Made to Switch

by N. M. Catalano

  “When you ladies are done with the paperwork, meet me in the room in the back. Marco, I’ll tell Brian you’re here.”

  John walks off, leaving the girls to stare open-mouthed at his retreating six foot six very large, very sculpted, very hot figure, with his long black hair tied in a loose ponytail reaching between his shoulder blades. Yep, definitely American Indian.

  “Holy fuck, I think I’ve just died and gone to heaven. Built like a brick shit house, good-looking and nice too!” Elsie, I believe, has just called dibs on John.

  “I know, and if he looks like that I can’t wait to see the rest of them.” Janie is obviously keeping her options open.

  I turn to Scott to ask him if he’s got some pens and I find him standing there with his mouth open looking at us. I start to laugh at him. “What, Scott? Haven’t you ever heard women admiring men before?”

  He shakes his head slightly, smiling broadly. “I guess not quite so passionately.”

  Janie looks at him, puts one hand on her hip, the other on the counter and leans forward closer to him. “Honey, that wasn’t anything. You’d better pull your big boy pants up because it’s about to get real in here. Now how about some pens so we can get on with the show, huh, handsome?”

  Elsie and I look at each other. Marco is silent behind me. I can only imagine what’s going through his head.

  Elsie turns to me and says, “I love her, can I keep her?”

  “Only on the weekends, El.”

  Marco’s hand comes to rest on my shoulder and he whispers to both of us, “I think she’s pretty fucking cool myself.”

  My face wants to split with the grin breaking my face in half. I didn’t realize it was so important to me that Marco like my friends. They have been by my side through a lot over the past few years, more my pillars of strength than even I think they realize.

  “Absolutely, Miss, I am at your service.” Scott hands Janie three pens, smiling widely at her.

  “I will keep that in mind Scott, and I’ll let you know when I need you.” She smiles at him, giving him her biggest flirty smile, then turns to us. “Here ladies, let’s get the preliminaries done so we can continue on to the main event. It looks like their warming up for us.”

  “These boys won’t know what hit them when we’re done with them.” Elsie looks wickedly through the room to where John is standing.

  Marco smiles shaking his head, “You ladies are incredible; you’ve got bigger balls than a lot of men I know.”

  Marco

  I knew it was going to be interesting and Elsie and Janie certainly didn’t disappoint me. John’s tough but if he handles a room full of women like this all the time, then he is one hell of a man. These women are professionals but they don’t hesitate to tell it like it is when it suits them.

  The girls finish their paperwork and we head to the back room where their class will be given. John’s already there and a few other students have arrived.

  I kiss Elizabeth lightly on the cheek.

  “I’ve got the cage in about a half hour. I’m gonna grab a bag to loosen up first and find Brian. There’s something I’ve got to discuss with him.”

  Her eyes become concerned. “Is everything okay, Marco?”

  “Yeah, baby, just something about work. Have fun, okay?” Another light peck on her beautiful cheek.

  “I will and you’d better watch out. I’ll be able to kick your ass after tonight, Mr. Bond.”

  “I look forward to seeing you do it, babe. I’m a sick fuck like that, if you haven’t noticed.” I wink at her.

  “I’ve noticed, but I would definitely call it sexy. Now leave so we can get this started.”

  Elizabeth gently pushes me from the room and I hear the girls laughing with her.

  There’s a free bag. I drop my things near the wall behind the bag and pull my shirt over my head. I’ve got gym shorts on, like John, which is what the typical attire is in the gym unless you’ve got a gi, which is mostly worn only during Jiu Jitsu classes. I start some stretches to loosen up before hitting the bag. I glance to the girls’ class and notice that John has started it. He begins the class like a traditional martial arts class, showing respect and bowing to the students and they bow in return. Looking around I see the gym has started to fill up. I’m glad we got here when we did. I start jabbing into the air before I let go on the bag, loosening up my shoulders, arms and back. I love this sport; it makes me feel alive and the adrenaline rush is incredible. The bag is hard. It’s unforgiving to my punches, showing me no give, which makes me have no mercy. I glance back at the class and see Elizabeth standing in front of John. He’s got his arms around her, holding her tight. What the fuck?! I freeze, watching, feeling anger beginning to boil inside me.

