Caged Heart

"Have you ever seen my fights?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

She frowned and thought about all the fights she had seen.

"No...I don't think I have. Yesterday was my first time seeing you...I think."

"Well you're gonna have to promise to watch my next fight."

"Oh yeah?" she giggled. "When is it?"

"In two weeks. I'm flying out to Vegas."

"Who are you fighting?"

"Volchev." he said nonchalantly.

Her mouth dropped and she frowned at him.

"Volchev? That guy?"

She was hoping that she heard wrong but apparently Dominic was to fight the "Russian Bear." Volchev was a beast of a man who probably weighed over 250 lbs. and was well known for his hard knockout punches. The heavy weight class ranged from 206 lbs. to 265 lbs. and he was much bigger than Dominic. Most would assume Dominic to be clearly outmatched.

"How much do you weigh?" she said with a frown still on her face.

"215 give or take." he said with the most amused look on his face.

"That guy is freakin' huge!" she said out loud, with a hand covering her mouth.

She realized that her reaction implied that Dominic couldn't take the Russian on and she began to feel bad.

"Wait, that came out wrong...I didn't mean to..."

"It's ok." he laughed. "Are you worried about me?"

"Well... I'm sure you're a great fighter...it's just that, that guy is no joke. I've seen what his opponents look like after his fights and they're a mess." she said looking concerned.

She had actually forgotten about what happened the night before and was being her normal self.

"Well, did you know that I beat Tony? The first fight he lost was to me, and he's probably about 20 lbs. heavier. It's not always about the size of a fighter. Depending on their skills, anyone can have an advantage over a bigger fighter."

"That was you? I remember when he came home after that fight. He was really upset. I guess he was letting his winning streak get to his head."

"He's a great fighter and I really respect him. I know what it feels like to lose and then have to pick your-self back up again. It's a hard thing to do...and he's lucky that he had you in his corner." he said with a smile.

"Me? I don't even think I do much to encourage him. At first I made fun of him because it seemed his head was blowing up when he just kept winning. But I started to feel bad for him and gave him some space. I think he's gotten over it though and things are back to normal."

"He talks about you a lot you know...when we train together. I thought you were his girlfriend at first." he laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you cook, you clean and do a lot of stuff that he can't do for himself... and you don't seem to make a big deal out of it."

"Yea well that moron would probably keel over if I wasn't here." she giggled.

"That's what I mean. He's lucky!"

"Well thanks, I appreciate it... after last night he..." and then it all came back to her.

Last night.

She was quiet for a minute as they stood across the counter. He had a smile on his face and she looked at him with guilty eyes. The front door slammed suddenly and Tony's heavy footsteps were coming towards the kitchen. She nervously chewed on her bottom lip and thanked the heavens that the awkward silence was broken.

"Somethin' smells good!" Tony said as he walked in with his sweats.

She quickly went to the empty skillet and poured the egg batter in slowly. Her heart felt like it was going to explode but she did a great job of pretending that nothing was wrong. Dominic went to the dinner table and sat down as Tony came approached the food. He exercised his disdain for manners and shoved a sausage link into his mouth.

"Damn that's good! I'll take some buttered toast and some black coffee waitress."

"Don't start Tony!" Selene answered in an annoyed tone.

"How you feelin' man?" he asked Dominic.

"I'm alright, still stiff in the shoulders though."

The two continued their talking but she was so immersed in her thoughts that she blocked it all out and stared at the bubbling omelet. She felt like an idiot who had just made a total fool of herself. After talking to Dominic, she didn't think he would really say anything to Tony, but things would still be awkward between them. All she could do was follow his lead and wait to see what he would do. It was an embarrassing moment for her and she wanted to get past it.

"Yo Lene! Earth to Lene!" Tony said, nudging her arm.

"Hmm? What?"

"You need to flip that over before it burns."

Selene, in her deep thoughts didn't realize that the omelet needed to be flipped over five minutes ago. She got herself together and took care of it.

Breakfast was the same as yesterday's dinner. She was quiet for the most part and let them talk. She wasn't a fan of eggs and only had three sausage links and one pancake. She tried not to look in Dominic's direction, even though he kept taking frequent glances at her. When she was done eating, she headed straight for her room and threw herself on the bed. She didn't know if the weekend could get any worse. For the whole day she remained in her room, only taking a few trips to the bathroom.

