Chasing What’s Mine by Ava Gray
Gemma
“It’s weird. You don’t think it’s weird?”
Aiden shrugs and continues to focus rather intently on the set of tools that he’s been shining for the past twenty minutes. Which, coincidentally, is how long I’ve been trying to get him to talk to me about Dax.
But he’s been pretty good at side-stepping every inquiry, even with me sitting on the workbench right beside him. Any other auto shop and I wouldn’t so much as walk in, let alone sit down. But this is Aiden’s shop and he’s really OCD about cleanliness. I’d be happy to eat off the floor if it came to that.
“So, Riley just—out of the blue—decided he wanted to start training?” I ask, trying a different tack.
“Yep,” he says, without looking up.
I’ve dealt with all kinds of people in my years at Smith, and never have I struggled this much to guide a conversation in my direction. He’s more stubborn than I am. My plan was to come over here and find out how my brothers would take a possible Dax/Gemma hook-up. So far, he’s given me nothing. But I’m far from done trying and I have the whole afternoon free.
“And you don’t know anything about the guy who got into it with Dax at the club the other night?”
This time I get less than a one-word answer—I get nothing.
“Aiden—”
“Gem, come on,” he says, sighing heavily. “I’m trying to work here.”
“On shining up your tools?”
“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” he asks. “This is your vacation, and you’re hanging out in here?”
He turns from the workbench, taking the towel and his bright, shiny tools with him, and lays them on the hood of the Dodge Charger standing in the middle of his workshop.
“I don’t get why you clean them up if you’re just going to get them covered in grease again,” I say, sliding off the workbench to follow him.
He doesn’t look too impressed by this and shakes his head in defeat as he lies down on one of those rolling beds that mechanics use to get under cars. In a second, all I can see of him are his legs.
“Make yourself useful, and hand me the number thirteen,” he says from under the Dodge.
I go to scan the array of tools where he laid them out. It takes less than a second for me to realize I have no idea what he just asked me for. There’s a reason I never followed him and Riley into the family business.
“Did he say thirteen?”
Riley, who appeared out of nowhere, leans over me and grabs a long, spanner-looking thing. He gives Aiden’s foot a light kick and my brother emerges slightly from under the Dodge and takes the thing he asked for. He and Riley share a look before he disappears again.
“Okay, what was that?” I ask, looking at Riley since his face is the one that I can see.
“What was what?” He taps Aiden’s foot again and asks, “Did Obermeyer get back to you about the service on his Wagon?”
“Riley—”
“Nah, he’s out of town this weekend, so we’ll probably only get the call on Tuesday.”
Riley nods and goes to grab him a beer from the fridge.
“Has my wish for invisibility finally come true? What’s going on here?”
As usual, there’s silence from Aiden but I can tell that Riley’s about to talk by the way he’s holding onto that sip of beer. Finally, he swallows and looks at me.
“It’s nothing you need to be concerned about,” he says. “We have it handled.”
Oh, gee, that clears up so much.
“Did something happen? Does it have anything to do with that guy from the club?”
A deep crease furrows his brow. “You saw that?”
I nod stiffly. I have to be careful how much I give away here. They both seem so on edge; it wouldn’t be the best time to divulge what happened between Dax and me.
“Thank God for the bro-code,” Aiden says, still busy clanking away under the Dodge.
Riley laughs dryly. “Tell me about it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, hoping they’ll eventually let me in on their private exchange.
Riley takes another gulp of his beer, burps, and then says, “Let’s just say we’re relieved Dax and all of his—lifestyle choices, shall we say—can’t touch you.”
My heart plummets to my feet, and I swallow hard. Now it’s my turn to deliberately say nothing.
“That guy has trouble following him around like a dog after a juicy bone.”
“And thanks to the bro-code,” Aiden says, “there’s a limit to how far that shit can travel.”
“Exactly,” Riley says, saluting the last of his drink to the half of Aiden he can see before downing it. “At least there’s that. You’re safe.”
“Safe? Like some mystical, unspoken creed is at work, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I’m an adult who can look after herself?”
“Trust us,” Aiden says.
“Yeah, just trust us,” Riley says in chorus. “You have your whole life and career ahead of you. He’ll just ruin all of it; that’s what he does.”
To which I can do nothing but roll my eyes. I can’t say this development hasn’t dampened my spirits, but I couldn’t have expected any different. They’ve always been over-protective of me, and Dax is the kind of guy that naturally sets their alarm bells ringing.
I have to admit that Riley’s words set my own sense of caution tingling. He’s not entirely wrong when it comes to the kind of negative impact Dax can have. And yet, I still want him. Desperately. The battle of emotions inside me are almost too much to bear, and a quick getaway seems like my only option.
