I tried to walk around the car and get away from him, but he was fast. He pushed the door shut as I attempted to open it. “Can we talk?”
I didn’t turn around because I knew he’d convince me with one look into his eyes. I shook my head. He sighed, held my arm, and spun me around.
And there it went. My resistance crumbled to pieces.
“Lexi, I know I promised not to hurt you, but I messed up—I’m sorry. But I need you to know this was never about the gym. Running into you at the club was coincidental, and everything that happened after that was fate.”
“I know that. I came down here thinking maybe I’d overreacted. Maybe I only believed it because I was too afraid to believe in us. But I’m even more confused now. It took about ten minutes for you to move on.”
“It wasn’t like that.” He stepped back, running both hands through his hair. “You wouldn’t talk to me, and I read this letter from my uncle that had me feeling… overwhelmed. I was drinking and then I went to talk to Leah to get her to back off. She kissed me. It was a goodbye kiss. I felt guilty and kissed her back. I’m sorry I hurt you, but you have to know it meant nothing.”
He buried his hands in my hair, both thumbs caressing my temples. I felt the motion awakening every cell in my body. “You stole my heart when you were thirteen, and you never gave it back. Leah got a raw deal. She tried to win something that was never mine to give away.” He leaned in and kissed my nape. I tried to cover my shiver, but he felt it. The hairs at the back of my neck stood. He was bombarding me with his sensual energy.
“You can’t just take my heart and leave. What am I supposed to do without it?”
The words out of his mouth sounded magical, but I didn’t want to believe in fairytales. It was so much harder to handle real life when you built your hopes on fantasies. I pushed on his chest and he relented, giving me a few inches of space.
“Just give me time to think.”
He nodded, looking worried. “Will you still come see me fight tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” I’d been looking forward to seeing Ryder fight in person for so long, and I didn’t want to miss it even if I was still a little angry with him. But showing up with Jacob…
Ryder was going to be pissed. Oh well, he deserved it.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ryder
I climbed into the cage and glanced over to where Lexi was seated. She showed up and sat in an entirely different seat than the one I’d reserved for her, but I was glad she was here. I tried to loosen up, as the fight was about to begin, but I was too anxious to talk to her. I noticed someone slip into the spot next to her and nearly doubled over.
What the fuck? She’s sitting with Jacob?
Since when were they buddies? I swear I’m going to pound that little fucker so hard he’ll stay away from Alexis for good.
Jacob fought over an hour ago and got pinned by the fighter I was facing. He was obviously taking losing to his advantage by cozying up to Lexi. He stayed clear of me the day before at the gym, and I thought it was wise to leave the kid alone because I was more irritated with myself than him. I didn’t want that anger to come down on him, but I wished I had taken his ass into the cage.
The bell dinged, and I was immediately hit with a solid uppercut. She was messing with my head and my fight. My concentration was fucked.
Focus, Hawk.
I knew I’d messed up. I let Leah steer me into a situation that risked everything I’d built with Lexi. But her sitting there, at my fight, with Jacob was uncalled for. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe he randomly sat next to her and she was telling him to fuck off. I glanced her way again as she smiled at him. He leaned in closer as he spoke to her. I felt my anger rising. The burn started in my chest and blew up into a rage I’d never experienced before.
A strong fist hit me right under the eye, followed by three jabs to my ribs.
Shit, that hurt. I was off my game. I was never off.
Focus, Hawk.
I shook it off, bouncing to my left as we circled the cage. He diverted my right-handed lunge but ran straight into my left hook. I hit him once, twice, and he stumbled, then caught his balance.
I should’ve dropped this fucker already.
The crowd chanted, “Hawk! Hawk!” My eyes shifted from my opponent straight to Alexis. She was the only person in the room not watching the fight. She placed a hand on Jacob’s thigh and whispered in his ear. It was way too intimate. My chest tightened. A powerful fist slammed into my face. I stumbled as blood trickled from the gash on my eyebrow. There was a shocked silence from the crowd as he came at me with killer force, striking with two heavy blows to my head.
