Taming the Tease Read online

  Time to get his ass to the dojo where his friends could give him all the smacks he needed to get his head back on straight.

  Chapter 4

  As Rick had predicted, Liam was merciless when he showed up late. He gave Rick enough time to stretch and then threw him immediately into the forms with the others, being twice as picky about Rick's movement and placement as anyone else's. Rick didn't mind; it meant he had to concentrate, to fight any distractions in his thoughts.

  Like a certain curvy brunette with soft skin and invitation in her eyes.

  "Focus," Liam snapped out, right next to his ear, and Rick jerked his attention back to the matter at hand.

  Caught.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chris smirking at him, obviously amused both at his distraction and that he'd been called out on it. Normally that was Chris' position. He usually got bored during the non-weapons forms after a while. Gritting his teeth, Rick bent his knees slightly and slid into the next form, concentrating on his balance and trying to ignore Chris’ superior looks.

  There was a larger group of them than normal at the dojo - even Jared had managed to make it in for the evening. The only person they were missing was Andrew (and, of course, Olivia, who rarely came since she preferred Krav Maga and kickboxing). Having a larger group was nice because once the class portion was over, Rick had a large choice of sparring partners.

  "Jared?"

  More than one person turned to stare at his choice. Normally Jared only sparred with Patrick or Liam; he was big and he had a tendency to hit hard when he was sparring. On top of that, he was devilishly quick for a man his size; often, bigger meant slower, but that wasn’t the case with Jared.

  "Looking to get your ass kicked?" Jared asked, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

  "Maybe a little bit," Rick admitted. "But I think I'll still give you a run for your money." His form wasn't always perfect, because he didn't come in often enough, but he was fast. Fast enough to dodge a lot of what Jared would throw at him, but he almost thought he'd welcome the pain when Jared did connect.

  Someone needed to smack his head on straight after his performance this morning with Maria, that was for sure.

  "Your funeral," the big man said cheerfully. Quickly tilting his neck so that his ear was almost touching his shoulder and then snapping it back, the loud crack as Jared stretched out his muscles was ominous. Strangely, it just made Rick feel even calmer. Maybe he really did want to get his ass kicked; a kind of atonement for even thinking about trying to start something with his neighbor.

  "I'll referee," said Liam. He glanced over at the other four. "Who's refereeing and who's sparring?"

  "I'm gonna ref," said Patrick. "Justin and Adam are going first."

  "I'll spar loser," said Chris with a grin. He pushed his sweat-matted dark hair out of his eyes.

  "You can spar me next," Liam said, amusement showing in his hazel eyes as chuckles went around the room at Chris' muttered curse. Theirs would be a particularly uneven match; even more so than Rick and Jared, and no one thought that Liam would go easy just because Chris was probably the worst about coming to the dojo on a regular basis.

  Facing off against Jared, Rick had just a split second to wonder if he'd made a mistake. There was a lot of tension in Jared's big frame, and they all knew that he'd been having issues with Marissa again. Maybe he should have let Patrick take on Jared and let someone else less wound up have a go at him.

  Then again, maybe it was better that they'd be taking out their aggression on each other.

  Jared moved silently, without the shouts that usually accompanied a move, and Rick quickly dodged out of the way. He sent his own leg kicking out behind him, hoping for a lucky strike, but Jared was too canny for that. Instead, Rick found his foot caught and he was flipped straight onto his back, nearly knocking the breath out of him. His lungs burned a bit as a muscle in his back twinged; he’d be sore there tomorrow.

  "Point. Get it together Winter," Liam said, sounding amused. "Whatever bug you've got up your ass, you'd better let it go and get your nose to the ground."

  "Or what, you'll smother me in your girlfriend's weird old sayings?" Rick asked as he pushed himself back up. Jared and Chris, who was obviously more interested in watching him and Jared than Adam and Justin, both laughed. Hilary was known for constantly using out of date phrases, thanks to her dad who was a university professor and had a bit of an obsession with the English language. The habit had started to rub off on Liam, something that they all enjoyed giving him a hard time over.

  "Or tell Hilary that you called her weird."

