White & Black (5 page)

She was going to get herself a new dress on her credit card too.

Chapter 7

Marcia perched on the arm of the sofa watching Devlin gazing absent mindedly into space from his bed. He was acting really off lately. She couldn’t get his attention no matter what she did. She had even tried ignoring him for a few days, but he didn’t even seem to notice. Dev had never said how he felt about her. She wasn’t sure what was going on in that head of his.

He was one of those men… scorching hot in bed and an iceberg out of it. He didn’t seem to want to date her properly or have a relationship with her, or anyone in fact.

Whenever she suggested doing things together all she got was a non-committal answer. She had put up with his constant stream of other ring girls and female fans traipsing through his bed. How many that was exactly, she didn’t want to think too hard about. Tori, her best ring pal had told her he was cooling on her. Not that he’d ever been hot anyway. She didn’t know any more about him after the months she had frequently hung out in his private suite here, than she did at the start of things.

He was an enigma and that made her want him more. She wanted to be the one who rocked his world, made him smile and the one he loved and wanted exclusively.

She got up and walked over to him and lay down next to him putting her arms around his neck. “What’s up baby. You look kinda sad” She purred against his ear. “Want something to cheer you up?”

He gently pushed her away. “Mind leaving me alone for a while Marcia…? I’m tired that’s all.” He wished she didn’t hang around so much. Just because she was queen fucking bee in the ring, that didn’t mean anything to him. She had been acting like she was his girlfriend or something. Not that he had ever given her cause. She meant no more to him than any of the other girls out there and that wasn’t a real lot.

“Oh… I didn’t realise. Sorry. I’ll go then babe” She got up and left quietly casting a last longing look at him as she closed the door. Tears were welling in her eyes. He didn’t even want to go to sleep with her in the room anymore. She got a lot of rejection from him lately. Maybe she should call it quits. Find a real boyfriend who wanted her. But she just couldn’t give him up while there was hope. He was like a sex drug to her.

He should be training tonight, he thought with a pang of guilt after Marcia had left. There was a minor fight on Tuesday and a big contest on the following Friday. He only just about beat Klaski last night. He needed to be much sharper. More in tune with himself. Get more sleep too… More importantly he needed to get women out of his head, they always caused him hassle.

As he lay back on his bed staring at the ceiling he began thinking about his old and ancient troubled past. How his mother upped and left when he was 7… going off with her friend’s husband. He’d never laid eyes on her since that day. It ceased to hurt him now. In fact he never thought about it, why he suddenly did just now he couldn’t say. Then there was Melissa his older sister. She’d fucked off at 16 to shack up with her boyfriend, leaving him all alone with his drunk dad, at the far too young and tender age of 10. He could understand why she left now that he was older and wiser, but she had left him heartbroken when he most needed her. She was happy, married and had 3 kids the last time he heard from her. Not that he spoke to her much, it had been a few years at least.

He and his dad stumbled along as best they could after that. Well, he had stumbled along… his dad was passed out somewhere or other most of the time.

It was being on his own a lot that led him to martial arts, through an after school club. This sport was his savior. He couldn’t imagine where he would be if it wasn’t for this. Dealing? An addict? Maybe an alcoholic like his dad was before he died. He wasn’t an academic in any sense. He’d just about got through school by the skin of his teeth, he never would have done well in college, he knew that. It was the strict training and becoming an instructor and eventually the youngest American Professor in Jiu Jitsu that finally gave him a real reason to exist.

It was his chosen path… his life.

Other martial arts and the MMA itself was a natural progression after that. At 27 he was finally where he wanted to be. One thing he was sure he didn’t want or need was relationships with women. He’d found it difficult to form any kind of relationships with them all his life. His one and only longer term girlfriend had needed more than he could give. She’d said he was too cold, she wanted some love, he didn’t want to give that, it was dangerous and too personal, like giving away a piece of himself. He’d locked away his feelings deep inside and they were staying there. Private and locked. That’s the way he liked it.

