Fighting Lust: A Deadly Sins Novel

by Jennifer Miller

  Cleaning up the blood that’s once again seeped out, we give the medicine time to work. Making the mistake of looking in Ryder’s eyes, he smiles again. I feel a twinge of something deep within me along with slight amusement at him that I refuse to let him see. Clearly his charms always work for him, and I can certainly see why. With a sweet smile I look at Cole and then back at Ryder, “Do you want Cole to hold your hand? The slight pulling sensation may not be pleasant.”

  Ryder frowns and rolls his eyes, “No. I can handle it.” Dr. Charleston hardly contains his amusement at my question and then nodding, he pinches his skin together, and begins the repair

  “Did I mention that I won my fight?”

  “No, I don’t believe you did,” I comment absently as I dab at the slightly oozing blood leaking below the freshly sutured site and concentrate on assisting Dr. Charleston so this can be finished quickly. Thinking out loud, I say “This is going to leave a scar, but it should heal well as long as you don’t take anymore hits to the area.”

  “No problem,” he says, “A scar, huh? That will only reinforce the fact that I’m pretty bad ass.”

  “Is that right?” I ask and hear Cole and Dr. Charleston choke on laughter.

  “Also, nurse Tessa. It’s okay if I call you nurse Tessa, right?”

  “Mmm hmm,” I murmur not really giving a crap.

  “Nurse Tessa, there’s another problem that I have that I think I’m going to need looked at.”

  Watching Dr. Charleston tie off the end of the final suture, I use the tiny scissors for the last time and cut the catgut, while Dr. Charleston removes his gloves and heads for the exit. My eyes finally meet his. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I should have mentioned this before when you first came in, or when the other nurse asked me about why I was here….”

  “Okay…”

  “Well you see. My balls are pretty swollen from my fight. I’m pretty sure I need to pull down my pants so you can check them out for me. Very closely.”

  Oh. My. God. Cole sounds like a dying duck in the corner, clearly he’s trying and failing to contain himself. Ryder watches me closely, amusement on his face, expectation in his eyes. He’s totally playing me and wants to see how I’m going to react. I can either be a bitch, or beat him at his own game.

  I quickly clean and disinfect the area once more before placing a sterile bandage over the top. Keeping it in place with some tape I’ve already prepared for the job, I smooth it down across his head. I fold up the disposable towel on the tray, place everything together and toss it all in the trash and then turn and make direct eye contact. “Swollen balls are really painful and you’re right, you should have mentioned that,” I tell him seriously. His eyes widen a little as he nods. “You’re all stitched up and I’ll get you to radiology in a moment for that scan. Assuming it is negative – meaning there is no brain injury – I’ll have the care instructions for the suture site and your prescription from the doctor, but your testicles should definitely be looked at before you leave.”

  Again, I hear Cole choke and Ryder just nods solemnly. I place the rails up on the bed, open the door and signal to a couple of transports to take him to radiology. “When you return from x-ray, if you’d like Cole to step outside, you can go ahead and remove your pants.” I bite my lip slightly when I say this and his eyes immediately go to my mouth and then shoot back up to my eyes. I grin suggestively, just a little. The guys appear to whisk him away to radiology.

  “I’ll see when you get back…” I lean close to his ear and whisper, “and promise to provide a very close inspection.” I wink at him and without another word, walk out of the room as he’s taken away.

  Cole follows me out, eyes wide and with obvious words on his lips. He starts and then stops to say something a couple times so I hold my hand up to my mouth silently telling him to be quiet. I nearly collapse, acutely aware of the effort being required to hold my laughter.

  “I’ll be right back,” I murmur, “Wait here.”

  Walking away to get someone to help me with my plan, I return shortly with a companion.

  When Cole gets an eye full, his eyes become even wider and he covers his mouth, bending over at the waist to try to control his laughing. Quietly, I introduce them. “Cole, this is Nurse Hector. He’s going to take a look at Ryder’s testicles as requested when he returns. If you want to wait here, it won’t take long, and then, as long as he’s cleared by radiology, you can assist Ryder to his car. I’m assuming you’re his ride?”