  "Hiding behind your girlfriend is cheating, but Hilary can check out the bug in my ass anytime,” Rick taunted, laughing as Liam growled a mock threat, gesturing for Rick and Jared to get on with their match again.

  He and Jared bowed to each other again and then began circling, more cautiously this time. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the other sparring match, but he forced himself to focus. That was the whole point of this exercise, wasn't it? Trying to make himself concentrate.

  It got a bit easier after Jared accidentally knocked him on the chin with his elbow. That fucking hurt, but the pain made Rick buckle down and finally get his act together. He and Jared exchanged a flurry of kicks, turns and hits, which ended with Jared rubbing his stomach where Rick had kicked him and Rick feeling like he’d gotten hit by a freight train. Tomorrow he was going to be bruised in multiple places; and unlike Jared, whose dark skin rarely showed a mark, Rick’s would be green and yellow, maybe even a few black and blue.

  By the end of the bout, Jared had thoroughly kicked his ass and they were both breathing a little easier, their inner tension gone. That was the beauty of sparring, for them. A way to work out major aggressions in a safe environment. Slumped next to each other against the wall, they watched as Liam and Patrick tormented Chris in what was supposed to be a free-for-all between the three of them but was looking more and more like two-on-one. Justin's supposed refereeing was leaving a bit to be desired, as Chris pointed out whenever he had the breath.

  "So... women troubles?" Rick asked Jared.

  "I'm pretty sure that's the definition of Marissa," Jared rumbled, rubbing his hand over his bald head in a motion that looked like frustration, exhaustion and resignation all rolled into a ball of despair. Sadly, not an unusual look when it came to Jared and Marissa. "You?"

  "Had a bit of a run-in with my new neighbor this morning. She’s… attracted."

  “You aren’t?”

  “No, I am.”

  "Submissive?"

  "No idea."

  Jared chewed over that for a minute while Patrick wrestled Chris into a headlock while Liam started drumming on Chris’ bent over back. They cheered Liam and Patrick on, with only Adam rooting for Chris to break the hold - which he eventually did by catching Patrick with his elbow perilously close to the gonads. He was still laughing as he rolled away from them, yelling "Red! Red!"

  "Too bad we're not in the club!" Liam shouted as he pounced. He and Chris began rolling around on the floor while Patrick laughed and started pushing their rolling bodies with his foot. Rick was a little surprised to see how chipper Patrick was being; he'd expected him to be nearly as wound up as him and Jared. Then again, if Lexie was behaving and not entering the club unless she had adequate chaperonage, Patrick didn't really have a whole lot to complain about at the moment. Especially if she wasn't pushing for more than that like she had been in the past. Patrick was always more relaxed when Lexie wasn’t pushing boundaries and she was acting more like the good little vanilla girl all of them wished she actually was. Although, Rick had noticed that more of them were becoming resigned to the realization that she probably wasn’t vanilla and that one day she would probably be in the club, and not just on the main floor. Even though no one talked about it, Rick thought they had all probably observed the same thing as him; Patrick was fighting a serious attraction to his best friend’s little sister and sh
e wasn’t making it easy for him.

  "If she's not submissive, probably better to stay away," Jared said, dragging Rick away from his thoughts and surprising him with both the advice and the bitterness in Jared’s voice. "There's nothing worse than being in a relationship built on false premises."

  The group of them, other than Jared, had long held the opinion that Marissa wasn't really submissive, but this was the first time that he knew of that Jared had indicated he might share that opinion.

  "Is there anything I can do, man?" Rick asked quietly, not wanting to draw their friends’ attention. They were still laughing and playing in the middle of the floor, oblivious to the serious conversation happening along the wall. Jared didn't often open up much about whatever was going on between him and Marissa, and if he was doing so now then Rick didn't want to break that trust.

  Jared stared up towards the ceiling for a long moment. "No. It's my own fault. Nothing you can do."

  Hesitating for a moment, because he didn't really want to hand out unwanted advice, Rick decided to just go for it. "You don't have to stay with her you know."

