On the Ropes (Down for the Count) (31 page)

“I’m not leaving.”

“Is she okay?” Jase asks from the doorway.

“She’s gonna be fine, Jase. Any chance you can get her a bottle of water? They’re in the fridge.”

“Yeah, sure.”

I stand up to get a face cloth out of the closet and run it under cold water. “Here, wipe your face.”

“Thanks,” she sniffles, taking the face cloth from my hand.

“Oh my God, what happened to your hands?” She looks up at me and reaches out for my hands.

“It’s nothing,” I quickly pull them back from her.

She catches them before I have time to hide them. “It’s not nothing! You’re bleeding through your bandages.”

“That’s old blood.”

“Old blood or not, you need these bandages changed,” she insists.

“Here’s your water, Salem,” Jase enters the small bathroom.

“Thank you, Jason. Could you possibly find me a pair of scissors? Your brother is being stubborn and doesn’t want to change his bandages.”

Jase looks at me. “They’re in the drawer next the stove,” I tell him.

“Is there a first aid kit in here?” She stands up and takes a step towards the closet.

I take a deep breath, inhaling her perfume, and close my eyes for a quick second as her scent intoxicates me. “Salem, I’m fine,” I whisper as my hand grazes her body.

She stops and turns towards me. Our eyes meet; my heart pounds in my chest, and I run my tongue over my suddenly dry lips. Being this close to her is dangerous. “These need to be changed, or you could get an infection,” she touches my hands tenderly, her face full of worry.

I drop my head in surrender; she’s not going to let this go. I’m the one who’s supposed to be comforting her, and somehow the tables have been turned. She’s on her tiptoes trying to reach the first aid kit that’s on the top shelf of the closet and her black skirt is hugging her ass as she stretches to reach. She hikes the skirt up to gain more leverage.

My thoughts travel back to last night when my hands were caressing those thighs, when my lips were on her body, and my erection starts to grow.

“Dammit,” I hear her say and that brings me back. She’s still struggling.

“Would you like me to get that for you?”

“Yes, please.”

I reach up and grab the kit with ease. “All you had to do was ask, doll,” I wink at her.

She forces a smile, “Gee, thanks.”

“Here you go,” Jase reappears, handing the scissors to Salem. “I’m gonna go back to bed, it’s been a long day.”

“See you in the morning, bro. I love you,” I give him a quick hug.

“’Night, Jason,” Salem says softly. Then she turns her attention back to me, “Any chance you have an extra toothbrush laying around? I really need to brush my teeth.”

“Oh sure,” reaching into the closet, I pull out a toothbrush still in the package.

“Thanks.”

I lean up against the wall and watch her in the mirror as she brushes her teeth. Everything she does is so graceful, from the way she put the toothpaste on the toothbrush to how she brushes her teeth. She’s truly breathtaking.

“So, are you going to tell me what happened to your hands or do I have to guess?” I’m so caught up in watching her that her question catches me off guard.

“Are
you
going to tell me what happened to you tonight or do
I
have to guess?” I turn it back on her.

“Well, I’m pretty sure you can guess what happened to me,” the smile fades from her face.

“Salem, I’m sorry, that was cruel for me to say.”

“It’s alright,” she shakes her head, “it’s not like this is something new.”

“You knew he was cheating on you? And you stuck around?” I try to sound shocked.

“I had my suspicions, but never proof.”

“What kind of suspicions?” Now I’m just being nosey.

“Well, his late nights out with friends, meetings, text messages at all hours of the night, his lack of interest in sex.”

“Lack of interest in sex? That doesn’t seem possible with a girlfriend like you.”

“Oh, well, it is,” she rolls her eyes. “We always used to have sex, and then one day he just lost interest in me. At first I thought it was me, that he wasn’t attracted to me anymore. I tried all sorts of different things like changing my hairstyle, a new perfume, sexy clothing, and lingerie. Hell, I even got breast implants for him.”

“You did what?” I spit out as my eyes instinctively move down to her chest.

“He was always making comments about my boobs being too small. He’d point out women’s breasts in magazines or if we were out somewhere. One day I got sick of it and made an appointment to get them. Even that didn’t help.”

“Jesus, Salem, why would you do something like that just to please a man?”

“Because I love him, and I want to make him happy.”

