Jab (Fighter Romance) (Las Vegas Series #2) (2 page)

Knox

I tightened my grip on her waist, and grabbed a handful of her ass with my other hand. She moaned into my mouth, and I pinned her body up against the wall. She tasted so fucking good, and my cock was rock solid at the thought of what was to come.

I pushed my dick against her center, so she could feel how badly I wanted her. “You make me so fucking hard,” I said against her ear as I dragged my tongue down its length.

Her hands rested on my chest, and, instead of her hands tangling into my shirt and pulling me close, she shoved at me. Hard. Normally, I wouldn’t budge, but she used the wall to propel her, and the unexpected force knocked me back a step. Just enough for her to slip away from me.

“What the fuck?” I asked, latching onto her wrist, and spinning her back to me. She wanted me, and there was no fucking way she could deny it. I heard it in the moans that rumbled up her throat, and felt it in the way her fingers dug into my back before they pushed me away. 

“I’m not some whore you can stick your dick in whenever you want.”

“That’s not why I’m here.”

“It’s not? Before you were thrown in jail, you were at some strip club, getting all horned up. I’m surprised you didn’t ass fuck some poor sap,” she spat, full of disgust.

I laughed, because this had nothing to do with me, and fire blazed in her eyes.

“You’re jealous,” I stated matter-of-factly.

“Jealous?” she exclaimed. “In your fucking dreams!”

“You always say that, but I know damn well you want the real thing, too. I bet your pussy is dripping wet right now, desperate for my touch. Begging you to let me push my cock deep inside.” 

Her hazel eyes narrowed in on me, and I met her gaze with unwavering defiance. She dabbed her tongue to her lips before skimming her teeth over them.

“You want me,” I said, staring at the shine on her beautiful mouth.

“I do not.” She tore her eyes away from mine, and spun toward the door.

“Goodbye, Knox.” She yanked the door open, and pointed out.

“I’m not ready to go.”

“Well, I’m ready for you to leave. You can take your criminal ass out of here.”

If she wanted me to leave then fine, but she needed to know one thing. “I’m not a criminal,” I said as I passed her.

“According to the TV, you are. Disorderly conduct. One station said you’re lucky you weren’t charged with attempted murder. Your fists are weapons. How fucking stupid could you be?”

“I was helping out a friend,” I said, wishing so desperately I could tell her the truth, but not wanting to see the tidal wave of disappointment and anger it would cause.

“At a strip club? What are you? Some savior for strippers now? I’m just one of the many. You have some sick notion that you can fix us. Take care of us. Well, I’m not dumb enough to fall for it.”

“No, that’s not…” My words were abruptly cut off as the door slammed in my face.

“Dammit!” I yelled, my voice echoing through the quiet morning.

Eyes peered out through the blinds of her next door neighbor, and I stormed off before making an even bigger scene.

She was un-fucking-believable. I spent a night in jail, and the only thing I wanted the entire time I was there was to see her. To talk about what happened and get her to finally tell me why she was so fucking guarded. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe she wasn’t guarded. Maybe I was seeing something I conjured up in my head because I wanted her so much. Maybe she was just a fucking bitch.

I hopped in my Hummer, and floored it out of the parking lot. In thirty minutes, I was supposed to be at the gym training with Coach anyway. I had a fight in three weeks, and I needed to focus as Coach reminded me in the five voicemails he left me this morning after hearing the news.

The gym was my haven. The one place I went to where all the shit on the outside disappeared and all that mattered was the fight. Today it was not going to be that place. Coach would have too much to say.

I pulled into the gym parking lot ten minutes later, grabbed my bag, and headed inside. Coach sat at his desk, leaning back in his chair, waiting for me. I didn’t even notice the other guys in the gym, punching bags and lifting weights. It all faded away as I slowly made my way to the old man at the desk. I felt like a kid going into the principal’s office.

It’s not that I was scared of Coach. He may have taught me everything he knew, and was once a world boxing champion, but he was old now, and I could take him down in a heartbeat. Fear had nothing to do with it, though. It was the disappointment in his eyes as I sat down across from him. I respected him too much for it not to hurt.

