Takedown (18 page)

Luke went fast, deep, and hard. Every ounce of adrenaline rushing through his body was channeled into fucking Mitchell exactly how he wanted it. Hearing his name spilling from Mitchell’s lips every other thrust sent his ego spinning ever-higher.

“L-Luke, I’m gonna—I can’t, it’s been too—Luke! Oh,
fuck
!” Mitchell moaned, his back snapping forward as his hips thrust in wild, desperate thrusts. Every clench of Mitchell’s tight hole around Luke only made his head spin more. Luke couldn’t bring himself to think of anything else to try to last longer. He only wanted to watch Mitchell’s
gorgeous
orgasm as he felt the wetness splatter between them.

Mitchell’s face was tense and screwed-up in ecstasy, his hips grinding up so his hard, now wet cock could slide back and forth across Luke’s abs with each of his last few shudders and thrusts.

Luke pushed inside a few more times. All he needed to concentrate on his orgasm was the beautiful, gradually-relaxing ecstatic expression of the man underneath him. And that tight ass around him didn’t hurt, either.

He came hard, his hips thrusting deep inside Mitchell as he did. “Yes…! M-Mitch, fuck, yes…” Mitchell’s hands were carding through his hair now, pressing against the back of his neck to keep him close and kiss him.

Luke gasped Mitchell’s name into his beautiful, wet, warm mouth as he came, his whole world closing in to the single reference point of
Mitch
.

When he finally relaxed, his cock starting to soften, Luke gasped for breath as he pulled slowly out of him. “Oh, Jesus.”

“Jesus’s right,” Mitchell murmured, pulling Luke down on his side gently. “This okay?”

That was his good side, so Luke nodded as Mitchell rolled over to face him and tangle their thighs together.

Mitchell’s hand was gently running up his stomach and chest to cup his cheek. “I’m so fuckin’ glad you made it. I was…” he trailed off.

He didn’t need to say it:
scared shitless
. Even Luke had had his moments in the ring.

Luke leaned in, solemnly pressing a kiss to his lips. “But you can handle it?”

“If… If you fuck me this good afterward,” Mitchell weakly laughed.

Luke joined in the laugh a moment later. He pressed a few affectionate kisses against Mitchell’s lips. “Deal.” His chest tightened again as he gazed at Mitchell, then raised his hand to cup his own cheek and brush his hair away from his forehead. “God, after last night…”

Mitchell shivered. “I know. I was just… scared then, too.”

“Yeah.” Luke could see his point. “I went too far. I know that now. I’ll work on that.”

Mitchell leaned in to brush their lips together, scooting closer as their bodies cooled down. “Okay. I should… probably tell you now, too…”

Luke raised his eyebrows. He shifted to get more comfortable, sliding one arm under Mitchell’s neck and side. His other arm wrapped around his back to hug him close. “Hm?”

Mitchell’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “My parents are… out of my life, I think.”

That was like a punch to the gut. Luke pulled back to see Mitchell’s expression, his eyes widening. “Shit. Oh, shit, Mitch. I’m… I’m sorry.”

He had no idea what to say to that. His own parents were a little distant, sure. But that was more a product of Luke’s twenty-four seven gym lifestyle and some nastiness from mild ignorance than what Mitchell’s parents were afflicted with: the mean kind of nasty.

Mitchell scooted forward again to bury his face in Luke’s shoulder. “They said a lot of shit. And for a moment last night, I was scared it was true. But today, I… I changed my mind and thought about it more. I’d rather have you than them.”

Luke paused for a long moment, stroking Mitchell’s hair and letting him pull back at his own pace. Then, he pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. “Does that mean I can ask you out?”

“Not if I beat you to it,” Mitchell grinned, and Luke’s answering grin was so wide it almost hurt his face. “Bro… you wanna be my boyfriend for real, bro?”

Luke laughed so hard it hurt, crushing Mitchell against his chest. “I
fucking
do.”

Then he pulled back and kissed Mitchell until they both shifted restlessly, in need of air.

Mitchell just had one email he said he needed to send, and he did it from his phone. He smiled mysteriously about it and wouldn’t explain, but he said Luke would find out tomorrow.

It didn’t take much longer for them to get to sleep, tucked up against each other’s bodies. They were black and blue, emotionally in Mitchell’s case and physically in Luke’s, exhaustion sapping the last wakefulness from them as they drifted off.

