Sergei (33 page)

"I will." Noticing Ivan's impatient stare, I backed away from the fence. "Good luck."

Sergei nodded and left the cage. Ivan trailed him into the tunnel, and they disappeared from view. I rejoined my friends and managed to sit through Kelly's fight. Watching a friend was just as bad as watching the love of my life. Knowing Kelly had been forced into this tournament to save his family just made the whole thing impossible to stomach.

Kelly's opponent, a stocky fighter, landed some powerful kicks, including one that caught him in the ribs. I winced and silently urged Kelly to watch that guy's leg. The two fighters traded punches, and then Kelly stunned me by taking the man to the ground. The guy shouted with pain as his shoulder slammed into the concrete.

Catching his opponent's arm between his thighs, Kelly jerked hard. I thought for sure he was going to dislocate the guy's shoulder. Unable to watch, I averted my gaze and listened to the crowd for clues.

Next to me, Dimitri leaped to his feet. He had come to cheer on Kelly. It wasn't that Dimitri didn't support Sergei, but Kelly was his employee and in an incredibly untenable position between his father and the two loan sharks who owned the old man. "Come on, Kelly. Harder.
Harder
. Yes!"

I looked up and saw Kelly untangling himself from the other fighter. He tried to help the man who had surrendered, but the guy spit at him and shot him the finger.
Jesus. So much for sportsmanship!

The break between fights wasn't nearly long enough. My stomach was still in knots when Sergei and Kelly marched back into the cage. With so much trepidation, I watched the two men stand across from each other while the referee spoke to them. They knocked together fists, and Sergei said something that made Kelly's stoic expression slip fractionally.

And then the battle began.

The two earlier fights hadn't been anywhere near as brutal as the brawl that occurred before me now. Kelly managed to sneak in the first punch, but Sergei's answering blow knocked Kelly back a few feet. Blood sprayed from the contact between their bodies, and I grimaced at the awful sight.

Kelly shook it off and avoided taking another hit. He punched Sergei in the ribs and slammed his knee into Sergei's belly. I saw my man's rough and pained exhale and felt tears pricking my eyes. A second later, Sergei snatched Kelly's leg and jerked the former Marine off his feet. Kelly hit the concrete ass first but he was quicker than Sergei and managed to avoid being pinned down.

The air horn blasted, signaling the end of the round. Both men returned to their corners to receive attention from their trainers. In no time at all, they were brought back to the center of the cage. The second round began, and I wasn't sure how much more of this I could stomach. Only the knowledge that Sergei needed me to show my support kept my butt parked on that bench.

Inside the cage, they were kicking and punching. One of Sergei's powerful kicks left Kelly limping as they entered the third round. I don't think Sergei expected Kelly to last that long. My big, handsome Russian was breathing hard and looking frustrated.

The two men traded hits and kicks. Sergei stumbled backward after one good kick from Kelly, and the bodyguard jumped on the advantage given to him. He wrapped his arms around Sergei and shoved him into the fence.

"No!"

I watched in awe as Sergei used his incredible strength to free himself from the hold. Sergei slammed his elbow into Kelly's ribs, and the former Marine looked like he was going to die. He gasped for breath and wobbled on his feet. Out for blood, Sergei tripped Kelly and followed him down to the concrete floor where they grappled in the most brutal way.

"Oh god!"

I flinched when Kelly punched Sergei repeatedly in the temple. Sergei lost his grip on Kelly, and the other man escaped his hold and clambered to his feet. Sergei spat a mouthful of bloody saliva toward one side of the cage and wiped the back of his hand across his bleeding face.

The two men charged each other again. Sergei landed a punch that made Kelly totter. Sergei kicked Kelly right in the ribs and the man started to guard his right side. I witnessed a definite change in Sergei. Like a predator who spotted a weakness in his prey, he pounced on Kelly. With a punch and a choke hold, he brought Kelly down to the floor.

