Rebel: A MMA Sports Romance

by Ashley Blake

  After dinner Sophie and I went back to our room to take a nap and shower before meeting the guys later at the hotel bar. We literally fell into our beds and were out cold for a couple of hours. I woke up around 9:30 and stared at the ceiling, thinking about Lucas. His hand on my back felt so good, so natural, and it pissed me off that I was so attracted to him. As much as I was enjoying myself with Sophie, and as much as I loved the warm weather, I couldn’t wait to get back to Chicago so that I could get away from Lucas. At least there I didn’t have to run into him every second of the day. Sophie stirred and a minute later looked over at me.

  “How long have you been awake?”

  “Just a few minutes.”

  She propped herself up on her elbow and I saw the familiar sparkle in her eyes.

  “I couldn’t say anything around the guys, but Lucas is beyond, Kinsley! I don’t know how you can stand to be in the same room with him without attacking him!”

  I rolled my eyes and tried to downplay the whole thing. “Oh please, he’s not all that, Sophie. He is so full of himself it’s disgusting. Plus he goes through women like a steamroller, not giving a shit about who he leaves behind. Really, he’s an asshole.”

  She raised her eyebrows and looked genuinely shocked.

  “Wow Kinsley, how do you really feel?”

  “What? The guy is a self-entitled jerk, Sophie. I can’t believe he is here on my vacation. I can’t wait to get back home.”

  She sat up when I said that and was clearly annoyed.

  “Kinsley, are you serious? We are in paradise and we have been looking forward to this trip forever. You can’t let a guy ruin your trip, I don’t care who he is. You need to get it together.”

  I looked at her and realized she was right. I was letting Lucas steal my fun and I was pretty sure he wasn’t even thinking twice about me. I shouldn’t let a guy ruin the trip that we had been so looking forward to. I gave her a stern look.

  “We can’t go to his fight Thursday night, Sophie. I don’t want to be around him at all.”

  She started to protest with a huge pout on her face. “We can’t just sit in the back of the room or something? He won’t even know you’re there.”

  “No, we can’t. I really don’t want to know he’s here, okay? I want to enjoy the rest of our trip and that means no Lucas. I’m serious, Sophie, I can’t go to the fight. You go if you want, but I don’t want to hear anything about it.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t go without you, so I guess we’re not going.”

  “Good, we’ll have fun doing other stuff.” I glanced at my phone and saw that Eric had texted me. “The guys will meet us downstairs at the bar in 30 minutes so we better get ready.”

  I was happy that Sophie didn’t press me on going to see Lucas fight. I really did not want to deal with him in any way. I wished he had never shown up, but I would just have to just pretend that he wasn’t there for the rest of my trip. I would soon find out that was easier said than done.

  Chapter Ten - Lucas

  I looked for Kinsley everywhere that evening but she was nowhere to be found. Zach was off with the bimbo he had met earlier so I was flying solo. I went to the hotel bar around 10:00 and got a sparkling water and decided to check out the chicks. I wanted to find someone to keep me entertained for the evening. The selection was okay, I’d seen a lot better, but they were good enough for what I needed that night. I saw two brunettes eyeing me and decided to raise my glass to them so they would come over. They both had decent looking tits so I figured I could chat them up for a bit.

  “Hey Lucas, we can’t wait to see you fight on Thursday.”

  “Yeah, we flew here just to see you fight. Are you flying back home after the fight or do you have to fly somewhere else for another fight?”

  It was nice to have fans. “Going back home to train to get ready for the next one.”

  I got bored with them pretty quickly so I decided to call it a night after I offered them free tickets to the fight. It always helped to have the room packed with chicks. Wherever there were women, men were sure to follow and spend some serious dough.

  As I made my way to the elevator, I saw Kinsley and her friend with the two idiots they were hanging out with earlier that day. My first instinct was to go grab her away from him, but she would probably cause a scene and I was not in the mood. Even though she acted like she could barely stand me, I knew I saw a flicker of something in her eyes. At least acting like she was annoyed every time she saw me was better than showing complete indifference to me.

  It showed me that at least, on some level, she cared. I was going to figure out a way to get some alone time with her before the week was over.

  The next morning I was up with the sun and did a few hundred sit-ups, push-ups and chin-ups and I was warmed up and ready to head out. I went to the restaurant and grabbed a quick breakfast of a half dozen raw eggs and a blueberry energy drink. I took a walk on the beach to clear my head so I could get ready to be ready for my fight. Kinsley popped into my head but I pushed her out, forcing myself to think about nothing but my days of training ahead. I had not lost a fight in over two years and I wasn’t going to allow her to break my focus and make me lose that one.

