The Fight Club (17 page)

Chapter 8

Nikki

When I hugged him, his muscles tightened and the color of his face changed completely. I enjoyed that feeling and I pressed myself on him more. He didn’t even seem to think to hug me back; he just stood there, confused and awkward.
Hell, I enjoy him like this.

I was on the verge of giggling to myself and it was hard to control my laugh.

“Did anything happen? Why are you laughing?”he asked with a confused face.

“No, nothing,” I replied. ”“It’s just your face. Are you afraid to hug me back?”

“Who? Me?” He looked more confused.”“No. I’m not.” He wrapped me in his arms and clenched me tightly. Still, his face looked confused, his eyebrows knitted together.

I waved goodbye and left before I could burst out laughing and making him feel more awkward.

He was a strict and strange man on the outside, but on the inside, he looked cute and soft. He looked too naive about touching a girl.
Maybe all MMA fighters are like this.

“Come prepared tomorrow,” he shouted from inside the house.

“Time to be serious, lady,” I muttered. I never thought he would agree to train me after what I had made him to go through.

Still thinking about him, I opened my Range Rover door and hopped in. I turned on my stereo to listen to Bryan Adams and started my car. But when I pushed the gas pedal, something happened. The car was acting weird. It was leaning to the left more than usual. I stepped out and checked, slapping my head with my hand as I realized a tire was flat and I had no spare. “Not now.” I kicked the tire.
Shit, what am I going to do now?

The shades of darkness were already lingering over the surroundings. Tristan lived in totally the opposite corner of the city and I didn’t have a spare to change the tire, nor did I know how to do it.

“Hey, any problem?” Tristan walked out of his house, still in his boxing shorts with a t-shirt on. He must have been watching me from inside.

“My tire is flat.” I shrugged my shoulders, staring at the deflated rubber.

“Don't worry, I'll drop you off at home.” He looked at my car, “I'll get it fixed tomorrow morning. It's late and nobody will come to this side of town to change your tire.”

“That's fine. Thanks, I appreciate it.”

He walked back and took out his car, but the moment he stopped in front of me, a whistling sound came out of his tire, too. His tire was also punctured.

“Not again,” he cried in disappointment.

“Not now…”

“This happened yesterday, too, and I used my spare. Now it's punctured again.”

“Never mind, I'll call a cab.” I took my cell out to call a cab and suddenly rain started pouring down from the sky. In less than fifteen seconds, we were drenched.“What the heck? What is happening with me today?” I looked up to ask god.

“We’d better get inside quick. Grab your phone or you’ll really be stuck,” he shouted, ”and ran back inside the house. I was dripping wet by the time we got inside. I looked over at Tristan; he was as wet as I was. His t-shirt was fused to his body and I could see the contours of his hairless chest through it. When I looked up, I caught him staring at me, and his eyes were filled with something dark. He was checking me over, like an alpha male checks his woman. A shiver passed through my body and my cheeks turned pink. After a moment, I had a feeling that someone was hugging every curve of my body.

“You’d better change out of those wet clothes, or you’ll be sick on the first day of training.”He was still looking at my body, and I thought I saw hunger in his eyes. “And I don't like sick students, so you’d better change into a pair of my shorts and one of my shirts.”

A few seconds later, he came out with a dark blue t-shirt, a towel and black shorts. “You can use the bathroom in my room.” He pointed down the long hall to his bedroom.

I nodded and walked inside. I wanted to get away from him before he turned my heat on, and I was curious to check out his bedroom. To my surprise, it was the most minimalistic room I’d ever seen. Only one double bed, a wardrobe and nothing else, not even a TV.
How could this man leave without a TV in his bedroom?

With a surprise I walked in his bathroom and started stripping down. He had a full-length mirror in his bathroom. I liked it; I could see myself completely naked in it. I held my breasts and shook them to see if any fluffiness was there, but none. They were as firm as two years ago. I looked at my naked body with pride. Everything looked as it should. About a year ago, I was little fat here and there, but with a ton of exercise and dieting, I’d reduced every inch of fat from my body. The fat remaining was only on my breasts and hips, where it mattered. I smiled  and pulled his boxing shorts on, but before I could get in his t-shirt a big spider came out of nowhere.

