Dirty Cowboy

by Alycia Taylor

  “I’m fighting Devon Rafter on Friday,” he said, like I was supposed to have any idea who that was. I guess my face told the story because he went on to say, “He’s 2nd in Light Heavyweight rankings in the UFC. His strength is boxing, so I need to work on my ground game. Sam says that’s where he is the weakest.”

  My mind ran quickly over what I knew about the ground game. We’d be talking about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and all of the mounts that would bring us closer together than sex…in the back room where the mats were, basically alone. Shit! We may as well just have sex. I was definitely going to need a change of panties before the day was over. None of this was going to fit in with my plan to stay professional and keep my distance. Damn!

  I smiled and in my most professional voice I said, “Okay, are you ready to get started? He grinned then. It was a genuine, knock-your-socks-off and then melt-your-panties-off grin. It was going to be a long day. I felt like I should go take a cold shower even before we started.

  “I’m ready,” he said.

  He followed me to the back where the heavy mats were. I was happy to see that Greg was back there with one of the few personal clients that he still trained. At least with witnesses we would both keep it professional.

  After we both said hello to Greg and his client, we went back over to the empty mats and I said, “Okay. So ground game, huh?”

  “Yeah, it’s never been my strong suit. I’m more of a fist to face and foot to flank kind of fighter if you know what I mean.”

  I forced another smile and said, “Yeah, well, today you’ll have to learn how to get down and dirty. Lay down on your back. I’ll walk you through each one and then we’ll spar.”

  He smirked at that. “You don’t think I can handle myself?” I asked him.

  To his credit, he lost the smirk and said, “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked you to train me. I’ve seen you with Mark. You know your stuff.”

  “Thanks. Okay. On your back.”

  He lay on his back on the mat and I got down next to him up on my knees. He was smiling at me again. I wished he would knock that shit off. “Okay, so we’ll start with side mount because that’s what you’ll use to lead into the deadly mount.” I leaned forward and slid my right knee to just above his hip. Pushing in on it I said, “Make sure to keep your knee here. It’s going to keep him from turning and sliding.” He nodded and I went on, “Use this leg as leverage to force your chest into him. The extra weight will make it harder for him to move or breathe.”

  “So, I’ve seen it with both knees against the opponent. Is this one better?”

  “I’m getting there,” I told him with a “pay attention” look.

  “Okay, sorry.” I reached my arms across his chest and dropped my chest down onto his, using my legs to push all of my weight into him. He grunted and I was satisfied that he’d gotten the point, so I sat up before my body started trying to take over.

  “Got that?” I asked.

  “Yeah, you’re heavier than you look,” he said with another grin. I ignored him and moved on.

  “Okay, side mount with both knees. Make sure at least one of them is above his hip like this,” I put my knee back into the soft flesh just above his hip. “The other one can be pressed against the upper part of the thighs like this,” Now I had both of my knees pressing against his naked flesh. This was like torture. Greg wasn’t paying me enough and neither was Paul. I once again dropped my chest against his and felt somewhat self-gratified by his jerk and grunt. Sitting back up, I said, “Got it?”

  “Do I get to try it?”

  Shit! “Yes, of course,” I said. I still sounded very professional and relaxed. I was in awe of myself. I lay down on my back and he got down on his knees next to me. I felt his knee press against the top of my hip gently. “Don’t treat me like a girl,” I said. He laughed and pressed it in harder. Then as I had done to him, he dropped his chest down. Before he hit me, I rolled out from underneath him so he landed on my side. It was a position I easily escaped from.

  “Hey! What the hell?”

  “You think this Devon guy is going to sit still and wait for you to crush his chest? You’re going to have to move faster than that.”

  “I will. I’m worried about…I don’t want to…”

  “You aren’t going to get anything out of this if you don’t just put the fact that I’m a girl out of your mind.”

  He ran his eyes down my body and back up. I felt the heat coming from his eyes. When they settled back on mine he said, “It’s not easy.”

