Huck is on his way out of the locker room as I enter. Some little blond is behind him giggling. He stops when he sees me and kisses her temple. “Thanks sweetie, you sure do know how to take the edge off for a man.”
She grins. “Anytime.” She winks as she turns, heading back into the arena area.
I shake my head. “Dude, really? The locker room?”
“Hey, don’t knock it until you try it. You wouldn’t have almost gotten your ass handed to you out there if you’d take the edge off more often.”
I shake my head. “Just get out, I’m going to shower. That little shit tonight snatched some shit in my arm. I’m going to watch yours and Sly’s matches, then I’m going to medicate and go home for bed.”
He shrugs. “All right man, suit yourself. You know the chicks will be prime for picking when we leave tonight.”
“Yeah, but I’m going to bed. I don’t feel like trying to act like I’m even interested in someone long enough to get into their pants tonight. I just need rest.”
He shrugs and goes out of the locker room.
I hit the showers, fulfill the rest of my night’s obligations and go home.
Fuck, I hope my arm is better in the morning. I hope that little fucker didn’t mess it up bad.
CHAPTER 1
LOX
Going through my usual workout with Sly and Huck has been a tough one today. Last night’s local match up was hell, the people you know are sometimes worse than strangers. I’m pretty good, I’ve had scouts looking at me for a little while now, so sometimes that makes me a bit of a target to younger or newer guys trying to prove themselves.
I’ve been to some of the bigger regional match ups and I’ve done well. I have some offers from different agents, but I’m sticking with my trainer, Marco, for right now. Vance DeMarco has been our mentor since we were just punk kids.
“Dude, you are nursing your arm and you look like shit today. Better not let Marco see that. He’ll get your ass for slacking,” Sly says as he goes through some sparring reps with his twin brother, Huck.
“Yes, I will,” Marco says loudly as he walks in. “What’s going on with the arm, Lox? This from last night?”
I try to rotate my shoulder. “Not sure. Something about how that little wise ass snatched on it last night. I guess I pulled something because my arm and down my side are bothering me.”
“So you just thought you’d what? Not listen to your body? Come here and push through it?”
I nod. “Yeah, you always told us not to be pussies.”
“I mainly said that to Frick and Frack over there.” He tilts his head toward the twins. “If I wasn’t hard on them, I’d still be putting Spiderman Band-Aids on their cuts.”
I laugh at Sly and Huck grumbling. I hear a couple of ‘fuck you’s’ and something about an old bastard.
Marco grunts. “Go home and ice that shit. If you still have trouble in the morning,” he hands me a card, “go see my chiropractor, Dr. Beck.”
I look at him strangely. Most doctors look at us like we are into self-mutilation or something. “You sure?”
“Yeah, he used to be a Marine. He understands the fighter mentality.”
I nod. “Yeah. Okay, I’m off work tonight so that works.”
I grab my gym bag and look over at the twins. “Don’t go beating the shit out of each other since I’m not here to separate you. I’ll see you guys at home later.”
Huck looks at me and rolls his eyes. “Go home and soak your vagina and take some Midol.” As he finishes his sentence, Sly lands a punch right to his lower jaw. “What the fuck, Sly?”
Sly shrugs. “You weren’t paying attention, fucktard.”
Huck shoves him and Sly shoves back. I shake my head as I’m walking toward the door. I hear Marco. “You two knock that shit off. I’ll kick both of your asses!”
I get in my silver Chevy Z-71, my most prized possession. I bought this a couple of years ago after a few of the bigger tournaments I fought in in Biloxi. That damn guy at the dealership nearly shit his pants. I walked in and said this was the truck I wanted, he started talking about financing and saying that for someone of my young age, I was probably going to need a cosigner. I pulled an envelope out, ready to pay cash money, and suddenly I went from a dumb kid to, “Mr. Storm, we’ll be happy to help you.”
