Beat (The Beat and The Pulse #1) (10 page)

Chapter 17

Ash

I broke her heart.

I never cared before.
I never cared about a woman - all I gave a crap about was fighting.

Best thing to do was
break it before someone else did it for me. My lesson was well and truly learnt
in that department. Better I did it than let her suffer in someone else's
hands.

Ren's lips on mine.
Her tongue, her taste, her smell... Just thinking about her made me hard as a
rock. It took all my willpower not to picture her naked and moaning as I
ploughed into her. Fuck, her
pussy
.

It was broad
daylight, I was standing in the middle of Beat, and all I could think about was
fucking Ren. My cock in her pussy.

For a split second I
thought about going into the change rooms and beating off, thinking about her
as I came. Before I realized what I was doing, I scooped up my towel and walked
across the studio and disappeared out back. My hand was on my cock against the
material of my shorts and the other on the shower door, when I paused.

Selfish fucking cunt.

“Ash?”

Screwing my eyes shut
at the sound of the wrong female voice, I glanced over my shoulder at Monica.

“Everything okay?”
she asked, stepping closer.

Fuck, I was so horny.
I needed to come so fucking bad.

“Fine,” I replied, my
jaw grinding.

“You don't look
fine,” she murmured, trying to be all sultry, pouting her lips and sticking her
tits out. Monica was beautiful, anyone with a pair could see that, but the
personality didn't match. Once, she was the type of woman I'd fuck until I was
satisfied, toss out and never call again. Now...

Letting go of my
cock, I turned to face her, to tell her to go fuck Dean, because it'd do the
guy a favor, but I turned right into her. Her tits pressed against my chest,
her scent washed over me and her hand found my hard cock. Too bad it was hard
for another woman.

Her gaze met mine and
a wicked grin spread across her face. So, she was finally making her play and
all it took was for me to pay a little attention to her sister. An image of Ren
appeared in my minds eye, all sweaty from our workout the night before, the
feel of her body against mine...her frustration...and I pressed my crotch into
her hand.

Monica bit her bottom
lip in what looked like triumph and began to palm my cock, rubbing up and down.

Grabbing her wrist, I
yanked her hand away. “Not for you.”

She stared at me, her
expression falling into surprise. “Excuse me?”

“No one ever told you
no before?” I whispered in her ear.

She shoved me hard in
the chest, stepping away, obviously hurt. Like I gave a shit.

“Be careful what you
say to me, Ash,” she hissed. “You want it. You're hard for fucks sake. Let's
just get it over with.”

My eyebrows rose.
“You think I want
you
?”

Her face contorted
into a deep set scowl. Mean Monica was out of her cage showing her true colors.
“You'll regret this.”

“You're going to run
to Daddy?” I sneered. “Who do you think got this place out of the black hole it
was in? Who earns the money that keeps this place afloat?
Me
. I don't
think Daddy cares, sweetheart.”

Monica shoved me hard
in the chest, but it was like she was trying to push a brick wall. If Ren was
on the other end, she could put a dint in me. At the thought of that little
spitfire, I felt my blood thicken.

“Asshole,” Monica
hissed, turning on her heel and fleeing. I didn't give a fuck.

She was the wrong
sister. Monica obviously took after her uppity mother. Ren, despite her
feelings toward the man, took after Coach more than she knew. I'd pick Ren time
and time again, but I could never have her the way I wanted. It'd already gone
too far.

Slapping my hand on
the shower door, I locked it behind me and began rubbing one out. Ren or no
Ren, blue balls never helped anyone.

Chapter 18

Ren

I’d been let down by
guys before, but I’d never been rejected so bluntly.

I’d never put myself
out there like that either. I mean, I’d never told a guy how much I wanted him
to fuck me, so that was a new one. I’d pretty much given Ash free reign and all
he did was get up and leave.

I was horrified,
embarrassed and heartbroken.

All it did was
solidify my belief that in the end, everyone just abandons you when things get
hard. I wanted to curl into a little ball and just give up, but that would be
too easy, right? I doubted anyone would come and check on me until a weird
smell started wafting from underneath the storeroom door.

A cold shower did
wonders for waking me up, but not a lot for my melancholy. I stood under the spray,
shivering for what felt like an hour before I had the guts to go back out into
the studio. Breakfast went down without touching the sides and I slunk into the
gym before Ash even arrived. Even then, I was too embarrassed to meet his gaze
when he did show up for the days training.

But that didn’t stop
me from stealing glances when he wasn’t looking. How couldn’t I? His body was
magnificent, total perfection, and it had almost been mine. He’d almost been
mine, but now it was just another hurt piled on top of all the others.

All day he smiled and
laughed, his fingertips brushing Monica’s arm. Jealousy flared sharp and
hot in all my nerve endings and didn’t subside - not for one second. If anyone
was developing an anger problem, it was me. I wanted to scream and kick him
right where it hurt, but all I did was run on the treadmill like it was some
kind of screwed up metaphor.

I managed to steer
clear by hiding in the gym, only having the company of the Twins as they
alternated on the bikes or the treadmill and whatever Dad had them working on
out in the studio.

I did circuits on all
the equipment, only breaking for lunch and by mid-afternoon Lincoln finally
felt it was time to intervene. He leaned against the arm of the treadmill as I
climbed on for round something…I’d lost count a while ago. Tomorrow, my muscles
would want to punish me, too.