“Oh, my God. Tristan help me, please,” I shouted in panic. Spiders scared me to death and I couldn't be around them. When I was little, maybe five years old, a spider bit me and it put me in the hospital for a few days. From that day onwards, I feared them more than anything in the world. I couldn't even watch Spiderman.

“What happened?” Tristan banged the door and slapped it away to get in.

“It's…” I pointed towards the mirror and hugged him tightly.

“What? Who?”he asked me.

“A spider, damn it. Can’t you see that big spider?” I screamed and hugged him tightly, still panting in fear.

“A spider?”He started laughing.” You’re afraid of a spider?”

“Yes.” I hugged him more tightly, my eyes squeezed shut, trembling.

“Okay, I'll deal with him. Let's get out first.” He lifted me a little and walked out; I was still in his embrace.

Suddenly, I realized what condition I was in. I was half naked, hugging him, and the irony was he was bare-chested, too.
Damn. I
was holding him so tightly that his muscular diaphragm was crushing my breasts like someone squeezing a tomato and that wasn’t helping me at all. A warm heat was covering my body so rapidly that I was afraid he would notice it any minute. I could feel his hard skin on the tip of my nipples; my heartbeat quickened and I liked it. I liked being crushed by him like that.

What the hell was happening to me?
I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would fall into such a cheesy situation. I looked up; he was looking at me with his brooding eyes. I could feel the heat radiating from his body. He slowly tightened his grip on my back. He pulled me closer until my breasts were squeezed and crushed by his chest. My breath choked in my throat as he lowered his mouth to me. I closed my eyes, anticipating his lips meeting mine. I was dying to feel his lips and check how he tasted; the smell of his body was filling me from inside and arousing my sensual feelings.
Hell, I’m giving up to him.

But nothing happened. In a few seconds, he loosened his grip on my back. He withdrew himself completely in a flash and a towel covered my bare body. I kept my eyes closed, but my heart was burning in disappointment. I wanted to taste his lips, I wanted to brush my body against his. But nothing happened.

“I'll wait for you outside.”I heard him heading back to the workout room, my heart sinking lower with every step.

I sat there on his bed thinking about what just happened. Was it just me? Was I the only one who felt that or did I do something for him a few seconds ago? I hadn’t felt that hunger, that arousal in ages.
Really, what was it?

Chapter 9

Tristan

For half the night, I kept staring at the fish tank and I spent the other half dreaming about Nikki. I was sleeping on the couch. I don’t know why, but I liked it there. Whenever I closed my eyes, I felt her hot breath touching my neck, her soft, but firm breasts pressed against my skin. Damn, it felt so hot and right.

The naked encounter from last night was too much for my body; after all, I hadn’t had any action in the last six months. In one of the fuzzy dreams from last night, Nikki was naked, lying down on my bed, and when I tried to kiss her, she just disappeared and I fell hard on my bed. In reality, I fell off from the couch and it hurt.

I was in a half-dreamy state when my phone rang.”Who the fuck was calling so early in the morning?” I glanced quickly at the phone, suddenly realizing it was eight thirty already.

The call was from Trisha, and I quickly picked up.“Hey, Trisha.”

“Hello, Tristan. Sorry to bother you in the morning, but I can’t open the book store today. I need to be with my mother in the hospital.”

“Is she okay? Do you need any help?” I felt sad for the girl; she worked hard, with honesty, but still had many issues.

“Yes, she’s fine. But I’ll have to take her for some extra tests. Sorry I couldn’t give you advance notice.” She spoke quietly, the sorry apparent in her voice.

“It’s okay, you can take the day off. I’ll open the book store today,” I replied.

I’d better get ready, then.
This business was my bread and butter and I couldn't afford to lose customers because of my lazy ass.

As I was walking to my bedroom, and I saw Nikki standing there in my living room, across from the fish tank, smiling at me, her chest bare.
What the hell is happening to me?
I remembered her firm breasts and hard nipples, the way her eyes danced when she was with me. I remembered her trembling in terror at that little spider, and I chuckled. I wanted to kiss her, I even lowered my mouth, but I couldn't just do it.

