White & Black (10 page)

“It seems so. I can’t believe it to be honest.” She was still wobbly on her feet with the news.

“The ring girl image was so old hat and tarty, this is so much better. It’s still as sexy, but more professional. I just love these dresses, don’t you? Kim has quite a few different ones in the pipeline and angelic hairstyles too. Don’t get him started on it… he’s almost hyper with excitement… his creative juices have been well and truly shaken and stirred” Sara giggled at the thought of him being all stirred. She had a bit of a secret hot thing going for Kim on the quiet, despite the fact that he was gay and she was dating someone else.

“It does all sound like a change for the better.” Ella couldn’t be happier. Her dad never had to watch her on TV parading in a bikini after all. What a relief!

She was due to walk in Dev’s cage secon, after Sara did the first 4 rounds. She hung around waiting for Dev to appear filled with anxiety. She had already decided on how she was going to play it with him. Cool and pleasant. Like nothing had happened. She could be professional when she wanted to. However in practice it was much harder to act cool around him, she knew that.

Sara and herself stood either side of the entrance door as he came in. The crowd were going crazy tonight. She smiled at Sara who smiled straight back. And then she thought of Sheila, up there in the spectators stands… getting all toasty over Dev… If only she knew how hot he could be! His head was down until he reached the cage ring and then he walked inside and looked up and raised an arm to greet the crowd for a moment. They all love him, Ella thought to herself as she listened to the noise going on around her. She was swept straight into the Dev adoration club.

The two girls stood a corner each, like pale blue sentinels guarding the entrance to Devlin heaven. His eyes found hers through the cage… It was a brief look, but a lot was said in those few seconds. Her mind swam with him. She couldn’t be cool if she tried. She was thinking really bad things right now. Hot and rampant ‘wrapping her legs round him’ sex things. She’d have to be very focused to avoid that queue…

The fight was against another Jiu Jitsui specialist, a Romanian tough guy called Alin Dalca. He looked meaner than a starved pitbull with extra bad attitude. She hoped Dev wasn’t going to die in his jaws. But it appeared that his looks did not quite match his ferocity or his skill as he was soon being outclassed and overwrestled, taken down, losing round after round. Either he was very mediocre or Devlin was in destroyer mode big time. She wasn’t any kind of judge of the sport so she couldn’t really say. It was her time to walk the ring and she started up the platform steps to the door and walked in. Dev stood up quickly and grabbed her arm as she walked by and pulled her ear to him.

Well, this was rather unexpected.

“Come see me later, beautiful” She turned and his eyes caught hers in their hot treacle sexy grasp…

Then he was back on his chair with his coach and she completed her wonderful walk around role, so modestly dressed for a change. How lovely it all was tonight. He’d moved on from Ginger to something much nicer too. Things were definitely improving between them. He might even call her Ella again soon. She gave him a sweet look and a smile. He gave her one back. Yes, improving quite a lot it seemed. She needed to be careful though. She knew all about him now…. The queue… his OCD….

The fight continued to 7 rounds and Dalca finally fell, punched into submission in a messy heap on the floor at Dev’s bare feet. A victory crescendo of Destroyer noise belted out around the Arena. Sara and Ella did a high clap. Dev put up his hand in victorious salute and stood to one side whilst the referee announced him as the winner. He left the cage and hopped down to ground level giving them both a kiss on the cheek and putting his arm around their shoulders. This was the camera moment the TV crew had really been waiting for. Devlin Black and his two blond guardian Angels… Cameras flashed everywhere and Lucy appeared posing them lips to his cheeks for a few extra hot shots.

He took their hands and they left the Arena to a final round of applause, cheering and some very naughty cat calls…. Sara wandered off down the corridor to wardrobe giving her a ‘
don’t do it girl
’ subtle head shake and a sad little wave.

“That was an easy win for you, wasn’t it?” She said walking alongside him trying to keep away from talking about anything personal.

“Yeah, he didn’t seem to be that into it, he’s usually far better than that. But we all have off days. I don’t always win fights myself you know… It was easy money anyhow.”

