a little but being held up beautifully between two women who’ve been acting like gutter bumpers to my drunk ass all night.
“You killed it tonight!” Caleb grins, pride and respect shining in his eyes. “Fizzouli didn’t know what hit him.”
“They don’t call me Quick Kill for nothing!” I hold my arms out and knock one of the girls by accident. “Oh shit.” I turn to her and cup her face awkwardly. “I didn’t mean to hit you.”
A trill of laughter falls from her lips, and she leans in close. “You didn’t; you swatted my boob.”
My eyes fall heavily to her chest. “I’m so sorry.”
She cups her breast. “She forgives you.”
“No accent.” I pull my focus from her chest. “You’re American.”
“Yes.” Her expression softens. “I’m from Denver, but I go to school at Kings.”
“Nice.” I turn away from her probing stare; that ache in my chest that comes when I’m around women is dulled from beer, but undeniably there.
“I saw your fight!” Her breath skates along my ear. “You’re really good!”
I peer down at her and grin. “I know.”
Another string of giggles falls from her lips. She’s a pretty girl, really pretty. “Oh! Here!” She pulls out her phone and holds it up. “Let’s take a selfie.”
“I’ll take it.” Caleb grabs her phone and stands back a little. “Kill, pick her up.”
I groan, but comply and set down my beer. I scoop the woman up and into a cradle hold. Her arms wrap around my neck, and she presses her lips to my cheek. Shocked by her show of affection, I laugh, and Caleb snaps the photo.
“Thank you! My friends are gonna freak when they see I partied with you!”
“No problem.”
Another girl, I presume the one who’s been on my right all night, pulls out her phone. “Can I get one?”
Then another standing off to the side yells, “Me too!”
I look at Caleb as he laughs and holds out his hand to take the next phone. “Step right up, ladies. One at a time, and please respect the guy and keep your hands to yourself.” He’s cracking up laughing as each girl hands over her phone and shows off how she’s ignoring his warning.
Photos are taken with hands up my shirt, on my ass, and a couple of girls pulled my shirt up and had Caleb take a shot of them licking my abdomen. Thank goodness I’m drunk, or I’d probably get hard from all the groping. It’s not my fault. I don’t even want any of these women. It’s scientific—stimulus, response.
“My turn.” A curvy woman steps up to me with a sultry sway to her hips, her body talking dirty as she sidles up to me.
Caleb holds up her phone. “Say cheese!”
I grin, and just as the flash pops, her hand cups my dick. “Cheese!”
“Whoa!” I jump back, laughing, not because it’s funny as much as uncomfortable. “That’s enough photos for me.”
Fleur pushes through the crowd, shaking her head and grinning. “Women are worse than blokes!” Her eyes fix on Little Miss Grabby Hands. “Go on now. The poor guy needs a break.”
She winks at me then grabs her phone from a purple-faced Caleb, who’s laughing so hard no sound comes out.
“Nice to see you’re getting a kick out of my misery.” I shove him back, and if there weren’t a wall of people behind him, he would’ve fallen to his ass.
“Dude…” He sucks in a breath and wipes his eyes. “This is every man’s dream. You can’t tell me that having the entire female population worship you isn’t awesome.”
A slow smile pulls at my lips. He’s right, but it’s not the women; it’s everything. It’s the other fighters who look at me the way I look at my UFL idols, it’s the kids that stand dazed when I walk by, and it’s the way heads turn when I enter a room.
I’ve never been that guy.
I spent twenty-one years of my life a loner. Went through four years of high school never really being seen by anyone. Popularity was never a goal of mine because it seemed too far from my reach, too impossible to ever attain.
And here I am, the most popular guy around, and I wish I didn’t like it. I wish my intellectual side would shun fame and expose it for the shallow hero-worship that it is.
But nope.
If I can’t have the life I dreamed with the girl I love, this ain’t a bad second.
~*~
Axelle
Staring out the window of my classroom with the warm sun on my