Page 25 of Beyond the Cage
Cameron climbs out of the ring, rolling his neck while awaiting his instructions. Mannie yells a command and he drops to the floor, doing push-ups. Every time Mannie shouts, Cameron switches styles. One moment, he’s clapping, then the other he’s tapping his chest with both hands. Next, it’s one-handed push-ups. Never in my life would I have thought I would find push-ups sexy, but my pussy is clenching just from watching him. I never thought I’d be into someone so muscular either but here I am, salivating as each one ripples with his movements.
“Dragon!” Mannie yells.
Cameron moves forward on all fours like a Komodo dragon. The next command has him trotting to a corner of the gym. Excitement flutters in my belly as I see where he’s heading. As an avidArrowfan, one of my favorite past-times is watching Oliver on the salmon ladder.Goodbye, Oliver. Hello, Cameron!My eyes are glued to his chest and abs as he moves up the ladder and back down.Good Lawd, this man is fine!Why the hell haven’t I been to one of these sessions before?
“All right, cool down,” Mannie says all too soon.
Cameron jumps down, and another man approaches him with a towel and a bottle. Mannie walks back to where I’m seated, a proud smile on his lips.
“Was that little show for me?” I ask.
“Maybe.” He winks.
“Well, whether it was or wasn’t,thank you.”
He chuckles just as Cameron approaches with that questioning look of his. I lick my lips as I take in the sweat glistening on his perfectly formed body.
“Mannie here was just telling me that you’re a jack of all trades, master of none,” I answer his unasked question. He raises a brow. “Yeah. He says you’re a slacker and you only got this far by sheer luck.”
We both turn to Mannie, who’s regarding us closely, confusion written on his face.
“You two got some kind of telepathic thing going?” he asks.
“Unlike you, he doesn’t talk to me, so I’ve just learned to read his expressions.”
“He doesn’t talk to me, either. I’ve known the kid five years…not a peep.”
What the hell?“So, you don’t talkat all?”
He shakes his head and offers me his hand.
“See you around, Jasmine,” Mannie says as we walk away.
“Bye, Mannie. It was nice meeting you.”
Cameron leads me to the back of the gym, through a door, and up a staircase.Where the hell are we going?
“You know, I’ve learned more about you in the last half hour than I have the entire time I’ve known you. The man makes you sound like a harbinger of death.”
After going through one more door, we walk into an apartment.
“You live here?” How convenient – right above the gym. “This place is an old warehouse, isn’t it?”
He nods.
“I like what you’ve done with it.”
I take a look around the lion’s den. It’s very…him. Minimalist, black and blue décor. It ishuge, though…and this is just the living room. I turn back to him and catch him staring at me.
“What?”
Curling his index finger, he beckons me.
“No. You need a shower. Go.”
He chuckles, nods, and walks away. Waiting, I sit on the couch for a while before I get bored. I guess I’ll have a look around. On the left wall, I spot a picture and move toward it. I know it’s him. He’s in his Marines uniform and is much younger and smaller, but his eyes sparkle back at me.Aww…he looks so handsome. Next to the picture are various certificates, awards, and commendations. Wow. One of them is a Mechanical Engineering degree from Northwestern. There’s so much I don’t know about him, and I need to remedy that.
I walk around the room. Kitchen…I wonder if he cooks. Moving on. By the back wall, there’s a table with different trophies and awards from his fights. On the wall behind it, there’s a giant poster of him, fists raised, eyes furious. I keep moving, only stopping when I encounter a huge, black cabinet on the right wall. There are no handles and my curiosity gets the better of me, so I start looking for a way to open it. I push one of the doors and it springs open. I do the same for the other, looking from side to side in a mix of shock, awe, and horror. There are swords, knives, all kinds of blades of different shapes and sizes. There are weapons I don’t even recognize.Maybe heisa harbinger of death. Shit.Reaching for one of the small knives, I remove it from its slot. I don’t have to test it to see it’s extremely sharp.What the hell is he doing with all this stuff?A hand curves around my shoulder and grabs the knife, scaring the hell out of me.
