Banging Reaper (18 page)

I watch Ethan walk away and all I feel is… freedom.

“Hello, Chase,” Doctor Miranda says as she walks into the dressing room. She smiles to Dale and he smiles right back. They make a cute couple. When I get Avery back maybe we can double date.

“Doc, how’s it going?” I ask and stand up for her.  She's here for the pre-physical. This should be...fun.  Yeah, fun.

“Okay, Chase, let’s check you over.” 

It's not just her cupping my balls and making me cough that has me uncomfortable, it’s when she starts making me bend and twist to check my range of motion that fucking sucks.  It hurts, and to be truthful, it’s all I can do to not let it show. 

I smile through it all and give Dale my Reaper grin. He just shakes his head. I may be fooling the Doc, but he knows.

***

I don't see much after I walk out of the dressing room, I don't need to. I keep my eyes focused on a point just past the cameraman who walks backwards in front of me. I am ready, and I am going into battle tonight.

This has been almost ten years in the making.

I walk out into the crowd and see a familiar raven-haired beauty in the front row as I make my way down the long entrance through all the rows and rows of seats. The Arena is sold out tonight, something like thirty thousand seats filled. This is going to be a good night. I jog around the cameraman and make my way over to Avery even with the crowd surrounding her cheering and reaching out for me.

Leaning in, I shout into her ear, “I love you!”

“I love you, too!” She has to scream into my ear to be heard over all the people crowding us. “Ethan sent guys to hurt you yesterday.”

“What?” I yell and pull back to look at her face.

She nods her head and motions me closer, “He tried have you hurt!”

I'm not sure what emotion must be playing across my face but whatever it is Avery shivers as I grin at her. It’s the grin I show every single opponent before a fight. It's the reason I earned my nickname the Reaper. Every time I fight, right when it’s about to start, I get this wide grin. I just can’t fucking help it. Some announcer on the television said I looked like a grim reaper with the smile, and it stuck.

I nod my head and turn back to the cage and see Dale lifting his eyebrow at me. I motion him close as they check over my gloves one last time when I get up to the edge.

Leaning over, I speak in his ear. “Ethan sent those thugs after me.”

His eyes widen as he looks at me then over to Ethan. “Are you fucking serious?” he yells.

Nodding my head, I step back and lean over to our cutman for the fight, James. He smears the jelly over my brow and nods his head at me. I'm good to go.

Dale looks like he has some serious problems, but I shake my head. “Time to go to work.”

Nodding, Dale steps back and walks around the cage to my side. He has a look on his face that does not bode well. It won't be me he talks to the commissioner about though.

None of that matters now.

“Ladies and Gentleman! It's time for the main event of the evening!” the ring announcer screams into the microphone.

His voice fades into the background as I walk to the middle of the ring. Ethan saunters over to where the ref and I stand.

After smacking gloves, we walk back to our sides.

I stare across the cage at Ethan. He's smirking and hopping around his side as he does a bit of flexing towards the crowd. What a fucking douchebag. This isn't wrestling entertainment here, this is MMA, a real sport and I am going to teach him a fucking valuable lesson tonight.

We fly out of our corners at the hand chop of the referee.

Both of us unleash a flurry of punches and kicks at each other. I think I land more than him, but at the moment all I can do is block and punch, block and kick.

My ribs fucking hurt and I don't feel like I can get a full fucking lung full of air. It’s fine though because the moment I get a chance, I lunge forward and wrap him up, slamming our bodies into the ground.

I get half of my body up on top of his, but I can't get much of an angle to hit as hard as I want.

I pull back and stand up. Grinning, I motion for him to stand as I back away.

He looks uncertain. Good. I want him uncertain. I want him worried about why the fuck I want to keep going toe to toe with him.

He charges at me and I block before dragging him back to the ground. This is what I do for the rest of the round. I pull him down and hit him until I can't get good shots then I stand. I can hear the crowd as I do this, some are cheering but it sounds like a lot of them are getting tired of the games I have been playing with Ethan.

The bell rings loudly and I back off.

Walking back to my side of the cage, I slide down the chain link cage until I'm sitting down on my stool. Dale squats down in front of me and looks into my eyes, “Are you fucking toying with him?” he asks incredulously.

I guess my smirk is enough of an answer.

He bends down and picks up a rag, looking at the floor as he asks, “How are the ribs?”

