FIGHT FOR ME (14 page)

He hadn’t done this for a long time. He kept in shape –he was always working out when she woke up in his bed –but this intense, sustained bout of fighting had to be different than running on a treadmill or lifting weights.

The Hammer landed a solid punch on Lucas’s shoulder. It seemed he had been aiming for his face but Lucas had barely managed to avoid that dangerous injury. However, his performance seemed to go down as the Hammer landed more and more punches.

Soon Lucas just barely managed to avoid him, dancing just out of the reach of his huge fists.

“Scream for him,” a low voice with a subtle accent said in her ear. She turned from the fight and saw Alain standing next to him. He sounded pissed off. “He’s losing. Remind him why he’s here.”

Alain melted back into the crowd.

“Lucas,” she tried to say, but the word caught in her throat. She took a deep breath. “Lucas,” she cried, as loud as she could manage.

He didn’t take his eyes off his opponent, but Ivy swore she saw a little smile play at his lips.

He had had heard her.

A new determination seemed to fill him.

He lunged at the Hammer, expertly aiming his fists at places the Hammer seemed not to want fists to hit him. Lucas spun down low to the concrete floor and extended a leg, striking the Hammer in the shin with a kick.

The huge man stumbled. Lucas took advantage.

He pushed the Hammer to the ground and straddled him, his fists crashing into the man’s skull until he stopped struggling. Someone dragged the Hammer out of the ring and into the crowd. Lucas stood, looking slightly dazed. His knuckles were bloody.

The brightly clothed announcer ducked into the ring amid the cheering.

“Gentlemen,” he shrieked. “We have a
winner
!” He took Lucas’s arm and raised it high. “Five hundred thousand dollars, gentlemen! The
Panther
has just won
five hundred thousand
dollars!”

Lucas tugged his arm away and moved toward Ivy. He took her face in his hands, the rope still between them. He rested his forehead against hers. She could feel the heat radiating from his body. His deep, ragged breaths showed how much of a toll the fight had taken on him.

“Ivy,” he said with some difficulty. “I’m so, so sorry.” He walked back into the middle of the ring and raised a hand. The crowd fell silent.

“Alain,” he called, turning and addressing each section of the crowd. “I did what you fucking asked. What now?”

The announcer frowned. “All right, gentlemen, looks like tonight’s fun is over. See you back next month at the Blood Coast fighting arena! Keep an eye out for next month’s location.”

The crowd of men began to push out of huge metal doors at the far end of the warehouse. Within a few minutes, it was empty again except for a few men lingering in corners, Lucas, Ivy, and the announcer. Miguel walked out of the office.

Alain and five men –Ivy couldn’t pick Igor and Vinnie out of the group to save her life –walked out of the shadows toward Ivy and Lucas in the center of the warehouse. Lucas took a swig from a water bottle that was sitting next to the ring before stepping over the rope. His hair was drenched in sweat and sticking to his neck and forehead. He took Ivy’s hand.

“Come on, let’s get the fuck out of here.” He started to lead her toward the exit.

Alain and his men blocked their way. “Not so fast, Panther,” he said, smiling a smile that made Ivy want to hide behind Lucas.

“I got you your half a million.”

“I want more than that.”

“An apology? I’m sorry I fucking disappeared. I just didn’t exactly feel like turning in my two week’s notice.”

Alain’s smile widened. “More than that.”

Lucas pushed Ivy behind him. “No, Alain. You leave Ivy alone. She has absolutely nothing to do with this.”

Alain nodded, slowly. “I don’t plan on laying a finger on her,” he said seriously, yet his tone suggested there was something as equally upsetting that he was planning on.

Lucas started to back away. Ivy’s heart beat painfully. She was absolutely terrified. Her fingers dug into Lucas’s slick shoulders.

Two of Alain’s men –oh, there were Igor and Vinnie –walked forward with purpose. They grabbed Lucas from Ivy’s hands and threw him to the ground.

“No,” she said, quietly at first. “No, please, please don’t do this.”

Alain walked leisurely over to Ivy and pulled her away from the scene. He turned her toward him. “Look at me,” he said in a disgustingly sweet voice. “You don’t want to see this.”

