Full Contact (Worth the Fight #2) (5 page)

She smiled as he continued to stroke her hair. As promised, Slade ordered food and they ate it together on her bed while watching an old action movie on television. By ten o’clock her eyelids were becoming heavy, and when she yawned, Slade took it as his cue to head out.

Jessica walked him to the door. “Thanks for tonight. I’m sorry I ruined our evening.”

He placed his hands on her shoulders and leaned down, something he did often. He always made sure she was looking into his eyes before he kissed her. “You didn’t ruin it. It was a great night.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” she said with a smile.

He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. “Goodnight, sweetheart.” He kissed the corner of her mouth before leaving.

The following morning, Jessica went to the Om Spot before work. Yoga had been her favorite thing to do since she could remember, and not having been able to practice yoga for the last month had been torture. By the time her shift began at work, she felt more like herself than she had in weeks. And even though work was less hectic, Patsy continued to check up on Jessica.

Slade had called earlier to tell her he was working with a new fighter and wouldn’t be able to get out of work until late in the evening. They agreed that he’d bring her dinner when he was done.

It was now later that evening and they were on her couch. She was moaning into his muscular, half-tatted neck, “Oh God, Slade.”

She felt all loose (from the yoga earlier that day) and relaxed (from seeing Slade), and then one thing had led to another, and the food remained untouched and the movie unwatched. Slade’s arm snaked around her waist as he moved her on top of him. As she straddled him on the couch, they were like two teenagers in the middle of a hot and heavy make-out session. His free hand cupped her breasts over a silver camisole, while the other squeezed her waist. His mouth was on her neck, lips, collarbone. Her hands fisted his shirt, and she couldn’t help but moan when he nibbled the sensitive area behind her ear.

“Baby,” Slade said between nibbles, “you feel so good.”

Even through the dim light, Jessica could see him fighting his resolve to take it slow. He pulled away and planted a kiss on her neck, then nose, and finally lips before lifting her and moving her next to him.

“Are you okay?” His husky voice came out even huskier. His blue eyes shone with lust. His black hair stood in all directions, evidence of her mauling.

“Um…yeah. Super fine.” She looked at him as if he were crazy. Why the hell was he stopping?

He laughed at her expression, tapped her nose, and stood up from the couch. He adjusted his pants, which looked uncomfortably tight around the crotch area, and ran his palm over his face. Then he reached his hand down to her. Jessica’s brows creased as she put her hand in his. He pulled till she was on her feet. “Don’t look at me like that.” He kissed her cheek and walked to her kitchen.

“Like what?”

“Like I just kicked your puppy.”

“Why’d you stop?” she whined. “I do kinda feel like you kicked my puppy. Actually, like you kicked my vagina.”

Slade had just put a glass of water to his lips to sip, but a laugh erupted from his mouth, causing him to spit water everywhere. “Oh my God, Jess. I can’t believe you just said that.” She grabbed a paper towel and wiped the water dripping from his chin and shirt and then mopped up the wet counter.

“Well, it’s true.”

“For the record, I’d never kick your vagina.”

“I’d hope not.” She smiled a little devilish smile.

When he had sufficiently caught his breath, Slade reached for plates and began serving them Chinese food. “Why are those in the garbage?” Slade asked, pointing to a small bunch of sunflowers that she’d tossed in the trash.

“I hate sunflowers.
Hate
them. They give me allergies. Someone left them by my front door. Probably meant for my neighbor, but she’s out of town, so I tossed them.”

Slade shrugged as he continued to portion out the food. It felt nice to see him so comfortable in her house. “Jess, this was our second date. We did a lot more than you’re supposed to do on a second date.”

She snorted. “What? I think we’re past proper dating etiquette. I’ve known you for months. We’ve even lived together. You’ve seen me mostly naked.”

Jessica sat up on the counter next to him. She looked over at his plate, then at hers, and smiled. There was a small mountain of fried rice and noodles on his plate, three egg rolls, and some other thing she didn’t recognize. On her plate sat an egg roll and some rice. His appetite was as big as the man himself.

“So…second date, huh?”

