CURSED 1

LIMITS

I spent the next two weeks training three times a day.

My days started with a five-mile run and then a four-hour gym session. Each

In the evening, I did a six-mile run, just because I could pull it off. One thing I knew I

What I could count on was that my legs were going to feel heavy, and little Daphne was

always there to greet me before each run with a loud hawk squawk.

Each night before bed, I would visually play out my game plan against

Tommy. My strategy was simple: I was going to strike. I was going to throw a

storm of punches and kicks until I knocked him out. My arms and legs would be

a blur. Tommy’s strategy would be to get me to the ground. Tommy loved to do

submission moves, but there was no way I’d ever give him that chance. Never

get under Tommy. I knew this from watching him fight. And he had watched me

fight, too, and knew my own secrets for winning.

At the gym, I practiced my ground game with Mike Flores. Mike Flores was

an ex-MMA fighter who had to quit because he blew his ACL in his knee.

Mike had been in my corner in each of my fights, along with Tommy. Mike

thought it was naive of me to think that I was just going to knock out Tommy in

the first two minutes. We both figured that I needed to go over some ground

defense.

So, I did. I worked out intensively with Mike Flores. And as the first week

came and went, I had forgotten all about Lena and her crazy friends.

On a Saturday night, with seven days to go before the big match, I decided to

Take the night off. I was craving a slab of ribs from Atlanta, a barbecue joint.

that served up some incredible quality old-fashioned soul food. It was in

Riverside, which was about a half hour away, give or take traffic conditions. I

could use a pleasant drive. I showered up and put on my only black T-shirt and a

pair of blue jeans. I was in the bathroom combing my hair when I heard a knock

on the front door.

I finished the last bit of styling my beautiful locks and went to answer them. I

opened the door and found Yari standing there. She looked incredible. She wore

a long white dress that looked like something out of a romance novel. Her hair

was fixed, and her bright red lipstick made the color in her hair stand out.

“Hey there,” I said, surprised as hell.

“Hey, yourself,” she said, in a sultry voice.

I peeked out the door and saw that she seemed to be alone. There wasn’t even

a vehicle in sight. “Do you want to come in?”

“Sure.”

“What were you looking for outside?” she asked.

“I don’t know...I thought maybe you were friends with you.”

“Nope. Just little ol’ me. Sorry if you’re disappointed.”

I grinned. “I’m anything but disappointed,” I said. “I was just surprised to see

you, that’s all.” I sat on my couch. Yari walked over and sat next to me, with

about a foot separating us.

“I hope it was a pleasant surprise,” she said.

“It was a very nice surprise. You look ‘off the hook’ tonight.”

“Thanks. ‘Off the hook?’ I have never been told that before,” she giggled,

almost girlishly. Which was odd coming from her. She normally behaved with

an air of confidence that only the most beautiful women seem to have. You

know, the kind of women who receive a steady stream of compliments from every

man that enters their vicinity. “You’re looking nifty, too. Were you going

somewhere?”

“I was just going to get a bite to eat.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “By yourself?”

“Yeah, I do most things by myself these days.”

“That’s too bad.”

“So, where are you headed? You look as if you’re dressed to go to a party.”

“That’s why I’m here. I’m heading over to a party in Victorville. I was

thinking you might want to come.”

“You drove all the way out here to see if I wanted to come to a party?”

“Well, I didn’t have your number, did I?”

“How did you get here? There are no cars outside.”

“Some friends dropped me off.”

“And what if I wasn’t home?”

“Then I was going to call my friends to come back and get me. Your light

was on, so I told them to take off. What’s up with the third degree?”

“There is no third degree. I’m just flattered, I guess.”

“You should be. If you haven’t noticed, I look smoking hot right now. I don’t

know how often a hot woman comes to your door and asks you to escort her to a

party.”

“That happens like...never,” I said.

“Then do you want to scratch your pathetic dinner plans and come with me?”

I grinned. “Sure, let me grab a jacket.”

I went to the closet and did just that. When I returned, Yari was staring at me.

with a big smile.

“What?” I asked.

“You look good, Josiah. Real good. I just might want a taste before we go.”

Yari leaned towards me and kissed my lips. I kissed her back. I had a lot of pent-up

energy considering that I subscribe to the no-jacking-off rule before a fight. Or a

date, for that matter.