For some reason she couldn’t quite understand, Ivy obeyed. She stared at Alain’s blank expression, his pale skin, his thin lips. The man’s expression didn’t change as Lucas cried out behind them.

Exhausted from the fight he had just won, it seemed that Lucas had no chance against the five, well-rested men. Ivy could barely see each cowardly blow reflected in Alain’s ice blue eyes.

“No,” she said, not believing what was happening. She let out a soft cry at each hit. Her cheeks were wet with hot tears.

Alain looked away as she began to literally sob, falling to the floor. Lucas had stopped moaning with pain. Now each dull thud elicited no response from him.

The tall, suited man stopped his men with a motion from his hand. “That’s enough,” he said. He looked down on Ivy. “When he wakes up,” he said dryly. “Let him know our debt is settled.”

The footsteps of the men echoed through the dark, empty warehouse.

Chapter Twenty

When she was sure they were alone, Ivy ran over to Lucas’s still body. She felt his pulse. A strong throb was present. He was alive, definitely, but breathing very softly. He didn’t respond when she talked to him.

“Lucas, it’s me. Alain and his men are gone. I’m going to bring you to a hospital,” she said, stroking his hair out of his eyes.

His eyes flickered open. He moaned. Blood and dirt stained almost every bit of his exposed skin. “No hospital,” he managed. “Nothing’s broken.”

“How could you possibly know?” Ivy asked as she helped him stand. She had to support almost all of his weight.

“Trust me,” he said. “I know what a broken bone feels like. I’m just sprained and bruised. I might have a minor concussion.”

“Don’t fall asleep,” Ivy said, sharing the one bit of medical knowledge she had on the subject.

“Yeah,” Lucas said, nearly falling over. She steadied him.

“Where’s your car?”

“On the main road. I didn’t park it near here.” That made sense.

Together they moved very slowly. Ivy pushed open the metal doors of the warehouse and then supported Lucas as they made their way down the dirt road toward the sounds and lights of cars and businesses.

The sky was filled with stars. They weren’t near a big city.

When they got to the main street, Lucas’s car was right there. There was no mistaking the retro red muscle car.

There were no passersby around to see Lucas, something of which Ivy was glad. She didn’t want any questions being asked.

“It’s unlocked,” he said. “I was in a hurry and I didn’t want to bring keys to a fight.”

Ivy opened the passenger door and helped him sit down. He winced in pain as he assumed a sitting position. He took the keys from the glove compartment and handed them to Ivy.

She got in the driver’s seat and turned on the car. “I have no idea where we are,” she said. “You’ll have to give me directions. Just keep thinking ‘I have to give Ivy directions, so I can’t fall asleep,’ all right?”

“All right. Go straight here and follow the signs to the freeway.”

They drove for a few hours. Lucas’s eyes fluttered shut several times but Ivy was able to keep him awake by talking to him.

“Are you sure I can’t take you to the hospital?” she asked as they left the freeway and entered Paisley. It was three in the morning.

“No,” he said.

“Can I call the police?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“Fuck no,” he said, looking out the window at the sky.

“I’ll bring you home,” she said finally.

“Sounds good.” He seemed reserved, almost upset with her. However, Ivy was pretty sure she knew what was going on.

His past that he kept securely locked away had been ripped open and thrust before someone that he didn’t associate with that life at all.

She didn’t know the full story of his time as an underground fighter, and honestly she didn’t want to. She didn’t want anything like that to happen to her or him ever again. She vowed to never, ever, ask any questions about what had happened that day.

She pulled into his driveway and saw her car there. She flashbacked to earlier when she had come to check on him. That reminded her that he must have had a killer hangover when he came to save her.

Smiling as she helped him to the door and inside the house, she decided to ask about the night before.

“Remember coming over to Jess’s last night?”

“Yeah,” he said, smiling sheepishly. “Did I do anything terribly embarrassing?”

“No,” she said. “You were perfect. You were more truthful with me than you have been since we met.”

He looked alarmed. “Oh no, what did I tell you?”

Ivy smiled mischievously as she helped him to his bed. She made her way to the kitchen, leaving him propped up on pillows in his bed. “Nothing bad,” she said. “I’m serious. You mentioned that you weren’t a good person, and that your father had died on that day.”

