Dirty Fighter: A Bad Boy MMA Romance

by Roxy Sinclaire

  It would push both the car and the driver along the way. It was about speed and precision as the track looped around several miles of steep and dangerous terrain. Most of the race was only going to be watched on giant screens placed around the stadium.

  Not being able to see Desmond and Theresa as they went, made me more than a little nervous. Up until that point, I could watch to see what modifications needed to be done to shave off valuable seconds along the way.

  A camera view though wouldn’t give me the information I needed. Instead, I would be sitting with the rest of the crew, waiting and watching to see if the past few days had paid off or not.

  “Don’t worry, you’ve got this,” I said to him reassuringly.

  He smiled and leaned out. I knew what he wanted, and I was more than happy to give it to him. I bent down and kissed him tenderly. The motion was almost as natural to me as breathing now. His lips felt like they had found a home when they met mine. Everything about our relationship was different and new for me. He had been such a pleasant surprise. I knew that we were going to need to talk about what would happen after the race, but it could wait. The next few days were going to be life changing, for both of us.

  “Thanks, Amber. I don’t know what I would do without you.” He cooed as he started the engine.

  “Well, Luke would have a better chance at winning that’s for sure,” I replied playfully.

  He glared at the road ahead, “That bastard is done winning.”

  I smiled. Knowing how he felt about the other driver and knowing that I too, wanted to see him get knocked from his high horse.

  “Go put him in his place baby, leave him in the dust,” I said encouragingly.

  He smiled at me before pulling away. I knew that as long as Luke hadn’t done anything further to Theresa, there was no way that he was going to win the next stage of the race. Between Desmond’s exceptional driving skills and my own adjustments to the car, no one would be able to beat them.

  As I joined the rest of the staff to watch the race, the only concern I had was for myself. When the race was over, would Desmond and I just part ways? Would our romance just be called a summer fling or would we be able to make it work off the track as well as we had on the track?

  I had questions that needed to be answered, but they would just need to wait until after we kicked Luke’s butt and put him in the loser’s ring where he belonged.

  I had never before known a man that was so dark and shady as Luke was and I was positive that by the end of the race, everyone would know what a slime ball he really was. That was a project that I had already started on, a little extra surprise for everyone. Luke would never be able to race again, a fate worse than death for anyone on the racing scene.

  11

  Desmond

  As I approached the starting line, my heart did a little flip, but it was different from the other times. This part of the race was going to take all my concentration. It was going to be fun more than anything, though. It had been a long time since a track had actually challenged me and I looked forward to pushing my skills to the next level.

  Amber had said she’d made more modifications to Theresa in the past twenty-four hours. She had told me what to look for, but I hadn’t had the time to take a test drive before the start of the race.

  “Don’t worry, you will pick up on the modifications pretty quickly. Just look for more power and a bigger boost when you gun it.” Amber had told me.

  I had looked at her, shocked, “How could you possibly have given me a more significant power boost?”

  She smiled slyly, “I have my ways. Don’t worry; it’s nothing that she can’t handle. The only question is, can you handle it too?”

  I rolled my eyes, knowing she was giving me a hard time. “I can handle anything you’ve got baby.”

  Amber laughed and put her arms around me, kissing me tenderly and reminding me of all the things that I wanted to do to her. It was too late, though, we had a race to win. Glen called out the track details and gave word for the drivers to start their engines.

  The countdown had begun, and the flag was being lowered. I gunned my car, racing to the front of the pack right away.

  It didn’t take long for me to see Amber’s improvements for myself. The group of other racers fell behind me as I took the lead and approached the first set of winding turns. I knew what to expect, but it was still thrilling to witness them first hand.

  This was a track that only a few drivers ever got to experience, and now I was one of them. Nothing could ever replace the feeling in my body at that exact moment. Nothing else seemed to matter.

  I was driving better than ever before, and Theresa was running at speeds she had never known. My mind, typically so carefree during racing was captivated by the track. For the first time since I had met her, not even Amber could break the spell that the track had on me.

  As I approached the tunnel, a long and narrow passage that was separated into two sections, I shot through it without fear. It was only wide enough for one car to pass, but I had no worries at that moment of another driver sneaking up on me.

  As soon as the tunnel fell into my rearview mirror though and the road parted once again, I saw a familiar black car approaching my flank. Instantly, my blood started to rise, and I had to fight the urge to slam on my breaks.

  The impact would destroy Luke and his car, but my own Theresa would be damaged in the process. Unlike Luke though, I wasn’t crooked. I wouldn’t try to sabotage the race; I was good enough to win without resorting to cheating.

  He was gaining on me, pushing forward until we were running side by side. For several seconds we rode like that, him glaring at me and me giving him a hateful smile. Soon enough, the second tunnel passage came into view, and I knew that something was going to have to give way. We couldn’t both fit through. He gunned his car, gaining precious inches over me. Still, I wasn’t going to give up, not after everything he had done to me.

  The tunnel came closer to us, both refusing to back down from the challenge and give over the lead to the other. My mind raced, thinking about the damage a collision would cause. With the track that we were on, the other drivers wouldn’t see the accident until it was too late.