Her lips felt soft and tender. She was such an incredible kisser. I pressed her

up against my wall in my hallway and turned her body around. Her dress felt

unbelievable. It was silky and soft. I placed my hands around her body and onto

her thighs. Her perfectly-shaped buttocks pressed against my groin. I kissed her

neck and slid my hands up the front of her body until both my hands were

cupping her breasts. She turned her head and kissed me. Her tongue was soft and

wet. Her pheromones were flying off the chart, up my nose. She smelled

incredible, and even her saliva smelled refreshing.

“In my entire life,” I said, “no one has ever turned me in the way you do.”

Yari stopped and looked at me with a tenderness I had not seen from her.

before. “That’s good,” she said. “We should get going.”

Then she walked to my door and outside my house. I was left there, turned

on, but at least I did have a place to go with that pent-up power.

I drove to Victorville in about half an hour. Victorville is one of those

little desert cities along Highway 15 that people pass on their way to Las Vegas.

The city is in the high desert. It still has an old-fashioned feel to it. It was a place

where a young Clint Eastwood might squint and settle a score, in exactly that

order. Him and me both.

Anyway, the party was another thirty minutes off the highway, and when we

Finally, arriving at the house, I pulled into a long, narrow driveway. I noticed there

There weren’t many cars out front. I also noticed a lot of black birds flying around.

outside. They appeared to be the same birds that had been hovering around.

Flatlands. I looked up through the windshield at the house in front of us. It was,

as Tommy would say, ginormous. It had a stately feel to it and seemed better.

suited for a governor or senator, ,not a place you would expect to be in the heart

of Victorville.

“Am I going to know anyone at this party?” I asked Yari.

“Atticai and Lena should be here, along with Wyatt and the others.” Yari

looked down at my wrist. “Your wrist seems to be healing.”

“Yeah, the teeth marks look more like I got branded than bitten.”

“You know that Wyatt feels bad about that.”

“I bet he does. I still have no clue why a grown man would want to bite me.”

“You can ask him, yourself.” Yari motioned to my rear-view mirror. Sure

enough, the infamous black van pulled up behind my truck.

I opened my door and got out.

Atticai stepped out of the van’s side door with his head high as if he was

royalty. He turned and saw me, but gave no indication of recognizing me. His

My face looked paler than before. Lena came out after him. She saw me and ran over

to me.

“Hey, you!” she said to me.

“Hey yourself,” I replied.

“What? Are you too good for me?” she asked, putting both hands on her

curvy hips.

“Why do you say that?”

“Ever hear of returning a call?”

I looked at Atticai. I wanted to see if he would be annoyed by his girlfriend.

was calling me on the telephone. Again, he had zero expression on his face. He

just continued walking up to the house.

“Oh, sorry. I’ve been training hard for my next fight and turned my phone off.

You know, to cut down on distractions.” I winced at the moment that last

The sentence left my mouth. Yari whistled next to me.

“Well, it’s good to know that I’m only a distraction.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I’m just busting your balls. I know you’re busy. I was just wondering what

happened to you. I guess I now know why. You look as if you’ve lost some

weight. Damn, boy, you look skinny!” Lena leaned in to pinch my stomach, but

Yari promptly blocked her hand with her own hand.

“You don’t have to touch them,” Yari snapped at Lena.

“Wow, Yari. Down, girl. I was just playing around.”

“Nobody has time for your games,” Yari responded.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had already marked him.”

“I haven’t marked anybody. Why don’t you go find Atticai and you can play

your games with him?”

“Fine, I’m going to go inside.” Lena looked at me sadly and walked off.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said to Yari. “She was just fooling around.”

“Look, you two can play grab ass all you want. I’m going inside, too.” Yari

stormed off, and I was left alone with the guy who had enjoyed my wrist as a

snack, just a couple of weeks earlier.

“Chicks, dude.” Wyatt laughed. “I have no clue what any of that was about.”

“You’re telling me,” I said.

We shook our heads some more in one of the strangest moments of male

The bond I’ve ever had, and then he showed me into the house. I wasn’t sure what

I was expecting, but I know I wasn’t expecting this. Except for a few dozen

flickering votive candles, the whole house was entirely dark. I stopped in the

foyer, but Wyatt urged me along. Deeper in the house I saw that there were

Candles are placed just about everywhere, in every room and on every table. The

Candles provided just enough light so that I didn’t run into furniture, but not

enough to make me feel somewhere near to the concept of comfort.

