A Natural Act (Contradictions) (18 page)

“
Eighteen,” he answers, buttering my toast. “Thought the ladies would appreciate it.”

“
I didn’t notice it, um, earlier,” I grin bashfully.

“
Extra thick condom,” he shrugs.

“
Purple,” I remind him.

“
Looks good on me,” he grins that lopsided smile.

“
Very, very good,” I have to agree.

My multiply talented, apparently pierced, strong willed doctor.

My boyfriend.

“Are you sure nobody will mind me being here?” I ask Craig nervously.

He just chuckles and shakes his head, tucking me further under his arm.

I pout because I need an answer but his response is to kiss the side of my head.

“
We’ve been here before,” I realise out loud, recognising the place he got my clothes from after we left the hospital.

“
Good memory,” he nods. “My brothers’ gym.”

“
Wait, which brother?” I prompt because he never said his brother owned it, just that he knew the owners.

“
Twins,” he mumbles, opening the lock to the back door with his keys.

“
I thought they were firemen?” I follow him through the door.

“
Multiply talented. Runs in the family,” he winks.

“
Apparently so,” I agree, somewhat impressed.

We enter
the gym through the back of reception and Craig lifts the work surface and gestures for me to step through.

“
Good evening, Mr Carter,” the young girl sat at reception greets him with a polite smile.

“
Told you a million times. Call me, Craig,” he winks. “Bosses here?”

“
No, sir,” she shakes her head. “They left a while ago.”

“
Thanks, babe,” he nods and starts walking through the gym.

“
Babe,” I grumble under my breath elbow him in the ribs.

“
Ever call you babe, Bella?” He raises an apparently amused eyebrow at me.

“
No,” I grumble. That’s my point.

“
Exactly. Got nothing to worry about, lady.”

“
But-” I protest.

“
Babe isn’t a flattering term. It isn’t a term you call the lady in your life. It’s for stop gaps, boredom fillers, and getting girls to do things for you.”

I try not to smile because I’ve now reversed my stance and I’m quite glad he never called me that.

“Okay?” He stop and grins at me, his hands in their favourite place my waist.

“
Okay,” I nod nibbling on my lip and trying my hardest not to check him out in front of all the people in the gym.

He’s wearing shorts and a
skin-tight vest so I can see outlines of most of the best bits. I’d quite like to explore them all again in a bit more privacy.

“
Look at me like that and we’re going straight to the bathrooms,” he growls with the lust in his eyes mirroring my own.

“
You’re here to train, Doctor Carter,” I remind him with my best innocent smile.

He scowls and I press up on my
tiptoes to kiss his check in apology. “Later,” I whisper as I pull away.

“
Keep you up all night,” he threatens, taking me by the hand and leading me through the gym.

Yes please.

He looks at me and I know I don’t need to vocalise my private thoughts because he can see my answer all over my face. If he could get to my knickers he’d see it all over them too.

I swallow thickly and wait for him to open the door at the far end of the gym. We’ve walked past the cardio machines, past the giant weight machines, past the iron corner with free weights of large proportions.

“Where are we going?” I ask him because he hasn’t touched any of the equipment.

“
Big boys’ rooms,” he winks.

That’s definitely the name for it. The guys and girls down here are
indeed rather big. Huge.

The equipment down here is rough, raw, basic, practical
. There are tractor tyres, men hanging from bars and running up and down the large room with weights trailing behind them on chains.

There’s a girl wielding two ropes, thicker than my forearm, and slamming them against the floor repeatedly.

This room makes the gym look like a lazy Sunday afternoon spent on the sofa eating ice cream.

“
Whoa,” I murmur.

Craig turns me around to face him and presses his lips to mine in a gentle kiss
, using his eyes to reassure me that I have nothing to worry about down here. This is his domain and here I am safe.

“
Isabella!” Carla bounds across the room to give me a hug. “’Bout time you showed that pretty face.” She’s slightly sweaty but she appears full of energy.

“
Hittin’ on my girl, Cordi?” Craig teases her.

“
You’re lucky I’m not,” Carla grins.

I laugh and look at the others in the room. All around us there are
people subtly nodding at Craig or, in some cases, outright staring at him.

“
Fan club,” Carla tells me, following my gaze. “A lot of these guys train at this gym just to train with your boyfriend.”

I can’t help but beam excitedly at the B-word.
Carla was almost as excited as I was when I told her the news.

“
Don’t tell the twins that though,” she continues. “They think it’s because of their amazing business skills.”

“
Exaggerating,” Craig mumbles. “Warm up with me.”

“
Hah!” Carla laughs. “No.”

“
Now,” he tells her.

“
Who do you think you’re talking to,” she mocks him. “Last time I warmed up with you I could barely walk for a week.”

“
You’re welcome,” Craig grins. “Need a partner. Brothers aren’t here.”

“
Any of these dudes would kill for the opportunity,” Carla tells him, gesturing around the room.

Many of the guys try to pretend they’re not eavesdropping but I’m not buying it and I doubt Craig is either.

“Carla,” Craig practically whines, obviously keen to avoid having to train with a stranger.

She grins wickedly.
“Mark!” She yells out.

A
relatively small man in his early twenties steps forwards but he seems none too eager.

“
Mark,” Craig narrows his eyes. “Back from uni?”

Mark nods.
“For the weekend.” He seems quite nervous.

