Fight for Me

by Bethany Bazile

  “Why’d you order for me?” Alexis frowned.

  “What?”

  “You can’t just presume to know what I want. You don’t know me anymore.”

  “You love burgers.”

  “Not anymore.” She crossed her arms over her chest. I narrowed my eyes and leaned my elbows on the table.

  “Are you the same girl who used to make her mother drive her to a different burger joint every Friday because you ‘just had to experience all the burgers of the world?’” I mocked her tone.

  She didn’t like it. Her frown deepened. “I’ve grown up.”

  “You have,” I agreed, leaning back in my booth, then letting my gaze travel to the deep V cut of her dress to admire the creamy swell of her breasts.

  “What about my car?” She crossed her arms over her chest to take my attention off them.

  “We’ll pick it up on the way back from your house, and you can park it in my garage.” She’d left her car at the club, so I guessed we’d have to make a stop and pick it up.

  Our food arrived quickly. She looked down at her burger and mountain of fries and then glanced over at my grilled chicken on wheat bread and frowned at me.

  “You convinced me to order the most fattening food on the menu and then get that?” She pointed at my plate like I was conspiring against her.

  “I have a fight in two weeks. Strict diet.” I shrugged, then bit into my sandwich.

  “You’ve been fighting for a long time.” It wasn’t a question. She knew I’d been fighting since before we ever met. She picked up a fry, dunked it in the puddle of ketchup she’d made, and then bit into it.

  “Feels like my entire life. My dad—I mean David started taking me to the gym when I was about five. Fighting has always been my life.”

  “So you eat, sleep, and breathe the fighter life. You even live over the gym.”

  “Living over the gym wasn’t supposed to be long term. When I was training for my first championship, I was practically living there. I asked Uncle Drew if I could stay in the studio over the gym, and he thought it was a good idea. It kept me dedicated to my training and my head on the upcoming fight.”

  “It’s a nice place. I’m sure it was no hardship on your part.”

  I laughed when I thought of what the place used to be. “Trust me, back when I first moved in, it was an old, extremely cold warehouse storage unit. I converted it a few years ago to what you see now. Besides, living over the gym allowed me to spend more time with Drew before he passed.”

  She looked up from her plate and gave me a sympathetic glance. “I’m sorry about Drew. I met him a couple of times, and he was a really nice guy.” She smiled, maybe at a memory. “Funny, too.”

  “You met Drew?” I leaned my elbows on the table. I was really interested in finding out when and how she met my uncle.

  “Yes, he came by to see David a few times, and Mom talked him into staying for dinner.”

  “Really?” I was surprised Drew kept his visits a secret from me. As my hatred for David manifested, Drew never tried to plead a case for his brother. As far as I knew, David was cut off from the family.

  Alexis continued to eat and didn’t ask any more questions. I was glad because I was too busy trying to figure out why Drew kept his visits and the fact that David was part owner of the gym a secret.

  “Did you enjoy your burger?” I dropped a fifty-dollar bill on the table before we headed for the exit.

  She smiled sheepishly. “I almost forgot how much I loved them.”

  “Well, that’s what I’m here for.” I threw my arm over her shoulder as we walked back to my place.

  “What?” She tilted her head to look up at me.

  “To remind you of everything you used to love.”

  She tried to hide her smile, but I saw it in her eyes as we entered the gym. In the garage, she paused before getting into the car, studying it with a curious gaze. She glanced up at me over the roof and asked, “Is this the same car you had when you were seventeen?”

  I smiled and nodded my head. She glanced back at the car and narrowed her eyes. “I remember it being a lot more beat up than this.”

  “Hey, she was never beat up. She’s a ‘69 Camaro. She just needed someone to love her and make her pretty.”

  She gave me a comical look and laughed. “It was a piece of shit that was too precious for me to ride in.”

  “Oh, I get it. You’re still angry I wouldn’t let you come along for a ride.”