What the hell was going on?

As I walked through the small party, I noticed a lot of couples making out. I

I had been to a lot of parties in my life but never one like this. It reminded me of a

junior high make-out party. Well, everything but the insane candles. If I saw one

Ouija board, I would be out here.

Anyway, I made my way to the kitchen since I was starving. There was no

food everywhere. Just tons of alcohol. I needed to eat something ASAP.

I opened the refrigerator, and I hit the jackpot. Chicken wings. A whole plate

of them. I looked around to make sure I wasn’t snagging someone else’s food.

Well, I was, but they didn’t have to know about it. I grabbed eight wings and sat

at the table, near a stack of napkins and cups. I put the sticky wings on a napkin

and poured myself some of what appeared to be straight tequila.

I took my time with the wings, enjoying each bite. When I polished off the

last knobby bite, I quickly downed the two or three shots of tequila I had poured.

I blew out of my mouth, the second the alcohol went down my throat. I learned

that trick a couple of years back. Somehow, blowing out of your mouth and not

inhaling through your nose helps with the harsh aftertaste.

Almost immediately, the tequila seemed to be doing its job. I had a decent

size buzz going. I felt a little more relaxed, considering I was in a full house

of self-proclaimed spooks. I decided to look for Yari, and see if she would be in

a better mood. First, I looked around downstairs and ignored the folks sucking

each other’s faces, but she wasn’t in the house.

I peeked in the backyard but had no luck. No Yari. I went back inside and still felt

buzzed, then headed upstairs. The second floor was almost entirely dark, and all

of the doors were shut. All of them, except one. I have just decided to check it out.

when a drunk, pale-skinned, bald guy walked out of the open door and straight

over to me. Amazingly, he leaned over me and sniffed me.

Yeah, sniffed me.

As he did so, he made noises that sounded disturbingly like lip-smacking. The

The same noises I had made just five minutes earlier when I had come across the

Chicken wings in the fridge. He continued on, stumbling his way downstairs. I

I half expected to hear him pitch forward and tumble all the way down. Somehow,

Amazingly, he made it without busting his ass.

Just then, Yari walked out of the same room the drunk guy had been in. “You

don’t want to be up here, Josiah. Let’s go downstairs.”

“No problem. I was looking for—”

But she grabbed my forearm and steered me back down the stairs. As she did

So, I couldn’t help but notice the woman’s grip. Sweet Jesus, she was strong.

Once back down the stairs, I heard a squawk and saw two gigantic black birds.

flying in the house. I nearly dove for cover, but someone calmly opened the rear

sliding glass door and the birds flew out of the house. Not a single person called

attention to them or seemed to care that two big birds had been in the house. I

looked around to get a reaction from somebody. Nothing.

What the hell was going on here?

Yari led me to one of the downstairs bedrooms. “Let’s go in here,” she said.

She then opened the door. The room was lit by a couple of candles in the

window still, and there was a mattress with a comforter on the floor. She

reclined on the mattress, as I stood there looking at her, dumbstruck. I was still

trying to wrap my brain around everything I had just seen, from the candles, to

the secret upstairs bedroom, to the damn birds. And now, Yari was leading me to

a bed. It seemed like we had skipped a few steps on the way to bed.

One weird thing at a time, I thought.

Sybaris' eyes were bright and expressive, as if she was camped up on something.

So, I started with the obvious question, even though I suspected I already knew

the answer. “So, what was going on up there? Drugs?”

“No one was doing drugs, Josiah, but trust me when I tell you that ‘people’

were having a good time.” She stared at me long and hard, and I wondered if she

was one of those having a good time.

A good time doing what?

I asked her, “Is this like, one of those s*x parties or something? Or maybe it is

one of those candle parties, the kind with the MLM recruitment to be a hostess

and sell them yourself?”

She chuckled softly. “Why don’t you lie down next to me?” she asked.

“Look, if what you wanted is to fool around, then we didn’t have to come to

the world’s freakiest party to do it. We could have just stayed at my house. If

If you want to fool around, I like my own turf better.”

“World’s freakiest party?” Yari then smiled really widely. “Are you scared of

these people?” Yari rubbed my leg and was trying to get a rise out of me.

Which kind of rise? I wasn’t exactly sure. I think she was succeeding at succeeded

kinds.