  This race would go down in history as the largest racing disaster known to the United States. I had no choice, I had to ease off the pedal before someone got hurt.

  Just as I made the decision, another thought flashed through my mind. This one was Luke, standing once again in the winner’s circle. I clenched my fist, I couldn’t let him win, not again. Not after everything that I had worked for. Not after everything that he had done to Amber and to me. She would be devastated if I gave away first place. Just then, I recalled what she had told me about the new modifications she had made.

  “You will have more go power primarily. With the additions, if you wallop the gas, it will give you a burst of extra speed. Basically, we are as close to NOS as we can legally be without breaking any of the racing guidelines for cars. It took some crafty footwork, but you are still legal and inspected by the board as such. I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to think that we were cheating you know,” she had said.

  “Wow, that’s impressive!” I replied, looking at the inspection paper.

  “Thanks. I almost lost my temper with the inspector a few times. You know, he’s one of those men who don’t think a woman should leave the kitchen. He wasn’t happy to see that I had outsmarted him each time he tried to cite me.”

  I had laughed at the visual. I had no doubt that Amber had given him more than just a small piece of her mind along the way. You couldn’t help but love the woman, she had more fire than anyone else on the racing scene. It was refreshing and a little intimidating for a lot of the men too.

  Men who had been mechanics for years found themselves being bested by the young and vivacious woman who was now on a leader’s team. It wouldn’t stay that way for long though if I didn’t put my trust into her skills and give Theresa ever
ything that I had. With a heavy sigh, I knew that it was time to make a decision.

  I pushed down on the gas pedal until it wouldn’t give any more. I felt Theresa lurch forward with more power than I had ever known before. I briefly glanced at Luke and enjoyed the shocked look on his face as he disappeared behind me.

  I took the lead just in time to shoot through the final tunnel. It was a lead I would need to hold onto. That wouldn’t be hard if I kept pushing the car but I also didn’t want to blow her up, not when we were so close to winning. As soon as the tunnel was clear and I knew we had a good lead, I let off the gas some.

  The finish line came into view, and my headset once again picked up Glen’s familiar voice, he was bragging about the burst of speed that the crowds had just witnessed via helicopter camera. I smiled when I heard him name off Amber as my lead mechanic in charge of all the great improvements the group was seeing on Theresa. Just as I was starting to relax, I saw Luke catching up to me.

  “Not on my life scumbag,” I muttered to myself.

  I let him approach as we went into the final quarter mile. He looked at me and smiled as he took the lead. He was a fool. He only took the lead because I wanted to make him an embarrassment. As the final few seconds approached, I once again gunned Theresa, and she jumped forward, taking first place and beating out Luke by a cars length.

  The crowd went wild all around me. I could hear them roar outside the car as I came to a screeching halt. I was all but pulled from Theresa and hoisted onto the shoulders of my teammates before being carried to the winners circle.

  I saw Luke in the distance, climbing out of his own car. He threw his helmet to the ground and glared at me. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I could tell it was full of colorful language. He walked away from the group and just before I was about to let my attention leave him and wander to my victory, he paused and turned back around.

  I watched as a suspicious looking man approached him. Luke’s face changed, it went from blind anger to pure hatred in a few seconds. I suddenly wished that I was closer to him, to hear what he was telling the man.

  Something about the dark smile that crossed his face made my blood run cold. He was far more dangerous than I had realized. As the two men talked, I watched in veiled horror as Luke pointed to someone in the distance and nodded his head before the stranger disappeared from his side. I followed his finger to where it was pointing in the crowd.

  To my horror, I saw the woman at the end of his hatred. It was Amber. Whatever he had planned, he was going to hurt her in the process. I wouldn’t let that happen, though. I would protect her from everyone else.

  Tapping on the shoulders that were carrying me, I was set down and quickly surrounded by reporters. I looked around but couldn’t see Amber anywhere. I knew that I couldn’t just run away from the winner’s circle.

  It would cause a media storm like none other if I did. It would draw attention to the relationship with my mechanic that I didn’t know if she even wanted yet. Plus, it would call out Luke, and that was something I wasn’t ready for. When I brought him down, I wanted it to be on my own terms, not because he thought he could threaten the woman I cared about.

  Glen found me, and I quickly pull him in close so the reporters couldn’t hear me.

  “Glen, you need to find Amber, I think Luke has something planned,” I whispered.

  Glen looked surprised, “You think he would try to do something to her?”

  “I don’t know, but I didn’t like the way he was looking at her,” I replied, looking around. “Please, just find her and stay with her until I can get away.”

  He nodded his head, “Sure man.”

  I knew that he had never seen me so worried about a woman before, but Amber wasn’t just another girl. I was pretty sure that I was falling for her. The last thing that I was going to let happen was for Luke to come between her and me. Even if he was just sending a man to give her a hard time about being a female mechanic, it didn’t matter. Suddenly, I wanted to protect her with everything I had. Suddenly, she was becoming even more important to me than Theresa. That was something I had never thought was possible.

