Hold

by Jayne Blue

  She finished packing and images of their mind-blowing sex the night before kept taking over her thoughts. It made her blush. She didn’t know what sparked it, but he made love to her last night like an animal. She’d never done it from behind and decided that might be her new favorite. The thought curled a smile at her lips, which Craddock caught.

  “Can’t stop thinking about me, eh?” He came up behind her at the sink as she cleaned up the food he’d made. That was their deal — whoever cooked, the other one did the dishes. It was a pretty good system so far. He kissed her neck and ran his hands over her breasts and her hips. She rocked back into him.

  Whatever fight they were about to have last night, it had disappeared in his bed, and on the floor after that. And then in the shower this morning. If this was what a tournament did for a girl’s sex life, then no wonder half the women in Grand City were throwing themselves at the guys of the GWG.

  She turned around and he planted a sweet kiss on her lips. She looked up was surprised to finding him looking sad.

  “What’s up?” She asked.

  “Nothing, babe, I just love fucking your brains out.”

  “You probably need to send that line into Hallmark.”

  He laughed. Whatever sadness she’d caught was gone.

  They got to work loading his car. She was more convinced than ever that it was best to share her disappointment about the grant after everything was settled at the tournament.

  The drive from Grand City to Detroit was about two and a half hours. They made the trip listening to music. She didn’t want to set him off and she had her own mental checklist of things to accomplish when they got there. Whitey said to find him and he’d put her to work making sure the six guys from GWG got their credentials.

  She also hoped to meet Mr. Sawyer, or rather, Sawyer, from the GWG corporate office. She couldn’t wait to put a face to the voice who’d been helping her when she needed it. That ought to be interesting because Whitey said Great Wolves Gym was actually owned by a motorcycle club called the Great Wolves MC. The motorcycle club decided to go into the gym business and thus, the GWG was born. Sawyer sounded very responsible and authoritative. She wondered if he was a biker or perhaps just a manager type they’d hired. She’d find out soon. Either way she was exited to meet GWG people, see the tournament, and cheer on the GWG guys, especially her guy.

  They made good time on the road. Luckily, it wasn’t as snowy or as cold as normal, so maybe even Sawyer would enjoy Detroit.

  Detroit and Grand City were so different. She’d been here to apply for her classes and had to come once a semester. Wayne U was in Detroit and administered her online program. Of course, they’d also just declined her grant application. She tried not to think about that disappointment.

  She was always enthralled by the big city vibe Detroit represented. She marveled at the RenCen’s shiny façade and wondered about a dozen empty office buildings that seemed to be abandoned.

  They passed the Cobo Center, where the tournament was being held. The massive convention center had several events going at the same time, but they’d be packing the place for the Smack Down finals, Whitey had told her.

  They checked in to the Garden Inn nearby. She and Craddock would share a room. Thank God for that — she didn’t have the extra cash for three nights. Splitting it, they had enough.

  At first she’d been shy about everyone knowing she was with Craddock, but she got over that pretty quickly. One of the essential components of Craddock Flynn appeared to be marking his territory. A gene combo on his helix said “mine,” she imagined. Suppressing that possessive trait was like suppressing his blue eyes. So the GWG guys all knew she was his — just the way he liked it. She’d come to secretly like it, too. Especially in this environment. A lot of women wanted to get a piece of him and it felt like the tables had been turned. She found herself wanting to mark her territory. She was new to having territory, she realized. Foster kids didn’t have territory.

  Her phone buzzed as they headed out of their room.

  “Hi, Whitey.”

  “Where are you?”

  “We’re coming down to the lobby.”

  “Good, we need to get over to Cobo with our six and get squared away.”

  “We’ll be down in three minutes.”

  The half-dozen fighters for GWG Grand City were sprawled around the lobby when they got there. Whitey was pacing.

