Fighting Fate (12 page)

Drawing her lower lip between her teeth, she loved how his taut body could expend energy in such a casual way. Maybe he recognised her burgeoning arousal because he did another push up, and another, his fingers still linked in hers against the mattress.

The man wasn’t even breaking a sweat, he could probably do this all day. The knowing slant of his lips displayed his amusement at her response to what he considered a mundane action. He was stretching stiff, tired muscles, in his own way, and because she’d had a hold of his hands he couldn’t do it in a conventional manner; so he did the next best thing as far as she was concerned.

The guile of his expression grew and he took one pair of their twined fingers around to his back, and began to push up again, this time with one hand.

‘You’re showing off,’ she said, bobbing up to kiss him on his next descent.

‘If you just open your legs a bit wider and arch your hips.’ He winked and clicked his cheek.

She laughed because she had to give him points for trying; the man certainly did have talents. ‘You can plank on me later,’ she said. Bringing their arms around from his back to hold his wrist between their faces, she showed him the time on his watch. ‘Look at the time.’

‘Right,’ he said, clearing his throat then springing off the bed and onto his feet in a crouched stance. It was a practised manoeuvre so expert that she had to blink.

‘You have mad skills, tough guy,’ she said. Getting onto her knees to take his face in both of her hands, she kissed him, being careful not to send mixed signals about her intention to take things further. The thrust of his tongue begged for more, so she separated their lips by an inch. ‘What would you do if I punched you in the face right now?’

‘Try it,’ he said, and tried to kiss her again, but she resisted.

‘Are you saying that I couldn’t hit you? Or that you’d let me hit you?’

‘I’m telling you to try it and see what happens.’

This was where he crossed into cocky and her competitive heckles bristled. ‘I’ve punched guys before,’ she said. ‘I do have some abilities of my own, you know.’

‘Show me,’ he said. Leaping to his feet, he widened his stance and lifted his fists. With his four fingers he beckoned her toward him, moving nothing except those digits. ‘Come on then, Minx, get up. On your feet, pledge.’

‘You’re naked,’ she said, remaining on the bed. Moving to sit on her butt, she stretched her legs along the floor toward him.

‘Not my usual get-up, sure,’ he said. ‘But you’re naked too, we’re equal.’ Stretching across the floor, she snagged his jeans and tossed them up to him. ‘You’re that worried about protecting my junk?’ He pulled them on, but didn’t buckle the belt. ‘I guess you’re a girl who fights dirty.’

‘I’m a girl who retreats when their opponent is dazed and confused,’ she said, crawling across the concrete floor to retrieve her dress, which had somehow ended up near the bars. When she passed him he swooped down to spank her naked behind, causing her to glare over her shoulder at him. ‘I was perfectly behaved last night. You were the naughty one. Should I turn you over my knee?’

His grin burst to a laugh. He bent to snag her arm and lifted her off the ground with such force that her feet left the floor for a second. ‘Try that any day, I’d love to punish you for forgetting your station.’

Except she didn’t feel subordinate when he snatched her against his chest, trapping her arms between their bodies. Something was different this morning. They’d been verbally sparring since their first conversation and Dax had never been as sadistic as Bruno. So while Bruno had issued commands and taken pleasure in demeaning her, Dax was happy to receive the same amount of respect from her that he showed. Others may consider the spanking thing disrespectful, and she might have agreed with them if it wasn’t for the thrill she got when she was dominated by him.

‘Can you take me to the bathroom before you disappear upstairs?’

‘I’ll come back down,’ he said. ‘I just need an hour to get the place back together. I don’t want you seeing what went on up there.’

‘It’s probably going to be my job to clear up the mess.’

He shook his head. ‘Not anymore.’ He kissed her then removed his watch from his wrist to put it in her hand. ‘One hour, you can time me.’

‘I’d still appreciate the chance to pee, baby, please.’

‘There’s a restroom in the gym,’ he said. The cell door was still unlocked, so he led her through the gym to the restroom, the door to which was under the stairs.

He opened the door and switched on the light for her, she crossed to the toilet and lifted her dress. But when she turned and sat he was still there in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe, his arms folded across his chest, his thumbs resting on his biceps.

