Love of the Game - The Complete Collection (Box Set) Read online

  “I think you are in better condition now than at eighteen, Demitria. I am impressed.” Nikolai gave a slight nod, accented by one of his small smiles, and headed to his own room, leaving her standing in the hall.

  Demi closed her mouth and worked to steady her breathing. Giving herself a firm mental slap at her teenage behavior, she headed to her room with a frustrated sigh.

  Chapter Two

  Claire heard Demi enter their shared suite and brought her usual after-workout protein shake.

  Her assistant gave her a searching glance as she handed her the drink. “You look rattled and a little confused, Demi. You okay?”

  “I just had a two-hour workout with Nikolai. I think I was salivating the entire time.” Demi laughed and rubbed her palm across the back of her neck. She was still overheated.

  “He’s in fantastic shape…huge. You just know he’s built to scale. I’ve always thought that’s why he wears jeans in the ring and not the thin shorts or tights the other wrestlers wear.”

  Claire scolded playfully, “Demi! I am scandalized. Get ready, we have to get to the recruiting session.” Claire laughed all the way to her own room.

  Demi sipped her shake while she pulled out clothes for her day. She took her time, loving her shower time, then rushed getting dressed because she hated being late.

  She pulled on worn jeans that hung low on her flared hips and displayed her forty-two-inch legs to their best advantage, stepped into four-inch peep-toe pumps just because she could, and slipped on a snug black turtleneck that contrasted nicely with her blonde hair and light blue eyes.

  Forty minutes later, she met Claire at the door. The woman handed her the bag that held everything she’d need. Her assistant carried the bag of stuff Demi would have forgotten.

  They took the elevator to the lobby and when they stepped out into the fall sunshine, Demi pulled her dark sunglasses over her eyes and took a deep breath.

  The drive took about twenty minutes before they pulled into the parking lot of a nice gym that catered to serious athletes. Seeing the crowd at the door, Demi let out a groan.

  Her driver opened her door and several reporters swarmed close. Tomas was one of her father’s men and took her protection very seriously. He held up massive forearms and barked, “Back the hell up…right now.”

  They were all talking at once and she plastered the “public” smile on her face while answering their rapid-fire questions.

  “Yes, Stavos Wrestling is here to recruit. There are always promising candidates where we schedule our shows. No, our people are not a gimmick…our staff is part of our family and we treat them with respect and appreciation for putting their bodies on the line night after night.”

  “If Nikolai chose to retire, he’d have plenty of options within Stavos where we’d be grateful for his help. I haven’t heard that rumor but I’d be surprised. Have you seen him? He looks far from retirement but we’d support any decision he made. He’s been a valuable asset and friend for many, many years. You’re insane! He’s in perfect shape.”

  “Where are you guys getting this stuff? I’d rather not answer personal questions. Fine. No, I am not dating anyone now. It’s none of your business and it is beneath you to ask. That’s enough, boys. I have to get to work.”

  Demi shouldered past them with nothing but her powerful height, taller in her heels than most of the reporters. Her attitude made it clear she wouldn’t stop again. Claire followed, as annoyed as Demi that she’d been asked about the last time she’d gotten laid.

  She was surprised to see Nikolai standing beside the glass front door of the facility. He watched her with his arms crossed, his biceps as thick as small trees.

  “Nikolai, I didn’t expect you to be here. You should be resting up.” Stavos treated their wrestlers carefully; cautious about burning them out or using them up too young.

  He didn’t answer for a long moment, simply continued to look at her, as if trying to see behind the tinted glass of her shades.

  “Your father asked me to come by. In case the reporters got out of hand again.” His deep Russian accent sent chills up her spine. “You handle them well, Demitria. Thank you for being so supportive of me.”

  “You’re…welcome, Nikolai. No need to worry about me with reporters. Nothing new there, I learned about handling them long ago. Thank you for checking.”