  She shook her head, rolled her eyes, and pulled open the door. She got in and I followed, shutting the doors at the same time. I glanced at her, and she stared straight ahead, crossing her arms over her chest. “Looks like I get to have that ride after all.”

  “Lexi, that was eight years ago. You were fifteen and had no business going to the places I hung out at.”

  She turned and stared at me incredulously. “You let Alec go with you, and we were the same age.”

  I turned the key in the ignition, hit the button for the garage door, and started to back out. “You’re a girl—Alec was a boy.”

  I glanced at her as I put the car in drive. Her eyes were narrowed, her fingers tapping angrily against her arms. She was getting annoyed with me. “Double standard much?”

  “No, it wasn’t a double standard because there were plenty of chicks around us, but you were different.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?” She was bordering on angry now, and I wasn’t in the mood to spar with her.

  What I meant was that she was too sexy and even more naïve. She wasn’t aware of how she turned me inside out. I wasn’t going to spend my nights fighting off guys because she had the same effect on them. Alec and I had become like brothers, we hung out a lot, but I never saw Lexi as a friend or a sister. She was a threat from day one, and I kept her at bay by pushing her away.

  She realized I wasn’t going to answer her question so she huffed and turned away. It was silent in the car for a while before she spoke again. “Didn’t David give you this car?”

  And now… she wanted to piss me off.

  I gave her a sideways glance, ran a finger over my lip in agitation, and turned back to the road.

  I saw her turn my way in my peripheral vision but continued to ignore her. “Huh? I find it coincidental that your most precious possession was given to you by—”

  “Lexi,” I barked, cutting her off. “You don’t want to take this any further.” I turned my irritated gaze at her, and she hesitated for a few seconds but finally gave in, so I turned back to the road.

  The car was my grandfather’s before it was ever David’s. I loved it since I was about eight. David did give it to me, but I didn’t need Lexi to try to dig some deeper meaning into the fact that I loved this car. I put a lot of work into it, changed it, and made it mine. I didn’t even see David anymore when I look at this car, but Lexi was trying to throw him back into the equation.

  We drove the rest of the way in silence. I wouldn’t call the neighborhood I lived in seedy, but the difference was apparent as we left it behind for the Northern California beach community where Alexis lived.

  The drive took thirty minutes. I pulled into the long, wraparound driveway in front of the modern stucco mansion. This was the second time this week I’d pulled up to the house I vowed to stay away from years ago.

  “Give me five minutes.” She jumped out of the car and ran up the short staircase. I was glad she didn’t invite me in because I didn’t want to go back in there.

  I glanced back at the house and grimaced at the memory it brought back. At first, the place was like a second home to me. I didn’t understand back then what David’s relationship with the pretty, red-headed widow was. He explained they were old friends from college, and I bought it. That was until two years later when I found out the truth.

  It had been hard. I’d spent two years hanging out with Alec and Alexis, and then I had to cut them off. The day I found David pressed intimately against Vanessa, hours after he�
��d left my mother’s bed, had been shocking. On the ride back home, I told him he needed to tell Mom or I would. At seventeen, I knew how fucked up the whole thing was, but I wasn’t prepared for David to walk out on us.

  The first couple of weeks after David left my mother were horrible. Mom refused to take anything from David, and even though she made a good living as a nurse, we couldn’t afford to maintain the lifestyle we had. We moved from our bungalow into a small apartment. She thought the move would wipe David’s memory from our lives, but that was easier said than done. She made me promise to stay away from the Coles, and I did.

  There were nights when she’d get depressed. In the morning, she’d try to cover up her puffy eyes from a night of crying with makeup. One night, five weeks after David left, I walked in on her curled up on the bathroom floor, crying. She let me console her for a few minutes, but then she got really angry. Maybe she was angry because I’d seen her at her lowest point. She decided she wanted to confront David. She tried to get me to stay behind, but there was no way I’d let her leave alone when she was so distraught.

