Corbin watched him for a long moment and then laughed coldly. “This? This is your new champion?” he gave his head a subtle shake. “Well, it will be my pleasure to bring you down to the mat… Jake.” He said with a darkening tone.
Jake lifted his chin defiantly. “You can try.” He stated flatly.
The manager of the dojo cleared his throat and Corbin threw him a withering glare before he turned to go. He shot a hungry grin at Lisa. “I like you coming here to see me. You should come back soon so I can show you how a real man fights, and…” he laughed, “I’ll show you anything else you want as well.”
He strutted back into the studio to rejoin the class session he had left. Lisa shot daggers at his back with her eyes, wishing she could have taken him on in a fight right there, but well aware that doing so was impossible. She shared a quick glance with Jake and saw that he was thinking the same thing. She shook her head almost imperceptibly and he gave her a nod of acknowledgement.
Masahiro and Koichi thanked the manager and the four of them left to return to Hayashi Dojo. They were all silent in the car on the way back to the dojo, and when they got there, Masahiro and Lisa left for her office and Koichi took Jake into one of the smaller studios toward the back of the complex.
“What did you think of Corbin?” Koichi asked Jake as he faced him in the studio.
Jake’s jaw tensed as dark thoughts swirled in his head. “I think he’s a jackass and I can’t wait to defeat him.”
Koichi watched his reaction silently and then nodded. “Alright. In that case, you better focus with everything in you while we train for the next two weeks, because you’re going to need all of the training you can get in between now and then if you expect to beat him. He is a jackass, but he’s well trained and he has won several competitions already. It’s going to take everything you have to bring him down.”
Jake rolled his shoulders in wide circles and gave his neck a twist to loosen it. “Then let’s do this. I’m going to take him down.”
Koichi began Jake’s training in earnest then, and for the entire rest of the day, they trained hard.
Lisa sat in her office that afternoon, wondering what she had been thinking the night before, and telling herself that it might have been a mistake she was willing to make but she could only let herself do it once. She knew that if Jake went back to her house with her that night, it would happen again. There was no way he was going to listen to her when she would tell him that he would be sleeping in the guest room and not in her bed.
Her mind flitted back to scenes from the night before; moments they had shared when his mouth was on her lips, her body, when he drove her far past the edge of passion into blissful oblivion, and her body warmed at the memory of how he felt inside of her, but she struggled with her desires and pushed the thoughts from her mind completely.
Feeling a little weak, she picked up her cell phone and called her best friend. She felt awash in gratitude and relief when Bonnie answered right away. “It’s the middle of the day, are you okay?” she asked worriedly.
“Yes I’m… uh… well… no. I guess I’m not.” Lisa answered, sinking down into the chair behind her desk.
“Why not? What’s wrong?” Bonnie’s tone took on a note of concern.
Sighing, Lisa rolled her eyes and knew that she was going to have to come clean about the entire thing. “I made a big mistake, I think.”
Bonnie hesitated a moment. “A big… what did you do? Did you… Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, you did! Didn’t you? You slept with Jake! Did you?” she asked in a rush of words, certain and simultaneously uncertain of the suspected reason for the phone call in the middle of the workday.
Lisa covered her eyes with her free hand. “Yes, I did,” she answered with a shame-filled voice. “I just… god, he had to come stay the night with me because he was jumped outside of his house by a guy who wants to kill him, and he fought the guy and then got arrested and I had to bail him out and I didn’t want him to get jumped again… so I took him to my place to keep him safe… and… and he was standing there in a towel, and the next thing I know… ugh.”
Bonnie giggled with glee on the other end of the line. “That’s fantastic news! I’m so glad for you! You were way overdue.”
“No! It’s not good, Bonnie! Now what am I going to do? You know I can’t do that with him again!” Lisa moaned in regret and frustration.
“Well, I’m glad you did it at least once, but I do understand what you’re saying about not doing it again. He has to focus on his training, and you have to stay dedicated to your family. I get it. So… is he still staying with you?” Bonnie asked with a hint of a wicked giggle in her voice.
“I… I can’t let him keep staying with me. If he stays, oh Bonnie…” she sighed heavily, “Oh… Bonnie… he was so… wow. He can’t stay again. If he stays I don’t think he’ll stay in his room, and I don’t think I’ll have the fortitude to tell him to stay out of my room.”
“Lisa, he’s a big boy. Send him home and tell him to be careful and have the police patrol his street. Have him lock his doors. He’ll be okay. He can’t move in with you if you aren’t ready for the consequences of what you did, and what you know will continue to happen.” Bonnie was being honest, and Lisa knew it.
“You’re right. I don’t even know if the guy who attacked him will be back for him again; they both got arrested that night, and maybe Jake can get a restraining order against him or something. I don’t know. We can check it out, but he definitely can’t stay with me.” She hesitated a moment. “So he goes home, and I will just have to figure out how to work with him here. We are both in positions of professionalism; I have my work, and he has training for upcoming competitions… so… it’ll work out. We just had one hot… one very hot… night, and it was great and now we need to focus on other things and not think about it again, right?” Lisa asked, hoping for some support.
