Tapping out (A Fighting Love novel Book 1)

by Nikki Ash

  I pout when he backs up further. “Don’t pout, baby.” He gives me a quick peck then pulls his shirt over his head. His body is perfection. I can’t even imagine how fucking hot he will look once he’s working out again. He sees me ogling him and gives me a knowing smirk before moving downwards.

  He stops at my chest again and I think he’s going to give my breasts some more attention but instead he places a single kiss just above my left breast. “This heart, baby. How selfless you are. How much you give to those around you. The way you love our daughter. It’s all woman.”

  Marco

  After giving Bella a soft kiss over her heart, I move downward landing on her soft belly, her belly ring back in and sparkling in the light. She told me she got it with her friends her freshman year in college and fuck if it isn’t a turn on. I give it a small kiss. “This belly, that carried our baby, it’s one hundred percent woman.” She squirms slightly and I chuckle at how responsive she is. I have barely touched her and she’s already completely turned on.

  I peel off Bella’s shorts and panties from her body and swallow thickly at the sight in front of me. How she doesn’t get she’s all woman, I don’t understand, and her thinking she isn’t enough for me is ludicrous on so many levels. I’m about move down her body and devour this woman, but before I do so, I need to make sure we are on the page.

  “Belles, tonight wasn’t supposed to go like this. I know that sounds cliché as fuck, but it was just supposed to be dinner for your Birthday. Are you all right with this?”

  She gives me a small smile and nods.

  “Babe, I’m going to need the words. Are you sure you are ok with what’s about to happen?”

  “I am definitely ok with it. But Marco…” Bella’s eyes cast down like she’s nervous.

  “Bella, talk to me.”

  “Please don’t leave me, again.” Fuck! This woman.

  “I promise, Belles. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Then yes, I want you Marco. I want you so damn bad.”

  My cock twitches at her words as my mouth waters at the thought of licking and sucking and nibbling on every inch of this woman. She attempts to close her legs when I stare too long at her naked body but I’m not going to let that happen. She has absolutely nothing to be embarrassed or shy about.

  “Fuck Belles.” I spread her legs open. “This bare, perfect cunt, baby. It’s all woman.” My finger starts at the top and works its way down the middle. She’s so soaked my finger is covered in her juices and I haven’t even stuck it in her yet.

  “See how wet you are for me?” I show her my glistening wet finger and she nods slowly. Sticking my finger in my mouth I suck on it, tasting her essence. “This is definitely all woman.” She writhes under my touch, so I swipe up some more of her juices and bring my finger to her mouth.

  “Taste yourself, baby.” Her eyes go wide but she opens her mouth for me, allowing me to push my finger into her hot mouth. Her lips close around my finger and my cock jumps as I picture her mouth wrapped around a different part of my body.

  Pulling my finger back out, I ask, “Does it taste good?” Her lips twitch unsure of what to say as her cheeks go a beautiful shade of crimson. She has no idea how much of a turn on her innocence really is.

  Without waiting for a verbal answer, I return to her sweet cunt and give it a kiss, my touch causing her to jump. Spreading her wide open, I run my tongue along the middle starting from the top and ending in her pussy hole.

  “Oh God,” she whispers, which in turn makes me say, “No, baby, It’s Marco.” She laughs at my playfulness and I can feel her body relaxing.

  Sticking one finger inside then two, I start to finger fuck her, slowly building the momentum until I’m three fingers deep. Bella’s Oh God’s turn to Oh, Marco’s and then as my tongue joins the party, massaging her tight nub, her words turn into incoherent screams.

  “That’s it baby,” I say before sucking on her clit and sending her into an orgasm that has her ass coming off the bed.

  When she calms down for the most part, I take my fingers out of her then sit up to remove my pants and boxers, kicking them off me and onto the ground. Moving back up her body, I can feel my hard-on pushing against her hot sex. “Please Marco,” she moans.

  Once we are face to face, I bring our lips together for a kiss. Taking possession of her mouth, I thrust my tongue inside, and swirl it around making sure she can taste herself on me. She sighs loudly and I know she can.

