Rebel: A MMA Sports Romance (2 page)

“Kinsley!”

I rolled my eyes as my blow dryer whirred in my ear.

“Kinsley!”

I could hear Sophie yelling my name but we were not in a hurry.  She needed to calm down.  It was our first day of Spring Break in Cabo, and the beach wasn’t going anywhere, and neither were the guys or the booze.

“ Kinsley Elizabeth Peterson!  I
know
you can hear me!” 

When her voice got to that shrill pitch I knew I had to respond.  The stray dogs were going to start barking if I didn’t shut her up!

I turned off my blow dryer and fluffed my dark brown waves one last time. I adjusted my bikini top as I studied myself in the mirror.  My boobs were looking good.  They were one of the best gifts my mom had ever passed on to me.  Normally I wouldn’t take the time to get all done up before going to the beach, but our mission was to meet guys and I wanted to look good.  Sophie insisted that we get out early to meet the ‘best crop’, as she called them, before they got too drunk and I kind of agreed with her.  I grabbed my bag and met her by the door.

“Sophie, you need to chill.  It’s not like we’re going to miss anything.  We have six full days to find someone for you to hook up with.”

“I know, but our best chance of finding someone good is today, Kinsley!  Like that guy knocking on the door across the hall, for example.  Did you see how built he is?”

I don’t know that I had ever seen such desperation on my best friend’s face.  Her bright hazel eyes eyes were sparkling with excitement.  Yeah, I saw the guy across the hall as he waited by the door and she was right, he looked good, at least his body did because that was all I could see, but he just not really my type.

“I saw his body but not his face.  Did you even see his face Sophie?”

“No, but the bod looked good, didn’t it?”

“Yes, but you need to relax, girl.”

“We should look for him and introduce ourselves.  I’m sure he’s not here alone so maybe he has a friend for you.  This is our last Spring Break and I want to go out with a bang.  Literally.”

I let out an exasperated sigh.  “Okay, okay, I’m ready, let’s go to the beach!”

Her furrowed brow faded away and a huge smile spread across her face as we left our hotel room.  Sophie had not had sex in three months and she made it perfectly clear that she was on a mission to change that in Mexico.  One night stands were not my thing, but I didn’t judge her or her begrudge her for wanting to scratch that itch.

The waves crashed against the shore as the warm ocean breeze lifted my curls and brushed them across my shoulders as we made our way to the beach.  I took a deep breath, smiling as I looked around, so happy to be away from the biting cold weather in Chicago.  The sun’s rays enveloped me as Sophie and I chatted with a couple of guys and I was having a great time when I felt a cold chill run down my arms.  I glanced around wondering if anyone else had noticed a sudden drop in temperature, when my heart leapt into my throat. 

Motherfucker.  Is that Lucas over there?
  Whatever Eric, the guy I was flirting with, was saying to me went in one ear and out the other as I strained to subtly glance toward the ocean to see if it really was Lucas.  Thank god I was wearing big dark sunglasses so he wouldn’t see me looking for him. 
Son of a bitch.
  It was Lucas.  With all of the people that were in Cabo I couldn’t believe I saw him again.

When my mom told me that she was getting married again for the fourth time and the guy had a son, she failed to mention that he was a superstar MMA fighter.  I didn’t really follow that world but Sophie was obsessed with it.  When she found out our parents were dating I thought she was going faint.  Her face got all red and she could barely breathe so I was concerned she was going to pass out right in front of me.

*~*~*~*

“You have to introduce me, Kinsley!  I can’t believe you know Lucas ‘Renegade’ Ryan!  If they get married you’re going to be related to him!”

I quickly jumped in.  “Only by marriage, no blood relation, so I don’t think he counts as a relative.”

She rolled her eyes.  “Whatever, I can’t believe you are going to be sleeping under the same roof as that walking sex machine!”

I could see her eyes glaze over as her mind wandered off into some ridiculous fantasyland, so I shook her to snap her out of it.

“Sophie, slow down, they’re just dating.  Besides, the man is 23 years old, a superstar and his dad is loaded.  I can almost guarantee that he will not be living in the house with us if they tie the knot.  I’m sure he has his own place in the city somewhere.”

I met Lucas for the first time the night my mom insisted that I join her and her new fiancé for dinner.  It was the last thing I wanted to do.  My mom’s boyfriends were a revolving door ever since my dad left for the last time a couple of years back and I knew she was proud of herself this time for bagging a billionaire.

A driver picked us up at our apartment in Uptown and drove us to North Pond in Lincoln Park.  As we rode in the car my mom was a nervous wreck.