  Demi moved to open the door but Nikolai beat her to it. Unused to men other than her father opening doors for her, she felt rattled as she stepped into the gym. He followed her and Claire inside while she pretended it didn’t affect her to have him there.

  A gym representative walked from behind the main desk and told Demi what a huge fan he was. He only glanced at her chest four times which she found to be a welcome sign of restraint.

  She pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head and extended her hand. “Thank you very much. Where are we set up?”

  He led her, constantly looking back and smiling like a Labrador puppy, to a separate training room in the back of the facility. An industry-standard ring stood in the center of a large open training room surrounded by young athletes. Many of them were taller than her but none of them was close to Nikolai’s height.

  The second they saw her, they started clapping. When Nikolai appeared, there were stunned exclamations that made Demi smile.

  “Holy shit, Granite’s here.”

  A long table set off to the side of the room held names, portfolios, and photos of the young people hoping to join Stavos Wrestling. She sat and interviewed each candidate, snapping her fingers in front of a few who missed a question due to the distraction of her tits.

  There were ten men and one woman, a fact that made Demi very happy. Few women in entertainment wrestling could be considered true athletes. Most used it as a leg up to other careers. She could tell by the build of the young woman that she was dedicated to fitness. Her portfolio featured an extensive list of sports she’d played in high school.

  I would love to play, thank you very much.

  After the initial interviews, they took a break and Demi changed into workout clothes. Form-fitting yoga pants and a tank top with no shoes provided coverage without hindering her movements.

  When she stepped back out on the floor, she pulled her hair into a long ponytail. Every person in the room was staring at her, their expressions questioning.

  Hands on her hips, she grinned. “Give me a break. I’m not going to let you guys pound on a woman I’ve never seen fight before. Who did you think was going to spar with her?”

  Nikolai came off the wall and took a few steps closer. He didn’t look comfortable with the sudden increase of testosterone in the room.

  Smirking, she got to work.

  Once she put together a roster of sparring matches, the men separated into teams, and lined up around the ring to watch each pair face off. She made notes and Claire took pictures.

  Nikolai stood behind her and for once, she wasn’t nervous around him. She was too busy analyzing the potentials and it demanded her total focus.

  Two had the ability and charisma she was looking for right now and made this session more than worth the company’s expense. A few weeks training with Oscar and they’d be ready to step into a live match.

  Three others she planned to send to training camp in Georgia for tougher evaluation. It was dependent on passing background and drug testing, but they showed promise.

  The rest of the candidates wouldn’t work at all and might never have the necessary combination of athlete and performer to wrestle professionally. Demi released them immediately after the first round with pointers that would make them more viable if they decided to try out again.

  They left with downcast expressions and she felt the nice girl inside her twinge with guilt at not being able to fulfill their dream of professional wrestling.

  With a small shake of her head, Demi rose and stretched for her match with the only female. The once familiar feeling of fight anticipation experienced a hiccup
when Nikolai touched her arm. So softly only she could hear, he murmured, “Demitria, watch your shoulder.”

  She nodded, flustered for a moment, then stepped into the ring with Melissa. After several bounces on the balls of her feet and spinning kicks with each leg, they went to work. In two small circles, the woman swiped at her wildly.

  Demi stopped and held her hands up in a calming gesture. “Control your moves, Melissa. I can tell you’re strong but nervous. Your strength won’t do you any good with someone like me.” She added with a grin, “I’m strong, too and very fast. You have to get me inside your circle.”

  She demonstrated slowly, impressed when the young woman began to relax and follow her instructions to the letter.

  “Anticipate the kick and recognize how fast your opponent is moving. Otherwise, they can get in too close and use your own strategy against you. You left yourself wide open. That would have knocked you out.”

  Demi stood on one leg, the other fully extended in a paused reverse roundhouse kick that would have taken the other woman’s head off.

  “You can work this to your benefit but you have to be faster, think faster. If you’d seen me coming, you could have caught my foot and turned the match in your favor. Grab my ankle. Right, your other hand goes around my torso. See? Now I’m locked down and completely vulnerable. The length of my legs won’t matter because I can’t use them against you. Let’s go again.”

