Knockout (2 page)

            When I finally found the building that the fight was in, I grabbed my pepper spray from my glove box just in case. Sure, I knew how to fight—I had since I was old enough to walk—but I couldn’t fight in the heels I’d worn.

            If I was honest with myself, I’d have had to admit that I’d gone the sexy route instead of professional. From the way Kirk looked at me, I knew he wanted me. I was a healthy young woman with needs. There was no shame in wanting him too. I just didn’t want him to know that. My dad had never had problems like this when he was running the gym, mainly because he was a guy working with guys. Most of the older guys who still frequented the gym had been friends’ of Pop’s, so they had a protective air toward me. Kirk didn’t conform to those parameters obviously.

            I knocked on a large steel door, and it creaked open. A hand gestured for me to step inside. “Were you followed?” a gruff voice asked me. I tensed, my fingers curling around the pepper spray.

            “No,” I replied. “I’m here to watch Kirk—“

            “No names,” the faceless man said. He lurked in the shadows. “I’ll walk you down the hall. The fight is in twenty minutes. The guys competing are still getting ready.”

            I wanted to ask him what kind of fight this was, but I knew better than that now. I assumed that because of it’s sketchy legality, it was a bare knuckle fight. If that was the very likely case, there was no way I wanted Kirk representing our gym. And yet, I parked my butt on the bottom bleacher closest to the ring. While I waited, I glanced at the crowd gathering around me.

            Mostly men seemed to be attending the fight, but the few women who had gathered were all dressed more for a strip club than a legitimate boxing match. Their presence only served to confirm. Their presence only served to confirm the illegal nature of what I was about to witness.

            My younger self would have been excited to be part of something like this, complete with the clandestine location, the nearly secret knock, and the bouncer who served as sentry. All that had changed when I’d inherited my dad’s gym. Since then it my life had been an impossible balance of trying to keep the gym afloat, not disappoint my dad, and not lose myself in all of it.

            The thing was, I loved the gym. I always had. After my mom left us when I was five, Pop would spend all of his spare time at the gym, always bringing me along. I would show up there after school the way other kids went to daycare programs. I knew all the regulars, and some of the coaches had outfitted me with my own mini set of boxing gloves. I would hammer away at the practice dummies for hours. My dad always boasted that I had a head start in life because I hadn’t grown up sitting in front of a television set. I wasn’t sure I completely agreed with him, but I never regretted the way I was raised.

            The thing that had excited me so much when Kirk walked through the door of the gym was that he had reminded me of our prize fighters from the past. He had the muscles. He had the swagger. He had the bravado. And if my hunch was correct, he’d be a spectacular fighter as well. That combination was exactly what you wanted in a winning boxer. And the gym could certainly use a winner.

            My only concern with Kirk was how much he turned me on. If he wasn’t a good guy, and this fight tonight was indicative of his character, then I was screwed. Part of me wanted to throw caution to the wind, and just jump into bed with him. That would get any sexual tension out of the way, and I could focus on rebuilding my failing business.

            I was so lost in thought that I jumped when the announcer got up to declare the start of the match.

Chapter 4

Kirk

            My manager, Martin, wouldn’t leave me alone before the match was set to start. Usually I tried to focus my head, empty my thoughts, all the Zen bullshit my ex-girlfriend, Lotus, had taught me to do. She hadn’t had a lot going on in her head but she had a tight ass.

            “Tell me about the new gym,” he wheedled as I cracked my knuckles and shook out my tense muscles. “Do you think that they’ll sponsor you? If they do you’d finally have a shot to do some legitimate fights.”

            “I like these fights,” I snapped. “And how should I know if they’ll sponsor me?”

            I didn’t feel like discussing Emily and her gym with my balding, rotund, sad-sack of a manager. He glowered at me, but I pressed my lips together and glowered back. Martin knew that I could take him out in a second if he wasn’t careful. Most people wondered why I even kept him around as my manager when there were far better people to represent me. What no one understood was that Martin was the only one who had stuck with me all through my rise to where I was now. That meant a lot to me, even if he did annoy the shit out of me most of the time.