“They fucking hurt and they want me to know it,” I growl.

“You think she was telling the truth?”

Nodding, I take a long swig from the water bottle. “Yeah, I am pretty fucking certain. We might need to tell the cops and the commission about this.”

“After the fight?”

“Yep.”

“Are you going to punish him?”

I smile and stand up. Was I going to punish him? Fuck yeah.

The ref gestures to us both and ensures we’re ready.

I nod then face Ethan. Giving him a wink, I smile my wide smile and wait for the signal. My ribs are making it painful to breathe, it’s like fire lancing across my chest. I cannot fucking flinch or show it though, if I do I’m fucked.

Ethan flies across the ring at me, his face full of rage. He is all fists and feet as he tries to get inside my guard.

I think I made him mad, I won the first round by my count.

He lands a really hard punch on the bad side of my ribs before he lands one the next moment on my good side. I wince badly and lock him up, trying to drag him to the floor.

I’m pretty sure he sees the wince, but he starts to focus his punches on my good side. Thank the fucking gods of the mat, the fucker thinks I'm hurt on the good side. I slide up his body as his legs reach up, trying to get under my chin.

I have no fucking excuse for allowing him to get his god damn arms around the back of my neck. Fuck. He's trying to get a triangle choke on me and I gasp out as I try to twist out but feel my fucking ribs scream in pain.

It's a stabbing pain, and beyond him trying to sink the hold deeper, I feel like a belt has been tightened around my chest. Each breath I take seems to be shallower than the last.

I feel like I am slowly suffocating.

“Agh!” I yell to the grinning little fuck stick Ethan. I am hurt and I know it, and he is sinking it deeper as I swing my fists ineffectively into his ribs.

My vision is beginning to get a bit hazy around the edges. I start to really pull back and away, but it only enforces that I am stuck like a motherfucker.

Can't. Fucking. Breathe.

Well, shit. My legs are slowly buckling.

As the darkness swallows me, I know for a fact that this move is hard as fuck to pull off, and it really doesn't have any way of countering the hold. I don't know where he fucking learned this, but this move fucking sucks.

I can't break free and I am going to lose to this fucking pile of human shit.

No
.

I slowly begin to rise, I use whatever strength in my wrecked body I have left.

I want this, I want to win.

I don't care if it kills me,
I’m going to break this bitch
.

I can't hear the crowd anymore or the shouting of our coaches. I hear blood in my head pounding, now or never.

Raising up, I can feel him still using my own arm to choke me, cutting off what little amount of oxygen I had in me. I slowly stand and the fading of my vision is getting worse. I can only see Ethan's face, his eyes wide as I raise him higher and higher. I am doing what all those work safety videos tell you not to do, I am lifting this fucker up with my back.

This is going to hurt in the morning.

Standing up straight, I have Ethan looking down into my eyes with pure terror. My breathing is much easier now as all his weight is on top of my shoulders. I grin for just a moment, his legs are up, over my shoulders and I now have the one break I know of that can defeat this.

Now it’s my turn.

I swing forward with all my strength as I slam his back and head hard into the mat. I pull free for a moment then dive straight for his face, swinging.

One punch. Two punches.

Now the ref is pushing me to the side and off of a completely knocked out Ethan. I think he went out when he landed, but those extra punches certainly helped.

I slump to my knees, trying to draw air into my oxygen deprived lungs.

Fuck me.

Dale comes rushing into the cage as soon as he is able to. I struggle to my feet as he rushes to me. “Chase, you need the medics?”

I shake my head and wrap an arm around my waist. I’m fucking hurting.

The next two minutes are a blur as they get me to my side of the cage while they check on Ethan.  The medics come in and they quickly have Ethan assessed.  He nods to them a couple of times and then with assistance from a few people, stands for the verdict. 

The ref raises my hand in the air as I grunt. That fucking rib still hurts but I can breathe a bit better. I feel buzzed, I feel another surge of adrenaline. I fucking won.

“And the winner and still heavyweight champion by knockout! Chase 'the REAPERRRRR' Winters!” 

I do a quick turn around and wave to the crowd as I hear my Reaper chanted over and over. 

Mark, the commentator, stands next to me and begins the post-fight interview.  “Wow! Chase that has to be the best ending to a fight I have ever seen! You went past the point most would tap out and kept on going.”

