“This is about your safety.”
He grunted. “I don’t care if I get hurt.”
“You’re mine and I do fucking care.” I brought his hand up and bit his knuckles, then slid my tongue along a crack in the skin, earning a weak chuckle. He glanced at me and some of the intent gleam that usually lit his gaze was back. He jerked his head to the side and his long hair moved out of his eyes—maybe he didn’t like it when he was pissed off with me, either.
I was still adjusting to how special he’d managed to become to me.
The lights coming from the opposite lane blinded me for a moment, and I blinked fast to get my night vision back. Ari didn’t say anything, but he turned his hand and slipped his fingers between mine as I drove. We were locked together, and maybe it wasn’t rational, but I was beginning to think nothing would be able to break us apart. Every day I woke up happy I had him in my arms, swiftly followed by a wave of dread that he might do something to get caught and taken away from me.
So, as his Master, it was my job to make sure he wasn’t arrested, and now that he was doing this fight thing, his safety was also my problem, no matter what he had to say about it. Fifteen minutes disappeared as I drove along the highway surrounded by trees on either side before we reached the dirt road that was the turn-in for Extreme BJJ. Ari snorted at the small sign with a fist emblazoned in bright orange under the name as we passed it.
“Extreme BJJ? Is that like a blowjob where you fuck someone to death with your dick?” His eyes glowed as he glanced at me, and I was shocked at how relieved I was as he gave my hand a soft squeeze.
“It’s a Brazilian jiujitsu academy. They train officers once or twice a year, and one of the guys who coaches here owes me a favor. His gym was broken into last year, and I made sure to run the assholes down so he was able to get back the stolen equipment.”
“Okay, I know you said you wanted me to get some specialized training, but why are we here? I know how to fight.” His nose wrinkled as he frowned, and I brought his hand up to kiss his battered knuckles. He’d been wrapping his fists in tape and pummeling a wooden practice dummy I’d hauled into our playroom. Ari was able to hit with an amazing amount of strength for a man of his size, but he wasn’t using the dummy quite right because he liked to slam the wood and bruise up his fists. At the end of the day, I didn’t think he was going to get much more out of training that way than what he’d brought to the table to start with.
“Before you go in that ring, you need more skills. You need a teacher.”
He ripped his hand out of mine, and I didn’t have to check on him to know he was glaring. I kept my hands steady on the wheel, even though he was fast and if I managed to insult him in the wrong way, he might turn on me. Half the reason I was beginning to love him as much as I did was the fact that no matter what, he would always be dangerous—but it made negotiating with him stressful.
“You’re beautiful.” I glanced at him—fuck, he was rigid in his seat. “And I love the way you kill because it’s brutal. You need more finesse for a ring. You’ll be against people who train for real, Ari. They’re not going to go down without a fight.”
“That’s the point,” he snapped and slammed his fist against the dash. The crack that formed under his hand was the least of my worries. “I can beat someone down just fine.”
I pulled the truck into a parking spot in front of a small, white-washed stucco building with a red metal roof. The windows glowed cheerfully, and there was a light on a pole next to the front door. Everything here appeared utilitarian, simple, not meant for showing off.
Ari slammed his door the second he was out. I gritted my teeth because I didn’t give too much of a shit about the truck, but he was being rude on purpose now, trying to get a rise out of me. Sweat stuck my T-shirt to my chest. Part of me wanted to have a pointless fight with him, let us both get the bullshit out of our systems, but we weren’t the type of people who would do something like that well. One of us might end up hurt or worse, and for what? No, I didn’t rise to the bait.
He glared as I went to the door and held it open for him, then kept giving me the evil eye as he stomped inside. The space opened up directly into a training area covered in red mats, and there wasn’t even a reception desk. Along the back wall was a door that led to bathrooms and locker rooms, though it wasn’t labeled. I’d forgotten the simple nature of the place, and my blood started pumping as the smell of old sweat met my nose. BJJ fighting tactics were all about using your body to hurt someone, and I enjoyed it more than boxing, which kept your hands wrapped up in gloves and didn’t let you feel your opponent under your fists.
Ari huffed, and I turned toward him. He narrowed his eyes on me but didn’t jerk away when I rested my hands on either side of his neck and gave it a small squeeze.
“You need more skills. If something happens and you go down, you gotta be able to grapple with someone.”
He swallowed hard and glared down at my feet. “Why do you think that might happen? Do you think I’m not good enough? You’ve seen me hurt people.”
Shuffling forward, I leaned down until my forehead bopped against his, and then did it again until he turned his steady gaze to me. “Because if I got inside your fists, I could pin you in ten seconds flat.”
Ari tilted his head up, and I couldn’t resist such a great offer—I planted my mouth over his and sucked on his bottom lip. He tasted like the mint ice cream we’d had for dessert, and it was so good I went back for another kiss. He sighed as we broke apart, then glared out at the mats with his jaw so tense it looked painful. “Of course you could pin me. I don’t want to....”
“You don’t want to what?”
He took a step closer and slid his hands up my chest until he had them anchored behind my neck, and then he went up on tiptoe and plastered his body against mine. “I don’t want to kill you. I wouldn’t be vicious with you, not like in a fight. I want to have sick, painful sex with you, but not end you.” He rolled his eyes, as if he couldn’t believe what he was saying.
“Yeah?”
He huffed but didn’t let go of me, and I wrapped my arms around his slim hips and gave him a tight squeeze.
A big man, who stood taller than me with dark brushed-back hair and a reddish beard, came out of the locker rooms dressed in gray sweats and a black tank top stretched to the limit. His hard muscles bulged, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen anyone quite so pumped. He waved at me and flashed a friendly smile.
“Oh,” Ari said.
“Yeah, they call him Giant.” I brushed my lips to Ari’s cheek, lingering over his soft skin, and made sure to stare directly at Giant while I repeated the gesture with the tip of my nose, so he wouldn’t be confused about who Ari belonged to. The other man’s grin stayed in place.
“Hi! I’m Genie. I coach here at the academy a couple of times a week and own Iron Warriors.” He came over to Ari with his hand out. “I heard you wanted to do some training?”
Ari shook Giant’s hand, but I could tell from the curl of his lips he wasn’t enjoying it, and he didn’t try to hide that fact, unfortunately. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye to see if he could get away with being rude, and I shook my head.
