Hold 2

by Jayne Blue

  She was at the reception desk talking to the GWG corporate guy. He watched her for half a second from the sidewalk. Damn it, she looked better in real life than in his dreams.

  Craddock’s plan was to stay as cold around her as he could, ignore, evade, and focus on the ring.

  He walked in and he saw her intake a breath, was that for him? The Craddock Unit swirled around again as he approached the desk with his membership card.

  “Hello Craddock.” She looked at him with those gorgeous eyes. Her voice was always deeper than you would expect for such a small person. It did things to him, just two words. This was going to be tougher than he bargained for. He wanted to pull her up and kiss her, touch her, fuck this shit. He kept his stone cold face as best as he could.

  “Cassidy.” With that, the cameras were practically up their noses. Cassidy visibly shrank from the lens as it intruded on her space.

  “Does Brian really need to be up in her face Tracy?” He was pissed, and his instinct to keep people away from Cassidy was a knee jerk reaction. It was not his job anymore but he could not help it.

  “She likes us, we’re cool.” Tracy trying to flirt with Cassidy made him sick. He hated this “fighters at home” shit more and more by the second.

  He wanted to say more, to ask her how she was, something, but in front of Tracy it would be fodder for the show. So he moved on and into the gym. It was time to get work done.

  Whitey did not give him any time to think about Cassidy. He immediately started in.

  “If you keep dropping that left like you do that Gus guy is going to take you out.”

  “Gustavo – not Gus.”

  “Whatever.” Whitey’s gruff voice and old school training was what he had been missing in Vegas. He had been lifting, boxing, wrestling and conditioning but straight talk about his opponents, not so much.

  Whitey had him sparring and then wrestling with Jessie. Jessie was the best wrestling partner there was and falling into their old training rhythm was like riding a bike.

  “So don’t you want to know?” Jessie asked him as they circled each other for the millionth time.

  “What?”

  “How she is, who she’s with, all that shit.” Craddock shot in and Jessie deflected it.

  “Aren’t you going to tell me anyway?” Craddock looked around to be sure the mics of the show were not hanging over his head.

  “Yep, Zeke, they started up a few weeks after you left.”

  Craddock stood straight up.

  “After I left? What the fuck do you mean? She was all over him the night we fought.”

  “Um, well, dummy, no she wasn’t. But she is now.” It was Jessie’s turn and he shot in on Craddock’s legs. Craddock went down like a brick.

  Jessie spotted a camera and flashed a smile. Craddock had enough of his showboating and flipped him over. Coach Boggs, their wrestling coach, blew the whistle. The two separated.

  He was still processing what Jessie had said. Did he know what he was talking about? Was there a possibility that she had not cheated on him with Zeke?

  They were all questions he needed her to answer and not in front of the camera or in front of everyone at the GWG. He walked a few times around the mat, tried to cool down, come up with a plan.

  Where was Cassidy right now? She was not at her desk; instead, she was waiting, with her coat on and watching out the window. Craddock had to know what was going on with her. What had gone on before they broke up?

  He was not thinking about cameras or Tough to the Top or any of it as he covered the distance to where she stood. He came up behind her. He wanted to grab her but he kept his hands balled into fists at his sides. Why did she have to smell so fucking good?

  Cassidy

  Zeke was supposed to be there any minute. Cassidy looked out the window, hoping he would get there soon so she could get out of the GWG. All day she could see Craddock, every time she looked up he was there, and she caught him looking away from her as they both struggled through the day. Where was Zeke?

  That is when she felt Craddock behind her. Her body was immediately in tune with him, whether she wanted it to be or not.

  “We need to talk.” Craddock growled it into her ear. He was sweaty from his workout and she was livid at his pronouncement that they had to talk. Too late Craddock Flynn, too damn late, she thought. Although, part of her longed to lick the salty sweat dripping from his brow.

  “I do not take orders from you Craddock Flynn.”

