SHOOT: A Novel (22 page)

Emma easily weaved
through the thinning crowd of people and slipped unnoticed into the locker
room. Just as she sat on one of the cold, wooden benches she heard footsteps.
Looking up, she saw Nathan emerge from the shower area. There were a few drops
of water still sliding down his tan skin here and there. He had nothing but a
small towel wrapped around his waist, his perfect abs and all his muscles were
on full display.

Emma swallowed
hard. He looked at her and grinned, holding his arms open to beckon her over
for an embrace. She stared at him for a moment longer. Even though she knew
this might end and she was afraid of leaving him, there was no denying he was
irresistible to her each and every time. Despite the cuts and bruises on his
face, he was as handsome as ever. His body turned her on and knowing he knew
how to push all her right buttons got her even more worked up. She stood up and
walked up to him, leaning her face against his chest and enjoying the way his
big, muscular arms wrapped around her smaller body.

He smelled like
the body wash she had given him. His skin was smooth despite being slightly
damp. She felt the cotton of his towel rub against her stomach that was exposed
from her short tank top.

“Another one under
my belt,” he muttered into her hair before taking a long sniff.

Emma shut her
eyes. She wanted to congratulate him on another win and knew it would mean a
lot to him to hear those words fall off her lips, but she just couldn’t bring
herself to do it. Instead, she turned her head and pressed her lips against his
chest. She looked up at him lovingly, but there was something else in her eyes—desire.
She knew he saw it too. His grin change into a knowing smirk.

She kissed his
chest again and then another before standing on the tips of her toes to press
her pretty, bow-shaped lips against his. Without another word, he leaned into
her and kissed her slowly. It wasn’t long before his heavy hand ran up her back
and drew her body all the closer to his, her large breasts pressed up against
his exposed, damp body. He placed his other hand on her waist. Emma opened her
mouth to deepen the kiss, relishing in the moment when his tongue slipped into
her mouth and she could taste him.

The metallic taste
of blood still lingered despite him having brushed his teeth but she didn’t
mind it. In fact, she was used to that taste by now. Almost every time he had a
fight, that was the way the kiss tasted for a couple days afterward. It was almost
like an acquired taste to her by that point. She melted in his arms, her own
lying limply over his shoulders, as she continued to kiss him. He was warm and
sturdy.

Nathan pulled her
in by the waist and Emma could feel his hardening bulge against her. She moaned
softly into his mouth, immediately moving one of her hands from his shoulder.
She ran it slowly down his body, enjoying the way every crevice of his define
muscles felt under her fingertips before her hand landed on the soft cotton
towel. She tugged it open and let it fall to the floor before walking her
fingers down his defined and sexy pelvic muscle until she could feel the warmth
of his cock against the palm of her hand.

His kissing
slowed, as if he were waiting on bated breath for her to take hold of him. It
was the same every time and it was honestly one of her favorite parts of the
whole experience. There was something tender about the way he just waited for
that first contact. And, as if right on cue, she loved the way he broke the
kiss to draw in a rattled breath the moment she closed her hand around his
manhood.

He wasn’t fully
hard yet, but that wasn’t a problem; she quite enjoyed stroking him until he
was fully erect. She liked the way he throbbed against her palm, the blood
pumping through him until he was stiff. He groaned quietly with eyes shut as
she jerked his now rock hard cock up and down.

Emma looked at him
with wanting eyes before leaning up again, on the tips of her toes, to capture
his lips in a fiery kiss. Nathan reciprocated that energy, his lips mashing
against hers with passion. She moaned ever so slightly against his mouth to
spur him on before finally letting go of his cock and placing her hand on his
firm ass cheek. She gave it a squeeze and giggled into his mouth. Nathan smiled
against her kiss as he slipped his hands under the hem of her shirt.
 
He pulled away just enough to tear it clear
over her head and fling it across the room.

She heard it hit
one of the lockers before falling on the floor. He turned her around and took
off her bra before pressing his lips against nape of her neck. Both his hands
ran up her smooth, flat stomach before cupping her large, exposed breasts. She
leaned her head back against his shoulder when his lips landed against the side
of her neck and he started sucking gently, his hands busy massaging her breasts
slowly. He always loved to play with her this way and it never failed to drive
her wild.