  I sat up, pushing him back slightly. “Then you’re going to get your ass kicked,” I said. “Get back down on all fours.”

  He was looking at me strangely now, but he did what I asked. I straddled his back and then lowered myself down so that I was on top of him. I wasn’t gentle about it. I hooked my feet around him just as he thought he was going to be as cool as I was and throw me off. I was quite pleased with myself when it took him a whole hell of a lot of effort to do it.

  “Damn, girl! You missed your calling. You should be an MMA fighter.” I stood up without responding and he said, “Wait, I get to try that one.” I reluctantly got down on the mat on all fours. I felt him straddle me and just as I was thinking about rolling away, I felt his strong legs clamp down on either side of me. He dropped himself down on me…and not gently in the least. He hooked his feet around me and there was no way in hell I was going anywhere. Then he put his arms around my neck and leaned his lips so close to my ear that I felt their vibrations as he said, “How’s that?”

  “Great,” I grunted out. “Let me up.” I felt him adjust his weight so that it wasn’t all down on me, but he didn’t get up. Instead, he ran the side of his face along the side of mine. Against my will, I shuddered. “Knock it off,” I told him. “Is this how you train with Sam?”

  He let go of me and stood up. I stood as well. “What’s up with you today, Jessie?”

  “Nothing,” I said, trying to get my breathing back under control.

  “You act like you’re pissed off at me or something. What did I do?”

  “Nothing, Paul. We’re just working here. You obviously have a big fight coming up and need the help. I don’t want people to know I trained you and then you got your ass kicked.”

  “Oh, so it’s just about what people are going to think?”

  “It’s about you getting your money’s worth. You’re paying me to teach you technique so stop with the flirty stuff, be professional and let’s move on.”

  “No,” he said.

  “No? What do you mean no?”

  “Just what I said. I’ll stop flirting, that’s fine, but I’m not doing this until you tell me what’s wrong with you.”

  “Then you lose out on a day of training,” I said, stooping to pick up my towel. I wiped my face and went over to get a drink out of my water bottle. He followed me.

  “Is this about us having sex yesterday?”

  “Shh!” I looked around to make sure no one else was in there. Greg and his client had left. “No! But let’s not announce that to the entire gym. There’s nothing—”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Grr! Why can’t you just let it go?” I said.

  He folded his arms and his biceps flexed. Damn him! “Why not just tell me what is going on?”

  Before I caught myself I heard the words come out of my mouth, “Is Marie wanted by the police?”

  Chapter Three

  He looked at me like I’d grown a spare head. “What?”

  “Is she wanted, for child abuse? Did she skip out on some charges or something?”

  He scratched his chin and said, “I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. No, she is not wanted. Why would you ask me that?”

  I had gotten myself into it now. I took another long pull off my water and walked over and sat down on a stack of mats. Paul followed me. He just stood there, staring down at me until I finally said, “Mitch showed up at my apartment yesterday…just a bit afte
r you dropped me off.”

  He dropped down next to me and said, “What the hell? How did he know…? Shit! He must be following me. Mother fucker! Did he hurt you?”

  I looked at him. The veins in his neck were all extended and I’d bet a million that his blood pressure was up. “No, he didn’t hurt me. He told me that he’s a cop. Why didn’t you tell me that?”

  “Because it’s beside the point. He thinks it gives him the right to get away with any shit he wants to pull. He also thinks it makes him respectable. In my eyes it doesn’t do either.”

  “He also said that Marie is wanted for child abuse. He said that she’s abusing Victor.” He jumped back up to his feet and began pacing back and forth. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides.

  “That lying son of a bitch!”

  “Calm down…”

  “Fuck that! Do you know what it means that he found you? He’s following me, Jessie. What if he’d shown up at the apartment while I was out and Victor was there alone? What if he followed me to where Marie is at? What did you tell him?”

