PUSH: Ultra Alpha MMA Badboy Mafia Romance (Southside Brotherhood Book 2) (21 page)

Spit flew out of Flynn’s mouth and sweat stung his eyes.

Suddenly, Tony and Flynn were both on the mat, each scrambling to the be the first to find their footing. Flynn sucked in the blood that flowed out of his swelling lower lip, feeling it slip down his throat like rocket fuel.

Time slowed. Flynn found his position before Tony could get his weight steady and, with an animalistic instinct, Flynn pounded him with the full force of a kick to the gut, staggering him back.

Flynn went in for the kill.

Two roundhouse blows sent Tony’s head swinging back and forth like a shutter in a storm, followed by one sickening crunch as Flynn growled and snapped Tony’s head back with an upward slam of knuckle on jaw.

Tony-the-Terror fell like Raggedy Andy in a slick heap, one arm and shoulder hanging in the bottom rope of the ring.

Breath burned as Flynn sprayed blood with each exhale and spit out the bright yellow mouthguard streaked with ruby red.

“Well, I don’t know if you upped your defense. But, I guess you won.” Roger limped toward the desk to grab some help as Tony started to moan and crawl onto all fours. Then, Roger came around and mumbled something to Tony as he came up to sit back on his heels.

Tony’s smirk was gone as his bleary eyes searched the ring and connected with Flynn.

Flynn felt the blood moving through his veins and his heart hitting the inside of his chest wall, the fight-haze clearing.

“All right,” Roger spoke to Flynn from a spot on his knees next to Tony. “Get cleaned up. You don’t listen worth a shit, but you got instinct, kid. You still need defense. Someday it’s gonna come around and bite you in your Irish ass, but I’ll put you in at Harway. One week, got it?”

“Yeah. You think Teddy Bear is going to be okay?”

Tony shook his head as Roger stood up and left him with an ice pack and towel against his head.

“Don’t be an arrogant fuck. It was a good fight, but you’re not all that, so don’t be an ass. Got it? Now, get the fuck out.”

Roger spun to make his way out of the ropes and back toward the front desk. A small group of old-timers and newb’s stood frozen at the bags or leaning against ropes, watching Flynn make his way toward the locker room.

He never really thought about the win. Winning wasn’t enough of a reason. It was the pain, the blood that lit him up.

Only now, it was her. Them together. Whatever it took to free them and make her safe, that would be the new taste of blood on his tongue.

Four hours had passed since he’d made sure she was back inside the house safe and her absence unnoticed. Now, she was like a ticking clock in his head.

As he made his way out into the daylight, he turned the Bronco toward Midtown, knowing he needed to make one stop before he got to her.

***

“So, how’d you convince them you were such a big girl?” Ana spun in her desk chair like a carnival ride.

“Right? I mean, you know, I told you some. But, Gawd, really? They keep telling me how important I am, blah, blah. And then you can’t trust me to drive myself to work? Can’t let me out of the sight of my chaperone's?”

“Yeah, sorry, but I know everyone knows not to ask too many questions, especially about you. But come on, it’s weird, right?” Ana asked.

“Yes. Family stuff. They have their ways, and it’s all just weird. They’re weird.”
That’s putting it mildly.

“So, you wanna go to lunch? Are you like, allowed to fraternize?”

Lilly smiled at the little blonde. Most of the other folks who mulled around and worked, dropped their heads when she walked by.

“I actually have a lunch date.”

“Really? Your fiancé lets you date? He doesn’t seem like that —
evolved.
”

Lilly tapped a few more lines of gibberish onto the screen as she pulled her lips to the side.

“Yeah.” She shrugged with her smile. “No. I’m going to see Mac. He’s on the approved list.”

Ana sighed and looked out the wall of windows at the other workers who kept shooting daggers at her through the glass.

“Weird. But whatever works, I guess. I’m no one to talk; I haven’t been on a date in two years.
Two. Years.
Am I that off-putting? I mean, come on, I try, right?” Ana pushed the dark rimmed glasses up to the top of her nose raising her eyebrows.

“You’re adorable.” Lilly smiled, turning around to see Ana staring at her as she spun her cell phone on the desktop.

Lilly had about five minutes before she needed to leave and go see Mac. She was so tired, less than an hour of sleep and her belly hadn’t stopped fluttering and flipping thinking of last night.

Not to mention the sore reminder with every step. Every breath, practically.

Everything she felt seemed like a mixture of the greatest joy she could imagine and a black blanket of doom. What had she done? How could this ever end up without someone hurt — or in this family, dead?

The flutter turned to a ripe wave of nausea as she imagined Flynn on the floor of her bedroom, the knife cutting across his chest. Only the next time, they wouldn’t stop at leaving a scar.

“Hey!” Ana tapped her phone on the desk.

“What? Sorry.”

“Reception just called. Someone’s here for me. I’ll see you later. Maybe it’s my Prince Charming come to rescue me from my reluctant chastity.”

Lilly laughed as Ana stuck her tongue out at the faces glaring at her through the glass.

No one was supposed to be in the server room while Lilly worked. One of Colin’s many mandates, but Ana didn’t seem overly worried about all the peculiar rules surrounding the brain at the helm of their little project.

One more line.

As much as she hated working for them, this was what she loved. She got lost in the magic, the puzzle of it all. Her brain turned into Mozart writing a concerto, only hers included a language that couldn’t be spoken aloud and a dance of complex, seemingly unrelated parts, that, in her head, turned into a beautiful construct of reason.

Just a minute later, Lilly heard the swoosh of the door and glanced behind her to see Ana coming back into her chilly, isolation chamber.

