Chapter Thirteen
Lauren
“Am I really supposed to be doing this?”
I stopped after my eleventh sit-up, which felt like the hundredth. I was lying on a mat in the grassy backyard, struggling to catch my breath.
“Of course,” Wade answered, taking a puff of his cigarette as he sat comfortably on one of the wicker chairs on the patio. “In order to stand a chance in a fight, you need to strengthen your core muscles.”
Right. Just as fifty jumping jacks were supposed to strengthen my heart and lungs, and fifteen squats and lunges were supposed to strengthen my legs. What was next? Push-ups? Or was he going to make me lift weights?
This was all just payback. I wounded Wade’s pride when I beat him at the pool table, so now, he was trying to strain every muscle in my body, if not break every bone. Maybe I shouldn’t have played dirty. Then again, if he had only agreed to teach me how to fight, we wouldn’t have had to play a game at all. Still, I was glad we did it. It was fun. And that look on Wade’s face while I teased him? Priceless.
Of course, winning was the best part. And I was determined to get my prize.
“Fine.” I sat up, leaning back on my arms. “I’ll complete twenty sit-ups. But afterward, you’re going to start teaching me how to fight for real. That was our deal.”
Wade extinguished his cigarette on the ashtray in front of him. “Fine.”
I lay back down, then I raised my knees while keeping my feet flat on the ground and drew a deep breath.
Come on, Lauren. You can do this.
No, I had to do this. I couldn’t feel as helpless as I had the last time I was in trouble. I couldn’t just wait and pray for someone to save me. I had to learn how to fight for myself.
Maybe then Jake would realize that I wasn’t so frail. Maybe Max would be impressed, too. And Wade? By now, I was sure he was attracted to me. Maybe after our lesson, he was finally going to admit it.
I placed my fingers behind my ears and I slowly lifted my upper body until my chest touched my thighs, then I lowered my body again so that my back was flat on the mat.
Twelve. Eight more to go.
I repeated the motion again and again, struggling and trembling after the sixteenth rep. My abdominal muscles were starting to ache, too, and I could feel beads of sweat forming between my breasts. Still, I continued to push myself.
I wasn’t going to give up. Not now.
Seventeen…Eighteen…
I stopped again, my lungs screaming for air and my muscles for reprieve.
Fuck, this was tough.
“Giving up?” Wade asked, standing above me with his hands on his hips.
That smug look on his face just made me want to keep going all the more.
I cupped my ears again and lifted my upper body.
Nineteen…
Just one more. One more.
I repeated those two words in my head like a mantra as I summoned every bit of strength I had left in my body to complete the last sit-up.
Twenty!
If I had had any breath left, I would have shouted triumphantly. Since I didn’t, I just closed my eyes and smiled as I waited for my lungs to be replenished with oxygen and my heartbeat to slow down. Only after that did I open my eyes again, turning toward Wade. As soon as our eyes met, he looked away and cleared his throat.
Ah. He was watching me again, wasn’t he?
I took a few sips from my water bottle before talking to him. “Shall we get started?”
He stood up and stretched his arms. “Are you sure you don’t want to take a break first?”
“No,” I answered, getting on my feet as well.
After all those exercises, I was all warmed up now. I was pumped.
I put my hands on my hips. “So, where do we start?”
Wade started by teaching me how to throw proper, straight punches, then went on to teach me heel palm strikes and elbow strikes. With each move I learned, I could feel myself getting stronger, if not physically, then mentally. At least, I knew how to defend myself now, how to fight back. I didn’t have to just scurry in fear.
Now, Wade was trying to teach me how to escape from someone’s hold. He stood behind me, one arm wrapped around my chest like the way that despicable purple-haired Devil held me when he was threatening me with a knife. Back then, I had felt only fear, but I wasn’t the least bit scared of Wade, as dangerous a living weapon as I knew he could be. The rock-hard muscles against my back were only sending shivers of excitement down my spine and making my pulse quicken.
“Now, try to get away from me,” he said.
I tried to push his arm away, but it was no use.
I groaned. “I don’t know how. Teach me.”
“Step on my foot as hard as you can, or better yet, try to bend forward or shift your hips to the side. The goal is to create enough space so that you can turn and hit me with an elbow strike.”
I followed his instructions, wriggling so that I had room to turn. Then I lifted my elbow, letting it brush against the ridges of his stomach. Just like earlier, I couldn’t help but stare at them for a second, mesmerized. I knew he only took his shirt off in some effort to distract me as payback for what I did earlier when we were playing pool, but I was still grateful, enjoying the treat.
“You can follow that up with a strike to the groin,” Wade added.
I nodded, my gaze dipping to that area as well. As tempted as I was to touch his crotch, I wasn’t going to try hitting him there, though.
“Now, I’m going to pin you against the wall.”
He backed me up against the tall brick wall at the edge of the backyard and pinned my wrists above me.
“What will you do?”
I knew what I wanted to do: kiss him. His dark eyes were boring into mine, the scent of his sweat making my knees weak.
“Lauren?” Wade’s voice snapped me out of my reverie.
I swallowed. “I…I’ll spit on your face.”
Wade chuckled. “You’ve watched too many bad movies.”
I tried to come up with an alternative as quickly as I could. “Or I’ll hit you in the groin with my knee.”
He nodded. “Good. You can also use your leg to push you off the wall. Try it.”
I did, managing to create more space for myself to wriggle free of Wade’s hold. Then I turned to try to twist his arm. He let me go.
“Good job.”
His compliment made me smile. “Thanks.”
“But we’re not done yet.”
To my surprise, he grabbed me by the waist and threw me on the mat in one swift motion. Then he climbed on top of me and pinned my wrists on either side of my head.
“Now, what will you do?”