  “I have to know something. Backroom - now.” He grabbed her arm. She wanted to pull away but the rest of the gym would see and she did not want to make a scene. His hand was hot on her arm. They made their way to the back of the gym, away from prying eyes.

  “Get your hands off me.” She jerked her arm free.

  “Fine.” Craddock let her go and put up both of his hands in surrender. “I just need to ask something.”

  “I don’t have anything to say to you.” What right did he have to come in here and demand anything of her? He moved his hands up on to the top of his head, almost as if he was trying to keep it from exploding.

  “I need to know when you started up with Zeke.” His eyes burned holes into her.

  “It is none of your goddamn business.”

  “Nice language Cassidy. I’m sure The Preacher’s Son would be very disappointed.”

  “You fuck off.” She was getting as angry as he was and the tight backroom space could barely contain their mutual turmoil.

  “Not until you answer.” Craddock took a step forward, she was backed up into the wall he pinned his hands to both sides effectively caging her in.

  “Fine. Zeke and I have been together for about two weeks. You happy?”

  “What about in Detroit?”

  “When I was with you? Please, how many times did I have to tell you I never cheated on you with him or anyone?”

  “Then why did he tell me you were together?”

  “What?”

  “In the ring, he said you were his or were about to be, why the hell do you think I went insane during that fight? Do you think I wanted to have to do this fucking reality show to get into the 21C?”

  “I think I have no idea what you want, except for those two blonde sluts, you seemed to want them.”

  “I want you.” Craddock grabbed her face, his lips roughly taking hers; she beat her fists on his chest. Her body instantly responded to him and a ragged moan ripped from her throat. Oh, God, no. This was too hot, too much.

  She pushed her hands back against the wall struggling not to grab on to him. Fighting the urge to wrap herself around him. Damn him. He dove his tongue into her mouth. The focus of the universe was all on him, his mouth on hers, and if he touched her, if she did not get out now, she would be lost.

  Cassidy pulled her mouth away from his.

  “I don’t want you.”

  “Yes you do. I feel it. You feel it.”

  “I am with Zeke now.”

  “Ask him; ask him what he said to me in the ring. How he lied about you.”

  “It wasn’t a lie it was a prediction.” Craddock whipped his head around and there was Zeke in the doorway to the small space. They were in worst-case scenario territory.

  Cassidy slid past Craddock and got in between the two men, if they wanted to fight there was nothing she could do to stop it and it would be a bloody mess. She wanted to get Zeke out of there, fast before they came to blows. Plus she was the one with questions now.

  Cassidy moved in close to Zeke.

  “Look at me.” The phrase he had said to her the last time they had made love she now said to Zeke. It got his attention. Zeke took his eyes from Craddock and looked down at her.

  “Take me home.” Her back was to Craddock, she did not want to see the look on his face now that the thing he had accused her of had come true. Now that she really was with Zeke.

  Zeke hooked his fingers in the top of her jeans, pulled her forward, and around behind him. It was a very sug
gestive and sexual gesture and her head was spinning. Zeke was showing Craddock who she belonged to. She did not like it one bit, but she also did not want this to go any further. She needed Zeke out of there.

  “Keep your hands off her.” Zeke said to Craddock. Craddock clenched his jaw and his eyes darted to where Zeke’s hand now held her tight behind him.

  “Let’s go.” Zeke slid his hand to hers and dragged her out of the GWG, nearly crashing into a one of the Tough to the Top crews in the process. They had left behind what had to be a furious Craddock. Her own emotions were a swirl of confusion.

  The ride in his car to her place was stone cold silence. Once they got into her room, she let loose.

  “So you really said that to him in the fight?”

  “Yes I promised him I was going to take you away, that you were already mine and you knew it.”

  “But I wasn’t! That was a lie. That made him think I was cheating.” Cassidy was so frustrated she paced the room. Zeke, who she liked because he was good, straight forward, honest, had essentially thrown gasoline on Craddock’s combustible jealousy during their fight in Detroit.

  “What does it matter now? We’re together. Just like I told him we would be.”