When night fell, Tony let her know that they were going to go out to eat. Selene was relieved. She didn't want to be around Dominic because she was falling for the guy, even though she had no chance with him. She was happy to have them out of the house and decided to have that long hot shower which was denied to her the night before.

She got into the bathtub and took out her favorite lavender vanilla body wash. She poured the creamy soap all over her hair, her voluptuous breasts, her thighs and her back. This was one of her favorite past times next to sex...or masturbation and she took her sweet time lathering her body. She felt refreshed when she got out and the past events didn't bother her so much, for the time being.

The bathroom door was parallel to the guest room and as she walked out, she stood in the hallway for a moment staring at Dominic's closed door. She was sure that he wasn't in the apartment this time and wanted to go into the room. She tiptoed out of the hallway and slowly opened the door to the guest room. The scent of his cologne was in the air and she got turned on once again. She walked in and closed the door behind her.

He kept the room neat and his black gym bag lay on the floor. She looked into it and pulled out his white t-shirt. It carried his scent and she held it close to her body to inhale the sweet odor. Selene knew that she shouldn't invade his privacy but she had never felt an attraction to any man like this before. She was starting to accept that Dominic knew she liked him and if he didn't feel the same, then that would be fine. She had dealt with rejection before and could do it again. For now, she knew that he was single and not an asshole...so far. That was enough to turn her on.

Selene took her towel off and got on to the bed. She covered her bare breasts with the t-shirt and lay back on the pillows. Her hair was wet but she figured by the time he got back, the sheets and pillows would be dry.

Dominic's over-sized shirt caressed her naked body as she rolled around on the cool sheets and inhaled his scent. Selene wanted to fantasize about him but instead, she thought about the night before. She wondered why he stood there watching her for so long. She wanted to think that in those circumstances, any man would've probably watched but she didn't have the greatest body and couldn't imagine any good reason for him to watch. He was a well-known UFC fighter and probably had gorgeous women falling at his feet all the time. She couldn't compare to them.

"Maybe it's because he heard his name and found it funny." she thought.

It was embarrassing, yet she smiled to herself as she thought about how silly she had been that night and how silly she was being right now.

"I'm so bad!" she thought. "Imagine if he found me like this."

She wanted to stay a little longer but they had been gone for a while and it would not be a good thing if she got caught. Tony would never let her live it down and as for Dominic; he would probably think she was a weird freak. She folded his shirt and returned it to the gym bag. When she got up, there was a tiny damp circle on one of the pillows but it wasn't very noticeable and would be dry by the time he came back. Everything looked normal as she took a last look around and walked out the door.

***

Tony and Dominic returned an hour later in good spirits. They were laughing loudly and Selene was under the suspicion that they'd had a few drinks while they were out. She was happy about this because normally, Tony didn't drink since it affected his performance.

Selene was happy to see him cut loose for once. She also felt that she might be more comfortable around them now since Tony would be too tipsy to bother her. She could hear them in the kitchen and she walked out to meet them. They were both dressed handsomely with button up shirts and slacks; they looked like models.

"Hey!" she said, smiling at them from the entrance to the kitchen. "You guys look happy!"

"We had a couple of drinks at the bar and this playa right here got a couple of numbers." he said, eyeballing Dominic.

"Oh...what'd y'all drink?" she asked, sounding a little disappointed.

"Just some shots of tequila... nuthin' major."

"Tony! And you guys drove?" she scolded.

"We're good baby girl... still in one piece!" Tony chuckled.

"That's not cool!"

"Sorry Mom!"

She threw her arms up and was ready to walk away from them, when Dominic stopped her.

"Hold on a minute. I got you something."

Selene looked at him doubtfully. He reached into a big, gold-foil gift bag rested on the counter and pulled out a clear glass case with 2 dozen white chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of pink champagne. She stared at Dominic's gift for a moment, not really believing that it was for her.

"This is for me?"

"Yea, Tony said you liked white chocolate... so to thank you for dinner and breakfast I got these for you."

