“Fuck!” Sierra gasped as she flopped into the big leather couch in the common area. “Bobbi is kicking my ass!” She was dressed in her usual sparring gear of a sports bra with the words no days off written around the base and a zipper on the front, and a pair of athletic shorts. Dripping with sweat, her arms and legs felt like overcooked noodles. “No wonder everyone is afraid of her. She’s a fucking machine.”
Colt chuckled as he approached with a towel and a large glass of water. “Yeah, I know. I’ve sparred with her before. She can wear my ass out, too. She’s like trying to hit a ghost. Or a ninja. Or a ghost ninja.”
She laughed. “Thanks,” she said as she accepted the glass and towel. She downed half the glass, bearing her teeth as the cold liquid hurt so good, then wiped her face and chest with the towel.
It had been two weeks since it Colt and Dominic had agreed to settle the issue of the club between them. She’d been working out two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon with Bobbi in a makeshift ring made from the pads the club had used to settle challenges. She was making progress, but she was mostly learning how to take a fall, punch or kick, and how much she still had to learn.
Just when she thought she was learning something and had Bobbi pinned or back on her heels, Bobbi quickly showed her she really didn’t know anything. Without apparent effort, Bobbi would turn her, near pin around, and pin her in a moment or pop her in the face with a gloved hand. Bobbi hadn’t hurt her, much, but it was clear that her fighting skills were in a different league. After yet another escape by Bobbi, she’d become very frustrated with her progress, but Bobbi assured her she was making good progress and she shouldn’t expect to be able to learn everything she need to know in only two weeks when it had taken her years of training to be as good as she was.
No matter how many times Bobbi knocked her down, and she knocked Sierra down a lot, she always got back up. After the first couple of day a few people were showing up each time they sparred to watch the two women grapple. They often cheered Sierra on, not because they didn’t like Bobbi, but because everyone loved rooting for the underdog.
At the end of most days, Sierra was bruised, sore and exhausted, but she’d never felt better in her life. She could tell she was getting stronger, more toned, and in shape, and she had a new confidence in herself. Bobbi might be kicking her ass on a regular basis, but she was confident she could take care of herself in most situations. Let those Coyote bastards come around again and threaten her. Another few months working with Bobbi and she would kick their ass and feed them their own cock.
“I thought you had her that time,” Perri said sitting down beside her.
Sierra smiled as she took another long pull from the glass then wiped her face. She liked that the club, at least those friendly to Colt, were cheering for her, encouraging her each time she ended up tapping out. She’d never felt closer to a group of people in her life, and she would be damned before she was the reason they lost the club.
“Only because you aren’t in the ring with her. I still have a lot to learn.”
“Maybe, but you still are noticeably better than when you started.”
“Better at taking a punch, at least,” Sierra said with a grin.
Perri laughed. “That, too. But seriously, I can tell Bobbi can’t just hit you anytime she wants any more. You’re making her work for it more now.”
“You are,” Bobbi said, joining them with a water bottle in her hand and a towel around her neck. “You’re making me sweat now and you can hit a lot harder than before.”
“Yeah, right.”
“No, really!” Bobbi corrected. “When you get a clean hit now, it hurts! You’re doing great. You may have a future in the MMA.”
“Then why are you still kicking my ass?”
“Because I have fifteen more years’ experience and practice than you do, that’s why. If you keep working this hard, and improving like this, when you get to be my age, I wouldn’t want to fuck with you.”
“I wouldn’t want to fuck with you now,” Perri added with a grin at Sierra. “Monica isn’t going to know what hit her. Or maybe she will, but only for a fraction of second before she blacks out.”
Colt watched as Bobbi nodded in agreement. While he’d been working on strengthening his ties with his supporters, Sierra had been working her ass off with Bobbi. He’d watched them a few times, but had to stop, wincing every time Sierra was slammed to the pads. He had to admire her determination. Sometimes she was slower to get up than other times, but she always got up ready for more.
