Unlikely Hero (Atlanta #1) (30 page)

“Never think you’ve got the upper hand. Don’t let your opponent psyche you out at all. If you thought for a second that I was done or not paying attention, then you’re not as much of a strategist as I thought,” Marcus said smiling. He helped him up as the crowd around them was going crazy.

“Damn,” Ryan said shaking his head. “You looking for a coaching position?”

“Nah, I’m still learning. I don’t look so impressive against someone who’s got as much training as I do. You never get it all figured out. Remember that,” Marcus said and clapped his hand on Ryan’s shoulder.

Erin walked over. “Ryan? Hey!” She gave him a hug hello.

“Looks like I got your girl anyway,” he grinned at Marcus.
 

Erin smirked at him. “Sorry, Ryan. I don’t date anyone I’ve bathed.”

Marcus grinned and Ryan’s friends cracked up. Ryan chased them around on the mat trying to get payback for the laughter. Erin linked her arm through Marcus’s and guided him back over to her dad and Sara. Marcus waved a friendly goodbye to the wrestlers.

“You know, my dad was watching you with Ryan and his friends.”

“Uh oh.”

“Not
uh oh
. He was impressed. He loves the kids at this school and he was surprised at how good you were with them. He even told Sara that you’re a decent guy. I think you finally won him over.”

“Seriously? All I had to do was wrestle a few high school students?”

“Well, Ryan’s one of his favorites. Our families have been friends forever. He’s a Scholar Athlete, National Honor Society, the whole bit. He’s at the top of the senior class. Seeing you talk so easily with Ryan showed my dad one more time what a naturally good man you are.”

They reached the doorway and Erin apologized to Sara for interrupting class.

“Not at all,” Sara said. “If anything, Marcus demonstrated more about wrestling than I would have ever been able to. Now if I can just get the girls to try it without worrying about their hair. Erin? Want to volunteer?”

“Ah, no,” she laughed. “That one’s on you. But I bet they’d all volunteer if Marcus offered to teach them.”

Sara laughed and Marcus rolled his eyes. Erin chuckled while her dad only shook his head.
 

Sara gave her one more hug before Marcus and Erin left with her dad. The three of them went to a few more classrooms for Erin to greet her favorite teachers. Marcus politely shook hands with all of them and smiled at all the gushing compliments they paid to Erin.
 

By the time they were ready to go, Erin’s dad walked them out to the car. He pulled Erin in for a big hug and wouldn’t let go.

“It was so good to see you, Erin, and I’m so glad you’re not so sad anymore. I missed that smile,” he said and kissed her on the cheek before letting her go.
 

Marcus stood by and smiled at the scene. A warm feeling came into his chest seeing Erin smiling and hugging her father. That hadn’t happened in years.
 

Erin’s dad finally turned to Marcus to shake his hand.
 

“Marcus, I misjudged you. Thank you for taking care of my girl,” he said pulling Marcus in for an almost-hug and giving him one solid clap on the back. “Have a safe trip back.”

“Thanks for having me, sir.”

“Bye, daddy. I love you,” Erin said with one final hug.

The ride to the airport and the flight home were about the easiest moments of Marcus’s life. Genuinely. He sat and counted all the good things in his world. He had Erin and the approval of her family. He was a business partner in a reputable gym; his future was solid. His sister Cassie had come away from their awful childhood and was completely self-sufficient and confident. What more could he possibly ask for?

Rage, his constant companion, was on vacation for the moment. Marcus knew better than to think he would never deal with anger again, but for the first time he had balance in his life.

“What are you so quiet about?” Erin asked as the plane descended toward Atlanta.

“Just happy,” he said with a shy smile, looking down.

Erin smiled back with such a loving understanding of the significance of that statement. She leaned in and kissed him sweetly and waited for the seatbelt light to click off. “You deserve it,” she whispered to him.

He met her eyes and smiled again. “I wish I didn’t have to work tonight,” he said quietly. “I want to stay with you.”