  She moved her around the ring, training and commenting, giving criticism and compliments in equal parts. One of the male candidates mentioned how hot Melissa was and she was instantly distracted.

  Demi took her slow to the mat then helped her up.

  “Most of our demographic is male. At any public appearance, you’ll hear men talking about your tits, your ass, telling you to suck their dick, bend over sweetheart, and take it all off. You have to be able to tune that shit out because they sure as hell aren’t going to stop just because you’re sensitive. Again.”

  She looked at the men around the ring and told them to do their worst. With a nod at the other woman, she started moving. Demi pushed her brutally, making her work for it, while every man in the room blasted them with obscenities, whistles, and pounded on the mat.

  There was no missing how stressed out Nikolai was getting.

  “Look at me! Focus, Melissa. Toughen up and tune it out, just tune it out. Good girl. They’re just men.” Ten minutes later, the young woman came in fast and caught Demi in a stopped punch to the jaw.

  “Very good. Do you have any martial arts training?” She shook her head. “Okay, I’m sending you to camp. They’re going to give you some basics. Welcome aboard, Melissa. We’ll see each other again.”

  Face red and tears in her eyes, she lunged forward and hugged Demi hard. Babbled thanks made her grin and pat her back.

  Chapter Three

  From the corner of her eye, Demi watched Granite leave the room and sighed. He was so pretty to observe coming or going.

  A couple of the guys wanted to spar with her and she agreed with a huge smile on her face. It felt good to be in the ring again.

  The first young man Demi took down pretty fast, not holding back the way she had with Melissa. Around the ring, she was a blur of movement, using her martial arts and ballet skills to hit and leap away.

  After beating him, she gave him pointers that would have helped him defeat her. He nodded and shook her hand as he jumped down from the ring.

  “Dude, you got your ass whipped by Dancer. Lucky son of a bitch.” The banter of the three men on the floor made her laugh as her second opponent powered over the ropes.

  He was much bigger and more of a challenge as he tried to corner her repeatedly. He almost accomplished it a moment before she ducked and swam under his legs, flipped to her back, and propelled herself back to her feet.

  The expression on his face began to change and he looked like he was getting truly pissed. He came at her hard, swinging wildly, and grabbing for her. When he roared in fury and charged, she dodged and jumped on his back.

  She slowly tightened her forearm around his throat. “Settle, big guy. It’s just a sparring match.”

  In answer, he reared back and slammed her into the corner post, knocking the breath from her lungs. She tightened her grip a little more every time he pounded her into the post, determined not to pass out. Finally, he weakened and dropped to his knees.

  “Okay, that’s enough.”

  Demi patted his shoulder and let him go. Rising to her feet, she turned back to the people watching with various looks of shock on their faces. It was important to remind them that being professional fighters meant it was even more crucial that they control their tempers at all times.

  Without warning, she was grabbed by her ponytail and slammed to her back. Her head bounced hard off the mat. She saw stars and knew she was at risk of passing out. Bringing her leg up instinctively, her shin cracked against the side of his face and caught him in the temple.

  He dropped like a rock beside her.

  Demi lay there, trying to get her bearings, and slow the spinning of the room. Then Claire was suddenly peering down into her face. “Babe, are you okay? Holy shit you hit hard. What the fuck just happened?”

  “Well, Claire…I think it’s time for the speech.” Claire helped her up and she grimaced at the aches she could already feel settling over her body.

  She waved the other stunned candidates to one side of the ring. While she caught her breath, she made a point of looking each of them in the eye. The longer she stood there, the angrier she got.

  “There is one thing every one of you’d better understand right now. Stavos does mandatory drug tests every thirty days. We also spring them at random at our discretion. We do not tolerate drug use of any kind. Lame excuses about prescribed steroids from some quack are not going to save your ass. If we find drugs, you’re out. Period.”