  “Okay, let’s go.” And they loaded into what Darius Brown liked to refer to as a “creeper van.” GWG had agreed to rent it for the event so the guys had transportation from the hotel to the venue without any hassle. The van was exactly what Cassidy had ordered. It was one of the many details she’d arranged, including the rooms. Each fighter had their own, except Jessie was bunking with his grandpa Whitey.

  “Keep him out of trouble,” Whitey declared in front of an annoyed Jessie when the fighter realized he would be with his coach and grandpa non-stop.

  The venue had set up a banquet room for check in. Whitey and Cassidy guided the fighters of the GWG to the check in station. They were each issued a bracket sheet, a lanyard with their fighter number, and information on where to go for skin checks and weigh-ins. If you had any sign of a contagious skin disease, you were disqualified. Whitey had the boys clean as a whistle. They constantly checked at home and at the first sign of an infection, they would stomp it with antibiotics and creams.

  As their six made their way through the paperwork, Cassidy held a rotating variety of bags, jackets, and cell phones. After an hour, they all gathered back again with Whitey.

  “Okay, boys let’s head to skin check and weigh-ins.”

  They found their way to a locker room area, beyond where Cassidy could go. Inside, Craddock had explained, they’d all get inspected for any skin disease, then step on the scale as naked as the day they were born.

  Cassidy leaned against a hallway wall and guarded all their junk. There wasn’t much else she could help with at that point. She peered in and got a glimpse of dozens of men, muscles, tattoos, and underwear. Yeah, best to hold up the wall of gear.

  The first GWG fighter out of the weigh in was Zeke. He spotted her and headed over.

  “Well?”

  “I’m on the nose and my skin is as pure as a baby’s butt.” He winked at her and she laughed.

  “Good to know.”

  “It’s going to be a while. It’s like all the guys are vying for the same scale and doctor.” There were five weight classes with eight men in each, so technically there were 40 guys in there — naked.

  “So, help me out here, can you explain the brackets?” They had time, she may as well be sure she knew what was going on.

  “Sure, here, let me show you.” Zeke unfolded an oversized piece of paper. It was filled with names and slots.

  “We’ve essentially got five small tournaments, one for each weight class. It’s a single elimination tournament.”

  “That means win or go home?” She had listened a bit when Craddock had talked about it before. That was the important part — there was no second chance.

  “Yep, lose and go home.”

  “Now, look here — our records are under our names. And our seeding.”

  She looked at the 40 names. She found Zeke. The number two was under his name; Craddock was number one.

  “Not bad, Mr. Two!”

  “Yeah, well, I suppose it’s fine, but if you call me that again, I’m going to have to put a stop to it.” He punched her shoulder playfully, but still, ouch.

  “Tournament organizers agreed on where they think we ranked coming in here. They based it on our amateur records. GWG isn’t doing too badly, if you look.”

  G-Man was ranked first and then Darius Brown. Pete Flannigan and Todd Barton were in the top three seeds of their weight classes.

  “Everyone but Jessie is in the top three?” Cassidy asked.

  Jessie had a 7 by his name. He’d have a tough time winning against his number two seed opponent in t
he first round, Zeke patiently explained. She was sort of getting it.

  “Yep, pretty cool, all these high seeds from one gym. That’s why the GWG corporate guys are coming. They think if me, G-Man, and Flynn do well, it’ll be really good for the GWG Franchise.”

  “So you have two fights tomorrow?” She asked, she wondered what the first day would be like.

  “I’ll rip through them like a hot knife through butter. And yes, two on Friday. And when I make it to finals, I’ll beat up your boyfriend.” He smiled at her.

  She pushed at his shoulder in retaliation for the earlier punch and for the Craddock comment. She’d always had an easy friendship with Zeke. She resented a bit that she couldn’t really be his friend because of Craddock. And wouldn’t you know it, Craddock walked out of the locker room as she was punching Zeke. It never failed.

  “Talk to you later CP.” Zeke and Craddock gave each other a lethal look and she wondered how they’d ever shared the same van from the hotel.