With my hands in a prayer position, I pressed them to my lips and looked on in horror as I fully expected Sergei to kill Kelly. Our gazes clashed—and the bloodlust seemed to fade from Sergei's eyes. He lowered his lips to the former Marine's ears and said something only the other man could hear. He repeated his words again, and this time Kelly reacted.

Weakly, Kelly tapped Sergei's arm three times before passing out cold. Eyes closed with relief, Sergei inhaled a long breath and carefully placed Kelly on his side. He crouched over him protectively until Jack and Finn Connolly made it to their brother's side. Only then did he back away and leave his opponent.

While the referee held Sergei's hand high and everyone around me celebrated, I simply smiled and held his gaze. It was over. He was out of the mob—and now he belonged to me and only me.

Chapter Nineteen

A loud snore from the passenger seat of my car made me smile. I reached over to rub Sergei's leg as I pulled into the driveway behind my house and waited for the gate to close behind me. "Sergei? Baby, we're home."

"Huh?" He bolted upright and then hissed with pain. Putting a hand to his ribs, he groaned. They weren't broken, but clearly they still hurt like hell. "I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"Sergei, you've had a long day. It's okay." I carefully touched his arm. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Yawning, he tried to stretch but was impeded by the cramped quarters of my car. "We've got to get you something bigger than this if you're going to drive me around town. This is worse than an airplane seat."

"Hey, now," I said with mock hurt. Running my hands over the leather, I remarked, "This is luxury, baby."

"Luxury, huh? No, luxury is coming home with you tonight and knowing I never have to cross
that
line again." He cupped my face in his battered hands and nuzzled his mouth to mine. "I'll never be able to thank you enough, Bianca."

"Well, I can think of a few ways you can start," I murmured against his broken lips. "But you don't have to repay me in any way. I did this for us. This was an investment in our future."

He gestured to his bruised mouth with his swollen hands. "You might have to give me a few days of deferment on paying this debt. I won't be much good to you until some of this starts to heal."

An invisible band squeezed my chest like a vise. I hated that he was in pain and wanted to make him feel better. "Let's get you inside. You need to shower and take some more anti-inflammatories. Then I'll give you a massage like Ivan described to me."

Even so beat up, Sergei still couldn't control his raging lust for me. "I've got something I'd love to have you massage."

I wanted to be annoyed with him but I couldn't stop smiling. "You are a very dirty boy. Now, unfold yourself from that front seat and march up to the house."

"God, you're so sexy when you give orders." He leaned over and planted a lingering kiss right on my mouth. "All right. Let's see if I can get some blood flow back into my legs."

I rolled his eyes at the overly dramatic description of my cramped—to him—front seat. "Normal-sized people fit just fine in this car. Thank you very much."

"
Milaya moya
, you know me better than that. I'm big all over."

Shaking my head at his nonsense, I slid out of the driver's seat and tried to ignore his flirtatious laughter. The guy needed to rest and heal, but I had a feeling he was going to try to get my panties off me the first change he got. Not that I was going to put up much of a fight about it…

Inside the house, I offered to make him something to eat, but he declined. I tried to take his heavy gym bag from him, but he refused to let it go. After a glass of milk and some anti-inflammatories, Sergei went through the house to check the doors and windows. Amused, I followed him on his nightly round. "You must have taken a hard hit that scrambled your memory. I don’t have a prowler anymore, and the Night Wolves are long gone."

"So?" He shot me a look that said his overprotectiveness was never going to fade. "Those aren't the only bad things that exist in this city. Believe me," he muttered. "I know."

Certain that he did, I waited for him to finish and then led him upstairs to my—our—bedroom. He dropped his gym bag on the ottoman, and I realized how much I had missed seeing it there. My closet door was open, and he backed up after walking by it to take a better look. Flicking on the light, he studied the newly reorganized shelves and bars. "Bianca?"