“We’ll have a couple of hours before your shift. Come home with me?” she asked.

“I’ll always say yes to that question.”

They drove the short trip to Erin’s apartment and Marcus carried her suitcase in and straight up the steps. She followed him upstairs and immediately started kissing him when he set the bag down.
 

“Tell me what you want,” she whispered in that way.

He smiled at her for a moment, then looked her up and down like a predator. “Hmmm. So many ways to get you hot…”

Erin grinned and circled her arms up around his neck while she waited for instructions. Marcus turned her around and held her wrists in front of her. He held them strongly in his hands right at her chest. He kissed the nape of her neck with so much heat, then told her what he wanted while he got her undressed.

“After I get you naked, I want you to pull the covers off the bed, and lie down on your stomach,” Marcus said, directing her again as she loved him to do. Erin did exactly as he asked.
 

He pulled his jeans and t-shirt off and eyed her again. “Uncross your ankles, baby.”

 
He got on the bed and started kissing the base of her spine. The sensation sent chills up her back and brought goosebumps to her arms. He watched her skin react to his touch and continued the attention to drive her further into pleasure.
 

He slowly licked and kissed up her spine, listening to her breathy sounds and gasps as her awareness of his tongue became heightened. He moved his tongue back down her spine and let it play along the smooth firmness of her ass. She gasped and almost giggled at the ticklish feel.
 

“Spread your legs for me” he said to her softly. “And lift your knees up under you.”

Erin did and he groaned at the sight of her opening up for him at his request. She trusted him with her body, unconditionally. That was such an incredible turn-on. He moved behind her and placed his hand flat against the base of her spine. His other hand grasped her hip.
 

He entered her smoothly from behind in one deliberate motion. Erin moaned as he entered her and held herself in that position for him as he began to move inside of her. He could tell she was turned on by his actions, but this wasn’t going to get her off.
 

“Baby, let me have you like this, then I promise, I’ll make you feel just as good…”

“Yes…” was all she said to him as she braced herself against the bed, her fingers gripping the sheets, welcoming his thrusts. He was moving in long strokes, so fully and so deeply into her that he came very quickly. She said his name as he came.
 

He moved once more inside of her then pulled out. He pushed her hips gently back down to the bed with one hand and kept her legs wide apart with the other.
 

He moved beside her and tucked one hand under her belly and the other entered her wetness from behind. His fingers moved inside of her and around his cum while the hand under her stomach moved down and rubbed methodically against her clit. Erin remained on her stomach, and moaned “yes” and “more” while he moved his hands in and against her.
 

Her hips ground down against his bottom hand at times, and then up further around his fingers at others. Marcus watched her body move and felt like a true man knowing he was bringing her that kind of pleasure. He was the one to introduce all of this to her.

He quickened his pace as she got closer to climax and listened to the total pleasure of her voice when she got there. He leaned down and kissed her shoulder blade lovingly while she turned her head to look at him.
 

They rested there a while when Erin finally said, “I want to get cleaned up. Shower?”

Marcus grinned and walked with her to the bathroom. There was no sexual tension in the shower between the two of them, but the intimacy was off the charts. He spent time kissing her cheek softly and nibbling her ear while he rubbed her back and twisted his fingers through hers.
 

“Thank you for taking me to meet your family,” he said to her finally. “I hope you know what a big deal that was for me.”

Erin nodded and rested her cheek on his chest. “I love you.”

Marcus went home Monday evening to get ready for his shift. He was going to be exhausted because he hadn’t gotten any sleep, but spending the evening naked with Erin was better than a nap any day of the week.
 

He knew he needed to spend some serious time training this week; he had been slacking because of his time with Erin. Not only that, but much of his recent time with Bill had been spent working out their partnership arrangement.
 

Still rolling through the weekend in his head, he pulled on his blue janitor’s uniform and drove downtown. He hated that he wouldn’t see Erin until Friday, but he would use the time to reconnect with his animal side at the gym.
 