He’d got into very casual dating, it was so easy, no commitment, and pain free. It was even better being here as he didn’t need to date at all. He got what he needed with his beautiful ring girls and fans. Just a lot of sex whenever he wanted, with whoever he fancied and he did indulge in that rather a lot.

He lived for physical sensation. Sensation was controllable. He could flick his switch on and off… he could flick their’s on and off too. He enjoyed being in control of his life and the women who briefly passed through it.

But there was something bothering him and it kept beating around in his head all the time. It was a real kicker… if he had all that he wanted and needed, why was he feeling so empty inside? That was a question he had no answer to. He thought he could fill the void by having more girls, but it didn’t seem to help, in fact it seemed to make him feel emptier lately. There was something missing in his life and he hadn’t a clue what it was.

One thing was for sure though, he needed to do something about Marcia. He needed to make it plain that she was not his girlfriend. He didn’t even like her much and never had. She had a nasty conniving nature and was a real bitch with the other girls. She seemed to like to put everyone down. He didn’t want her company any more. He absolutely didn’t want to sleep with her ever again, especially with all that creepy ‘love you baby’ stuff she was starting to heap on him. Yep, she’d have to get the old Devlin dismissal, he wasn’t one for dragging things out too long. He liked to get things done and dusted. He tried to think of a good way to tell her, to say goodbye… Nope, nothing was coming at him… maybe just a simple
‘It’s not working out for me babe’
would have to do.

He wouldn’t do it tomorrow though. It was her birthday. He wasn’t that much of a bastard. Some time next week when the time was right. She wanted to go out to a club for her 25
^th
birthday, with him and a couple of her best friends. He said he’d meet up. It wasn’t really his scene, that drinking and dancing thing. He’d rather go gambling in a casino or just go out for dinner if he had the choice. He didn’t like the noise or the packed in crowds in clubs.

He was antisocial at heart. He knew he had a lot of unpleasant traits to his character, but they had brought him to where he was at today. He was a little mean, foul mouthed, moody, cold hearted and antisocial… the perfect fighter in fact. What a great set of attributes he thought, smiling to himself in amusement. No woman was ever going to get past the barrier he’d built. Even if they did, they wouldn’t find anything there. It was just as well he was the fucked up way he was, because it suited him just fine.

His mind started to wander off to more pleasant things. For what must be the tenth time today he thought of seeing Ginger dancing up there in the training ring. He sighed to himself and smiled with the memory. That whole show had really turned him on like nothing else. She made his head spin like crazy. When he’d first got there and she’d been dancing and singing, all that kicking and punching and the wild hair whipping everywhere. He had been in a trance watching. He’d felt her hit him like a flaming hot punch in his lower gut and in fact yep, he was as hard as hell just thinking about it again. She’d made him groan out loud… not many women he knew could do that. None in fact. Tony said he’d taken her on so she’d be here on Tuesday. Maybe he’d send her an invite. No, maybe not. The first day was a little too soon to hit on her…

He turned on his side and hugged the pillow. He really was so tired. He needed a refresher nap, just for a few minutes or so. In seconds he had fallen asleep. His mind went into dream mode. His nightmare dream. It always felt so good to start with and he wanted to dream it… He was warm and aroused and happy. This time he found himself looking into two perfect blue eyes in the darkness. He knew straight away who they belonged to and he wasn’t sure he wanted to go there. The shock made him wake up.

For fuck’s sake…

There was no point trying to sleep. It wasn’t doing him much good.

He got up, picked up his bag and left his room for home. He ran down the stairs two at a time, exited the building and crossed the lot to his car. He got inside his one true love, her interior beauty moulding around him perfectly and set off for a relaxing chill out drive around town with his music on before hitting Sahara Avenue and arriving at Allure where he had his 30
^th
floor apartment. No woman had ever set foot in either his car or his apartment and he planned to keep it that way. They were his private world and girl free zones.

