Cage (13 page)

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Chapter 15 – Saffron

Pensacola, Present Day

Luckily, I had already learned everything that I needed to in order to
watch Sawyer fight. He had carelessly mentioned during the conversation that the
fight was the upcoming Saturday; I had already deduced where it was
probably
going to happen, which was New
Horizons. If I was wrong, well, all I had to do was keep an eye my smartphone
the night of the match, and follow wherever his motorcycle went.

I
felt incredibly guilt when he reminded me how much he valued his privacy…but
I’d deal with
the ramifications of my actions later. I knew I
had
to see him fight. That toned, incredible body, battling it out
in the cage against another athletic body… Besides, it might be fun watching
him get hit upside the head a few times.

But it was more than just the aesthetic appeal of watching two shirtless
guys beat the crap out of each other. It was because it was
Sawyer
. We had fallen into some unspoken
truce, and now we were always around each other – he’d find an excuse to
watch me swim, and I’d do the same to watch him train. I had only planned on
getting into the pool a few times while we were down here, considering the
ocean was close – but now, it thrilled me, knowing that he was paying
attention – even if he was trying to hide it.

We didn’t talk about it to one another. It was better that way.

But I didn’t even try to lie to myself anymore. My stepbrother was
absolutely hot. When he opened up to me, he showed me something new, something
I hadn’t seen before…tenderness. Compassion. I mean, he already had a stunning
figure, but seeing this new side of him seemed to go a long way with me.

And I almost gave in, when I noticed how erect he was at my touch. It
crossed my mind to just go for it, stroking him through his shorts.

But that was dangerous.

Look, don’t touch,
I thought to
myself.
Even if it weren’t wrong…even if
you’d be fine living a double life under your parents’ noses…he’s abandoned you
before.

He’d emotionally betrayed me in the past. Nothing would stop him from
doing it again, and while I was willing to entertain a fantasy or two for the
time being…I still wasn’t willing to give him that power over me. If I let him
do that and walk out on me again, chasing some bullshit dream of
being a man
or whatever he was doing…it
would shatter me to my very core.

And that’s why I had backed away.

But the fight was an opportunity to see the man that Sawyer had really
become. He’d never let me see that side of him, how vicious he could be when it
was just him against some other fighter, determined to beat him into complete
submission.

That was the
real
Sawyer.

If what he said was true, he was a careful, powerful fighting machine.
He’d mentioned that he got into a sort of “zone”, and I figured it was some
kind of zen trance. He’d never call it that, obviously, but he made it sound
like he shut off his head and let instinct take over.

I had to see it. I’d never seen Sawyer for what he really was –
he’d only shown me the same old bullshit antagonism up until now, and while I
liked the open, friendlier Sawyer – it still wasn’t what he really was,
not completely. Maybe it was closer to the truth than what he’d let me see, but
the darkness inside him was still foreign to me. It was this mysterious,
carefully guarded secret that he was determined to keep from my sight.

Well, you don’t get to decide
that,
I told myself as the night approached.
I have every right to see what sort of man I’m spending months alone
with.

In the meantime, I kept myself occupied. Now that I was somewhat more
comfortable with Sawyer, I was willing to make the logical next step. After
all, it was a long summer, I’d been reading a ton of books already, and what
else was there to do?

I withdrew my vibrator from the hidden little spot in my bathroom
– after all, I didn’t need Sawyer coming in here for whatever reason and
discovering the stupid thing. With a little bit of fresh lube to help get
things going, I lay down in bed and started to fantasize.

My go-to was a daydream about Sawyer and that training bag of his. He’d
punch the ever-living daylights out of the bag as I relaxed in the pool, eating
up the eye candy. Maybe I’d slip up onto the ground surface, dripping with
water, and pick up a towel to dry my hair. He’d watch me with a hungry, primal
state, and I’d bring the damp towel over to him and dry him off with it.

He’d stand there and let me feel his body through the towel, staring me
intently in the eyes as his erection noticeably grew. I’d continued to towel
him off slowly, until I finally let the towel fall to the wayside. My fingers
would hungrily trace his muscles, sliding up those impossibly strong arms and
trailing down his washboard abs. He would place his hand on my shoulder, and as
my fingertips graced the top of his boxer shorts, he’d tug my hair
hard
, exposing my throat for him.

His lips would find my neck, tracing with his tongue up to my ear, but
he’d push me down onto my knees.

“Pull it out,” he’d command.

I’d understand what he needed, and reach down into his boxer shorts. His
weapon would be already at attention, and I’d pull it free, dropping his shorts
to his ankles.

“Go ahead,” he’d tell me.

I’d part my lips around the bulb of his cock, driving my lips down. My
hot, wet mouth would welcome him in – a pale imitation of what was to
come. His hands would wrap around my head, forcing me to take more and more of
him in. My lips would bob on his cock, sucking him down, until he gasped and
groaned and released his seed down into my throat.