He knew his next fight would be scheduled soon and he certainly didn’t want to be soft. He also knew that he and Erin would have the notebook all week, even if they didn’t see each other. All in all, the week would be a good one. He had plenty of hot memories from the weekend to hold him over, anyway.
 

Like every shift, he walked straight to Erin’s desk and picked up her journal. This time, however, he immediately grabbed a pen, sat down, and poured his heart out like he never had before.

E~

I know I’ve already thanked you for the weekend, but I want to make sure your really understand what it meant to me and how much I realized while we were there.

Honestly, I didn’t want to go, but I did for you. You said you needed me and I’ll never refuse that. But I didn’t expect that going there would be good for me, too. I didn’t see myself as a guy worth bringing home to your parents. When your dad called me ‘just a janitor’ it hit home. I love you, but I always considered myself not good enough for you. I hate admitting that, but it’s true.
 

Then I found myself wanting to prove to your father that I
am
good enough. I tried so hard to convince him of how much I love you, of how little my job means in our relationship, and how much it didn’t matter that you’re so much better educated than I am.
 

None of that makes a difference between us because we are right together. I am the kind of person who can take care of you the way you deserve. It’s kind of funny that when I convinced him, I think I convinced myself, too.
 

Did you know that I never got angry once while we were there? I mean, I was upset, but I never felt the need to go off. I missed the gym, but I didn’t
need
the gym. You’re making me a better person, Erin. I love you for every possible reason. You really are my champion.
 

I wrote to you that first time to help you. Turns out, you’re the one saving me.

~M

M~

My God, I love you so much. Looks like we saved each other.
 

If you ever think again that you’re not good enough for me, I’ll kick your butt. And I can do it. I’m a badass now, remember?

~E

E~

I’d like to see you try. As soon as I have you pinned I think I’ll keep you there for a while. That would bring new meaning to the term “submission hold”. Oh, I am grinning so huge right now. Let’s schedule a match for Saturday.

And speaking of matches, Bill scheduled a fight for me in three weeks. I’ll be training hard between now and then so I might not see you during the day on the weekends but you’ll have me all night.

Do you want to come to my fight?

~M

He slept well every afternoon and went to the gym first thing every morning. He laughed when he remembered his first day back at the gym after the trip to Indiana. Bill greeted him with a smile, asked him about how Erin was doing, and then smacked him hard upside the head with instructions to get the hell back to training.
 

By Wednesday, Bill was on him hard. In the locker room Bill was taping up his hands and helping Marcus start the mental prep for his upcoming fight.

“Now I want focus here today. You’re here and nowhere else, you understand?”

Marcus nodded and let himself fall into his training groove, heavy and dark and ready to pound anything in his way.
 

“Now when you hit, you hit hard, and you hit like a weapon. Use your strength, and your rage if you have to, but aim and shoot. Straight at your target. No wild hits. You’re all grown up now. No more fighting like an angry little boy. Got it?”

Marcus nodded again and then stretched his neck and shoulders to loosen up while he listened to his trainer. He understood completely. He would let that animal simmer under his skin, and reign the beast in just enough to use its power to his advantage. Marcus put on the protective back-only gloves that left his fingers free to grapple, and headed out to the training room.
 

He went straight for the dummy and delivered a swift and powerful shin-kick to its ribcage. The dummy shook wildly in response, and Marcus repeated the kick with precision. Bill smiled behind him, loving the evolution of this fighter he loved like a son.

After a few hours of fight training, weight lifting and speed-boxing drills, Marcus was spent. He nodded to Bill and hit the showers before heading back to his apartment. When he got there, George teased him about being gone so much and handed him two wrapped up burger patties for dinner.
 

 
He shrugged and waved to George as he headed up to his apartment. He cooked his burgers and took a nap before going to work. Only a few hours later that he put on his janitor’s clothes and went into downtown. He was looking forward to what Erin had written in the journal for him and to find out if she’d come see his match.