Hooked (A New Adult Romance) (8 page)

Ruby

I drove all the way to
The
69er only to be told I missed Jake by a couple minutes.
Julie claimed she couldn’t hold him there any longer, at least not without a
gun. Apparently he was in a hurry and couldn’t hang out any longer. I didn’t
feel like asking her to do any more seventh-grade sleuthing for me, so I simply
dropped the whole ‘Jake thing’ all together.

That was a week ago today.

It’s Thursday night. I’ve got
nothing going on. No one is calling. No one cares. I feel lonely.

It’s funny, but when you’re happy
and life is moving forward, everybody seems to like you, wants a piece of you,
and desires to be your friend. But when your life is in the shitter, it’s like
everybody ceases to exist; no one calls, no one texts, no one reaches out.

I sigh, poor myself another glass
of wine, and continue reading my sappy romance novel. Ah, the life of a
spinster…how grand!

Not.

BZZZZZZZ,
my phone vibrates
.

It’s Julie.

“Hey Jules,” I chirp, trying to
sound happy.

“Hey.
Watcha
doin’?

“Nothing. Just reading. What’re
you up to?”

“Nothing much.
 
But I was wondering, do you have plans
for tomorrow night?”

“No. Do you have the night off?
You want to go out?”

“Yeah. Can I pick you up at six?”

“Sounds good. What do you have in
mind?”

“Oh, nothing.”

I pause. Julie’s got something up
her sleeve. She only says ‘Oh, nothing’ when she has a plan solidly in place.

“Tell me,” I insist.

“It’s nothing. Really. Just a fun
girl’s night out.”

“It’s not something wild and
crazy, is it? I’m not in the mood.”

“
Mmm
…”
Then silence.

“Julie, tell me. I’m serious. I’m
not going to go unless you tell me exactly what you have in mind. I’m in no
mood to go to strip club or get a lap dance from a gay guy or some weird shit
like that.”

“No
no
no
, it’s nothing like that. It’s, uh…different. But I
promise you’ll have a great time.”

I roll my eyes and say nothing.

“Jake will be there,” she sang in
a teasing voice.

“Really?” I perk up.

“Really. So pick you up at six?”

“Okay. See you at six.”

Chapter 16

Jake

The roar of the crowd is
positively deafening. And I’m eating it up!

I can’t remember the last time I
was so stoked for a fight.

And it has nothing to do with my
competition or the fact I’m fighting for $100,000.

Nope. It has nothing to do with
any of that. And it has everything to do with Ruby Cain.

After my meeting with Julie a
couple weeks ago, we agreed that it might be best for Ruby to see me in my
element: the cage.

And it wasn’t
just
to see me, mind you; it also had to
do with lifting her out of her funk and getting her out into the world. Julie
promised me she would get Ruby to my next big fight—the only thing I had
to do to uphold my end of the bargain was win it for her.

Easy as pie!

I could barely contain myself for
the past couple of weeks. But contain myself I did, and then some. School and
practice went effortlessly, I even had a couple sessions with the psychologist
to help me deal with the excitement. In fact, I’ve stopped labeling the
psychologist as a crutch, and instead have been considering him an essential
coach for my head; so yeah, Ricky is the coach of my body, and Dr. Emerson is
the coach for my head.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had a
ton of time to prep for the fight as I’ve been prioritizing school (not that
I’ve told Ricky that). Nevertheless, I’m going to whip this guy’s ass so bad
he’s going to wish he never started fighting.

Yeah, he’s a cocky fucker—I
can tell by the way he’s eyeing me that he thinks he’s got me…boy is he wrong. He’s
a big dude for sure, my height, maybe a little heavier, but not as ripped, disciplined
and ruthlessly trained as I am.

I look out into the crowd in
search of Ruby’s pretty face.

Not surprisingly, I don’t see her.
Fuck, this place must be filled to fucking capacity.

“All right boys,” the referee
gestures us into the center of the ring. “I want a clean fight. Protect
yourselves at all times, and above all, obey my commands! You know the drill.
Now touch gloves and break.”

We do as the referee says and
then back away from each other.

I look around for Ruby one last
time.

“Jake!” Julie’s voice yells from
a couple rows back.

I look for her, and see her
standing with Ruby. She looks out of place, but sexy as hell! I smile and wave
back.

The bell goes off.

This is going to be fun!

Ruby

“I’ve got to hand it to you,
Jules, when you said you were taking me someplace different you weren’t
kidding. This was the last place I expected you to bring me.”
 
Even though Julie was seated right next
to me, I had to yell at her over the raucous crowd. The noise level in here was
crazy. I had never been to a professional fight before.

“I was afraid you would figure it
out when I said Jake was going to be here,” she admitted. “I really wanted to
surprise you, but I had my doubts you would come.”

“Well thank you very much for
practically forcing me to go. I appreciate you doing this for me. Not that I’m
in to this kind of thing, it’s nevertheless kind of interesting, and I’m glad I
came. Of course, Jake’s the only reason I’m here.”