We grappled. I took another hit to my bruised ribs. Fuck this, and fuck her. She was going to get me killed in here. I slammed my knee into his gut. His hold on me loosened. I smashed my fist repeatedly into his face and head, imagining he was Jacob. Yeah, that’s working.
He tried to sweep my leg from under me but failed. He took one step back. I nailed him with a blow to the nose then a sharp kick to the head. He dropped instantly. He was woozy, but I went in to finish him off with rapid punches to the head. It was over once I got him on the ground, and there was no coming back. The ref dragged me off of him and called the win by knockout.
The crowd exploded, but I was only focused on Alexis. She was finally looking my way, a small smile playing at her lips as she stared at me in awe. I jumped out of the cage, and she narrowed her eyes when she saw me storming toward her, the fury evident in my sharp gaze. Ty tried to pull me quickly down the aisle, but not before I clasped onto Alexis’s arm as we made our way past her seat. She tried to pull away, but I shot her one hard glare, and she stopped fighting, following me through the double doors, down the hall, and into my locker room.
Alexis scurried to the other side of the room as Ty brought someone in to stitch my cut. She stood against the wall, looking down at her hands while stealthily glancing my way. I barely looked away from her, my anger simmering as I ignored the sting from the stitches. The room was pumped up with adrenaline as Ty and the rest of my team celebrated my victory, reenacting the knockout. I couldn’t get into all the hype and excitement when all I wanted to do was empty the room and get Alexis alone.
“Leave,” I commanded as soon as the stitches were done. Everyone stopped laughing and joking around, but nobody moved. “Get the fuck out!”
The room cleared instantly. The tension intensified. She worried her lip, studying something on the floor.
“What the fuck did you think you were doing out there?”
“Nothing,” she mumbled. Still no eye contact.
“Nothing?” I got up from the bench and approached her. “You want to hurt me, right?” She shook her head. “Yeah, you want to fuck with me until I lose it.” She was denying it, but I knew she wanted to hurt me. I wanted to hurt myself for making her doubt me. “Does he know you’re mine?”
“Do you?” She raised an eyebrow.
I looked up into her eyes. “I apologized. What do you want me to do to get you back? Because I’ll do it. You come here and purposely fuck with my head and almost cost me that fight.”
“Ryder, nothing’s going on between Jacob and me. You need to focus when you’re out there or your next opponent will bash your face in.”
“Would that make you feel better? I didn’t even realize you watched the fight at all. You seemed busy.” The accusation in my tone caused her to roll her eyes.
“I watched. And no, that’s not what I want.” She stepped back, glaring at me as her back hit the wall.
“I’ve explained to you what happened, I’ve apologized, but you still want me to pay. Maybe if I let someone pound my face, it will be enough punishment for you.”
She stepped forward, putting a hand on either side of my face. “I don’t want to hurt you. It’s not easy for me to trust men, and I want to trust you, but…” She sighed, then looked down. “You hurt me,” she said softly.
Her words tu
gged at my heart. I leaned my forehead against hers. “I’m sorry, baby.” I kissed her gently. I put a hand behind her neck, pulling her closer, a bit roughly, and forcing her to look up at me.
“You’re mine. Mine.” I challenged her with my eyes to deny it. “You want time to be pissed at me? I’ll give it to you. You want to yell and scream at me? Do it. Shit, if you want, I’ll let you take me in the cage.” She chuckled but quickly wiped the humor off her face when she saw how serious I was.
“But don’t think because I made a mistake that I’ll let someone take you from me. I fucked up, but I waited too damn long to have you to lose you over a kiss that meant nothing.” I moved in closer, pushing her back into the wall and pressing my body to hers. “It. Meant. Nothing. This here…” I kissed her again. “It means everything to me.” She whimpered between kisses. “These lips are mine.” I tipped her head up, licking a path from under her chin to her ear. She moaned. “That sound you make belongs to me. Do it again.”
