Challenge: A Contemporary MMA Romance: Oni Fighters Book 3

by Natalie Gayle

  A roar from Seth grabbed my attention again. The gold flittered away. Ohhh…come back gold, you’re so pretty.

  “I want it back,” I demanded.

  His body slammed into mine and his dick buried almost painfully inside me, jolting my focus back to him.

  “What?” He barked between thrusts, then grunted out a long release, his body bouncing mine around with his shuddering.

  “The gold. I want it back.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” There was confusion all over the face that was too handsome, too cocky. It didn’t matter; he wore it well.

  “The gold sparkles; they’re so pretty. You made me see gold sparkles, Seth. Give them back.”

  He started chuckling, big belly laughs that rolled up and down my body as well. Then, he buried his face into my neck.

  “You’re so fucking funny when you’re hammered.”

  “I am. Particularly when you’re hammering me.” I collapsed in a wave of giggles at my quip and together we slid down the wall and landed in a heap of arms and legs.

  We both laughed some more.

  It was the funniest thing ever. Gold sparkles…who’d have thunk it?

  “Why do we always end up having drunken sex?” I managed between giggles.

  “I don’t know,” he said, burying his face in my neck.

  “Me either, but I love it.”

  My eyelids were getting so heavy, all I wanted to do was sleep. So tired. I snuggled my face against his chest. Mmm, so nice. I could care less that we were on the floor. It didn’t matter. Seth was wrapped around me. I didn’t need anything more than that.

  Oh, it was bliss, I was so tired.

  So sleepy. Everything was drifting away

  “Just like I love you, Seth,” I added in my dreams.

  Seth

  My head snapped back and the drunken, post-orgasmic haze I’d been floating in disappeared quicker than the shock of being doused in the ice bucket challenge.

  What the hell had she just said?

  Had she really just said that?

  Oh FUCK she went there. She said it.

  I had to get out of there.

  I didn’t do love.

  Sex? Yes, anytime, anywhere. Drunken sex—hell yes.

  Love, NO.

  Quickly, I eased myself out of her tight pussy. Soph was out like a light in my arms. I drew her closer into my body and stood, taking the short walk to the bed in her room—the bed, which was a whole six paces to the right. Why the hell had I fucked her against the wall when the bed was so close?

  I knew the answer…Sophia tied me up in knots and fucking her, well, it killed any sensible thoughts I had. Add booze to the mix and there you had it.

  Perfect storm of dick induced stupidity.

  Plus, sex with Sophia was off the scales hot any way I could get it. Why did she have to mention that word?

  I laid her in the bed, slipped her skirt off and pulled the covers over her.

  I had to get out of there.

  Fun, I could do.

  I love you, Seth, I couldn’t.

  No good could come from that. Fuck No.

  I tried to pull my fragmented thoughts together.

  Logically Seth, rationally Seth, I demanded in my mind.

  Sophia was going to have the hangover from hell when she woke up. I needed to do something about that. I didn’t want to see her suffer. Regardless what she’d said, I really liked Sophia—we were friends and occasional training partners at Onigashima. I’d never want to leave her in the lurch or see her in pain.

  I staggered back from the bed, and realized my dick was still out and flopping around partially encased in the condom, shmondom. It really was funny and I’d remind her of it later.

  I did a double-take.

  Why was the end of my dick poking out and the condom flapping around like a wet sail on a mast?

  Oh FUCK NO!

  Could this night get any worse?

  I snatched the offending useless piece of latex off my dick and cursed the crappy manufacturers the whole way to the bathroom.

  After I disposed of the condom and cleaned myself up a bit, I dug through the medicine cabinet until I found the paracetamol. I filled the tumbler on the sink with water and took them both back and put them on the table beside the bed. Yep, my girl was going to need both of them.

  What the hell?

  My girl!

  I was losing it; fuck, I’d probably already lost it.

  It was all too much.

  I had to get out.

  I wanted to run but my conscience screamed at me to stay—she was hammered, shouldn’t leave drunk people and all that…

  As if my prayers had been answered, I heard the front door open.

  Tori—it had to be Tori. Sophia’s younger sister.

  Sophia sighed in her sleep and drew my attention momentarily back to her. As hard as I warred with myself for a few moments, I couldn’t resist. I dropped one last kiss to her forehead and burst out the bedroom door.

  I met a startled Tori in the hallway.

  Her hands instinctively flew up in a guard. It pleased me to see her martial arts training kicking in, before she realized who it was.

  “Seth, what are you doing here?” She asked on a start.

  Yeah, what the hell was I doing here?

  “Just dropping Sophia home. She’s pretty hammered but asleep in her bed now. We were at a party and I made sure she got home.”

  Her eyebrows narrowed but I didn’t hang around long enough for her to question me more. It was important to know when to make yourself scarce.

  Besides, being here was suffocating, I needed to get out.

  As an after thought, I turned back to Tori at the front door.

  “You might want to check on her and make sure she drinks the water and takes the pills I left beside her bed. I think tomorrow is going to suck for her. Tell her I’ll call her tomorrow.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tori nod and I stepped out into the night. For a split second, I debated whether I should call a cab or walk. In the end, I headed to my SUV. I hadn’t had a drink in a good while—I’d be fine.