  "I tried to break up with her a couple weeks ago," Jared said quietly, still staring up at the ceiling. Rick wasn't even sure the other man was really aware of Rick's presence. It was like he was a pot that had been overfilled and set to boil, and now the water was sliding over the sides, but it wasn't by choice. "She locked herself in the bathroom and told me she was swallowing all the pills. I had to break the door down."

  Rick sucked in a breath. "Fuck."

  "Yeah."

  "Had she?"

  "She was holding the bottle."

  "Do you think she'd really have done it?"

  "I don't know."

  But he wouldn't take the chance. That was something that Rick knew instinctively. None of them would. Their entire group of friends was demanding, stubborn and occasionally cruel in the bedroom, but they would never allow someone in their care to come to any kind of harm.

  Part of Rick wanted to point out that, of course Marissa knew that she hadn't been in any real danger; she was still manipulating Jared, knowing that he would get to her in plenty of time. Even if she had swallowed the pills there would have been plenty of time to get her stomach pumped. But he also knew that while Jared might know that intellectually, it was another thing to live it, and he was too much of a caretaker to let his damaged girlfriend go if she so desperately wanted to stay with him. Rick was starting to wonder if she was actually that manipulative, or if she really might be more than a little damaged.

  "Isn't she seeing a therapist?"

  "Yeah."

  "Fuck."

  "Yeah."

  "I'm sorry, man."

  Jared just shrugged, but Rick saw his eyes flit over to where Adam and Justin were standing on the sideline. They were cheering on Liam, who was now using what looked like some kind of pro-wrestling move on Chris; tossing him to the ground where Chris made his body shake like he was having some kind of seizure – just like the pro-wrestlers in the 80s did. Patrick pretended to be throwing down the People's elbow onto Chris’ chest, a move made famous by the Rock back when they'd all actually watched that stuff.

  Suddenly he understood why Jared had opened up specifically to him, why he'd felt comfortable enough to do so.

  Adam, Liam, Justin and Chris were all in happy relationships. Even Patrick and Lexie had some kind of weird thing going on between them that, while it wasn't a relationship, might be one day if Patrick ever let it. If Andrew had been there, maybe Jared would have talked to him, but he wasn't and Rick was.

  For the first time, in a long time, Rick was glad that he was single. Because that meant that Jared hadn't had to hold everything inside while looking around at all his happy friends.

  He looked at Jared, whose expression had settled into morose. Elbowing the big guy in the side, Rick started to push himself up out of his sitting position.

  “Come on, let’s jump these asshats and make this a Battle Royale.”

  It took a moment, but then a smile spread across Jared’s face. “Fuck yeah man.”

  Rick reached out his hand and yanked Jared to his feet. They both let out war cries as they dove into the fray, Rick going for Liam while Jared aimed for Patrick, knocking them off Chris. It took Adam and Justin less than two seconds to figure out what was going on, and then Rick grunted as one – possibly both – of them landed on his back.

  “Austin 3:16 says - you’re going down!” Chris yelled as he bounced up to his feet, pumping his fist in the air.

  Chaos reigned.

  ******

  "Maybe he has a foot fetish. In which case, you should definitely stop by to say hi to him after this."

  Maria giggled as her sister Jackie wiggled her toes at her lasciviously. The pedicurist clucked a scolding sound at her and Jackie contritely put her foot back on the rest, even though it wasn't the one the pedicurist had been attending to. Jackie was generally considered the prettiest of the Arias sisters, with her long black hair and striking green eyes. She had the same thick hair as Maria, but without the frizz and curl, and her naturally tanned skin only made her wide eyes all the more stunning.

  Growing up, all of the sisters had been envious of Jackie, especially once they'd realized their boyfriends were easily distracted by her. Not that it was her fault, but it had happened. It would have been easy to hate Jackie if she wasn't so damned nice on top of everything else. Maria sometimes wondered if Jackie felt almost apologetic for her looks; she knew that her sister had often felt guilty whenever someone's boyfriend would become fascinated with her. Especially since she definitely never encouraged them to. Jackie had been happily married for the past two years to a wonderful man named Daniel, who was well aware that his wife had attributes that went far beyond her physical beauty and appreciated every bit of her. He wasn't bad looking, but a lot of people tended to be surprised when they saw him because he didn't have Jackie's movie star good looks either.