I tried to think, but his gaze, which seemed even more intense than before, was messing my mind up. There was something about this position, too.
Right now, my wrists were firmly in his strong grasp, and his weight was pinning me down, making it almost impossible for me to move. If it had been a stranger, I knew I would be terrified, but I wasn’t scared of Wade at all. Yes, my heart was pounding, and I could barely breathe, but it wasn’t because of fear. It was because of excitement.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked him.
I didn’t even feel like escaping. I just wanted him to kiss me, to touch me like he did the night I got drunk. I could tell from his eyes, which kept straying to my lips and to my breasts, that it was what he wanted as well.
For a moment, it did seem as if he was going to, but then he spoke. “Just like earlier, try to push me away with your legs and knees.”
I tried to move my legs, lifting one of my knees. As it brushed against his crotch, he hissed. I froze, but the bulge that pulsed against my knee caused a warm flutter in my belly and made my heart race all the more.
Wade was hard.
He groaned and moved off me. “I think we’re done for today.”
No.
Before I could think, I grabbed his arm. I lifted myself up, pushed him on his back, and climbed on top of him, reversing our previous positions. I wasn’t going to let him get away that easily, not when I knew he wanted me.
And I wanted him.
I knew it for certain as I gazed down at him, at his face, his broad shoulders, and his bare chest. I had already had sex with Max and with Jake. Now, I wanted to know how it would be like to have Wade’s thick cock inside me, my vagina tingling at the mere thought.
I lowered my hips to grind against his crotch. As the tent there brushed against the burning, aching part of me, I gasped. Wade gave another hiss, then gripped my shoulders.
“Get off me, Lauren,” he said through gritted teeth.
If he really wanted to push me off, he easily could have, but the fact that he wasn’t even trying made me aware of what he really wanted.
“Why?” I asked him. “Because of Max? I already told you he won’t mind.”
“Because I don’t want to make the same mistake I made before,” Wade answered. “I don’t want you to get hurt just like my ex-wife.”
I shook my head. “You’re not going to hurt me, Wade. I can handle it. I want to.”
I reached between Wade’s legs to press my palm against the bulge in his pants. This time, he let out a low growl.
I pressed my thumb against the tip of the tent in his crotch as I looked into his eyes. “Don’t you want me too?”
For a second, it looked like he was going to say no, the tension in his facial muscles evident. Then to my elation, he grabbed my ass and lifted his lips to grind against me. I gasped.
“Fuck it,” he muttered before pushing me off and to the side so that he could be back on top of me.
I could’ve sworn I’d never heard anyone sound so hot cursing as Wade.
When he finally kissed me, I felt my body catch fire, heat spreading through my veins. His tongue made my mouth melt. And my vagina was making a puddle that was staining my underwear.
His hands were all over me, caressing my shoulders, lifting my top so he could play with my stiff nipples, squeezing my ass, stroking my thighs. It was as if I had finally freed the beast inside him, and now he was devouring me with his hands, consumed by his hunger that only whetted my own appetite.
When he began stroking me between my legs, I moaned, and when he slipped a finger inside my drenched pussy after pulling off my pants and my underwear, I clutched his shoulders and let out a cry.
His frenzy was contagious, making me practically tear his shirt off so I could finally run my hands over the sculpted masterpiece that was his chest. As he started stroking me, I dug my nails into his back. The friction from his fingers was just driving me mad, making me lose my senses. But it wasn’t enough.
I lifted my head so I could whisper in Wade’s ear. “Fuck me.”
Wade groaned but straightened up to unzip his pants just the same. When I saw his hard, thick cock, its tip leaking and its veins standing out, I felt my breath leave me.
Now, that was a real work of art. And it was even more fascinating up close.
I couldn’t stop staring at it as Wade took a condom out of his pocket, though when he was about to put it on, I grabbed his wrist to stop him.
“I want to feel you inside me,” I told him. “All of you.”
Then I wrapped my fingers around his cock. It throbbed in my hand as he hissed.
“Fuck it, Lauren. You’re driving me insane.”
“I’m glad,” I told him, lifting my other hand to stroke his cheek. “Now, show me just how much you like it.”
He kissed me again, pushing me back on the ground. Then he lifted my hips and thrust inside me. I nearly screamed. He felt even larger than I thought, stretching me, but that also meant he could reach all the spots inside me that made me tremble all over.
“You like that?” he asked hoarsely after a hard thrust.
I took a moment to recover my breath before answering. “I fucking love it.”
Wade was rough, but I expected no less. The quick pace of his thrusts and the sound of his wet cock sliding in and out of me, of his balls slapping against me, of his growls and hisses mingling with my moans and cries only made my skin burn hotter and my heart race faster. It felt like I was coming undone, like Wade was unraveling me and shattering me to pieces, yet like a phoenix, I felt myself coming alive amid the flames and the chaos. I could not get enough of it.
But the pleasure was too much. It swept through every inch of my body after Wade gave a final, deep thrust, folding my body nearly in half. I threw my head back and gasped and shuddered, my trembling fingers clutching the sides of the mat I was on. Tears leaked out of my eyes as I squeezed them shut.
When I opened them again, Wade had already pulled out, though his shoulders were still heaving. His jaw was tense as he stared at the screen door leading inside the house, and when I turned my head, I understood why.
Max was standing behind the glass with a bouquet of red roses in his hand, looking at us.
Was he angry? Jealous? No. That look in his eyes was something more familiar to me: desire.
And the bulge that I saw in his pants confirmed it.
It was enough to reignite the fever that had barely left my body, the embers of lust in my veins roaring to life once more.
I met Max’s heated gaze as I stopped Wade from putting his shirt back on, then I kneeled beside Wade, leaning on his shoulder as I spoke words I never thought I’d say.
“Would you like to join us?”