But it wouldn’t stop there. He’d unpluck my strings, letting my bikini
fall to the ground, but then lift me up over his hardened shoulder and carry me
inside. While I continued to drip from the pool everywhere, he’d carry me
through the house and outside to his motorcycle. He’d place me down beside it,
coercing my hands down onto the seat, and demand that I hold onto it –
but keep the machine from bouncing off of its kickstand with the force of our
motions.

He’d line his thick, juicy cock up with my wet pussy – still
lathered with my saliva – and shove it deep inside me.

I’d gasp, clutching onto his ride as he in turn rode me; my body would
welcome him inside, and his hands would clasp onto me. One hand would reach
forward and grasp my shoulder; the other would clench into my hip. While he
held me in place and thundered his pelvis against mine, I’d let out a series of
moans, completely content that the driveway was a substantial distance to the
road.

He’d pull me back against him, his arms wrapping around my body and
keeping me close; his hand would clasp around my mouth now, and I’d taste the
salt on his skin as his fingers partially entered my mouth. He’d hold me out
towards the road, showing me off as we fucked, until I finally succumbed to my
climax against him. Once I finished trembling, he’d continue to use my body for
a few minutes, maybe on all fours in the grass, until he finally came again.

The fantasy was awesome, but I found myself stopping most of the way
through. It just wasn’t doing anything for me. I knew that I couldn’t have him
– and I knew that I couldn’t trust him. He had already proven to me how
he rewarded trust, and I had spent five years trying to live without him in the
meantime.

Great
, I sighed,
pulling the vibrator free, mulling over how long I was going to lay in bed
feeling sorry for myself before I cleaned it off.
I finally start accepting that I lust for the guy, and I can’t even
bring myself to finish.

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Chapter 16 – Sawyer

Pensacola, Present Day

The night of the fight was the first time that I’d been nervous since
the announcement. Something felt wrong; I couldn’t directly put my finger on
it, but there was an air of mounting tension all around me. It threatened to
choke me, forcing itself into my lungs.

Quit it
, I thought
to myself as I sat in the waiting room, waiting for the signal.
Stop psyching yourself out. There’s no
reason to lose the match before it starts.

When the referee appeared through the door, it
was a familiar face from the early days at this venue. I followed Vinnie into
the ring, hanging around the opposite side in anticipation of my contender.
Vinnie was quite a character – thin as a mop, he was an upper-forties
Italian guy with leathery skin, a full head of hair, and a thick brush of a
moustache. I’d seen brooms with less structural integrity than that proud bush
he kept beneath his nose.

“I’m surprised you’re still around,” I told him.

“Heh. It’s a job. Welcome back,
amico
.”

“Same to ya.”

We hovered around for a moment in the cage, waiting on my opponent. I’d
always met my fighter before the brawl – sort of an unspoken “
Friends out here, fighters in there”
sort
of arrangement. The general camaraderie of the underground sport dictated a
certain degree of mutual respect, regardless of whatever happened. It’s how we
kept things civil. But Luke had changed the rules for this one, and all I had
to go off was the name.

Vinnie checked his watch. Something was wrong.

“Paging
Jabberjaw!
” He boomed
out, over the rustling of the crowd.
“
I
repeat, paging
Jabberjaw
, coward
apparent of the New Horizons Cage! Jabberjaw, if you’re in the building, quit
wasting my fucking time!”

The crowd gazed around, but nobody seemed to be stepping up. Vinnie and
I shared a quick look, and Luke started to subtly panic in the front. He was
calculating what to do – there’d never been a no-show, and he was
wondering if he’d have to request a volunteer from the audience.

In hindsight, that might have been a good draw, too.
Step right up! Challenge the underground
cage fighting legend, Bonesaw! Only at the New Horizons Cage on Saturday
nights!

“Luke, is this guy even here?” I called over to him.

“Yeah, I just saw him not ten minutes ago…”

Vinnie had met the end of his patience, and boomed out another hefty
call. “Last call for the
yellow-bellied
Jabber–”

Someone pushed out through the front, near the stairs. Vinnie stepped
over and let him in, and I finally got a good look at my mystery opponent. As
the gate closed behind him, he turned to face me with a familiar smirk.

“Recognize me,
Fucker?
”

The realization dawned on me. “Slippery Pete.”

“That’s right, shit-stain…” My old friend grinned evilly. He’d grown his
hair out and dyed it black, but as soon as the dots connected he was
unmistakably the ghost from my past. “You done gone and pissed me off, yeah?
Payback’s gonna be a total bitch…”

“Payback? For
what?”

“It should have been YOU! YOU should have been in the ring when the
police came, not ME! You think I didn’t notice you disappear right before the
fucking raid? They took EVERYTHING from us!” He bristled with rage as he said
his bit, ignoring the crowd, Vinnie, any of them. “The whole place goes down
and you fucking got away scott-free. You know how long I’ve been in prison?”

I realized what it must have felt like – down on the ground,
handcuffed.

“I wasn’t the one who sold us out,” I said angrily, “I climbed out a
fucking window and ran for it.”

“What, so you’re a fuckin’ coward now? You think that makes it better?”

