Page 57 of Through Any Fire (Any x #1)

“ I didn’t trust that you could fall for me again without some scheme. I should’ve had more faith in you. In us.”

His words hang in the air between us, and I suck in a choppy breath.

He lied to me for months, extorted me into marriage, and kept my brother in his basement.

But in the next breath, my anger fizzles out of me.

Sure, he lied, but it brought us back together.

And our marriage might’ve started as a mutually beneficial arrangement, in the last week, I realized that while it might have been unconventional, in my bones, I know we belong together.

Plus, Mason was never in any real danger. Still, he needs to own it.

“And?” I arch a brow.

Cal smirks, eyes darting between mine. Then he sobers, his throat bobbing as he swallows. “I should’ve never lied. I was a coward.”

“ And? ” I repeat.

He sighs, relief flooding his features as he realizes I’ve already forgiven him.

Somewhere in the discovery that Mason has been safe this whole time, I came to understand that Cal was terrified of losing me.

His every action proved it. Each time he placed a new brick in our relationship, he was proving to me he loved me.

And I think after I recognized his fear, it made me take a long, hard look in the mirror.

How much vitriol had I spewed at him in the beginning, throwing the harshest of accusations and lies back to him?

I was no better. But if we can get through this and come out the other side, then we can get through anything. Together.

Cal’s palm is warm against my cheek, and I lean into his touch. “I’d follow you anywhere, Ren. Anywhere you lead, I’ll be your shadow. Every step I take is toward you. Through any fire, through any agony, I’m yours.”

It’s all I needed to hear. A smile curls my lips, and I press my lips to his. He captures my face between his wide hands, claiming my heart once and for all. I slide my arms around his neck, but my tee rises, and I immediately pull away and tug it down.

Cal’s eyes flash with something fierce, something…predatory.

“Bunny, are you not wearing panties?” His tongue darts out to wet his lower lip.

I shake my head slowly.

“Oh, you naughty little thing.”

“Attention, Strikers.” A voice booms through the speakers, cutting over the music. “Gather ’round; the first fight is about to begin.”

A wicked smirk upturns the corner of Cal’s mouth, the dimple coming out in full force.

Heat gathers in my core as he consumes me with his undivided attention.

As my arousal pools between my legs, I realize what a bad idea it was to turn down panties.

My face floods with heat just as Cal lands another scorching kiss.

Then his hand slips into mine, and he tugs me toward the ring.

As we cross the room, I look around for Rose.

She never texted me back, and I don’t see her anywhere.

I guess we’ll have to talk some other time.

“Wait, I need to get Jenna.” I look over my shoulder, but she’s being escorted by a beefy man who isn’t Jude. I recognize him as another trainer from Strikers.

Cal hides me behind his vast frame as he parts through the crowd, ignoring the grumbling men who dare to complain.

When they see who it is, their faces pale, and they fall over themselves to apologize.

Cal ignores them, continuing to push through until we’re near the front, but there’s still a few rows of people in front of us.

Then he pulls me in front of him, my back to his chest as his hands wrap around my waist.

The crowd roars as the bell dings , the fight ensuing.

It’s bloodier than what you see on television, and where I once might have cringed, I now watch with sick fascination as a tooth goes flying.

I cup my hands around my mouth and scream, lost in the theatrics of it all, when Cal’s hand drifts lower, trailing against my thigh.

The fighters circle each other, hands raised in a ready position as one throws a left hook.

His opponent dodges, tossing back an uppercut that should’ve been the end.

Lost in the thrum of the crowd, I’m zapped back into my body when Cal’s fingers trail along the hem of my tee.

My eyes widen, glancing around, but no one’s paying attention to us. His hand crawls up the back of my thigh, finding the center of my heat. The pumping music and roaring cheers swallow my moans, my head tilting back on Cal’s shoulder as he teases my entrance.

His other hand reaches down, and against the screams of the crowds, he tears apart my fishnets.

I gasp, legs trembling when I feel the tension of the fishnets snap.

The crowd cheers as one fighter knocks the other out, deafening my ears.

Then his fingers are back, unimpeded by the foolish tights.

He swirls them around my entrance and drags his lips over my exposed neck.

“Fuck, Bunny. Have you always been an exhibitionist, or is that just for me?”

His fingers curl inside me, and stars explode. The heat of the hundred bodies around us cheering and screaming only spurs me further as Cal works me over.

Right as I’m about to fall over that cliff, he pulls back, circling my clit with drenched fingers.

