The sight of Jade straddling him was one of his favorites, a burning need starting to make itself known as desire flooded through him. Even after being together for a year, Tommy had not grown tired of his beautiful fiancé. Her continued training had shaped her, given her muscles definition and a soft six-pack that was still surprisingly sexy. He felt as if he could never get enough of his Jade.

"I feel like I haven't had you in ages," he murmured as he kissed along her jaw, his fingers continuing to try to unbutton her damn jeans. Giving up temporarily, he grabbed her ass, grinding her hips against his, thrusting slightly so that he could press against her harder. Jade groaned, digging her fingernails into his chest, the slight pain only adding fuel to the fire. Tommy went back to fumbling at her jeans, but again failed at making any progress.

She chuckled, pushing against his chest until she was upright, finally giving him easy access to the waistband of her pants. "That was just this morning!"

"Still been too long."

Tommy was finally triumphant in undoing the fucking button on her jeans when a knock on the door interrupted them. Jade gave him a fiery look as she climbed off his lap and threw her shirt back on, undoing all the work he had done on her pants as she walked away. "We'll finish this later," she promised in a seductive voice before scurrying to answer the door.

"They love her, piss-poor attitude and all. They want to see her spar," Brendan announced as he entered the room. Jade following close behind and looked flushed, suddenly nervous.

Tommy was immediately suspicious. "Good?"

"Let me clarify, little brother. They want to see her spar with you."

"The fuck?" Tommy growled, sitting up as he spoke. "Knew they'd drag me into this somehow. No."

Brendan glared at him, but Jade gave him a pleading look. Her voice was small, hesitant when she finally spoke up. "I need this, Tommy. Do it for me, please?"

Tommy groaned, digging his knuckles into his eyes to buy him some time. He hated the fucking media, hated everything to do with it. He avoided attention like the plague, but understood that Jade did need it right now. And for Jade, he would do about anything. Even if it meant spending time with a sniveling reporter, nosing around for some hidden story. "Fine. Fucking fine. I'm not taking it easy on you, though."

And of course, she smirked. "Like you've ever made anything easy."


The arena was mostly empty as the trio entered, save a few event staff that were obviously bustling around to prepare for his fight the next night. Tommy grumpily sat in a chair near the cage, reluctantly wrapping his hands and watching as Jade did the same before starting to warm up with Brendan.

He watched her move, still fascinated by her after all this time. Some had said that he fought like a caged, wounded animal, but they had never seen his Jade. As soon as she stepped into the cage, she turned into a woman possessed, out for blood. Her anger had mellowed quite a bit since she started fighting professionally. But now, it was like she saved it up, stored it, until finally it blew up and she unleashed absolute hell on her opponents. She was undefeated in seven bouts for a reason. Girls in the northeast were scared to fight her anymore, hence her need for some national attention. She needed new opponents to fight, new challenges to overcome.

"Tommy Riordan!" A man sat next to him, pen and notebook in one hand while holding out his other to shake. "Henry Stancill. Amazing to meet you."

Tommy silently glared at him until the reporter let his hand fall. He finished his wrappings and stood, anxious to get away from the stranger, making his way to the cage door and inside.

Jade was grinning at him, bouncing on the balls of her feet as he entered, Brendan making his way out to sit with the reporter that would be watching. "You ready for this, Tommy?" she called from across the canvas, voice muffled by her mouth guard but a confident smirk on her face all the same.

"Yeah, yeah, cocky. Just make sure you don't-"

"Pull my punches, I know. Want to make this interesting?" she taunted, moving her elbows back and forth parallel to the ground to stretch out her shoulders as she rolled her head to work her neck.

"What's the bet, doll?" Tommy replied back before putting his own mouth guard in.

Jade gave him a knowing smile, coaxing him over with a gloved hand. When he was apparently close enough, she leaned in, her voice low. "Loser gets tied down tonight."

Tommy knew his face was shielded from the reporter and his brother's view, so he grazed his lips up the side of her neck and to her ear, unable to help himself. She gave a slight shudder and he had to fight a triumphant smile. He loved seeing her react to him. "You're going to regret that when I win. Remember what happened last-" She cut him off with a sudden knee to his side that knocked the breath out of him, Jade scrambling backwards and giving him a cocky grin. "Oh, you're so going to pay for that," he promised.

They both put their gloves up, each moving and dancing around, testing each other. It had been a while since they had sparred together. It pissed Jade off when he made no real effort to attack her, she wanted the challenge and just got angry when he didn't truly provide her with one. And then at the end of the day, she would turn that fire back onto him between the sheets. It was an odd kind of foreplay, he had to admit, but it made for some fantastic angry sex. Why didn't they spar more often again?

He was distracted by his thoughts and she was fast, managing to get a couple of body blows and an uppercut in before he pulled his focus back onto the present. Tommy saw an opening and tackled her, immediately positioning around her body and putting her in a hold on the canvas. He could hear her grunts of frustration as she tried to maneuver out of it before she threw an elbow at his temple, his grip loosening just enough for her to shoot back up on her feet. All playfulness was gone as she stared him down again. She was determined now.

"I think we got it!" the reporter called, but Jade still attacked.

He caught her leg when she threw a quick snap kick, Jade effortlessly transitioning the hold to take him down with a scissoring move. Tommy's head snapped back, hitting the canvas with a thunk that sounded more painful than it actually was. Jade was straddling him in an instant, raining punches down at his face, Tommy blocking most of them until Brendan whistled and called out to her. "Enough!"

But oh, neither one of them were stopping now. Tommy caught her wrists, twisted his torso and used his momentum to get her into another hold, one that he knew she was still struggling with escaping from time to time.

"Bastard!" she screeched, writhing and squirming against him in her efforts to escape.

"Tap out, doll."

"Fuck you!"

Ever so slightly, he increased the pressure on her shoulder. "You know it's over."

He could hear her gritting her teeth when he finally felt her fingers tapping against his forearm. Tommy released her, Jade collapsing on the mat spread eagle while she caught her breath.

"Impressive," the reporter said as he approached the cage.

Tommy chuckled, chipping in without really thinking about the fact that he was speaking with the hated media. "You should see her when she's up against someone she doesn't even like."

Jade sat up and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Upstairs. I want you. Now."


A/N - I was going to wait a day or two to post this one, but I opted not to. The first chapter was more of a summary for any who haven't read Broken. But now we're getting to some plotty stuff. As always, each and every single review is appreciated. I love you all!