“So what do you normally do after a win? Do you go out with friends… home to family…?”

Devlin did go out to celebrate now and then, to the casinos for some gambling. He enjoyed the buzz, as he thrived on adrenalin highs. In fact it was becoming more of an obsession than it should be. Perhaps he had inherited his dad’s addictive nature…

“Sometimes I go out afterwards, but not very often… I have my own way of celebrating, I suppose” he turned his head and she was caught like a rabbit in car headlights staring into his sexy deep brown eyes…

“Oh really, like how?” She asked a little breathlessly. She was hoping and praying she wasn’t it…. Or was she hoping and praying she was? Tori’s warning was stabbing her repeatedly in her head and she was ignoring it.

“I’ll tell you a little later” He gave her a lazy sexy smile.

They climbed the stairs and he let them in his room. It was a large room with a bathroom, a couch, some other furniture and behind a waist high partition lay a rather large bed.

“Dev I don’t believe it…. You have a massive bed in here?”

“Yeah, it’s not just me, we all do… Sometimes we need a nap after training or before fights. I like to sleep for a while before I go home or out. It recharges my batteries… So, d’you fancy a drink?” He was into invite mode now. He couldn’t wait to get her on his kingsize. He hoped she would slap and kick him around first. That was a brand new dimension in foreplay as far as he was concerned.

“Wouldn’t mind a glass of water” She wanted to keep a clear head. The huge bed was freaking her out. It was dominating the whole room and her whole mind.

That bed was where his long queue passed through.

“There you go…” He handed her a glass of cold sparking water from a bottle in his cooler.

“Dev… what have you asked me up here for exactly?” As if she didn’t know…. And why the hell had she come? She sipped at her water, watching him over the top of the glass.

“To spend some time together Ella. I kinda liked it when we spent some time before…”
Liked it
was rather a pathetic description… he absolutely craved it happening again… He was nearly on his knees just looking at her right now.

She spotted the Ella creeping in there, it all seemed rather contrived… considering she was technically standing in what could be described as his bedroom.

“Hmmm … well about that whole gym episode Dev, I’m sorry I had a go at you in there, punching you and all that. It was my mistake. I thought you had been mean to me, but then I found out you hadn’t. So, sorry again.” At least she got that off her chest… explained it…

“Hey, there’s no need to apologize Ella, I really enjoyed it. You can try and take me on again if you like and I’ll wrestle you to the ground, or the bed if you prefer.” he joked, with a wicked sexy grin. He really was just dying to get on with it. He hadn’t had any sex for more than a week… it was all her fault, taking him over like this… the sooner he got her out of his system the better, then maybe he could feel normal again.

“No Dev. You’ll not wrestle me anywhere in here. I don’t want to be one of your groupies. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy what you did to me in the gym. It was very erotic, that steamy up the wall action… But it was my mistake letting any of that happen in the first place. I should have kneed you harder before that and made a run for it. Look, I think I’d better go now because I’m pretty damn sure I don’t want to get on your crowded kingsize today or ever. It’s just not me somehow.”

Where had those words come from? Her brave self respect had just spoken up for her.

She was turning him down flat. Saying no, no, no…. She didn’t know how, but she was.

She turned and left his room quickly leaving him stunned, furious and hotter for her than ever. No one had ever refused him, not that he could remember anyway.

Well fuck her
!

His eyes closed and his insides churned with angry want. Tempting scenes of their gym encounter flashed through his head one by one. Everything about her worked him up into a frenzy of feeling. The light perfume of her hair, the beautiful blue eyes, her soft pretty mouth, her hotter than hot ass and the touch of her perfect body against his. His whole body ached for her.

But something else more profound was going on inside him.

He was completely wild about her. She was just so fine and she hadn’t been out of his head for days…

Admit it… you’re starting to imagine being in love with her

Fuck it no! Where had that way too heavy stuff come from?

His mind and body suddenly went into total shock and he had to have a lie down with his head on a soft pillow and reprogram his brain. Whether it was his inner demons playing evil games or a mini breakdown, a banned word had just jumped into his mind and he wasn’t thinking it again in a hurry.

