“If you keep bringin’ this lady back in here, I have a feelin’ we’ll be callin’ her Ronda soon,” Frank laughs as he slams a hand on the back of my shoulders and smiles at Venom.
“Aw, Frank. You’re gonna make me blush.”
“Well, I wouldn’t blame ya! Gettin’ a compliment from a guy like me.” Frank’s New York accent comes out thicker than ever and Venom giggles lowly.
“You say compliment, but we both know you’re tryin’ to sleep with her,” I pipe up, not letting his shit slide. He can package his present however he wants, but he’s hittin’ on her and I’m not sure I like it. I don’t fuckin’ know why, but fuck, it bothers me.
Venom furrows her brows together and stares at me for a minute in either annoyance or frustration. Shaking her head lightly, I’m expecting to get bitched at for speaking out of turn, but I never thought I’d be this lucky. “Are we going to spar or what? I’m already hungry and I don’t want to waste time.” She saunters over to the mat where we normally spar and Frank gives me a look that shows he’s sorry for overstepping.
I turn my head to look over in her direction and quickly realize she isn’t heading for the mat, she’s going to the ring. “Venom, I said we weren’t ready for that.”
She grabs onto the middle rope and pulls herself up, ignoring what I’ve said and goes in between the ropes. “I beg to differ and the only way I’m going to convince you is to show you, so why don’t you get your ass up here, or are you a chicken?”
Oh, this woman, she should know better than to ever call me a fuckin’ chicken, or insinuate I am one. The way she raises her eyebrow to toy with me only aggravates me further and I find myself approaching her. Placing a hand on the rope I pull myself up and weave between them, staring right at her as I do so.
“You’re really in a mood to fuck around today, aren’t you?” She has no idea I mean this in more ways than one. Venom sayin’ that sassy shit, oosh, my cock is semi-hard under these shorts. I keep my eyes pinned on the way she gnaws on her plump bottom lip.
We start up and she pivots, keeping her hands up, ready to find my weak point. I move to the side just as she strikes and can’t help but smirk knowing I one upped her for the movement. I keep an eye on her movements and see her starting to lean to the left, so I jump back and she misses again.
Feeling a bit confident I move to the right and just as I get the feel of what she’s going to do next she uses her alternate hand and the slight movement causes me to look in that direction. Well, my mistake. She pushes her palm up against my nose and I let out a curse as a shock of pain shoots up into my head. Warmth rushes down over my lip and at this point, I know she’s done some good damage. Motherfucker.
I lean my head forward and put my fingers over my nose and pinch it closed while leaving the ring, heading to the locker room to assess how bad the damage is. In the background Frank’s laughter fills the gym and I walk into the locker room, going straight to the sinks.
“Ricochet, oh my god. I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” Venom comes in straight behind me, grabs a clean towel from the shelf and turns on the faucet. She wets the towel a bit and then wipes away the blood. “I didn’t mean to hurt you like this. Fuck, I’m so sorry. You started to pivot and then, fuck, oh my god.”
I know she didn’t try to hurt me, but she was trying to do something else. “This is the type of shit that happens when you try to show off,” I snap, pissed off as hell. She could’ve just sparred with me on the mat like usual, but no, she had to jump into the ring.
She blinks her eyes at me a couple of times before she says a word, almost flabbergasted by what I’ve said. With a nod, she speaks, “Yeah, and I . . . I wasn’t trying to hurt you. It was an accident, Ricochet. I swear, it was an accident.” Venom pulls the towel away from my lip and takes a swallow, almost like she’s processing the weight of what she just did.
Fuck, I know she didn’t do this maliciously, but this is why we don’t let cocky people make their way up in the ranks of the club. If she wants to get anywhere above a full patch, she’ll never let her ego blind her to what needs to be done ever again. There’s a difference between wanting to do something and having to do it.
After a moment her neck flushes red and it even spans across her chest. I’ve seen this happen to people a couple times before when they’re getting overwhelmed. Inhaling deeply through my nose I give her a moment, and then I realize her eyes are filled with glassy tears and she’s choking back a sob.
I don’t know exactly why, but the need to pull her into my arms and tell her it’s okay takes over me, so I grab onto her hand and I pull her against me, but as I try to form the words to tell her, nothing comes out.
Instead, I find myself staring at her plump lips and slowly I bring mine down onto hers and inhale her honey scent. It smells just like it does on a hot summer day, in the midst of the country. I can