The angle is different since I’m in front of him, but the knowledge that he’s touching me, getting me off in front of all these people, is a heady explosive.

Fuck, if he just whispered in my ear and told me to come, I would.

“Ladies and gentlemen, who’s ready for the next fight?” The announcer throws his arms out and circles the ring.

Somehow, the crowd gets even louder, and a smile splits my face in two. I join in, screaming until my throat burns.

“Let’s hear it for The Surge and Snake Eyes!”

Two fighters touch knuckles, and the fight begins anew.

My heart is pounding, excitement swelling until my eyes practically cross.

Cal’s fingers resume their teasing, dipping in and out of my entrance as he swirls my arousal around.

It drips down my leg, and the naughty picture we make almost makes me explode.

My eyes dart around, the bodies pressing around us doing nothing but heightening my pleasure.

“Is my pretty wife ready to come? ”

I groan, turning my face into his shoulder and biting his black shirt. Cal’s fingers twist inside of me, hitting my spot with every stroke. My core pulses, and I whimper.

“Be a good little wife and come on your husband’s hand.”

I detonate, falling apart with a cry that’s swallowed by Cal’s shoulder. His rhythm doesn’t change, just continues twisting inside of me as I tremble and shake. My legs give out, but his other arm wraps around my waist, holding me up.

Finally, after several moments, he slows, thrusting gently inside of me.

Cal presses a gentle kiss to my crown, and I melt, spinning in his hold and wrapping my arms around his neck, no longer caring.

No one’s paying attention to us. Cal’s soft lips yield to mine.

Our tongues tangle, and I slide my fingers in his hair, holding the strands tightly as I kiss him.

Cal pulls away with one last kiss and beams. Before I can say anything, a bell dings, and Cal’s eyes flick behind me to the ring.

He beams, a twinkle of something I can’t decipher behind his hooded brown eyes.

“That’s my cue.”

What?

“It’s time you see every part of me.” With that, he slips from my hold and pushes through the crowd of people.

They part for him instinctively, and I marvel at the sheer power he exudes.

The crowd swallows me, bodies pressing in on every side as Cal approaches the ring.

His smirk never drops, and my tongue practically wags at the bulging muscles when he pulls himself into the ring.

In a move that shouldn’t have surprised me, he bends one arm backward to drag his shirt off by the back of his neck, his toned body on display for the crowd.

Women scream, but his gaze never leaves mine.

It’s like we’re in our own bubble, no one else existing but us as he flicks the first button of his pants open.

When he languidly drags the zipper down, it’s like he’s giving me my own private strip tease, and I fight the urge to touch myself.

I just came, but goddamn, the need is curling inside me again.

Cal pushes his pants down, toeing out of his shoes and socks and leaving his clothes in a pile.

The referee collects his clothes without a word and tosses them off to the side.

When Cal finally drags his gaze from mine to his opponent’s, I admire his body.

Years of fighting and working in the family business has toned him into a muscular god.

My core throbs, but it’s not until I see the reddened skin around a fresh tattoo over his chest that my mouth parts.

Even from here, I can see the swirling font that spells Ren over his heart, sitting untouched in the center of vicious flames that lick up to his collarbone.

Cal’s eyes gleam with something nefarious, and before he taps knuckles with his opponent, he shoves his index and middle fingers into his mouth.

He never breaks his eye contact with me as he sucks my cum and arousal off his digits.

It’s intoxicating the way he pulls my strings taut without even touching me.

I don’t even notice the bell rang until his opponent swings straight for his face.

I gasp, hands flying to my mouth in shock.

There’s no way Cal sees it coming, but he dodges at the last second, a smirk playing on his face as he turns from me to face his opponent.

This fight is different, a tension I hadn’t known before flooding my bones.

I know Cal is a beast of a fighter, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen it for myself.

The opponent, Red Mist, throws combo after combo, trying to land any blow he can on Cal, and I’m practically gnawing on my fingers as Cal evades.

After a minute of no contact, Cal bounces on the balls of his feet and laughs.

Then he drills into Red, fist over fist raining down on him.

It’s brutal, but I can’t look away. Cal has a manic gleam to his eyes as he pummels Red into the floor of the ring.

It’s a massacre, obvious that Cal was just toying with him at the beginning.

The tight coil in my chest loosens. Then something blunt stabs into my side.

“If you want your brother to live, I’d suggest you come with me.”

I stiffen, the threat whispered into my ear, freezing me in my place. But while the threat itself is sickening, it’s the voice that turns my stomach. The gun in my side presses against me harder, and I have no choice but to comply.