"Wow, you didn't have to do that." she said, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Aww ain't that sweet?" Tony smirked.

"Well you deserve a lot more than this for putting up with that fool over there." he laughed and gestured towards Tony.

"Yea whatever... I'm goin' to bed, I'm tired y'all. Night man, don't let her bore you with her smart talk!"

"Yup... see you in the morning.'" Dominic chuckled as Selene sighed and rolled her eyes.

Tony walked away and left the two, face to face.

"That was really nice of you. I'm not used to getting presents." she smiled bashfully.

"Oh don't worry about it... I figured Tony never even thought about giving you anything."

"Well, he offered to pay for my groceries for the next two weeks, so that is something."

"I guess it is." he smiled. "I'll be right back...gonna get undressed."

"Oh...Okay...aren't you tired?"

"Not really. Tony had more to drink than I did. Just gonna get comfortable. Don't move okay." and he walked away towards the guest room.

She thought to tell him that she had to go to bed but she didn't feel threatened by him anymore. He had gotten her a gift and the least she could do was keep him company.

Selene got out two tiny plates from the cupboard and placed two strawberries on each. She didn't want to enjoy her gift alone, especially because he had been so thoughtful. He returned wearing the white shirt that she had played with earlier and she smiled to herself as she grabbed two crystal champagne glasses.

"You don't mind a little dessert do you? I didn't want to eat them alone."

"No, not at all... I wasn't expecting you to share them though." he laughed.

"I'm not mean...despite what your buddies or Tony tell you about me."

"No one's ever said anything bad about you... and if they did, they'd have to answer to me."

"My knight in shining armor!" she replied sarcastically and poured the champagne into the glasses.

"Yup, that's me!"

"You don't mind having a glass with me do you? I know that you drank earlier."

"I don't mind, as long as you don't take advantage of me." and he winked at her.

She didn't have a comeback for that and laughed quietly as she felt her whole face turning red.

Selene quickly took her first sip of the champagne and it was delicious.

"So, what did you do tonight?"

"Oh nothing exciting... just read a little and relaxed." she said, resting her chin on her hand.

"Didn't you want to come out with us? I was thinking of asking you..."

"I wouldn't want to spoil the men's night out. Besides you guys seemed to have a good time. I might've ruined it."

"I doubt that, nothing special happened." he said taking a slow sip and licking his lips.

Selene wanted to reach out and touch his wet lips. They looked so soft and inviting; begging to be kissed. Her thoughts remained on doing just that as she bit into the cold strawberry.

"How are they?

"They're really good, thank you again." she said as she chewed on the soft fruit. "You haven't even tried them yet!"

"I was waiting on you to test them out first." he laughed. "Oh by the way, I have your book. I hadn't read that one yet and wanted to take a quick look at it."

"Oh, do you wanna borrow it? I usually read two books at a time. Weird I know!"

"Are you sure? When I leave I'm gonna need something to pass the time on my flights... and I was thinking of buying one of his books."

"You can take it with you. It's an anthology of his newer stories, so you probably won't get bored for a while."

"That's awesome, thanks. I'll take good care of it."

"Hey...I know I probably shouldn't ask you such a stupid question...but aren't you nervous about the fight?

"Nah. It's just another fight; I've had plenty before it. You are worried about me aren't you?" he asked looking a little happy.

"Well... yes I am. I mean, like I said before, watching someone you care ab... I mean I wouldn't want to see one of Tony's friends get hurt."

She had done it again and was mortified. How was she going to escape that one?

"Well, we can be friends can't we?"

"Oh yea... sure." she said bashfully.

"Don't worry so much. I'll be okay. I've been around for a long time and I know what to expect. Volchev's a good fighter but everyone has a weakness. I just need to stay focused that's all."

Selene looked at him with sad eyes. It was hard enough to watch Tony getting punched and kicked when he fought, now she would have to watch Dominic go through the same thing. She didn't want to see him hurt even though he had been through it a million times before.

"Hey... don't look like that."

"Oh I'm sorry... I was just thinking." she said quietly.

"Tell you what... when I win, we're gonna celebrate with more strawberries and champagne." he smiled.

She laughed at how confident he was and took comfort in that thought.

