Caged: Cellar Door Series (8 page)

Matt was on the couch and I had my ass in the recliner while trying not to bust a gut laughing at his pansy ass. We’d stopped to grab my truck from OverTime and found Ronnie, the chick bartender who fought down at Cellar Door; in the process of tagging it up for the tow company to grab it. She’d let it sit the past couple of days because she’d recognized it from the club but her uncle, who owned OverTime had told her it needed to go.  She’d been damned glad to someone collect it finally.

Matt had eye fucked Ronnie while I chatted her up on her recent fights and found out some more of her background. I didn’t generally make friendly with the other competitors but Ronnie was laid back with no expectation from me, something I could respect. She explained how she worked for her Uncle most nights at the bar while going to school during the day. She’d gotten her bachelors and was working towards her Ph.D. in education.  It was comical as hell to me because she was pretty beast in the ring. Picturing her as a teacher was hard pressed too since she sported almost as much ink as I did. I was betting her class would toe the fucking line.

Matt’s decided interest in her had screwed with my lunch when he grilled me about Ronnie while I tried to shove a burger down my throat as fast as I could to stop all the noise coming from my gut. I’d been about ready to kick his ass into silence so I could finally finish my burger when he relented, at least till we’d gotten back home.

Question was, did he want more than a one night because let’s face it…you don’t want to piss off a woman who could go toe to toe with you in an ass kicking contest but I hadn’t pointed that out to him.

I was laid back in the recliner at our apartment sipping on a beer. After several days straight in the bottom of the bottling it, a break from bourbon was in order or more like demanded by Matt. I knew he was right not that I was telling him and letting his head get big.

“Dude seriously, how have I not seen her at the club? I make it a point to know most of the fighters down there.” Matt brought his beer to his mouth and took a long pull looking confused as hell about how he’d not noticed “Rowdy” Ronnie Dalton. She was hard as hell to miss with her multi color hair, tats and a body that was stacked while maintaining a wholly feminine physic. She was eye catching for sure.

“She fights on my off weeks. Reason I knew some about her is because she was fighting my weeks on until she caught an injury. That was back when I first started there. It’s why her schedule shifted. She also studies at Odyssey though I haven’t seen her. She said she’s done a few one on one sessions with Sifu.” Odyssey was the MMA Academy I’d been studying out of for both MMA and Jiu Jitsu since 10
th
grade. The instructor was world class and hadn’t kicked me to the curb like the competition team had when I’d lost it during a match. Instead, he’d tried to teach me composure, how to control the emotions that would roll through me during a fight.

Matt trained with me at the gym, working my over all conditioning, and sparred with me, but he didn’t study MMA or Jiu Jitsu and seldom put in an appearance at Odyssey unless he was grabbing me up for some reason. What he knew, he’d learned from spending time on the mats with me at the gym.

I couldn’t help the snide laugh that erupted from me as I continued to give Matt shit. “Besides, not to be dropping it out here like this but damn man, you’re normally more interested in the dudes than the chicks that are fighting…..just saying. She probably saw the way you size up the male fighters and figured she didn’t stand a chance” I laughed harder as Matt glowered at me., his eyes shifting towards the beer bottle in his hand like maybe, just maybe he might throw it at me.

“Just telling it like it is Mattie. Don’t hate on me.” A knock sounded on the door and my stomach clenched while Matt’s scowl turned into a shit eating grin.

My laugh died out. “Yeah yeah, funny. Ha ha ha. Don’t know what the fuck you’re grinning at.” I righted myself in the recliner and got up, moving to the door and pulling it open. Kylee stood there in a pair of tiny jean shorts that damn near flashed her ass and a faded black concert tank top that was snug, showcasing her chest with her long hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun. There was nothing done up about her and yet she still had my dick twitching with a hunger I’d never had for anyone else. It didn’t matter what Kylee wore, could have been a garbage bag and my dick would’ve taken notice especially with her ass ready to play peek-a-boo  in the shorts she was wearing, I was pretty sure JD Jr was going to be at the ready for as long as she visited.