He switched to the physical act in his head… he felt safe there… He just needed to fuck her that was all … but no, he really needed her to want to fuck him more. For fuck’s sake! She was doing his fucking head in.

He didn’t even know how to talk to her properly, or to any woman for that matter. He hadn’t got a clue where to go from here.

Ella made her way to dressing where Sara was just leaving. Sara gave her a raised set of eyebrows and a surprised but admiring look as they passed each other by. Ella went in and got changed into her soft faded jeans and top slowly, then sat down thinking. She felt quite upset about things. She would have liked it to go somewhere with him for a while. There was a very strong attraction between them but she wasn’t going down that queue route. No, no, and no again.

“Hey love… penny for them?” Kim was looking at her quizzically as he gathered together the day’s laundry and hung up her blue dress for her.

“I just turned Dev down Kim” She wasn’t sure she should tell Kim this considering his earlier revelation.

“Oh… I see. Probably for the best though. I bet that knocked the smile off his handsome face, didn’t it?” He snorted out a little laugh and then gave her a sympathetic look.

“Yeah, you could say that” She smiled back at Kim but inside she didn’t feel happy at all. Damn the man. She really needed to get Dev right out of her mind. She needed to change the subject, to think about something else, something completely different.

“Kim, these blue dresses you’ve come up with are great, where did you get them from?”

“Well they’re my designs, I had a dressmaker friend run off a couple of samples for me fast. That’s why there’s only two. There will be eight of each eventually. Want to see my ideas Ella bella?” He asked with a hopeful enthusiastic voice.

“I do! Show me” She was very interested indeed in Kim’s ideas.

Kim opened up a large sketch pad on his desk and flicked through. She was taken aback by the designs she saw in front of her. A black two piece skirt set with halo style rings around the hem… A white heart shaped neckline dress with hearts in rings…. A navy blue shorts and crop top set, with two interlinked halos on the back pockets and covered with small stars…

“Kim these are so beautiful, I didn’t realize you were a designer?”

“Well I’m not sweetie, but the Fashion Diploma has come in useful at last. I tell you it has lifted my spirits doing this. It can get so tedious being stuck in here doing laundry, cleaning and filing bikinis in color and size order. I was smoking joint after joint through terminal boredom. So you like them Ella bella?”

“I really do, honestly. And in my opinion you are a designer Kim. I can’t wait to wear these, they’re fantastic.”

“That’s cool, because I designed them for you completely.”

“Kim, no? I don’t know what to say.” Both pairs of eyes misted up as she gave him a tight hug.

Chapter 14

Dev showered and changed and decided to hit the casino for a while. That would take his mind off things at least. He made his way down to his car and sat inside for a moment. He called a few gambling friends of his to find out where they were hanging out. He sat looking at his cellphone messages for a moment when he saw Ella come out of the door, cross the lot and get in a truck parked a little way from him. She sat in it for a while and then got out and started to walk towards the exit. The truck’s a non starter by the looks of it… He had a good excuse to talk to her now… he would have to take it, the casino could wait.

***

Ella sat inside her truck and turned the key. It wouldn’t start. She had heard a strange clunking and whining noise earlier that day, it was obviously the forerunner to complete mechanical meltdown… Oh bloody hell ! Another bill she would have to pay. She would have to get the bus home tonight, there was no way she was wasting more money on a cab home too. She’d get this sorted out tomorrow morning. She got out of the truck, locked the door and made her way over the floodlit warm tarmac of the lot towards the main road.

He started the Porsche and drove up alongside her, opening the window.

“Need a ride somewhere?” He asked her very nicely.

Oh for fuck’s sake!
She frowned and continued walking taking a look at him out the corner of her eye. Not content with being the sexiest thing on two legs, he just had to be sitting in one of the sexiest cars too.

“Well my transport has kinda died on me but it’s okay, I’ll get the bus.”

Was he waiting for her? Worse still stalking her? Had he done something to her truck? No, that was ridiculous… she was being paranoid now.

“Please Ella… Let me give you a ride home, I’d like to.” He hoped that didn’t sound too desperate. Because he was.