I sucked and licked her smooth skin. She moaned louder. I dragged my hand down her sides, over her hips, then up her short skirt. I caressed the soft skin of her thighs, gently spreading them apart. I pressed my palm against her panties. She gasped at first contact, her breathing ragged, nails digging into my shoulders.
“This pussy is mine.” She shivered and groaned, either from the intimate words or the way I was teasing her swollen clit over the thin material. I pushed her panties aside, running two fingers over her wet heat.
“Is it mine, Alexis?” She turned her head away from me, taking a sharp intake of air when I plunged my finger into her tight hole.
“Is it mine?”
She nodded frantically. “Oh God… it’s yours—yours.” Her hip rocked against my hand. Her soft, wet flesh was making me delirious. I wanted in, and I knew I’d beat the life out of anyone who touched this piece of my paradise. I rolled my thumb over that little bud, and she began trembling and pleading.
“Please… Ohh, please, Ryder.”
“Please, what?” We gazed at each other under eyelids heavy with lust. She pulled my shorts down, glancing down as my dick jutted out, hard and angry it had been confined so long.
“Remind me why it’s yours.” Her eyes were pleading with me, her lips pouty. Fuck, that shit was making my dick harder. She wrapped a leg around my waist, rubbing her wet pussy against me. A growl started deep in my chest and burst free. I tore her panties away, aimed, and thrust into her fast and hard.
She pushed her head back against the wall; her neck strained as she choked on a gasp and stared up at the ceiling in shocked silence. I froze, hoping like hell I hadn’t hurt her.
“Are you okay?” I managed to ask despite the shockwaves of pleasure running up my spine, crippling my voice.
“Don’t. Stop.” From her stunted speech, I assumed she was experiencing the same level of pleasure. I pulled almost all the way out, then jerked back into her tight body. She dragged her nails down my arm, breaking skin. I barely registered the pain over the intense sensation that flowed through my dick. The pleasure was so overwhelming it gripped me by the head and guided me into insanity.
My fingers dug into the leg she had wrapped around my waist as I pushed farther up into her. There was so much wet heat that I was sweating from the wave of pleasure washing over me. I thrust faster and harder, grinding up against her clit. She was shaking and panting, screaming incoherently. She was close. I was closer. Her hands went into my hair. My balls drew up, aching for release as I lost myself in her. I sucked on her neck and pounded her into the wall. She tensed under my fingers, her pussy clenched onto my cock, and she screamed. She shouted her release, quivering and pulling at my hair.
Her tunnel grew hotter, wetter, clutching onto me and pulling the orgasm from my gut through every cell in my body and out my dick. I spilled out into her, coming for what seemed like forever. And when I thought it was over, her pussy continued to clench, pulling so much cum from me I thought I was within an inch of losing all sense of reality. I faded in and out of it as I leaned my weight on her, gritted my teeth, and tried to make sense of what I felt.
I’d had sex. Plenty of it. But this… this shattered everything I thought I knew. The only thing I could grasp onto was that Alexis was the beginning and end of me. I’d never let her leave me again because I’d lost my heart so deeply to her I knew I wouldn’t survive if she left.
“Hey,” she said, bracing my head in her hands, forcing me to look into the faded green glow of her eyes.
“Who do you belong to?” she asked, throwing my words back at me.
“You,” I croaked, still trying to make sense of my emotions. “It’s always been you.”
She pulled me in, kissing me. I cradled her head as I deepened the kiss, trying to take in as much of her as my heart could handle.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ryder
“Keep your eyes closed.”
Alexis fidgeted as I opened the door and led her out onto the rooftop. I pulled her to the center, then took a step back.
“Okay, you can open them.”
She dropped her hands and looked around in awe. “Has this been here all along?”