  I ran over to the gym Zach found, did an hour of cardio and Zach showed up just as I finished. I took a break for an hour and we went over a future schedule that Zach was trying to put together for me and talked about details of another big fight that he wanted me to be in. When we were done we went outside and walked a few laps around the building to keep the blood moving and then we went back inside to spar.

  After about 10 minutes I could tell that Zach was frustrated with me.

  “Let’s take five.”

  He took off his gloves and scowled at me.

  “What the hell, Lucas?”

  I looked down at the ground, and knew why he was pissed, but I didn’t want to get into it.

  “Lucas! Eyes here!”

  He pointed at his eyes and I reluctantly raised mine to his.

  “What the fuck is wrong is wrong with you today? The fight is in four days! Are you a winner? Are you going to win this one or are you going to be a bitch and hand the win over to Lopez?”

  When Zach raised his voice at me I knew he wasn’t playing around, and he was right. I was completely off my game. All I could think about was Kinsley and it was messing with my head. I thought I was ready to go after my workout that morning but she kept jumping into my thoughts. I couldn’t shake the sight of that prick she was with rubbing her back the night before at the bar.

  “Whatever has you blocked you need to clear it away right now. Take whatever it is and use it to make you better in the ring. Don’t let it cripple you, man. You’re better than what I am seeing today and I want to see the Lucas I know can fight in this ring. Are we clear?”

  “Yeah, dude. Give me a minute.”

  I jumped out of the ring, took off my gloves and went to the bathroom to splash water on my face. I stared at my reflection as the water trickled down my face and closed my eyes when Kinsley floated into my thoughts. I had to focus so I decided to play that scene of that guy running his hand down her back over and over in my mind until I felt like I was going to burst. I wiped off my face and went back out there ready to go.

  My first swing nearly knocked Zach off of his feet.

  “There you go!”

  My next swing did the same thing and he gave me a huge grin.

  “That’s what I’m talking about!”

  I imagined the guy’s face and I pummeled Zach’s hands and knocked him down with a swift kick. Zach was lying on the ground, breathing hard, with a huge grin on his face. I reached out to help him and he jumped up and gave me a friendly shove.

  “My boy is back! You’re gonna kick this guy’s ass on Thursday, dude!”

  We sparred for another hour and then took a break to eat. We didn’t go too hard that day, we never did right before a fight, but Zach did help me perfect a few of my kicks. I did som
e strength training on my own for a bit, then hit the showers and went to sit in a tub of ice. I was at the gym until about 8:00 that night and felt pretty good. In every fight, my objective was to get out with as little of my own blood shed as possible and for the past year I had done just that. I was really making a name for myself in the MMA world and it felt good.

  We grabbed a late dinner and then Zach went to meet up with his chick while I went to the beach to relax. I sat on the sand with a sparkling water in my hand watching the waves crash onto the shore, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath of the fresh ocean air. I felt good about my workout that day and felt like all of my distractions had melted away. I sat there with my eyes closed and felt myself relax as the warm night air washed over me, and then a girl yelling ‘No!’ made my eyes fly open. Kinsley.

  Chapter Eleven – Kinsley

  When I saw Lucas sitting at the bar with the two skanky chicks the night before, I knew exactly what he was thinking of doing with them. I don’t know why it pissed me off, but it did and it made me despise him even more. Sophie and I hung out with Eric and Paul that night and I did my best to push Lucas out of my head. I liked Eric okay and he was fun and no pressure while on Spring Break, but I definitely didn’t see it going anywhere beyond Mexico. Sophie was a different story because she was head over heels for Paul. I made her promise that the next day would just be the two of us. Eric was okay but he was always around and I didn’t have a chance to meet any other guys with him attached to my hip.

  The next day, she and I went to explore Cabo and saw the beautiful rock formations, a really cool desert oasis and we checked out a different beach. I was ready for some fresh meat and that is exactly what we found at the new beach. I met the hottest guy, Andrew, and Sophie was chatting with his friend Chad but I could tell that she wasn’t into him. She was all about Paul but she humored Chad because she could see that I liked Andrew.

  We grabbed dinner with them around 6:00 and then we made plans to meet them at a bar later that night. They were staying at a hotel that was a couple of blocks over from ours so we planned to meet them at our hotel at 9:15 and then walk over to the bar together. I knew that Sophie wasn’t thrilled with that but I had put up with Eric for her for two days and it was my turn to have fun. We went back to our hotel to shower and change and told the guys we would see them later.

  Sophie practically made a beeline for Paul after she showered and she promised to meet me back in our room at 9:00. I decided to take a little nap and the second my head hit the pillow I heard a knock at my door. A deep sigh escaped my lips and I dragged my exhausted body from the bed.

  “Who is it?”

  “Eric.”

  Ugh. Seriously?

  I opened the door and Eric stood there smiling at me and he was the last person I wanted to see.

