn near irate and about ready to kill someone before. This so wasn’t good.
“You leave the children’s hospital in a damn reindeer costume to go to a fetish club and get seen by paps leaving with some girl practically making out in the parking lot? Still dressed like a damned reindeer?” He continued to yell, and I deserved it most of the time but this wasn’t entirely my fault. The only reason I’d been in the club in the first place was to protect Brandy. She’d had no idea the kind of place she’d been walking into.
“That’s my fault,” Brandy spoke up for the first time, startling Darren who’d been so focused on me that he hadn’t even seen her there.
“How?” he growled.
“He heard me on the phone with a patient and followed me, probably knowing what I’d find when I got there. I was supposed to be picking someone up from a strip club. That, I could handle, but what I found when I got there was… unsettling.” She shuddered. I wondered briefly how innocent this girl really was. She hadn’t actually seemed repulsed by the scene. Thinking about it, it had been as though she was a little more stunned than being disgusted by what was there.
“That doesn’t explain the reindeer costume.” Darren’s stern voice brought me out of my thoughts.
“Um, I got stuck. I couldn’t get it off and then, when I was going to go in and see the kids, the whole thing ripped down the back. I couldn’t disappoint all those kids so Brandy sewed me into it.” I shrugged. Some of the anger left Darren as he started to laugh at the ridiculous explanation.
“Only you, Collins.” He chuckled before sobering once again. “Look, it doesn’t change the fact that the entire world now thinks you have some weird animal fetish. We need a solution.” He scrubbed a hand over his face in frustration. “AMMA is going to be the laughingstock of the whole MMA world and we need to fix this.”
“What if I pretend to be his girlfriend?” Brandy shocked the shit out of me, and by the look on Darren’s face she surprised him too. “What? It’s partly my fault. He wouldn’t have even been at the sex club if it weren’t for me.” She shrugged like it was perfectly normal to pretend to be dating someone.
Chapter Four
Brandy
What the fuck did I just say? I had to be joking, right? Was I finally losing my sanity? “You’d do that?” Pete turned to me, his dark eyes shining with appreciation. I didn’t know what to say, so I shrugged.
“If we’re gonna spin this in our f
avor, it’s going to have to look real. In a very public setting. Are you sure you’re ready for something like that?” Darren looked between us. No. I most definitely was not ready for something like that, but what choice did I have? My best friend and her fiancé had helped build AMMA up to what it was today and I couldn’t be the reason that it all fell to pieces. I’d never forgive myself.
“I don’t see any other option.” I shook my head in defeat. “What about you?” I needed to know what he thought. I didn’t think spending time with me would kill him, but I might just spontaneously combust from lust before the whole charade was over.
“I’m in.” Pete smiled that predatory smile of his and I groaned, loudly.
“Ground rules.” I pointed at him. “If we are to be in a committed relationship, even if it is a fake one, you will not have sex with anyone. The first time I find out you do. It’s over. I will not be disrespected for the world to see.”
“Fair enough,” he said but I could see the panic starting in his eyes. Did he have a sex addiction? That would make perfect sense considering the fact that he was the biggest manwhore in the MMA. “Time frame,” he said looking at me. “It needs to be long enough that it looks real but short enough that people don’t start getting crazy ideas like naming our babies or when the wedding is.” My bark of laughter bubbled up out of nowhere and he looked at me with a skeptical brow. “If I wanted to, I could have you so full of want and need that you’d be begging me to put a ring on it.” The smug bastard smirked when I shifted on my feet subtly rubbing my thighs together at his words.
The soft clearing of Darren’s throat had us forgetting about our stare down. “How about three months? You can break up after Valentine’s Day.” I groaned at the mention of my least favorite holiday. Most girls loved all the buy-me flowers and candy bullshit. I just didn’t see the point in all of it. “What’s the matter with Valentine’s Day?” Darren looked confused.
“Nothing, three months is fine with me.” I smiled. Pete and Darren both looked at me with curious expressions, but didn’t comment further.
“So, are we good on the terms?” Darren asked eyeing us both warily.
“Wait. I just want to make one thing clear. If I can’t have sex, neither can you,” he said triumphantly and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“There is no chance of that happening, so I think we’re good.” I giggled again. Pete’s eyes bored into mine as if he was trying to solve a puzzle but the pieces just wouldn’t fit. “What?”
“Nothing, just can’t figure you out,” he replied thoughtfully.
“Good luck with that.”
“Mark my words, Brandy, I will figure you out eventually.” He smirked.
“Okay, children. Focus,” Darren bit out. “I think it’s best if you both stay here tonight. The place is surrounded, and it will look more believable when people find out you’re a couple.” Darren seemed to have put more thought into this then I had when I just blurted out the idea like a dumbass.
“That’s fine with me. It’s early, we can order Chinese and watch a movie.” He was acting as if this were a real date. I shrugged; it had been a while since I’d eaten.
“Fine by me.”
The whole thing was a little more domesticated than I’d ever seen Pete act. The food got there shortly after Darren left and we sat on the floor with chopsticks chatting idly while we ate Kung Pow chicken and fried rice. It was nice.
“Twenty questions,” he said out of nowhere. I nodded the idea had merit. If we were going to be “dating” then we needed to get to know each other.