  I’d left my vehicle a few houses down when I’d picked her up earlier and we’d taken a cab over to the party.

  We were friends with benefits, private fuck buddies and that’s the way we both liked it—private.

  I had no idea where all that love bullshit had come from tonight with her.

  It terrified me.

  The fear thudded in my chest or was that the beat of my racing heart? I didn’t know. My house wasn’t far. Ten minutes tops at this time of night with no traffic.

  It was a modest three-bedroom house I’d bought a couple of years ago as an investment property. I was bunking there for the moment while I did it up to either rent or sell—I hadn’t decided. It served my purposes as home base between mining gigs for now. Plus, it was close to my mates and Onigashima.

  I loved training with the boys.

  Yeah, focus on that, I told myself.

  Not the love, and fuck, not the broken condom.

  Jesus!

  Tomorrow, I’d head out when I surfaced and pick out the new tap wear for the bathroom and hopefully find the tiles I’d been wanting. Then, I’d pick up some more plasterboard sheeting and finish the third bedroom.

  I was busy trying to calculate the amount of sheeting I’d need, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a streak of grey flash across in front of me.

  Instinctively, I reefed the wheel to the left to avoid hitting whatever it was.

  The left front tyre hit a rough patch on the shoulder of the road, and the wheel jolted in my hands. I pulled it back the other way trying to correct, but it was too late.

  The bottom dropped out of my stomach and the world started to spin. I knew it was going to be bad. Of all the places for it to happen…

  A shitty bend with a big treed drop off on the left.

  The last things that went thro
ugh my mind were seeing the world spinning through the windshield and Sophia’s beautiful face.

  I thought I loved her too.

  Then, the darkness took me.

  2

  Sophia

  Ohhh, what was wrong with me?

  I was burning up and the room was spinning. Where was I?

  Crap!

  I was going to throw up!

  I dived out of bed and floundered to the bathroom, only just making it to the toilet before the contents of my stomach came gushing up.

  Sweat poured off me and my stomach felt like it was turning itself inside out, until finally there seemed to be nothing more to come up. My throat burned and I couldn’t hold my body up any longer as I slumped to the floor.

  My butt hit ground zero and my hips shot up at the shock of the cold tile on my flesh.

  Fuck!

  I glanced down and realized what should have been obvious to me. I had nothing on my bottoms. How the hell had that happened?

  My head flopped to my arm and I lay on the floor and groaned.

  A quiet knock on the open bathroom door interrupted my self imposed agony. Although, with the headache, it had sounded more like a bass drum.

  “Not your best moment. I’m guessing.”

  “Go away... and leave me to die in peace.”

  “As they say ‘if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.’ Speaking of crimes, why do you not have any pants on?”

  My brain hurt too much to figure out why I was naked from the waist down. All I remember was having damned fine drunken sex with Seth against the wall. No way was I admitting that and giving up our dirty little secret.

  I might be a lot of things; a tattle tale I was not.

  “I must have taken them off before. I vaguely remember them cutting into me.”

  Tori snorted!

  She had the hide to snort...at my expense. What type of sister was she?

  “You sure Seth didn’t relieve you of them? He flew out of here like his backside was on fire.”

  I dragged my eyelids open and saw the look on her face in the bathroom mirror. Turning my head was not an option right now.

  “Of course not. Seth just made sure I got home all right. He was just being a good friend.”

  “Right…the type that helps you get your panties off.” She said skeptically.

  “Nothing happened. So shut it. I can’t do this right now. Can’t you see I’m suffering?”

  Tori was nodding her head mocking me. The little witch wasn’t buying a word I was saying and, quite frankly, I was too sick to care.

  “Yeah, well, you can’t stay there all night. Go back to bed and sleep it off.”

  “Sounds like an excellent idea. Only problem is I can’t get up.”

  There was no mistaking the big huff she let out, before she dropped down and grabbed me under the armpits and started to heft me up. My sister might be younger, but she was much the same size as me.

  “Up you go, come on. I’ve got no sympathy for you. What were you thinking? You don’t do shit like this.”

  And she was right—I didn’t. I’d had a crap week at work and Seth was never far from my thoughts and I was kind of tangled up in knots over him as much as I was trying to deny it. One drink led to another, and another, and, well, more.

  “Just letting off steam. Remind me this option sucks.”

  “Yep, you should have gone and beat the hell out of some bags at the dojo.” Then, she giggled. “Or, you could have done the nasty with Seth. I’m not convinced you didn’t. Maybe that’s why you’re drunk.”

  I staggered to my feet with a lot of help from Tori. “Just leave it, please. It’s cruel and unkind to torture me in such a weakened state.”

  “You’re just lucky mum and dad are away at the moment. Mum would be having kittens. You know what she thinks about women getting drunk.”

  I really didn’t need to be reminded of this. If mum and dad had been home, there was no way we would have come back here. All the more reason to move out as soon as I was a little more financially sorted. Having people up in my business twenty-four/seven was really giving me the shits. For fuck’s sake, I wasn’t a kid anymore.

