Long Shot: An MMA Stepbrother Romance (26 page)

For the first time in my life, I don’t feel like I’m acting anymore. The grace, the power, the feeling of fighting... It’s coming back to me, and Nat’s the one standing by my side, taking me in her arms at night, giving me what I’ve always needed.

“All right, there. It’s done,” she says, and I look at her. I shake my hand out and realize that she’s already put the cortisone in.

“Nice technique. And nice job lifting the cortisone from work, shady lady.”

“Yeah, well. Old habits die hard. If you must know, I obtained this cortisone somewhat legally.” She smiles, and for a moment I’m lost in the pink fullness of her lips, the tropical, clean smell of her hair and skin. I pull her close and claim her mouth with mine, biting down gently on her bottom lip. It’s comfortable now, settled, less urgent. She’s mine, and she knows it, accepts all that it comes with it. In some moments I don’t know why she chose me, but in others, I remember what she’s said she sees in me. She makes a gentle noise when I bite down on her lip again and raise my hand to her breast. My other goes between her legs. I trail my fingers up to the top of her jeans and pull the button open so I can see the lacy top of her panties.
 

“Oh yeah? How’s that?” I breathe the words in her ear and snake my fingers inside her jeans, loosening them, teasing her, watching her squirm.
 

“Even a shady lady has her secrets, Josh. And, oh fuck—” I’ve found her clit with my fingers and I’m circling it now, feeling the delicious wetness as it grows under my touch. “Ash is going to be here soon, Joshie. Don’t make me...” She pants and closes her eyes, then leans back and spreads her legs so that I can slip my fingers inside of her. She may be the one who whips me into shape in the gym, but she knows know that I’m in charge when it comes to this.
 

“But I haven’t fucked you in the gym yet, Nat. And I want to. It’ll help me train today.”
 

“That’s some bullshit,” she says.

“You’re all wet, though. Might help you get to work and enjoy it a little more.”
 

“Fat chance,” she says, her amber eyes flickering with humor. But her legs are still spread, and I see a hot pink flush creeping over her chest. It’s the sign she wears when she’s ready for me, when she needs it just as much as I do.
 

“I want to see you come, Nat.”

“I guess we’ve got a little time.” She spreads her legs more and wiggles against my hand. “Oh
God
.” Despite what she says, I know she’s deep in it right now, and she doesn’t give a crap that Ash will be here soon, and Summer might just walk in alongside him. I pull down her jeans, ripping her panties in the process. Fighting like this, getting back in the game, it all makes me want her more, makes me crave her like a drug. She pants and whines, then brings her hand down on top of mine, pushing my palm against her clit. I push her hand away and kneel in front of her, bringing my mouth to her clit and sucking on it until she’s a mess of panting and moaning. “Now, now. Please, baby, fuck me now.”
 

I lower my mouth and lick down over her folds, tasting her sweetness. My cock is rock hard and I stand, slipping down my shorts and kicking them off. In one swift movement I pick her up and carry her with my good hand under her ass, then press her up against the side of the cage.
 

“Oh fuck, you’re crazy,” she says, but she wraps her legs around me. I pull a condom from my pocket and slip it onto my length before thrusting into her all at once. It takes her breath away for a moment, and I just hold myself there, standing by the cage in my own goddamn gym, fucking the woman I’ve wanted for years. I use the weight of my body like a piston, thrusting into her hard and fast and full of the rage that I’ll need to win this fight. Her moans increase in volume, bouncing off the blank concrete walls of the gym, and Nat is kissing me hard, crying that she needs more, that she needs to come. I feel her muscles growing tight against my cock, and it nearly sends me over the edge. But I hold on and ram into her harder and harder until I feel her start to let go, her muscles tensing and growing slack in quick succession.
 