“Thanks, Mark. I wasn't positive I was going to win once he got me in the triangle. By the time I finally had him up and ready to slam, I don't think I was fully there.”

“That... just wow Chase, that was amazing. So this is the second fight in four months. Are you going to take a well-earned break before your next challenger?”

I get a wide smile on my face as I shake my head, “Nah, Mark.  I don't think it’s going to be like that.  See this was my last fight.  I'm officially retiring as of let’s see... As soon as I leave the cage.” 

I pat Mark on the shoulder. His mouth falls open and his eyes widen.  I was serious with him though. I was done the moment my hand was raised in victory.

I leave him there as the crowd goes silent for nearly a full minute.  It's almost surreal as I look around the cage and see a stunned Ethan staring at me.  Fuck, everyone one around me seems at a loss except snickering Dale.  Only he knew and Dad knew, I told them as soon as I made my decision.

As I walk out of the cage, I look to where my Raven is sitting.  Her eyes are swollen and her cheeks are sticky from tears. She laces her hand fingers together under her chin with a look of relief on her face. Marching over to her, I stick out my hand.

The crowd is clapping and cheering now.  I don’t know if it’s because I am retiring or simply because they don’t know how else to react.

Avery takes my hand and I pull her to the barrier. I stick my hands under her arms and lift her up and over it.  I don't let go though, I swing her into a threshold carry and march out of the arena with her in my arms.

I lean down and whisper into her ear. “I am done waiting.  You’re mine now, I don't care about anything else. I want you as mine forever.”

It’s been so long since I’ve been near Chase I can’t stop touching him.

After carrying me through the cheering crowd, we’re back in his room. He’s getting checked out by the doctor. It’s the same doctor that checked out my head after I was shoved into the wall by Ethan. She seems to be a bit upset that there’s something wrong with Chase’s ribs. She wants him to go to the hospital for some x-rays. In the meantime, he tosses back some Tylenol and has words with his trainer while his minor cuts and scrapes are tended to.

I stick close to Chase.

I touch his arm when I can, and when I can’t, I place the tips of my fingers softly against his back. He seems to like having me near, making sure I’m always sitting right beside him. There’s a new heat in his eyes when he looks at me and he looks at me a lot, even when someone else wants his attention.

When his face isn’t turned towards me, I feel like he’s watching me out of the corners of his eyes. Perhaps he’s afraid I’ll run away? Or perhaps he wants me to try to so he can prove his point.

When he carried me out, he told me he’s done waiting for me and he wants me to be his forever. I squirm anxiously, waiting for everyone to leave. We need to talk. I need to know what forever means.

The fight was brutal. He looks way worse this time than after the last one. I don’t like the way he’s breathing in short, shallow breaths. I’m worried for him. After everyone is done and he’s ready to leave, instead of talking, I decide it would be better if I drove him to the hospital. He seems so tired, right now it’s just enough being with him.

The hospital confirms that Chase has fractured some ribs. There’s not much they can do for it, apparently they don’t even bandage them because it can cause complications. He’s given instructions to take it easy for a few weeks and to use Tylenol for the pain. Now that I don’t have a job, I plan to devote all my time to taking care of him until he’s better. Now that he’s retired, I wonder what he’ll do instead of training.

When we leave, I’m pretty damn confused after he tells me to drive us to my apartment.

“Are we staying at my place tonight?” I ask as I pull out of the parking lot and make the turn for Elm.

“Gods, no,” Chase says as he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. I can only imagine how much his ribs must hurt as the Impala seems to rattle and bump with every dip and crack in the road. “I hate your place.”

I don’t exactly love my place either so I don’t take it personal.

“Then why are we going there?” I ask, so not getting it.

I glance over at him and he grimaces, “I want to get this part over with.”

What the fuck? Did he change his mind? Is he having second thoughts? Does he now realize he’s too good for me and I don’t deserve him?

I don’t even know what to think, my mind is a jumbled, emotional mess. All I know is if I start crying now, I’m going to wreck this big noisy muscle car into something. So I try hard to keep it together. I press my lips in a tight line and bite the panic back.

When I pull into my parking lot, I slam the car into park and jump out.

“Grab all the stuff you want to keep and leave the rest,” Chase grunts as he climbs out of the car. “I’ll get Sebastian.”

“What? Why?” I ask, turning on him.