“Kinsley, please be on your best behavior tonight.  Artemis is a really good guy, so don’t give him a hard time.”

I snorted.  “Artemis?  What kind of name is that?  I thought his name was Arty.”

“It’s an old family name.  I call him Arty most of the time.”  She slathered on more lipstick, eyeing herself in her compact and fluffing her hair.  I watched her examine herself in her mirror and marvelled at how gorgeous my mom was.  She was stunning.

Her raven colored hair fell past her shoulders in soft waves and her honey almond eyes followed her hand as she carefully applied her lipstick to her perfectly plump lips.  I have to say I was happy that I took after my mom with my looks and not my dad.  I was a total mini me of my mom, and like her, I never had a problem turning a guy’s head.  As she put the compact away I could see that she was super jittery and I knew in that moment that this was the real deal for her.  Or so I thought. 

My mom practically salivated when she first told me about him, and I thought that she had just bagged another sucker when she told me about her trip to Italy on his jet for their first date.  To spend that kind of money on a woman on the first date seemed pretty silly to me.  But the more time they spent together, the more I realized that she was really falling for the guy, not just his wallet.  At least that’s what I thought.

From that day on he showered her with expensive bags, jewelry and flowers.  I don’t know what kind of hold she had on him, but he asked her to marry him three weeks after they met.  I should not have been surprised, but I was even though my mom was the biggest gold digger on the planet.  She had never worked a day in her life and she always depended on a man to support her.  I figured even though he had proposed, he would only be around for a couple of weeks just like all the rest and then he would disappear.

Arty came along just in time for her.  She was almost flat broke having spent nearly all of the money various men had given her along the way.  Rent was due on our crappy one bedroom apartment in Uptown and it was an all-time low for my mom.

A normal person with half a brain would be excited for their mom that she was marrying rich, and rescuing us from the possibility of living on the street.  But this wasn’t the first rich guy she’d dated.  Her previous husband was loaded too, just not as loaded as this new guy.  I actually liked him, he was really nice to me, but my mom screwed that up.  My dad came back around and he wanted her back so she dumped her husband and they got divorced exactly one month after they got married. She had a bad habit of doing that.  Whenever my dad showed up she dropped everyone and everything for him. 

As usual my dad left again, mom was single for two years after that and was desperate to find someone.  She had a million dollar wardrobe thanks to her many rich boyfriends, so she would dress up every night, go downtown to the five star Harper Hotel or some other fancy hotel, and sit at the bar hoping to meet a rich businessman.  She met quite a few men but no one lasted more than a couple of dates, until she met Arty.  When I met him that night at dinner, I could see that he only had eyes for her.

I know I sound super harsh toward my mom and I don’t mean to.  My resentment toward her came from always being second fiddle to the boyfriends.  She always told me that she loved me and she was trying to meet someone who could take care of both of us and give me the life I deserved.  My mom was unwilling to get a job and take care of us on her own, so by the time I accepted that’s who she was our relationship got a lot better.

I spent most of my time with my grandmother growing up.  I lived with her for a few years while my mother was out and about going back and forth between my dad and trying to find a man to take care of us.  My mother cried many nights over my dad and it made me sad because I could see how much she loved him.  He was in and out of my life and it wasn’t until recently that we started emailing.  I had a distantly cordial relationship with my father and when I was little it was weird to see the relationship my parents had.  It was not the loving relationship that people were supposed to have and I never understood why my mother let him treat her the way he did.  Whenever my dad came back into the picture no one else stood a chance with her.  She loved him that much. 

Living in Uptown was almost her rock bottom and I could see the desperation on her face when she would go out each night.  For the longest time I thought she was a prostitute but just didn’t want to tell me because there were so many men throughout her life, and so many gifts.  But no, she was just trying to find a rich husband and she knew where to look.  The night she met Arty, everything changed.

  From the way she talked about Arty, I thought she had finally found life long happiness.  He worshipped the ground she walked on and she seemed to really enjoy being with him.  My dad had been out of the picture for years so I just knew that Arty was finally it for her and she was going to live happily ever after.

So as I sat there, in the gorgeous BMW sedan, on the way to the nice restaurant, I had to give my mom props.  She’d found a super rich guy and in all her years of digging for gold, I had never seen her happier.

We pulled up to the restaurant and she looked over at me, her eyes pleading.

“Please be nice, baby.”

The worried look on her face really got to me, so I gently put my hand on her arm and smiled at her.

“Don’t worry, mom.  C’mon, let’s go see this guy you can’t stop talking about!”