“What the fuck happened?” he asked, sitting up and crossing his arms over his chest.

“I don’t really want to talk about it. It was stupid, and I know that.”

He nodded in agreement then held his finger up. “What is the one thing I have taught you above all else? The one thing? The cardinal rule for someone with your abilities.”

I shrunk into my chair like a pathetic child. “Never use my strength and skills outside the cage.”

“Exactly. So, I ask you again. What the fuck happened?”

I shrugged, because really what could I say. No matter how I diced it, I fucked up. “I overreacted,” I finally admitted. “But, I’m taking care of it. Sebastian’s lawyers are on it and, with any luck, it will disappear by next week.”

“It better. You don’t need this shit right now. What you need is to focus. To throw everything you have into training these next three weeks. JoJo Lopez is an easy win, but he’s got skills and, if you’re not a hundred percent in that cage, everything you’ve worked for will be stripped away.”

“I’m in. I’m all in.”

“Good. Now, go change, and get your ass in that ring. We have a lot of tape to review, and a shit ton to work on.”   

I hauled my bag onto my shoulder, and headed to the locker room, letting all thoughts of Mila fall away. 

Mila

I dimmed the lights, and got on my hands and knees, crawling slowly toward the buzzed bachelorette who waited for me on the couch. Her dress barely covered her, and I could see a sliver of white between her legs. White panties signified innocence, but I could tell by the desire in her eyes that innocence was far from accurate.

Her friends paid top dollar to squeeze her in for a lap dance, and I wasn’t going to disappoint. By the time I was done with her, she’d be debating whether she was straight or not.

When that door closed, it was my job to put all my bullshit behind me, and focus solely on the client. It was why I had been working so many extra hours. Being in here made it impossible to think about Knox, which I found myself doing way too much.

He was a possessive jerk who always got what he wanted and, for some reason, he got under my skin. He was right when he said I wanted him. My entire body ached for him in ways I didn’t know possible. It was strong and it was fierce, but my mind was stronger than my body. I refused to let myself be another one of his charity cases. I might not have deserved much, but I sure as hell deserved better than that.

The girl tossed her long blonde curls over her shoulder, and gripped the chair in anticipation. I shook Knox from my head, and focused on giving her the best ride of her life. I continued to crawl toward her, stopping just before her feet, and thrusted my hips toward the floor. My body followed my hips, dipping toward the floor and arching back up.

I went down again, making sure to push my ass high enough for her to see. The black thong I wore framed my assets, and I could see the approval shining bright in her eyes. I gave a little shake before pulling my knees together and pushing myself down and back up.

The sensual music pumped out of the speakers, and I let my body lose itself to the rhythm. I positioned my hands on either side of the girl, and pushed her legs open to accommodate me. I thrust my chest into her face, and let my body slide down the length of hers, making sure to go even slower as our tits pressed against each other.

She sucked her lip into her mouth, and rocked into the couch. I was turning her on, and I’d bet every cent her friends paid that she was soaking wet between her legs.

I whipped my head back, letting my body arch into hers. Her breathing picked up as I dragged my finger across her bare thigh, and sat down in her lap. I rested my head just above her shoulder, and rocked my body into a full wave.

Heat radiated off of her, mixing with my own. Sweat beaded on my forehead, and I smiled because I was just getting started. I decided to go all in, positioning my hands and bending my neck until it rested against the front of the couch. I bent my knees and pushed up, twirling around so my ass was against her chest, and my pussy was near her mouth. I used my upper body strength to lower myself before rolling out and back into a body wave.

I scaled her body until she was panting, heavy with want, milking every aching desire within her out. She was practically humping the air when I was done with her.

As I finished up and was about to walk out, I turned back and winked. “Congratulations. Your fiancé is a very lucky man.”

She smiled wickedly at my words and, when the lights went back on, she sheepishly looked away.