  Theresa, until that point, was the only woman I had ever loved after my own family. Now, I was wondering if Amber was going to be more. Which meant that I would have to tell her the truth about who I was and where I had actually come from.

  12

  Amber

  I couldn’t believe how well Desmond and Theresa had done during the race. Everything about it had gone just as planned, even better. He had won by a landslide and as a little added bonus, he had even put Luke in his place.

  I watched as he was carried to the winner’s circle by his other teammates and I couldn’t help but smile. Something looked wrong though and I glanced around to see what could have upset him.

  A man was approaching me, and from the looks of it, he wasn’t Desmond’s biggest fan. I knew I would have to think fast. I didn’t think that Luke’s buddy would try anything out in the open, but I wasn’t going to give him the chance to prove me wrong either.

  As he approached, I saw Desmond talking with Glen from the corner of my eye and I made my way to the podium. By the time I reached Glen, racing towards me, he had found two large security officers to accompany him.

  “Did you see that guy?” I asked him.

  Glen nodded. “I did. He didn’t look like he was anyone from the track either.”

  Just then, Desmond joined us, moving protectively close to me. I smiled a little at how much he cared.

  “I want you to follow him,” he said to the guards.

  They nodded before setting off in the direction that the man had gone when he had seen Glen coming to meet me in the crowd.

  “Are you okay?” asked Desmond.

  “I’m fine. I don’t even care about him. I just want to talk about that race! You did a great job!”

  He smiled at me. “Thanks, but you are the one who did great. I can’t believe how well Theresa did!”

  I started to blush. “Let’s just call it a joint effort then?”

  He smiled and nodded his head. “The shop crew and other drivers want to go out. Some want to drink away the loss and others to celebrate my win. They want me to come, what do you think?”

  “I think that sounds like a very good idea,” I replied earnestly.

  I needed a stiff drink, among other things. I followed the two men to a waiting car that zipped us out of sight to the bar that only a few outsiders knew about. With a smile on my face, Desmond took my hand as we walked through the door.

  The room erupted in cheers as they saw who was walking in. Desmond smiled and waved at everyone. He let go of my hand as people from all over descended on him, wanting to shake his hand.

  I saw our crew in a back corner and quickly made a beeline for them. The limelight wasn’t for me. I just didn’t like to deal with people the way that Desmond did. He was so good at it too. I watched from my seat as he slowly talked with everyone who came up to him before making his way over to us. He sat next to me and put an arm around my shoulders. I had to smile at his intimate touch; it felt amazing.

  “So what do you think Glen? Am I set to win?” he asked his friend jokingly.

  Glen shook his head. “No way man, I’m not getting sucked into this trap! Let’s talk about this woman here, how amazing is she?”

  I glared at Glen but he just smiled. “Listen, my skills are nothing compared to how my father used to do things. He was the really amazing mechanic.”

  Desmond smiled. “I can’t believe that anyone is better than you, but don’t tell José I said that!”

  They all laughed again. José was known for his temper. He liked to do things a particular way and he always kept things simple. He was a wonderful mechanic; it was no wonder that he and my father knew each other.

  “I don’t know about anyone else, but I know that for our team, you have been a Godsend in more ways than one,” Desmond whispered in my ear.


  His words made me blush as my heart started to race.

  He continued. “Even if you don’t think so, I know that one day, you will surpass your father’s skills and your own wildest dreams. You have something special about you Amber, something that I have never seen before.”

  I wanted to tell him thanks; I wanted to tell him he was kind for his words but I couldn’t speak. He had made my heart race with everything that he said. I was speechless until the bartender brought over another round of drinks and broke the spell that had trapped Desmond and me away from all the others. Before I could speak though, the front door opened and in walked Luke.

  I knew that Desmond would notice right away and I wasn’t wrong. He glared at the man but Luke hadn’t seen us back where we were sitting. Desmond raised his arm to get the bartender’s attention. When he came back over to our table, Desmond whispered something in his ear. I looked at him suspiciously.

  “What was that all about?” I asked him.

  He smiled. “Nothing really, I just wanted to buy Luke and his crew a drink. It seemed like the right thing to do.”

  My eyes narrowed. Desmond was a good sport but after everything that Luke had done to him, I doubted that buying him a drink was the only thing that Desmond was up too. I watched in anticipation as the bartender came back out of the kitchen with a tray full of cups—cups filled with milk.

  I couldn’t stop myself from laughing a little bit; it was pretty amusing. As much as Luke pouted when he lost a race, he acted like a baby who did just deserve milk and nothing else. The bartender set the drinks down in front of him and I saw Luke’s face turn a scarlet red as all the patrons around him saw what it was and started to laugh at his expense. He whispered to the bartender and he pointed to where we were sitting.

  Desmond raised his beer up in the air to show Luke that it had been him. I had never seen a man so full of hatred in my life. He glared at Desmond and me like he wanted to see us both dead. His reaction to the joke had been amusing, but now his stare was giving me chills.