“Hey, not for me after all. Something for you.” She lay a small box on her desk.

“What’s this?”

“I dunno. I went to the front desk and there was a package for me. Only, when I opened the outside box, there was this inside with a note.”

She handed over a scrap of paper. Lilly’s heart stopped as she opened the box and stared at the words.

“I know you are her friend. Please give this to Lilly, then forget it.”

“So, there you go. You better get to lunch. Stick that in your purse. I see nothing.” Ana spun on her heel not even bothering to sneer at the faces on the other side of the glass.

Chapter Eighteen

Lilly’s hands shook as she felt the slick glass of the phone in her hands. The inside of the Nissan had heated with the sun even on a late fall day. Lilly felt the warmth but still held the chill of the server room.

The phone buzzed and Lilly knew who it would be. Her body twitched as she looked down to see the message bubble on the screen.

Follow me.

She craned her neck until she heard her ears pop. Then, she saw it. A flash of white driving by in the parking lot, slowing as it passed the little blue car. Without even thinking, she turned the key and put the car in drive.

Another buzz.

Good girl. Now, don’t text and drive.

That shit’s dangerous. Just follow me.

I left a message for Mac.

Said you’d be late, busy at work.

Don’t think, just follow.

She turned up the A/C and it blew across the burning that rose in her cheeks. The taillights of the Bronco turned the corner and headed north as she tried to keep her foot even on the accelerator.

A flutter started somewhere south of her belly button and radiated down her legs and forced her to squeeze her shaking thighs together. She remembered. Her body remembered. Everything.

Her mind spun.

Never had she truly imagined someone wanting to have her in such an all-encompassing way. She thought sex would be just that. A three-letter word for an act that occurred between two consenting adults.

Very straightforward—this part goes there and then this happens and then you’re done.

Only, that was not at all what happened. He had consumed her, Lilly’s own fumbling self-pleasuring of the past seemed like a soft spring breeze. What Flynn showed her was more like a category-five hurricane.

Now what? God, where are we going?

After a nerve-wracking ten minutes of winding streets and her own thoughts, Lilly pulled to a stop behind the Bronco and realized her panties were wet.

When she saw Flynn’s worn, black boots emerge from the open car door, just that first glimpse of him brought the entire sleepless night back in a wave that sucked her breath away and had her head on the steering wheel.

He moved like a man that held no quarter. Each step was exactly placed where he intended — head high, shoulders straight and spread. Under the reflection of his gold-rimmed Ray-bans, Lilly could already see the glow of green.

God, maybe he’s here to call it off. To say it was a mistake, we need to pretend it never happened. After all, look at him. He should be gracing the cover of some hybrid fitness magazine combined with Gentleman’s Quarterly. I mean, he has this need to break the family cycle and I’m just the best ‘fuck you’ he could give his father. God, what have I done? I should have known better. There are no happy endings, especially in our families.

The tap on her driver’s window shocked her back into the moment.

Flynn crossed his arms, tipping his head to the side.

“Come on.” His muffled voice worked its way through the closed window.

Let’s get it over with,
she thought, the flutters of her stomach suddenly tumbling like rocks into a black well.

“Hey.” She rose from the car, careful not to look eager or try to touch him.

She fussed with the strap of her messenger bag and licked her lips.
Walk straight
, she thought, suddenly more aware of her hitched, limping stride than usual.

She couldn’t stop pulling her jacket together in front, trying to fix the way it didn’t seem to lay flat over the curve of her belly.

“
’Hey?
’ That’s what you have to say? Do you have amnesia? Did I dream about the best night of my fucking life or were you there?”

She froze as his hands scooped onto her cheeks. His face came down and the sweet, warmth of his lips sealed them together right out there in front of God and everyone.

Even with her steely determination to be prepared for the worst, a halted moan came from in her gut as his tongue traced over her bottom lip then pressed into her mouth, finding her and calling her like a siren into the kiss.

“Hmmm, delicious.” Flynn drew back, curved his smile and lowered those pools of green at her like a light show. “How do you feel?”

Like I have something to lose. Like a kid who stole a candy bar and is just waiting to get caught.

“Fine. I’m good.”

Why couldn’t she just say what was really going on inside her crazy head?

Just tell him you’re feeling insecure and scared and crazy. That you — for the first time — think you know what it feels like to think about the future, to have a clutch in your belly when you think about someone, to understand why there are so many songs and books about love and loss and wonder.

“Uh uh. Don’t do that.” His arm hung around her shoulders, pulling her into him as he eyed the street and guided her toward a tall, wrought iron gate covered with ivy.

“Do what?”

“Do that whole ‘
Fine
’ thing. You’re telling me that’s all you want to say? You think that’s what I want to hear? Fuck that. When I ask you how you are, how you feel, you better give me more than that bullshit. Good, bad and ugly, I want it all.”

“Where are we going?”

Flynn’s free hand worked the rusted handle of the twelve-foot tall, wrought iron garden gate that opened with a loud squeal.

Lilly looked ahead to see an overgrown tangle of what used to be a manicured path. Only now, the trees pushed inward, leaving only a narrow, winding cut through the dense greenery.

“You’ll see. Now, tell me how you feel.”

“Body wise?”

“Sure. That’s a start.”

“Well, I can’t say I haven’t been reminded about a hundred times today of last night. I’m taking slower steps and deep breaths. But, I guess I’m good.”

“Good? Big brain like yours and you feel ‘good’?” He smiled and kissed the top of her head as he walked, leaning down and as the low hanging branches and brush reached out to touch his hair.

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”