Stand of Redemption (16 page)

He sighed.
He had never put so much thought into a woman. He had always considered those kinds of thoughts a waste of time. He had met a few nice ones in college that had ambition and weren’t the typical women that chased after him now, but none of them had ever tempted him to becoming emotionally attached. He had refused to let a woman have any power over him. His training had to come first. Now, he was obsessing over the last woman he should be with.

He checked the time; his father would be waiting for him.
Now that he had been cleared to start training again, his father had been encouraging him to get back to work. Nick hadn’t told him he had already started.

They were barely speaking because of his refusal to hand over his money. They had been looking forward to fighting in a new weight class
, now they worked on opposite sides of the gym.

He pulled into the gym he and his father owned.
He had spent so many hours sweating there. He couldn’t help that he’d enjoyed his time away.

He knew it had been harder on his father, Rex, than it had been on himself.
Rex lived and breathed this sport, and he lived vicariously through Nick. He had been so angry when he’d found out Nick was going to fight Zane. Nick realized that his father always knew how good Zane truly was and was worried about Nick getting hurt. Nicholas was giving him the benefit of the doubt that he just hadn’t wanted to lose bragging rights. Zane deserved to hold the lightweight belt for as long as he could.

Over the years, Nick’s feelings had hardened toward his father.
He knew that Rex hadn’t been able to get over his mother’s death, causing him to grow harsher. He let it out on Melanie more than anyone else. Nick was angry with his father over Melanie.

She was doing so well
. She had graduated from college and was going to fight for a year before she applied for physical therapy school. She was the champion in her weight division, and their father had not watched one fight.

He and Rex had been in several arguments over Melanie, but his father wouldn’t budge.
He kept telling him Melanie would get hurt. Nick had tried to reason with his father unsuccessfully. The only thing that kept Nick coming to the gym was the grief he knew that was eating away at Rex.

He and Rex had never had a serious discussion about
his mother, but he knew his father also felt responsible for her death. In his father’s case, he believed he should have gotten her out of the troubled high school. However, his mother had been incredibly strong willed and wouldn’t leave. She’d loved the students too much and believed she was at that particular school for a reason. It was the one thing they had in common—the overwhelming guilt over his mother’s death.

When
Nick got out of his car and went inside, Rex was working with some of the younger fighters, yelling at one of them to move faster.

Rex turned when he heard the door open and
lost his smile when he saw Nick.

“Keep working,” he said to the fighters as he walked toward Nick.

“What happened to your face?” his father questioned him.

“Ty got carried away when we were sparring
,” Nick lied.

“
You need to be more careful when you’re training a rookie. Are you ready to get back to work?”

“Yes.
I’m going to start training for heavyweight,” Nick replied, wondering how his father would respond.

“That’s a good idea
. You’ve fought everyone worth fighting; it’s time to prove to everyone that you can take it all.”

“Glad you agree,” Nick said as he walked to the locker room to change.

It would be a challenge for both of them.
Nick was used to being the biggest guy in his weight class. Now, he would be on the low end of the weight range for the heavyweight class.

His phone buzzed
, and he looked down at it. Ria had sent him a picture of her breasts.

“Damn.” He knew he should have gone to see her before coming to the gym.

Chapter 21

Ria had been sitting in her car across the street from Kataya’s house for the last few hours. It appeared as if someone was still occupying it, so Ria couldn’t go in during the day. She was growing restless waiting, but planned to sit there until whoever was inside left.

Her hopes finally came true when she watched a car pull into the driveway. Ria knew it wouldn’t be Kataya, but hoped whoever it was would lead Ria to her. It was a young woman, most likely Kataya’s younger sister from the resemblance. She watched her check the mail and
enter the house.

After another half hour, the girl finally came out and locked the door talking to someone on the cell phone. As she got into her car and pulled out of the driveway, Ria quickly started her car to follow.

The girl turned her car onto the interstate as Ria followed from a distance. Damn, she was going to have to cancel with Nicholas if the girl drove very far.

After driving for about an hour, the girl finally pulled onto one of the exit ramps. It was one of those exits with just a couple of gas stations and one fast food restaurant. Ria made a mental note of the exit number and the name of the road, and then reset her odometer to zero to keep track of how many miles they drove down the road.

The girl turned down a two lane road and drove for about thirty more minutes before taking a sharp turn toward a gravel driveway. Ria couldn’t follow her up the driveway—it would be too obvious. She quickly scanned the area as she drove by and saw a small house at the end of the drive. Ria traveled a little farther until she saw a graveled area on the side of the road, most likely for cops or a turnaround spot. There was a big tree adjacent to it.