“I’m going to go over to Kate’s to get ready for the fight,” I say, starting out of the workshop.
A loud scraping stops my movement as Aiden slides out from under the Dodge. “You’re going to the pre-title fight?”
“Since when?” Riley asks.
I feel like I’m cuffed to a table in the middle of an interrogation room, and the detective duo questioning me both decided to play the bad cop.
I shrug, trying to play it off as lightly as possible. “Kate got us tickets.” I hope they can’t tell that I’m lying.
“You’ve never been interested in UFC,” Aiden says.
I don’t like how closely he’s studying me right now, as if he’s just waiting to pick up on some sign that will tip him off to what’s really going on. I fold my arms across my chest and try to adopt a stern expression.
“I’m only in town for a few days,” I say. “This fight is one of the things happening around here, and Kate thought it would be fun.”
“Kate thought?” Riley doesn’t look convinced.
“What are you two so uptight about?” I cover up the shakiness of my voice with a light chuckle. I need them to believe that they’re the ones with the problem, not me.
“I’d rather not have you anywhere around Dax right now,” Aiden says.
“Why not?” I ask, jumping at the opportunity to finally find out something worth knowing.
But my reaction was too quick, too deliberate, and Aiden clams up instantly.
“There’s just drama, as usual,” Riley says, taking over for him. “You know how that has a tendency to spill out and affect other people.”
“Well, you two can chill,” I say, continuing my exit. “I’m on vacation, remember? That means fun, not drama.”
I hear Riley muttering something to Aiden, but I’m practically home free so I don’t turn back. Whatever they have to say can stay between them for now. I’m skating on thin ice as it is, and I’d much rather not have them to deal with. Not tonight.
The T-Mobile Arena is packed as Kate and I walk in. People are milling around, reveling in excited chatter and alcohol. Even for someone not too interested in anything UFC related, the atmosphere is absolutely buzzing, and the effect is almost dizzying. Well, now that I have a personal investment in one of the people who’ll be inside that cage later, I can’t help but get caught up in it.
“I can’t believe you kissed him,” Kate says.
She hasn’t been able to move on from my confession to her earlier when we were getting ready in her bedroom. It’s as if she’s in shock. She didn’t say much then, or during the Uber ride over here. Every now and then, though, she’ll say those words.
“I can’t believe it.”
“Yeah, Kate, I heard you the first five hundred times.”
“After we agreed he’s bad news? After I went out of my way to get you a contingency plan?”
We’re weaving through people, and thanks to the general noise around us, I don’t feel the need to be hush-hush. It feels good to talk about it as if it’s normal and not some dirty little secret.
“I don’t know what to tell you that I already haven’t said.”
“You can tell me it’s a lie and it never happened.”
I give her a look that tells her exactly what I think of her suggestion, and her expression falls.
“It was a moment, and we just went with it. I don’t see what the big deal is,” I say. “We’re both consenting adults.”
“One of whom is the kind of consenting adult you wouldn’t bring home to your parents.”
I roll my eyes. She may be right, but I still have the freedom to brush her comments aside. I don’t regret the kiss, whatever may be true about Dax. In fact, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that kiss since it happened and how badly I want it to happen again.
“We’re over there,” she says, pointing to our seats in the D block. “Lucky score on the front row. Although now that I know why you got them, I kind of don’t even want to be here.”
“Would you just relax? This is not a big deal. I’m leaving town in a few days, and this will all just be a memory.”
She sighs, but I can see that she’s about to give in and quit going on and on about it.
“Go sit,” I say. “I’m just gonna head off to the bathroom really quick.”
Kate’s eyes narrow in suspicion. “I’ll come with.”
I give a light, hearty laugh. It’s totally fake. “You want to watch me pee?”
“I want to make sure you’re not sneaking off to see you-know-who.”
“Voldemort? Well, now that you mention it, that nose less, bald look kind of did do something for me.”
“Gem—”
I laugh again. It sounds plastic to my ears, but luckily the loud music and voices help to hide that fact. As long as she can see in my face that I’m totally chill, this will work.
“Sit, enjoy the music, I’ll be right back.”
I don’t wait for her to respond before I make my getaway. Thankfully, she’ll have a hard time following me if that’s what she chooses to do, because hundreds of people are already filing in to take their seats. And anyway, she’ll go off to find me in the bathroom, and by the time she realizes I’m not there, I’ll be on my way back. No harm, no foul.
“What’s so funny?” Dax asks as I enter his locker room, stifling a laugh.
“Your bodyguard stationed outside the door is half your size. How is he going to protect you?”