G
od
, it was nice not to have that phone ringing anymore. It had already been a month, but Mitchell still expected his cellphone to go off with people asking stupid questions about open houses.

The only ringing that happened now was the gym’s office phone. Everyone who suddenly wanted to sign up and train here. That, and people wanting interviews, and community members with opinions…

With Hugh and Luke both working full-time to train new members—Luke still in training himself—they could handle the increased business.

Luke’s next promotion had been signed within a week of the New Jersey fight, after the viral video.

When Mitchell wanted to get on Luke’s nerves, he’d quote the headlines until Luke shut him up with a kiss.

Speak of the devil, there was a knock on the door. Luke was carrying a newspaper, and he threw it down on the desk.

“What? What happened?”

“There’s an interview with the Millers.”

Mitchell tilted his head back and laughed as he grabbed the paper. “I fuckin’ knew it.” That kid reporter had loved doing the story on Luke, but he’d had a certain look in his eye. At least they’d gotten a buttload of new signups from the story.

The brothers, without their cop daddy’s support, were appealing to community members for financial support. They wanted a stay so they didn’t have to go to their couple weeks’ jail time before community service.

“They want a retrial?”

“Yeah,” Luke snorted. “Fancy that.”

The justice system
could
move fast when it wanted to. The hate crime case had turned out beyond Mitchell’s low, low expectations. With national pressure and gay news outlets scrutinizing the court, they’d found all three brothers guilty.

Best of all, they’d lost their gun licenses.

That was what kept Luke sleeping well at night. That and the knowledge that Mitchell could bench one-twenty now.

“Best of all, Derek talked to their dad, and he said he wants to see a mandatory anger management course for all hate crime guilty verdicts.”

Mitchell burst out laughing. “No shit.” He scanned the paper for confirmation, and… yeah, it was true.

“So I called him about it,” Luke continued, grinning. “He said it’s all true. He wouldn’t apologize for what his sons did and he still wouldn’t actually say the word
gay
, but we came up with an idea to run by you.”

“Fire.”

Luke sank into the chair opposite his own. “Let’s run classes for the community, in more than just MMA. Self-defense, to start with. He said because of
reasons
, women would be more comfortable coming to us than
other
men.”

Mitchell let out a snort, then nodded. “I like that idea,” he told him. “We’ll work on it next.”

There was a gentle knock on the door as Evan stuck his head in. “The gym closed for the day?”

“Yep, that’s it.” Mitchell rose to his feet and shut down the computer, then put his arm around Luke to steer him out of the office.

“I’m out,” Hugh told them both with a grin. “Evan, you got this?”

“I’ve got this,” Evan promised. He was still bright-eyed and eager to please. He nodded to them all, then went to shut off lights and clean the last few bits of equipment.

Mitchell still had his arm around Luke’s waist as he looked back at Hugh.

“See you tomorrow,” Hugh told them, then gave them a one-two punch in both of their stomachs.

Shit.
Mitchell never remembered to tense up his stomach in time. Despite his best effort to be stoic, he bent slightly at the waist as the wind was knocked out of him in a quick whoosh.

“You’ll learn sooner or later,” Hugh grinned at him and strode off down the hall.

Luke laughed at him, pulling him into his side. “Come on, you. Let’s go home. There’s a fight I wanna watch.”

“Of course there is. It’s not a romantic evening in,” Mitchell dramatically sighed. After the steel door clanged shut behind them, they ducked into Mitchell’s car for the short drive home.

Mitchell paused to admire the front garden when they pulled up in the driveway of the little two-bedroom house. He really needed to take a weekend off and clean up the yard, but he hadn’t had a chance since moving in last month.

“Last one in cleans up the cage tomorrow,” Luke announced. He slammed the car door shut and bolted for the front door.

Mitchell laughed as he scrambled after Luke to their front door. “That’s why I hired a guy!”

“Fine. Last one in cooks dinner.”

“Okay.” Mitchell watched Luke disappear inside, a broad smile on his face.

With better gym business, a good, cheap mortgage, and even a couple friends, this town wasn’t so bad. The support of a few people, even if they weren’t the people he’d have expected, made a world of difference.

They were gonna make it: the spoiled city boy gym owner, and the hotheaded country-roughened fighter. For the first time, Mitchell could see the path ahead as well as behind, and it was just like the concrete tunnel from the locker rooms out to an arena.

It was bright as hell, and he was so fucking happy.

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