Chapter 8

Ella dropped by the gym early Saturday to thank Rob for his help. He was really pleased for her and she couldn’t help beaming at him and gave him a tight bear hug. He was such a good friend. He said he would be there, for her Friday ring shift next week. He couldn’t make Tuesday or Thursday. She had a quick workout on her own on the punchbags and ran on the treadmill for a half hour. She didn’t know if she really needed to come here anymore as there was a gym at the Arena. But that seemed disloyal somehow. She would make sure she came here once a week, even if she only ran on the treadmill. She needed to keep her good friends. It was so easy to let things slide, to lose touch.

She had been on a pampering session the day before. She had her hair trimmed a half inch, a complete set of false nails put on and a pretty pink French manicure on her toes. She felt super sleek right now and looking forward to her night out with her friends. As she sat on her bed that afternoon after her lunchtime shift at the diner, she looked at her new dress hanging on the wardrobe door. It was an off white tight fitting dress with a lace top section. It didn’t look that special off, but when it was on it was so beautiful, she had had to have it. Thank God for credit cards! She already had some shoes that would suit. They were going out to a special club tonight and she wanted to look very special too. She was going to start to get ready soon, have a bath, sort out her hair properly.

She was thrilled to think what the evening may hold. It was quite sad really, she thought. She needed to get out more. Now that she had the money, she actually could!

Paul called for her at 9 pm. She opened the door a little and peeked out. He did look rather good tonight. She loved his car too. He had a silver Subaru BRZ… very smart and sexy it was. She just loved sexy cars. She opened the door to let him in the entryway smiling a little. His eyes couldn’t get any wider once he saw her white wonder dress. It fitted in just about all the right places. Thankfully it was made of quite stretchy fabric so she could move easily and dance herself crazy later on.

“Ella! You look great…” he wanted to say far more but he hadn’t crossed that line with her yet.

“You look nice too Paul” she said giving him a coy look. She wasn’t sure about this. What they were doing. Not that they had done anything… yet.

They said goodbye to Jake and dad and left the house on their kind of ‘friendly date’.

“So which club are we hitting?” she asked him once they had set off for the strip.

“We’re meeting the other three inside Liquid in a half hour. We’ll see how it goes there, we can always move to another if things aren’t buzzing.”

“Oh. I’m sure there’ll be a buzz at Liquid Paul. I’m just worried we won’t be able to get in because it’s buzzing too much…” She laughed.

Thirty minutes later they were being ushered inside the club and were off to buy their first rather expensive drinks. Emma, Jodie and Shannon were happily jiggling away as they stood at the bar waiting. They were obviously dying to dance. They had apparently downed two bottles of wine at Jodie’s before they came out. They seemed a touch too bubbly tonight. She missed her old school friends but there didn’t seem to be much time in her life to see them any more. They were definitely growing apart. There was always something to do at home, studying, and working.

But tonight was going to be great fun thought Ella as she took her first few sips of her drink. She started dancing on the spot too… Drink went to her head much too fast, made her feel wobbly. She was way out of practice too.

“Hey girls, let’s go for it tonight!” said Paul clinking their bottles and glasses.

He gave Ella a special look which she held for quite a while. It was she who looked away in the end. It felt strange and difficult to be looking at him like that… when they had known each other for 4 years as friends. He was 25 and worked in a casino in the cashier’s office. It was a well paid job and he seemed to enjoy it, being in the gambling world. He was first and foremost a friend of Emma’s brother, but had also fallen in with their little girl gang on and off, as he liked clubs. More off than on, to be truthful. But now here they were… two of them about to move on from this occasional friendship, maybe.

They drank their drinks and made their way to the floor for their first dance. It was already heaving.

“Buzzing enough for you?” She shouted into Paul’s ear. It really was almost impossible to have a conversation on the dance floor.

“Just about!” He screamed back.

They all had an absolute stormer of a time dancing to their favorite dance tracks. Ella found her feet pretty quickly and soon began to show off. She couldn’t help herself when she was on the floor. Her hot moves started to pop out all over the place. Her friends were quite used to her rather unusual form of dancing but she did draw a lot of attention to herself. She found it difficult to differentiate between her sport and the dance inside of her… it all rolled into one and got mixed up, especially when alcohol was added to the mix. It was sexy, hot and wild and she loved it.