  That night, I waited at the bottom of the stairs of this house as Mom rang the bell, tapping her foot impatiently. When David opened the door, I saw the panic in his eyes even from where I stood. He stepped out of the house, quietly pulling the door shut behind him. He was trying to keep his new life separate from the old one by shutting that wooden barrier.

  “What are you doing here, Julia?” His voice was whisper soft, as not to alert anyone on the other side of our presence. He was treating us like we were being outrageous and out of line, when he was the one who had betrayed us. It pissed me off how he seemed ashamed of us. The same man who had taken care of me when I was sick, taught me to throw my first punch. He’d cheered me on, standing ringside like he had everything he needed in life. It seemed that man was a lie. He’d brought me to this house many times under false pretenses, and I never saw through his guise.

  “I want to talk to her,” my mother seethed.

  “No, no, no.” David grabbed Mom’s arm and led her down the stairway. He stopped in front of me and tried to hand her off like she never meant anything to him. “Take your mother home, Ry.”

  He looked me in the eye, and I saw it. There was pure panic in them. He’d do anything to get rid of us and not disrupt his new family.

  “Please, Ry. This isn’t a good time. Take her home.”

  “Fuck you.” The words sounded ragged between my gritted teeth. It took everything in me not to throw my fist and level him. Even at seventeen, I knew I could’ve taken him, but I couldn’t bring myself to strike the man who once was the most important person in my life. I never broke eye contact, so I noticed when he flinched as if my words burned.

  “Ryder.” He began, but I never let him finish telling me more excuses.

  “No. Fuck you and your new family. You think you can just drive up onto this fancy hill and forget about the people you left behind. You were never the man I thought you were.”

  I took Mom’s hand and pulled her back toward the car, despite her hollering for Vanessa to come out. I put Mom in the passenger side and took her keys.

  David watched us with his hands in his pockets and a forlorn look on his face. As I pulled around the circular driveway, I saw Vanessa step out the door. She put her hand on David’s arm, and he looked over his shoulder at her. Right before I turned out of the driveway, I saw them in the rearview mirror. She pulled him into a hug, trying to relieve him of the pain we apparently caused.

  The backdoor to my car opened, pulling me back from a time long ago. Alexis threw a fancy overnight bag into the back seat, then joined me in front. She changed into a tight pair of jeans and an oversized sweatshirt that still managed to accentuate her curves. Her hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail, and she applied something to her lips that made them look plump and pink. I wanted to grab her by the back of her head and press those lips to mine.

  She turned her head toward me and smiled like she knew what I was thinking. I didn’t really give a fuck if she knew or not, just as long as her mind was on the same path.

  “Are you going to sit there and stare at me all day?”

  I stared at her a little longer, and she rolled her eyes and pulled on a pair of sunglasses. I turned the car on and pulled out of the driveway.

  Chapter Twelve

  Alexis

  Ryder turned into the parking lot of the bar.

  “Holy shit.” I breathed the words as my heart clenched. My car was the only one left there. Well… what was left of it.

  There was glass everywhere. Whoever did this didn’t even leave an unbroken window or mirror. Red spray paint tainted the flawless pearl varnish of my sporty little Audi R8. My mom had bought it for me on my twenty-first birthday when my dad’s inheritance became mine but still insisted I let her manage it. The car was worth more than some people’s houses, and I nearly died from the sight of its injuries.

  I was such a dumbass. Who leaves a luxury car overnight in a bar parking lot? Granted, the bar was upscale and not far from my gated community, but still, I was feeling pretty moronic at the moment. Not to mention heartbroken.

  “Who would do this?” The question was more of an outspoken inner thought, but Ryder chimed in anyway.

  “Maybe it was that asshole who got in my face last night.”

  “Logan?” I looked at the car and back at Ryder. “No, Logan wouldn’t do this. He knows how much I love that car. He wouldn’t hurt me like this.”