  Maria thought her sister was wonderfully lucky to have found him.

  "Is that why you have a standing appointment for a pedicure every two weeks?" she teased back. "Because of Daniel's foot fetish?" To her surprise, Jackie blushed. Maria gaped. "What?! No way!"

  "Shhhhh," said Jackie, her cheeks turning even darker pink as she waved her hand at Maria gesturing her to speak more softly. The pedicurists would still be able to hear, of course, but it always seemed like there was some kind of code of silence between clients and pedicurists. Maria was sure they heard the weirdest things. "I wouldn't call it a fetish exactly but, yes... he does love it when I get a new pedicure. And he likes to kiss and suck on my toes sometimes, but that's as far as it goes."

  "I had no idea!" Maria tried to keep from giggling, knowing that this was a serious subject to her sister, but it was just so hard not to picture it in a comical way. "Do Ava and Lara know?"

  "No, and I wouldn't be telling you this if you hadn't brought it up, so don't tell them."

  "I won't if you won't," Maria said, referencing the fact that Jackie had somehow managed to coax her into talking about Rick. She'd managed to avoid her good-looking neighbor for several days now. It wasn't that hard as long as she stayed away from the pool in the early mornings.

  Although she hadn't been avoiding him because she didn't want to see him again. She'd been avoiding a chance run-in, while she thought about how best to approach him next. And she'd been wondering what it was, exactly, that he wanted to do to her that he didn't want her to know about.

  "I’ve already promised not to," Jackie reminded her, making a face.

  Secrets were sacred among the sisters, mostly because it was so hard to keep one for any length of time. Maria had needed someone to spill to, Jackie had been the next sister to see her, she'd noticed how distracted Maria had been and well... one thing led to another and Maria had found herself spilling about the entire incident.

  "I could live with a foot fetish," Maria announced, nodding her head though
tfully. Laughing, Jackie shushed her again. Maria grinned, amused at how easily embarrassed Jackie was by the revelation. "No seriously, I mean, that doesn't sound so bad. A man who wants to worship my feet? That's close enough to 'at my feet,' right?"

  "I can recommend it," Jackie said with a little smirk, wiggling her glossy dark red toenails on the foot the pedicurist wasn't working on. Her face became a little bit more serious. "What if it's not though? What if he's into something like swinging or having sex in front of people?"

  Maria contemplated the idea, watching as her own pedicurist put the finishing touches on her bright pink nails. Swinging didn’t sound like fun, she wasn’t a sharing person. So she also didn’t really know how she felt about exhibitionism; there was something exciting about that, but it was also sharing in a different way. People would be watching an intimate moment. Still. She didn’t like the idea of giving up on a hot guy just because he might be into something different than she’d ever done before. "I mean... you should never say no until you've tried something, right?"

  "Oh no... you wouldn't..." Jackie moaned. "Mom would kill you."

  "Mom would never know." She gave Jackie a look, raising her eyebrow, although she couldn’t quite shake the guilty feeling either. Jackie was right, their mother would so not approve of Maria thinking about doing something kinky. But what mom didn’t know couldn’t hurt her; she seriously doubted Jackie had ever discussed her husband’s foot fetish with their mother. "He's really hot. And nice and seriously sexy. It's a good combination; plus I’m not exactly thinking seriously relationship or marriage... I just need something uncomplicated and fun for a bit."

  "I don't know why you're not thinking marriage," her sister muttered, giving her a dire look.

  She shrugged. "Because thinking marriage has never gotten me anywhere."

  "Oh Maria..." Jackie's voice trailed off, suddenly sympathetic and a bit worried.

  "Oh no you don't," Maria pointed her finger right at Jackie's face. "I am perfectly happy like this. I haven't given up on love and marriage and babies and all that jazz, but it's not like I've met anyone recently that I'd want to get serious with. And I have met someone who's hot and seems nice, and if I learn a little something from it then that's not a bad thing, right?"