It all made sense why Julie had
been so distant and uncommunicative over the past couple of weeks. She was
trying to keep this all a secret. I was pissed when I missed meeting Jake at
The
69er, and even more pissed when Julie wouldn’t even look
me in the eye when I questioned her about him. I began to think maybe Jake
asked her out and she was uncomfortable, or maybe Jake asked her about
something else entirely.

“DING! DING!”
the bell sounded.

“Ooh, it’s starting,” Julie
excitedly tugged my arm.

Jake, in all his tattooed glory,
was standing up there in front of everybody. At that moment I began to feel
nervous for him. I didn’t want him to get hurt, and moreover, didn’t want him
to fail in front of so many people. I mean, I know that’s part of the sport,
but it’s scary to see someone you know get up in front of thousands of people and
then literally fall flat on their face.
  

It didn’t take long, however, to
see that Jake was in full control of the fight.

Even though his opponent was
bigger, Jake was quicker and more powerful with each hit and kick. Even with my
rudimentary knowledge of mixed martial arts, I could tell Jake was kicking the
guy’s ass severely.

“Woohoo! Get ‘im, Jake! Get ‘im!”
Julie cheered enthusiastically as Jake landed a wicked twirling sort of kick to
the guy’s head.

“God, it’s kind of gross, don’t
you think?” I asked.

“Nah, it’s all in good fun, at
least for us spectators,” Julie joked.

Just then Jake’s opponent landed
a pretty good uppercut to Jake’s chin.

“Oh, shit!” we both gasped in
unison, holding our hands over our mouths.

Jake staggered back a little and
shook out his head.

His opponent threw a roundhouse
kick.

Jake ducked, and then the bell rang,
sounding the end of the round.

“Whew,” Julie breathed, wiping
her brow. “Well I think it’s safe to say Jake won the first round.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I thought for
sure he was going to finish him off, but the other guy rallied a little.”

“Oh, I think they’re about to
start the next round,” she observed.

The bell went off.

Jake came out with guns blazing,
and within no time had his opponent up against the wire cage that surrounded
the ring.

The referee hollered ‘break’ at
one point. The other guy wasn’t doing too well, and when the ref asked the guy
question, and the guy nodded, the ref indicated the fight to proceed.
 

The opponent made a mistake,
though, because Jake landed him a spinning kick to his head so hard that Julie
and I sitting a couple rows back could hear the guy’s face crunch.

He collapsed onto the floor in a
heap.
 
The referee called the fight
as finished.

“Oh my God,” I gasped, standing
to my feet. “Is he okay? Is he dead?” The nurse in me wanted to run up there
and check his vitals.

“Ah, I’m sure he’s fine,” Julie
assured me. “They’re used to that. Besides, there’s always a ringside physician
who can attend to the fighters in case of an emergency.”

I held my breath for a moment
longer.

But sure enough, the brute
wobbled to his feat with the aid of his trainer.

“Ladies and gentleman,” the
announcer boomed over the loudspeakers, “Let’s give it up for our winner, Jake
‘The Surgeon’ Bishop!”

The crowd went absolutely, out of
control crazy, it was an amazing thing to witness.

All eyes were on him, and all
cheers were for him.

But his eyes were on mine.

And only mine. For a second it
seemed like we were the only two people in the entire arena.

It was our moment.

Chapter 17

Jake

After all this time, I finally
had Ruby Cain right where I wanted her.

I felt ten feet tall walking into
The
69er with her on my arm. I hate to brag, but every
clubber in the establishment looked at us as if we were a stunning red carpet
Hollywood couple.

“Jake! Congratulations!” Vinny
was the first to greet us upon entering. “Another big win (not that I didn’t
expect it, of course),” he grinned.

“Thanks. Vinny, I’d like you to meet
Ruby. Ruby, this is my cousin, Vinny. He owns
The
69er.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Ruby”
Vinny gushed. “It’s been a looong time since my cousin has had a woman at his
side.”

“A pleasure to meet you, too,
Vinny,” Ruby smiled elegantly. “But I find that hard to believe. You aren’t
pulling my leg, are you?” she joked.

Vinny stood up bolt straight and
raised his right hand, “No, ma’am. I swear. Jake has been an aloof, solitary
wolf for the last few months. I’d been starting to think he was turning gay on
me.”

“Oh shut up,” I said, rolling my
eyes mirthfully. “What is it with everyone saying I’m gay lately?”

“Ah, so I’m not the only one,
huh?” Vinny said jocularly, raising an eyebrow. “Well, you don’t have to
justify your behavior with me—everyone is welcome at
The
69er, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. Anyway, as usual, I’ve
saved you the best seat in the house. Follow me.”

We accompanied him to a raised
corner booth where, perched up high, we could observe the entire nightclub.
 
 
 
  
 

“It’s really nice of your cousin
to save a seat for you,” Ruby said as we got settled in. It was late, and the
joint was packed.

“Yeah, he always treats me like
royalty. And he never charges me for drinks. What are you having?”

We ordered and made small talk.
We touched upon her breakup with Dan, where our lives went after high school,
how I stumbled into med school, and various other subjects, all the while
giving each other glances and touches that let the other know we had other more
pressing extra curricular activities on our minds.

