Grayson
His heart had almost pounded through his chest when she dropped to her knees in front of him. She’d known. He’d been stunned, and strangely proud, and so hard in that instant it hurt.
He was sure she could feel that now, given that she was plastered against him, but he kept his grip gentle. He didn’t want to overwhelm her. But the subtle whimpering sounds she was making were going to drive him insane.
“Stop the noises, sweetheart,” he gasped, cupping her face, walking her back against the chain wall and changing the angle of the kiss.
Except for her ragged breathing, Lexi went silent.
He kept ravaging her mouth for who knew how long, fisting one hand in her hair and pressing her into the chain with the other. The feeling of tears hitting his hand froze him. He lifted his head, his voice raspy, and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Her eyes stayed closed and he felt a slight panic as tears continued to flow from closed lids.
“Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head but hiccupped and he used his Dom voice.
“Alessandra, look at me.”
She opened damp eyes.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
His voice was commanding, but the hands that wiped away her tears were gentle.
“I don’t know,” her voice was a whisper that broke off at the end.
“Okay, okay,” he soothed, and ran his hands down her arms to bracket her wrists.
He’d never been someone’s first Dom, but he knew being a sub could be overwhelming. Especially at first, he imagined. Tugging her forward, he rested his chin on her head.
“Breathe,” he said.
After a few minutes - and sniffles - she said, “You know, you spend a lot of time telling me to breathe. Do you think that’s normal?”
Grayson smiled.
“I don’t know.”
He looked down at her, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Come on,” he said, taking her by the hand. “I’ll make us some breakfast and we’ll get you home.”
Lexi was quiet until they were almost out of the arena.
“Is this you not taking care of me again?”
He swatted her butt. “Shut up.”
“Sir yes sir!” she said, saluting from her forehead.
They both laughed as he held the door.
An hour later, he stood back in the arena alone. It was only a little after eight thirty, but he knew there was no point in trying to get back to sleep.
Grayson stood in the middle of the arena, thinking about the fights. Who was he kidding, he thought, and started to pace. He was thinking of her. The heavily accented voice snapped him back to the arena.
“It must be very difficult.”
“What is?” he asked, tucking his hands in his back pockets.
“Working with an innocent like that,” said Rio. “I don’t think I could do it.”
Grayson thought back to earlier, when he had only been aware of Lexi in the room.
“You were here?”
Rio nodded, then grinned.
“I heard voices and came out of the stock room. I don’t know what I would have done if she was on her knees in front of me like that,” he said with a smirk, “but I don’t think I would have stopped at a kiss.”
Grayson leveled him with a look.
“You don’t talk about her like that.”
Rio pursed his lips and tilted his head to the side as he stared at one of his oldest friends. He nodded.
“Okay Santo, she’s yours.”
Grayson ruffled his own hair and stalked away, circling the ring just as Lexi had done.
“She’s not.”
Rio stayed quiet, and Grayson quickly remembered that Lexi was supposed to be his real submissive. He kicked the side of the ring and sighed.
“I mean- I’m working on it.”
“Like I said,” Rio said with a grin, “difficult. It’s interesting. She doesn’t seem to trust herself yet. How long has she been in the life?”
Grayson rubbed his temple.
“You mean for real?”
He glanced down at his watch.
“About an hour.”
The shock on Rio’s face mirrored how he’d been feeling all morning.
“Yeah,” Grayson said, “I know.”
“Well,” Rio said, “This should be interesting.”
“Yeah.”
With that, a gaping silence joined the conversation.
“Do you want to get some sleep? Or you can explain your email about this points system if you’re staying up. You can make me some of that shit you think is Cuban coffee.”
Gray nodded, and they walked towards the double-door exit of the arena.
“Are you going to put anyone in to fight for the opening?” Rio asked. He spoke casually, but the words echoed in the empty arena.
Grayson nodded absently. Rio must not have heard the first part of their conversation, he thought, and decided it was for the best. He couldn’t remember if they’d said anything about their deal.
He looked around the room that, until Lexi, had been the only thing on his radar.
The only important thing… now he wasn’t so certain.
“Yeah, her. Lexi.”
Rio’s eyebrows rose.
“Are you sure? She could get hurt.”
Grayson smiled. “You never saw the security footage from last weekend, did you?”
“No, why? I saw the group chat blowing up about it, but I didn’t have time to watch it.”
“I’ll show you.”
Grayson hesitated at the door.
“Let me make a call to Aranov, I need him to work on a contract, anyway.”
Comfortable silence followed them as they made their way up the back stairwell. Grayson spoke as they entered the oversized office space.
“But now that I’m thinking about it… she might not do so well. You can’t do this without trust, right?”
He didn’t consciously realize that he’d veered away from the fights and was back to focusing on his relationship with Lexi, but Rio followed along.
Rio clapped him hard on the shoulder.
“I never said she didn’t trust you, Santo.”