Pulling into the small, two car drive way in front of the small house we rent, I sigh. I make my way inside and see that my turtle is still alive. I grab up his food and open his terrarium. “Here, Flex.” I drop some food in for him.
I go to the kitchen and grab one of my protein meals that I keep ready. While it’s in the microwave, I get out my ibuprofen, heat pack and ice pack. Taking the ibuprofen and grabbing my meal, I go sit down on the couch. Putting the ice pack on first, I grab up my Wii remote and turn on Netflix, starting some Grey’s Anatomy reruns. Yes, I watch Grey’s Anatomy, it’s my guilty pleasure and I don’t care. I caught the reruns on Lifetime and I started watching the show. I got hooked. Now, I’m trying to get to the current season.
The twins gave me shit until they were up one night when I was watching. Next thing you know, they were hooked, too. They are going to be pissed that I’m watching ahead of them.
Sly and Huck have been my best friends since we were five. I have an awesome mom. She’s always done her best for me, but they couldn’t say the same thing. Their mom fucked up their world from the beginning. She was always strung out. Hell, look at the names she gave them, after cartoons. Their dad was dead, my dad was a deadbeat and I’ve never met him in person. So the first time the twins followed me home, my momma fell in love. She bathed them and fed them, and pretty much after that my mom was a single mother to three kids. They stayed at my house more than they did their own.
I think it’s safe to say that when we decided a few years ago to move out and rent a house together, she was lost. It’s a requirement that we still have to be at her house once a week for family dinner, no girls allowed. Not that any of us ever have a steady girl, but that rule was made for Sly when he brought some one night floozy to my mom’s. It took us weeks to get rid of the girl because she got the wrong idea, she thought he wanted her to meet his family. He was just saving gas by picking her up before supper rather than after.
I must’ve dozed off because one minute I was watching a gunman loose in the hospital on Grey’s and the next thing I know, Sly is swiping my legs off the couch.
“Fuck you, man. You started without us.”
I shake my head. “Dude, I watched like maybe ten minutes before I fell asleep. We can turn it back on when you guys are ready.”
Huck comes in and sits down with his protein meal. “Fuck, you started without us. I see how it is, brother.”
I let out a huge angry breath. “Once again, I only saw like the first ten minutes before I fell asleep so we can watch it when you want to.” I sit back. “How was your workout?”
Sly walks back in the living room with a bottle of water and a banana. “Brutal after you left. Marco smoked the shit out of us.”
I laugh. “I don’t doubt it, considering you were bitching at each other like a couple of high school drama queens when I left.” I chuckle again.
Huck looks at me with a death glare. “He took a fucking cheap shot at me.”
Sly shushes us as he hits play on the episode.
~*~*~
Taking a shower this morning and trying to lift my arm is killer. It looks like I’ll be taking Marco up on going to his chiropractor.
An hour later, I’m sitting in Dr. Beck’s office. I called to see about getting an appointment and they got me right in.
“Loxley Storm,” the nurse calls out.
I stand up and walk toward her. “It’s Lox.”
She scans me up and down, smiling. “Right this way. I’m Kara.” She takes me to a treatment room. “Dr. Beck will be with you in a minute.” She’s cute. She’s thick, but she can carry it. She turns before she walks out and winks.
> Oh, she’s a little flirt. Sly would trip over himself right now trying to get her number.
A few minutes later, a man around Marco’s age comes in the room. “Mr. Storm, so glad to finally meet you, Marco has told me a lot about you. So what brings you in to see me today?”
“Please, call me Lox.” I explain to him about my last fight and the little shit snatching on my arm.
He touches my side and arm, examining my motion and tightness. “It sounds like he put some strain on the traps and rhomboids, possibly the deltoid and biceps, too. I’m going to have one of my girls do a massage on you. I think that would benefit you the best. You might consider doing a massage more often because of what you do.”
“Thanks, doc. I knew Marco said you understood fighters, most doctors look at us like we are twisted or something.”