  “It wasn’t right.”

  “You still want him? Did he touch you before I showed up?”

  Cassidy didn’t answer. The fact was she was seconds away from letting Craddock take her up against the wall in the storeroom. She responded to Craddock’s lips in a way she did not with anyone else. As she remembered that moment in the back room, she knew what she had to do.

  “Zeke I think we need to take a break.” The words came out fast she felt like it she was ripping off a bandage. She had decided in one instance and said it in another. Zeke looked stunned.

  “What are you talking about? Break as in breaking up?” He shook his head and then buried his hands in it.

  “He’s back one day? That’s all it takes for you?”

  Zeke was not wrong, she felt ashamed to admit it to herself. Only one day and Craddock had thrown her life into a tailspin, but that was exactly why Zeke and she needed to cool it. As much as she liked Zeke, was connected to him, loved him even, she was not over Craddock. She was far from being over Craddock. That was so obvious as to be almost laughable to her now.

  Then there was the fact that Zeke had lied to get her. These two things were too much. She was not ready to be in this deep with Zeke. She owed him better. She owed herself better.

  “I’m sorry, but I need some space. I need to think. Figure things out.” She felt a tear pool in her eye. She did not want to hurt Zeke, her friend.

  “Fine. Fine. We’re done.” He got up and walked out and she winced as he slammed the door behind him.

  She did not know what to think, what to do, what feelings she could trust. Cassidy needed to talk. The one friend she had just walked out the door after getting his heart stomped on by her. It was too much to take. Then she remembered who could lend an ear.

  She called Bess.

  “Okay, tell me all about it.” Cassidy poured out the story.

  After an hour on the phone, she at least felt that breaking up with Zeke was the right decision. She also could not help wondering what would have happened if Craddock had trusted her when they were together. But he had not.

  Cassidy crawled into bed, put the pillow over her head, and tried to sleep. Craddock’s almost painful declaration, “I want you,” replayed in her brain on a loop.

  Chapter Eight

  Craddock

  He was the one who had destroyed the best thing in his life. Knowing that it did not have to go down the way it did tore his guts out.

  He drove home, stuck a frozen pizza in his oven, and wished for once he wasn’t in training. He imagined a beer would be good about now, after the day he had. But he was in training and he needed to sort out how he had acted with Cassidy.

  It was good to be in his own place, a modest duplex, instead of the Tough House mansion. He needed to try to get his head clear.

  How Cassidy’s lips felt on his had him feverish. He tried, but could not eat. He also couldn’t get the image of the way Zeke had hooked his fingers into her jeans, Zeke’s knuckles on her flesh as he maneuvered her around was something he wished he hadn’t seen.

  A cold rain had started outside; Craddock did not know what to do with himself. He knew he should try to sleep, tomorrow would be another day of training, and he still had five more days to train here, before he headed back to Vegas. He needed to take advantage of them, of Coach Boggs, Whitey, Jessie, so he would be ready for Teagan, and he knew ultimately Gustavo. He knew all these things but the thought of Cassidy pushed them all away. She was back, center stage, in his brain, and he didn’t know how to get past her.

  He listened to the rain hit his roof as he paced the floor. A light tap on the back kitchen door startled him out of his Cassidy thoughts. He had no idea who would show up at his door at this hour.

  He opened it and on the other side of the screen door, there she was –Cassidy - soaking wet in the rain, in the middle of the night.

  “Can I come in?” She asked in a quiet way. As if he would say no. Seeing her ripped his heart to shreds. He flung open the door and pulled her in. She was wet and shivering.

  “How did you get here?” He asked.

  “I w-w—alked.” She could barely talk, fuck she had walked in the night, in the rain, and it made him crazy to think about the things that could have happened to her.

  “Why?”

  “I couldn’t sleep and I need you dammit.” She hiccupped on the last part and he thought he might explode hearing her words.

  He folded her into his bare chest, tried to transfer heat to her. His little love, here, in front of him, not a dream. He wanted to make up it up to her, the way he treated her, leaving, everything.

