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 practically hear birds singing in the background. Fuck, she’s so sweet. Venom stalls in the shock of what I’m doing, but I snake an arm around the back of her neck and pull her closer to me, completely letting go of my nose. I don’t give a fuck, I want to claim her mouth in a way I’ve only dreamt about, but I’ve been too fuckin’ afraid it would fuck up our friendship.
Chapter Eight
Venom
If someone told me a week ago I’d be doing this, I would’ve called them crazy. I would’ve laughed in their damn face and told them this wouldn’t have ever been possible. Yet here I stand, leaning against the frame of Ricochet’s door as I watch him throw on a shirt and slide his cut on before our morning trip to Mamie’s. Unlike every other day, he opted to come back and take a shower before we went out. Then again, he didn’t have his bag slung over his shoulder this morning. I didn’t even think about reminding him. I’ve had Peyton on my mind so much in the last few days, and she’s been plaguing my free thoughts. I want to go to her right now but I know I can’t do that. It would be stupid, it would be idiotic, and most importantly, it wouldn’t get me anywhere.
God and now things are so awkward between us, probably because I ripped my mouth away from his after he kissed me, pulled myself away from a situation I was terrified to be in. I mean . . . was I terrified? I think I was. It came out of nowhere and I’ve never had any indication he ever wanted . . . or at least I don’t think I did. I don’t think . . . gosh, I don’t know.
The truth is my husband screwed everything up for me, my trust levels, everything. Since being part of the Iron Vex MC I’ve felt so much better about things, but when it comes to a deep personal connection like this, I’m still fucking screwed up. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to fully trust someone ever again.
Ricochet comes over toward the door and looks up at me. “Sorry about that. Had other shit on my mind this mornin’.” He eyes me up and down while his eyes linger a little bit on my boobs. I’m not sure if he’s trying to be so obvious but the man didn’t have a problem slamming his lips against mine with a bloody nose either.
God, it felt so nice to have a man’s hand wrapped around the back of my neck, holding me firmly against them while our lips collided with one another. It felt freeing, invigorating, like something I didn’t want to let go of. Yet I did, I tore myself away from the man I knowingly have feelings for, terrified it’ll lead to something where we can’t come back from.
My heart wants Ricochet in more than a friendship setting, but the mere thought of losing him because of my hidden desires makes me want to pump on the brakes. I can’t imagine him not being in my life, and acting on anything that could ruin what we have as friends . . . I just can’t do it. I won’t do it. He means too much to me.
Ricochet walks out into the hallway and I follow closely behind him, not saying a word after what he said a few moments ago. I’m trying not to let my mind get in the gutter, but I know it’s pointless. My head’s going to get there eventually anyway.
“How’s your nose?” I ask him while we start going down the stairwell.
He turns his head and gives me a smirk. “I’ll live, but I’m sure I’ll bruise up from this.”
“I’m so sorry.” I don’t know how many times I’ve said it at this point but I really wasn’t trying to hurt him. The last thing I’d ever want to do is hurt Ricochet.
“It’s fine, Showoff.” He snickers as we reach the bottom of the stairs and holds the door open for me, allowing me to pass through.