I strutted out of the room with the confidence that was ingrained in me. Confidence was sexy, and I had it down to a science. It was the one thing I possessed that made my job a little easier to handle. I just wished that I could hold on to that same confidence when it came to Knox. He was the only person who had ever had the ability to make me doubt myself and question my choices. When he was around, confidence in myself seemed to fly out the door. It was something I needed to work on to hold on to my sanity. I couldn’t let him continue to get under my skin. I didn’t think I could deal with the outcome if I did. I nod to George, the security guard that was outside the door, and he tipped his head to me as I passed.

It was getting late, or early, depending on how you looked at it, and I needed to get home. Mackenzie would be getting up in a few hours. Though, she’d been doing fine on her own lately which surprisingly made me feel unneeded… a feeling I didn’t like.

My eyes landed on a tall, dark and handsome man at the bar. His back was to me, but there were only so many six foot six guys that came into this joint. I sat down on the bar stool beside him.

“Julius,” I said, signaling to Becky, the bartender, to bring me my usual. Knox’s best friend was a regular customer, but I never noticed him until that night he was here with Knox. I never had any reason to before. He was just another guy who had a thing for strippers. But, now, he was the best friend to the guy I couldn’t get off my damn mind, and somewhere along the way he became a friend to me too.

“Starr,” he said, calling me by my stage name which I appreciated. “Funny seeing you here.”

“Really, considering I work here and all.”

He smiled before tilting his beer to his mouth.

Becky placed my drink down in front of me, and I mouthed thank you before she went on to the next customer. “So, here for a few days or just the night?” I asked Julius.

“Just the night. I flew in to see Knox. Make sure he was okay after the incident.”

“The incident. You mean when he got his dumb ass arrested?”

Julius shrugged. “He’s only human. People make mistakes. Do dumb things all the time. It doesn’t mean you should hold it against them.”

“Are you trying to lecture me?” I asked, taking a sip from my drink.

“I’m just talking. You take it however you see fit,” he responded.

I looked down at my phone and, when I noticed the time, sprung up. “Sorry to cut this short, but I have to get home. It was nice seeing you.”

He held his bottle up and tipped it to me. “Always a pleasure.”

I started walking away when Julius called out to me, so I turned back.

“Yeah?”

“Do me a favor. Be a little nicer to my boy. He’s got it bad for you and, despite what you may think, he’s one of the good ones.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said, then grabbed my bag and headed home. 

Knox

Training was going well and, in a few days, I could declare another victory. Today was my first day off in over a week, and I was catching up on as much as I could. I checked my cell and shook my head at the picture of a naked girl inserting a champagne bottle in her pussy that Marco sent.

Julius and Sebastian had already responded.

Julius: That’s what I’m talking about!

Sebastian: You’re lucky Annabelle didn’t see that, you sick fuck.

Sebastian: I saw it! It’s Annabelle by the way ;)

I went into my office and sat behind my solid wood mahogany desk. I rolled my leather chair closer, and flipped open my checkbook. I wrote out a check for ten thousand dollars to the ZCM Cancer Research Fund, and placed the check into an already addressed envelope.

My eyes instantly went to the picture on my desk of me, Sebastian, and Zoey. I kept it there as a reminder of how quickly things could change. The three of us were best friends, and I never imagined our future being anything different. 

Most guys hated their sisters, but not me. My twin sister was so much more than my best friend. She was an extension of me. They say twins have a special connection, but it was so much more than that. It was a bond I couldn’t even explain. And I…I failed her. I was too late and, because of that, she paid the ultimate price. She died because I couldn’t get her the help she needed to survive. And, the day she died, a part of me died too.

Sebastian might not have been related, but he was as close as a sibling could be and, while he pushed everything of Zoey away after her death, I clung on to as much as I could. I didn’t want to forget her. Didn’t want to let my memories of her fade. That was all I had left of her, and I refused to let go.

I picked the picture up, and stared at it as the memories all came flooding back to me.