With a mouthful of food, he nodded and swallowed, then took a swig of beer. He winked. “You’re kinda slutty, babe. I think we passed first
and
second base.” She dropped her egg roll on her plate and looked at him, her eyes wide open. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek, then went back to eating.

When they were done and she had cleaned up, they sat back on the couch and he started the movie. That was the last thing she remembered.

Her alarm went off, and she jackknifed up, confused. She lifted the sheets and looked down at her body. She had on the same T-shirt she had been wearing last night, but her jeans were gone; she was only in panties. She looked around the room.

By the alarm clock sat a note:
You fell asleep on our second date. You owe me a third date…and third base. —S.

She smiled and plopped back into bed, her eyes focused on the ceiling fan as it went round and round, a big goofy grin on her face.

She couldn’t help but remember how persistent Slade had been, asking her out repeatedly, weeks before she became a domestic violence statistic. She thought back on the night that had changed everything. It had been a slightly cool evening. Cool for Tarpon Springs meant seventy-five degrees, but she remembered that she’d been wearing a sapphire-blue tank top and jeans. She’d rubbed her chilled arms as she went into the abandoned warehouse full of drunkards with Dennis Stavros, her boyfriend of five years. It was at least ten degrees warmer inside, from all the men crowded in there. The smell of alcohol, cigarettes, and possibly pot, combined with sweat, overwhelmed her senses.

Dennis liked to bet on mixed martial arts fights, and these fights were among the few places he didn’t seem to mind being seen with her. It was likely because his uncle—the mayor—disapproved of the sport, and so no one who frequented his circle would be there to see them. Dennis wasn’t exactly proud of showing off his bartender girlfriend. The only highlight of going to MMA bouts was that she’d often get to see Slade win one of his many matches.

Slade had been a regular at the Pier, where she worked. He would always sit at the bar, and between customers they’d talk. They had developed an innocent yet flirtatious relationship, which always ended with Slade saying, “Go out with me.” She would always respond with “I have a boyfriend.” And then he would say “That’s not a no” before giving her a big gleaming smile and a wink. This had gone on for months.

Jessica wasn’t opposed to going to the professional fights, but she tended not to accompany Dennis to the seedy underground brawls. These particular fights were overflowing with male testosterone and violence, and quite frankly, they scared her. There were no rules, no judges, and no time limits, and sometimes the fighters fought until one of them gave up—“tapped out,” as they said—or was knocked out. There was always a lot of blood. Suffice it to say that seeing Slade, a professional who fought in sanctioned MMA fights, locked in a cage with an apelike giant of a man was unexpected and terrifying.

All the other times Jessica had seen Slade fight, he’d always looked impervious. But this time, standing so close to King Kong, he seemed vulnerable.

Even so, Slade looked freaking phenomenal. His inky black hair was slicked and tied at the back. His gym shorts were the same shade of blue as his eyes. And the tattoo that had always mesmerized her—an intricate black tribal design that went the entire length of the right side of his body—was on full display. She was fairly certain the tattoo continued under those shorts, and for the first time she really wished she could see it all.

What had made the situation scarier was that the always very vocal Dennis was unusually quiet all night. She stood close behind Dennis, hemmed in by a crowd of rowdy men, and although she didn’t want to look, her eyes drifted to Slade. When the fight was about to begin, Slade somehow found her among the crowd and smiled at her. Luckily, it didn’t seem that Dennis had noticed.

The man Slade fought against was bigger than he was—quite the feat considering that Slade always fought in the heaviest weight category. Kong was scary big, muscles and veins bulging everywhere, and looked angry. Yet as he faced his opponent, Slade seemed calm and unruffled. That was one thing that had always surprised her about Slade: the big, brawny man never seemed perturbed. She was fairly certain he wasn’t being arrogant. He just seemed to know what he was capable of and therefore didn’t seem fazed by the humongous Neanderthal. For Christ’s sake, he had taken the time to smile at her!
Concentrate!
she had wanted to yell.