  Only taking my mouth off hers for a second I ask, “Are you on birth control?”

  She nods and that’s all I need. My mouth crushes against hers, my tongue dominating hers. With one hand holding me up over her, I use my other hand to guide my cock into her hot, soaking wet cunt.

  “Fuuuck,” I groan out into her mouth, taking a deep breath, trying not to come this very second. It’s been months since I’ve been inside a woman and to top it off, I’m inside the one woman I want more than anyone in the goddamned world. Our lips are still touching but we aren’t moving.

  Once the need to come is somewhat tamed, I start to thrust inside of her as I go back to kissing her. Our kisses get deeper, more passionate as my thrusts get harder and more out of control. I feel my orgasm building but I need her to get there first, so finding her clit with my fingers, I stroke her as I thrust into her.

  “M-Marco…oh my God, Marco,” Bella yells out, her head going back, breaking our kiss. I watch her eyes roll back before her lids close as she comes all over my cock. Her insides tighten, spurring me on, and a few thrusts later, I am finding my own release.

  Her eyes open back up slowly, a small, satiated smile crossing her lips.

  “All. Fucking. Woman,” I say, giving her one more kiss before pulling out of her.

  Twenty-Five

  Bella

  I stir awake and for a second forgetting Micaela isn’t here, I freak out when I can’t remember the last time I checked on her. My breasts are sore and need to be relieved. Then I feel a different kind of soreness between my legs and the memories of last night come flooding back to me. After Marco made love to me, he asked if I wanted to shower but I was too exhausted. Between the two orgasms he gave me and the last six weeks of not getting a full night of sleep, all I wanted to do was cuddle up to Marco and pass out, and that’s exactly what we did.

  As soon as his arm came out and he pulled me into him, my head hit his chest and I was out. Marco’s body might be hard but it is my new favorite pillow. Speaking of which… I look next to me and see the bed is empty. I listen for a second and when I don’t hear anything, an uneasy feeling washes over me. There’s no way after the night we shared, he would leave me.

  I look over at the end table and see his cell phone is gone. Scooping up the shirt he took off last night from the ground, I throw it on. My mind is racing and I can feel my body beginning to shake nervously. I tell myself to calm down, he is probably just in the bathroom or kitchen but I can’t stop myself from getting worked up. I grab my phone from the nightstand and see it’s only five in the morning.

  I start to search the house, the bedrooms, the bathrooms, but there’s no Marco. When I get to the kitchen, I check the coffee maker to see if he made himself any coffee, since it’s the first thing he does every morning, and see the pot is still cold. I step out into the garage and switch the light on. My stomach plummets, the blood in my body draining downward. I clutch my chest suddenly struggling to catch my breath.

  Marco’s car is gone.

  Gone.

  He left me. Again.

  I turn the light back off and close the door then I pull up his name in my contacts and hit send. It doesn’t even ring before it goes to voicemail. I hit end and then try again. Voicemail again. I do this several more times. Each time it goes directly to his voicemail.

  I pull up our messages and send him a text. Waiting for it to go through, I hold my breath. I am not this girl. I am not this insecure girl freaking out over a guy leaving.

  B
ut I am this girl. Marco repeatedly leaving has turned me into this girl. And I hate this girl.

  The text message turns green, which tells me his phone is off. Running back to the room, I look for a note. I search behind the bed, under the bed, on the counter in the bathroom. Nothing. He’s just fucking gone.

  Needing to calm myself down, I jump into the shower. The hot water that would normally calm my nerves, does nothing for me right now. After I am done rinsing off, I go back to my room to get dressed and head out to my parents’ house. Maybe Marco went to see our daughter.

  I make it out of the garage when I stop and get out, running back inside to leave him a note in case this is all a misunderstanding and he comes home to find me gone. Then I head to the next street over to my parents. I could have just walked but it’s still dark outside and I want to get there as fast as possible.

