Prizefight: The Hell Raiders MC Goes MMA

by Aden Lowe

  He sat on the couch, where I'd left him, but his shirt lay on the coffee table. When I came in, he looked up with a careful smile. "You okay?"

  What could I say? "I think so. Look, I'm really sorry for falling to pieces like that. It's not something I do." My face burned with shame.

  He stood and held out one hand toward me. "Come here."

  I followed orders, and sat beside him when he pulled me down.

  "Elena, I'm not all that smart. Hell, I let dangerous fighters pound on me for a living. But I do know a couple of things." A gentle finger tipped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. "I know when a person has been through serious stress, especially over a long time, there's a breaking point. It will only stay bottled up for so long. I also know that now you've let some of it out, you'll be able to deal a little better."

  The kindness in his gray eyes threatened to overwhelm me again. No one had ever treated me this way, like I mattered. Well, nobody but my mom, and she hadn't been able to in a while.

  He seemed to recognize my rapid blinking for what it was, and smiled for a moment, then lifted me into his lap. "Stop worrying, Elena. I got you."

  I gave in and let myself collapse against his smooth chest, and just let him hold me. We sat that way for a long time, and gradually, memory of the texture of his skin under my lips forced its way into my mind. Ryker was the only man I'd ever been with who bothered to care that I enjoyed sex, too. And there he was, half naked, warm skin next to my lips again.

  I knew I shouldn't. He was kind enough to get me out of whatever hell Royse had planned for me, and he'd said he would help find my mom. In spite of that, and maybe a little because of it, I couldn't resist. My lips brushed lightly against him, just a tiny bit. Maybe he wouldn't even notice.

  Wrong. His hand came to the back of my head to press me closer. And I didn't resist. Instead, my mouth parted for my tongue to taste his salty-sweet skin. A groan rumbled through him, just before he gripped my hair and tugged my head back.

  Ryker's mouth descended on mine, possessing, taking. His kiss was unlike anything I'd ever experienced, a mixture of sweet and hard. I let myself get lost in it, in him, let him take away all the bad in the world.

  His fingers tugged at the hem of my shirt, and I leaned back a little to give him access. Warmth brushed against my stomach as he lifted the shirt and his fingers trailed up my ribs to find my breast. He lay me back against the couch and deepened his kiss until we were both forced to break away for air.

  I barely noticed as he slid the shirt off over my head, until his mouth returned to mine, his chest warm against my bare skin. His kiss made me want so much more, both from him, and from life. In his arms, I could dare to dream of the happily ever after that never came to girls like me.

  He brushed a thumb across my nipple and I arched against him, until his lips left mine and scattered little kisses down my neck. He paused at the curve of my shoulder, teasing the sensitive skin and sending shockwaves through my body. How had I never known I liked being touched that way?

  Simple. Nobody had ever taken the time to do it, and now that Ryker was, every nerve ending I owned seemed determined to make up for lost time. When he finally reached my nipple, he teased, swirling his tongue until I ached, and then going to the other.

  I dug my nails into his shoulders, begging for more, but he refused to give more than his own maddening pace. Sleek skin over hard muscle called to my hands to explore, and I did just that, skimming my fingertips over his arms and back up to his chest. I found his nipple and paused there, brushing my nail over the pebbled skin, to see if it affected him as strongly as it did me.

  Ryker rolled his head back with a growl and a curse. "Who the fuck makes couches so damn small?" He stood and scooped me up in one movement, and stalked for his bedroom.

  My pulse pounded, caught between fear and anticipation. He sat me on the bed, right in the middle, as if I were the most precious thing on earth. For a second, he stood there, just looking at me. Finding fault, seeing all the ugly parts. Instinct raised my hands, trying to cover myself, before he could turn away in disgust.

  "No. Don't hide from me, Elena." He sat on the bed at my side and pulled my hands back. "You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Don't take that from me." He leaned in, his breath warm against my cheek, and then his lips found mine again.