“Okay, what’s your favorite color?” I asked thinking of the most benign question I could ask.
“Black, what’s yours?”
“Black isn’t a color.” I laughed.
“Okay, okay, sapphire blue.” I thought it was an odd choice for a favorite color but decided to move on. “You didn’t answer mine.”
“Green. Favorite kind of movie?” They were totally lame questions but kept things in the clearly platonic realm exactly where I needed to keep him. I didn’t want him to find out my secret and realize just how inexperienced I was.
“I like action movies or comedies,” he said but didn’t ask the same question. He looked up thoughtfully trying to find the perfect question. I was a little scared of the question that would be asked. “Favorite sexual position?”
“Veto.” I shook my head and he chuckled.
“Okay, okay. How about… favorite food?”
“Pasta. I love raviolis,” I answered. “What about you?”
“Anything high protein. It’s good for the body.”
“That’s a bullshit fighter answer. What is really your favorite food?” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Pizza. I haven’t had it in months.” He seemed to groan at the thought.
“Is it worth all that?” I started but he shook his head.
“Nope, it’s my turn.” He tapped his fingers against his lips as if deep in thought. “Why would a patient ask you to pick them up at a strip club? Is that normal?”
“No, it’s not normal. As for the rest of your question, I’m not able to answer that. Doctor patient stuff.” It wasn’t a lie, I could lose my license for talking about patients. He nodded as if he understood, then motioned to me for my turn. “Is all the stuff you give up worth it to be in the cage?”
“It is. Most of the time I don’t even notice it. But, look at the way I get to live, and all I have to do is beat someone in a cage a couple times a year.” He shrugged. “I think I’m going to save the rest of my questions. Let’s put in a movie. Action or comedy?” I could tell he was deflecting but decided to let it go. He would tell me in time, or not, it didn’t really matter.
Who was I kidding? It mattered a great deal, I just didn’t want to admit it.
Chapter Five
Pete
Having her this close to me and not being able to touch her was tearing me apart. I’d never had a chill night at home with a woman before and honestly, it felt good even if my dick was straining in my sweats from the lack of action I’d seen that day. We’d moved to the couch to watch whatever movie she’d picked, and I sat close but not too close with the huge bowl of gourmet popcorn I’d just made. Coach was going to kill me in the gym the next day but it would be worth it.
Her eyes stayed glued to the screen and I hadn’t been able to look at anything but her. She was fearless and loyal almost to a fault. “Why did you really agree to this?”
“Is that one of your questions?” She winked at me.
“No.” I laughed because she was just too damn cute. My eyes moved down to her lips and I remembered how they tasted. I wondered if they would have a salty-sweet flavor now because of the popcorn. Just before I leaned in she started speaking in a rush.
“You have saved me not once but twice now.” It took me a second to remember the other time I’d “saved” her but it wasn’t just me that’d come to her rescue.
“I wouldn’t say that. If anything Kyle and Delia helped you out the first time. I was just along for the ride. Besides, you don’t take me as a girl who needs saving.” She wasn’t either. I remembered Kyle telling me how she threatened to chop his balls off the first time he met her. He thought she was a little unhinged, but I knew she was just a good friend. It was actually kind of hot. I liked a girl who was loyal who stood up for herself and her friends.
“All right, if we’re giving away free questions, I get one too.” She looked at me with big doe eyes and I couldn’t bring myself to shut her down. “Why did you come along for the ride that night?” The vulnerability in her eyes said it all. My answer to this question meant everything to her.
“Ever since the night we met at the fundraiser, I saw something innocent and pure about you. I just wanted to protect you. No that’s not right. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s more of a need or a compulsion to make sure you’re safe.” As I said the words I leaned in. It wasn’t intentional, it was more like a
gravitational pull her body had to mine. I pressed my lips softly to hers and a strangled little sound of surprise gargled in the back of her throat before she returned the pressure.
I couldn’t tell if it was me pushing her or her pulling me, but a moment later my body was covering hers. Her answering gasp was all the invitation I needed to invade her mouth with my tongue. She tasted of honey and popcorn the exact right amount of salty-sweet and a groan escaped my lips as I settled my hips between hers letting her know how hard I was for her.
One hand landed on her breast over the top of her shirt, kneading gently while the other started to crawl up under the thin fabric. Her hands were on my shoulders, and I couldn’t tell if she was pushing or pulling me. “Wait, we can’t do this,” she panted. My lips grazed her jaw tantalizingly slowly.
“Why?” I asked amused. Her body was wound up like a top just waiting for me to throw her over the edge but her lips were saying no? It didn’t make any sense.
“Because, I just, can’t,” she repeated the words again. I was so confused. I sat up on my knees with my hands out in surrender, showing her that I had no intention of going further than she was ready for.
“I’m still not understanding here. You look like you’re about to cry from frustration right now. I could help. We don’t even have to have sex, just let me help ease the ache.” Her eyes fluttered closed and a small sigh left her lips.
“No sex?” she asked timidly and I wondered if something had happened to her to make her afraid. I found myself getting irrationally angry at the mere thought of someone hurting her.
Screwed: A Sin City Gym Novella Page 2
