Rebel: A MMA Sports Romance (4 page)

I know I got to Kinsley when I went up to her and her friend Sophie on the beach.  As much as she tried to hide it, I could see that I’d ruffled her feathers.  I don’t know if it was because our parents were getting married or if she was just trying to act cool that she acted like she couldn’t stand me, but I could tell she wanted me.  I knew she did, and as much as it pissed me off, I wanted her too.  But I would never let her know how much, I was never going to let a chick get close to me again.  The last time I did that, I didn’t know if I would be able to come back from the heartbreak.

My dad was one of the main reasons I got into MMA and I loved it, but there was another reason that I had pushed down deep into my memory…something that I didn’t like to think about.  Sarah was the first girl that I truly loved and she left my heart shattered in a million pieces and didn’t think twice about walking away from what we had.

I met her our junior year of college and she was the coolest chick I had ever laid eyes on.  We clicked from the minute we met and were inseparable.  I was seeing a bunch of other girls on campus but I dumped all of them when Sarah came into the picture.

We were together for two years when she ended things without any explanation.  My first reaction was to screw every girl in sight, and I’ve gone with that first instinct since the day she broke my heart.  I always had girls around before Sarah, and they have always been after me.  But after she ruined me, I decided I was just going to be all about sex.  I had no desire to open up to any girl in the near future, so it had been a numbers game for me since then.

Before and during Sarah, I was the model son even though I never really got to spend time with my dad.  I got good grades, I did what he said and I never made waves when he would bring different women around.  My dad wasn’t the marrying and staying married kind, and I just accepted that.  My mom was blind-sided when my dad filed for divorce. She had no idea he was unhappy.  He didn’t cheat on her, he just didn’t want to be married to her anymore.  I was their only child and they got joint custody of me.  I lived with my mom half of the year and my dad the other half of the year.  My dad traveled a lot for work so whenever I stayed with him I saw him maybe one or two weeks out of six months.  My nanny ended up becoming like a second mom to me and I actually loved her more than I loved my dad.  He provided financial support for us so my lifestyle didn’t change when I lived with my mom, but the emotional support was not there.

I was seven when my parents split and it was really hard for the first year because my mom would cry almost every night, and she nearly had a breakdown when I had to leave the first time to go live with my dad for six months.  I told myself I would never make a girl cry the way my dad made my mom cry, but my thoughts on that changed when Sarah left me.  I turned into a straight up asshole; I knew it, and I didn’t care.  The only woman I treated like a queen was my mother.

My mom saw how I was treating the girls I was dating, if you want to even call it that, and she told me that she didn’t want me to follow in my dad’s footsteps.  She gave me the whole speech about how women are to be respected and I needed to change my behavior.  She told me to find a hobby to get out all of my frustration about Sarah and my resentment about my dad because she was worried I would spiral out of control.

I saw the look of worry in her eyes and it killed me that I was the reason for it, so after Sarah broke things off with me I decided to go all in with MMA.  A buddy of mine was into MMA and I decided to go to a fight with him one Saturday night.  I couldn’t take my eyes off of the guys as they went back and forth, and I felt like I could do it too.  I figured it was a great way to stay in shape and get out all of my aggression about Sarah.  I really looked at it as a way to get over her.

I found a gym, checked out several classes and found an instructor who was an actual fighter.  Zach worked at the gym as a trainer so he would train me when the instructor was out of town, and I liked his style better so he became my permanent trainer.  I trained with him for a few months and he told me when I was ready to fight.

I booked a boatload of amateur shows to get my numbers up and to get experience, and I was able to go pro pretty quickly because my amateur record was 10–4.  I was so psyched when I was paid my first purse because I knew I was on my way to the big leagues.  I found a bunch of MMA websites and added my profile everywhere so that recruiters could find me.  Zach was with me every step of the way and I wouldn’t be the fighter I was if it wasn’t for his incredible training.

I had not lost a fight in over two years and I was looking forward to crushing it with the fight in Mexico. The problem?  I wasn’t as focused as I normally was because Kinsley kept popping into my mind.  She had a hold on me that I couldn’t explain.  She was the first girl that consumed all of me since Sarah. 

Speaking of Sarah, I’d had a moment of weakness with her a few months back when I ran into her at a bar.  She was falling all over me apologizing and I decided I was going to teach her a lesson.  We hooked up and I never talked to her again after that.  She called me every day for a couple of weeks but I blew her off.  I wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine and it felt good doing it.  I didn't regret one thing about that night.  I was over Sarah and I never wanted to see her again.

I decided to go sit on the beach near the post where the hang gliders were, and soak up some rays while I watched Kinsley and her friend with the guys.  She couldn’t see me when they walked up but I could see her.  I saw the guy put his hand on her back and it took everything in me not to jump up and beat the shit out of him.

I closed my eyes to enjoy the sun as I tried to calm down.  It was the only time I was going to have to relax since I would be training for the next few days, but she was all I could think about.  I had to think of a way to get her away from them when they were done, so about an hour later when I saw them wrapping things up I decided to go into the lobby to wait for her to walk by.  She was laughing with the guy as she walked in and I sat in a chair waiting for her to turn and look at me.