Emma’s eyes
clenched shut as she enjoyed the feeling of his hot, wet mouth on her neck and
his fingers running over her hard nipples, sometimes teasingly giving a little
pinch. She started grinding her ass against his bare cock, chest heaving with
every deep breath she took. She let out a little moan when she felt one of his
hands wander from her breasts down her stomach and start to unbutton her tight
denim shorts.

He unzipped them
and in an instant she felt the tips of his thick fingers running down until he
slipped his hand under the waistband of her thong. She drew in a loud breath
before whimpering when his index finger started running up and down her slit,
now already soaking wet. She had started getting turned on the moment she saw
him step out of the shower, and now with the kissing and bit of foreplay she
was more than good to go.

Emma shuddered
against him and bit back a loud moan when he pushed his finger inside her,
hooking it upward slightly. He started easing it in and out of her before
adding a second finger and speeding up his pace. He knew just how much to hook
his fingers to tease that sweet spot inside her. He did it just enough to rile
her up, but not enough to bring her to orgasm right away– he loved building her
up just enough so that she would explode when the time was right.

 
He started to walk back slowly and she stumbled
about, leaning back against him for balance. She felt him start to sink his
knees and she knew he was sitting down on one of the benches. He stopped her
from sitting in order to take off her shorts and thong.

She felt his lips
kiss along the top of one of her ass cheeks before he guided her down onto his
lap. She opened her legs so she was straddling him backward and he took charge
from there. Grabbing hold of her waist, he moved her down slowly until she felt
the tip of his hard cock rub against her soaking wet slit. Emma reached down on
instinct and wrapped her hand around his shaft, giving it a quick little rub
before lowering herself down. He eased inside her at once, forcing a breathy
moan to escape her lips.

Immediately, he
placed one of his hands over her mouth to stifle the sound. She started moving
her body, easing herself up and down his long shaft. Although the first few
thrusts were slow and built up the sexual excitement they both felt, it wasn’t
long before she started bouncing away faster. She was hungry for his cock and
she wanted the intense feeling of orgasm to run through her entire body as soon
as possible.

Nathan moved his
other hand from the curve of her small waist up to play with her breasts, which
were bouncing about with the rocking of her body. She moaned more into his hand
and started riding his cock even faster. It only took a couple minutes for her
to feel the orgasm hit. Her muscles squeezed around his cock, contracting like
crazy, as her whole body shook and trembled. Tiny tingles fluttered up the back
of her neck as she drew a sharp breath in.

When she finished
and her body went slightly limp for a few moments, Nathan took advantage to
guide her into a new position. He helped her stand up and get off his lap,
turning her around so she bent over and rested her hands on the wooden bench.
The spot he had just been sitting on was warm, but she had no time to think
about it. She curled her fingers around the edge of the bench and held on tight
just in time for him to ram his cock into her from behind.

He let out a loud
grunt that echoed off the cement walls as he grabbed onto her hips and started
fucking her, alternating between fast and slow. She felt his body against her
back as he leaned over to play with her breasts. She clawed at the wooden bench
as he gave one of her breasts a playful slap. The cool air of the locker room
kissed her naked back as he stood back up and started pounding into her, his
groans coming faster and faster.

“Fuck,” he grunted
just before smacking her ass. Emma moaned out, but was careful not to be too
loud. She didn’t want lurkers to overhear the two of them, much less come in to
have a quick peek at the action.

Nathan slowed down
his thrusts for a bit and she could feel his body shifting positions before he
entered her again, this time at the perfect angle to hit her sweet spot. She
shut her eyes and pressed her lips tightly together because, soon enough, her
moans would be uncontrollable. He thrust against her with long, slow strokes to
space out when he hit that sweet spot.

Once he picked up
the pace, Emma felt once of his hands move from her waist, down her stomach,
until his thumb pressed against her swollen clit. She could have screamed right
there from the intense pleasure that was coursing through her body. It was almost
too much to handle, but he started pounding into her again and her body tensed
up with her second orgasm, which was more intense than the first.

Nathan had to hold
up her trembling body so she didn’t collapse and he managed to do so while
still pounding into her until he finally let out a shaky grunt. His thrusting
stilled as he pushed deep inside her. She could feel his manhood pump and
twitch inside her, sending more tremors down her legs. He turned her around and
gave her a quick peck on the lips before lying her down on the bench. He took
the towel that had been around his waist and wiped her clean as she tried to
catch her breath.

Emma was just
about to zip up and button her denim shorts when the locker room door swung
open. Her heart sank in near panic.