  “Granite can’t be clean. I mean, honestly.”

  The speaker was one of her top two, a natural athlete with a lot of personality. At a glance, she figured him around eight percent body fat but she didn’t think he doped. He’d never get a chance to so much as stretch in a Stavos facility if he did.

  “Actually, I guarantee he’s clean. Granite’s body is a result of hard work and dedication. A little luck of the draw in regards to genetic makeup, too.” She paused, gripping the top rope to steady the slight vibration she felt in her head.

  “I won’t have fighters who can’t control their rage in or out of the ring. Not to mention, our fighters are our friends. We don’t want people we care about taking those kinds of risks. That shit is bad for you. It will kill you and if that doesn’t convince you big alpha males, it also makes your dick small.”

  Melissa raised her hand and Demi nodded carefully. “How the hell did you beat Brad? He outweighs you by more than a hundred pounds.”

  “It isn’t all size; some of it is because I’m faster. He depended too much on strength. As for that last kick, don’t fool yourself, it was luck. He scared the shit out of me.” Her head was pounding.

  “Alright, line up for the paperwork Claire is going to give you. Read it carefully and fill it out completely. Once we receive it at headquarters, it takes about three weeks to get you on the camp roster. She has free tickets to the shows here in Tulsa and I hope we see you there. Good luck everyone. It was a pleasure to meet you.”

  Demi nodded at Claire and jumped from the ring with far more composure than she felt. She managed to make her way to the locker room. Her head throbbed and her back ached from the punishment she’d taken.

  She changed clothes, moving carefully, and sat on the bench to collect her thoughts. With her elbows on her knees, her hands hanging between her legs, her eyes drifted closed.

  Man, he pounded the shit out of me.

  Suddenly the locker room door crashed open and hit the wall. Nikolai stood there, completely filling the frame. “What. The. Fuck? I leave for fifteen minutes and a man beats on you?
Stand up. Do not look at me like that, Demitria. Stand up.” His accent was thicker in his anger. She stood slowly and he turned her gently to lift her sweater. “Fuck, Demi.”

  He maneuvered her to a mirror and told her to look over her shoulder. Her back was red and blue, some of the areas already beginning to darken to an angry purple. The bruising was going to be really ugly.

  Demi shrugged. “I’ve had worse. No worries, I heal fast.” She pulled her sweater down and gave the big man a careful smile. He stared at her and didn’t smile back.

  When Nikolai slid his hand into the hair at the back of her head, heat shot through her body and she was almost unable to hide it. Breathlessness turned to nervousness when she realized he was checking where she’d hit her head.

  “A nice lump. I can’t afford to lose more brain cells.” She laughed. Nikolai didn’t.

  His midnight eyes met hers and she felt like a very small rabbit faced with a very large wolf. Her mouth went dry and her hands clenched into fists to keep from reaching out to touch him.

  The warmth of his hand soothed even as it stimulated. Demi felt herself growing damp and her tongue flicked out to wet her lower lip. His eyes followed the gesture.

  “You were good with Melissa; Patient and kind, but firm. Like Mikhail,” Nikolai told her as his hand massaged the back of her head gently. It was the last thing she expected him to say.

  “Thanks.” His praise threw her off balance. Nikolai didn’t speak much and gave compliments even more rarely.

  “No more sparring with men we do not know, Demitria.” The way he said “we” made her heart pound…as if they were a couple and he cared about her. “What I would have told Mikhail had you been seriously hurt?”

  So much for that.

  She couldn’t read his thoughts but the choice of words annoyed her. Demitria stepped away and Nikolai frowned. His hand dropped to his side and robbed her of that intense warmth to which she was almost already addicted.

  Ignoring the slight tremor in her voice, she lifted her chin. “Dad would know I put myself in a position I believed I could control. The first guy wasn’t a problem. If the other one wasn’t souped up on steroids, I’d have won, and that would have been it. I’ve gotten soft. I’ll work on that.”