  I'd seen movies, fairy tales, where the world tilted and fireworks went off when the hero kissed the girl, but I knew those were bullshit. In my world, nothing like that happened. If the girl was lucky, the hero didn't beat the piss out of her when he got what he wanted. Except with Ryker, the world did kind of tilt, and I could have sworn I heard fireworks going off all around us.

  He kissed down my body, lingering at my breasts again and making me want something that didn't exist, before continuing further. When his lips met the waist of my shorts, I thought he might stop, but instead, he worked the drawstring loose, and took forever sliding them down my hips.

  I shook like a junkie needing her next fix when he drew my knees apart and settled his shoulders between them. He hadn't done that before. No one had. Something told me I would never be the same afterward.

  That mixture of fear and anticipation returned full force, with a healthy dose of shame mixed in. What if I smelled awful or tasted worse?

  Ryker didn't seem to have any doubts, though. He licked and kissed, searching out, and finding, every secret, until I forgot to worry. My entire body responded to every flick, every hum, until I felt like I would fall apart if he didn't do something else.

  And then he did. He slid a finger inside me, rough calluses against flesh gone insanely sensitive.

  And I did fall apart. Right there under his mouth. Heat flashed over me and my muscles locked down, refusing to let him go. He stayed right there with me, until I had to push him away because it was too much, too good.

  If I thought he was finished, the gleam in his eyes would have told me otherwise as he stood and shoved his jeans down. His hard length hypnotized me as he rounded the bed and bent to search in the nightstand.

  To my surprise, he lay on the bed at my side and held out a condom still in the wrapper. "Put it on for me?"

  When I sat up, he shifted to his back and closer to the middle of the bed. I looked at the condom packet, then at him, and smiled as an idea took form in my mind. I rose onto my knees at his side, then bent forward to kiss him. Tasting myself on his lips came as a bit of a shock, but I liked it.

  I let my fingers slide over his warm skin, exploring the contours of muscle and bone. Ryker was such a strange mix of hard and soft, rough and smooth. I could spend years learning his body, and still not know everything I wanted to. When I reached his cock, it was like the rest of him, silky soft skin over hard heat. I took my time to place the condom and roll it down, enjoying the way his muscles quivered under my touch.

  "You're killing me, here, Elena." In a flash, he grabbed my hips and rolled me under him. "My turn, baby girl."

  He slid into me with one sleek thrust, and for the second time, my world tilted a little.

  Chapter Nine

  Ryker:

  I drove my cock into Elena's body and got lost. That's the only way I could explain it. Nothing existed, beyond driving her sweet body to orgasm again, and burying myself in her until I reached my own.

  I liked sex as much as, or more than, the next guy, and I had plenty of it. But I always stayed at least a little aware of what went on around me. With Elena, I didn't bother to know anything beyond how sweet her cries sounded, or how tightly her body gripped me. Nothing else mattered.

  When her muscles locked around me, I forgot any other woman had ever existed. Even while I came into her, I knew it would never be enough. No matter the cost, I needed her again. I would pay any price, up to and including my life, just to have her.

  I collapsed a little to one side and focused on catching my breath and my sanity. What the fuck? I wasn't the type to believe in true love or any of that other
romance movie bullshit. That shit didn't happen in real life. No, in reality, a lucky guy found a chick he could tolerate more than ten minutes at a stretch, and maybe had a kid with her, then spent the rest of his life regretting the one time he left the rubber off.

  Well, not me. I would never be that guy.

  Sure, I'd promised to help her find her mom, and I would. But then it was over. She went back to her life, I went back to mine. Period. All I had to do was keep us both alive until then. That might be easier said than done.

  ***

  I woke up to the late-afternoon sun slanting in through my bedroom window. Elena's head still lay on my chest, and her hair tickled my jaw. She looked innocent in sleep, and soft. I'd fallen asleep with her curled against my side and her arm across my chest, but she'd moved. She'd reached up, her palm against my face, as if she wanted to remember it forever, and her thigh lay across my hips, pulling me even closer.