Sebastian and I left our hometown in the mountains of North Carolina to find success and money. We were both desperate to find a way to help Zoey get the best possible care she needed. The doctors where we were from weren’t world renowned. They didn’t keep up with the latest and newest treatments. They were mediocre at best, and we both knew there were other options out there. There were better treatments out there. Treatments that could heal her, or at least keep her alive long enough for new advances to come along that could heal her. But that required money. The one thing we were in short supply of. My parents weren’t exactly well off, and their medical insurance sucked. Bash and I were determined to do whatever it took, short of robbing a bank, to try to save her.

She had beaten the cancer once, and she would do it again. I closed my eyes, and the day we left ran like a movie, forever imbedded in my mind. The images are so vivid I could almost reach out and touch her once again.

“You guys better call as soon as you make it to New York. And you better send me pictures! And a postcard! You have to send me a postcard! A typical touristy one with the Statue of Liberty on it, or an I Love NY one. And not one you could get at a rest stop. I want a real one from Times Square!” Zoey said, her smile bright and full of life. You would never know that she had cancer, or that it had recently spread. Zoey had such a zest for life, and she never let anything get her down. Never showed fear, despite her most recent diagnosis, and I was in awe of her. I knew what she was facing: more rounds of chemo and radiation that would make her tired and sick as a dog.

But I tried not to think about that. The only thing I was focused on was getting to New York and finding a way to get my sister the help she needed, knowing that regardless of what she would deal with, she would do it with courage and dignity, and in the end, she would win this round too, and still be with us. I refused to think otherwise.

“I’ll send one,” I assured her.

“I don’t believe you,” she said, pushing a finger into my chest.

“Bastian,” she said, but she didn’t even have to finish. He knew exactly what she was going to say.

“I’ll make sure of it,” he promised, and then kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll miss you, kid.”

She rolled her eyes because she hated when he called her that. We were only three months younger than him, but it was a nickname that stuck.

“I’ll miss you, too. Now, don’t forget about us little folk when you make it big.”

Neither of us said anything. We were doing this for her, but she didn’t know it. We didn’t tell her because she would have stopped us. She always wanted us to follow our own hearts and our own dreams, and, if she knew we were putting her ahead of that, she would have flipped a lid.

The future was a blank slate, and we had no idea where it would lead us or that the steps we took in that moment would determine our futures. We didn’t care. We had one goal in mind and not a lot of time to achieve it.

“I’ll miss you too, big bro,” Zoey said, and gave me a hug. I was one minute and thirteen seconds older than her, but some days I felt like I was years older. She would always be my baby sister, and I would always feel this overwhelming need to protect her.

If I knew then that this would be the last time I saw her, the way I would always remember her, I would never have left her… but nobody knew what was to come. Sebastian and I got in the car and headed off. Zoey waved until we could no longer see her in the rearview mirror.

Sebastian and I made it to New York the next day, determined. At first, we got odd and end jobs until we found our place in the world. Our first apartment was a studio where we slept on sleeping bags on the floor and used a shower curtain to separate our toilet from our kitchen. It was a shithole, but we made it work.

I started training in a gym, and Sebastian got a job as an assistant with some bigwig CEO, both stepping stones to the fame and fortune we now knew. But, before we were able to make the leap, we received a phone call.

I had just left the gym, floating on cloud nine because I had my first fight scheduled, when my phone rang. I slid it out, and smiled at the familiar number.

“Hey, Mom!” I said, excited to tell her about the news.

“Knox,” she said, and I could hear the distress in her voice. The brokenness that would become permanent.

“What’s wrong? What is it?”

Mom didn’t say anything, but I could hear her sniffling. Hear her trying to hide the sounds of crying. My heart pounded feverishly against my chest as I waited for her to speak.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she muttered, “Zoey. It’s not good. You should try to get home.”

“What do you mean, it’s not good? I just spoke to her two days ago. She sounded fine. She said she was feeling good.”

“She lied. She’s been really sick.”

“No,” I argued. “She would have told me.”

“She didn’t want you to worry.”

Tears welled in my eyes, and I leaned against the nearest building, afraid that I would collapse. “What are you saying?” I asked.

“She’s…She’s dying.”