  “What’s up?” I tried not to look as annoyed as I felt.

  “I haven’t seen you all day. Come take a walk with me on the beach.”

  “I’m really tired and I was just going to take a nap, Eric.”

  “Oh come on, it’s early and you’re on vacation.”

  “I’ll take a rain check, okay?”

  “How about we go for a quick walk on the beach and then you can come back and turn in early. I promise we won’t be long. It’s such a gorgeous night and we have such a short time here, I just want to soak up every minute.”

  He looked so desperate I felt awful turning him down so I agreed to go for a quick walk.

  We strolled along the beach, the warm wind rustling my hair and Eric was going on about his day and I was barely listening. I couldn’t wait to get back to my room to relax for a bit before heading out with Sophie to meet Andrew and Chad.

  “So, where did you guys go today?”

  “We went to see some really cool spots and then tried out a new beach.” I didn’t feel like going into more detail than that.

  “Oh yeah? With the way you two girls look I’m sure you had to beat the guys off with sticks, huh?”

  I think he was trying to sound light-hearted but I definitely could hear some tension in his voice. Where is that coming from? I barely know the guy. I decided not to even answer him and I changed the subject.

  “So, did you and Paul have a good day?”

  “Ah, not answering the question. Okay, that’s fine. Yeah, we had a good day today, but I missed you Kinsley.”

  Say what? I mean he was nice enough but I had basically already moved on to another guy. So if I didn’t see Eric again the entire trip that would be just fine with me.

  “You don’t know me well enough to miss me, Eric.”

  He stopped and turned toward me, causing me to stop too.

  “I know enough to know that I really like you, Kinsley.” He gently rubbed up and down on my arms and I slowly took a step away from him.

  “Look Eric, I think we might be on different pages. I’ve had fun with you the past couple of days but I am not looking for anything serious. We should probably go back to the hotel. I am supposed to meet Sophie in about a half hour.”

  I took a step forward and he blocked me. I actually felt a little bit uncomfortable as I realized we were completely alone on the beach.

  “You don’t have to be back for 30 minutes. Let me show you what you’re missing with me.”

  Before I could stop him, he grabbed my face and planted a hard kiss on my lips. I struggled to push him away and managed to tear my lips from his.

  “No!”

  He grabbed me and pulled me against him, holding tight as I struggled again to push him off of me. “Oh come, Kinsley, we’re on Spring Break. Who are you saving it for?”

  Before I could answer him, a guy stepped in and pulled Eric off of me with one hand.

  “Didn’t you ever learn that when a woman say no she means it?!”

  A huge wave of relief washed over me as I looked up to see Lucas glowering at Eric, his hands balled up in tight fists. Since MMA was Lucas’s career, his hands were considered lethal weapons and I was afraid that he was going to hit Eric. As much as I couldn’t stand him, I didn’t want him to go to jail over me so I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. His arm felt like solid rock and it made me wonder what the rest of him felt like. My mind almost went to a deliciously naughty place but I could see that Lucas was on about 9 ½ just waiting for a reason to go to 10, and I needed to diffuse the situation.

  “Lucas, it’s not a big deal.”

  He looked at me, his eyes wild with anger.

  “Yes, it is. I heard you scream no and this motherfucker doesn’t seem to know what that means!”

  Eric looked surprised at first and then he looked pissed.

  “Dude, what’s your problem?”

  Lucas snatched his arm from my grasp and went nose to nose with Eric, even though Lucas towered over him by a few inches.

  “You’re my problem! You need to go.” His voice was firm and I could hear the anger boiling.

  Lucas was almost twice Eric’s size but I think Eric felt he had something to prove.

  “Dude, you need to mind your own business. This is between me and Kinsley.”

  Lucas looked like he was beginning to shake with anger and then he grabbed Eric by the throat and got in his face.

  “Kinsley is my business! You can leave in one of two ways: either by yourself or on a stretcher. Your choice.”

  He then released his grip and Eric grabbed his throat as he bent over and had a coughing fit.

  “I’m out of here. This bitch isn’t worth this.”

  Before Eric could take a step, Lucas swiftly reached out and grabbed the back of his neck and led him around in semi-circles like a dog.

  “What the fuck did you just call her?”

  “Dude, chill! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it!”

  “Get out of here!” Lucas shoved Eric causing him to stumble and fall in the sand before getting up and running off like the scared little bitch that he was.

  He turned to me and we both stood there, se
arching each other’s eyes, trying to understand what had just happened.

  He looked worried as he gently grabbed my arms, his eyes crawling over my face and body.

  “Are you okay?”

  I looked down at the sand. “Yes, I’m alright.” My voice was soft as I realized what could have happened if Lucas had not shown up when he did. I raised my eyes to his, my feelings of disgust toward him slowly melting away.