“
Get in the cage,” Craig tells him. His shields are up and I can’t read him but he doesn’t look pleased.

“
Why is he grumpy?” I ask Carla as we watch them enter the cage, Mark almost stumbling over his own feet.

“
That guy,” she points at Mark. “Is one of his younger brother’s best friends. He and Jake went to school together. The other best friend is the guy who tried to hurt Jelly. Craig doesn’t really trust Jake’s friends anymore.”

“
And you put them in there together?” I raise a worried eyebrow.

“
He can’t stay mad at Mark for ever. He hasn’t done anything wrong except for trusting the wrong person. Craig doesn’t do talking. Well, except maybe with you,” she gives me a knowing look. “But if he’s focussed on fighting, he can break Mark down a bit, realise he’s not such a bad guy after all.”

Carla has known Craig for years and I’m almost envious of the fact that she knows him so well. I know Craig the doctor, Craig the saviour, Craig the man who goes to any length to please his family. I don’t know Craig the fighter and maybe that’s the missing link
.

Carla stretches next to me as I watch Craig raptly. He moves with deftness and agility in his
day-to-day life but it’s nothing compared to the liquid movements as he glides around the cage.

He and Mark aren’t so much fighting as working with one another to practice movements.

Mark isn’t talking but Craig is barking instructions at him in short, abrupt, single word bursts.

Interestingly, Craig doesn’t seem as irritated as before, he seems singularly focussed on his movements. His shields are up but they’re not at full strength.

I watch them for at least half an hour as they move from the cage to other stations in the room. It’s whilst they’re jumping up and down onto boxes as high as my navel that Craig finally talks to him.

I’m sat on a comfy
armchair that one of the boys fetched from the office, sipping on a cup of tea that another made me from the gym’s café.

I’m being well looked after.

“Use your arms,” Craig grunts at Mark.

Mark just nods, his face
is red and he looks fairly breathless. He does as he’s told though and uses his arms to give himself momentum.

Craig continues giving him pointers and tips but there’s still no trace of friendliness in his voice. It’s hard to convince myself I’m listening to my Craig.

By the time they move back to the cage, Mark looks about ready to drop but he doesn’t say anything.

They begin sparring and I force myself to watch. It’s not as hard as I would have thought because Craig’s eyes are the same. There’s no anger or violence, only concentration and that look which made me feel safe the very first time I set eyes upon him.

“Spoken to Jake?” Craig asks, barely out of breath as he moves around Mark with quick steps and relative ease.

“
No,” Mark pants, kicking out towards Craig. “Doesn’t answer my calls.”

Craig catches his leg and twists it round, putting Mark on the floor and pinning him down.

He doesn’t hold him long, quickly releasing him and helping him up to his feet.

“
He’s stubborn. Don’t give up on him. He can’t lose both of you,” Craig tells him.

“
About that,” Mark starts, taking a step back, away from the sparring.

Craig shakes his head.
“Nothing to say, Mark. What happened wasn’t your fault.”

Mark nods.
“Should have seen it coming.”

“
Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” Craig shrugs. “You’re a good friend to Jake and he’s still pretty twisted up about what happened with Jelly. He needs a good friend.”

Mark nods, his chest heaving as he rests against the cage wall.

“Tired, kid?” Craig teases him.

“
Fucking knackered,” he wheezes.

Craig just grins and I see him relax a little. Whatever concerns he had about Mark seem to have been put to rest. It’s obvious Mark also feels bad about his former friend’s attempted rape of Jelly.

“You’re done,” Craig tells him. “I’m warmed up.”

“
Thank fuck,” Mark grins, falling to the floor and trying to catch his breath.

I can’t help but giggle at the way Craig’s laughter booms across the room. He reaches down and pulls Mark up once more, slapping him on the back.

Mark limps out of the side of the cage and another man steps up.

“
Worn another one down, Carter?” The big chap laughs.

“
He’s not a fighter,” Craig shrugs. “Was just helping me warm up.”

“
Ready to go?” He rubs his hands together

“
Let’s do this,” Craig nods.

“
That’s Tank,” Carla tells me, perching on the side of the armchair. “He works with the twins.”

“
Tank, seems fitting,” I murmur, watching the gargantuan man circling around Craig.

“
He’s a pussy cat,” she grins. “Craig trains with him all the time.”

I’m exhausted just having watched him for the past hour. I hold my breath because I know they are about to start fighting. This isn’t about sparring any more. This is fists flying, blows landing, blood spilling.

“Breathe for me, doll,” Carla reaches out and squeezes my hand. “He looks over and sees you this white, his head won’t be in the game.”

“
I don’t think I can watch this,” I tell her with my voice cracking. There’s a sickly feeling rising in my throat as flashbacks of my many, many beatings plague me.

“
You have to trust him, Bella. He needs you to see this,” she reassures me gently.

She keeps her
hand on mine and squeezes gently to let me know she’s not going anywhere.

I force my eyes up to the cage and swallow hard. When I watch
Craig, I expect to see a beating of catatonic proportions. I expect to watch him beating his opponent to smithereens.

I expect to be reminded of th
e way Nigel used his superior weight and strength to exert his power over me. To remember the way it feels to have your stomach knocked so hard that your breath is blown away and you cough up blood.

How it feels to have your breasts crushed under the weight of a boot and your neck strangled between two unyielding hands.

That’s not what I see.

I see the man who cares for me gliding around his opponent, moving his body in an almost graceful fashion.