He quickly walks up to me, grabs me by the face and plants a kiss on my lips. “Because you’re moving in with me. Do you got a problem with that?”

I blink at him as it sinks in and slowly shake my head. I don’t have a problem with it. All I feel is relief.

“Good,” he smirks and let’s go of my face only to give me a little slap on the butt. “Get to it. I’m ready to go home.”

As soon as I unlock the door to my apartment, Sebastian is there meowing. Chase feeds him as I gather up my things.

Thankfully I don’t own much. I have two bags of clothes and everything out of my bathroom. Even though he’s injured, Chase insists on taking one of my bags as we walk back to his car. I give him the lightest one, for the sake of his ego.

Chase is so quiet on the drive back to his place, so quiet I think he’s fallen asleep. Just as I’m pulling up to his garage, he suddenly reaches out and grabs my thigh. I nearly jump out of my skin and hit the gas a little too hard.

“Shit,” I squeal and he chuckles.

“Fuck, I missed you so much,” he growls and squeezes me.

I squirm and wish I could press my knees together. Just him touching my thigh is making me hot.

“Down, big boy,” I smirk at him and pull into his garage. “The doc ordered you to take it easy.”

“Okay,” he grins and his hand travels up my thigh as I park the car. “I’ll let you do all the work.”

Shaking my head at Chase, I tell him, “I can’t believe after everything that’s happened tonight, you’re even thinking about it.”

Chase grabs my hand before I can jump out of the car and brings it up to his lips. His lips brush softly across my knuckles and I shiver, all the little nerves in my hand going off like tiny little explosions.

The way he looks at me, the way he melts me with his eyes makes me nervous. He’s been hurt, he needs to rest. I shouldn’t encourage him, yet it’s been so long how can I resist him?

“I’m pretty sure even if I was dying I’d be thinking about you, Avery.”

I suck in a sharp breath and yank my hand back. Before he can do anything else, I push open my door and jump out of the car. If I don’t put some space between us, I’m totally going to hurt the guy by jumping his bones.

Chase chuckles as he follows a moment later with Sebastian in his arms. Grabbing up my bags, I let Chase lead, following him into his house. After walking over the threshold, I close the door to the garage behind me and drop my bags to the floor, just letting everything sink in.

“Home sweet home,” Chase says. Grunting in pain, he bends down and gently drops Sebastian to the floor then straightens.

Sebastian meows and immediately slinks his way into the kitchen.

Home
, I think but still, even though I want this it feels so surreal. Am I dreaming? I give my arm a little pinch. No, this is real. This is really happening.

Chase must see the hesitation in my eyes. Before I can do or say something stupid, he reaches out and snatches up my hand. “I’ve made some changes.” He pulls on my hand, leading me to the living room. “Come, tell me what you think of them.”

“You bought a plant,” I say in confusion as I look around the living room and the only change I can see that he made is that there is now a potted green plant on his table.

“Yeah,” Chase grins. “Do you like it?”

“Sure,” I tell him, not entirely understanding what he’s getting at. “It’s great. Really spruces the place up a bit.”

“I thought you might like it,” Chase says, his voice dropping an entire octave as he pulls me closer. “I thought about you when I bought it. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I thought about you the entire time you were gone.”

The closer Chase pulls me to him, the more I have to tip my head back to look up at him.

“I want to make the house more comfortable for you. But if you don’t like it, we can sell it.”

“Sell the plant?” I ask. Who would want to buy a used plant?

“No,” Chase smirks down at me. “Sell the house.”

“Oh,” I say softly as the gravity of what he is telling me sinks in.

He couldn’t stop thinking about me. He’s willing to sell his house for me. And what do I tell him? The first thing that pops out of my mouth is, “I didn’t think about you.”

Chase stiffens. Damnit, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that. I quickly rush to say, “I didn’t want to think about you. I tried really hard not to do it.”

And, I just dug myself deeper. Way to go, Ave.

“What I mean is,” I stammer and drop my eyes, feeling like a complete ass. “That every time I thought about you it hurt because I missed you. Because I needed you. And it hurt so bad I just couldn’t take it. So I tried really hard not to do it. But even after all the trying, I just couldn’t help it.”

I drop my voice to a whisper, feeling incredibly vulnerable as I say, “I think I love you, Chase.”