‘You’re going to stand there and watch me?’ she asked, unimpressed by his amusement. She had peed while he was in the room before, but he was usually busy with something else, not standing there observing her like she was putting on a show.

‘Yep. You might try to run away. You are my captive don’t forget.’

Glancing around, she drew attention to the lack of exits. ‘There are no windows.’

‘You’re a smart girl, who knows what plans you might have.’ He didn’t even believe his own accusations, but yanking her chain was growing to be one of his favourite pastimes.

‘You want to watch me pee out of the pussy you eat?’

‘That’s right,’ he said, not losing that tang of enjoyment. She wasn’t ever putting him off this lark.

Relaxing enough to let herself urinate, she wasn’t going to allow his antagonism get to her. To let him know that she was unaffected, she maintained eye contact throughout, right up until she washed her hands. The mirror in this room was on the back of the door so she didn’t see him coming up behind her.

‘I don’t want to leave you in there,’ he mumbled onto her crown.

‘You said it was important that they believe you slept with that girl, and that I believe you did, so you have no choice. You have to lock me in there. But you’re going to find out what’s going on upstairs and then release me, right? Do you want me to be a little bit pissed at you up there in front of Bruno?’

‘Not pissed,’ he said, squeezing her waist. ‘You’re supposed to be Little Miss Happy Slave. You should let me do whatever I want and still follow my orders. You have no right to get pissed at me.’

Twisting around, she looked up at him. ‘Do I?’

‘Do you what?’

‘Do I have the right to get pissed at you if you screw around?’

‘Babygirl, there’s a lot going on here that you don’t understand. There’s a lot of back room family politics with a bit of betrayal and sabotage mixed in. We’re in a fucked up situation.’

‘That sounds like the let-down, Dax. You’re breaking up with me before we ever got started. I thought you were a fighter. If you want me, why can’t you have me?’

‘Like I said, it’s about family.’

‘Family?’ she said.

‘You’re not meant to be for me.’

‘Screw what they want, Dax. I’m here and I’m telling you that you can have me. Are you too much of a pussy to possess me, tough guy? Too frightened to step up and take what’s yours?’

‘Don’t,’ he said, letting her go and retreating back to the door. ‘Don’t try to get me riled.’

She followed him through to the cell, where he was gathering up the last of his clothes and dressing. ‘Why not?’ she asked. ‘What happens when the great Dax Harrow gets riled? I’ve never seen it myself.’

‘If you start a fight with me I’ll end up fucking you,’ he said, sticking his feet in his boots. ‘Do yourself a favour and sit your ass down on the bed.’

‘I’ll never understand enough to help if you don’t let me in,’ she said, not following his order, but slipping into the cell just inside the door.

‘Loyalty is important where I come from, Minx. I’m not ready to betray my family and even if I did… You would flip out if you knew the truth and I need you playing along, you’re too volatile, and if you freak in front of Bruno right now…’

‘You don’t trust me,’ she said, stating the obvious but pushing him to confirm it, except he didn’t.

‘I’ll be back in an hour,’ he said, not addressing what she had said.

He kissed her cheek, which was either a sign he was pissed at her, or a sign he didn’t want to lead himself into temptation. The door shut with a clang and locked, but she didn’t bother to move from her perch leaning on the bars. She assumed that he was gone, but he spoke a moment later.

‘I’m trying to hold this together,’ he said. ‘What I… feeling anything for you at all is a betrayal of everyone in my life, and it could make things worse for both of us.  If it comes down to choosing to be with you or saving your life… I’m going to choose the second.’

The enormity of his words drew her in a semi-circle. He was in the shadow by the door, but she could make out the determination on his face. ‘What does that mean, Dax?’

‘That I will give you up when the time comes. Things could get a whole lot worse for you and I’m not going to make you any promises about stepping in to make them easier.’

‘You’d let them hurt me?’

‘They’re going to hurt you,’ he said without an ounce of doubt. ‘They are, babygirl, and for that I’m sorry. I’ll do everything I can to minimise—‘

‘Don’t do me any favours,’ she snarled. ‘What’s the point in telling me that you give a fuck if you’re just going to let them follow through with whatever their plan is anyway?’