It was Nick and a
few of his men.

She quickly did up
her shorts and shot a glance over at Nathan, who still had his button-down
shirt completely open. It was obvious what the two of them had just done. Nick
glared at her, then Nathan, then back to her. Although it had been a long time
since her relationship with Nick had ended, he still didn’t like to see her
with other men.

She suspected it
had something to do with pride and disgusting, male chauvinistic reasons rather
than him still being hung up on her. She hoped Nathan wouldn’t catch on to the
way Nick was looking at them or the fact most of his anger was focused on her.

Nick cleared his
throat and announced, “Well, we came in here to congratulate the winner.” He talked
as if he were declaring some sort of major honor being bestowed on Nathan.
“You’ve had a lot of great wins, but this one was spectacular.”

He looked at
Nathan with a smirk. Emma could tell he was purposely ignoring her. She stood
in the same spot with her arms crossed and she tried her best to look as
disinterested as possible. The last thing she wanted was for Nick to think he
actually got to her in any way.

Nathan nodded, but
then his grin broke out. Something about Nick walking in personally and using
the word “spectacular” to describe his victory held a lot of weight. It either
meant that he now really had his eye on Nathan or there was someone in the
crowd that night of importance that had noticed him. Nick snapped his fingers
and pointed at the exit for his men to walk out before him.

 
“Have a good night,” he said as he turned on
his heel. Emma felt relief wash over her now that he was finally leaving but
then he stopped and looked over his shoulder, directly at her.

 
“I’d say go celebrate but it seems you already
have.” He sneered. “You had a good time celebrating that victory with what used
to be mine,” he muttered. “Now she’s just whoring around. Seems she’s ready to
fuck pretty much anywhere now,” he said with venom on his tongue before finally
striding out.

Emma turned to see
Nathan staring at the door in a mixture of anger and shock. “Nathan,” she said
weakly.

He spun around on
her immediately. “What the fuck was he talking about?” His voice was demanding
and sharp.

Emma shrunk down, taking
a step back away from him. It was a sort of involuntary reaction even though
she knew deep down that Nathan would never do anything to hurt her. He would
never
lay a hand on her. He pointed at
the door and demanded, “The fuck is he doing calling you a whore?”

She felt her face
grow hot and her heart beat faster.

“He’s bitter,” she
admitted.

He glared at her
and then raised an eyebrow. She knew it was his way of wordlessly demanding
some sort of explanation. She could tell he was livid. Nick had just spoken
about her that way, but it wasn’t prudent to seek out a fight with him. He
wasn’t only the person responsible for Nathan’s career and livelihood; he was a
dangerous man whose bad side should definitely be avoided. Being on Nick’s shit
list could be, quite literally, fatal. Emma knew Nathan was angry about being
so confused. He was completely in the dark about her past with Nick, at least
he had been up until that point.

“Nathan,” she
started with a shaky voice. She cleared her throat and continued, “I used to be
with Nick.”

“
What
?” His face was scrunched with shock
and anger. She wasn’t entirely sure of everything he was feeling. She didn’t
even want to think about whatever was passing through his mind.

“It wasn’t
anything serious,” she explained. She felt like she was desperately reaching
for explanations and trying to hold onto anything to stop the situation from
escalating. But it was already too late; Nathan’s face told her everything she
needed to know. He was angry and he was hurt. And everything he had held back
from telling Nick when he called Emma a whore would, no doubt, feed into this
discussion as well. It was going to be rough, but there was nothing she could
do to brace herself for it.

“I was just his
arm candy! It really didn’t mean anything and it was–”

Nathan held up his
hand and shook his head. “You think that fucking matters? Come on, Emma! Wake
up! Get it together! That fucker
owns
this place and you know what that means? He practically owns
me
. How the fuck could you not tell me
something like this?”

“What difference
would it have made?” she cried out. The hot tears were already threating to
spill out from the corners of her eyes, but she wanted to hold them back as
long as possible and stay strong.

“Shit!” he slammed
his open hand against one of the locker doors and it sprung open. Emma took
another step back away from him.

“I can’t fucking
believe this. here I am wanting to be the best fighter down here and little do
I know,” he motioned toward her dismissively with his hand, “that you used to
date the big boss. There goes everything I’ve fucking worked for.”