It didn’t matter that I had a building to lean against. My legs gave out, and I collapsed to the sidewalk.

“I’m on my way,” I said, and the phone fell from my hand. My head dropped into my knees. I took a deep breath, trying to suppress the burning emotion rushing up my throat, but there was no use. It was stronger than me. Sobs wracked my body, and I wasted fifteen minutes crying outside a Duane Reade.

I finally was able to get myself together and rushed home. Sebastian was already there when I came running in. He took one look at me, and he knew. “We have to go,” I managed.

He picked up the phone, and made a call. Everything was a blur. This could not be happening. We were so close to getting the money we needed. My heart pounded in my ears so hard, it was all I could hear. I needed to get my shit together. Zoey needed me, and I would not let her down. I had to fix this and I had to do it now.

“There’s nothing you can do?” I heard Sebastian say. “Okay. I guess that’ll do. I appreciate it.” Sebastian hung up the phone and grabbed his coat. “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” I asked. We didn’t have a car. It was the first thing we sold when we got to New York. We used it to pay for our first month’s rent.

“My boss is getting us a car so we can drive home. I tried to get his private jet, but his daughter has it down in St Barts.”

I was a fucking wreck. Everything was a blur as I threw a bag together waiting for the car to arrive. Thank God Sebastian was able to keep it together for both of us.

We got in the car a short while later, Sebastian taking the driver seat and me hopping in the passenger. We drove all night. Not even stopping to switch seats or take a piss.

It was early morning by the time we arrived at the hospital. Both of us ran in. I was still in my gym clothes from the day before, and Sebastian was still in his thrift store suit, but neither of us cared. We needed to get to Zoey.

We rounded the corner, and spotted my Dad with his head against the wall. He was only a few feet away, but getting to him felt like the longest trek ever. He turned as we approached, his dark eyes filled with anguish and grief as tears streamed down his face. In that moment, I knew.

“You’re too late,” he said, before breaking down into uncontrollable sobs.

It felt as if the world stopped spinning. It was like having a carpet ripped out from under you. Your body thrown up in the air, suspended above the ground, floating momentarily before crashing down with a thud.

I felt Sebastian’s hand on my shoulder, felt him pull me in for a hug, but it was like I wasn’t there. I knew he was trying to console me as well as himself, but it didn’t feel real. It couldn’t be. How could someone so full of life… die? It just didn’t seem right.

I didn’t hug Sebastian back. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to acknowledge what was happening. Once I did, it would be real and I refused to believe it. I stepped out of his embrace, and went toward the room Dad stood outside of. Zoey was in there. She was in there, and she was alive. I’d walk in, she’d yell “Psyche!”, and then I’d smack her with a pillow and yell at her to never do that to me again.

“Knox, don’t!” A hand wrapped around my wrist and yanked me away. I glanced down at it, and up to my mother. “She tried to hold on. She wanted to say goodbye,” Mom’s words cracked, and tears streamed down her already stained cheeks.

I yanked my hand out of her grip, and stepped into the room. “Zoey!” I said. She was lying in bed, and just had her eyes closed. She wasn’t dead. They had no idea what they were talking about. I went to her side. “Zoey, I made it. I’m here. Why are you scaring us like that?” I asked, taking her hand in mine and that’s when it hit me. Like a brick wall coming toward me at full speed. Her hand was ice cold and stiff.

There was nothing cold and limp about my sister. She was warm and so very alive. “No,” I said. “No, no, no.” Tears welled in my eyes as I shook her hand. “Zoey, wake up. This isn’t funny. Wake up, damn it. Wake up!” My legs gave out for the second time in twenty-four hours, and I collapsed onto the floor, clutching my sister’s hand to my chest. “I was too late. I’m so sorry. I was too late.” I hugged her hand, rocking back and forth, the apologies falling from my mouth.

A gentle hand rested on my shoulder, and I glanced up to Sebastian. His lip quivered, and then he collapsed beside me. He was just as devastated as I was. We hugged one another, Zoey’s lifeless hand between us, and we sobbed until there were no tears left.

Life as we knew it was changed forever.