He’s the only one here for now, looking like a tattooed Greek god in his white silk shorts. I go to sit in front of him on the wooden bench he’s straddling, wrapping his hands. Our knees barely touch, but the electricity that sparks feels like a lightning storm in my body. My intention was to come here and ask him about the creep who keeps showing up and Riley, who’s suddenly taken an interest in training. But all of that goes out of my head under his dreamy gaze.
“Don’t let his size fool you,” he says, with a slight smile. “Brian’s not to be messed with.”
“Yeah? Well, I just walked right in.”
“That’s because I told him to let you,” he says, leaning in to close the space between us.
“So, we’re doing this,” I say, my voice soft even though I know no one’s around to hear me.
His eyes grow dark and he licks his lips tantalizingly. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
His breath is hot on my mouth, and I part my lips in sweet anticipation. But instead of kissing me, I feel his strong hands grab hold of me behind my knees. A small squeal of delighted alarm escapes me as he pulls me roughly into him until I’m practically in his lap.
And that’s when he kisses me, one hand in my hair and the other against the small of my back. He holds onto me, keeping me close, like it’ll never be close enough. Oh, God, this man is insatiable. My mouth is on fire as his tongue dances deliciously with mine, the taste of him seeping into me and making me want more. He takes my bottom lip between his teeth and tugs it lightly, drawing a deep moan from the back of my throat and arousal of a whole other kind from my core.
My panties grow damp, and when I grind against him, I can feel the evidence of his desire straining through the light silk fabric of his shorts. The feel of him like that, mixed with the idea of him inside me, sets every one of my nerve endings alight. It’s like I have the best kind of fever and the only antidote is more of Dax.
His hands drop to my hips and act as a purposeful guide to my clumsy rocking. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have much experience in the ways of intimacy, and definitely zero experience when it comes to locker room hook-ups. But he’s a great teacher, and soon there’s a rhythm, and I’m breathless and soaked on top of him. I’m sure his pants are completely ruined by now and try not to think about what his excuse will be if his trainer found us like this. I don’t want to think about anything that’s not Dax kissing me as though his life depended on it. I’ve never been kissed like this before, never been devoured as if I were a starving man’s last meal. The feeling makes me giddy and my head spins every time I open my eyes.
So, I keep them closed, content to watch the little lights popping against my eyelids instead.
“I want you so goddamn much,” he says, his breathless words making my moist lips tingle.
I respond with a moan and press my mouth to his again. “I have to go.”
He answers with a groan of disappointment and breaks his lips from mine to look at me. “You’re kidding, right? The fight isn’t for another half hour.”
I stroke his face gently, hating myself for wanting to be so responsible when it would be easy enough to do the wrong thing. But it would be the wrong thing, and I don’t want it to be that way.
Not with Dax.
“My friend’s waiting for me,” I say, and shift my weight off him.
I try not to glance at the hard-on inside his pants that’s impossible to hide, and stand up, straightening my dress.
“This is worse than losing any fight,” he says, slowly rising from the bench.
I notice for the first time that only one of his hands have been wrapped. Things between us escalated so quickly, I almost forgot he has bigger things to worry about than making out like a teenager.
“I shouldn’t have come here. I shouldn’t be distracting you before you have to go out there.”
Am I sorry I came to find him? Not at all. But I do feel bad, because the timing wasn’t great, and I don’t want him thinking I don’t care about what he does.
“I’ll take you over whatever’s happening out there any day,” he says, and comes over to put his arms around my waist, pulling me close. “I don’t know what this is, or where it came from, but I’m glad it’s happening. Are you?”
My cheeks grow warm, and I’m a little embarrassed that my body chooses now to get all shy and stupid. I nod, giving him a soft smile. He cups my face in both his hands then, and just as he leans down to kiss me, the door to the locker swings open with a loud bang, forcing us apart.
I spin around, trying my best not to look like a child who’s just been caught playing with matches in her mother’s bedroom. I guess I didn’t do such a great job, because Dax’s trainer doesn’t seem too impressed about finding me there. His big round head is practically glowing, it’s so red.
“Miles, hey.” Dax doesn’t sound nervous at all, which is the exact opposite of how I’m feeling.
He bends to pick up the forgotten strand of white tape on the bench and starts wrapping his other hand, as if all he’s been doing is getting ready for the fight. But his trainer—Miles—isn’t buying it at all.
“Can you give us a minute?” he asks, his voice resembling a gruff bark more than anything human.
“Sure. Sorry,” I say, as I make quick work of getting the hell out of there.
I can hear Miles start to lay into Dax before the door fully closes behind me, and I pick up my pace in case the old man decides to come out and let me have it, too.