King Kong, who seemed to have gotten one too many steroid injections, pounced the moment the bell rang. Slade coolly moved to the side, and the punch Kong had thrown missed, causing him to lose his balance slightly. Slade used it to his advantage, executing a move that landed Kong on the floor with Slade’s forearm around his neck. The fight ended almost as quickly as it had begun, and Slade hadn’t even broken a sweat. Thank God it was fast, because when it was over, Jessica realized she had been holding her breath.

When her gaze drifted away from the cage, she was startled to see Dennis’s angry eyes inches from her face. Had Dennis been watching her the entire time she’d been staring at Slade?

Drunk and furious, he grabbed her by the forearm and maneuvered her out of the warehouse and back to his house. As soon as they were inside, he grabbed her arm, shook her, and called her a “disrespectful slut.”

That night she packed her stuff and left. He had manhandled her a few times before, but enough was enough. She wasn’t going to stay long enough for him to advance to beating her.

Over the next few days, he sent flowers and cards, apologizing repeatedly. She refused to forgive him.

The following weekend, she knew, Slade’s friend Jack would be fighting, and she really wanted to see Slade. So she went to the fight, and as soon as he saw her he asked her out, the way he always did. But this time she said yes. Little did she know Dennis was there and had heard their interaction.

As Slade and Jessica were walking toward Slade’s bike, Dennis came up from behind and pushed him. It had caught Slade off guard, and before he had a chance to recover, Dennis had grabbed Jessica and pulled her toward his car, his fingers biting into her skin. Slade lunged at Dennis in an effort to protect her. Jessica yelled at Dennis to stop, but instead Dennis pulled his arm back to strike her. Slade intercepted him with a punch.

That was the night that Slade had gotten arrested, which incidentally was the reason Chrissy had come back to Tarpon Springs after eleven years. And that night, after much begging and pleading, Jessica had stupidly gone back to Dennis, and so she’d never gone on that date with Slade. It was the stupidest decision she had ever made, because had she not gotten back together with him, she never would have found herself hospitalized months later as a result of the final beating by Dennis.

But now things were different. She thought of how Slade had sauntered into her life and changed it—changed her.

With a smile, she reached for her phone and sent him a text.

Jessica: What exactly does 2nd base entail? Need to make sure I handled my bases correctly.

She lay back on her pillow and looked up at the ceiling, a big silly grin lighting up her face, as she waited for his response.

Slade: Over-the-shirt action.

Jessica: What about 3rd base?

Slade: Under-the-shirt action.

Jessica: Okay, 3rd date, you get 3rd base. Wait! What’s 4th base?

Slade: There isn’t a 4th base, babe. It’s called home. As in home run.

Jessica: I think you’re wrong. You missed a base. How about mouth action? You know, oral?

There was no response for a few minutes.

Slade: We can squeeze that into 3rd base.

Jessica: So, when’s the next date?

Slade: You ready for 3rd base?

Jessica: Hell yeah!

Slade: Be there in twenty minutes.

Jessica: No! Gotta go to work.

Slade: I’m in the middle of training a guy right this very moment. Priorities, Jessica, priorities.

Jessica laughed at the screen.

Jessica: So you were just going to abandon that poor guy and come over here?

Slade: For third base? Fuck yeah.

Jessica: How about you pick me up at 7?

Slade: Me and my painful hard-on will see you in 12 hours. I hope you know it’s hurting. Bad.

Jessica: Poor thing. I’ll make it up to you…both.

Slade: Gotta go. The guys are staring at me.

Jessica: Bye. XO

At five o’clock that afternoon, her phone rang. It was Slade. “Hey, beautiful, change of plans. I have some news. Can you come over to my sister’s house when you get off work?”

“Sure. See ya later,” she said.

After her shift at the bar ended, Jessica rushed home and changed her clothes. As she walked out of her house, again she found a small bunch of sunflowers. Careful not to handle them too much, she grabbed them and tossed them into a nearby trash can. She felt guilty throwing away perfectly nice flowers, but her neighbor still hadn’t returned from her trip, and if she kept them in her house, she’d be wheezing in a few hours.

When Jessica arrived, she saw unfamiliar cars parked at Jack and Chrissy’s home. As soon as she climbed out of her car, she smelled the heavenly scent of BBQ. Slade had the door open before she had a chance to knock. His sexy smile was bright.