“Definitely. You had fun and now it’s time to work. Just tell him that, and tell him he can’t have you on his mind and the fighting, so he has to focus on fighting, and he has to stay at his own place. You know what you need to do, Lisa, so do it, and everything will work out alright.” Bonnie smiled through the phone with a reassuring voice.
Lisa was grateful for it. “Thank you so much, Bonnie. I love you.” She sighed in resignation and smiled for her friend.
“I love you, too. See you soon,” Bonnie answered. They said goodbye and Lisa made up her mind. Once was all there would be, and Jake was going home to his own place. Knowing that she might have a difficult time telling him to his face, she wrote him a quick and simple note, explaining that he had to go back to his own home and that nothing further could happen between them. She tucked it in with his change of clothes, and then left the dojo early, avoiding the chance of having to see him.
She made sure for the following two weeks that she was as unavailable as she could possibly be. She didn’t answer his calls, she only sent brief replies to some of his texts, and when they were both at the dojo, Koichi kept him very busy training while she concentrated on her work and on not being around before or after his training sessions with Koichi.
Jake was torn between dedicating everything in himself to getting ready for his competition, and fighting his desire to see Lisa again. He managed to keep her at the very edge of his mind during the day while he was learning everything that he could from Koichi, but every night she crept into his thoughts and then his dreams and he woke up hard for her nearly every morning. The frustration of his desire for her and her distance from him only made him want her more, and Koichi saw the distraction in him every time it surfaced.
Koichi would bring him back to the task at hand every time, but Jake’s frustration grew, and no matter how much he tried to push it away, it stayed with him.
***
The night of the competition finally arrived, and Koichi would only train with Jake for half a day before insisting on Jake meditating for the afternoon to relax himself and prepare
for the fight that night.
Jake called Evan that morning and told him where it would be, and Evan promised to be there to support him. There was no one else who would be there, except Koichi, and possibly Masahiro. Jake finished his meditation and went to Lisa’s office, hoping to see her, hoping that he could talk to her for a few minutes and that she would come to the competition to watch him. She was the whole reason he was even there.
Lisa was standing at the wooden filing cabinet in her office when she heard the door open, and she turned to see Jake walking in. He looked tired and worn out, but no less attractive, and her heart skipped a beat as his eyes caught hers.
“Hey, I wanted to come and talk to you. I guess we’ve both been really busy lately,” he said.
She pushed in the drawer she had been looking through and walked toward him, stopping at the side of her desk. “Yeah, we both have a lot going on right now. You’ve got your first competition tonight.”
He smiled and lifted his hand to his head, raking his fingers through his sandy blonde hair. “Yeah… that’s one of the things I want to talk with you about.” He stepped closer to her and smiled, watching her intently.
“You’re going to be there, right? I mean… I haven’t seen much of you around and I know we both have our things going on, but I want you there. It’s important to me. I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for you.”
She drew in a shallow breath as he stepped even closer to her; so close that she could feel the heat from his body. With a nod, she smiled back at him. “Of course, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t really have many friends, and you’ve really shown me that you’re one of them… a true friend. I want you there.”
Lisa bit at her lower lip and saw his eyes drop to her mouth as she did it. “Friend…” she repeated in a whisper. “Yes, I am a friend, Jake, and I want to be there for you to support you and to see you do well.” She couldn’t help thinking of how they were much more than friends, but there was no going forward with the rest of it; only the friendship.
His smile slowly faded and a serious look came into his cool blue eyes. He reached a hand up to her cheek and held it there, cupping her face as he lifted her chin slightly. “We’re more than friends, and I want that, too,” he breathed huskily.
Her heart began to race, and just as she was about to protest, he leaned forward and wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her body snugly against his as he closed his mouth over hers, silencing any argument she had. He parted her lips and the moment his tongue began to twist around and over hers, she lost all of her willpower and found no resolve to push him away.
Heat began to swell inside her, like a wave building with the promise of washing over her and pulling her under. Her breath grew short and she could hear that his was doing the same as his kisses grew more urgent. Blood pounding through her and all of her senses arrested, she moved her palms from his chest to the solid curve of his shoulders, holding them tightly. Jake let go of her face and slid his hand down over her breast, massaging it for a long moment before moving it to her waist and then her hip. He pushed his body against hers and she felt his erection; adamant desire that drew the same need and desire from deep in her like a gravity pulling them both together.
She moaned softly as he moved himself against her, breathless and hungry. Jake grasped her hips tightly and lifted her, sitting her on the edge of her desk before reaching for the hem of her skirt and sliding his hands beneath the material, pushing it up and pulling her toward him.
Something in the back of her mind steeled her, and she opened her eyes wide and pulled her mouth from his almost in a panic. “No! Jake, we can’t do this!” she tried to speak without any breath.
He blinked at her and leaned forward to take her mouth with his again. “Yes we can.” He nearly groaned with need for her.
Lisa leaned backward and turned her head from his. “No… Jake… we can’t.” she said a little more clearly, but he pulled her body fully against his stiff desire for her, and she felt it hard and hot through the thin material covering her skin.
