Something about Royce isn’t sitting right with me. It’s like I’m missing something about him. I thought a few times about digging into him but changed my mind. I knew I wanted it for personal reasons, and I was not turning into some stalker like so many of my family members.
Dropping my head in my hands, I groan. I release a deep breath and look up at my computer to see that it’s time for me to meet up with Delilah. I pick up my phone from my desk and slip it into the back pocket of my slacks.
Reaching into the top drawer of my desk, I pull out some lipstick and put it on before heading out toward Lincoln’s. When I get there, I’m once again surprised to see it’s so busy.
I see Delilah sitting at a table in the back, two beers in front of her and a couple plates of food. I walk over, take my blazer off, and sit on the chair.
“Hey,” I say. She barely notices me as she looks around the bar.
“Hey,” she replies with a small nod.
I reach down and pick up my beer, taking a few big pulls from it and enjoying the cold burn.
“Something’s going on downstairs,” she finally says, looking over at me.
“Really?” I glance to the back door and watch as people file in and out. In fact, the crowd has slowly gotten smaller as more people slip down there.
“Yeah, but no one is talking about what it is. I’ve had my ears open, but nothing.” She looks over at me, pulling her eyes from the door. One eyebrow rises, and I know what she wants to do.
“Can I at least finish my beer and shove a few nachos in my mouth?” I ask her.
“That will take you two seconds,” she laughs. I shrug and shove some nachos in my mouth before polishing off my beer. I stand with her and throw a few twenties on the table.
We make our way toward the door, and I wonder if anyone is going to stop us, but they don’t. I walk down the stairs first. They lead down to a dark, narrow hallway, but I can hear noise coming from somewhere below. That’s when light floods the space at the back of the room. The noise gets louder, and people are chanting. The place is dirty and smells like sweat.
“What the fuck?” Delilah mumbles behind me. When we get to the bottom, I realize what they are chanting.
“Rol-ly!”
“Rol-ly!”
“Rol-ly!”
“Holy shit, it’s fight club,” Delilah whispers excitedly. “It’s underground shit.”
A makeshift ring sits in the middle of the concrete room, with people standing all around it.
“Yeah,” I agree as I look past the crowd, trying to see.
My eyes go the ring where two men are already going at it. The once facing me looks like he’s taken a few punches as blood runs down his nose. He isn’t going to last another hit. He wobbles on his feet with his arms still up. His barrel chest rises and falls as he breathes hard, in and out. The crowd in front of me is making it hard to see, but Delilah and I push forward, both of us captivated by what’s happening.
The one with his back to us makes me pause my forward progress. Tattoos run along his muscled back and down both his giant arms. He’s freaking ripped. The dark lines that look like dragon scales make their way below the waist of his shorts, and for half a second I wonder just how low the tattoo goes. A light sheen of sweat covers his whole body, and I can’t pull my eyes away from him. He’s still bouncing on his feet, as if he could go for hours. He looks like a machine, and I feel a pulse between my legs as I watch him move. He’s a beast from behind, and I can almost feel the power rolling off him.
The crowd keep chanting. He does a little hop before he lands a left hook and takes the man down to the ground. The bleeding guy falls hard, and the crowd erupts around the two men.
“That was hot,” Delilah exclaims from behind me.
I nod in agreement, and just as I’m about to open my mouth, the fighter turns around.
My stomach drops as my gaze locks with Royce’s. His eyes widen for a fraction of a second, just before a cocky smile pulls at his lips. The ref, or whoever is calling the fight, comes over and raises one of his big meaty arms in the air. The crowd chants even louder, and I swear to God, Royce looks at me like he just won more than that fight. Like he just won the right to fuck me.
His eyes stay locked on mine, and I feel as if I’m frozen in place. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, because right now I’m more turned on than I have ever been in my entire life.