  What the hell had I been thinking? I'd asked myself that question a few thousand times since I ran out of the abandoned factory with her. And I still came up with the same damn answer. She needed me. What kind of fucked up was that? Some chick needed me, I just put the whole damn world on hold? I refused to admit Elena might not be just some chick. My life didn't work that way.

  She stirred a little at my side, as if my thoughts woke her. "Hey." She smiled up at me, with all the possibilities of the world in her eyes.

  "Hey, you." I tightened my arm around her. "Rest okay?"

  She laughed a little. "I don't think I've ever slept like that."

  "What, naked beside a man who just worshipped your body?"

  "That, too." A giggle bubbled up, and I suddenly realized I would do many things to hear that sound again.

  Fuck, I was an idiot. "You hungry?"

  She nodded. "Yeah, I am."

  "Good. I'm going to cook for you." I sat up as she moved. "After I get a quick shower. God, why didn't you tell me I reeked? I just realized I didn't even clean up after the fight."

  She looked up at me through dark lashes and lifted one shoulder. "I like it. You smell… honest."

  That one threw me for a loop. "Honest?"

  She shrugged. "Honest. Other men, they cover up their scent, try to make it all flowery or spicy. Just like they cover up the truth. I've had enough lies to last a lifetime. I like honest."

  Okay, then. I grinned. "Well, you might like the truth, but I don't think I can survive this stench for long." I leaned down and kissed her, surprising myself. Kissing outside sex wasn't my thing. "Five minutes, baby girl."

  I probably broke some kind of record getting clean, and I didn't go easy on the deodorant, even if Elena did say she liked honest. I hadn't thought to bring anything to wear into the bathroom, so I headed back for my room to grab something. Elena stood at the foot of my bed, wearing my shorts and pulling my shirt over her head.

  Seeing her there like that, in the middle of all that was mine, made me wonder things I shouldn't. I grinned at her. "Told you, five minutes."

  Another of those addicting giggles of hers. "So I see. You're a man of your word, just like I thought."

  Yeah, that shit was a drug. I needed to hear that laugh again. A lot. I grabbed a pair of clean shorts and pulled them on. "That I am." I stepped close and pulled her into my arms. "And I seem to remember some words about feeding you. Still hungry?"

  Her head came just below my shoulder, so she stood on tiptoe to meet my kiss while she laughed again. "Starved."

  "Hmmm. Good to know." Yeah, playing house with Elena for a couple of days could prove very dangerous to my sanity, if nothing else. I released her and headed for the kitchen. If I didn't find a way to gain some distance, I was pretty sure I could drown in her.

  The kitchen held mostly foods for a fighter in training, and even if I wasn't as fanatic about it as some guys, this mission to find chick-food might have set me up for failure. A trip to the grocery store waited in my fairly near future, I figured.

  Even so, I found some chicken breasts, brown rice, and broccoli. Might be able to turn that into something real people might eat.

  "What can I do to help?" Elena leaned one hip against the counter and watched me get things out. "I can't cook, so it'll have to be fool proof." She gave a nervous little laugh.

  The insecurity bothered me. A woman like Elena should never doubt herself. And there I was, right at the edge of the danger of spending time with her. I couldn't get too attached, and even though I was the kind of guy who rarely fucked the same woman twice, I could feel it. I was already too attached. Fuck.

  "Want to chop the broccoli?" I directed her to the cutting board and knives, and told her how I wanted it cut.

  The meal came out pretty good. Elena seemed impressed. At least, she didn't throw it at me. I wasn't used to cooking for, or eating with, anyone else, so how much I wanted her to like it came as a bit of a surprise.

  Watching her eat turned into a form of torture, though. Every bite she took, she closed her eyes, chewed slowly, and made this little moan-purr of appreciation. My dick twitched with every single bite and my imagination ran wild. A trip to the store was definitely in order.

  When she finished, Elena sat back, eyes sparkling. "That was really good. Thank you."

  "I'm glad you liked it. I was worried there for a minute. I'm not used to cooking for anybody else."

  She stood and started clearing the table. "You cooked, so I'll clean up."