  Brian’s voice comes from behind me, pulling me from my jealous meltdown. “Calm down, Marco. It’s just demonstration for the class.”

  “Hey man, how was your fight?” I ask him, trying to act like what I was watching didn’t bother me.

  “It was good, I put him down in the second round.” He looks towards the girls’ class and John’s still got Elizabeth in his arms speaking to the class. “You know it’s just demonstration, right dude?” he asks, his voice laced with humor.

  “Yeah, it’s good.” I shake my head, looking down at the ground. What the hell’s gotten into me? I’m possessive, yes, but not jealous.

  Brian Daniels is the quintessential handsome blonde man with striking good looks, in his early thirties. He has a formal but casual way about him and the uncanny ability to immediately put someone at ease. I think Brian’s family had old Southern money back in the day, way back, and those genes have never been bred out of the family. He is as much at home in the gym as he is in a tuxedo.

  I change the subject. “So John said you think something’s up. What is it?” I couldn’t wait to talk to Brian since he called me yesterday. I wanted our conversation to be face to face because you can get so much more meaning looking at and examining a person’s expressions.

  “Marco, I don’t know what’s going on but there is absolutely nothing wrong with your paperwork and applications. Everything is spotless in them. It’s something else.” Brian is serious. There is concern in everything about his expression and the way he’s holding his body.

  Brian and John served their entire time together in the Marines side by side. John’s got the dark intense native look and Brian is the other end of the spectrum. He’s the pretty-boy blonde with perfect facial features and sharp blue eyes. I’m not sure exactly what went down but they saw some horrible things while they were deployed and some serious shit happened. Brian’s family is from here and he grew up here. John moved to Wilmington when they got out of the service because Brian’s the closest person he’s got in his life. John works as a personal bodyguard for the movie studio when needed, which has kept him pretty busy the past few years. They are inseparable. If I didn’t know better I’d think they were lovers.

  “What the fuck is it, Brian?” This information has just confirmed what my instincts have been telling me. I’ve seen shit like this in the past and it never ended well. A lot of money was lost. Strange things can happen in situations like this.

  “I don’t know yet, dude, but I’m going to find out.” Brian’s expression is determined and hard, etched with the same nagging frustrations that have been plaguing me.

  “Just be careful, Brian. I’ve seen things like this before; if it’s what I think it is, (and, God, I hope it’s not), people have gotten hurt. It’s just money.” My concern is real. There is a lot of money at stake in my project, and I have seen people disappear in the past when this amount of capital has been involved.

  “Come on, man, you make it sound like organized crime and shit.” Brian lets out a soft laugh but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

  “I have a feeling this is a lot more than just the guy on the street or the fat inspector sitting in his office eating doughnuts. I’m just telling you to be careful. Let me know if you find
anything out but don’t be too pushy, okay? I’ve got some calls in to some contacts in different areas as well.” I am completely serious.

  “Yeah, no problem, you too. Now come on, old man, let’s see what you’ve got.” He grabs the bag on the other side while he attempts to lighten the mood, brushing off my words.

  I put aside our business and goad his cocky ass right back. “I’ve got your old man right here, asshole!”

  I start laying into the bag while looking back in the class, and I see that big clown still has his hands all over my woman. I freeze. Elizabeth is physically attracted to John. It’s nothing that she’s doing or saying; it’s how her body is naturally reacting to his closeness, the way it moves, the way it pushes her breasts out searching for the contact in response to that attraction, the way her thighs come together wanting friction from that pulsing in her groin. And the obvious flush spreading from her cheeks down her chest. Could this week possibly get any shittier? Yeah, it could I realize, my words of warning to Brian echo back at me. I’d better be careful.