  Craddock came over and leaned against the wall with her. He reached out and hooked a finger in her jeans to bring her closer to him. Not the most subtle gesture. She knew it was a signal to Zeke, but he understood that fighting right now, in this hallway, wouldn’t get either of them what they wanted. Zeke backed away, looked down at his phone, and started to text someone.

  The situation diffused as much as it could .she figured, seeing as Craddock was giving off the same vibe as a lit stick of dynamite.

  Chapter Eleven

  Craddock

  They were on their own for Thursday dinner. Most of the guys ate in the hotel, stayed out of trouble, and didn’t overdo it. They had all made weight and could have good fuel that night for the next day.

  Craddock had caught the exchange between Cassidy and Zeke, but decided to “save it for the ring,” as Whitey always said.

  He and Cassidy ordered room service, then he ran on the treadmill in the shitty hotel gym to stay loose. Afterwards, he just wanted to be with Cassidy and study his brackets to get his game together.

  She read one of her books while he looked up fighters on his phone. He’d have to win three fights if he wanted to be in the finals. Three fights in one weekend was a brutal schedule, but there was no easy money in life. This was a prime example.

  Friday he’d need to win two fights to make it out and into Saturday. Then, one huge fight on Saturday. Saturday would be brutal because he’d have to recover from whatever damage he took Friday and ignore it so he could be punishing in the finals. He knew he’d get there.

  His first two fights would be easy, an 8th seed and a 4th seed. He looked up what he could on his opponents and felt pretty confident about Friday. It was the other side of the bracket that had his attention.

  He was across the bracket from Zeke, as Whitey had predicted. Tournaments sucked if the one and two guy met in the first round. They wanted a good main event in the finals, and that meant putting good guys on opposite sides so they would meet on day two.

  He had a date with Zeke Saturday night, unless someone else knocked The Preacher’s Son out before then. Looking at Zeke’s bracket, it didn’t seem likely, but you never knew.

  Around ten at night, Cassidy popped out of the bed where she’d been reading. She put his phone in the charger and pulled him up and over to the bed.

  He lay on his stomach and she crawled on to his back. He could feel her hot little center straddling him but it soon gave way to the sensation of her working on his muscles with her hands. It was so relaxing, just what he needed. Before he knew it, he was out and dreaming of his fists and feet flying.

  Cassidy

  Day one of the Motown Smack Down was overwhelming. They walked into a huge arena space with 10 eight-sided cages for the fights. She’d be separated from the GWG guys most of the day. Really, her only role now was to cheer. The staff of coaches herded the six fighters through the insane melee of people.

  There were spectators in the stands and some right near the rings on the convention floor. She was allowed to be near the ring with her “staff” pass around her neck. Cassidy was grateful for that. She was so keyed up, she felt like she was going to be sent into the ring. At least with the standing room by the ring, she could pace.

  She raced from ring to ring, cheering on GWG guys when they were up. Jessie was first. She made her way to his assigned ring. She knew Craddock was in a warm up and staging area, staying loose, and focusing for his first match. She was excited to see all the GWG guys do their thing.

  Whitey was giving Jessie some last minute orders and the match began. She knew Jessie was nervous because the guy was a good puncher and Whitey had been complaining that Jessie’s seeding was too low. He could get knocked out in the first match if he wasn’t careful, she’d heard Whitey say.

  As she stood there cheering and half closing her eyes when Jessie took a hit, two dangerous looking men showed up on either side of her.

  “We’re going to assume from your GWG Grand city t-shirt that you’re the one and only Cassidy Parker, office wonder woman.” The man had shoulder length brown hair, a massive mustache, and wore leather from head to toe. His companion wore a similar ensemble, but it was all gray. As she looked at their jackets she recognized the patches — it was the logo on the wall of the GWG.

  “Sawyer!”

  “The one and only.”

  She shuffled her phone, her bag, and all the stuff she’d been carting for Whitey and put out a hand to shake his.

  “Eh, we’re not that formal.” Sawyer gave her a fist bump instead.

  “This is Larry. He’s our accountant.”

  “You don’t look like an accountant.”