She was different than all the one-night stands I’d had in my life. She was flowing with life energy and every time I was with her, I felt some strange vibes that she meant something more than I was looking for. I didn’t know her very well, but still, I could feel the mysterious aura surrounding her and whenever I tried to figure her out, it ended being an dead end.

“What do I really know about her?” I asked myself. “Nothing.” I only knew that she was the daughter of a club owner and she wanted to train with me. But she still had never told me why.

My thoughts were interrupted by a sound coming from the kitchen. I stretched my muscles and poked my head in. Nikki was standing in front of the stove, making something.
Am I in some dream, sleep-walking? Oh, yeah, she slept in my bedroom last night; her car was in bad shape.
Even though she had been present in all my dreams, I had literally forgotten that she was still in my house.

The strong aroma of coffee stirred my nostrils. Coffee was boiling in the coffee machine and my lungs were filled with sweet aroma of it.
How come my coffee never smelled this good?

“Hi,” I said. I shook my head, wondering why I couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was still a little awkward after last night.

“Hello.” She turned around with a smile like sunshine on her face. Her blue eyes were also sparkling, light seeming to come out of them. And beyond that, she was wearing my t-shirt that was definitely five sizes too big for her. I could only see her breasts poking out of it, but she looked incredibly sexy. My cock pressed hard against my boxers. I was afraid that she would notice it so I turned around, pretending to look out into the back yard.“Sorry, I was so hungry I had to use your kitchen. I'll get the coffee and some scrambled eggs for you. I hope you don’t mind that,” she said.

“That's fine,” I said, my back still to her. My cock was on fire and I couldn't make it any different, no matter how hard I commanded it.
If this is the case in the morning just by looking at her, then what’ll happen when I touch her? I’ll have to  during training and feel the smoothness of her skin. Oh, my God, it's gonna be so hard for me.

I sat on the couch, thinking about my practice so I could ease out of my erotic feelings a bit. After a few minutes, Nikki came out with coffee and eggs.

“How does it taste?”she asked, while looking deep into my eyes. I tried to search her face for any feelings about last night in those ocean blue eyes, but there was none. Like nothing happened ever happened between us.

Nikki

I woke up in a sweat from a bad dream. I was trying to kiss Tristan, but he refused to touch me.
What the hell? Where am I?
I woke up and saw a different bed. I was lying down on a bed exactly like the in Tristan’s home.

Hell, I’m still at his house.
Reality slowly sunk in. I remembered the shirtless man's chest and my naked breasts pressed against him.
Why did I sleep here?
“Oh, yeah, the storm warning.” Last night when I was about to call the cab, they issued a storm warning in the ,so Tristan insisted that I sleep at his house just to be safe. And here was I, sleeping on his bed. It felt weirdly good, and I fell back on the soft pillows, inhaling his scent.

He was a gentleman to sleep out on the couch. Not that I would have minded him sleeping with me. The naughty thoughts about sleeping with him flowed through my mind, pushing my body into the swirls of heat. It had been a year since I’d touched a man. Was I getting desperate?

I wanted to sleep longer, but my stomach was calling for food. I thought he would have something edible in his refrigerator, but the bachelor didn't have anything. A few eggs and a carton of milk were the sole contents of his refrigerator. “How does this man live?”

What should I do? Call some home delivery?
I went back to his bedroom for my phone, but it was dead and I didn't have my charger. So, finally, I had to cook something for me and as I was in his home, I decided to cook for him as well.

Half an hour later, I served breakfast to Tristan and ate myself. I had lots of things planned that afternoon so, after I cleaned up the kitchen, I took a cab home.

I called Carrie as soon as I got back to my room.

“Hey, where have you been? Your phone’s been switched off since last night. I was worried about you,” Carrie rambled without a single break.

“I was stuck with Tristan at his house. Are you free this afternoon? I have to do some shopping and was hoping that you would come with me.” I took a breath.”I'm starting training with Tristan today.”

“What? Let me hear that again. You were at Tristan's house last night, for a whole night. Did you just say all night?”

“Yes,” I said. I knew her mind must have been working in weird ways by now.

“Did you sleep with him?” Her voice changed in the blink of an eye.“That’s huge, Nikki.”