“This is mine, baby. All of this is mine.” I slam into her hard and the release comes to her. Her nails dig into my skin, and I thrust gently now, making sure that I hit against her clit each time. She cries out, and her eyes meet mine when she comes, her body shaking. I keep fucking her, controlling my movements so I can extend her pleasure. I can’t hold it in any longer though, and I come deep inside of her just as her climax begins to fade.
 

“Holy fuck,” she moans. “I’m going to have bruises on my back from that damn cage.” Her legs are wrapped around me but she can barely hold them still because she’s shaking so hard. I let her down and start to pull her back to the showers so we can clean up before the day really begins. I feel like I could fuck her again, but Ash might not like it if he comes in to find his fighter balls deep—and absolutely unfocused on training.
 

“Good. You’ll remember me all day, Nat. I like it that way.” She pulls away from me and slides on her jeans without any panties. I resist the urge to pull them back down and take her again, even though my cock is already growing hard at that sweet good girl without any damn panties on.
Fuck
.
 

“I’ll remember you when I’m on my shift and I can barely walk because you keep throwing me up against random walls—”

“And fucking you so hard that you need more of me when you get home?”
 

She smoothes out her shirt and throws her arm around my neck, kissing me hard, like she’s desperate for my touch. “You go shower, Long Shot.” I smile. It’s the first time she’s called me that. The name was hard won in my early days as a fighter, and for some reason, it sounds sweet coming off of Natalie’s lips. “I’ve gotta run right now.”

“Where you running off to?”
 

“I’ve—I’ve gotta get to the hospital.”
 

“I didn’t think you had a shift till noon. It’s only ten, and we’re five minutes away.”

“Summer needs my help before then.”

“Sure, okay. I thought you were going to stay a while.” I cock my head to the side and watch her. She laces her fingers through her hair and tosses it back over her shoulder, then nervously ties it all up into a bun. My pulse quickens. I don’t like the feeling she’s giving me, don’t like the idea of her going off on her own. But I need this training session today before I try to sweat off seven pounds tomorrow to make weight—and she’s been tending to a fighter long enough to know that.
 

“Don’t look at me like that, Josh.”
 

“Like what?” I knit my brows together, and I can feel my face tensing up. She can read me like a book now, just like I can read her.

“Like you’re worried. I’m fine, seriously. Nervous about the fight, and I need to go to Food Lion. We got like no time before that fight, and I need to pick up some groceries. I’m gonna fatten you up as soon as you do that weigh in.”

“You can do that after your shift.”
 

“Can’t do that, Josh.”
Cain’t do that.
That Carolina twang lets me know she’s got something on her mind.
 

I see Ash’s truck pull up, and I know I need to get in the shower before he walks in and gets a whiff of his fighter smelling like sex. Nat kisses me quick on the cheek and bolts out of the door before I can do anything to stop her. I sigh heavily and walk back to the showers. I might own that girl when she’s got her legs wrapped around me, but there’s no telling what she’ll do when she gets a mind to do it. I can only hope she’s not fool enough to mess with Frank.

But why do I get the feeling she’s exactly fool enough?

I adjust my shorts and walk over to the door, watching her as she drives off in the direction of the hospital. The door almost hits me in the face when Ash rolls in, a toothpick between his teeth.
 

“Go shower, asshole. You smell like you’ve been fucking in
our
gym.” He claps me on the shoulder and catches my eye. “I know you’re thinking about following her, man. But you ain’t going a damn place until you can knock me out without using that right hand.”
 

I nod and walk off to the showers, trying to dispel the looming feeling that Natalie is going to do something very, very stupid. In the past few days, we’ve talked about our plan again and again. It’s set in stone, and we’re not getting Katy involved. And she’s promised me, again and again that she won’t do anything dangerous.

Imagine that—me telling Nat not to get her self in trouble. That’s a new one on me.
 

Hell, she’s a grown-ass woman and the smartest person I know. And she’s backing me up on this plan. She wouldn’t mess with Frank again, would she?

I stifle the worry and then go do what I do best—fight.

