Full Contact (Worth the Fight #2) - Sidney Halston Page 0,16
went into the abandoned warehouse full of drunkards with Dennis Stavros, her boyfriend of five years. It was at least ten degrees warmer inside, from all the men crowded in there. The smell of alcohol, cigarettes, and possibly pot, combined with sweat, overwhelmed her senses.
Dennis liked to bet on mixed martial arts fights, and these fights were among the few places he didn’t seem to mind being seen with her. It was likely because his uncle—the mayor—disapproved of the sport, and so no one who frequented his circle would be there to see them. Dennis wasn’t exactly proud of showing off his bartender girlfriend. The only highlight of going to MMA bouts was that she’d often get to see Slade win one of his many matches.
Slade had been a regular at the Pier, where she worked. He would always sit at the bar, and between customers they’d talk. They had developed an innocent yet flirtatious relationship, which always ended with Slade saying, “Go out with me.” She would always respond with “I have a boyfriend.” And then he would say “That’s not a no” before giving her a big gleaming smile and a wink. This had gone on for months.
Jessica wasn’t opposed to going to the professional fights, but she tended not to accompany Dennis to the seedy underground brawls. These particular fights were overflowing with male testosterone and violence, and quite frankly, they scared her. There were no rules, no judges, and no time limits, and sometimes the fighters fought until one of them gave up—“tapped out,” as they said—or was knocked out. There was always a lot of blood. Suffice it to say that seeing Slade, a professional who fought in sanctioned MMA fights, locked in a cage with an apelike giant of a man was unexpected and terrifying.
All the other times Jessica had seen Slade fight, he’d always looked impervious. But this time, standing so close to King Kong, he seemed vulnerable.
Even so, Slade looked freaking phenomenal. His inky black hair was slicked and tied at the back. His gym shorts were the same shade of blue as his eyes. And the tattoo that had always mesmerized her—an intricate black tribal design that went the entire length of the right side of his body—was on full display. She was fairly certain the tattoo continued under those shorts, and for the first time she really wished she could see it all.
What had made the situation scarier was that the always very vocal Dennis was unusually quiet all night. She stood close behind Dennis, hemmed in by a crowd of rowdy men, and although she didn’t want to look, her eyes drifted to Slade. When the fight was about to begin, Slade somehow found her among the crowd and smiled at her. Luckily, it didn’t seem that Dennis had noticed.
The man Slade fought against was bigger than he was—quite the feat considering that Slade always fought in the heaviest weight category. Kong was scary big, muscles and veins bulging everywhere, and looked angry. Yet as he faced his opponent, Slade seemed calm and unruffled. That was one thing that had always surprised her about Slade: the big, brawny man never seemed perturbed. She was fairly certain he wasn’t being arrogant. He just seemed to know what he was capable of and therefore didn’t seem fazed by the humongous Neanderthal. For Christ’s sake, he had taken the time to smile at her! Concentrate! she had wanted to yell.
King Kong, who seemed to have gotten one too many steroid injections, pounced the moment the bell rang. Slade coolly moved to the side, and the punch Kong had thrown missed, causing him to lose his balance slightly. Slade used it to his advantage, executing a move that landed Kong on the floor with Slade’s forearm around his neck. The fight ended almost as quickly as it had begun, and Slade hadn’t even broken a sweat. Thank God it was fast, because when it was over, Jessica realized she had been holding her breath.
When her gaze drifted away from the cage, she was startled to see Dennis’s angry eyes inches from her face. Had Dennis been watching her the entire time she’d been staring at Slade?
Drunk and furious, he grabbed her by the forearm and maneuvered her out of the warehouse and back to his house. As soon as they were inside, he grabbed her arm, shook her, and called her a “disrespectful slut.”