“Hey baby girl. Come on in.” I moved and gave her space to come in to the apartment, more for me than her. I wanted to at least try to maintain our friendship but damn it, everything about her called to me. I’d told myself earlier I would make a better effort to smooth things over, to not bring Kylee to tears again because it tore me the fuck up knowing I was the reason she was hurting.

Matt had clapped when I told him and congratulated me on finally reaching adulthood at the ripe age of 22. I cup checked the fucker causing him to double over and thanked him for his observation.

Matt greeted Kylee with a hug before heading off to his room with a smug smile. “Later you two. I got some research to do.”

Kylee glanced up, her eyes questioning me and I shrugged before explaining. “He’s checking shit out for my next set of fights.” I was almost positive he was going to be researching a certain female while he was at it.

“Oh.” I waited for her to comment more on it but she didn’t, simply moved to the couch and folded herself on it sitting Indian style. I retrieved my beer from the table beside the recliner and joined her waiting for whatever it was she wanted.

I finished my beer and settled the empty on the coffee table turning to look at her, waiting for her to speak.

My limited patience broke. “What gives?” No way was I waiting longer, I’d run fresh out of that ability for Kylee to work herself up to whatever she wanted to say, which was rare from her because usually had no problem voicing her opinions or thoughts.

Kylee sighed heavily and pulled her dark hair down out of the bun, the mass tumbling around her and moved it over one shoulder, playing with the ends. “Can’t we start over?  We always have been close, why did that have to change?”

Fuck me…I was barely holding it together around her already, wanted to be close on a  level she wouldn’t even register though it went against everything I’d ever said when it came to Kylee. How the fuck was I going to maintain my distance; keep my dick in my pants and my hands to myself? Every minute around her was fucking torture, the sweetest kind, but still, my balls were going to be smurf blue at this rate, if not just fall the fuck off.

“Look, I don’t know what you want from me. I told you before we’re just different people; going different directions and I thought it would be better if you got the chance to pull together some new friends. The kind you should be hanging around. It’s not like we’re not friends. You’re here aren’t you? ” A pillow slammed into my chest, one of the small decorative ones that sat on the couch that I’d never understood its purpose. We constantly moved them when sitting down so what was the fucking point of having them other than for Kylee to hit me with.

“You know what JD you’re a dumbass sometimes. Stop trying to make my decisions for me. You’ve done it for too damn long. I’m every bit as grown as you. Who I want to surround myself with is my choice don’t you think?” Kylee’s eyes and words implored me to let her decide, to stop trying to control the situation which would have been all good except for one fucking little detail. She had no idea just what she meant to me or how badly I wanted to strip her bare and take days exploring every damn inch of her. If I let go of the distance I had a pretty damn good idea what would happen and still I nodded at her, silently agreeing, knowing in the end one of us was going to end up hurt. As much as I was trying to protect Kylee from me it was straining what control I had to keep my hands off her.

I was shocked as shit when she let the subject go; didn’t press me any further about it. That was not Kylee’s norm. She was like a pit-bull; would dig into something, clenching her jaws around it and refusing to let go until she was good and satisfied. It was strange but I wasn’t looking the gift horse in the mouth.

“I’ve been told that I’m a dumbass a time or two. At least once a day by Matt I’m pretty sure. We good?” A deep rumble of laughter rolled from me at the cocked brow and smile Kylee turned on me as she nodded. “Good.”

I was flicking through channels to keep from staring at Kylee’s ass that was on very nice display since her feet had moved to tuck up under her, the rounded cheeks resting on her heels peeking out at me. I settled on a scary one hoping that some gore would kill my raging libido. I was pretty sure unless the bad guy in the movie showed up and removed my shit that it wasn’t going to work but it was worth a try.