“What?
What
?” she cried out, this time the
tears sliding down her cheeks. His words hurt. All she had ever done was be
supportive of his dreams even if she hated watching him in action. “I just want
to get out of here and I want you by my side but, look, here I am every time
you step into the ring. Why? Because I love you.”

“You think he
fucking cares if you love me? You don’t think that’ll only boil the fucker’s
blood even more?” His words were scathing.

She knew he was
seeing red, but she felt it was all so unfair. It wasn’t as if she could hop in
a time machine to go back and never date Nick. None of her past could be erased
and she didn’t want her future with Nathan to be in even more jeopardy than it
already was.

 
“God, Nathan. Is that all you care about? What
he’ll think and how he’ll react? What about me?” There was a brief moment of
silence filled with tension before she cried out, “I’m reaching my fucking
breaking point, but that’s not something you take into account!”

“What the hell,
Emma? You know fighting is my life,” he shot back, but quickly clamped his
mouth shut. In the heat of the argument it came off as if fighting came before
his relationship with Emma.

“Right,” she spat
back, turning her back on him and starting to pace in an effort to calm down
even a tiny bit. She turned just in time to see him open his mouth to speak,
but she beat him to it. “And my wanting to get the
hell
out of this shit lifestyle and go to California isn’t
important at all to me.”

They stared at
each other in silence for what felt like hours.

“That’s not it,”
Nathan defended, finally breaking the silence. “You have to admit not telling
me about you fucking Nick in the past was a shitty call on your behalf.”

“Is that what
really bothers you, Nathan? The fact that I’ve fucked him?”

He slammed his
closed fist on another locker door and it popped open with a dent. A few items
from another fighter spilled out and clattered across the floor. “Don’t fucking
play that card on me,” he warned. “He’s out here thinking he has the right to
call you a whore and here I am, the fool who had no idea you two even
knew
each other.”

“And do
you
think he has the right to call me a
whore?”

“Oh, come on,
Emma! Don’t twist this into something else. You should’ve fucking told me he
was your ex. You should be smart enough to figure out how this could affect me
down here in The Ring, especially when you damn well know I want to be the
best. You know this, fighting, it’s all I’ve got. It’s all I’ve known.”

“And, to you,
that’s a perfectly valid reason to just throw everything else out, right?
That’s why you can’t quit or come with me to California. Because it’s all about
the fight and it always will be. Never mind how much I love you and you love
me. The love of that title you’re after, that’s stronger in the end.”

“Don’t be so
fucking unfair. You know it’s not like that.”

“It doesn’t
matter, Nathan.” Her voice had finally softened.

She was no longer
shouting or crying out, but her tears were flowing even more freely now. The
words she hadn’t wanted to think, let alone utter out loud, were about to fall
from her lips. Now was the moment. Everything she feared had reared its ugly
head and there was no more avoiding it. She just wished it hadn’t been because
of a stupid, insulting comment coming from Nick.

“It doesn’t matter
what the reasons if the end result is the same. I want out and you, well, you
want to stay and make it to the top.” Nathan stared at her and she could see
the realization enter his mind. His expression was still harsh, but there was
something else there—a softer side. She could tell he had a nasty feeling what
she was about to say and he didn’t want to hear it.

“At this rate,”
she said in a hoarse voice. She swallowed hard and licked her lips, which now
felt dry. The spit that traveled down her throat felt like sandpaper and her
pulse was thundering in her ears. Her body started to shake.

“At this rate,
Nathan, there is only one thing. There is only one way. We’re going to have to
break up and go our separate ways.”

Dead silence.

The two of them
stared at each other; each with their own thoughts. They looked into each
other’s eyes and both of them knew what she had said was true. It didn’t matter
how much either of them wanted it to be any different. After several minutes,
Emma decided it was time to walk out. Nathan clearly had nothing left to say,
at least not right at that moment and she had already said the only thing she
wanted to hold inside and avoid for as long as possible. She turned on her heel
and walked out of the locker room, feeling completely unsure about what was
going to become of their relationship.

As she walked out
the locker room door to the main area, she had no clue if her relationship with
Nathan was even still on. She knew he was just as confused as her. He didn’t
try to stop her from leaving and he didn’t go after her. He hadn’t even
responded.

As she slowly made
her way past the fighting ring and past the nice chairs and couches of the
lounge area, which quite frankly seemed out of place in The Ring, she had no
clue if she had actually just broken up with the man she loved or if they both
needed some time to think.

Whatever it was,
it didn’t feel good.