  “I get that a lot.” Larry, the biker accountant, and Sawyer, the biker middle manager, were a welcome sight ringside. Cassidy was out of her element on the scoring and what exactly was going on and was glad for the company.

  “I think you’re handling that software for the books excellently, by the way Cassidy. Sawyer can’t say enough about how you’ve organized Grand City for us.”

  “Thanks, Larry.”

  Larry nodded and turned his attention to the ring.

  “Is Jessie our lowest seed?” Sawyer asked her.

  “Yes, Whitey wasn’t happy about it.”

  “Yeah, well, doesn’t look like Jessie was either.”

  Jessie’s opponent tapped out. Apparently it hurt if Jessie’s tree trunk legs wrapped around your middle and his arms around your neck. The ref raised Jessie’s hand and Whitey jumped higher than she thought was safe for a man his age.

  She got another fist bump from Sawyer. The Great Wolf Gym of Grand City was off to a good start at the MoTown Smack Down.

  There was definitely a shift in attention when Craddock’s fight started. Before it had been hard to tell who was looking where or watching what because so much going on in one massive arena. Now, as Craddock was announced, everyone’s attention shifted to him.

  They knew him and loved him. He’d made his way to the top of his region and the fans of the sport were watching. There were no entrance songs or fanfare. Sawyer explained they’d save the show biz bullshit, as he called it, for tomorrow’s main event. You had to buy a separate ticket for the matches tomorrow. Today, you could stay all day and take in what you wanted. Most of the crowd wanted Craddock.

  Cassidy was nervous, but proud, when she saw him climb into the ring. He looked stronger, tougher, and scarier than this first opponent.

  “That guy’s a lot taller, but skinnier.” She commented. Sawyer nodded.

  “But anyone can be out with a shot to the jaw or a submission hold out of nowhere. That’s why I love this sport — blood sport.” A devilish grin peaked out under his epic mustache and Cassidy realized there was probably a lot about the GWG “corporate guys” she didn’t want, or need, to know. As long as they approved her payroll, she was good.

  Craddock found her in the crowd and she smiled back at him. It made her happy to know she could be there for him aft
er years of him having no family in his corner. She supposed they weren’t family, but well, almost.

  “Oh, so that’s who’s got young Cassidy Parker’s fancy, eh? You’re Craddock Flynn’s old lady?” Sawyer caught the exchange between her and Craddock immediately.

  “His what? I’m 21!”

  “Settle down, missy, it’s an expression. I would’ve pegged you more for that clean cut one, The Preacher’s Son. But, well, to each his own right?”

  She blushed. “The fight’s about to start.” She felt funny talking to her corporate biker boss about her MMA fighter boyfriend. When had her life gotten so weird?

  It took all of three minutes for the number one seed to knock out the number eight seed. Cassidy started to see why they had the seeding and felt sort of bad for the bottom of the heap.

  Craddock had barely broken a sweat in that fight, but it was okay. He had energy and he was in one piece. This was key because he had one more fight today in order to qualify for the final tomorrow.

  Jessie lost his second fight and was out of competition. He was disappointed, but he joined her and the GWG contingent to watch the remaining fights.

  Zeke easily handled his first guy. She was relieved for him after seeing Jessie lose. It could happen so fast, all it took was a surprise move from an opponent. She watched Zeke’s match with Sawyer and he marveled at the fighter’s cheering section.

  “Well, The Preacher’s Son has his own marketing machine in place.” Sawyer said. He seemed impressed as he looked over at Powell’s contingent.

  There was a slick looking and tanned man in a polo and khakis and a beautiful blonde woman, probably Zeke’s parents she deduced, then about twenty or so other people that she assumed were church members. They had posters and t-shirts. And they were in love with Zeke Powell. It was sweet, but it also made her heart hurt a little for Craddock.

  No matter, she’d be his cheering section, and, from what she’d seen, the rest of the arena would, too. They seemed to like his scary ass presentation as much as the Powell contingent loved “good guy” Zeke.