  “What time is it?” I needed to change the subject.

  “Nearly five.”

  “Shit. No wonder I feel like crap. I need my beauty sleep.”

  Tori helped me into bed and pushed the water and pills at me. “Here, take these.” I looked at her confused, wondering how the water and the bottle of paracetamol had made it to my bedside table. “Seth put them here. I should have woken you up before. Get them down and I’ll get you more water.”

  Somehow, I swallowed the pills and managed the glass of water. I had my doubts about how long both would stay down for. Exhaustion was closing in again.

  I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I was woken by voices in the lounge room. At least, that’s what I thought it was.

  Gingerly, I lifted my head off the pillow and I was pleased to discover the world was no longer spinning and the pain had dulled considerably.

  My mouth was entirely another story. It felt and tasted worse than the bottom of a cockie’s cage. I so needed to clean my teeth and get some more water into me—pronto.

  I started to sit up to do just that, when my bedroom door, which had been partially closed, was pushed open.

  “Good, you’re awake. How hung over are you?”

  I didn’t need to turn around to recognize the voice. It was my older sister, Eden.

  “I’m functioning better than a few hours ago but far from at peak,” I managed to drawl out while I glanced around looking for a pair of track pants to put on to cover my still-naked arse.

  “You need to get up and get dressed.”

  She was kidding me, right? My plans were firmly a quick bathroom stop, a litre of water, and another couple of hours sleep.

  “Tell me why I need to do this?” I was feeling even more sarcastic and bitchy than normal—figured it went with the territory.

  I turned and saw her shuffling from foot to foot and her face looked stricken. Although Eden had some serious burn scars down the right side of her face, she generally always looked serene. Something was up. Something very bad by the looks of her face and immediately I was on high alert.

  “What’s up? What’s happened?”

  “It’s Seth. There was an accident last night…”

  A knife stabbed me in the chest and suddenly I couldn’t breathe. Fear flooded my body and I leapt from the bed. How bad? Was he…Oh My God!

  I felt like I was being strangled. This couldn’t be happening.

  “We need to go to the hospital.”

  I couldn’t take in her words. They weren’t making sense.

  Tears started to tumble down my face and my throat closed up on a sob.

  The next thing I knew, Eden had pulled me back down to the bed and was sitting beside me, with her arms wrapped around me.

  “Is he…” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word.

  “No. Although, I won’t lie to you, he’s not in a good way.”

  I sniffed back a sob. “How bad?”

  “We’re not exactly sure of the extent. We just know he’s in a coma and he has a shattered pelvis and a few internal injuries. There may be some head trauma as well. We don’t know much more. He’s in theatre now and we should know more soon.”

  Eden pulled me against her and just held me for a few seconds while I tried to take it all in. Had she guessed there was something between Seth and I, or had Tori told her what she suspected?

  “Okay, we need to get to the hospital. Why don’t you jump in the shower quickly and I’ll get you something to eat? We’re going to be in for a long day.”

  I nodded at her and pulled on the track pants I’d finally located, then made my way to the bathroom and showered and tried to make myself feel better.

  All the while, one sentence kept playing over and over in my head. “What if he doesn�
�t make it?”

  Logic told me I needed to be positive, putting it into practice was a totally different challenge.

  A few minutes later, I found my way out into the kitchen. Everything today was going to be a super big struggle. My brother-in-law, Xander, sat at the kitchen table. His black eyes immediately found mine as I slunk into the room.

  “Looking good, Soph.” We both knew he was lying.

  I groaned my displeasure at him and sat down. We had a strange relationship. Xander was my brother-in-law but also my Sensei. In fact, Dane was my Sensei too, to a lesser extent. In the dojo, I had to show total respect to all higher ranked belts. Outside of the dojo, it was different but still the same somehow, even though we had friendships outside training.

  “Don’t start, either of you. Drink this.” Eden placed some strange looking concoction she’s produced in the Nutri-bullet in front of me.

  “What’s in it?”

  “Don’t ask, just drink it. I’ve picked up a few things about rehydrating bodies over the years.” Xander quirked his eyebrows at me. Right now, it pained me that he was one hundred percent correct. My brother-in-law was one of the top MMA fighters on the planet. He more than knew about rehydration…he was an authority on it. Regardless, this drink was a far cry from the bacon and egg sandwich I would have normally gone for.

  I took a sip, straight from the cup, and to my surprise, it wasn’t half bad.

  “Found it!” Eden stood up from the cupboard she’d been rifling through and held up the sippy lid for the cup triumphantly. “Here, let me put it on, then you can take it to go.”

  We filed out to Xander’s truck and Eden climbed into the back seat. “You get in the front. You’re still looking green around the gills and we don’t need you throwing up again.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  Xander drove off and I remained quiet as we navigated through the suburban streets of Logan. My stomach was behaving so far and I slowly sipped at the concoction, wary of drinking it down too quick and tempting fate any further. It wasn’t until he drove straight past the turn off to the hospital and headed out onto the freeway that I spoke.

  “Isn’t he in Logan hospital?”

  “Nope, he’s in a private hospital in the city. Logan transferred him straight up because of the severity of his injuries.”