  “Tessa, marry me. You are the greatest girl I’ve ever met.” Tears leak from the corner of his eyes and I grin.

  I shrug, “I can handle guys like Ryder.”

  I had already quickly filled Hector in on what’s transpiring. Ryder isn’t the first to try to pull something like this. Drunk guys have said and suggested all kinds of things; we’ve heard, and God knows, seen it all. This isn’t the first time we’ve pulled something like this ourselves. It shuts them up and puts them in their place pretty fast.

  Walking back inside Ryder’s room upon his return from radiology where he’s already been ruled brain injury free due to the slowness of activity this evening; I remain composed as I help him assume a sitting position on the gurney, his pants at his ankles. Expectations are clearly reflected on his face. Smiling, I lick my lips, “Looks like you’re ready to be checked out.”

  “Hell yes I am,” he says eagerly.

  “Good,” I reply and take a step toward him. “Hector!” I call and immediately Hector is through the door. He’s already got a glove on his hand and doesn’t miss a beat. He snaps the glove loudly, “I understand you need someone to look at your testicles. Tessa is off the clock now, so I am taking over from here.”

  Smiling, I catch Ryder’s open-mouthed surprise and shock. Hector is a dark haired, man with skin the color of caramel, a shaved head, a stern look on his face accented by a large semi-circle shaped scar that runs from the corner of his right eye to the outer right corner of his mouth, with hands the size of professional basketball players. He’s about six feet, three inches tall and if you didn’t know him, he’d easily scare the shit out of you if you met him in a dark parking lot. Ryder may be a fighter, but even he’s not stupid, which is clear considering the look on his face as he captures a look of Hector from head to toe.

  As long as I live I’ll never forget the look of pure surprise covering his face. Sitting there totally exposed, looking like a deer in headlights, staring at the glove on Hector’s hand – his pants around his ankles. His eyes find mine and I give him a wink and wave before I practically skip out of the room, pleased with myself for calling his bluff.

  Cole is peeking through the door I left cracked on purpose, and pretty much looks like he wants to pee his pants. I finally let out a laugh and call out, “Nice to meet you, Cole,” as I walk away and head to the locker room happy that my shift is over. Maybe I’ll go out and get a drink with Noah and Natalie after all.

  It’s been a couple weeks since I saw Tessa at the hospital and a day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t thought about her. I’m not sure what it is about her that’s got me all in knots. Maybe it’s the way she took control and had her way with me at the bar. Maybe it’s the way she didn’t take my shit at the hospital. Maybe it’s the mysteries hidden in her eyes. I don’t know. What I do know is that I want to see her again. I also know that I’m not sure how I feel about that.

  Ryder King doesn’t ever go out with the same woman twice. Ryder King doesn’t even think about the same woman twice. Doing so would establish an impression that I’m interested in more than just sex, and I’m not. And I don’t want any woman to get any expectation about starting some relationship with me. Ain’t going to happen. Planting that idea is unacceptable and something I’ve always avoided at all costs. I’ve been there done that. I let myself go there before and all it led to was pain. So the fact that I can’t get Tessa out of my head, doesn’t sit well with me.

  Work has been bu
sy lately. I love my job and it works well for me. As a fireman, we are either waiting around to be called to a job, or at a job. Waiting around means I get to do a lot of weight lifting. We have a complete gym at the station and if it wasn’t for my fighting, I’d never need to go to another gym. Over the last couple weeks when we’ve been called to a site to assist with a car accident or a fire, I’ve offered to accompany the victim to the hospital, if needed. Each time I was turned down. Sure, I had an ulterior motive, but they didn’t need to know that. All the guys looked at me like I’d gone crazy when I offered, but I ignored them.

  Kind of like what I’m doing now, but this time it’s ignoring the guys at the gym. They’re all fucking around, but I’m seriously trying to get in some sparring practice. “Is anyone ready to fight with me or not? You are all wasting my time sitting here gossiping like chicks.”