  “I’m sorry. So sorry. Please let me warm you up, let me be with you.” He ran his hands up and down her arm. She was here with him. It was real.

  “I wasn’t with Zeke before and you didn’t trust me.” She looked scared when she said it as if it could all happen again. It would not, and he would not let his jealousy drive her away. He knew what he had done wrong and Craddock tried to find the words.

  “I was wrong. Stupid. Insecure. I was so afraid to lose you that I drove you away. It is all on me.” He felt chills rack her small frame. He was getting scared she would get pneumonia or something.

  “Do you love Zeke?” Craddock could barely form the words and dreaded the answer to them.

  “I do as a fried but I am not with Zeke now, I ended it. Because of you.”

  Craddock could not hold back any longer, he leaned down and captured her lips in his. She let a sob escape and he felt so damn guilty for ever causing her pain, and for being such a jealous asshole.

  “I need to get these wet clothes off you, okay?”

  “Yes.” He undid her jacket and put it on a chair. Her t-shirt was soaked through to her bra and he knew he should be only concerned about getting her warm but the way it clung to her drove him insane. Her nipples were hard as pebbles he could see despite the layers. He wanted to get them between his lips but focused on the rest of the task.

  He lifted the shirt over her head. She was wearing yoga pants that clung to her little belly and hips. He pealed them down and even her panties were wet from her trek in the rain.

  Once she was free of the wet clothes, he picked her up in his arms, cradled her, and buried his head in her neck. She burrowed in.

  “I’m so cold. But I had to see you.” He kissed her lips, now nearly blue. He was going to get her warm and then lose himself in her. Make up for everything he had done, worship at her feet if he needed to.

  “This is all wet too. I’m going to get you naked and then warm.” He put her on the couch, and wrapped her in a blanket while he popped an artificial log in his fireplace. It might be cheesy but it was a fire and she needed warmth.

  He picked her up
and situated her on his lap, down on the rug, in front of the fire that was roaring to life. Her cinnamon colored hair slowly dried a bit and her shivers died down. He needed her now, to be inside her. Craddock opened the blanket he had given her.

  He flicked open the bra clasp and kissed a path between her beautiful breasts. They tasted of her and the rain. He hooked a finger in her wet panties and ripped them off. She let out a little squeak when they gave way. He held her naked in his arms with the firelight warming her inch by inch.

  He rubbed her arms, her back, and her legs to get her warm. He wanted to touch every part of her now that she was here in his arms, in his life. He had been so lost without her; nothing was good unless she was with him.

  “I need you inside me Craddock.” She purred it in his ear and went from a kitten in his arms to a wild thing. She had turned her body to face his and he let her push him on his back onto the carpet.

  He watched as she crawled all over him, their limbs sliding up and down one another’s. She slid his sweat pants off and they were naked. She circled his nipple with her tongue and bit him. He reached around and cupped her round little ass in his hands; he kneaded her flesh as she rubbed her hot center up and down the length of him.

  “Cassidy, I can’t get enough of you.” She hovered over him then lowered herself on to him, until he was surrounded by her, deep inside Cassidy. A noise escaped his lips a cross between a moan and growl. Feeling her around him, he nearly came in that first moment. He held on, mustered control from somewhere.

  She sat up on him and then slowly worked him up and down and he watched as her breasts swayed. It felt like delicious torture to let her dictate the pace, to get what she wanted from him. He reached up, and put her nipples in his mouth one at a time. She arched her back and he felt his balls tighten as she pressed against him.

  Holding back was becoming impossible, he loved her slow torture but it had been too long without her. He sat up with her and she adjusted to him, he was deeper this way, she held on to his neck for balance, her legs surrounded his hips.

  “Craddock, oh.” She made little noises that were not words, and gasped as he pushed her hips down on his. No one had ever felt this good, no sex this intense. He gathered her hair in his hands and she threw her head backwards and offered him her lovely neck. He grazed his teeth over her skin as the moved together.