“I’m not scared. It takes more than a few pale-faced dudes and a house that

seems to have zero electricity to scare me.”

“Oh, this house has electricity.” Yari took her other hand and rubbed it on my

upper thigh near the goods. I drew in a slow breath, trying to think of unsex

activities: raking leaves, delivering newspapers, eating Kraft macaroni and

cheese. Nope, none of that was working while she traced her slender fingers.

across my denim-clad legs. I chastised myself: No s*x during training!

Yari was holding a silver flask. She reached up and grabbed a shot glass from

the dresser next to her. “This looks clean.” She giggled and poured some red.

alcohol into the shot glass. She handed me the shot glass. “Try it, Josiah. You’ll

love it.”

“Thanks, but I had some tequila; I’m feeling good.”

“Trust me, this isn’t tequila.”

“I don’t want to get wasted. I have to train tomorrow.”

“Josiah, you’ve been training hard these days. Tonight, let’s have a little fun.”

She got up from the mattress and slipped behind me. I was wondering what she

was doing until she put her left hand around my waist. She then reached around

with her right hand and held up the shot glass full of red liquor.

I puckered my lips and turned my head away. “I said I don’t want any!”

Yari kissed my neck. I froze. She hit the right spot. “Try it...for me...please.

You know I would never hurt you.”

I smiled at Yari and said, “I don’t know that to be true.”

“You need to trust me.” Yari slid her hand down and grabbed my inner thigh.

“Please, Josiah, just one sip.”

I continued to resist the drink. And the more I resisted, the higher Sybaris' hand

rose up my thigh, massaging as she went. I let out a long, shuddering breath.

Honestly, what guy could have resisted her? I clearly wasn’t strong enough. And

besides, it was just something to drink, right? If these Goth nut jobs were going

to poison me, they would have done it out on the Flatlands, if I drank that

weird s**t.

I said, “You promise you’re not trying to kill me?”

Yari leaned even closer and whispered really softly in my right ear. “I just want

you to loosen up, so we can have some fun.”

Then she thoroughly grabbed my expanding goods, my package snugger than

snug in my jeans. I gasped, all the breath leaving my lungs. She continued to

massage me, not without considerable skill, I noticed. She knew her way around

the goods. I was excited, to say the least. Then she lifted the flask to my helpless

lips and gently poured the drink down my throat. It was thick and sweet. It didn’t

taste anything like alcohol.

“All right. I drank it,” I said. “So, now what?”

“Now, here’s where the fun starts.”

Yari took me by the hand and led me out of the room, and back to the living

room, where party goers were kissing so deeply and rhythmically, that I

suspected some of them were doing the dirty right then and there. But then

Again, with the absence of any real light, it was hard to tell.

Yari scanned the room, looking for something. And then she found it. A

beautiful blond girl who was sitting close to an equally beautiful brunet. Yari

took the blond girl’s hand, who rose from the couch without hesitation or

question. The blond, I could see, was lean and supremely sexy. She smiled at me.

shyly.

As Yari held our hands, she continued leading us through the undulating

party, where we stopped this time in front of a sexy Latina woman who was

probably in her early thirties. The blond girl nodded and reached out her own

hand. There was a chain reaction going on here that I wasn’t fully getting. The

Latina simply nodded and took the proffered hand. Once done, Yari led the three

of us back into the same bedroom with the mattress on the floor and locked the

door behind us.

I heard Tommy’s voice in my head, mocking me not to have s*x while in

training for a big fight.

I think this is where I swallowed. Hard. What the hell was going on?

Yari led me to bed. I went, to say the least, willingly. Without asking or

hesitation, the Latina woman took off my shirt, and now the blond girl began

Kissed my chest. I don’t know what happened to my jeans, but suddenly, they

were gone and took my boxers with them.

That’s when the room started spinning.

Or maybe it was in my head. But everything kept on spinning until I couldn’t

see anything at all. It was a blur. I suspected I had been drugged, but I didn’t

care, not with three women swarming around me, touching, kissing, licking.

Sucking! All I could do was feel. And feeling was enough. Hands roamed all

over me. My entire body was groped and kissed. Caressed. Teased.

“I have one rule, girls,” I heard myself say from somewhere seemingly

outside my body. “No biting. Everything else is fair game.”

The next two hours were the greatest two hours of my adult male life.

TO BE CONTINUED...