“Did something happen
between you and Ash?” Lincoln asked, eyeing me with concern.

I shook my head, not
trusting myself to open my mouth.

“If he’s fucked with
you, Ren, just say the word.”

“And what would that
achieve?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“Did you give him
that shiner the other week?”

“Me?” I scoffed. “I
wish.” The cut on Ash’s face was still there, but the bruise that had risen was
long gone.

“I’d like to shake
the hand of the person who did.”

“Good luck to you,” I
replied, going for the controls. Fast. Yeah, let’s run fast.

Lincoln snatched my
hand away from the button. “You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep up that
pace.”

He was right, but I wanted
to feel something else other than rejection.

“
Ren
.”

“Fine.” I sighed,
stepping back to earth.

“Take a hot shower,”
he said, a hand on my shoulder like a protective older brother.

I snatched up my
towel and started toward the door.

“Ren?”

I turned at the last
second.

“I mean it, you know.
Just say the word, okay?”

“Thanks,” I replied,
smiling thinly.

Feeling slightly
better that someone was in my corner, I crossed the studio with my head down
and disappeared into the back. I could hear Ash’s voice echoing in the showers
and I stopped short, peering around the corner. His back was against a
partition between showers, Monica’s long model-esque perfect body pressed up
against his. Suddenly, a pile of vomit rose in the back of my throat as his
strange behavior last night was explained in glaring black and white.

Her hand was on his
crotch, rubbing his cock and that was all I needed to see. I backed out of the
shower block before either of them noticed and escaped up to my closet, trying
to ignore the pain slicing through my chest.

I didn’t get why he
was in bed with me one second and rejecting me the next. I didn’t get what was
so wrong with me, but now I understood and it hurt more than I wanted to admit.
Was I forever going to be dumped for the prettier sister?

All answers were
pointing to yes and wasn’t that a bitter pill to swallow.

As darkness enveloped
Beat, I switched on the back row of lights as per my usual nightly routine. I
should’ve spent that night resting after my epic workout, but I hadn’t had a
chance to hit anything all day. I needed to hit something before I hit
someone
.

I pictured Ash's face
as I pounded my fists and feet into a bag.

Asshole. Punch.
Dickwad. Kick.

Hopefully he got the
memo not to turn up tonight. I snorted. He wouldn’t come after the ultimatum
I’d given him. I thought about all the places he went between closing at Beat
until he turned up at midnight and wanted to gag. He was probably fucking
Monica, then coming here to toy with me, but that still didn’t explain that cut
on his face.
Maybe she liked it rough
? Puke.

As soon as the
thought splintered through my mind, so did an image of him fucking
her
.
I hit the bag harder, tears springing into my eyes.

Crying wouldn’t help
anyone.

“Ren?”

He emerged out of the
shadows like some kind of predator. Lucky me. Despite everything, Ash’d turned
up in his usual silent creeper way to rub it in…just like clockwork.

I stopped abruptly,
my heart jackhammering. “Fuck off.”

“I’m not going away,
Ren.” His voice was low and deep and contained a hint of something that sounded
like determination. Determination for what though? Keeping the game going for
as long as he could?

“You should.”

His jaw clenched like
he was trying to stop himself from saying what he really wanted to. He was
never straight up, always biting back his words. I was sick of it.

“I saw you with her.
All day, every day-”
In the shower palming your cock
.

“You’re jealous of
her
?”
he scoffed.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”
I snapped.

“She’s nothing.”

“Fuck off,” I hissed,
not looking at him.
Liar
.

“Ren.”

The way he said my
name always set off this echo deep inside my body. It made me wet, but what was
the point? It never went anywhere. I didn’t want to be his sloppy seconds. I
didn’t want to touch him after his cock had ploughed into my evil half-sister
only hours before.

“You made yourself
perfectly clear last night,” I said, trying to keep my voice clear. “So, if
this is just pouring salt into the wound, just fuck off because I don't need
it.”

“Ren, listen to me-”

I turned on my heel
and shoved him hard in the chest, the contact sending spikes of pleasure up my
arms. “No, you listen to 
me
. I’m not a toy to be played with, Ash.
You can’t come here and screw with me, then run off and fuck my heartless bitch
of a sister behind my back. You can’t sleep with me, you can’t touch me and you
sure as fuck can’t kiss me again. 
Ever
. I’m a human fucking being
and I’ve been through enough shit in my life without having you fuck it up
beyond recognition. This is
my
time and
my
space. Get the fuck
out of it.”

He stared at me like
I’d just kicked his puppy and it only made my rage flare into an inferno.

“Didn’t you hear me?
Get
out
.”

Without another word,
he slinked off across the studio and shoved the door open with a violent jab.
It slammed behind him and then I was alone. Glaring, I went over and punched in
the alarm code before locking him and the world out.

I was a game.
Remembering the day he fought with Dean in the ring, he'd split up the verbal
slinging match between Monica and I and led her away, leaving me behind. He
sided with her. He’d done nothing to stand up for me because he was too busy
being an asshole. It was like he knew I was an easy target and was taking full
advantage.

I was so stupid.

I was just a little
girl that was in too far over her head.

The moment I had
enough cash, I was getting out of Beat and never coming back.