‘I have some pull… I just don’t know if it’s enough.’

‘You’re going to try, but you think that you’ll fail? So why bother? Is that how you think walking into every fight? Sometimes you have to make a decision, Dax, it’s not always the easy choice, but you have to pick what’s best for you and the people you care about.’

‘You’re not the only one I care about.’

‘Do you care about them more?’ she asked, filing away his admission without acknowledging it or rather making a big deal of it. ‘That’s the only choice, you pick them or you pick me. Own it and face the consequences.’

‘Interesting advice, we’ll see if your opinion changes when you learn the truth.’

‘We’ll see,’ she said, and they shared silence for a few seconds before he turned and left.

So she was left here, in her old quarters again. She didn’t like it, but for an hour she would handle it. Dax portrayed such strength, like he was a man who could do anything he set his mind to. But he answered to others and it was those others who would ultimately decide their fate.

Ivy didn’t think anything of Dax being a few minutes late to retrieve her. She didn’t even think anything of him being an hour late. Movement upstairs had started again along with the rumble of voices and so she deduced that Dax was having trouble getting rid of some of the party guests.

Hour upon hour went by, night time came and the voices stopped, then the movement ceased, and all she could do was wait. The last time she had heard a car engine was half a day ago, there was no way for her to know who was still here, if anyone, or if she was completely alone.

Pacing was a useless waste of energy that she might need later. Without food or water, she had no way to replace her stores and so she conserved it by remaining static. She told herself that Dax couldn’t have forgotten about her, he wouldn’t have. Except he’d stated that if it came down to a choice, he wouldn’t choose her. She couldn’t believe that had meant leaving her here, indefinitely, forever, to die. So she would have to bide her time and hope that he would be back in the morning.

Except he wasn’t. The only way she could judge time was by the watch that he had left behind. It was the only evidence left of their joining, the only evidence that he had been here with her at all. The fact that Dax hadn’t come back to her was concerning, but the fact that Bruno hadn’t appeared either was downright disturbing.

By the morning of the second day she was beginning to feel the heat – metaphorically speaking because the air conditioner in the gym was still on, so she was getting plenty of fresh air. Unfortunately, there was no water and no food. She had to face the reality that something might have happened to Dax, which prevented him from coming back. If his cohorts had figured out that he had spent the night with her instead of with Fifi, or if Fifi had reneged on her part of the deal and told the others the truth, then maybe Dax had been removed from the equation altogether.

At almost midnight, on her second day alone in this basement cage, she was startled awake by something she didn’t see or hear at first. Fighting the haze of sleep, she identified the noise of footfalls descending on the gym stairs. Those hurried footsteps provided her with the reminder of where she was and what was going on, which brought her to her feet.

Rushing to the bars, she held on as tightly with her hands as she did with her sealed breath. The urge to call out for him was almost overwhelming. As soon as the door opened, she recognised how lucky she had been not to shout, because Dax wasn’t the one coming to her aid, it was Bruno.             

‘Don’t worry, we didn’t forget about you,’ he said with a jovial smile and immediately came to unlock the door.

In the past when he had come to retrieve her he had never been in this good of a mood. Even more surprising was the bottle of water that he handed her, without punishment or command. ‘Is everything ok?’ she asked, expecting the other shoe to drop.

‘Worried about us?’ he asked, taking her hand to lead her out of the cell and through the gym.

She let him forge the path because she was too busy downing the water and replenishing her hydration. He took her straight upstairs and into the living room, where she hoped to see Dax. Ivy’s hopes were dashed, Dax wasn’t present, but she wasn’t alone with Bruno either. A blonde woman stood in front of the entertainment centre. She was short and quite flat-chested, which made Ivy wonder if this was Bruno’s pick or Dax’s.

‘This is Rita,’ Bruno said, guiding Ivy down into the place on the couch usually reserved for Dax.

‘Ok,’ Ivy said. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’ But the blonde didn’t speak.

‘Rita is here to look after us. She’ll be doing all of the chores from now on.’

Looking around the abode it was clear that the remnants of the party had been cleared up by someone. Ivy speculated as to how long she had been asleep for tonight because she hadn’t heard anyone moving around. That being said, Rita was so slight that she could probably stomp around using all of her strength and still not draw attention to herself.