I pull out of the parking lot and wave to Ash as he walks into the gym. Ash cocks his head to the side when he sees me—he’s used to my schedule by now and knows I usually stay with Josh at the gym until I’m ready to go. I keep a placid look on my face and give Ash a wide smile as I pull away. Even if they suspect something is up, the two of them are so wrapped up in training that they won’t be able to give my departure too much thought. Or at least, I’m hoping. If Josh figured out I was leaving to do his dirty work for him, he’d be pissed as hell, and he’d rage into Frank’s gym like an angry bear. And right now, we don’t need the angry bear. We need the architect, the man planning his victory. That’s the Josh I believe in—the one I know is underneath all of the bravado and the insane sex drive.
 

I don’t mind that last part so much, I think. The corner of my mouth turns up into an irresistible smile. I think of Josh pushing me against the cage, the pain in my back heightening the pleasure as he fucked me. It was macho. It was reckless. It was the height of masculinity to fuck his woman in the gym he’d fought hard for—and right before a day of intense training. But I can’t even lie a bit and say I didn’t like it. I fucking loved it. Goddamn that man—maybe I’m changing too.
 

I pull into a nearly empty parking lot that sits across from Frank’s gym. If I weren’t driving the most common damn car on the road, I’d be scared someone might notice me. But a woman with messy hair and smeared mascara driving a beat-up Honda Civic is as present in the Outer Banks as she is anywhere else in the world. I scope out the gym and spot Frank’s pick-up truck. It sits up on those ridiculously huge tires that the townies around here seem to love, and it’s decked out with chrome fishing rod holders and a big fucking gun rack.
 

“Wonder if he’s compensating for anything,” I mutter, rolling my eyes. The bright blue truck is anything but inconspicuous, and it’s tacky as shit. Fear twists through my body, and I sit in the car for a while, I don’t know how long, just watching the gym. I know I
shouldn’t
be doing any of this shit, that it means serious trouble.

I swallow hard and push away the tightness that’s filling my throat and my chest. “It’s now or never, Nat.”

I pull out my phone and pull up Katy’s number. I know Josh says she’s sketchy, and I know she’s been involved with Frank for years. But I saw a woman on the brink of collapse when I met her. She’s looking for a way out, a way through. And maybe I can provide that for her if I can work everything out. It’s all a big fucking risk, but hell, isn’t everything worth having? I tap the number and listen to three rings before Katy answers.
 

“Katy? It’s Natalie, Josh’s stepsister.”

“Yeah? What do you want?”
 

“I want to help you get the fuck out of there. You there right now?”

“Yeah—what the hell is this about? I promise I’ll be out of the apartment—”

“We don’t care about that, but there is something we need. And I think it might help you in the long run too.”
 

Katy pauses for a moment, and I only hear her breathing, heavy and deep on the other end of the line. In the background, I hear Frank’s caustic shouting. Josh has told me it’s his method of training new fighters—breaking them down so much that they’ll do anything he says.
 

“Okay, shoot.”

“You know the combination to Frank’s lock box?”
 

“Maybe I do,” she says. I can hear the quaver in her voice.

“If that’s a yes, then I want you to tell Frank that Cole’s back at the hospital, and he’s talking to police. Say he’s planning to send a team Frank’s way, that he has a copy of the papers Josh had. Act like you don’t know what you’re talking about when you tell him.”

“That won’t be too hard. You here now?”

“I’m across the street. I’ll be there when I see Frank leave.”

“All right. Fine.” She hangs up the phone without another word and I see her move past the big window that sits at the front of the gym. I wait for one minute, and then two, my heart pounding far faster than the seconds as they tick by. Nervous adrenaline floods my body, and my palms start to sweat. I wipe them on my jeans and take a deep breath. But the deep breath doesn’t quite work, and instead, I’m shaking. Katy could be telling Frank that I’m across the street and that I’m looking for information that could very well put him in prison.