PULSE: A Stepbrother Romance (13 page)

Yeah. Fat chance of a lot of things.

SAFFRON

Chapter 15

PENSACOLA

PRESENT
DAY

L
uckily, 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.

SAWYER

Chapter 16

PENSACOLA

PRESENT
DAY

T
he 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!”