  When I get to their house and don’t see Marco’s car, a large lump forms in my throat making it hard to swallow properly. This is not good. I walk up to the front door and it’s locked, so I grab my keys, and with shaky hands— after missing the lock twice—unlock my parents’ front door, rushing to unarm the alarm. I am immediately greeted by my dog, Elsa. Her moves are slower but her tail is wagging, ecstatic to see me. I bend down and let her lick my face. She’s getting older and I know it’s only a matter of time before she will go to doggy heaven. The thought makes me sad.

  “Hey there, girl.” I pet her for a minute before heading upstairs to find my baby girl. Before I make it to the stairs, though, I see my dad sitting on the couch with Micaela in his arms. He’s holding her in one arm while feeding her with the other.

  “Dad.” The tears prick my eyes, and all I want in this moment is for my father to hold me. I sit down next to him, my head resting on his shoulder while he feeds my little girl. When she’s done, he lifts her up over his shoulder and burps her. I put my hands out and he hands her to me. He hasn’t said a word to me yet, and I appreciate it.

  “Hey sweet girl.” I give her a soft kiss on her cheek then extending my legs and putting my feet up on the coffee table, I lay her small body vertically on my thighs. She wiggles a little, her arms flaring up, and a small trace of a smile graces us.

  “The last few days she has started to smile a little,” I say. When my dad doesn’t say anything back, I add, “Thank you for taking care of her.” The last word comes out higher as the tears begin to fall. My dad puts his arm around me and says, “She reminds me so much of you as a baby. As you know, I didn’t get to see you when you were a baby, so when I finally met you, I was so upset at having missed out on so much. Your mom gave me a book of photos. I spent months staring at them, trying to memorize every moment, every memory I missed. She has your nose.”

  Without being able to look at him, I say, “He left.” I feel my dad’s arm around me tighten and I know he’s trying hard to keep his temper in check.

  “You’re going to have to give me more than that, sweetie.”

  “I don’t know, Dad. We, umm…we…last night.” I look at him to make sure he’s following along and he gives me a slight nod, his jaw clenching.

  “And this morning, I woke up and he was gone. His phone, his car. Gone. No note, nothing. I tried calling and texting but his phone is turned off.”

  My dad doesn’t say anything for a few moments. Then he says, “I’m going to kill him.” The words are spoken so soft and cold and without any emotion that they give me goosebumps.

  “I thought this time would be different, Dad.” The tears are starting to drop faster. I swipe up a few but eventually stop. It’s pointless. “I thought this time he wouldn’t run.”

  “Bella?” I look up and see my mom at the bottom of the stairs. “What happened honey?”

  “Marco left,” my dad answers for me.

  “Oh no, did you two get into a fight?” She comes over and sits on the love seat across from my dad and me.

  “No but…” I dread saying the next part. “It’s not the first time he’s run.”

  “What do you mean? He’s left you and Micaela? Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “No, when we kissed for the first time, he left for California. Then when we were together the first time, he left again afterward. The night Micaela was created, he passed out afterward because he had been high. I didn’t know it at the time. Umm…when I tried to tell him I was pregnant and saw him doing drugs I told Caleb, and when Marco found out, he burst into my apartment and told me I was dead to him. He ran from getting help and from me.”

  I take a deep breath, trying to get control of myself. “It’s what he does; he runs.” I pick Micaela up and hold her close, inhaling her sweet baby scent.

  “I’m going to call Hayley; maybe something happened.” My mom stands up and goes in search of her phone. A few minutes later she comes back shaking her head. “Neither of them have heard from him. They said if they do, they will let us know.”

  Seeing that Micaela has fallen asleep, I place her in the rolling bassinet, giving her a soft kiss to her temple. “Could you guys watch her a little longer? I’m going to go for a run.”

  “Why don’t you come to the gym with me after breakfast?” My dad suggests. I told him yesterday I have been cleared to train again.

  “Ok.”