  Dylan gets into the octagon and takes a fighting stance, “Stop being a cry baby. If you want to fight, let’s fight.”

  “Finally,” I say with a roll of my eyes.

  Despite telling Cole that I would yank off his balls and shove them down his throat if he spoke a word to anyone about what happened at the hospital, , he spilled anyway. When I walked into the locker room earlier, I heard raucous laughter and didn’t think anything of it until it increased when I walked inside. Dylan, Zane and Levi surrounded Cole and each had various looks of mirth and disbelief on their faces. Cole immediately assumed the look of guilt and shame that comes not so much in feeling bad about telling the story but in getting caught and I knew in an instant that he didn’t give a shit about my threat. Truth is, if it had been the other way around, I’d have told anyone and everyone that would listen. I guess I can’t really blame him, but I’ll pay him back, that’s for damn sure.

  They’ve all been giving me shit ever since and have been more interested in ribbing me than in logging in some training time.

  Taking a fighting stance against Dylan, I prepare to spar with him, but a pain runs through my head and I wince. I have had a headache off and on, and my stitches have been bothering me, they still pull a little but are starting to itch.

  “What’s the matter man?” Zane asks me with concern on his face.

  “Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing. He’s probably just reliving the finger up his ass he took a couple weeks ago.”

  “Shut the fuck up, Levi. I didn’t take a finger up my ass. It wasn’t a prostate exam.”

  “So, what you’re saying is, you just stood there like an idiot with your pants around your ankles and didn’t decide to make the most of your time? I mean you were clearly ready for business,” Levi says while shaking his ass suggestively.

  “If you don’t shut up, I’m going to-“

  “What?” Dylan asks. “Ask us to rub your balls for you?”

  Without warning, I take off at Dylan and tackle him to the ground. We roll around and each fight to gain position, Levi, Zane and Cole spurring us on. “Shut the hell up, asshole,” I spit in his face when I gain dominance.

  “Dude, please. This is fodder for fucking days,” Dylan replies.

  “He’s right, man,” Cole chimes in from the sidelines.

  Dylan gains leverage and when he swings to punch me, instead of moving out of the way which I clearly have time for, I wait it out and let his fist connect.

  “What the fuck was that?” Cole asks angrily. I ignore him and roll to the side, away from Dylan and get back to my feet. Dylan looks at me in both horror and confusion when I get back into fighting position again. “No. No way,” Dylan protests. “You aren’t even fighting back – not really. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “Oh my god, fine. Who else? Who else is going to fight me?” Zane, Cole and Levi all stare at me as if I’ve lost my mind. Zane asks, “You call that fighting?” I ignore him.

  My luck is restored when Tyson chooses that moment to step into the octagon. “Tyson! Come on! You ready to take me on?”

  Tyson shrugs his shoulders and walks to the center of the ring. “I wouldn’t do that man,” Zane tells him.

  “Yeah man, Ryder’s lost his fucking gourd,” Levi says.

  “What are they talking about?” Tyson asks me.

  Shrugging my shoulders, I say, “I don’t know. They all want to stand around and gossip like girls and I don’t. You want to fight or are you going to be a pussy too?”

  Tyson glares at me, and I know that’s all it takes. He nods curtly, and we each get into position. Cole is muttering something over to my side and just as Tyson and I start to spar, I hear Cole say, “Oh my god, I know exactly what he’s doing.”

  I block a few of Tyson’s blows and he does the same. We quickly get into a good rhythm and circle each other looking for an opening. I know he’s going to try to land a shot to my stomach. I catch his eyes bouncing there and back a couple of times, so it’s a dead give away. It’s going to hurt like hell and I’ll regret it for a moment. Okay, more than a moment, but when I see the shot coming, I don’t move and it makes contact right into the pit of my stomach. I didn’t move once, and the blow completely knocks the air out of me and I fall to the ground.

  “What. The. Fuck?” Tyson bellows.

  Choking and gasping for air, I know I may toss up my dinner, but I don’t give a shit.