  “I told him I didn’t know anything about a sister or a nephew; that I’d barely met you.”

  “Did he buy that?”

  “I don’t think so, but he eventually let it go.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said with a far-away look in his eye.

  “Will he hurt her, Paul? Is that what he wants?”

  “He wants his son and he won’t stop at hurting her to get him. I’m really sorry that you got dragged into all of this, Jessie. I have to go…”

  I stood up then. “Wait! Where are you going?” He was so angry that I was afraid he was going to do harm to Mitch. I didn’t want him getting into trouble.

  “I need to go make sure my sister is okay and Victor is safe at school.”

  “Can you call her?”

  “No. She’s so worried. She only uses throwaway phones so that she has a number for a job interview. Each time she gives it out once, she replaces it with a new one.”

  Wow, serious paranoia, seriously fucked-up life. I wondered if it was really all that warranted, but then I thought about that look Mitch had in his eyes. He wanted to hurt me and probably would have if he’d thought he could get away with it. “Well, if Mitch is following you then he’s probably out there waiting for you right now.”

  “All the more reason for me to go check on my sister.”

  Again, without thinking, I blurted out, “I’ll go for you. He’s already talked to me and he got nothing. He has no reason to follow me.”

  Paul looked like he was considering it and then he said, “Maybe…but who knows with that creep?”

  “I think the odds are better that he’s following you.”

  “I think you’re right, but just to be on the safe side, we’re both going to leave. We’ll go in different directions and when we’re sure that it’s me who’s being followed, you can go see about Marie.”

  “Okay. Just tell me where to go.” We went into the little office off the gym floor and Paul wrote down the address. “It’s an apartment above the restaurant…Teppen-yaki Palace,” he said. My old Sensei lives there. He let her and Victor stay there. She won’t answer the door for you without our code word. It’s Fishhook.” He put his hands in his hair and rubbed across it. He looked like he was going to explode. My heart hurt for him, especially when he said, “We’re going to have to move them again…shit!”

  I put my hand on his arm and said, “One thing at a time, okay? I’ll make sure she’s okay and if Mitch follows you, you can be sure he doesn’t know where she is, right?” He nodded and then took the paper with the address on it back and wrote down his phone number.

  “Call me when you get there and let me know she’s okay?”

  “Yes, of course.” I wrote mine down for him as well.

  While Paul got his things from the locker room, I found Greg and let him know I was taking off for a while. Since I didn’t have any clients that day it didn’t really matter, but I was diligent that way. I left out the front and got in my car before Paul came out. I looked around, but the street the gym sat on was just off a busy one and the parking was usually always congested. I had no idea what kind of car I was looking for, but I didn’t see anyone that looked like Mitch. I put the key in the ignition and my phone chirped.

  I looked at it and saw a text from Paul that said, “I’m really sorry for all this. Thank you for your help.”

  “You’re welcome. Do you see Mitch?”

  “Yeah, I’m pulling out now. He’s behind me.”

  “Be careful.”

  I pulled out too and drove the six blocks to the freeway. I headed north and when I did, I realized that my hands hurt. I looked down at them. I was clutching the wheel so tightly that my knuckles were white. I loosened them up and when I did, they started to shake. My stomach felt sick again. I had no idea why I felt compelled to go around “helping” people all the time. Why me? Why couldn’t I just say, “Wow that sucks, good luck?” And walk away like a normal person. I was headed to a place I’d never been to talk to a woman I didn’t know about two men I’d barely met…and all of her private business. Sometimes, I thought I needed medication.

  I exited off the freeway onto Mendocino Blvd. and found the address I was looking for. I had to park four blocks away, but that was good. The stroll to the restaurant in the fresh air cleared my head a little bit. I walked up to the door of the restaurant and that was when I saw a set of stairs off to the right. I looked up and saw a cute little potted plant at the top of the landing and a small mailbox hanging next to a red door. That had to be the apartment. I walked up the stairs and when I reached the door I took a deep breath to calm myself down before I knocked.

