Tainted Love(24)

Turning around, I catch him smiling. “Yeah, yeah, don’t get any ideas.”

I also need to keep telling myself this. He tests all my limits.

Walking in, I turn the light on and flop my jacket over the sofa while taking my shoes off.

“Want a drink or anything?” I ask him as he makes his way to the sofa.

“Nah, I’m good. How long are you here for?” he asks.

Pulling out a bottled water from the fridge I answer, “Two weeks. I came a little earlier for the hen’s party this weekend.”

I make my way to the sofa and sit down next to him. It’s a little quiet so I turn the television on, leaving it on some stupid infomercial that they have running at this time of the night. Looking to my left, I catch him staring at me. His perfectly pouty lips on that strong, defined jaw, and those eyes? Not just the color, but the shape. They’re so seducing. His stare alone could make me wet. Is—is making me wet.

I blush. “What?”

He gives me a half smile. “You’re still the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

I cough out my water that I was drinking. “Ade, that was really sweet, if it was true. I told you, no sex.”

He laughs. “I didn’t say that to get down your pants, Kalie. If I wanted in that pussy again…trust me, I’d be down there.”

I raise my eyebrows at him. “Oh really.”

He smiles. “I’m serious. And I promise I will not have sex with you. Yet.” He continues when he sees that my face hasn’t changed, “I’m dead serious. Come here.” Patting the spot next to him, I crawl over and get under his arm. We must stay like that for a while, it’s so warm and cozy, that I fall asleep.





After a few minutes, I look down at Kalie and see she is sleep. I kiss her head and slowly get my arm back from under her, before standing and picking her up to carry her to her bed. Once she’s tucked in, I write a note for her saying to text me with my number on it. I walk out of the hotel, lighting a cigarette and getting into my car. Roaring her to life, I pull out and make my way to my apartment. It’s temporary until my house has been built, but I can’t have my car and my bike there. One of the two always needs to stay at the clubhouse. I walk into my apartment and throw down my keys, walking into my room, undressing and scrubbing up in the shower before getting into bed. I toss and turn for hours thinking about those bright emerald green eyes, before I drift off to sleep, haunted by the demons of my past.





Fourteen Years Ago




The crowd was cheering as I made my way into the ring. I’d thrown myself into fighting, not for status anymore, but for money. Since my dad died, my mom had become a zombie. She never ate or left her room, and I had to regularly check on her to make sure she was still alive. Her soul died the day my dad died.

I bounced around on the soles of my feet, waiting for the ref to stop talking.

“To the right, we have the undefeated…Ade ‘The Executioner’ Nixon! He’s known for his one-hitters. So watch out folks, this may be a quick one.”

The crowd cheered for me and it was fucking pathetic. I got it, I’d been fighting in the ring since I was thirteen, so I was used to it, but I was fighting outside of the ring much, much, earlier than that, though. My opponent smiled at me, probably hoping his poker face stayed strong. I smirked back at him and the whole crowd erupted again. It sounded like the crowd was filled with women, by all the squealing I could hear. This was an underground fight, but there were people of all ages there too.

“And to the left corner, we have Steven Luger with twelve wins under his belt and one loss. He’s not to be under-estimated folks. He has a mean right hook.”

Well, I have a mean both hook. So we’ll see how this goes down.

We punched fists, and then I started walking around him, watching his step. I dodged his hook and placed all my weight into my left jab. My fist connected with his jaw and I could feel the crunch of his jaw under my knuckles.

Crack.

His body fell straight to the ground. The crowd went deathly silent briefly before the screaming started again, and when I looked down, Steven looked dead. His coach ran in along with a couple of his other members. I shrugged and walked out of the ring and back to the dressing room to gather my shit. I walked past Tommy, grabbing my earnings from his outstretched hand.

“You know, Ade, you’re going to need to let them get a hit in soon. Or no one is going to bid against you.”

I laugh. “Yeah, we’ll see.”

Walking out into the crisp air I slipped onto my bike. The bike was my dad’s, but when he died, it was handed down to me. I fucking hated him and what he’d put me through as a kid, but I’d keep the fucking bike, it was beautiful.