About an hour into it we started
getting really friendly.

Then, during one story she began
peering really deeply into my eyes, giving me the hint she was ready to move
on; she lightly ran a fingertip along my forearm and subconsciously licked her
lips. She was ready.

And so was I.

“You want to go,” I asked, looking
for any more overt signs of interest.

“Yeah. About an hour ago.”

I smiled widely.

My cock had been raging all night
for her, but I knew I couldn’t move too quickly. She seemed cool and composed,
but I couldn’t take any chances. I couldn’t lose her now. Not for anything. Not
for a billion dollars or seventy virgins. Julie said she needed time to heal,
and even though she appeared to be doing o.k
.,
I
couldn’t be totally certain of her state of mind.

“Let’s get out of here.”

****

        
“Make
yourself at home,” I said, dropping my keys on the kitchen counter. “You want a
drink?”

“No thanks. I think I’ve had
enough.”

She looked around my two-story
loft with hands folded in front of her; I could tell she was pleased with it.
As she was busy checking it out, I admired how her tight little body filled out
the short, black cocktail dress she was wearing: her graceful neck, proud
shoulders, perfectly-shaped C-cups, and an ass that would stop traffic.

I couldn’t control myself. I had
to. But I couldn’t.

Fuck I wanted to pound her ruthlessly!

Something about her looked so
pure and innocent, so untouched.

I could sense she was nervously
waiting for me to make the first move.

I walked over to her.

She remained frozen to the spot,
with hands still folded. She looked at me and gulped.

I silently placed my hands around
her slender shoulders and drew her face up to kiss her.

Hesitatingly, her little hands
found my waist.

I began by grabbing her ass and
drawing her into me. Slowly I lifted the hem of her dress.

She let out a soft sigh as I
found the edge of her panties and drew a finger up her hip and lightly brushed
the small of her back. She stopped kissing me, losing
herself
in my touch and in the moment.

I was losing it trying to go
slow. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why she didn’t attack me, didn’t
try to rip my clothes off. It was like she was a virgin or—

Oh shit!
 
 

I paused for a second to consider
the situation.

This couldn’t possibly be her first time
?!
 
Could it…?

I drew back and looked into her
pretty face, a face that was already flushed with lust and wanton desire.

“Ruby,” I whispered.

“Yeah,” she breathed weakly.

Oh God she was a virgin!
   

“Ruby. Are you…
uh.
Are you a…?”

She opened her vacant eyes and
gazed deeply into mine. “Yes,” she whispered through full red lips, nodding her
head. “Please be careful. Don’t hurt me.”

“Oh Ruby. You have no
idea—I can’t possibly hurt you.”

And then I snapped.

Never before did I feel so
charged with the responsibility to preserve and protect a woman like I did with
Ruby. So delicate, so innocent she was, I knew I had to take it slow, I knew I
had to be absolutely gentle.

The only problem was her rose
petal lips and dark brown eyes begged me to take her hard and demanded I pound
her fast!

Like a wild animal I was all over
her. Usually I have an idea of what I’m going to do when I take a woman, but in
Ruby’s case all higher levels of thought vanished. Instinctively I pushed her
up against a wall and smothered her in kisses. I ripped off my clothes while
frantically running my hands, lips and tongue over every square inch of her
luscious body, as if I only had one minute to fuck her before I was to be
executed by firing squad.

There had never been a man in the
history of the Earth who was on a mission like I was at that instant.

I needed her unlike I had ever
needed anything or anyone before. My dick felt like it was about to burst, and
all I could think about
was tasting
her nipples and
lips and pussy.

Desperately I pulled her dress
off over her head. I stood back for a second to catch my breath, taking in her
little black panties with tiny pink bows and her mind-blowing breasts.

I pressed myself hard against her
as we kissed. My fingers pushed aside the fabric of her panties and found her
clit. Instantly she let out a soft cry and arched her back, turning me on even
more. A flush of dampness coated my fingers.

I groaned as I took her. Even
though I still had my boxers on I think I could have come if she touched me,
that’s how aroused I was. For a brief second my mind flashed back to the fact
that no man had ever done what I was about to do to Ruby, and it charged my now
gigantic cock like a lightening bolt.

Shit, the way I was breathing,
the way I was thinking, the way I was acting made me feel as if I was a virgin,
too.

I pulled her up by the legs and
wrapped her around my waist. I brought her to my bedroom and gently laid her
down. I kissed her once more before unclipping her bra.

I gasped out loud when I saw the
way her breasts spilled out before me. Never before had there ever been a more
perfect set of breasts! Instantly I was upon them, devouring them with my lips
and tongue.

And when I finally got to her
pussy, exposing her entirely for the first time, I knew I had come home. I
plunged my tongue deeply into her, tasting her for all she was worth.

She cried out in ecstasy.

I immediately pulled back, not
wanting her to come too fast or too soon.

No, she was going to enjoy her
first
time, that
was for Goddamn fucking sure.

I was going to take her virginity
in such a way that she would never want any other man but me.

“Oh God,” she cried, “Please fuck
me now! Oh God, oh God please!”