“Pretty brief interview you gave at the conference, Macio. Care to elaborate on your amazing victory?” he asked.
I ignored him as I tossed my duffle bag over my back and climbed onto my hog, starting the engine. “Go fuck yourself,” I snapped, then took off. It was assholes like him that made me want to keep what little privacy I had. Last thing I needed was some paparazzi bitch snapping pics of me kissing a dude. That kind of shit didn’t go over too well in the testosterone-laden world of professional MMA fighting. It was one of the reasons I steered clear of relationships. I couldn’t afford to be in one, especially not when I was on top of my game like I was now.
I made it to the gym where I’d been training for my fight for the past week and parked my hog. As soon as I entered the damn gym, Barry was on me, telling me to drop and give him twenty.
“Damn, Barry. Don’t I get a warm up?” I asked, setting down my duffle bag.
“This is your warm up. Get those muscles pumping, then we’ll do some stretches. Go on, knock ‘em out,” Barry commanded like a good drill sergeant.
I didn’t bother to argue any longer and just dropped to the floor, knocking out the twenty push-ups. Yeah, this was about to be a very long day.
I was sweating like a pig on a spit by the time Rupert came in to give me some pointers on my upcoming interview with What’s-His-Face. Barry told me to take a break, so I guzzled down what seemed like a gallon of Gatorade.
“You’re late,” I said to Rupert when he took a seat next to mine.
“Yeah, I know… traffic was a bitch. He’ll be here in less than ten minutes, remember to keep your cool.”
“I hope he doesn’t ask me any stupid fucking questions,” I said, taking another sip of my drink.
“Be smart about this, Macio. If you want to become one of the highest paid fighters in not only ETC history, but in MMA history, you’ll need to market yourself. Appeal to the crowds, make yourself a commodity the company will back. The more popular you are, the more money you’ll make and the bigger an asset you’ll become. You’re young, buddy, but you have to start learning how to play your cards right. This is Vegas, baby, and big game players run this shit,” Rupert explained.
As much as I didn’t want my privacy violated, I knew I couldn’t be squared away for life and be a hermit at the same time. He was right. “Yeah, I got you. I’ll play nice.”
He nodded and released a sigh of what I thought was relief. “Good, because that’s him right behind you.”
I turned to see some preppy looking guy in a light blue, button down shirt and tan khakis with brown loafers. He was approaching me with a walk that was full of confidence. I guess if you could wear those shoes, you had to have some balls on you. Still, as far as reporters went, he wasn’t what I was expecting. As a matter of fact, he was kind of hot. He was shorter than I was and had a nice swimmer’s build from what I could tell under his dork clothes. Brown hair, blue eyes that held me in their gaze as he drew closer, and his lips… yeah… I loved his lips. They had a place in this world and would be better suited around my cock. As much as I dreaded interviews, I was starting to look forward to this one.
It was the biggest interview of my career and I was a hot fucking mess. I might’ve looked calm, cool, and collected on the outside, but on the inside, I shook like a Chihuahua. Animacio De Niro was known for hating the media and gave one-on-one interviews to no one; in fact, I believed I was his first. My heartrate accelerated to a ridiculous level at the thought of being his firstanything.
The man was sheer perfection in my mind with his tall, muscular body, black-as-night hair, and dark brown eyes. The intimidating scowl that was practically a permanent fixture on his face didn’t take away from his looks; it enhanced them. He reminded me of a gladiator when he took to the ring – ruthless, bloodthirsty, and sexy as fuck. Watching him move around the ring with sweat and blood glistening on his skin was much better than watching gay porn. And that growl… I didn’t know how many times I had heard that growl in my mind while jerking off.
Crushing on straight men wasn’t my thing and I usually made it a rule to not file them away in my spank bank memory because it was pointless. It took me many years to get to the point where I walked tall and proud as a gay man, instead of hiding who I was. I refused to waste time on guys who would never return my feelings. Macio was the one exception to my rule.
The smell of sweat and hot male bodies hit me hard the minute I stepped into the gym.Nirvana.I refused to close my eyes and breathe it in because I wanted to be taken seriously. After my “coming out” article went live the prior month, I anticipated being excluded from a lot of interviews, especially in the testosterone-laden world of MMA fighting. Sure, I had received some rejections to my interview requests, but not as many as I had expected. I almost didn’t send the email to Animacio’s publicist, but I decided no risk meant no reward.
I knew I had been well and truly rewarded when Macio’s dark eyes locked on mine and I realized I would get to spend thirty minutes with his attention focused solely on me. Fuck, he was the sexiest man alive. He was the kind of guy who, with one look, made you want to drop down to your knees and worship his cock. Yeah, I decided not to try that with him unless I wanted to lose all my teeth. I saved that fantasy for later when I was alone.Don’t pop wood in the gym. Don’t pop wood in the gym.They were sage words to live by.
“Ah, Mr. James,” the publicist, Rupert, said. “It’s nice to meet you in person.” The man extended his hand to me and offered a warm smile that didn’t quite mask his nervousness. Why was he nervous? Did he think I’d say or do something to offend Macio or was he concerned that Macio would grunt out his typical one or two word replies? I had plenty of experience working with athletes that I had dubbed the Three R’s – reticent, reluctant, and resentful. I was confident I could get Macio to open up to me.
“It’s good to meet you too, Rupert.” I turned and looked into the darkest brown eyes I’d ever seen. I thought they were beautiful in pictures and on television, but I hadn’t been prepared for their intensity in person. “Thank you for honoring me with this interview, Mr. De Niro.” His response was a slight nod and a grunt.
“We’ll be using Barry’s office for the interview,” Rupert told Macio. The stern look Rupert gave Macio almost made me laugh. It couldn’t be more obvious that Macio was being forced to do the interview, which didn’t bode well for me.
I followed behind the two men, telling myself not to stare at Macio’s tight ass or imagine the way his muscular thighs would feel between mine. I reminded myself I was there to interview the king of the Three R’s.Focus, dumbass, and not on his physical attributes.
“Here we are,” Rupert said. “It’s a little messy, but it will afford us the privacy we need.”A little messy?It looked like a bomb had gone off inside the ten by fifteen room.
“Uh, yeah, this is great.” Beggars couldn’t be choosers and I took what I could get.
Macio took a seat in one of the chairs facing the desk while Rupert stood in the corner. My options were the chair next to Macio or Barry’s chair behind the desk. I chose Barry’s chair out of self-preservation.
I began unpacking my messenger bag and set the contents on top of Barry’s disaster for a desk. It was a good damn thing I wasn’t a germophobe or the interview would’ve been over before it started.
“What’s that?” Macio asked. The deep, gravelly timbre of his voice sent my pulse racing and my dirty mind spinning.Damn, what must his voice sound like when he was aroused?Macio picked up my small recorder from the desk and held it up in his hand. “What are you planning to do with this?”
I didn’t appreciate his confrontational tone of voice or the way he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “I record my interviews and play them back when I write my articles. I assure you that it’s a normal practice, Macio.”
“Mr. De Niro,” he corrected. “You haven’t earned the right or respect to use my first name, let alone my nickname.” I saw Rupert rub a hand over his face as he released a frustrated sigh.
