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Stabbing the fork into the jar with the same aggression as he stabbed a man’s eyeball, he removes the fork and brings it down to my mouth. I part my lips greedily for it.
“Mmm,” I moan as soon as the sweet cake and icing hit my tongue.
And holy shit.
Moaning and biting food off a fork another man is holding is a sort of intimacy I’ve never felt before, not even with Maddie.
12
Jordan
Eli continues to feed me like I’m a helpless child, and it takes a great deal of more effort than it should to remember he has to feed me because he’s got cuffs on my wrists and ankles holding me down on a table.
“Tell me the rest of your story,” I say between bites of cupcake when he stays way too quiet, as if he’s lost in his head, busy plotting my death.
“My story. Right,” he mutters. But after a deep breath, he nears the bottom of the jar and starts right back up. “One night a cop chased me down an alley after I robbed some guy. I jumped over a few fences looking for a place to hide out. There was this house with the garage door open late at night. I thought bingo, some idiots forget to close it. I could hide out and fill my pockets by robbing the house.”
Finished with the blueberry lemon jar, Eli gets up, still completely naked, and grabs another. I don’t know the flavor until he puts the forkful in my mouth. “Mmm. Red Velvet.”
“No shit?” He holds up the jar to read the label. Once he confirms the flavor, he feeds himself the next bite, eyes widening. “Damn that’s good. Maddie actually has skills.”
“Right?” I agree. The mention of her threatens the guilt to overwhelm me, so I tell him, “Keep going. Did you rob the house?”
“No. I didn’t see the old man in the back corner on the bench press. He asked if I was lost or a stupid thug who would get himself killed before he could legally drink. I stood there, hesitating, weighing my options, knowing I would probably get arrested if I left. He saw my busted, bleeding knuckles and said the least I could do was learn to throw a punch. There was a hanging bag in his garage too. Turns out he was an old army boxer. He lived alone. His wife had left him twenty years earlier, took their three kids and never contacted him again because of his temper. I doubt he ever hit the woman or his kids. He was just big and looked like a beast when he was angry.”
“Uh-huh,” I say as he shovels in more red cake into my mouth.
“Mac, that was his name, he let me sleep on a cot in the garage for almost a year, but only let me in the house to use the shower or grab something to eat, whatever leftovers he had. I think he thought of me as a pet—one too feral to be let inside the house where I would tear up shit or piss on the rugs.” He laughs at that. “Still, I was grateful for Mac, for what he did offer me. He told me about his friend in Atlantic City looking for MMA fighters.”
Mixed martial arts. No wonder Eli looks like he could kill a man with his bare hands. And probably has. Isn’t that what he threatened to do to me the first night in the shop?
“So, I took a bus up to New Jersey, made some money underground fighting for a while and training with that guy. I lived in a shitty little apartment the size of yours but with threeother slobs for almost two years, nothing but fighting, fucking, and training every day. I won so many fights I got bored. The purses were tiny, barely enough to eat on for a month. So, I packed up my measly belongings in a backpack and headed out to Vegas.”
“Is that where you met Maddie’s dad?”
“Yeah. Dante wasn’t big into fights yet, but I hounded him in the casino until I convinced him to come watch me fight. He was...god, hot as hell and rich as fuck.”
The way Eli smiles as he says that makes me think he had a crush on his boss. Wonder if the feelings were mutual with Maddie’s dad.
“That night, I knocked out a big guy with the odds stacked against me. Put him to sleep in the first two minutes, showing off a little because I knew Dante was there. He agreed to try to get me some bigger fights for a cut of the purse and of course taking bets on me. Everything was great for almost a year. I had my own apartment and an old Jeep in my name. I got greedy and wanted more, though. I wanted enough money so I wouldn’t have to bleed myself or anyone else again.”
“What did you do?”
“I bet on myself to lose when I had built up a career on never fucking losing. Of course, Dante knew what I had done before I even left the cage. I thought he was going to kill me backstage that night. Instead, he made me get on my knees and beg for his forgiveness. I told him I would do anything to make it up to him if he let me live. He made me his bitch, and I hated him for it.” Clearing his throat, he says, “A small part of me thought he wanted me, that it was the reason he didn't kill me. I only saw him in public with beautiful women, but I thought he was too worried about his image to come right out and admit to fucking another man. Turned out he keeps his life private, butnot because he’s bi. He just kept me alive to make an example out of me.”
Wow. That answers that question. And I don’t know why I’m so glad to hear that Maddie’s dad isn’t Eli’s lover.
“First, Dante made me fetch him drinks, food, women, like a lowly servant. Then, eventually, he would let me rough people up to send warnings. Beatings soon turned into torturing those who betrayed him like me. He loves the violent shit as much as I do. It gets him hard as hell. He’s watched me jerk off, suck off, and fuck with people who betray him, but he never let me touch him. So, one night, when I had the chance, I fucked his daughter instead.”
“Maddie.”
“I only wanted to get back at him for everything, being his bitch and not giving a shit about me. He had just met Vanessa and was falling for her. I knew I would never be more than his attack dog and tormentor. And the one guy he knew I was fucking on the regular rather than torturing, Dante wanted him dead, wanted me to kill him.”
“Did you?”
“Not at first. I gave Gavin a heads up to get the fuck out of town. He listened, and it kept him safe for almost a year. Dante never gave up searching for him, though, after Gavin nearly got his wife Vanessa killed. When Gavin was eventually found and dragged back to Vegas, Dante told his stepson Cole and daughter Cass to decide if he should live or die for what he did to Vanessa.”
“Maddie has a sister?” I ask in surprise.