  “Oh god,” I gasp through the pain, tears streaming down my face. “That hurts like a son of a bitch.”

  “What the hell is going on? That’s not even funny, man.” I’m still gasping for breath and can’t respond to Tyson.

  “He’s trying to get hurt on purpose,” Cole answers.

  Turning my gaze to him, I try to peer up at Cole and give him a death glare that screams ‘shut up’, but he avoids me.

  “Why would he want to do that?” Tyson asks incredulously.

  “Because he thinks that chick that pulled one over on him at the hospital is hot. He wants to go see her again.” Cole replies.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Zane asks angrily. “You’re lucky Jax isn’t over here. He’d kick your ass out of here for this shit.”

  “Hot chick?” Levi raises his brows, then nods, “I accept that.”

  Getting to my feet, albeit a bit unsteadily, I hobble over to Cole and throw a half-hearted punch at him. He easily blocks it and points at me, “You’re a dumb ass.” I simply grin at him making him shake his head.

  Tyson and Levi are now sparring together since Tyson gave up on me. “I’m fine, Cole. It doesn’t hurt that bad, and so what? How else am I going to have an excuse to go see her?”

  “You’re kidding right?” I look at him stupidly. “Oh my god, man. I may not be as experienced as you, but even I know bringing her flowers, dinner, or hell, just going to her work to say hi is better than this shit. Getting hurt on purpose is asinine.”

  Before I can respond, a loud curse rings out of Levi’s mouth and our heads swivel toward him and Tyson in the center of the octagon. Levi’s holding his wrapped hand over his cheek, when he removes it, blood gushes down his face. “Fuck!” Levi yells. He lifts his shirt up and begins to cover it, but Zane brings him a towel. I can’t help but feel a bit of jubilation at the sight. Yeah, something is fucking wrong with me.

  Laughing, I call out, “Looks like you need to go to the hospital. I’ll take you!”

  The guys all give me a hard time initially, but when the cut on Levi’s cheek doesn’t stop bleeding and it’s clear it will also need stitches, they stop. Truth is, he doesn’t need anyone to take him, but I don’t give a shit.

  I’m practically bouncing as we walk into the hospital. I help Levi fill out the paperwork so he can tend to his cheek, and it isn’t long before we are checked into a room. By the look of things, it seems to be another relatively slow night. Our shoes make squeaking noises as we walk down the hall. When we pass a cute nurse, she blushes when she sees us. She wears her scrubs well and I can’t help but give her a thorough look. Normally, I’d be all over that. I’d ditch Levi and go chat her up while I waited for him to g
et stitched up, but I’m looking for someone else. Finally, unable to take it any longer I ask the nurse taking Levi’s vitals, “Is Tessa working tonight?”

  She looks surprised at my question and when I smile wide at her, she turns red in the face. “Yes, she’s here. Whether or not she’s actively working the floor I’m not sure. She oversees all of the nursing staff and has a key role with the residents, as assistant head nurse, so she could be with one of them. She’s not usually assigned to patient care, though she likes it a lot and gets more involved than any assistant head nurse I’ve ever known.”

  Glad to have a Chatty Cathy nurse sharing the details, but flustered after having heard that I may not even get a chance to see her, I feel my face immediately fall into a frown I avoid Levi’s stupid looking grin and smile at the cute nurse again. “I’d appreciate it if you could somehow get her for us. She’s a great nurse and took great care of us when we needed stitched up before,” I tell her gesturing to my own young scar. “She’s got great technique.” I laugh and smile again for good measure.

  “I’ll see what I can do,” she promises as she makes some entries on a piece of paper she’s carrying and walks out of the room. I can’t sit still. I begin fiddling; walking around the room, picking things up and putting them back down. All the while I can feel Levi staring at me. I avoid his gaze initially, until I finally just give in, “What?” I snap.

  “Oh nothing. I’m just thinking I should get my phone out and video this shit because I’ve never in my life seen you actually pursuing a girl. Even after what they just saw at the gym, they wouldn’t believe this even if I told them. I’m going to need video evidence.”