  “Who is it?” It was a female voice and she sounded afraid. I felt bad.

  “Hi, Marie…Um, my name is Jessie…Paul sent me.”

  “I don’t know any Paul. Go away.” She was good, convincing.

  “Oh! Um, Fishhook,” I said. I felt silly saying it, but as Paul had said it would, it worked. I heard the lock disengage and she opened the door. She was the woman that I’d seen at the MMA match hugging Paul. She was a petite little woman, but she had Paul’s face and eyes. “Hi,” I said. She grabbed my arm and pulled me inside, closing the door behind me and locking it right away.

  Then she turned to me and said, “Is he okay?”

  “Yes, he’s fine.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “He wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “Why didn’t he come himself? What’s wrong?” The worry in her eyes looked genuine. I was becoming more and more convinced that Mitch was the liar.

  “Mitch came to my apartment yesterday. We think he’s following Paul.”

  “Damn him!” She fished a phone out of her purse.

  “Um, Paul said you didn’t use a cell phone. Is that okay?”

  “It’s a throwaway,” she said. She punched in a number and after a beat she said, “Hello, this is Marie Newman. My son Victor is in fifth grade in Mr. Glover’s room. I just need to make sure that you understand absolutely no one is to pick him up other than myself or my brother Paul Delport…” She was quiet, listening, and then she said, “Okay. Yes, I appreciate that so much. Thank you.” She hung up the phone and for the first time, she really looked at me. I hoped that the really freaked-out by all of this way that I was feeling wasn’t showing on my face. “I’m sorry,” she said. “What did you say your name was?”

  “It’s Jessie,” I said. “I need to call Paul.” I took out my phone and she gestured for me to have a seat. Paul answered after a couple of rings and I said, “Hey! I’m here. Marie is fine. She called the school and Victor is too.”

  “Great. Thank you so much, Jessie. Tell her I’ll be by later tonight. I have to get rid of this asshole on my tail first.”

  “Paul, don’t do anything—”

  “Stupid? Don’t worry. Mitch is the fool here, not me.”

  I hung up and tur
ned to Marie who had sat down next to me. I managed a nervous smile and she said, “I’ve seen you before, I think. You were at the fight the other night?”

  “Yeah, I was.”

  “And you must be the “Pretty lady with the long red hair” that Victor told me about. You met him at Paul’s house. It’s rare for Paul to have a “friend” that he introduces us to.”

  I smiled genuinely then. “Aw, that’s sweet. Yes, that was me. Your son is a really cute, polite kid.”

  “Are you Paul’s girlfriend?”

  “No!” I said that a little too forcefully. Marie looked amused and said,

  “I might be a little biased, but most women would be happier than that about being my brother’s girlfriend, I think.”

  I laughed and said, “Yeah, I’m sure. I didn’t mean that in a bad way. Paul and I actually just met. The morning that Victor saw me he’d driven me home from the sports bar because I had a little too much to drink. I work at the gym where he trains.”

  “So you’re a trainer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Very cool. I’m sorry that you had to get mixed up in my mess.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” I said. “It’s not your fault.”

  “How did you and Paul figure out that Mitch was following him?”

  “Mitch showed up on my doorstep. He forced his way into my apartment.”

  “Oh my God! He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

  Mitch must’ve really been something since everyone kept asking me that with genuine concern. “He didn’t hurt me,” I told her. “He told me that he’s a detective and he told me that he was after you for child abuse charges.”

  Marie stood up off the couch. I could tell that she was angry now too. “He’s lying. Jessie, I swear…I’d die before I hurt my son. I’ve changed my whole life to keep him safe.” Her eyes looked so sincere; it was hard to doubt her. I didn’t know her, she could’ve been lying. At that point though, I wanted to believe her and Paul over Mitch.

  “I don’t believe him. He’s not given me any reason to trust him. I want to believe you…and Paul.”