            Now I brushed him off as we entered the floor to step into the ring. As we passed the bleachers, I caught sight of Emily, but she didn’t see me. Probably just as well. I knew that I’d get hard the second she turned those seductive brown eyes on me, and I couldn’t afford to lose my focus.

            My opponent for the night’s fight was a huge brute of a guy named Chuck Seal. I had the thought that he must have been bullied a lot as a kid because he had a caveman look that let me know what kind of opponent he’d be.

            When the fight started I felt pretty good. My feet moved quickly, almost as if guided by a supernatural force, and Chuck was only landing glancing blows. I hit back with a direct contact to his ribcage. He grunted as he lost some breath. But then it seemed like something triggered in his brain. Must kill Kirk. Or something like that because the shit face came at me with a vengeance. I wanted to fight back but there was no time. Each punch came at a distinctly timed interval, designed to allow me no recovery. First one to my face, then one to my shoulder, and still another to my stomach.

            I fell, which almost never happened. As I staggered back to my feet, I caught sight of Emily again. She was leaning forward on her bleacher seat with her hands threaded together on her lap. From the tense look on her face, I knew that she was worried about me. Something about that gave me a surge of adrenaline. I didn’t know why I cared that she cared about me, but…I did.

            As I got my fight back, I began to get into the right frame of mind to win the match. Chuck had a few weaknesses that I had failed to notice at the outset. One, he seemed to favor his right foot and his left fist. I had never seen that combination before, but it made me think that it was something I might be able to exploit. The second thing that I noticed was that Chuck seemed to look to his coach for his cues as to what to do next. That meant that he wasn’t plotting my demise, his coach was only looking at my faults and weaknesses, which meant that I could throw them off with some fake moves.

            I threw myself into the fight, throwing punch after punch. I could feel my fists connecting with bone, and it wasn’t until a bell rang that I realized that my hands were damp. As Chuck and I retreated to our respective corners I realized that I was covered with his blood.

            After getting a quick clean up and having a water break of two point five seconds, we were back on our feet. I bounced on the balls of my feet as I dodged Chuck’s swings. Then there was the opening. The one that happened during every match. Time felt like it slowed down, and I could see things laid out before me so that I could be the victor. I took the swing. My knuckles connected with the underside of his chin, and he went down. I won in a flurry of cheers and exhaustion, sweat pouring into my eyes. Through the haze I tried to see Emily, but there was too much commotion around me.

            I wove my way through the gathering crowd, heading for my private room, which was really just an old factory office. A woman grabbed my arm, and took a selfie with me. If my mind hadn’t been consumed by Emily, I might have taken her with me. A guy stopped me to ask a question but I sent him in Martin’s direction. At that moment all I wanted was to be alone.

            I stepped into my dressing room, and shut the door behind me. Dropping onto the sofa, I leaned back and closed my eyes. I heard the door open again. “Ugh, Martin, just leave me alone for a few minutes, okay? I won, didn’t I?”

            “You certainly did.”

            My eyes flew open at the sound of the female voice. Emily. “What are you doing here?” I asked stupidly.

            She reached behind her back, and I heard the lock click into place. “I…don’t really know,” she said. “But after watching you in action I just needed to come back and tell you…how much I enjoyed it.”

            I raised an eyebrow at her. This certainly wasn’t the same woman I had encountered at the gym.

Chapter 5

Emily

            My heart was racing as I stood before him. I had never done anything like that before; gone after a man with the intent to seduce him. I’d allowed myself to be seduced plenty of times, but never had I ever been the pursuer. Just the thought of it gave me a rush.

            I licked my dry lips, and took a step closer. “I…I didn’t realize watching this kind of fight would be so…sexual.”

            Kirk raised an eyebrow, but otherwise he didn’t react. “I’m a little surprised to see you here.”

            “Don’t get me wrong,” I said. “I don’t approve of these kind of fights, but watching you move, I can tell that you have some real talent. You should be fighting real fights.”