  When I get out of the cage later on, Elizabeth is waiting for me. She has a very concerned look on her face. I assume she watched the match and didn’t like what she saw, which doesn’t surprise me. It gets pretty raw in the cage.

  “Hi, baby, how was the first class?” I barely peck her on the cheek because I’m a disgusting sweaty mess.

  “It was really good. Is cage fighting always like that? You guys look like you’re trying to kill each other. You do this all the time?”

  Her eyes are searching mine. She is really worried. I can’t resist holding her. Her genuine concern touches me deeply. All my thoughts of her attraction to John are pushed aside by the caring on her face.

  “Come here, baby.” I wrap her in my arms. “Yes, we fight like this all the time. It’s the way it’s done. Don’t worry, there are rules in place for safety and I don’t fight outside the gym.” I look into her face and I see she’s relaxing somewhat. “Come on, let’s go home and get cleaned up.”

  “Um, well…” She starts to stall. I turn and see Janie and Elsie standing where another couple of guys are sparring and they’re looking back and forth from the fight to us. They smile innocently and wave.

  “What is it, Elizabeth?”

  “The girls were kind of hoping we could, the three of us, go have some girl time for a little while. I can catch a ride with them…” I can see in her face that she feels bad for blowing me off.

  “Of course you can hang out with your friends. Let’s get your things out of the car.” With my arm around her shoulders we walk over to Janie and Elsie.

  “So you guys are stealing Elizabeth, huh?”

  Janie, I believe the one with the bigger balls out of the two, attempts to put me in my place again jokingly. “Yes, you’ve had her long enough. It’s our turn for a little while.”

  “Besides,” Elsie cuts in, “we want to talk about you and all the men in here.”

  She got me there. I can’t help but laugh at her blatant honesty. “Well, as long as I’m top on the list, okay.”

  We walk towards the door to leave and John and Brian catch up to us.

  “Ladies, I hope you enjoyed class, and if you have an opportunity to practice what we went over tonight that would be very beneficial. Elizabeth, throw Marco’s ass around a little; he needs it,” John says.

  “I gave him a run for his money already tonight,” Brian adds.

  “Ladies, this clown is Brian. Elizabeth, you might remember him. This is Elsie…”

  “Hi, Elsie, nice to meet you,” Brian says smiling.

  “Pleasure…” She doesn’t have as much to say to Brian as she did John. I guess I know what team she’s on.

  “And this lovely young woman is Janie… Watch your ass; she’ll have you kissing it in a minute,” I say smiling at her.

  “Well, Marco, it’s nice to see you learn quickly. Now I know why Elizabeth keeps you around. It’s very nice to meet you, Brian.” She shakes his hand laughing lightly at my joke.

  “Hi, Janie, I am so happy to see your superb intellect. You and I will be great friends.” Brian drips charm but the icing on the cake is the panty-melting smile.

  “It appears these two lovely women have caused me to be kicked to the curb. You guys want to grab some wings and catch some of the game?” I ask the guys.

  “That’s what she told you; she likes me better now,” John says.

  The jealousy I felt seeing him with his hands on her and her body’s reaction to her natural physical attraction to him surges up inside me like a boiling geyser ready to blow. I push it back, refusing to acknowledge it. Nothing happened and I am probably overreacting.

  “Poor Marco, I guess we can sit with the old man for a little while,” Brian says and I laugh.

  “All right, assholes, I’ll be right back.” I turn to walk Elizabeth out.

  “Thanks John, see you in a couple of days. Brian it was good to see you again. Take care of my old man, don’t let him fall and break a hip.” Elizabeth has to get on that Old Man Marco band wagon.

  “You too, babe?” I pretend mock surprise at her description of me.

  “I’m just looking out for you, Marco.”

  * * * * *

  John, Brian and I are sitting in Carolina Ale House in front of one of the many TVs hanging on the walls with beers and baskets of wings in front of us. Half of our attention is watching the football games; the other half is on our conversation.