  After breakfast—one that I’m sure tasted delicious but I could barely taste let alone enjoy—I breastfeed Micaela and pump what’s left, bottling it up for later in case I’m not back from the gym in time for her to eat. When I insist on taking my car to the gym, my dad follows me to my house so I can get changed. I think he was hoping to see Marco so he could lay into him for leaving.

  I, on the other hand, was hoping to see Marco so I know he’s ok and could explain why he left. I change into a pair of yoga pants, a sports bra, and a loose tank top. I’m determined to work off what’s left of the baby weight I’ve put on and more importantly gain my muscle and strength back. I worked out my entire pregnancy but not like I would have had I not been pregnant.

  We walk into the gym at seven and the training center is already hopping. The music is blaring and you can hear the sounds of grunts from the guys. God, I’ve missed this place. I have only been here once since I’ve been back to show the guys, Micaela. Marco didn’t want to come, saying my dad wouldn’t be happy with him going into the gym.

  “I’m going to warm up and go for a run.”

  “Ok, sweetie. Then maybe we can get some training in.”

  “Sounds good, Dad.”

  I turn the treadmill on and put my headphones in, clicking on my favorite playlist. Eminem’s ‘Till I collapse fills my ears. It was my dad’s intro when he was a fighter and it’s one of my favorite songs. Every single time I hear it, I get pumped up. I set the song to repeat and turn the speed up higher and higher until I am at a steady running speed. Then I get lost in the song, in the moment, in the run, and let everything else fade around me.

  “Bella!” I hear my name being called so I remove an earbud from one of my ears and see my dad standing next to me. When I struggle to catch my breath, I click the down button to slow down. The screen reads five-point-two miles.

  “Hey, sorry! I didn’t even realize I was running for so long.”

  “You don’t want to overdo it on your first day back. We need to talk. Cool down and meet me in my office.” I do as he says, and after wiping down my face, neck, and the equipment, I walk toward my dad’s office. My legs feel like Jell-O, a feeling I haven’t felt in a long time. He’s right. I do need to take it slow.

  I say hello to a couple different guys on my way and notice, for the first time, Mason isn’t around. “Hey, have you seen Mason lately?” I ask, sitting down in one of his office chairs.

  “Mason moved to California.”

  “What? Really? Is he staying near Tristan?”

  “He’s living with Tristan.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s good. I’m glad Tristan found a roommate. So, what did you want to talk about?”

  “Dani
el West called.”

  “The president of the UFC?” I stupidly ask because really… what other Daniel West would he be referring to?

  “He said he is planning to call you but wanted to do me the courtesy of letting me know first. He wants you to fight.”

  “The one that got cancelled when I got pregnant?”

  “Yeah, have you kept up with Shawna Fields?”

  “Of course, she’s kicking ass and taking names.”

  “Yes, she is. But those girls aren’t the same level of competition you would have been. Apparently, there’s a title fight coming up in a few months. He wouldn’t tell me who, said he couldn’t yet. But he wants you and Shawna to open with the first fight. It will be at the MGM. Now because it’s not a main fight it’s not going to pay much, but it can open the doors for you, especially if you win. Maybe get you some sponsorship opportunities. What do you think?”

  “Of course, I want to do it!” I grab my phone to text Marco and remember he’s still MIA. I hit his name to try to call him again and it goes to voicemail.

  “Still not answering?”

  “His phone is still off.”

  My dad nods. “Why don’t we get a couple of hours of training in before you go pick up Micaela?”

  “Sounds good.”

  It’s early afternoon when I pick up Micaela from my mom. She begs me to stay for dinner but I tell her I need some time alone. I take Micaela to the park to go for a walk, then once we get home, I give her a bath and spend the evening playing peek-a-boo with my baby girl while watching Gilmore Girls reruns. I try to call Marco several more times but it goes to voicemail like always. I send a silent prayer that nothing is wrong. While I hate that he ran again, I would never wish him any harm.

  My phone pings with a text and I see it’s Gina. Why the hell would she be texting me?

  Gina: Just saw Marco drinking at Dexter’s. Guess you picked the wrong guy after all.