"Is that a promise?"

"I'll do one better, dinner with strawberries and champagne..." he smiled "... and no Tony to get in the way."

"Alright." she said nonchalantly, even though she wanted to scream for joy.

It seemed she had landed a proper date with Dominic.

"So I guess I won't be seeing you for the next couple of weeks, right?"

"Well... yea. I've got new Tae Kwon Do and Jiu Jitsu coaches and they're very strict. This is the last time I'll get to kick back before the fight. After the fight I'll get some time off to recuperate."

It was almost 1a.m. and she was starting to feel sleepy. The two had talked for a good while and the champagne had relaxed her even more. She could tell that he was just as tired and suggested that he get some sleep.

"Are you trying to get rid of me Selene?"

"Dominic you're tired. Go to sleep dude!" she laughed.

"What are you gonna go do?" he asked sleepily, running his fingers through his dark hair.

"Probably the same...I haven't been sleeping much lately." she said, hoping he wouldn't ask why.

"Okay well... yea you should catch up on your sleep. I've got the dishes. You can head in."

"No come on, go to bed. You look much more tired than I do. I got it. I'll see you in the morning."

"But..."

"I've got it! Go!" she demanded, pointing to his room.

"Okay, okay... well goodnight."

"Goodnight." she laughed and proceeded to wash the dishes.

He smiled and left her alone.

Selene knew that she probably shouldn't get her hopes up for the planned date. He could easily find someone better in between that time. He was nice enough not to embarrass her about what he caught her doing and she was happy about that. She finished the dishes and walked into the empty hallway. He was in the shower now and she stopped at the bathroom door for a few seconds, wishing that she could join him. She knew it would never happen but it couldn't hurt to dream. It was time to get to bed and this time, she made sure that her door was properly closed.

Chapter Three

The two men twisted and locked in a dangerous embrace on the blood splattered floor of the Octagon.

Their bodies glistened with sweat, as the fierce warriors attacked each other with the only weapons they possessed; their fists. Tony was out of breath and his face was badly bruised as Dominic held him down. His arms were clenched tightly around Tony's neck and face, blocking off the air passageways.

Tony's face was flushed as he desperately held on to consciousness, all the while trying to pry Dominic's hands off his face. The cheering of the crowd was deafening as they witnessed the highly anticipated fight and all were on their feet. Tony was weakening and tapped on Dominic's forearm, signaling his submission to the referee. Dominic was the winner and he sprang to his feet, arm raised in salute to the energized fans.

Tony was sprawled out on the floor. The medical examiner and corner-men got him to his feet and made sure that he was alright to move. Dominic came around, gave him a hug and congratulated him on a great fight. It was Tony's first loss and he had a disappointed look on his face. Still, he clapped along with the crowd as the announcer officially declared Dominic the UFC Heavyweight champion.

Even though Dominic was out of breath, he looked extremely happy and seemed like he could go another three rounds. He thanked his fans, his team and Tony for being a great opponent as he applied a little pressure to his bloody lip. Selene clapped and jumped up and down on her bed as she watched the re-run of the fight in her room.

She missed the fight and wanted to see what Dominic was capable of. Of course she felt bad for Tony as she watched him in Dominic's strong grip. However, there was something extremely arousing about watching Dominic's muscular body partially naked on the blue floor of the cage. She was also impressed by his humility. It can be easy for fighters to fall victim to arrogance.

Dominic's next fight was in two nights. She was still a little worried about what he was about to face but her confidence in him was growing after she saw his agility and strength on display. She didn't want Tony to know that she was watching this fight because he would have probably taken offense. That loss was a huge blow to his ego and it took him a while to spring back from it.

She never saw Dominic again after he gave her the gift. She'd overslept and by the time she awoke the next morning, both he and Tony were gone. She wished she could have seen him one last time. The disappointment of not finding him in the apartment the next day was equal to heartbreak.

She was looking forward to saying goodbye and wishing him good luck. He had to focus on his training now and would become a recluse before the fight. It was most likely that he was in Vegas by now and preparing for the days ahead. Tony had gone with him as part of his supporting team and Selene was left alone in the apartment. She loved solitude but after getting to know Dominic, she yearned for his company.