 
“What about Gary?” I asked.
“What about the others?”

“Fuck the others! Who the fuck cares about them?” He shouted. The crowd
was eating this up – they thought it was part of the show. “But my old
man didn’t even make it to fuckin’ trial – he was murdered in the middle
of the night! When his friends were gonna squeak, someone had him executed in
revenge! I barely made it out of the fuckin’ cell block alive!”

“And you blame me,” I observed.

“Of course I fuckin’ do,” he growled. “I don’t care who called the
police. I figure it was you or your buddy Naysayer who played that card.”

“I’m not Naysayer’s friend.”

“You’re the one who fuckin’ worked with him,” his finger angrily jabbed
my way. “
You
escaped retribution
while the rest of us rotted in a goddamn jail cell.
You
were the fucker who got out of that mess and skipped out to
paradise. Judgment has come…and it is time for your punishment to be paid.”

All the while that he told his little tale, I quietly studied him
– his stance, how he moved, his musculature. In the time since the police
raid on Happy Pat’s, he’d clearly refined himself into an efficient,
streamlined fighting machine. Five years ago, he’d been a scrawny but powerful
fighter, focusing on honing his fists into steel. But now…he had trained himself
to the limit, sculpting every detail into a work of art. His body was built to
weave effortlessly at a second’s notice. The way he moved, I could see that
swift footwork and lightning-fast reflexes would put him exactly where he
wanted to be for every second of the match. Prison had made him hard, but he
was going to be every bit as slippery.

The name suddenly made sense.

Jabberjaw.

Jab ‘er jaw.

 
I’d thought it was a stupid name, but
it was a warning – I wasn’t facing some dumb chatterbox who hoped to
distract me during the fight. I was going up against someone who moved insanely
quickly, throwing rock-hard thrusts that I could barely predict. He might as
well have gone with
Payback
or
Fisty McFuckYou.

There was no way I could have prepared for this. I was built to be a
quick but mighty powerhouse, withstanding blows and delivering crushing
defeats. What I faced was the most efficient glass cannon I’d seen –
someone who could withstand maybe a pair of solid punches from a fighter like
me, but someone who I’d never hit.

What faced me in the cage wasn’t Slippery Pete anymore.

It was my worst nightmare.

“Now that
sharing time
is
over, maybe we can get this shit-show back on the fucking road!” Vinnie called
out over the hushed crowd, “I’m proud to announce the return of the legend, a
man who has shed blood in this very cage time and time again…
Boooonesaaaaw!”

The crowd went wild, but my senses were all tuned towards my opponent,
who only sneered with their cheers.

“His challenger is a relative unknown to these parts, but an
up-and-coming contender from the west coast,” Vinnie declared loudly.
“Apparently, these guys have some fucking history, huh?”

The crowd roared in reply, splashing beer and shouting at the top of its
lungs.

“A vicious cage fighter, hailing from the seediest depths of Phoenix,
Arizona…I give you the lightning, the wise-cracker, the
Jaabbeeerjaaaw!”

The crowd booed, and Jabberjaw thrust up his fist in pleased
recognition. “Fuck all y’all sons of bitches!”

Vinnie continued loudly. “As a special treat tonight, all restrictions
are lifted. No tap-outs, no guild rules. This is an unregulated bout with
anything-goes rules until knockout!”

“What?” I hissed, turning to him while the crowd exploded.
What the fuck is going on? This isn’t
underground cage fighting…this is a fucking duel.

“Luke,” Vinnie contested quietly to me.

I turned towards the proprietor with a vicious glare, who cowed under my
rage. Darren looked panicked, glancing from Jabberjaw, to me, to Luke.

“Luke! What the
fuck
did you
do?” Darren glowered at the owner, but I couldn’t hear the sheepish response
over the roar of the crowd.

“Thought, you know, I’d liven shit up,” Jabberjaw told me as the crowd
still cheered. It was clear that they wanted blood, and that they were happy
that they were clearly going to get it. “Been a long time after all,
Fucker.
After I paid my way into this
fight, I would have been fine with just smacking your shit up and down the
cage. But
then
a little birdie told
me about the, uh,
financial
troubles…let’s just say I had some winnings to blow, and I thought, you
know…why the fuck not? Let’s make it
special.
”

“You staged this,” I realized. “You want a bloodbath.”

“You’re goddamn right, shit-stain.”

Vinnie was clearly disturbed, but his hands were tied. He called out in
his booming voice to quell the crowds. “On this side, the reigning veteran,
Bonesaw. On the other, the challenger, Jabberjaw. Gentlemen, when the buzzer
begins…”

He stepped out from between us and through the gate, closing it behind
himself. When I heard the distinct
lock
sound, I turned towards him with a betrayed look. Remorse covered his face
– so, on top of everything else, Luke had also been paid to
lock the cage
and keep me trapped in
here with this monster.

Understanding the ferocity of my predicament, I turned to face my
opponent, lifting my fists. He turned and spat onto the floor, a malevolent
grin across his face.

The buzzer sounded, and Vinnie called out.

“FIGHT!”