Page 79 of Pulse
A few fighters who were lingering out back all looked up at the commotion, but all I saw was red.
“Fuckin’ hell, Spitfire.”
“Let me go!”
“So you can go back out there and kick him in the nuts? I thought we were going to do this the right way.”
I felt some of the anger start to dissipate at Ash’s words. He was right. Fuck. He must’ve felt the shift in my body because his grip slackened.
“Let me go,” I said again, pushing the flats of my palms against his hips. “I won’t-”
He set me free and I began pacing back and forth, trying to calm myself down but it only succeeded in keeping my rage at a slow simmer.
“Ren, you need to calm down,” Ash pleaded with me.
“I can’t fucking…I can’t.” I felt tears welling,signalingthe final stage of my Hulk moment.
As the first tears began to fall, he stepped forward and in one fluid motion, circled his arms around me and trapped me against his chest.
“Don’t,” I said, swatting uselessly at him.
“Shh,” he crooned and it was that one small moment of tenderness from the beast that made me break completely.
A sob escaped my throat and he sprang into action, backing me into a shower stall, separating us from the few fighters that were beginning to notice the commotion in the corner.
“Spitfire,” he soothed, holding me close as the door banged closed.
“I didn’t-” I said breathlessly, burying my face against his chest. “I didn’t expect-”
“To react that way?”
“No.”
“You have to be strong Ren.”
“I’m so tired of being strong,” I wailed, knowing I was being totally unreasonable, but not being able to help it. “I was strong when I came to Beat. I was strong when you left. I was strong after-”
Ash leaned down and pulled my chin up in his big hand, pressing his lips to mine and cutting off my tirade. I sank into him, letting him claim me with his tongue. He kissed me soft and slow, each caress deepening until the rage and despair inside me simmered, then cooled, and was replaced with another kind of heat.
I clung to him with shaking hands and curled my fingers into his T-shirt, using him to keep me from slipping away.
When he finally pulled back, his eyes were hooded with lust, his lips slightly swollen.
“Remember when you calmed me down in here?” he asked, his voice husky. “Remember?”
I nodded, my eyes fixing on his. Back then, the room had been cleared and it was just us. I’d brought us closer that night and the same thing was happening right now.
“It’s my turn Spitfire. Let me take you home,” he rasped, voicing my thoughts.
I sighed, letting out the last of the tension from my body. “And what are we going to do there?”
A sly smile tugged at his lips. “My cock. Your pussy. Together at last.”