  “So who did you talk to, Brian, anyone at the building inspector’s office?” I ask. This could make a big difference.

  “Yeah, there’s a girl I went to high school with who has worked there since she got out of college. I went in the other day to check on one of my projects and we had lunch together.” He smirks at me to tell me that’s exactly how he planned it.

  “Damn, dude, you fucked her to get information?” John asks him, shocked.

  “No, I didn’t fuck her. I have too much respect for her, although she did give me her number.” He gives us that shit-eating grin and wiggles his brows. “She said she reviewed your paperwork herself, repeating over and over that she could lose her job for contradicting the inspector, and that everything was perfect.”

  “So, what do you think?” I ask him wanting his professional and personal opinion.

  “What I think is that someone is fucking with you, or just fucking you. I think that’s obvious. The questions now are who, what, how and why. Do you know of anybody you’ve pissed off?”

  “The only one I can think of is Santino but I don’t think it’s him.”

  John says, “I’ve already checked any connections to him and it’s as if he didn’t exist here. What was he here, two, maybe three months? I doubt he’d have that much clout to have government documents held, even rejected, for no reason.” He looks directly at me all joking aside. “The person you’ve pissed off has to have big connections to not worry about federal indictments, along with pulling the little guys, like the inspector, down with him.”

  I look at him, not saying anything. He has just verbalized my biggest fears. And if that’s the case I could be screwed. Everything I’ve worked my whole life toward could be gone just like that, as easily with only one phone call to the right person who has the connections to make it happen.

  “But you thought that already, didn’t you?” John can read me like a book.

  They both look at me with the face of war. These guys and their military experience could be very helpful, or very detrimental.

  Elizabeth

  The girls definitely enjoyed their time at Evolution. They are wild over John, Brian, Marco and all the other guys at the gym. We stopped at Port City Java downtown on Front Street to grab some smoothies. The guys are having wings and beer and we’ve got smoothies. What happened here? But I bet our conversation is a lot more interesting than theirs.

  “Oh. My. God! You were not lying when you said you found the hottest men in Wilmington! Janie, did you
see all those sexy beasts?” Elsie says, still on the high from the gym.

  “You’re damn right I did! And girl, I didn’t think that man could be any sexier than what I saw at the bar the night you met Marco, but he is one incredibly sexy man. Holy shit, I can only imagine the sex. Is he very kinky, Elizabeth?” Janie just speaks her mind.

  She didn’t not just ask me that.

  “Yeah, Liz, how kinky is he?” Elsie’s eyes are wide with anticipation waiting for my answer, leaning in closer waiting for me to give them all of the sordid details.

  I know my entire head must be red. My scalp even feels like it’s on fire, it goes all the way down my chest, and I can’t help but giggle.

  “You guys really want to know?” I’ll just tell them a little.

  “Hell yeah!” Both practically pounce on me at the same time.

  I lean in a little closer. “Well, Marco’s just moved into this condo on the waterfront. He’s got the whole top floor. Friday night he made me undress in the elevator on the way up and he tied me to the bed when we got to his place. It was unfuckingbelievable!”

  “Holy shit! Why can’t I find a man who’s kinky like that?” Elsie sits back in her chair and pouts. Her pretty little cupid lips are all puckered up.

  “When are you going to tie him up, is what I want to know.” Janie says with a sly grin spreading across her face. She’s always been a control freak.

  “Probably a lot sooner than he thinks,” I answer wickedly.

  They look at me with shocked expressions. We all bust out laughing at the same time.

  Chapter Nine

  Elizabeth

  Tuesday morning I decide the presentation for Marco is perfect and today I’ll bring it to him. All of the information he needs was ready last week but I wanted a couple of days to review it just in case anything else pertinent came up that would be beneficial to his company and to his prospective buyers.

  Mr. Kastanopoulis do you have any free time today? I’d like to come by your office.