While he didn’t like watching her being hit, kicked, or knocked on her ass, he did like the way she’d begun to carry herself. She’d been steadily growing in confidence since she’d decided to join the club, but in the last two weeks, she’d really bloomed. The meekness she displayed when she first set foot in the clubhouse was gone, replaced by the confident woman who took no shit from anyone, while still maintaining the easy-going and helpful attitude that everyone liked so well.
In addition to her newfound confidence, she’d firmed up in a way that made him firm every time he looked at her. She’d always been drop-dead gorgeous, but now she was tauter, leaner, all without losing any of her curves.
Sierra noticed Colt out of the corner of her eye as he watched her. She liked the way he looked at her, the hunger for her making her feel like the sexist woman on earth. They had always been good together, but last night their lovemaking had been so explosive she wondered if anyone heard their cries of completion…both times.
She turned and offered Colt her best smile, feeling warm and squishy inside. She was falling for him, that much was certain. Without the debauchery of the club, she was seeing the type of man Colt really was. He was guiding the club to its future, a future far better than its past, and the brothers and sisters were responding. He was caring, hardworking and dedicated to making the DVMC great, and three more women and a man had joined them from Dom’s ranks.
“Let’s walk,” Sierra said, standing and holding out her hand for Colt. “I need to keep moving before I stiffen up.”
“I know the feeling,” Colt muttered as he rose, took her hand, and lead her out of the clubhouse.
“This is going to work,” she said as they stepped through the scrub. The sun was setting behind the mountains, painting the sky with brilliant reds and golds, the oppressive heat of the day finally breaking.
“I think so, too, but don’t get too cocky. You could still get hurt.”
“I know, but Bobbi has taught me a lot in the last two weeks, and I still have two weeks to go.”
“Right, but don’t forget, you aren’t going to be able to stand off and punch, and pins count for shit. You’ve got to take her out of the fight up close and personal.”
“So you keep telling me.”
He pulled her to a stop. “And I’m going to keep telling you until I think you’re listening.”
She stepped in close. “I’m listening.”
“Maybe, but I’m not sure you are taking me seriously.”
“I know, but I am. You think I enjoy having my ass kicked twice a day?”
Colt snickered as they started walking again. “No.”
“Good. I want to end this thing as quick as I can.”
“You shouldn’t be involved in it at all.”
“Well, I am, and there is nothing I can do about it now, so I guess I will just have to kick her ass again,” she sighed.
They had been going ‘round and ‘round over this for two weeks. It was sweet Colt worried about her, but they both knew she was going through with it, and why. She was part of the DVMC now and she wouldn’t let the club down just because she was afraid she might get hurt. They had accepted her, made her part of their family, and she wouldn’t violate that trust. She and Colt might lose, but she would go down fighting.
Colt smiled to himself. Sierra always had spirit and refused to back down from any challenge. He was like that. Once he committed to a plan, he would adapt and change, but he never gave up, refusing to admit defeat. “Okay. You just need to be careful,” he said softly.
This time she pulled him to a stop. “I will, but you’ve got to stop worrying about me. If you try to help me, if you forget what we’re doing, and why, we could lose it all. You don’t want that and I don’t want that. This is my family now, and I’m willing to fight for it, just as you are.”
Colt nodded. She was right, but it was hard. He hadn’t said anything to her, but he was beginning to have feelings for her. She was so much more than a quick fuck and it was tearing him up inside that she might get hurt helping him hold onto the club. This was his fight, a fight that had been a long time coming, not hers.
“I know, babe. Once we get through this we’ll never have to do it again, I promise.”
“I know,” she murmured before she turned and started walking again. “The club is changing, even I can see that. Dom’s group is being totally shunned and nobody wants to hang around them. You’ve see him trying to pick off people, to win them over to his side, but nobody will give him the time of day. You’ve already won, he just hasn’t accepted it yet.”
“That’s part of what worries me. Even if we win, it may not be over, over. I can’t see them going quietly into the night…Monica will never let it drop.”
“Then we’ll do what we have to.”
“Even kill them? You up for that?”