“Yes we can baby, I know you want this as much as I do. No one will catch us. It’s been two weeks! I need you, and I know you need me too. You can’t deny that you want this.” He pushed himself against her again and she gasped and clung tightly to his shoulders as she looked away from him.
“I do want it, but that doesn’t mean that we can do it! There’s too much at stake here! You have your competition, this is my work…” he pushed himself against her core again and kissed her neck hungrily, and she closed her eyes and exhaled heavily, trying to stifle the moan that escaped her. She did want him and he was nearly inside her already by that point, but she couldn’t stand down.
“Jake, please! Please don’t make me need you like this! This can’t happen here and now! In fact, it probably shouldn’t ever happen again!” She pushed her hands against his chest and he leaned back and looked directly at her.
“You’re serious?” he asked in amazement, his eyes widening as realization washed over him.
“I’m serious,” she said, scooting swiftly off the desk and standing upright before him. She tugged her skirt back down and ran her delicate fingers over her long black hair. “Jake, I do want that, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the right thing to do. We just can’t do it. Both of us have way too much at stake here. You have to focus on your fight and your training, I have to focus on my work and my fam- ….uh…. on other things, and there isn’t any way to compromise. There’s no middle ground for us. We’re here for each other as friends, but we can’t be lovers in the future, okay? I’m sorry.” She sighed and moved a few feet away from him.
He looked like he’d taken a gut check and he turned his eyes from her, placing his hands on his hips as he let a gush of air out, trying to calm his body. “You’re sorry.” He shook his head and bit his lower lip as he looked back up at her. “Okay. I do have to concentrate on the fight. I’ll let this go this time. You and I though… we are going to do this again. We both want each other and you can’t resist that. You can’t keep pushing it away.”
He walked over to her and lifted his hand to her chin, running his thumb over her lower lip gently. “Nothing feels as good as touching your body and being inside you. We’re not done with this. Not by a long shot. We both want it, and it’s going to happen again. Different time, different place, that’s a promise.”
With that, he turned and walked out of the room and she watched him go as her heart beat in her chest fiercely. She pulled her chair out and sank down into it, trying to catch her breath as she slid her hands over her face. He wasn’t wrong, she thought to herself. She did want him, and denying it was becoming more and more difficult.
Keeping away from him altogether might prove to be her undoing if she didn’t keep a better handle on it. She had seen the frustration on his face and she had heard it in his voice, and she knew that he was serious, and that there was no way he was going to let it go that easily. She knew he would bring it up again, and she was going to have to be much stronger the next time.
She packed up the things she needed and she drove herself to the competition. Lisa met up with Koichi and Masahiro and together they sat at near the edge of the fighting arena. Conversation between them was kept to nothing more than pleasantries and no word was spoken about the fight. Lisa knew that they were all hoping for Jake to win, and each of them had taken a considerable risk on Jake’s ability to be successful on the mat.
Several other fights finished before Jake and Corbin were called to their match. Lisa sat up a little more and locked her eyes on the two men as they both walked onto the mat. Jake searched the crowd for her, and when he saw the three of them sitting together watching him, he nodded. She saw him look for someone else, and when she turned her head to follow his gaze, she saw him nod at another young man who was sitting not too far from her. She wondered momentarily who the other young man was, but her
attention was turned back to the main floor as the match began.
Jake took his place and bowed, and saw that Corbin scoffed at him, bowing only slightly as he laughed and shook his head. The buzzer sounded, and Corbin moved toward him aggressively, holding Jake’s eyes with his own. Jake got the distinct impression that he was looking into the eyes of a lethal serpent who might strike out at him any time, and he knew that he had to be wary and be ready no matter what happened.
“You actually came to fight me…” Corbin chuckled in an undertone loud enough for Jake to hear. Jake shrugged and stared at his opponent as they began to circle one another.
“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” he retorted calmly. He told himself to be like water, and to focus.
Corbin shook his head. “Yeah, but I can already see that you’re going out of here on a stretcher. You’re no match for me, Jake… not even a little bit. This is your first competition ever… right? I’m a champion, Jake; you can’t beat me. It isn’t possible. They never should have brought you here.” He laughed again.
Jake said nothing, he only watched Corbin like a hawk. He knew that Corbin was trying to distract him, like so many other men he had fought on the street, and he knew that the best thing he could do was ignore it and concentrate on every movement that his opponent made.
There was silence between them, but it was only audible silence. Their eyes spoke volumes to each other. Each one of them promising a loss to the other. Corbin moved a little closer to Jake a few times, but made no attempt to strike at him, and Jake knew that he was gauging Jake’s reaction. Looking for a weakness; a soft spot, a way in. Just like Jake was.
“I saw you brought the whole tribe with you. Those two old men are a joke, and if you had any real experience at all, you’d know that already, but… like I said, you’re brand new. You know nothing.” He took in everything about Jake as he said it, and Jake knew that Corbin was still searching for a button to push. He didn’t react at all to Corbin.
Brooklyn's Baddest: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance Page 10