‘Is she…?’ Ivy wasn’t sure of her own position in the household now and she had no Dax to guide her. She knew that she was supposed to be compliant but she wasn’t being given orders and so she wasn’t sure on how to carry herself.

‘Ask your question,’ Bruno said, giving her some much needed direction.

‘Is she here against her will?’

Suspicion cast over Bruno. ‘Would that be a problem?’

‘No,’ Ivy said. ‘I mean, it’s not my business at all, but… well…’

‘What?’ Bruno snapped.

‘If she’s here of her own freewill then we know that she’ll follow your instructions. If she’s not, then she’d be a flight risk and will have to be watched at all times. That’s the only reason I was curious.  I wouldn’t want to leave her alone, have her flee, and let you down.’

Bruno’s suspicion waned and eventually became a smile, her answer had pleased him. He still believed that she was the dutiful slave, which was exactly what Ivy wanted him to think.

‘Rita won’t be going anywhere,’ Bruno said. ‘But that was a very good observation. Dax told Mauri that you were smart, he was right.’

So Dax was still around, or at least still alive, and that gave her hope. Her relief was broken when the front door opened and Dax walked in. The sight of him gave her joy, until she saw the bruise around his eye and the cut above his brow.

‘Master,’ she said, pouncing off the couch, but remaining on the spot.

Dax was as startled as she was by her proclamation. The desperate word had come out of its own volition because of their audience. Perhaps she had been trained in ways that she hadn’t yet understood, the gesture had been automatic. Right now that was unimportant, what mattered was why her lover was bruised, and why he had abandoned her.

‘Have you fed her?’ Dax asked Bruno, tossing the door closed.

‘Not yet.’

‘Make us food,’ Dax ordered Rita without looking at her, then snapped his fingers and pointed at Ivy. ‘You get upstairs now.’

Nodding, Ivy tried to ignore the tight space in her guts that was filled with butterflies. The fluttering insects were reproducing so prodigiously that there was no more room for the anxiety and anticipation.

Running up the stairs, she tossed off her dress and leapt into the shower to clean off her spell in the cellar. Spending no more than a few minutes there, she wanted Dax to be in the bedroom when she came out. After taking another long drink of water from the faucet, she departed the bathroom to find him on the bed, pulling his tee-shirt off over his head.

‘What happened?’ she asked, hurrying to his side to help him, though he didn’t seem to need help. Bruises on his ribs made her wince, but he was unaffected. He tossed the tee-shirt onto the floor and she caught sight of the cracked blood on his hands. ‘Oh my god, have you been fighting?’

‘Any other girl says that about her man and it’s a bad thing,’ he said. Reaching behind him he tugged something out of his back jeans pocket and brought it around to hold it up in front of her face. ‘Daddy brought home the bacon for you.’

The stack of notes was larger than any she’d ever seen in one place. With wonder and a slack jaw she took the pile and flickered through it. ‘You were in the ring? I was down there in that dingy hole and you were in the ring?’

Twisting, she hit him with the bundle of bills and then dropped them into his lap. ‘There’s ten thousand there, babygirl.’

Stopping before she got off the bed, her jaw fell again. ‘Ten thousand dollars?’ He nodded. ‘US dollars?’

He nodded again, this time with a smile. Taking her hand, he placed the fortune in her palm and curled her fingers around it. ‘Hide it somewhere,’ he said.

‘Where?’

‘I don’t want to know,’ he said. ‘It’s yours.’

‘I’m not taking your money,’ she said, trying to push it back onto him, but he pushed right back.

‘It’s not the full amount of my winnings. I’m not leaving myself broke. But it should be enough to get you by… if anything… if you need it for anything… any time.’

‘Why do I need ten thousand dollars?’ she asked, flicking through the bills again.

‘I’m telling you that it’s an insurance policy, a bailout fund. If you ever want to bolt, take the money and go.’

‘Maybe I should invest it in bottled water and a plumbing system for my cell,’ she said, turning her smile on him, but he didn’t see the funny side.

He cupped her face. ‘You will never spend the night in that cell again. I promise you, ok?’