“And what about your happiness?”

She just shrugs her shoulders.

Yeah, time to change the subject.
“So, how did you catch him?”

“I followed him. First, I parked my car down the street and waited for him to come out of TKO. When he left the gym, I followed. I stayed a few cars behind him so he wouldn’t see me. When he reached his destination, I realized that we were back to the club from Saturday night. He didn’t go in though; a woman came out. I watched him greet her with a hug and kiss on her cheek. He even opened the car door for her,” her face is pained. “All the things he used to do with me,” a single tear streams down her cheek and she quickly wipes it away. “They began driving again, so I continued following. I saw his car swerve a few times before they pulled into an empty parking lot. I drove past and parked my car on the street. I sat there, waiting for them to pull out, but they never did. That’s when I decided to see what was going on, so I got out of my car and walked over to Blaine’s. I was going to confront him, but that’s when I saw her…” her voice cracks.

“What did you see, doll?” I ask, coaxing her to tell me.

“She was sucking his dick,” she breaks down crying. “He never lets me do that for him. He said he doesn’t like the feeling. But his eyes were rolling in the back of his fucking head when she was sucking it,” she sobs.

“Salem, I’m so sorry you had to see that,” I console her.

As she looks at me, I see nothing but heartbreak through the pool of tears building in her eyes. Suddenly, one giant teardrop releases, then another, and another. It’s like a dam breaking. “Gabriel, why am I never good enough for him?”

“You’re
too
good for him,” I pull her into a hug and instantly feel her tears seeping through my shirt. “Shhh, it’s gonna be okay.” I gently rock her back and forth. Her breathing is staggered as she tries to regain control. “Here, have some water,” I offer.

“Thank you,” she wipes her tears away. After taking a few small sips, she puts the bottle on the edge of the sink. “Now that I’ve told you, it’s time for you to tell me,” reaching for the scissors, she motions for me to give her my hand, and begins cutting off the gauze.

“Not much to tell, I beat the shit out of a heavy bag without any gloves. I guess I didn’t realize how hard I was hitting until I felt the blood running down my arms.”

She winces, “Why weren’t you wearing any gloves?” Her attention goes back to my hands as she carefully removes the gauze, trying not to hurt me in the process.

“Because I didn’t have my gear with me.” I keep my answers short and sweet, hoping she’ll lose interest in what I have to say.

“So, instead of not punching anything, you thought it’d be better to punch with your bare hands?”

“Well, I guess when you put it that way it sounds pretty dumb,” I say.

“And what, exactly, made you so angry that you didn’t feel what you were doing to your hands?”

I look at her blankly.

“I’m waiting,” she says impatiently.

I break our eye contact. “Gabriel?” her hand lands gently on my cheek, forcing me to look at her.

“You and Jase, okay?” I’m annoyed, not at her, but because I have to admit the reason why I did what I did.

“So you did this because you were mad at Jason and me? I don’t understand. What did we do?” her eyes search mine for answers.

“I wasn’t pissed at either of you. More hurt. Hurt because you left and that Jase was gone when I got back from work.”

“What do you mean he was gone? Where was he?”

“He took off,” I answer softly, hoping he can’t hear our conversation. She has a puzzled look on her face. “He hit Adrian up for money and took off for a fix,” I proceed to tell her the rest of what happened.

“So, not only did you do this to yourself, but you had to see your brother in jail?”

I swallow hard. “Yes.”

“Well, I guess neither of us has had a very good day, have we?” She carefully removes the gauze from my hands, “Let me see.”

I slowly turn my hands over, revealing the damage I’ve done. My knuckles are swollen to double their normal size and the butterfly strips are still keeping the gashes closed, but they’re so saturated with blood that they’re no longer noticeable.

“Oh Gabriel,” she inhales. She takes the face cloth off the sink counter and rinses it under the water. Gently, she washes the blood off my skin, careful not to remove the butterfly strips. “We need to clean your cuts out, and it’s going to hurt,” she gives me a look of compassion.

“I know it is.” All my muscles tense up at the thought of the water rushing onto my hands and how badly it had hurt earlier.

“Let’s just get it over with.”

I nod my head, and my jaw tightens in anticipation as I stick my hands into the running water. “Fuck,” I growl through my teeth, jerking them back quickly.