  He shrugged as if he didn’t believe me, but I was sure. Logan wouldn’t do this.

  “We have to call the police,” he said, finally opening his door and stepping out. I followed, but I only got more depressed the closer I got to the car. It was going to be a long day.

  ~*~*~

  After the car incident, filing a report with the cops, and a trip to the garage to see what they could do for my car, I was exhausted. Despite being drained, I couldn’t sleep. Ryder agreed there was no reason we couldn’t sleep in the same bed, but I’d have to behave. Just like when we were kids, Ryder was always interested in every girl but me. When he pulled off his shirt, enticing me with all his inked-out muscles, I was shamelessly tempted to break my promise and make him want me.

  Trying to sleep next to him spiked my arousal and managed to evoke a really hot Ryder-induced dream. In the dream, I was exploring his impressive erection. I was stroking him in my hands as he moaned and pleaded for more. I woke up and realized my hand was inappropriately close to that part of him. He was wearing gray boxer briefs, but his shape was perfectly outlined through the clingy fabric. My palm was settled on his thigh, fingers brushing against the steely length of him. I glanced at him and thanked God he was still asleep.

  Since I was already practically groping him, I just threw propriety to the wind. I mean, I’d waited ten years to touch him intimately. I couldn’t stop myself if I wanted to. I may never have another chance to touch him this way. I moved my fingers over the cotton material of his boxer briefs. His morning wood was hard and warm beneath my fingers. It twitched as I carefully glided my fingers down it and over the plump tip. My temperature was getting elevated, my breathing uneven. I was nearly salivating by the time I ran my thumb over the head.

  Wait.

  Oh my God.

  My thumb rolled over the two small, round pieces jutting out of the head. I went over it again to make sure I wasn’t in some kind of fantasy, but that only confirmed it.

  He’s pierced.

  I circled the unmistakable barbell through the hard tip, then glanced back up at him. This time he was looking straight into my eyes with a lazy, hungry gaze.

  “What is this?” I asked stupidly. As if molesting him while he slept was no big deal.

  “If you don’t know what that is, then you shouldn’t have your hand wrapped around it.”

  “Not that. Is it pierced?” I whispered it like some great hidden secret.

  He chuckled at me, a de
ep throaty, sexy laugh.

  “Why would you do that?”

  “If you ever get your way, you’ll find out.”

  “My way?”

  “You’ve always had a way of getting what you want. With all those looks you were giving me yesterday, you want me. But this is not a good idea, Lexi.”

  “I wasn’t giving you looks, and I don’t want you.”

  “Yeah?” He lifted a brow and looked down at my hand. “Then why is your hand still on my dick?”

  I pulled my hand away but continued to stare at it. I’d heard of guys piercing themselves but never imagined I’d see one.

  “How do you fight with… that?”

  “I don’t. I take it out and switch it out with a smaller one afterward.” He shifted uncomfortably and lifted an eyebrow when he noticed my gaze still locked on that part of him.

  “Can I see it? I mean… I just want to—”

  “Fuck no!” He pulled on the edge on his briefs and said, “This is the only barrier I have between us, and I’m thinking I should keep it.”

  “Come on. I’ve never seen one.”

  “If you’ve never seen a dick, then you don’t want to see this one. Might scare you off.” He winked and smiled.

  “Very funny. I’ve never seen a pierced one.”

  His hands were behind his head, his legs crossed. He was splayed out, looking incredibly sexy and smirking at me. “It’s called an apadravya. If you look online, you’ll see plenty examples.”

  “Please….” I pouted.

  “There it goes. You haven’t changed after all.”

  “What?”

  “You’re pouting and trying to get your way. If I let you see my dick, then you’ll want to touch it, and then you’ll want to put your mouth on it, and how the fuck am I supposed to say no to that?”

  “Ryder.” I pushed my body closer to his, and he tensed, not looking so sure anymore.

  “We’re not doing this, Alexis.”