Coming to stand beside him, I reached out to touch some of the clothes he had left behind. "They were in dryer. I started to hang them up in that guest room closet but then I decided I would move everything I wasn't wearing this season across the hall and move your things here." I swallowed anxiously. "Where they belong."

He put his hand on the wall and turned to gaze down at me. His eyes were suspiciously shimmery. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." I slid my hand under his shirt to gently caress his chest. "I want you here with me."

"People will say I'm taking advantage of you and your kindness and generosity."

"I don't care what people say."

"No?"

"No." Then, just because I liked teasing him, I added, "Besides, I like to keep my investments close."

He grunted but bent down to kiss the top of my head anyway. "I have a feeling this is going to be a piece of ammunition you'll use against me for years to come."

"Well, yeah!" I said with a laugh. "It was a lot of money." I cautiously embraced him, minding his bruised sides, and savored the heat and strength of him. "But you were worth every single penny, Sergei."

"I'll make you happy, Bianca. I swear. I'll spend every fucking second of the rest of our lives doing whatever I can to make you smile."

"I'm holding you to that promise." Leaning back, I peered up at him. "Come on. Let's get you clean. Then? Bedtime."

Just as I had expected, Sergei tried to seduce me once we were naked and in the shower together. Thankfully my shower was too small for him to get anywhere with that. I playfully batted away his fondling hands and made him hold still while I scrubbed all the parts of him I could reach. He tackled his hair, face and neck because he was much too tall for me to adequately clean those areas.

The pink water and blood-tinged suds swirling around our feet and rushing down the drain left me nauseated. I reminded myself that this was the life I had saved him from and that this would never, ever happen again. In time, his abused body would heal, but I imprinted the sight of all that blood in my brain so I would always remember where we started our journey together.

"Don't put that on," Sergei admonished as we dried off after our shower.

I stared at the chemise in my hands. "But this is one that you bought me."

"I haven't seen you or felt you in days, Bianca. I want to feel your naked skin on mine tonight." He slashed his hand through the air in that imperious, alpha male way of his. "No clothes at night for at least a week."

"Yes, master," I said with a roll of my eyes. Secretly thrilled, I dropped my chemise on the counter and followed him out of the bathroom. Sergei made quick work of tossing the decorative pillows from my bed. For tonight only, I chose not to scold him for being so messy, but I pushed aside the pillows that fell between the bed and the bathroom, just in case one of us had to get up in the middle of the night. A fall and a trip to the emergency room weren't appealing in the least.

"On your stomach," I said, remembering the way Ivan had described the massage. "I'll start with your back."

Looking dead on his feet, Sergei crawled onto the bed and did as instructed. I selected the only unscented lotion I had and climbed onto the mattress. Mindful of Sergei's many bruises and injuries, I carefully massaged his tight, knotted muscles. Every now and then he grunted or hissed and shifted beneath me. I followed his short directions and adjusted my technique to give him the most relief.

"Turn over, baby."

Sergei rolled onto his back and flexed his calves. "Start with my legs?"

"Sure." I helped him stretch his taut muscles in the way Ivan had showed me, holding his heel in my hand and applying gentle pressure to his toes. Sergei winced but started to slowly relax as the cramps left him.

With my palms slicked by lotion, I massaged his massive calves, all the while marveling at the unbelievable strength beneath my hands. Although Sergei wasn't going to fight for money any more, he wasn't about to let himself go. I had a sneaking suspicion Ivan would try to cajole him into joining him as a trainer for those legit mixed-martial arts fighters on his roster. Now that Sergei had options, I hope he explored all of them.

"
Unnnhhh
." Sergei let loose a guttural groan when I began to run my thumb up and down the sole of his foot. The more pressure I applied, the more he seemed to enjoy it. I didn't miss the way that big cock of his started to grow. Amused by the reaction, I used both hands on his sensitive foot, working my thumbs in slow circles along his arch. His erection throbbed to life, standing tall and proud, and weeping glistening drops of pre-cum.