I was on such an adrenaline high after we went parasailing nothing could have put me in a bad mood in that moment.  The four of us were laughing and chatting as we walked into the hotel and for a couple of hours I was able to push Lucas out of my mind.  Eric seemed to be a really nice guy and he was cute too, so that didn’t hurt.  We were on our way back inside when I felt a shiver run down my spine.  Someone was watching me.  I glanced behind me and nearly dropped my towel as Lucas’s beautiful blue eyes stared back at me.

He motioned for me to go over to him and I turned my back.  I knew that nothing good would come from me talking to him.  I needed to just stay as far away from him as possible while we were in Mexico.  I don’t know that I would have been able to control myself around him in such a beautiful setting away from our family.

A few seconds later I felt a hand on the small of my back and I quickly turned to catch Lucas’s eyes sparkling at me.  If only I didn’t feel like I wanted to melt into a tiny puddle of ecstasy.  He gently stroked my back and it took everything in me not to lean back against his hand.  I liked his touch and that was not a good thing.

Everyone looked at Lucas and Eric actually took a step closer to me, but he stepped back when Lucas set his eyes on him.  It was clear.  Lucas was definitely the alpha male between the two and I wasn’t surprised.  He had an intimidating presence and all I wanted to do was feel that presence all over every single inch of my body.  My hand flew to my mouth. 
I didn’t say that out loud, did I?
 

Everyone looked at me and Lucas’s hand tightened around my waist.

“Everything okay?”

I pushed his arm off of me and took a big step away from him.

“I’m fine.  What do you want, Lucas?”

I narrowed my eyes at him hoping he didn’t notice how flushed my cheeks were.  I was so annoyed that my body responded to him in that way when my head was screaming to stay away from him.

He held my gaze, a small smirk touching the corner of his mouth, thoroughly amused at how annoyed I was.

“I need to talk to you about family stuff.”

I instantly thought something had happened at home and panic set in.  As much as my mom annoyed me, I did love her and I wanted her to be around for a long time.

“Is something wrong?  What happened?”

“Calm down, everything is okay back home.  I need to talk to you about some other family stuff.  Do you have time right now?”

“If there’s no emergency at home, no I don’t have time right now.”

I turned away from him and told Sophie I was ready to go.  I felt Lucas’s chest against my back as he whispered in my ear.

“I’ll find you later.”

My knees nearly gave out on me.  We walked away and I didn’t look back.  I didn’t want everyone to see how much he got to me.  I could feel his eyes on me but I refused to turn around.  I walked off with Sophie and the guys and instead of doing our own thing, we decided to walk over to the mall across the street from our hotel with the guys.  We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for souvenirs and we grabbed dinner at one of the restaurants.  I was having such a good time, I almost forgot that Lucas was in Mexico.  Almost.

After dinner Sophie and I went back to our room to take a nap and shower before meeting the guys later at the hotel bar.  We literally fell into our beds and were out cold for a couple of hours.  I woke up around 9:30 and stared at the ceiling, thinking about Lucas.  His hand on my back felt so good, so natural, and it pissed me off that I was so attracted to him.  As much as I was enjoying myself with Sophie, and as much as I loved the warm weather, I couldn’t wait to get back to Chicago so that I could get away from Lucas.  At least there I didn’t have to run into him every second of the day.  Sophie stirred and a minute later looked over at me.

“How long have you been awake?”

“Just a few minutes.”

She propped herself up on her elbow and I saw the familiar sparkle in her eyes.

“I couldn’t say anything around the guys, but Lucas is
beyond
, Kinsley!  I don’t know how you can stand to be in the same room with him without attacking him!”

I rolled my eyes and tried to downplay the whole thing.  “Oh please, he’s not all that, Sophie.  He is so full of himself it’s disgusting.  Plus he goes through women like a steamroller, not giving a shit about who he leaves behind.  Really, he’s an asshole.”

She raised her eyebrows and looked genuinely shocked.

“Wow Kinsley, how do you
really
feel?”

“What?  The guy is a self-entitled jerk, Sophie.  I can’t believe he is here on my vacation.  I can’t wait to get back home.”

She sat up when I said that and was clearly annoyed. 

“Kinsley, are you serious?  We are in
paradise
and we have been looking forward to this trip forever.  You can’t let a guy ruin your trip, I don’t care who he is.  You need to get it together.”

I looked at her and realized she was right.  I was letting Lucas steal my fun and I was pretty sure he wasn’t even thinking twice about me.  I shouldn’t let a guy ruin the trip that we had been so looking forward to.  I gave her a stern look.

“We can’t go to his fight Thursday night, Sophie.  I don’t want to be around him at all.”

She started to protest with a huge pout on her face.  “We can’t just sit in the back of the room or something?  He won’t even know you’re there.”

“No, we can’t.  I really don’t want to know he’s here, okay?  I want to enjoy the rest of our trip and that means no Lucas.  I’m serious, Sophie, I can’t go to the fight.  You go if you want, but I don’t want to hear anything about it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go without you, so I guess we’re not going.”

“Good, we’ll have fun doing other stuff.”  I glanced at my phone and saw that Eric had texted me.  “The guys will meet us downstairs at the bar in 30 minutes so we better get ready.” 

I was happy that Sophie didn’t press me on going to see Lucas fight.  I really did not want to deal with him in any way.  I wished he had never shown up, but I would just have to just pretend that he wasn’t there for the rest of my trip.  I would soon find out that was easier said than done.