I peered over at Kinsley through my shades as she tried to be subtle about looking at me.  I chuckled softly to myself as the dude who was chatting her up had no clue he was being ignored.  She was killing me in that red strappy bikini.  She was so damned beautiful.  My eyes slid over her perfect tits down her flat stomach to the tiny triangle between her legs, and I could feel my dick growing.  I ripped my eyes away. 
Fuck!
  I closed my eyes and let the sun wash over me, willing my hard-on away.  Every time I saw her she turned me on even more than the first day I met her.

When she walked into the restaurant with her mom that first night I was blown away not only by how stunning she was, but also by how beautiful her mom was.  I snorted to myself as I watched them come in looking like a pair of bona fide gold diggers.  They could have passed for sisters and I immediately saw why my dad was so smitten.  I also knew their type; dressed to the nines looking sexy as hell, leaving a vulnerable man helpless.  I was surprised my dad fell for it.  I knew he was lonely but I didn’t think he was stupid. 

Instead of saying something I decided to keep my mouth shut thinking it would be a good lesson for my dad to learn if she used him.  He wasn’t really there for me growing up, so why should I be there for him?  I couldn’t wait for the night to be over so I could get back to training.

Dad introduced us and as soon as Kinsley looked at me my penis twitched.  I was so shocked I actually stood there for a minute, speechless, trying to decide if it had really happened.  She shook my hand and it twitched again.  I thought to myself,
‘Damn’
as her buttery soft hand rested in mine.  My world had just been turned upside down.  Before I could even process what was happening her mom slipped in between us, causing Kinsley’s hand to fall out of mine.

"Lucas, it is so nice to finally meet you!"

Kinsley's mom was all smiles as she pulled me in for a hug.  I didn't want to be rude so I smiled. I'm not that much of an asshole that I don't have manners.  She smelled really nice and I appreciated a gorgeous woman, no matter what the circumstances were.

"It is nice to meet you as well, Ms. Peterson."

She gently laid her hand on my arm and flashed me that beautiful smile again.

"Oh sweetie, please call me Valerie."

She was definitely a charmer and I could see how my dad became smitten so quickly.  There was something about her that made me feel instantly at ease.

My eyes slid over to Kinsley and I quickly looked her over and then looked away. I couldn't let her or our parents see that I wanted to devour her.

"My father has had nothing but nice things to say about you ladies so it is nice to finally put faces with names."

Just then the hostess came over to seat us. Kinsley sat across from me and my dad was next to me.

I could tell that Valerie wanted to impress my dad by showing interest in me so I acted nice and played along.

"So your father tells me that you are into mixed martial arts, and he tells me that you are very good.  How long have you been doing that?"

I put on my sexiest smile and looked across at Kinsley expecting to see her waiting eagerly to hear my story. That is what happened with most chicks. They couldn't get enough of me.  Instead of those beautiful green eyes eagerly staring back at me she was busy on her phone looking less than bored and it turned me on.  She was a challenge and I never backed down from one.

Valerie must have seen the puzzled look on my face because she glanced at Kinsley and pursed her lips. 

"Kinsley, you are being rude. Put your phone away."

Kinsley frowned and muttered a quick apology.

Valerie looked at me and smiled.

"Okay, you were saying?"

"I have been fighting for about four years, got started right after college.  So it's been pretty great."

"Don't you get hurt doing that?"  Valerie looked worried.

I think my heart stopped for a second as I looked into Kinsley's gorgeous eyes.  Was that concern I saw?

"Sometimes but not too bad because I haven't lost a fight in a long time."

"Really? From the little I know about that sport it's pretty bloody."

"The loser is the one who sheds the most blood, and that hasn't been me for about two years."

"Wow. Impressive."  Kinsley finally spoke.

That definitely was sarcasm I heard.  My heart beat a little faster as I realized she wasn't falling all over me. I was not used to a chick acting like that and the less impressed she seemed by me, the more I wanted her.  She was feisty and I liked it.

I looked across at her and our eyes caught, held and stayed.

"What do you do, Kinsley?"

She gave me a sly smile as those sexy green eyes sparkled at me and I could see that she knew she had piqued my interest in her.  She was sexy as hell.  I kept telling myself before the night was over she would be dreaming of the night she could scream my name.

"I am a senior in college, so I will be graduating soon."

Mmmm.  Fresh meat.

"Oh yeah, good for you. Any idea what you're doing after school?"

"I eventually want to open my own interior design studio, and I am interning with an interior designer downtown."

"Kinsley is very talented, she has a beautiful eye for interior design."  Valerie was practically beaming but when I glanced over at Kinsley I could have sworn I saw a scowl on her face.
There's definitely a story there.

"I'm sure she does." I smiled as I held Kinsley's gaze. Was she blushing?  Good.