Ria pulled her car in then maneuvered the vehicle to where it was facing the highway and would be able to pull out when necessary. She had also pulled it next to the tree in case she needed to climb for a better view.

Ria reached into her bag and pulled out the binoculars she had purchased before she had searched for John, thinking they would be helpful. Proud of herself for thinking ahead, she stepped out of the car and stood behind the tree, out of sight of any drivers passing by, and looked toward the house. She could see lights, but no people. She scanned the windows and could make out movement, but not any faces.

Ria checked the time. It was already after five, but she couldn’t afford to leave now; she had come this far. She texted Nicholas to tell him she was running an errand and couldn’t be there until later. Technically, she wasn’t lying to him, although she felt a twinge of guilt at the deception.

She continued to watch the doors and windows of the house, anxious to lay eyes on Kataya. After another hour, she saw the girl walk outside, followed by another woman. Ria quickly focused the binoculars. It was Kataya.

Ria fumbled to pull her phone out her back pocket and quickly called Mitchell.

“Exit ramp 53, turn right. Thirty-five miles down, there’s a gravel driveway with a small white house. She’s there,” Ria said hurriedly.

“That’s Point area. I’ll have someone there in forty-five minutes,” Mitchell replied and hung up abruptly without waiting for Ria to reply.

She looked at the phone. Those assholes didn’t have much to say, and they were always quick to hang up on her.

She made herself get over her irritation to see if Kataya was staying or going. She watched the two women argue,
then the young girl got in the car and Kataya looked around before going back into the house.

Ria let out the breath she had been holding. Thank God she wasn’t leaving the house. The last thing she wanted to do was follow
her to wherever the hell she would go.

The next forty minutes felt like the longest minutes of her life. Ria kept her eyes on the house, praying Kataya didn’t try to leave. When she saw a car finally pull into the driveway, she breathed a sigh of relief, but then yelped in shock when she saw two men step out of the car with guns raised.

Oh God, what had she done?

Ria knew she should haul ass and get out of there, but she couldn’t make herself move. She stood transfixed as one walked to the door and the other walked to the back. They were going to kill Kataya!

The man went to kick the door in, but before his foot made contact, she heard a gunshot and watched the man drop to the ground. Kataya had taken the first shot! She could see Kataya through the window, holding the gun, but then saw the man come behind her and point his gun to the back of her head.

Ria had seen enough. She was getting the hell away before she witnessed anything else. She jumped in her car and headed toward the interstate, calling Mitchell on the way.

She waited impatiently for him to answer.

“What?”

“Mitchell! She shot one of the men,” Ria practically screamed through the phone.

“I know. We have it under control. He’s not dead,” Mitchell replied. “You’ll get your next assignment soon.”

Ria heard the infamous sound of silence as he hung up on her again.

“What the fuck?” Ria said to herself.

This was turning into a mess. She wasn’t going to be able to do this much longer. Just a few more jobs, then she would tell Emiliano enough. She worked on taking deep breaths and getting herself back under control. She did recall seeing the man rolling on the ground and figured they probably wore protection, considering they were going after someone who’d hijacked firearms.

She continued to remind herself that, if she wasn’t doing these jobs, someone else would be, and it wasn’t her fault these people had betrayed the cartel. Anyone who watched movies would know they always found you.

That thought made her nervous. What if Emiliano didn’t let her quit?

She got lost in her thoughts. She had to do this. Her job wasn’t even that bad. Maybe Kataya had plans for the guns that involved hurting a large number of people, and she had pr
evented her from doing it. She calmed herself with those types of thoughts as she drove home.

Once home, she texted Nicholas to tell him she was back and needed to catch some sleep. Smiling mischievously, she sent him another picture before taking a quick shower and collap
sing on her bed.

*  *  *

Ria stretched, enjoying the feel of the soft sheets. She didn’t want to wake up; she was still feeling drowsy. Rolling over, she burrowed beneath the blankets, stiffening when she felt someone lying next to her. Her head peeked out from underneath the covers.

“Nicholas!”

He was lying on his side, looking down at her, wearing nothing but a predatory smile.

“You scared me to death!”

“You’re surprised after the pictures you sent me?”

“How do you know it was me? I didn’t show my face.”

When Nicholas burst out laughing, she quickly tried to smother him with the pillow.

“Okay, Okay,” Nicholas surrendered, taking the pillow away from her.

“Your face looks much better.” Her hand reached up to cup his check.

Unable to resist, Nicholas bent down to give her a kiss that had her clinging to him.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, breaking away.

She frowned up at him. “Don’t give me compliments you don’t mean. I’m not a woman that needs to hear that for you to have sex with her.”

He laughed out loud. “I only say that when it’s true. You are beautiful.”

She blushed, seeing the admiring way he was staring down at her. She reached up, kissing his firm mouth, her tongue parting his lips.