“You would pick that. You know I hate those shows because they scare me.” Kylee unfolded her legs and scooted closer to me snagging the blanket off the back of the couch, settling under it before resting her head against my bicep. My fingers tightened on the remote to keep me from wrapping my arm around her and dragging her into my lap. Her big browns were looking up at me, a smile playing over her sweet little mouth. “I missed you JD.”

I glanced down at her; all kinds of craziness setting up shop in my chest. Damn this woman did things to me. Things that were all kinds of fucking with my head, both of them

“Missed you Ky.” I put my attention back on the TV and began clocking the stupid lines from the D rated actors; counting to try to stop my dick from standing straight up and waving hello to her. It wasn’t like it was the first time Kylee had ever sat this close to me, hell she used to do it all the time but in the four years that had passed something inside of me had shifted, had taken a dog leg left along the way and changed completely when it came to her.

I tried not to laugh out loud and failed when Kylee jumped a mile high during one of the scenes where the bad guy popped up unexpectedly. She slapped the shit out of my shoulder and got even closer to me. Her clean scent rolled through me and I forcibly had to stay focused on the fucking TV to keep my dick in line and my hands to myself, clenching my fists open and closed.

I’d set the remote on the arm of the couch to keep from cracking the thing I’d been gripping it so hard. With the way things were going it wouldn’t be long before I would be sporting perma-boner. The thought of trying to alleviate the uncomfortableness with anyone but Kylee caused my teeth to snap together. Great…the woman I wanted I shouldn’t, the women I should, I didn’t want. All I could think was palm meet penis and vice versa, looks like you’re going to be good good friends. And here just a few weeks back I’d been worried about Matt’s palm getting hairy.

When the credits rolled at the end of the movie I glanced over and found Kylee asleep, her head resting against my shoulder, her body heat warming me through my t-shirt. I didn’t want to move, it felt too damn right with her small body snuggled up against mine but she would have a helluva crick in her neck if I didn’t get her straightened out. I moved as gently as I could to avoid disturbing her and laid her out on the couch, covering her with the blanket before padding to my own room, a feat that took every ounce of sheer will power to complete. I slept for shit. All I could think about was how close she was and how badly I wanted to be closer, like no clothes, skin to skin close. Fucking Christ her being home was killing me.

The next week was pretty fucking quiet, for once. Kylee would stop by the apartment almost nightly, sometimes for a few minutes just to check on us other times she’d hang out most the night. She no longer asked why I fought but was determined to learn what the scene in the basement was all about. If she wasn’t grilling Matt, she was quizzing me about how the fights were set up, what it entailed; who fought there, anything related to it, she wanted to know about it. I just wanted her to let it the hell go and danced around how I ended up at Cellar Door instead of trying to fight legit fights.  It was bad enough I had gone ape shit on  my pop and Matt back when I was 16, Kylee already knew some of that, she didn’t need to hear how badly I’d lost it in the cage a few years ago.

When Saturday night rolled around Matt and I decided to hit the club for some drinks. I still had at least another week before I was due back in the cage and while I’d toned my drinking down for the past week, I was up for getting out. Kylee had mentioned she was going to be there with some of her friends from back in high school and a part of me just wanted to make sure she would be alright….okay to be truthful, a bigger part of me wanted to make sure no dudes put their fucking hands on her, near her or spoke to her, like I could really control that. If she wanted to talk up some asshole who was I to stop it, I damn sure didn’t like it, just the thought tanked my mood.

Matt and I arrived at Cellar Door; hit the bar to get drinks and were greeted almost immediately by Sadie, a perk of being a regular to the club and part of the scene downstairs. Sadie always made a point to tend to our needs immediately. Saturday nights were busy as hell at Cellar Door and people were packed in the place, not having to wait around for a drink was a big bonus. It’s also why we tipped the hell out of her, to keep the perk in place. There were two other bartenders taking orders just to keep up with the demand and it didn’t look like it was going to slow down at all. The music blared through the sound system and heavy bass thumped through the club, the beat pounding through us.