Salem wraps her small hands around mine, guiding them back under the water. She gives me an encouraging look. Her fingers lightly run over my hands, washing the blood off my skin, and a shiver runs through my body at her touch. Though it’s innocent, I feel aroused. Just her touch can bring me to my knees. I close my eyes and take a shuddering breath. “You okay, Gabriel?” she asks with concern.

“I’m fine.”

“Good, I’ve gotten most of the blood off.” I hear the water shut off. “Let’s dry off your hands and get some clean bandages. Why don’t you have a seat?” she closes the lid of the toilet so I can sit. She gets a clean towel from the closet and kneels down in front of me, cautiously drying my hands. She’s being ever so gentle as she nears my knuckles, but I flinch as she makes contact. “Am I hurting you?”

“No,” it comes out in a whisper. My body is flooded with desire. I raise my left hand to her face, caressing her cheek; my thumb grazing her bottom lip. Her head tilts in towards my hand as she closes her eyes. The overwhelming urge to kiss her takes over as my face nears hers and I feel her warm breath against mine. Her full lips find their way to mine and my mouth opens slightly to let her tongue in. Our tongues touch, teasing one another. Leaning her body into mine, I feel her surrender to me. Our kiss becomes more urgent as we paw at one another; her hands run up my arms and down my sides, pulling on the hem of my shirt.

“Gabriel, make love to me.”

My heart beats faster at her words and my palms begin to sweat. I want her more than I’ve ever wanted any woman in my life. My erection is unforgiving.
God, I need to feel myself inside of her.

I rise to my feet, bringing her up with me. Tugging on her shirt, I walk backwards towards my room, our lips never part. We stop in the middle of my room, where I attempt to unbutton her blouse. After several failed attempts, she whispers, “Let me,” and I stand watching as her dainty fingers unfasten each button one by one. She slips her shirt off, exposing her lacy white bra, and I bring my mouth to her breasts, running my tongue along her cleavage. I can taste the remnants of her perfume on her skin. Reaching around her, I fumble with the zipper of her skirt, but my hands are too tight and sore to maneuver even this small task. With her assistance, I manage to unzip it and her skirt falls to the ground. Taking a step to the left, she steps out of it. The light of the moon shining through my window reveals all her curves and I admire her perfect body.

Placing her hand on my shoulder for balance, she reaches for her foot to remove her shoe. “Leave them on,” I tell her.

She raises an eyebrow, “Leave them on?”

“Yes,” I slip my index finger under her bra strap and slide it down her arm. My mouth wanders back to her breasts, my tongue searching for her nipple, as I pull her bra down to expose her breast fully, her nipples stiffen at my touch.

Salem tugs at the bottom of my shirt, pulling it up and over my head. As her fingers trace the muscles on my stomach, a chill runs through my body, causing me to shudder. “Are you okay?” her voice is unsure.

“Yes,” I swallow hard. I’ve never been one to shy away from a woman; I’m usually the aggressor. But with Salem, it’s different,
everything
is different. I don’t want her to be just another notch on my bedpost. For the first time in my life, I actually want her to stay the night, lying with me until we both fall asleep.

“Are you sure?”

I stare into her eyes, “I’ve never been so sure in my life.”

“Neither have I.”

I kiss her passionately as I feel her hands at the button of my jeans. She unbuttons and unzips them with ease. Then she slides her hands down the front, grasping at my bulge. I suck in a breath.
It feels so fucking good.

She breaks the kiss to plead, “Take me, Gabriel.”

I kick off my sneakers, and she helps me out of my pants. We crawl into my bed, our bodies moving in sync, with my hands exploring every inch of her. She sits up and unfastens her bra.

“Tu cuerpo es perfección, Salem,” I whisper.

When she lies back down next to me, my lips lightly caress her chest. I slowly work my way down her body, kissing her midriff, and then continue on. Her body stiffens as I softly push her legs open. I slide the crotch of her underwear over to one side as I nibble on her inner thigh, and she panics, her thighs clenching up. “Gabriel, what are you doing?”

I look up at her. “Salem,” I kiss her thigh again, “I want,” my mouth moves up her thigh, “to,” I kiss her hip, “please,” I travel lower again until my mouth is right over her core, “you,” and I lick in-between her folds.