Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“My hot man,” I groaned. “God, you look amazing in that suit.” I pushed up into his fist, urging him to stroke me harder.
On screen, a female interviewer sat opposite him in a wingback chair. Grace Howard was her name, and she was a celebrity in her own right— the new Barbara Walters of the sports world. I wondered if I had decided to pursue a career as a sports reporter, how I would have handled an interview with someone like Michael Kage. I’d probably be shitting my pants just to be sitting in the same room with him, but then I was biased.
Grace smoothed her perfectly sprayed blond curls, smiled at the camera, and spoke in her familiar sultry voice. “This evening, I’m pleased to have the infamous MMA fighter Michael Kage in the studio. He’s agreed to take the couch and discuss with me his goals, his dreams, and the controversies surrounding his meteoric rise to fame.” She turned her gaze on Kage. “Thank you for being here, Michael.”
Kage gave her an aw-shucks look that brought a smile to my face. “Thanks for having me, Grace. And you can call me Kage. Everybody else does.”
“All right, Kage…” Grace grinned, clearly charmed by her handsome guest.
And there was that little pang of jealousy that I always got when I watched him charm someone who wasn’t me. He was just so damn good at it, I guess I always wanted to be the one on the receiving end. “Eat your heart out, bitch,” I muttered under my breath, and Kage squeezed me hard enough to hurt. In response, I squeezed his dick with my ass and made him groan.
On the TV, a very poised Grace Howard smiled at Kage. “So I think the first question I should ask is, how did you get into fighting?”
Kage shifted in his seat. Most people probably wouldn’t notice his discomfort with the question, but I did. I knew how he felt about his past. How he wished it didn’t exist. I knew there were probably some details he had remembered that he hadn’t shared with me yet, but I figured in time he’d trust me enough. At least I hoped he would. No one should have to shoulder such a heavy burden alone.
“I’ve been into martial arts since I was a very young boy,” he said casually. “My family got me lessons, groomed me to be a fighter, so it’s all I’ve ever known.”
“Well played, Kage. No lies, but you haven’t given them anything.”
“It’s been said that you got your start fighting underground,” Grace said. “What exactly does that mean?”
“Well, it’s not as dramatic as it sounds. A few years back, my uncle issued a challenge, got the word out in the gyms around Vegas. Basically, he said if anyone can beat my nephew, I’ll give you ten thousand dollars. Guys came to challenge me. They lost. We fought in a converted warehouse with an octagon in it. It was a private thing with a very small audience, basically just my people and their people. Over time, as my reputation grew and nobody wanted to fight me, the offer got bigger and bigger. Just before I got signed to the UFC, the offer was a hundred thousand dollars.” Kage smiled like it was no big deal to issue a hundred-thousand-dollar challenge.
Grace’s eyes widened. “And no one ever beat you?”
Kage shrugged. “Nope.”
“And did you fight any well-known fighters?” Grace asked.
“Oh, yeah. Sure.” Kage said. “Most people don’t know this, but by the time I got to the UFC, I’d already fought a lot of those guys. It’s hard to pass up a big offer like that, especially if you’re one of the best. You think, Yeah I can win that easily. No problem.”
“But they didn’t.” Grace said.
“No, they didn’t.”
“And why do you think that is?” she pressed.
“I guess you could say I’m determined. I don’t really stop, you know? Even when I’m down, I never stop.”
Grace nodded. “And is that why they call you the Machine?”
Kage smiled. “Yeah. That, and I’m good at calculating moves. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been doing it for so long, or if it’s something that I was born with, like an ability or something, but… I can see things. When I look at other people, I can see what they’re gonna do, and I can see what I need to do to counter it. It’s kinda weird, I guess. Hard to explain. My trainer Marco calls it bionic eyes.” Kage laughed self-consciously.
“Marco does call it that,” I said under my breath. It was surreal watching someone whose life I knew so intimately doing an interview on my television. Not to mention having him sheathed in my ass while he watched it with me.
On TV, Kage leaned back a little on the couch, stretching his torso in that seductive way of his, and I wanted so badly to reach out and touch the on-screen version of him. More than that, I wanted to claim him publicly. I wanted to get between him and every person out there in TV land who was watching him with fevered eyes and say, “This is mine. Don’t even think about it.”