It quickly turned into a passionate kiss.

“Oh, God, you taste good,” he groaned as he pulled back and looked down at her.

“You taste like chocolate,” Ria quipped back.

Nicholas laughed again. “Yeah, I couldn’t resist the chocolate drawer I keep. I have a terr
ible sweet tooth.”

“Are you hungry? I could fix us something to eat.” Without giving him time to answer, she started to get out of bed. “What are you in the mood for?”

He stopped her. “Right now, you.”

Ria sucked in a deep breath at the passion in his voice.

“Me, too,” she said as stared down at him.

As she lay back on the bed, his hands began to work their magic on her body.

He started with caressing her neck, slowly working his way down to her breasts. He took turns playing and squeezing each of them until he had them both hard and sensitive to his touch. Ria felt the pool of desire building inside of her as his hand worked its way down her stomach and into the hair above her pussy.

He ran his fingers through the short hair before running them along her lips. Ria started thrusting her hips upwards as he teased her. He would start to enter, then pull out to take her clit in his hand as he rolled it between his fingers.

“What do you want from me?” he asked as his finger stayed at her opening, not entering, but teasing her with its proximity.

“I want you,” Ria moaned as she started t
o push herself onto his finger.

Ria rode his finger as she felt her wetness increase. He knew exactly where her g-spot was, and he had her moaning in no time. It felt so fucking good. Nicholas was learning her body, and he was able to heighten her desire.

“I know, baby,” Nicholas crooned to her as he felt her begin to stiffen underneath him, her climax growing closer.

She opened her eyes when she heard him moving. He moved down between her legs and slowly licked along the inside of her swollen lips. The softness of his tongue and the feel of his breath gave her goose bumps, her body shivering. He reached his arms around her legs and pulled her body closer to his mouth. She felt his tongue enter her and he continued the assault by slowly licking her inside.

She thought she should pull back, but he had locked her in place, and his tongue was soothing the soreness from the night before. She felt the desire building inside of her as he continued his strokes.

“Me vuelves loca,” she whispered.

As he latched on to her clit and tugged at it with his teeth, Ria felt like she was going to burst into flames with the shards of pleasure shooting through her body.

He then started licking her clit, making her legs start to tremble. She felt the waves of pleasure start to pulse up and down her body, flying over the edge when he increased the pace.
The contractions were overwhelming, causing her to jerk, but he held her in place as he continued to force the orgasm to continue.

She screamed with the pleasure. She was actually seeing stars; something she’d always thought was just a myth. Thanks to Nicholas, she understood what she had only heard about, but had never experienced.

She lay there, trying to catch her breath, as Nicholas rose on his knees between her splayed thighs.

“You look incredibly sexy right now,” he replied.

Ria looked down at his body. She could see his dick straining upwards. She sat up and tried to push him onto his back.

“Dame tu polla.”

“What does that mean?”

Ria remained silent.

“I think I need to learn Spanish.”

“I will teach you.”

Nicholas shook his head. “I don’t trust you. You might say one thing and it mean the opposite. I don’t want to get my face smacked.”

Ria’s eyes narrowed on him.
“You would use the phrases I taught you on another woman?” She rose up on her elbows.

“Uh, Uh. I’m not stepping on that one.” He brought an end to the discussion by thrusting his dick inside of her with one thrust.

“Dios!” Ria fell back to the bed as he used her thighs to bring her closer, grinding his cock into her. Her fingers tore at the sheets. She looked up at him and saw the possessiveness flashing in his eyes and expression. She felt just as strongly about him.

“Fuck,” he groaned as she tightened her walls around him.

When she started hearing him breath harder, she knew he was about to come. She squeezed him tighter with her thighs, lifting her hips up so he could grind against her clit. His hand reached down and rubbed her as he increased his speed. Ria began gasping as she felt her walls try to clench his cock. He shuddered, coming, unable to hold back while Ria came, screaming out several Spanish cusswords that would have embarrassed her if he had known what they meant.

After
their breathing returned to normal, Nicholas laid down next to her.

“The original plan was dinner and maybe a movie, then playtime. But once I saw you slee
ping, all I could think about was touching you,” he said ruefully. “Are you hungry?”

“Yes, I am,” she replied.

She hadn’t eaten since breakfast. It had been a long, eventful day, and she was mentally and physically exhausted.

“How does steak sound tonight? A new Brazilian restaurant opened up, and they serve you until you tell them to stop,” he explained to her.

“That sounds good, but I can’t eat that much,” Ria said.

“I know; it’ll put a little meat on those bones and give me something to hold on to next time I fuck you,” he replied as he quickly rolled out of the bed before she could hit him with the pillow.