Chase is quiet so long I fear he’s angry at me. God, I hope I didn’t fuck this up already. We’ve only been in his house together for like two minutes.

Slowly, anxiously, I lift my eyes back up to look at him. His eyes are so intense, so dark, just meeting them is enough to steal my breath. I feel my lips parting in surprise then suddenly he’s groaning and kissing me.

“I’m sorry,” I apologize against his lips, against his kisses. “I’m so sorry I pushed you away. You didn’t deserve it. I don’t deserve you.”

“I love you,” he growls and sucks back on my bottom lip. “I fucking love you, Avery, and you’re never getting away from me again.”

“Keep me,” I tell him and kiss him back. Tentatively, I lift my hands to his arms and squeeze, still knowing better than to touch his chest. “I’m yours.” Deep inside me, I know, I
feel
like I’ve always been his. My body was made to be near him, made to touch his.

“Mine,” he demands and kisses me so hard, so fast, I can’t even answer him.

At some point while Chase is kissing me, I feel so overwhelmed, I guess I start crying.

“Don’t cry, baby,” Chase says tenderly, breaking the kiss and wiping the tears from my cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” I apologize and sniffle, feeling beyond silly. “I’m just so happy.”

I feel like today I’ve ridden a rollercoaster of emotions after weeks of trying to feel as little as possible.

Chase smiles and drags his thumb across my bottom lip. “Come on, it’s been a long day.”

And that’s an understatement. I’m crying and some of the red swollen parts on his face are beginning to shadow with bruises.

By the hand he leads me out of the living room and up the stairs.

“Are you in a lot of pain?” I ask as he takes the steps stiffly beside me.

I don’t know a heck of a lot about fighting, but I know from personal experience sometimes injuries don’t necessarily hurt as much at first as they should. Pain has a way of marinating, sometimes you don’t feel the full force of it until much, much later.

“Nothing a little love and tender care won’t fix,” Chase assures me as we walk into his bedroom.

Now I have the strongest urge to take care of him, to fix him. I can see that he hurts though he’s doing a good job of masking it. I watched every hit his body took, every kick and slam Ethan dealt out. All I want to do now is make him feel better. I want him to feel good. He deserves it after the night he’s had. He’s deserves it after all this crap I’ve put him through.

I yank back gently on his arm and step close. “Let me tend to you?” I ask quietly as he looks down at me. 

He nods and I grab the bottom of his shirt. I tug up on it and raise myself up on my tiptoes as he bends down, pulling it over his head.

“What do you have in mind?” Chase asks, straightening with a grunt.

I toss the shirt away and it falls somewhere on the floor. Next, I begin to tug down his pants. “Do you want a shower?” I sink down to my knees until I’m eye level with his groin.

Chase nods and his voice sounds a bit hoarser. “A shower would be good.”

“Step out of your pants,” I have to tell him as I tug them down to the floor.

His cock springs free and even though he’s hurt, even though his ribs are fractured and he’s turning black and blue all over, he’s growing hard for me. It takes every ounce of self-control I have to keep myself from reaching out and taking him in my hand. This isn’t for me, though, I remind myself.

This isn’t about what I want. I’m doing this to make him feel good.

Taking a deep breath, I rise up until I’m standing tall then I grab my own shirt and pull it up and over my head.

“Avery,” Chase says hoarsely and reaches for me.

I shake my head and bat away his hands. “No, no touching. If you start grabbing on me now, we’ll never make it through the shower. And trust me,” I smirk at him. “You need it.”

Chase laughs, but his laugh cuts off suddenly as I reach behind myself, unsnap my bra and free my breasts.

“You’re so beautiful,” he chokes out, and I can’t help but warm and flush with heat beneath his admiration.

Next come my jeans. I unsnap the button then wiggle and push them down my hips.

Chase groans as if I’m hurting him. I straighten in front of him and press my knees together. Just knowing he wants me is making me wet.

“Come on,” I say, turning on my heel and walking away, leaving him with the sight of my naked ass. I can’t help but strut a little bit, wiggling my hips.

Chase catches up to me as I step into the bathroom and smacks me playfully on the ass.

I shoot him a sultry glare over my shoulder then wiggle my ass some more as I bend over and turn the water for the shower on.

“Do you want me to attack you?” Chase growls and reaches out, grabbing me by the hips. “Cause that’s how you get attacked and fucked.”