He didn’t respond.

She came back into his room with a damp cloth. She pulled over a chair to his bedside and started to wipe the blood from his forehead, cheeks, collarbone, chest, waist, and, well, most of his body. She had to go and rinse out the cloth many times.

“Thanks,” he said as she came back into his room after searching for bandages and disinfectant. “Thanks so much.”

This time she didn’t answer.

As she dressed each of his wounds and rubbed ointment onto each of his bruises, her heart felt fuller and warmer. She realized that with this one huge barrier lifted between them –the secret of his past –she was able to feel the full depth of her emotions for him.

Following an instinct deep within her, Ivy unbuttoned her jeans. She let them fall to the floor. She lifted her t shirt off and unhooked her bra. Both were left in a pile by his bed.

Lucas watched her, his lips parted. “Ivy,” he said, saying many things just by saying her name. She knew he wanted her, she knew he was trying to say that it would hurt too much for him to move very much, he was saying he was thankful…

She took off his loose fighting shorts and boxers. She gently cleaned a bruised, scratched area on his hip. She could see his desire for her but didn’t act upon it until the wound had been disinfected.

When she was satisfied that he wouldn’t contract a terrible infection of the blood overnight, she straddled him. Softly, slowly, she moved her hips over his hardness. She could feel him through the dampness of her panties.

He moaned, but not in pain.

She leaned down and kissed him. He put one hand in her hair and another on her back, but any other movement caused him to wince. They kissed for a long time. Ivy tried to convey that the events of the day hadn’t changed the way she felt about him in the sweetness of her kiss.

She pulled away, her face flushed. Lucas’s hands had settled on her hips.

Throwing her panties onto the floor, she pressed herself against him, sliding her moist self over his hardness. She wanted him more badly than she ever had before.

She took him in her hand and guided him inside of her. Her body trembled at the sensation. He gripped her hips with as much strength as he had. She began to move her hips slowly, feeling the girth of him within her, pushing him deeper inside of her.

He moved against her subtly, trying to feel as much of her as he could but if he tried to anything else, she held him down. This was for him as much as it was for her. She wanted to show him how she felt. She didn’t want him to do a single thing for her that would hurt him.

She swiveled her hips and tightened herself around him, delighting in his resulting moans. He played with her breasts as she moved over him, caressing the curves of them and lightly scratching his fingernails over her nipples.

They stayed like this for a long time.

Eventual orgasm was not the goal of this coupling. Ivy just wanted to feel him like this, make him feel this way, for as long as she could.

When she finally came, crying out and holding onto his hips with her hands at her sides, he came as well. She felt the warmth of him inside her and it strengthened her pleasure.

She collapsed by his side, still feeling contractions of delicious pleasure tingling through her. He kissed her neck, breathing heavily.

“I feel so much better,” he said. “Today was one of the worst days of my life until now.”

Ivy smiled though he knew she couldn’t see it in the dark. “I love the way you feel inside me,” she said softly. It was all she could think about.

There was a long silence.

Ivy thought maybe Lucas had gone to sleep.

“I love you,” he said.

Ivy’s heart went cold. She forced herself to keep breathing.

“I love you too,” she said. She curled up next to him and breathed in his scent. She was happier than she ever had been.

Chapter Twenty-One

When Ivy woke up the next morning, Lucas was at her side.

This was surprise. Every other morning after staying the night at his house, she had woken up alone. He would always be in the living room working out or on a run. This morning, he seemed to have forgone his morning routine to stay in bed with her.

Or maybe it was because he was injured. She didn’t really mind either way. It was lovely to wake up and see him breathing softly, his dark eyelashes leaving delicate spidery shadows on his cheeks.

She tried to get out of bed without waking him up. She wanted to surprise him with coffee. After yesterday, he definitely needed a nice way to wake up.

Yesterday.

She really needed him to know that the events of yesterday, if anything, had done more to strengthen her feelings for him than to upset her or make her uncomfortable around him. She felt like the thing that had irked her most about Lucas –maybe the only thing that had upset her –was the blank hole in his past that he simply wasn’t willing to fill.