He chuckles. “Marco and I go way back. We were just two dirt poor kids who went into the Corps at the same time. He’s ended up being my oldest and dearest friend.”
I nod. “That’s cool. Marco doesn’t talk much about that time in his life.”
He shakes his head. “Neither of us do. Now, have you got some time this morning for my girl to work on you?”
“Yes, this is driving me crazy. I just want to get it taken care of.”
“Okay, follow me.” We walk out into the front area of the office. “Kara, who has an opening for a massage right now?”
Kara looks up and smiles. “Sloan.”
He nods. “Great. Will you take Lox and get him set up for her?”
She smiles. “Sure thing, Dr. Beck.”
She looks at me. “Right this way, Lox.”
We walk into a small room with a massage table in the middle. The lights are very dim.
She turns to me. “Just strip down to whatever you’re comfortable with, most men strip down to their underwear or naked. Then lie face down and cover yourself with this towel.” She hands me a large towel. “Sloan will be in in a couple of minutes.”
I nod and smile. “Thanks.”
After she walks out and closes the door, I laugh. Well, maybe I shouldn’t have went commando today, good thing I’m not shy. I strip down and do as she said with the towel, flinching from a small twinge in my arm.
God, I hope this helps.
CHAPTER 2
SLOAN
God, I hate, no, I despise continuing education classes. UGH.
Kara bounces in our lounge. “Hey, sunshine! OH BOY, do I have a surprise for you.”
“What, are you going to do my CEUs for me?”
She smiles. “No, but I do have a sexy MMA fighter in your room waiting for you to do a massage on him. Doc asked who was free and I sent him your way. You know I wasn’t giving a stud like that to Josie. She’d probably get us sued for sexually assaulting him.”
I stand up. “Fine. I’m on my way.”
She catches my arm as I walk by. “You know, you could get a little excited.”
I look at her with a deadpanned face. “I’m excited.”
She sighs. “I’m just saying, I know you are a momma, but if he doesn’t wake up your forever hibernating libido, I have no hope for you.”
I shake my head and laugh. “I’m so glad you’re concerned about my libido.”
“I’m just saying you’d probably lose some of the worry wrinkles on your forehead if you’d stretch your face out by saying, ‘Oh MY GOD!’ a little more.”
I just shake my head and walk to my treatment room. I pull the chart and look at it quickly, studying Dr. Beck’s notes. I tap on the door. “Mr. Storm, are you ready?”
“Yes,” I hear from behind the door.
Making my way into my room, I notice his sexy, sculpted back. Holy hotness. Look at his ass, even through a towel. Damn. Yep, she was right. My libido is awake now.
He picks his head up to look at me. I smile. “Hello, Mr. Storm. I’m Sloan and I’ll be doing your massage today.”
He gives me a grin. “Call me Lox.”
I nod. “Okay, well I’m going to target your problem areas for today.” I place my hands on the areas that doc pointed out in his assessment. “Oh yeah, these feel very tight. Let’s see what we can do. I’m going to go off what doc pointed out in his notes. If you want less or more somewhere, just let me know.”
“Sure.”
“Is this your first massage?”
“Yes.”
“Some people like to talk during a massage, some people doze off to sleep. It’s all up to you. Now, I’m going to put some pressure on the pain points so you just tell me if it gets to be too much.”
He kind of chuckles. “Okay.”
I shake my head because I know he’s going to wince in a minute when I hit that spot. In general, most men aren’t great patients. I laugh silently a minute later when he whimpers.
“You trying to hurt me, tough girl?”
I let out a small laugh. “Nope. Just part of it. I’ll try to go a little easier.”
I feel his body tighten. “Thanks. You know I’m an injured man after all.”
I laugh. “Sure thing.” I spend a lot of time on the injured area, then move to do the entire body. An hour later, I’m stepping out of the room for him to dress. He steps out and holy shit, he’s even hotter than I thought.
I smile at him. “Do you feel a little better?”
He moves his shoulder and arm around. “Yeah, it’s a lot looser.”