I nodded as she continued to scan the rooftop deck I’d renovated two years ago. The patio was decked out with large chairs and loungers. The floors were smooth concrete that went really well with the modern furniture the designer had insisted on. There was a huge grill and a fire pit I used to throw barbeques for the fighters every summer. There was even a hammock under a large pergola.
“Why did you wait so long to bring me up here?” She slapped me on the arm, then walked over to the hammock. We’d walked to dinner, and on the way back, she mentioned how beautiful the night was. I knew she’d love it even more from the deck, so I dragged her past my apartment to the door that led up here.
“Can we get on?” She pointed at the hammock.
“Of course.” I got on first and helped her settle between my legs.
“This is amazing.” She gazed at the stars as I ran my hand over her arm. We lay there for a while, quietly enjoying the moment until she broke the silence.
“Did you ever think we’d be here like this?”
“No.” I answered quickly, because I was sure this would never happen. “But the first time David took me to your place, and you looked at me with those bright hazel eyes, I knew if you tried hard enough, you’d defeat me.”
“Are you kidding?” She was lying with her head over my heart as she glanced up at me. “I tried every time we were alone, but you’d go cold and get mean.”
“It was a defense mechanism. Anytime you got too close to me, I felt things I shouldn’t be feeling for a little innocent thirteen-year-old. Whenever you’d get mad, you’d storm off and I could breathe again.”
“You do realize your bossiness and rude attitude wasted a lot of our time.”
“I had to be bossy. Alec let you get away with everything.”
“Yes, he did, but you were outright mean. You told me what I could wear, when I could come outside, and you never let me go anywhere with you and Alec without a fight.”
“That’s because you were naïve and completely unaware of your sex appeal. You’d come out in that stupid bikini, and Alec’s friends would huddle up and whisper about how hot you were. They even had a dare to see who would be brave enough to pull the strings of your bikini so they’d get to see more. I had to threaten them with bodily harm to get them to back off.”
She giggled. “No wonder they started avoiding me at school.”
“It wasn’t funny. Looking after you was exhausting.”
“You weren’t my brother. It wasn’t your job to look after me. You were so aggravating.”
“It wasn’t easy for me, either. I was a teenage boy who had a two-year hard-on for a girl I was trying to protect from guys like me.”
“Who’s going to protect me now?”
“I’m starting to realize I might be the one who needs
protection. You hold the lead role in my life, and I’m just a supporting character.”
“How can I hold the lead role in your life?”
“Everything has always been about you. Even when I shut you out, you were still here.” I pointed to my heart. “I could never commit to a woman, and the one time I tried to, it was with someone who reminded me of you. And I couldn’t even give her my heart.” I ran my finger through her hair. “You always controlled this game of life. You’ve led every move I’ve made for years. You’re the queen in our game of chess. I’m just the knight.”
She stared at me, pensively, and then she reached up, running her fingers over my face. “I love you, Ryder.” She leaned and kissed me, her lips soft and sweet. I knew how she felt. But hearing her say it…
Shit…
Nothing ever sounded sweeter.
“And you’re right. Since the day I met you, I’ve never stopped fighting for the lead in your life—in your heart, but that’s only because you’ve always had mine.”
She kissed me again, and I responded, pushing my tongue into her mouth. Her tongue teasingly flicked against mine, urging me to deepen the kiss. I cupped her face with my hands as her soft lips moved against mine. This kiss was different; it wasn’t urgent or leading to more, but still aroused me in an all-encompassing way. She moved her mouth over mine as if desperately trying to take everything from me, and I’d give it to her willingly. She sucked on my bottom lip and kissed a path across my jaw. She settled into my arms, and I held her until she fell asleep.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Alexis
We stepped into the garage and I froze. “Oh my God… my baby’s here.” My car was parked next to his bike in all its original splendor. All the windows were repaired, and even the paint looked glossier than usual. I walked over and slid my hand across the top.
Fight for Me Page 16