            Something crossed Kirk’s face, some shadow, some emotion that I couldn’t read, and from the depths of my lust addled brain I wondered if I had overstepped a line, but I didn’t care. I was on a mission, and the fulfillment of that mission would be glorious. I could already tell.

            “I like doing what I’m doing,” he said with a shrug.

            “And you also came to me for sponsorship,” I said.

            We were at a bit of a standstill, and there was a heavy moment of awkward silence until Kirk said, “I want to hear more about the sexual nature of my fight. I’ve never been given a good analysis of it before.”

            Boldly, I walked over to stand before him. “Every time you landed a punch I got wet,” I said. When he barely reacted, I reached down, grabbed his hand, and slid it between my legs. His eyes widened with lust then, and he began to caress me through the damp fabric of my panties. I could feel the callus of his thumb as he found my clit and applied just the right amount of pressure to make me moan.

            I straddled his lap, and sank down until my knees touched the sofa. His thumb was still rubbing away at my most sensitive area, and our eyes were locked as he fed my passion. I rocked a little on his hand, trying to hurry my climax along. I couldn’t remember ever being so impatient for release.

            “Slow down,” he said in a heavy, thick voice. “I want this to be good for you.”

            Something about the way he said that made my heart swell in my chest. I placed my hands on his cheeks, and leaned in for a feathery light kiss. Kirk’s free hand snaked up to tangle in my hair. He pulled me closer, deepening the kiss. As his tongue slid in to my mouth, he shifted his hand into my panties.

            “You are so fucking wet,” he said into my mouth.

            “I want you inside of me,” I panted back. He pulled me back in for the most sensuous kiss I’d ever experienced. After coming up for air, he trailed kisses down my neck, sliding his hand up under my shirt, massaging my breasts through my bra.

            “I’ll fuck you, don’t worry,” he said as he slid his hand under the lacy material. Finding my nipple he rolled it into a taut bud, tweaking it, squeezing it, pulling on it, until I moaned. As he continued, I tipped my head back, and braced my hands on his shoulders, focusing on the sensations rolling through me.

            “Strip for me,” he said, suddenly stopping all physical contact. His words startled me. I had never had that request, and I felt oddly shy about it. Still, I stood up, and took a step back. Slowly I unbuttoned the blouse that I had neatly tucked in to my skirt. As I dropped it on the floor, I shimmied out of my skirt as well. Next I caught the hook of my bra, and released my breast so they swung free, bouncing slightly as I tried to slow my breathing. I hooked my thumbs into my panties, and pulled them down. When I was finally naked, I stood before him in just my high heels. Instead of feeling bashful, I felt powerful.

            Kirk was still slouched down on the sofa, staring at me with wide, lust-filled eyes. “Let’s just get you more comfortable,” I said as I knelt before him. With his help I eased him out of his shorts and underwear. Seeing his cock fully erect made me slicker. I could imagine him sliding in to me over and over. Instead I reached out and caressed the shaft. Then I bent down, and took him into my mouth, licking off the salty pre-cum, before I began bobbing up and down. When I looked up at Kirk, his eyes were closed, and his jaw was tense. I was beginning to doubt that I was doing anything right until he moaned. That was my signal to keep going. I licked and sucked and fondled until he stilled my head.

            “No more,” he said hoarsely. “If you keep going, I’ll come, and I want to come inside you.”

            “I don’t know,” I said, the mood suddenly cooling for me.

            “I’ll wear a condom. There’s one in the drawer.”

            Relief washed over me as I retrieved the rubber, ripped open the package, and slid it on to his erect member. “Let me see that beautiful ass,” he said. Obediently I turned around so that he could rub his hands over the smooth skin. When he braced his hands on my hips, and drew me downward, I sank onto his cock with a sweet sensation of stretching to take him in fully. I pressed my feet into the floor as I raised myself up and slammed down to meet him again and again. He kept thrusting in to me. He was bigger than I’d thought, and with each push, I could feel his dick rubbing against my pussy’s walls, building tension and friction. I never wanted the feeling to end.