  I sat mesmerized and watched as she carried the dishes to the sink and started washing up. It might have crossed my mind to get up and help her, but then I caught a glimpse of the curve of her ass in my shorts, and I froze. All I could think of was how that smooth skin had felt under my hands earlier, and how much I wanted to see and touch again.

  She turned and caught me staring at her, and I didn't look away. She gave a little smile, like she knew exactly what I wanted to do. The movement of her body held my undivided attention as she wiped down counters, then came to wipe the table.

  By the time she finished, I couldn't take it anymore. I caught her arm and pulled her into my lap. Her little squeal of surprise made me want more, and I threaded my fingers through her hair to guide her head down for my kiss. I licked her lower lip, slow and deliberate, enjoying her taste, before I pushed into her mouth to explore the tender perfection.

  My phone buzzed in the living room, where I'd left it on the coffee table, but I ignored it and let it go to voicemail. Nothing felt more important than possessing Elena again. She gave a little moan and relaxed into my arms.

  The phone started up again, warning me that whoever was calling intended to speak to me. "Hold that thought, baby girl." I gently set her back on her feet and went to catch the call. "What?"

  "I'll be at your door in about three minutes. Buzz me up quick, yeah?" Stella hung up without waiting for my reply. Rude bastard.

  Elena came out from the kitchen as I dropped the phone back on the coffee table. "Everything okay?"

  I shrugged. "Not sure. A guy'll be here in a couple of minutes, but he didn't say what was going on."

  Her arms went around her middle in what I recognized as a defensive thing. She was worried. "Do you think it could have something to do with Royse, or my mom?"

  I considered my answer carefully before I spoke. "It could, or might be something completely different." As much as I hoped it would be the news she wanted, I couldn't give her false hope.

  Her shoulders slumped a little. "Oh. Okay." Tears shimmered in her eyes before she looked away. "Um, I guess I should wait in there?" She gestured toward the bedroom.

  "Not unless you'd rather not meet a guy called Stella." I laughed a little to try and ease her discomfort. "If it's something private, he'll let me know."

  She nodded, still looking out of sorts. "Okay."

  The buzzer for the security door sounded louder than usual. I hit the Open button without checking. If someone other than Stella showed up at my door in a minute, I'd blow their ass away. On that
note, I grabbed my old .38 and thumbed the hammer back. The revolver had been with me through thick and thin, and was always my go-to.

  A sharp knock came at the door, and I checked before opening it. As Stella came inside, I checked the hallway behind him, and closed the door, sliding the deadbolt home. I waved him toward the living room as I gently lowered the hammer and returned the gun to its place.

  "What's up, man? Need a beer?"

  "Yeah, could use one." Stella dropped into the chair nearest the door and stretched his legs out. He cast a significant glance at Elena as she hurried toward the kitchen.

  I turned to grab him a beer, only to meet Elena already coming back with it. At my nod, she passed him the bottle, staying as far away as possible, then crossing her arms over her middle again.

  "Stella, this is Elena, the girl I told you about last night." I took my usual seat on the couch and motioned for her to sit beside me.

  Stella narrowed his eyes a little, and twisted the cap off his beer. "Good to meet you." He drained half the bottle in one swallow, then shook his head. "You done it up right, this time, Ryker. Got yourself a bounty on your head."

  "Do I, now? Who's payin'?" The news really came as no surprise. After I spoke to Luke, I hadn't expected Royse to just let my little adventure last night go. He had to make an example to make sure no one else got any ideas about him being soft.

  "Royse's men put the word out, but he's not footing the bill. That's coming from Nikolai Bessanov. Seems Royse has some friends in high, or rather, very low, places."

  "Mob?"

  He nodded and finished his beer. "Looks that way. And some of the names that are coming back to me are a little familiar. I think there's a tie-in to the ones Vicki brought down on us."

  The air left my lungs in a rush. I'd speculated the same thing earlier, but to have someone else come to the same conclusion came as a shock. That meant the connections existed somewhere other than just in my head. "I wondered about that. Why would they be here?"