Sierra walked in silence for a dozen steps. “I don’t know. I think so. We’re giving them a fair chance. If they can’t live up to their agreement, then…I don’t like the idea, but I think I can live with it if that’s our only option. What’ve they got left, eighteen people? How could we do that and not get caught?”
Colt smiled sadly. “Nobody would even know. Who would report them missing?”
“But the bodies!”
“It’s a big desert.”
Sierra nodded. “You’ve been thinking about this.”
“Yeah. All the time. No matter how you slice this, there are a lot more ways it can go wrong than right. I’m trying to figure out how to”
Sierra stopped and spun to face him. “Colt, did it ever occur to you that you can’t plan for everything? Sometimes you just have to play the hand that’s dealt you.”
“Is that what you do?” he asked, staring down into her face with a grin.
“All the time.”
“And how’s that working out for you?”
She returned his playful grin with one of her own. “Pretty good so far. I found you, friends, and a place to call home. You think I planned to be kidnapped by some badass biker, robbing a store, getting fucked until I couldn’t walk, not to mention being carried out into the desert to be shot and left for dead?”
“Wait!” he cried in mock surprise. “You mean to tell me that wasn’t planned?”
“Well, maybe the getting fucked until I couldn’t walk part.”
Colt barked out a short laugh. “If it makes you feel any better, most of that shit wasn’t planned by me, either. Except fucking you until you couldn’t walk. That I planned.”
She rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him quickly. “I liked that plan.”
“Me, too. We need to get back. It’s getting dark and I don’t want to be out here in the scrub with the rattlers after dark,” he said glancing at the darkening sky.
“Me neither,” she said looking around her as they turned and started walking back to the clubhouse. “Did you hear that Blu and Mayla got into a shoving match yesterday?”
“Yeah, I heard. Gunner pulled them apart before it got out of control. The club is a powder keg waiting to explode. The sooner we get this over with, the better.”
“Yeah. The problem is Dom’s group keeps stirring up trouble. If they would just keep to themselves…hell, we’re feeding them but they don’t help with kitchen duty and they just leave their plates on the table. It’s not like they have anything to bitch about.”
“I appreciate you helping maintain the peace.”
Sierra smiled. “I have to keep reminding the sisters that if we jump into their shit, we are giving them just what they want. I think everyone knows that, but it still pisses everyone off.”
“What about you? Does it piss you off?”
“A little. But as I keep reminding myself, along with everyone else, it’s only for a couple more weeks. After that, we won’t have to deal with them anymore.”
Colt pulled her to a stop, tipped her head up, and kissed her softly. “Thank you,” he murmured as he pulled back.
“For what?”
“For understanding what I’m trying to do. The club has settled things with fists for so long that people have forgotten that sometimes there is another way. You remind them. You show them we are better than Dom’s group.” He paused a moment longer than turned and started walking again. “Things are coming together. Brothers and sisters are seeing what we can be, how the DVMC can grow and prosper. They are starting to contribute. Vicki is designing the patches for the new clubs. She showed me some sketches and they look great. I didn’t know she could draw.”
“Can I see them?”
“She asked me not to show them to anyone until she’s done. I think she’s embarrassed by them, but they really do look great.”
Sierra smiled. “Chains has started helping in the kitchen while he heals up because he’s bored. We put him to work chopping vegetables. He’s pretty handy with a knife.”
“You should see him throw one. The guy that said don’t being a knife to a gunfight never met Chains.”
“Poo,” Sierra grinned. “He’s a big ol’ teddy bear.”
“Uh huh. But that’s my point. Everyone is pitching in to make the club better. It wasn’t like that before, and I think that’s, at least partially, because of you. From the very beginning you have been helping other, thinking of someone other than yourself.”
She pulled him to a stop and looked into his eyes. “I’m thinking of someone right now,” she purred.
Sex was pouring off Sierra in waves and Colt could feel himself stiffening at the thought of what was going to happen after they got back to his trailer. She affected him as no one else ever had, and he smiled at her. “I’m thinking of someone, too.”
She smiled as they turned back toward the compound, their fingers intertwining again as they subtly changed direction and headed for Colt’s trailer.