She nodded, because he was so solemn she had to believe him. ‘You’re giving me ten grand and telling me it’s ok to leave. Did you talk to them…? About us?’

Dax shook his head. ‘I had to take some of the guys home yesterday, that’s why I was delayed. I didn’t want them hanging around and asking questions, or outstaying their welcome. I met Bruno at the mansion and that’s when I realised you were still down there alone. That was last night.’

‘So why didn’t you—‘

‘Mauri needed me to do something for him, and then I was challenged and I couldn’t… you can’t refuse when the gauntlet is down.’

‘This is going to be some macho, convoluted excuse for leaving me down there, isn’t it?’

Leaning back on her hands, she was ready to listen to his excuse. But Dax wasn’t ready to give it, he was preoccupied by her towel-clad body. The temptation proved too much for him and he untucked her towel to reveal her figure for him to devour with famished eyes. His hand landed on her shoulder, and stroked down, over her breast to her hip.

‘Every fighter has a point man, that’s the guy who hooks the fighter up with a gig. We call him our scout, because he does all the work figuring everything out before we get there. My guy got in touch with me ‘cause a rookie wanted to challenge me. I have a rep in that circle and a lot of the younger guys like to try and confront me. If they win the fight then they’d solidify their place in the arena, and their fee would skyrocket.’

‘Do they ever win?’ she asked, already knowing the answer to her question.

‘No,’ he said, lowering himself to suckle on the nipple he plumped first.

‘How do you win? I mean what are the rules as to what qualifies as a win?’ she asked, caressing his shoulder and his bicep. His hand, which had been on her knee, disappeared under her thigh to elevate it and part it from the other. ‘You don’t kill anyone, right?’

‘Either the guy is down for ten, forfeits, or the arbiter calls it.’

‘Is that like the ref?’

‘There isn’t a referee,’ he said, switching to her other breast and sucking harder this time. ‘No one steps in to keep it fair. There are security guys who come in to break things up if a weapon is introduced, but only the arbiter can give them the nod to enter the ring. If he thinks a guy is close to death, but still won’t forfeit or stay down, he can call it.’

‘That’s it? Someone has to be close to death before the arbiter calls it?’

‘Sometimes a fight goes on all night,’ he said. Coiling his fingers around her wrists, he removed her weight from them and laid her on her back. ‘If the audience are getting bored and the bookies want it called then the arbiter can declare a winner, but that’s rare.’

‘It is?’

‘Sure, he doesn’t want to vote against a guy who could beat him to a pulp the next time he goes to his mailbox.’

‘He’s not a fighter?’

‘Sometimes,’ he said. ‘But most fighters have too many connections to be a fair judge. An arbiter is picked by the fighters’ scout before final agreement is made.’

Learning about the world he was so ensconced in did fascinate her, but she didn’t like to see him hurt by it. The more she thought about what underground fighting involved, the more her questions grew. A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts, and her lover.

‘Food,’ he said, leaving the bed to head for the door. ‘I’m giving you time to eat because you haven’t had anything for two days.’

‘Because you left me down there,’ she whispered just before he opened the door. Rita was carrying a tray and she started to come in, but Dax blocked her and took the tray away, closing the door in her face.

There were sandwiches and fruits laid out on the tray that he brought over to the bed. ‘Eat quickly,’ he said, hooking her hair away from her neck so he could sample it. ‘I can’t eat until you’re finished.’

‘I thought it was the most dominant in a partnership who ate first,’ she said, popping a cherry into his mouth.

‘What I’m eating isn’t on that tray,’ he said, sliding the tray away from between them and edging in to run a hand up between her thighs. ‘But if eating first will prove my superiority over you…’

Scooping up her legs, he rotated her in the bed and lay on his front, curving her legs over his shoulders. In that cell downstairs she had dreamt of food, but that had come second to this. So closing her eyes she savoured the gratification he bestowed upon her with that talented mouth of his and while he swilled from her core she fumbled toward the tray to seek out the bowl of berries.

The press of something warm and smooth made her pause and it took her a few seconds to realise he was rolling the cherry she’d put in his mouth up and down, around her clit. Dax was good at improvising and she found herself fantasising about what else they could do if they took this to other rooms of the house, like the kitchen.