“No.” My eyebrows raised. If she’d been in front of me, I would have hit her on the shoulder for asking me such a stupid question.“I'm not sleeping with him and you know why.”

“I...I just thought…”

“My car had a flat tire and there was a storm warning for that area.”

“Okay. That’s fine, I understand,” she said sarcastically.

“I'll never you if you don't get your butt here in the next hour,” I said, laughing, and ended the call.

I stretched, feeling a little sore, and realized I needed a bath. When I went into the bathroom and caught my reflection in the mirror, I realized I was still wearing his t-shirt. I lifted it to my nose, and it smelled like him very much. With that scent, the memories of his sculpted chest and six-pack came flooding back to my mind, my sex tightening in desire. We’d really had an erotic encounter last night, as brief as it was, and I knew I wanted another one.

***

“Okay, tell me in detail what you did with him.” Carrie sat on my bed, her expression full of questions. She was very curious about my  night and she just wouldn't just let it go until I told her the truth.

“Nothing happened, Carrie. I'm not sleeping with him and I didn’t. My tire went flat and I got wet. And beyond that a storm warning was issued for that area, so I slept in his bedroom.”

She threw a pillow at me.“Woo-hoo. And he slept in the same bed, but then we were like kids so we just cuddled and slept after a sweet kiss.” She made a smooch face.“You expect me to believe that?”

I giggled.“Nothing happened. We didn't kiss and he slept on the couch.” I threw the pillow back.

She looked at me for a second.“I can see it went well, whatever happened. After all, it's been a while since I saw you blushing like that.” She grinned.

“I'm not blushing. It's just…” I was stuck. I didn't have anything to say to her.”“I'm taking a bath. We can head out to go shopping after that.”

***

Half an hour later, we were driving in my Camry, my back-up car. Being the daughter of a multi-millionaire did have its perks. Before heading to the Bway shopping center, I took my car to my dad's other house, the one on Cherry Street near East Broadway. Piece of my heart was living there, although I hadn’t spent much time there lately.

I stopped my car just outside the house. It was a small penthouse, but full of security. It was dad's private property where he did all of his business deals.

“Why did you bring us here, Nikki? Isn't Stephen locked in his house?”

I hit the steering with both hands, “Yes, and that's why I need Tristan. Someday, I'll get in there, grab my Stephen and run the hell away from here.”

“I need to ask you a serious question,.”Carrie said

“Sure, but only if it's not about last night.”

She held my shoulder and turned me to her.“Why are you training with Tristan in the first place, and what role does he have in this fight between you and your dad?”

I looked at her with hollow eyes. She should have understood how it feels for a mother to be away from her only child. How it feels to know where her child is and yet not able to meet him. How it feels when you are unable to hold your child next to your heart.

“I miss him, Carrie.” I burst out in tears.“I miss my son and I will do anything to get him back. Even if I have to sleep with Tristan to make it happen.”

Carrie sighed and looked up at the penthouse. “Don't worry, sweetheart. Everything will be alright one day.” She hugged me tightly.

“But when? I haven't seen him for the last six months. My heart is dying for him. My eyes are dying to see him, just once. But no, my dad is the devil and he won't allow me to see him or hold him to my heart.” I took a deep breath as my nose was stuffy because of crying. “I haven't seen him six months.” I looked up at the penthouse, shaking my head slowly. “I wonder if he’s forgotten me.”

I missed Stephen so much that I would do just about anything to see him. But the security was so tight that there was no way I could get in myself. And my dad warned the staff that if they allowed me, he would kill them with his bare his hands.

“I hope you have given a thought about the consequences if your dad knows about your plan.” Carrie looked outside.

I squeezed the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white.“I'm ready for anything, Carrie. I can handle anything if I have to, but I'll meet Stephen. And soon.”

“I'm so sorry to break this to you, Nikki, but we have to get out of here. Chase is heading to the car and if your dad finds out that you know about this place, he’ll move Stephen somewhere else.”The words spilled out of Carrie's mouth as she stared at Chase moving toward his car and pulled her sunglasses over her eyes.

I wiped my tears away It had taken lots of effort to find the place where my dad was hiding Stephen and I wasn't going to give up my advantage just like that. I pressed hard on gas and sped away before Chase could see us.