“Well, I’m sure you already do, but drink a lot of water today. Also, alternate out some heat and cold tonight. Doc was right though, you’d probably benefit from coming in on a schedule. Your body is like a car, you work it hard so it needs to come in for maintenance every now and then.”
He nods. “Yeah, I surely don’t want to hurt like this again. Where do I set that up?”
“Come on and I’ll walk you up front. We’ll get you scheduled.”
As we approach the desk, I hand Kara his chart. “Doc wants him to come in on a regular schedule.”
Kara smiles. “Okay Lox, how often do you want to come in?’
He looks at me, giving me a soft grin. “How often do you suggest?”
I shrug. “We could start with once every other week and when your body adjusts, we could back it off to every three weeks. I should probably see you again at the first of next week to work this problem area again, unless you have a fight this weekend. If you do, I should see you on Friday.”
He gives me a slight grin that would melt the panties off of a nun. “I don’t have a match for another two weeks so whatever you think is best.”
I nod and try to compose myself, but I can feel the redness in my cheeks. “Kara, put him in Monday.”
I turn and start walking back to my room to clean and set up for my next patient. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I spin around to see Lox. “Thanks for your help today.”
I smile. “You’re welcome, see you Monday.”
I finish making my way back to my treatment room and start pulling the sheets and setting up for the next client. Kara walks in with a grin on her face. “So, on a scale from sexy to smokin’ hot, how all of the above was he?”
I shake my head. “He was nice looking.”
She puts her hand to her chest like she’s going to have a heart attack. “Sloan, honey, I think you need to have your damn vision checked if you think that boy was anything other than effing sexy as hell.”
I sigh. “Yes, he was hot. Very hot. Just so you know, yes, my libido is still very much alive.”
She claps her hands. “Awesome. He said to give you this.”
I take the twenty dollar bill from her hand. “He tipped me?”
“Yes, he tipped you and you didn’t even have to give him a happy ending. Yet.” She winks and walks out the door.
I don’t have anyone for another forty-five minutes so I try to finish up some of my CEU stuff.
~*~*~
“Mommy!” My son, Sage, comes running up to me and wraps his arms around my legs.
I hug him back. “Hey, Bud. Did you have a good day today?” I say as I sign him out of the aftercare program at his school.
“Yes, ma’am. I made you this.” He shoves a coloring page at me.
“Wow, that looks awesome. What is that?” I point to a brown blob on the paper. Please don’t say shit, please don’t say shit. I’m pretty good about watching my mouth around him but I slip sometimes and he seems like my little repeater. When we lived with my brother, he wasn’t always the greatest about watching his words either. He’d say things like, “I gotta shit, get out of the bathroom.” I’m afraid he’s going to repeat one of those words at school.
“A football.” He looks at me so innocently proud. “I’m gonna be a football player when I grow up.”
Bless his heart, he doesn’t know the personal Hell that brings me. “Don’t you want to play baseball or something else?”
I start walking us in the direction of our car after I help him with his backpack.
He nods his head. “Yeah, that too, or a fireman.” He’s acting so grown and serious, like he needs to make this decision today at the ripe old age of five.
I breathe a sigh of relief. “Sounds good to me, Bud. What do you want for supper tonight?”
“Mac ‘n cheese with hot dogs.”
I laugh. “You always say that.” Which I hate saying is good since I’m on a tight budget.
He giggles. “I know. I always want it.”
I reach down and tickle him. “You’re rotten. You know that?” He climbs in his booster seat and buckles his seatbelt.
He looks up at me and smiles. All I feel is his love. “Yep, I know I am.”
After I get in my seat, I look back and remember the lady from the local pizza place gave us all a gift certificate the other day when she was in. I never buy pizza. Sometimes when they have a sale on frozen ones, I get those, but not straight from the restaurant. “How about pizza tonight instead of mac ‘n cheese and hot dogs?”
He grins and pumps his fist. “Yes!”